"Show Off Your Cottage Monday"!

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Hello my friends! I sure do hope that your Monday finds the sun shining down upon you!

Today, I'm joining in with "Show Off Your Cottage Monday"! I have just found this fabulous event and I'm so excited about being able to participate!

"Show Off Your Cottage Monday" is hosted by Cielo over at The House in the Roses! If you haven't ever been to Cielo's for a visit...you're really missing out! She has a delightful blog and the most beautiful home you could ever hope to see! Please go pay her a visit and while you over there...you will find a list of the other participants! Thank you, Cielo...for hosting this marvelous Monday event!!!

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It's been a very long time since I've shown my step-daughter's bedroom...which also doubles for our guest room! Today just felt like a good day to share it with all of you again! It's the one room in my home where I indulged my love for "cottage" style decor! I hope you enjoy!!!

The Tea Rose Bedroom....

Hello and welcome to my Tea Rose Bedroom! This room actually serves a dual purpose...it is my step-daughter Danielle's room when she is home and it also serves as our guest room. Danielle recently turned thirteen years old and it was time for the "Hello Kitty" theme to go. Yes, we just adored that pretty little kitty...the walls were bright orange and pink and I had even painted a "Hello Kitty" mural on one of the walls! Yes, I know...it was a bittersweet process...it's never easy when our children begin to grow up, however the time had come for a change and I was on a redecorating mission!
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My Design Journal: The makings of a "Tea Rose" Bedroom

Often times I've been asked, "how do you plan or design a room"? When I began thinking about this bedroom redo, my first step was to establish the room's purpose. I wanted to give Danielle a pretty, feminine bedroom and at the same time, I wanted our guests when they were visiting, to feel as though they were staying in a beautiful Bed & Breakfast! The perfect solution: A Tea Rose Bedroom!!!

Okay, I need to back-up just a bit (hehe!). I must admit that doing a Tea Rose bedroom didn't just "pop" into my mind. To begin the redo...I needed a point of inspiration! Since this is a bedroom and the bed is the main focus...that is where I started! I began shopping for bedding...I shopped and shopped and shopped some more. Oh my, such tiring work...wink! I knew from previous experience that when I seen the perfect piece...I would know! I never "just settle"...when doing something of this nature, it has to really speak to my heart! That is when I found this beautiful bedding called "Tea Rose"! Ohhhh...you should have seen me do the happy dance! I just knew that this Tea Rose bedding would be perfect and I had found the inspiration and focus point for this decorating project!!! I also purchased the pretty scrolled iron bed...after all, that bedding needed the appropriate pretty frame! For those of you who share in the passion of interior decorating...you know that what I'm about to say is soooo true...first it was the bedding, then the bed frame...and then that led to the pretty "crown like" corona. This decorating process definitely has a "domino" effect...hehe!

I used a pretty "garden green" paint for the walls. This room was really beginning to take on a life of its own...tea roses, garden green, creamy whites, pinks & pale buttery yellows, it was soft and sweet, and romantic! Remember the movie, "The Horse Whisperer"? Well...if you listen real close...your room will begin to whisper to your heart...exactly what it needs!!! Decorating doesn't have to be a difficult or confusing process...just listen to your heart/room! Over time a certain style seemed to emerge in this Tea Rose bedroom...one I like to call "Garden Chic"!

A close-up view of the Tea Rose bedding. I recently added a pale yellow matelasse coverlet and a few more decorative pillows! I like the mix of fabrics and patterns...I'm not one for that "matchy...matchy" feel! Mixing fabrics and patterns is really easily done...just keep things in the same color hue and be careful to not let one pattern over-ride the other...they should "build upon one another"....compliment one another! I also brought in a breakfast tray...just for a little Bed & Breakfast ambiance!

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My Precious Little Tea Cup Lamp

Isn't this just the prettiest little tea cup lamp that you've ever saw? I like to call it my "friendship lamp"....because it was a gift given to me by a very dear, sweet friend! My friend Gloria makes these little tea cup lamps! She is such a talented lady and she's just as sweet and precious as the lamps that she makes! Thank you so very much, Gloria!!! Every time I see this pretty little lamp, I think of you my friend!!!

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See this little desk? It had it's beginnings as a plain and simple desk in a wood finish. I recently painted it a creamy white (eggshell)...added rose garland embellishments to the two bottom drawers and added vintage glass knobs. I was really pleased with the end result! The desk chair is one of my "treasure finds" ($25). I just couldn't pass this little antique beauty up...it has the prettiest little scroll designs on the top of the inside back of the chair...the cushion is an old faded, olive green toile. The rocking chair is another "treasure find"...bought at a yard sale for $5. I just recovered it with a beige and olive toile fabric that I got on sale for $1.50/yd...I have a total of $8 in this little rocker! And....if you look real close, you'll see that I added a little crystal candlelier above the desk (thank you, Laura for sharing this beauty with me)!

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Here is a close-up of the bed corona....I draped a long swag curtain over and around it. Why just look at those precious little cherubs....they are hand-painted from Italy. When I seen them...they whispered to me...I had to have them!!! I found this pretty grapevine wreath...made with soft pink magnolias...little pale green berries and crystal beads! I really like how this adds interest above the bed!

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My little Italian cherubs! Just look at the hand-painted details! They sweetly play music as they watch over your dreams!

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We have an old piano in this bedroom. Oh my, it's a bit out of tune, however the little garden cherub doesn't seem to mind! I had been looking for one of these masonary cherubs...they were all a bit too expensive for my "redo" budget...and then on one of my "antiquing trips" I found him ($15). He was green but I used a white wash over the top to tone down the green. On the end of the piano is an old ironstone pitcher filled with...yes, you guessed it...tea roses!!!

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Ahhhh...tis the sweet scent of a tea rose! Yes, the garden cherub has a tiny little tea rose in the palm of his hand...he's really enjoying the scent of it!

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Well my friends, I do hope that you enjoyed my Tea Rose bedroom! I think that this room is finished...at least for the time being...wink!

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Thank you so much for coming by today! Please leave me a comment and let me know that you were here...I would love to visit with you!!!

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Love ya'll,

Chari