Decorate a blank wall with simple art and New finds.

Hello friends:

WOW, its hot today here, but we need to keep moving, all of us  "designers" and creative people,

have to keep busy, we are not used to the hot and humid weather, but I welcome it.
I have two blank walls, and for years I look at them, but don't know what to do. I tried the traditional one picture, didn't like it, then I tried another traditional transfer ware plates, all the same
color , I tried three, then four, I'm looking at them but I still think the wall looks empty.
So, I'm looking for some inspiration and found these idea, I kind of like it but I not sure??

and this wall, and another one:

I like botanical, but don't have any, what do you think???


This last one I like, minus the furniture, one of the walls is in the kitchen and the other one is in the bedroom. There is no room for furniture, its small with a low ceiling, you know, the old old, cottage style wooden ceiling, nice and cozy but difficult to decorate because if you put too much, it looks
clutter, I have three windows, two together and the other one to the end of one wall. Difficult walls.  But I think the white plain pictures would look good.

Please I need your ideas, do you have a blank empty wall that needs something??

Now to the fun fun finds:

I found a lot of "junk/treasures"

This hooked rug by Marie Claire, large 6x4

My favorite this handmade rustic rustic, shabby and not a single nail on it. This bench is adorable.

Look at this beauty I'm telling you most people think I'm crazy, I'm crazy for antiques, handmade, rustic, great for the yard, deck, porch.

Solid oak dresser, cannot paint this, love the color of oak, I'm sometimes afraid to paint nice pieces.

The bench look at the details.

I also got two mirrors, but I didn't do the pictures yet, more tomorrow,

XOXO

Martha

A summer night feast and a bit of inspiration.

Hello friends:

apartment in the city

It is summer around here, tomorrow we are hitting 90s and very humid, so its time to decorate for summer, we are a bit lazy but
These floors caught my attention, and the red walls, I always wonder how to do the red walls.
Fun kitchen chairs.

Courtesy of Tartele

Pan Bagnat sandwich and Portuguese Gazpacho

A nice summer snackThe Pan-bagnat The sandwiches are pretty straightforward, combining all the ingredients of a Salade Nicoise; tuna, oilves, green beans, eggs, tomatoes into a sandwich that needs to be made the night before, such as the Pan Bagnat, so that the bread can get all soft inside and the flavors meld together inside.(Occitan: pan banhat for wet bread)

Portuguese White Gazpacho Recipe

Ingredients

| metric conversion

For the white gazpacho

• 1 1/2 cups 3/4-inch cubes of day-old rustic white bread, crust removed
• 2/3 cup (3 ounces) unsalted blanched whole almonds
• 1 small fennel bulb (about 6 ounces), stalks and core removed, bulb chopped; reserve a few of the frilly fronds for garnish
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
• 1/2 seedless English cucumber, peeled and chopped
• Leaves from 4 fresh oregano sprigs
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Get more deliciousness at Portuguese White Gazpacho Recipe | Leite's Culinaria

Scramble eggs "delicioso"

Great scramble egss recipe  from" I cann't rememeber"


 Scrambled Eggs With Parsley & Garlic Mushrooms
Serves 2

You'll need:
For the mushrooms:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup mushrooms of your choice (we like shitake or chanterelles, but any earthy mushroom will do), chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

For the eggs:
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons crème fraiche or sour cream
1 teaspoon olive oil or butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Remaining ingredient:
Fresh or toasted bread


In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and cook the mushrooms, with the garlic, until the mushrooms are just beginning to soften. Remove from heat, add the parsley and toss with a wooden spoon. Make sure not to burn the garlic or it will become really bitter.

Crack the eggs over a medium bowl and scramble them a few times with a fork. Mix in the crème fraiche (or sour cream). Season with salt and pepper. In a smaller sauté pan, heat the olive oil (or butter) over medium heat, add the scrambled eggs and gently stir them with a wooden spoon as they cook. You can decide to cook them until dry but we like them a bit soft and runny.

Serve the scrambled eggs over fresh or toasted bread and spoon a generous amount of sautéed mushrooms over each toast.YUM<YUM<YUM


XOXO

Martha

BIG NEWS:

Katecreativesalvage  giveaway at the "Pink Postcard Blog" .   Go to this link and see details. Denise has a beautiful blog and is a talented furniture painter, and crafter. Thanks Denise for hosting my giveaway.
http://pinkpostcard.blogspot.com


Love,

Martha

Make and Display

Hello friends:

Just wanted to share with you a couple of projects just finished them while working on my desk.

