Inspiration Close to Home Part 3

With my grandma's house in mind, I wanted to tell you about another decorating, crafty diva, one of my grandma's best friend's, Connie. She, like my grandma, is a great decorator, painter and is incredibly creative. Here are a few decorating tips that Connie shared with me . . . 1. An oversized piece of furniture, like a chest, looks great in a smaller room. 2. Collections look great together. (Connie has a bowl of old cherubs and has a cute card in the bowl that reads, "life is a bowl of cherubs" and she has a bowl of old watches and watch faces and doll hands with a card that reads, "time on your hands.") 3. Contemporary lamps on an antique chest look great. 4. Mirrors look best when they reflect an attractive view. 5. Silver trays are great for holding jewelry on your dressing table, holding liquor bottles on a bar, holding books and plants and of course for serving food. 6. Dried flowers always look great. 7. An orchid always looks beautiful and blooms for 3 months. 8. Stay true to your style and don't follow trends. 9. Use all of your good things daily. 10. Painted furniture looks great. 11. Books are a must, but only ones you really read and love. 12. Make things for your house yourself whenever you can.

This is the coolest, most unique Christmas "tree" I've ever seen. I was trying to save this picture for Christmas but couldn't.

Connie's guest bathroom is decorated completely in seashells. She did all the seashell designs herself.


Connie made these canopies out of bed spreads.

Every year Connie paints a different version of the Madonna on a card and sends them to friends and family. I've started a little collection of my Madonnas.

One of Connie's many beautiful paintings.

Connie and her beau, Everett, king of the blue parrot! (A blue margarita if you didn't already know.)

Connie's artwork and crafts are available at CLF Gallery at the Galleria LTD Antiques and Interiors, 7628 George Washington Hwy., Yorktown, VA 23692. 757-890-2950

Inspiration Close to Home Part 2

After my earlier post about my grandma's house, I thought I should have asked her some decorating tips and included them in the post. So now here are a few tips from my grandma, Gloria . . . . 1. Buy things you love and your house will look loved, rather than looking like a house for show. 2. Building up a lamp on top of stacked books or a plant stand on a small table will give a table more height and look great. 3. Pictures on walls look more interesting mixed with objects that are not pictures and mixing pictures of various frame sizes looks great too. 4. Lots of candles are always good. 5. Don't be afraid of color. 6. Leopard looks great with everything (grandma loves animal prints--but a little goes a long way). A chair or rug in leopard adds a touch of pizazz. 7. It's nice to always have something black in a room. 8. Use outdoor objects inside like a stone figure. 9. As you grow and change, so should your home. 10. Use beautiful fabrics as throws. 11. Always have some fresh flowers or plants in your house. 12. Remember that your house reflects who you are more than any words can express.

I know I've posted this picture once before, but it's quintessentially my grandma, so I wanted to show it again


My grandma is also a really great artist. In every house she's owned, she's painted something, somewhere. I think she's painted a mural in each house she's lived in. Below is a mural she painted in my mom's old house, the house I grew up in, which actually took up a whole long wall (you just can't see all of it here). And below that, you can see where she painted the bricks and stone on the porch floor.


Also, my grandma has a tradition of painting on our Christmas presents. Each year she chooses a theme and paints something beautiful on one or two of each person's presents and then after Christmas we frame them. Some themes in the past were toys, santas, bible stories and birds. Below is a larger detail of one from the year of birds.