Faux Russian Folk Beds & Shabby Vignettes

The guest room has been sitting like this all summer long.

The twin bed mattress/box spring brought home from my parents' house 

jammed at the foot of the double bed between two large dressers.

The room pretty much unusable...except for The Husband's desperate attempt to wriggle around them to get to his underwear drawer (poor guy),

and me vaulting over them to put laundry away (Kodak moments).

I've been nudging (i.e. nagging) him to build me a couple of Russian folk beds for this room,

but time has been escaping us both with the holiday seasons.

It must have been the antibiotics/pain killers that I've been on for a tooth infection

(which is a whole 'nother story)

that finally motivated me to do something about this mess.

This room needed to breathe again.

So, using my super-human strength (once again most likely from the pain killers),

and with a bit of grunting and groaning, 

I hauled the double bed's ancient mattress and rusty box spring

down the stairs, through the French doors in the kitchen, 

across the back porch, and out to the fire pit.

By "ancient", I'm talking about some sort of coir-like material laid over the springs and wrapped with some sort of cotton batting.  

Not cute ancient....and just plain icky ancient.

The room now looked like this.

I have always loved the painted floors and woodwork in this room
because your eye, instead of being "stopped" by wood trim, goes through the windows and focuses on the beauty outside. It makes the space appear seamless.
I just may do it in the library room someday.

Anyway, I had visions of this...

my favorite Rachel Ashwell boho-inspired room

with simple Russian folk beds, a happy calamity of fabrics tossed next to each other,

and vintage Oushak rugs spread lazily across the floor.

In my mind, I just KNEW that I could squeeze that bed into the corner creating a cozy "L" shaped folk bed. 

One way or another.

(I possessed super-human strength, you know.)

I moved those mattresses around and around and around the room.

Each time getting stuck on the dressers.

I stood back and channeled the geometry I had learned in high school.

I measured and re-measured.

I pushed and squeezed and manipulated those mattresses to no end.

But it was not to be.

(Insert sad face here.)

The room was too small with the dressers in there,

and they had to stay.

 So....{sigh}...one folk bed would have to do.

After pushing and pulling and sliding the box spring up the attic stairs

(which was quite an Olympic event in itself),

I got to work on making the room pretty.

The base of the pallet bed is still on the docket to be built next month sometime,

(I asked for 2x4s for Christmas, believe it or not.)

so I just used a Hollywood bed frame for now and placed the mattress on that. 

I used my favorite RA 'Somerset' duvet and pillows and added in SSC 'Mon Ami', a vintage striped down filled pillow, and some white ruffles to the mix.

The room felt larger and more spacious and just plain cozy

(and I could still sleep in here if The Husband's snoring got too bad some nights -

 happily sprawled across all of those smooshy pillows).

In my foggy, pain-free state-of-mind,

  I was quite pleased at how it turned out.

I would still like to get my hands on some of that faded gray French ticking material 
that RA has on her folk beds in her boho-inspired room...if anyone knows of a source.

While I was experiencing happy delirium upstairs,

I peeked outside and saw that the turkey boys were in the back yard 

deliriously happy with finding my water garden.

I had been wondering why I was having to haul buckets upon buckets of water out there to top off the pond every week.

Now I knew.

Nothing better than happy turkeys slurping away in your back yard.

Back inside,

feeling so much better about the guest room

(and floating back up stairs just to look at it again and again),

I plunked my favorite 'Rosita vendela' roses into vases throughout the house...

...and captured some vignettes from around the house...

before promptly passing out on the love seat for a long nap.

If I don't see you before the blessed Christmastide,

I pray for you 

peace

joy

and

glorious love

that only comes 

from the One Above.

Merry Christmas Blessings

~  Eucharisteo  ~

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