Just finished this vintage inspired mason jar lamp.  It has an old fashioned bulb, I covered the cord (Ikea) with a boat rope for an a rustic industrial look.  It found its place on top of my bookcase. The Mason Jar is very very old, about a gallon I think. 

It sits well next to my Big Ben clock and dear antique books don't you think. The old fashion bulb adds to the vignette.

I hope you like it,

Martha

My little French Desk Adventure

Hello friends:

I wanted to show you Part 2 of my Desk Adventure.

I decided to give a coat of the  ASCP , I had

a little bit of Loui Blue, but I have loads of other
colors that are sitting there for months.  So, I dragged the brushes out and started.  Here you will see some pictures, bear in mind is not finished yet, I'm slow at painting because I don't want to ruin
such a nice piece.

This is how it was when I got it.

The first coat of the blue.

Got risky and did the borders with white I don't know do you like it????

More white???

This is the surprise glass old old knobs that were hidden inside the middle drawer.
The small drawers have a cute little wooden knob, the rest of them have keyholes only.

Add captionYou can see my "white border" it took me forever, and ever, it was late and the mosquitoes and flying ants and bugs were killing me. So I covered it with my a blanket and inside I went.

I did finished the white and did a little waxing just to see what it would like. Unfortunately we had so much rain here that the mosquitoes, bugs are going crazy, so I had to go in bye bye bugs,

This part is when I got the "famous" wax, you heard me I said "famous" this hype about the paint and the wax is insane, the paint is okay, but its too thick, and a bit pricey. You can get the same exact colors for half the price. The wax is tricky, its easier to distress with other products.

 I put a little tiny bit of wax and rubbed it into the flowers and didn't like it so I wiped it off. The wax is confusing to me. There are tons of tutorials out there and every one is different. So I just did what I always do, a little test, and I didn't like it so I painted it over.  I will try another way tomorow and see how it goes.

Call me crazy, but I went to the paint store in my town, and I talked to the woman who mixes paints, I showed her the pictures and a sample of the paint. She didn't know much about the paint or waxes, but she liked my pictures, so that was good.  We talked a lot about colors and paints, she is very good about mixing and matching colors, and I always go with a picture, she loves to experiment with colors. I told her I have two years of paint, I need to start painting or is going to go bad.  Oh, one more thing, she mixed a little formula and came up with the Loui color. I think she got intrigued, she apologized and said "by the way if you run out, I have it here for you". Of course I told her this is chalkpaint, and she said "I can make it chalkpaint, I have a formula". Of course I have enought blue to paint an entire house, she doesn't know this, I just wanted an opinion, I guess I got it.


Well, let me know how you like my adventure, to be continue...

blessings

Martha

Make and Display Rustic, Industrial Lamps

Hello Friends:

Happy Friday, I love Steam punk lamps from Anthropology, Pottery Barn, but not their prices.
I decided to make my own, I love the old Telegraph Insulators Rustic, steampunk, table lamps. People sometimes throw them away, or not even know what they are. I find them interesting and so vintage, industrial.  I love them next to lace, lavender bunches, books, and you have a vignette, but now, you can have an industrial lamp made by me. Its gorgeous, I love it, sorry but I can't believe I'm making these lamps out of discard pieces, I have some more designs on the works, a surprise.

 So here is my latest design. I did the base, and drill the hole for it, then sanded it and stained it.  I had a good friend an electrician do the wiring since I'm not that good at it.  I had the Insulator, this is my favorite color, its beautiful at night, so romantic.

I placed the light on top of a French turquoise poem antique book, one of my favorite little books.
I don't know if you can see it but it looks so pretty on the typewriter antique table.

I took this picture so you can see the color, its hard, sorry to take pictures of lights.

I wish you could see the light in person, its a soft teal, I just lay some lavender of course, behind it, so vintage with the lace, old books, ready to listen to music or you can use them as night lights also.

This picture has  another insulator in the back.

The turquoise light is beautiful, I waited until it got dark to take the pictures, because it looks

so stunning at night.  It has a 5ft. cord with an on/off switch and a candelabra bulb,

What do you think??

On to the new finds, I found this gorgeous French desk, totally blue and distress.

It has lots of little drawers, and there was a surprise inside one of the drawers,
I found several tiny old crystal knobs.  Each drawer has a keyhole but I didn't find
any keys.

I love the new find, it has plenty of distressing, but I got my hands on it already,
I'll show you the pictures tomorrow.





Great find,

Wish you great junking Saturday,

love

Martha