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A Visit to The Amazing (and Scary?) Manresa Castle

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Last week we took a much needed escape to Port Townsend, Washington. It was one of those unplanned, spur-of-the-moment trips. We didn’t really have the time to get away, considering our long list of “to-do’s”, but sometimes it is just necessary to take a time out for the sake of one’s sanity. That said, the two friends we brought along with us are no “saner” than we are so, needless to say, we had a hilarious time! One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to and personal tour of Manresa Castle in Port Townsend.

Fantastic right?

Then we stepped into the gorgeous lobby . . .

which leads into a front parlor sitting room . . .

. . . filled with fabulous antique furnishings.

Next stop on the main floor is a dance hall. Notice Mr. Dainty Dancer, AKA The Photo Bomber? Take a good look at him. At the end I’m going to ask you to tell me how many times you can spot him in this post.

After our tour of the main floor we headed upstairs in this antique and somewhat shaky elevator. Mr. OTN, and our friends Debbie and John are scared but trying to put up a brave front.

What does that say? Guest Elevator? Or is it Ghost Elevator? Goodbye guys! I’m taking the stairs! Haha! Just kidding.

We were given a peek into several of the rooms, all of which are available for nightly stays, and all with a view of either the water or the garden courtyard.

This bedroom is reported to be home to a few ghosts. Haha! I don’t believe in ghosts, do you?

This gorgeous bedroom is on the turret corner of the castle and has a wonderful sitting area. I’ll take this one please!

Heading down the hallway Mr. OTN asked our tour guide what these stairs led to and she told him it was the attic. “What’s up there?”, we ALL wanted to know. “Oh nothing, just some old furniture and stuff.” What? Just old furntiture and STUFF? Well, being that we had spent the entire car trip to Port Townsend hitting the junk stores you’d better believe we asked it we could go up and take a look!

Oh my goodness? What is this circle of chairs? Our tour guide told us that this is where the ghost hunters come to wait for ghosts. So silly!

What are you doing up there John?

John the dainty dancer, AKA The Photo Bomber, AKA The executioner? Oh my!

And yes, he was the only one who was willing to climb the ladder to the top of the turret to take this picture of Port Townsend and the harbor below.

Heading back downstairs we finished up with a tour of the restaurant.


Some more gorgeous windows.

I couldn’t resist throwing in a couple more pictures of these beautiful leaded glass windows,

and the amazing woodwork seen throughout the castle.

Here is one more view of Port Townsend from the front porch.

And a final look back. Wait . . . what’s that in the upper window?

Oh whew! It’s just our tour guide and her friend waving goodbye.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. For a link to the history of Manresa Castle you can click HERE. To check out the rooms and rates click on the link Manresa Castle.

Oh no! I almost forgot! How many times DID you see our photo bombing friend?

Blessings to you,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, TheTablescaper,LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SuburbsMama
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
IHeartNapTime, WeCallItJunkin’
Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, ClassyClutter, SixSistersStuff, It’sOverflowing, BeDifferentActNormal, TooMuchTimeOnMyHands

Dr. B’s Halloween Party Decor

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First of all, what’s with the title, “Dr. B’s Halloween Party Decor?” It will be a full six months before my daughter can claim the title “Doctor” as her own. Well, I am a little bit proud of the hard work she’s put toward becoming a dentist but I also needed a catchy title for my post, being that my thumbnails aren’t showing up on the daily read from Bloglovin’. Shameless, I know, but until I find a fix for this problem I’ve had since switching to WP I’ll be scrambling for catchy titles!

So . . . I’m not really into decorating for Halloween. In fact, I don’t have a single Halloween decoration, unless you count the black light stored in my garage! My youngest daughter on the other hand, loves Halloween! Maybe her fascination with the holiday has something to do with the fact that she was “deprived” growing up at home. She still talks about how I never let her go trick-or-treating and how I made she and her sister go to the boring “Harvest Party” at church! I guess there may be something to the notion that telling a child “NO!” only makes them want to do something more! Anyway . . . when Bethany sent me pictures of her Halloween decor for the party she had last Saturday night, I couldn’t resist sharing them with you.

Bethany loves her little 1920’s SoCal apartment and has had a lot of fun decorating it. The charm she has been able to bring to her space on a student’s budget is amazing! Maybe I’ll share more on her home decor later, but for now, here is a peek at the party.

Bethany used Halloween scrapbook paper from Michael’s to decorate her drink glasses.

On the menu were mummy pigs-in-a-blanket, queso with orange and black chips, chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow centers and graham cracker crust with marshmallow filling,

homemade white chocolate mustache pops,

and apples filled with homemade caramel jello. Recipe HERE. The recipe calls for alcohol but she said these were just great without!

The reportedly delicious punch was made from fresh pineapple, lime and lemon juices, sparkling water and homemade ginger simple syrup (Recipe HERE) topped off with a few floating Jell-O bugs!

