Good morning, summer sisters!
As a child, did you ever get the chance to sleep on the back porch during the hot summer months?
I remember doing that like it was yesterday...
I grew up in a house that had small screened-in back porch off the hallway on the second story where all of our bedrooms were. Even back then it shabbily chic with a half wall of painted white wood, old screens, and a gray metal floor.
Something we would probably all give our eye teeth for nowadays.
My brother and I used to love sleeping out there on cots pretending we were in a tree house. We'd watch the lightening bugs flickering out on the yard below us and go to sleep to the sound of an owl softly hooting in a tree nearby.
Something we would probably all give our eye teeth for nowadays.
My brother and I used to love sleeping out there on cots pretending we were in a tree house. We'd watch the lightening bugs flickering out on the yard below us and go to sleep to the sound of an owl softly hooting in a tree nearby.
Whoever owned these vintage shutters had a bedroom on a porch, too.
They were one of my great finds during Heaven's Walk antique market field trip. I instantly fell for the soft gray color and after lusting after them a mere 5 minutes, knew that I had to take them home with me.
As I was cleaning them up with my trusty Murphy's Oil Soap, I noticed the writing...
Writing that looked to come from an aged hand...many years ago.
"How sweet", I thought.
An image of an old beach house with a sleeping porch popped into my mind. Of nights spent in an old brass bed under homemade quilts, reaching for slumber to the sound of ocean waves on the shore...
I kept the writing.
To me, it just added to the mystery of who might have owned these faded gray shutters with the perfect vintage patina.
Maybe an elderly couple having to put their beloved beach home up for sale after a lifetime of caring for it...
Maybe an old woman who lost the love of her life and had to leave the beach for a home closer to her children...
I wish I could let whoever it was who owned them know that they were being loved and cared for once again.
Maybe an elderly couple having to put their beloved beach home up for sale after a lifetime of caring for it...
Maybe an old woman who lost the love of her life and had to leave the beach for a home closer to her children...
I wish I could let whoever it was who owned them know that they were being loved and cared for once again.
Now the next question was where to put them.
The first place I leaned them, surprisingly, was the place they were meant to be.
When I backed up to the doorway of the living room, I sighed.
Really.
Seriously.
Does it get any better than this?
The shutters looked beautiful behind the sofa which cradled the French body pillow made of my new latest love....vintage French ticking.
A plump, soft, cushy, down-filled pillow made from time-worn French ticking lovingly gathered at a flea market somewhere in the world by Dani and Eric at Patine in California (patinedecor.com or Euro-Linens.com).
They offer eco-friendly decor, re-manufacturing and restoring vintage linens and textiles - and do a beautiful job. You can tell they love what they do, and treat their customers like family. And their merchandise?
Oh, how I could go on and on about the beautiful vintage items they carry.
They even enclosed a sachet filled with lavender with the pillow which smelled heavenly.
(Thanks again, Dani and Eric! xoxo)
On my perfect-paint hunt to find a match for my small wicker stool beneath the end table,
I lugged a shutter to the paint store (that's normal for us decor-obsessed chics, right?) and perused the chips for an hour, taking the shutter and chips in and out of the store numerous times so I could see the colors in natural light before deciding.
You should've seen the side-glances I was getting from customers...
I don't know if they were envious of my perfect shutters, or thought that I had lost my marbles.
That sweet little stool now sports a coat of Benjamin Moore "Coventry Gray".
So, my poor, wary and confused hubby has found me
(more than once -- actually uncountable times)
standing at the doorway to our living room and gazing....just gazing....like I'm in some moronic state of undeniable bliss.
(more than once -- actually uncountable times)
standing at the doorway to our living room and gazing....just gazing....like I'm in some moronic state of undeniable bliss.
I am.
Happily blissful.
Oh, and before I go, I must send my thanks and a big {hug} to Maria at dreamywhites.blogspot.com and to Sarah at abeachcottage.com for their inspiration for this room. I would still be floundering about in a world of "what can I do with this room?" if it weren't for them. Through their suggestions and photos, I found my vision.
{Hugs} to you all!
(Oh! And I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday! See you there!)
(Oh! And I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday! See you there!)
~ laurie
