Master Bedroom Makeover / Progress Report ~ Room Elements

Good morning everyone and happy Saturday!! Wow I can't believe this is the last weekend of January...my goodness this first month of the year went by fast!

Well I think I have found the color I want for the bedroom. It is called Ivy Lane chip #523 by Benjamin Moore, part of their Classic paint collection. The color appears a little darker with a bit more of a yellow undertone in my photo compared to the inspiration room, but the color is pretty darn close it does match my valances to a "T"!

(my room on the left...the inspiration room on the right)

The next challenge is to come up with a horse picture to imitate the one in the House Beautiful photo. 

So I went back through some of my old pics from last summer's trip to Assateague Island. I had several pictures of the island's feral horses and I just loved this one of the stallion who was in our camp on the last morning of our vacation.

Using my favorite editing site PicMonkey, I cropped the image and added a few effects to make it feel less like a photo and more like a painting. Then I dropped the image into my account over at Art.com and played around with the frame and matting. My picture is not as refined as the designer's room wall art, but for me it brings back the memory of a wonderful week camping.

I am not sure whether I want to try to order a picture framed or just order the print and then frame it myself. I will have to see what corners I can cut by DIYing the framing.

Still on a quest for a dust ruffle, I accidentally found these sheets over at Pottery Barn's on-line store. They remind me of the set on the House Beautiful bed with the green trim, and the sheets are on sale!

Again not sure if I want to splurge or make due with what I already have which will work too. Trying to keep the budget as low as possible, but they are soooo pretty!!!

I am hoping this weekend I can knock out some of the painting starting with the room's ceiling. It is going to need a couple coats since we do have some water damage as the result of our old leaky roof. 

And that's it for now. Once the cold weather lets up I want to take a good look at the coffee table I plan to turn into a weathered bench. It has to come up from below freezing sometime right?

Have a great day!!

XO

Our Camping Getaway ~ Assateague Island

I know I have been a little bit absent the last couple of weeks, very unlike me. This was pretty much due to the end of the school year activities for both Michael and Grace with field day events and the wrap up of all their sports. Finally this past Tuesday, about an hour after the bus dropped off Michael for the last time this school year, the kids and I were on our way to spend the next three days camping with my dear friend Donna, her son Ryan and stepdaughter Ashley, in  Maryland's state park known as Assateague Island. (Poor Mr. Rosemary Lane had to work, so he had the house all to himself for three days!)

Legend has it that these horses are descendants of survivors from Spanish galleons that were shipwrecked off of Assateague Island back in the 1700's. Assateague's horses are considered ferral which simply means they were once domesticated horses which have gone back to the wild. Assateage has a "hands-off" policy regarding these gorgeous animals. The only contact they have with the horses is a once a year immunization for the females to control the horse over population. In addition to population control mares also live longer and healthier lives without the stress of yearly foaling.

The horses pretty much have the run of the land...nothing is off-limits to them, and they are completely uninhibited by the presence of humans.

This stallion decided to take his morning snooze right next to our camper.

I managed to snap a picture of the kids with the horses grazing in the background. There are safety rules with regard to campers and the horses of Assateague. Rule one is for campers to stay a minimum of 10 feet away from the horses as they can both kick and bite. Rule two has to do with the feeding of the horses. It is strictly prohibited to feed these animals, they are wild and need to depend on their own resources for obtaining food. 

We actually camped just behind the dunes of the beach so there was plenty of swimming, playing and exploring in the sand.

And what is camping without a fire and making s'mores?

We did check out the Island's Visitor Center and Museum to learn about the wildlife of Assateague.

No TV, no DVD's, no music...just the air, sky, sun and moon...plenty of nature, surf, sea critters and horses. Yes there was much to do for the three days we spent in Assateague...next year I think we may need to make it a whole week!

Wishing you all a very happy start to your summer!!!

XO

Sharing this post over at these wonderful blog link parties...

Snippets of Inspiration

Savvy Southern Style

Adventures in Decorating

The Tablescaper

Ivy & Elephants