Here is a peek at Bethany’s living room. This is B’s couch, which we carried on top of her car for several miles on the LA freeway when she first moved to California. The story behind this Craigslist couch is kind of sketchy but we got the couch and ourselves home safely. Whew! Bethany recently added the tacks for a custom look. I think she did a beautiful job. By the way, this is a full length couch but the iPhone pics made it look scrunched up like a love seat.


Bethany fell in love with this horse as soon as she saw him but it took her awhile to decide whether or not she could afford it out of her student loan money! She added gold leaf to a plain black Target frame to give it a touch of elegance. Can you say horse head and elegance in the same sentence? I think so!

Here is my Bethany (in the middle) with her two fantastic classmates. These young women will make lovely dentists won’t they?

Finally, Bethany’s Seattle skyline pumpkin. She may be in LA for now but she’ll always be a Seattle girl at heart.

Even though I’m not a Halloween person it has been fun sharing a bit of my daughter’s life and creativity with you.

Blessings to you,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, TheTablescaper,LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SuburbsMama
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
IHeartNapTime, WeCallItJunkin’
Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, ClassyClutter, SixSistersStuff, It’sOverflowing, BeDifferentActNormal, TooMuchTimeOnMyHands

Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and a Funeral Parlor Table!

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I am so excited to share with you my first experience using Miss Mustard Seed (MMS) Milk Paint. Though I’ve been painting with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) and my Homemade Chalk Paint for quite awhile now I had never tried MMS until this past summer. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to try it but just that it wasn’t available in a shop anywhere near my home.

So a couple of months ago when I went online . . . ONCE AGAIN . . . to see where MMS Milk Paint was available, and when I found it in a city less than twenty miles away, I hit the road!

This is the little side table that I wanted to try this fantastic new paint on. A friend picked it up from the junk pile at a funeral parlor. Can you believe they were going to throw this away? It was in really good shape and the color was okay but I really, really, really wanted to try MMS’s Kitchen Scale. That’s the name of a color in case you were wondering.

THIS is Kitchen Scale . . . beautiful color doncha’ think? Now while the color is amazing the most wonderful thing about MMS milk paint is that you NEVER KNOW how your painted piece is going to turn out. It is always a surprise and . . . YES . . . I love surprises! So I painted it on and waited as patiently as I could to see what would happen. Would it grab all the paint color and remain this beautiful clear blue color or would it do that funny thing that thing it is sometimes known to do, and begin to bubble and peel? Fortunately the paint began to bubble in several places. I say “fortunately” because that is exactly what I was hoping for!

Several places became chippy as you can see by the picture above, exposing the white paint beneath the blue. I LOVE this about this paint!

Once the first coat was dry I painted a second coat which caused a little more of the bubbling effect. Then I took a scraper to the chippy places and gently scraped off the excess paint, lightly sanded the chipped edges and then sealed it all with soft wax, which stops the chipping process. I love chippy furniture and with this paint there is no need to figure out where to use the sanding block to get the best distressed look. The paint does it for you.

The table top wasn’t a beautifully grained piece of wood so I decided to paint it with ASCP Old White and then applied a graphic that I purchased online using my favorite METHOD for transferring typography onto wood. I finished it off with clear wax with just a dab of dark wax added. I did use my sanding sponge on the top to distress the edges.

One final thing I added was the lion’s head pulls that I found at a local antique store. They were all slightly different colors so I spray painted them with Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

I took this Funeral Parlor Table turned Sweet Frenchy Table to the Queen Bee French Flea Market last month and she sold right away. I was a wee bit sad but I didn’t really have room for any more furniture in my own home! This is a color I use in my home a LOT though so I may be repainting something I already have in the near future. Who knows, Mr. OTN may come home to another surprise. I think he loves surprises too!

I’ve used many different types of paints on the furniture I’ve painted and I tend to paint and even repaint a piece until I get it just PERFECT! Of course “perfect” to me is usually very unique and very, very imperfect. I’m so happy to have a new type of paint to use on future projects and I do believe I will be using MMS paints a LOT! What about you? Do you like surprises? Have you tried MMS Milk Paint? Do you have a favorite color? I’d love to hear about your experience 🙂

Blessings,

P.S. In case you were wondering, Marion (Miss Mustard Seed) is not paying me to write about her paint line. This post simply reflects my pure unadulterated love of MMS Milk Paint!

 

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, TheTablescaper,LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SuburbsMama
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
IHeartNapTime, WeCallItJunkin’
Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, ClassyClutter, SixSistersStuff, It’sOverflowing, BeDifferentActNormal, TooMuchTimeOnMyHands

 

Glorious Fall Blooms in a Carpenter’s Box

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What a wild mix of colors in these Glorious Fall Blooms, freshly picked from my garden.

Blooms that started out in softer Summer hues have aged to the deeper, richer colors of Autumn.

My hydrangeas, which first bloomed pale blue have changed to a deeper blue, green, and even purple in tone.

The Seedum ‘Autumn Joy’ from light pink to a deep, rich burgandy.

Last Spring, when we took our trip to the Long Beach Peninsula, I found this weathered carpenter’s box while out junking. I replaced the handle with a piece of gnarled driftwood that I picked up on the beach, and I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to use it in an arrangement on my kitchen counter.

You can still see the word “tools” that the builder of this box nailed into it’s side. It makes me wonder at the history. Just like the flowers, the weathered wood and the imperfections make it more interesting than something that is brand new.

The colors of my flowers are more intense this year than in years past. Our long, dry summer contributed to the difference.

This arrangement isn’t in the usual oranges and browns of Fall but I actually prefer the cooler tones for my living space.

Like little jewels, they make me feel so happy.

Though my flower’s first blooms were clear in color, absent of spots or discoloration, I think they’ve become more beautiful with the imperfections of age. We talk of faded blooms but there is nothing faded about these beauties! My friend Yvonne over at Stone Gable inspired me with pictures of her hydrangeas in the post, PATINA . . . Becoming More Beautiful With Age. She writes about our narrow definition of beauty and how we could learn from the flowers to wear the patina of age gloriously. I really want to learn to do that, and to do it well. If you’ve never visited Yvonne I hope you will. Her posts are always so inspiring and her blog is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.

This week, my prayer for you is that you’d enjoy and embrace your own season of life. They are all a gift from God.

Blessings,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, TheTablescaper,LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SuburbsMama
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
IHeartNapTime, WeCallItJunkin’
Saturday:

 

DIY Junky Chicken Wire Cloche

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Have you ever been casually browsing through second-hand stores when you come across random items that, when grouped together, cause you to become over-the-top excited, as you realize in a “light bulb moment” just what they are destined to become?! The kind of excitement that causes you rush home and get right to work on that project in spite of all the other things around the house that are calling out for attention? That’s EXACTLY what happened on my last junkin’ trip when I came across the fabulous items I used to make these Junky Chicken Wire Cloches.The last time I paid a visit to The Second Hand Rose store owner Terry took me behind the locked gate into his back yard of broken and not so nice items. I couldn’t believe my great fortune! Here are just a few of the things I came home with that day. An acorn knob, an old faucet handle, two silver plated stands and a couple of pocket watches for Mr. OTN (these will not be a part of this junky project but I do see them in a future vignette).

2-Chicken Wire Cloche 004Add to these items a roll of chicken wire that was bouncing around in my garage (the remains of my Chicken Wire Message Board),

some decorative metal sheets (the remains of another project I haven’t yet posted about),

and a can of Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, also on hand in my garage.

All of these items together cried out, “Junky Chicken Wire Cloche!” If you’re like me you get that, right? So here is the “how to” for making one of your own:

WARNING: Making a chicken wire cloche is simple but it can also be dangerous. I’d advise wearing gloves to avoid injury. That said, I didn’t wear gloves myself because I like to work au naturel so I can get the whole experience . . . OR . . . I was in too much of a hurry to go find the silly gloves!

3-Chicken Wire Cloche 005Once you’ve measured the diameter of your base make your piece of chicken wire just a little bit smaller to fit inside the base, then crimp the edges of the wire over to hold the shape (acrylic nails are a great tool for this step). Snip off any excess with wire cutters.

When all the ends of the wire are secured you’ll end up with a really tall tube of chicken wire. Once you decide how tall you’d like your cloche to be you’ll start scrunching the wire together at that point. It is helpful to have a big pair of pliers to aid in the scrunching. When completely scrunched (fun word) cut your chicken wire with a sharp pair of wire cutters. You can see that this piece of wire actually made two cloches.

Next, you can add any kind of top you’d like . . . a doorknob, a cabinet pull, an old piece of jewelry, etc. I attached the cloche topper I used here by using my pliers to scrunch the chicken wire around it. It held pretty tight just as it was but I added a piece of flexible wire to secure it fully.

This is the acorn topper . . .

. . . and this is the old faucet topper.

After attaching the decorative tops I taped them off and sprayed the chicken wire with the oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I also cut a circle out of the decorative metal to make a “floor” for the cloche and spray painted that at the same time.

That’s pretty much it. Fill your cloche with some fun things from around the house and there you have it.

2-Chicken wire cloches 004

1-Chicken wire cloches 003

1-Chicken Wire Cloche 005

I must admit I am a bit smitten with cloches. I have one on my coffee table that I change with the seasons, and I did a whole post on Christmas Cloches last year. If you’d like you can view that HERE. Do you use cloches in your home decor? What do you like to fill them with? Hmmm . . . perhaps the pocket watches I found on this junking trip will be a part of my New Year’s display. Happy clocheing to you!

Blessings,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
UnderTheTableAndDreaming, TheDIYShowoff, TheTablescaper,LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SuburbsMama
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday: