Full Bloom

The first time that I wrote about Fred the tree was in 2010 and he is still standing tall. He is a famous thriving Australian pine tree who has made his home on the old historic seven mile bridge. Fred is not an indigenous species to Florida so I am guessing he was deposited on the bridge by a migrating bird. He has his own Facebook Page and puts on a light show at Christmas; so if you pass him by on the way to Key West, be sure and wave at that mighty transplant. He is the iconic embodiment for the saying, “bloom where you are planted.” Webster’s dictionary defines the word bloom as a state or time of beauty, freshness, and vigor. For the last two weeks we have seen a living room and a kitchen makeover. This week let’s take a look at a dining room that now complete has brought this Gardenia model to full and fabulous bloom, somewhere in the heart of The Villages.

• SliderAfter Image completes the Gardenia-makeover.
The sliding glass door that leads to the lanai can be seen within the framework of the dining room and the privacy treatment was a vertical blind that extended past the window. We removed the vertical blind and replaced it with a Hunter Douglas Vertiglide. The Vertiglide is a honey comb blind that when opened, has a very small stack back as you can see in the after picture. When the Vertiglide is closed it looks like nice white opaque fabric and creates privacy. The Vertiglide blends into the large casement molding that we had applied to the window. The large header on the top of the window creates a great picture frame effect that draws the eye upward making everything appear larger. The window now looks like a feature in the space rather than an opening in which all that can be seen is the vertical blind.

• Wainscot
We installed white wainscot around the dining room to create a sense of contrast and the way that we installed it makes everything in the space feel custom made for the space. The large buffet that was purchased to take the place of the china hutch was taller than the height of the wainscot so we raised the wainscot up and around the buffet. This type of highlighting makes the buffet feel like we had it custom made for the space. Also, we custom fit the wainscot around the arched mirror by lowering it down and around the mirror; the pop of the white looks bright and sets off the buffet and mirror as main features in the space.

• New buffet
The homeowner was able to sell the china hutch and purchase a new buffet. The blue color of the buffet pops off the wall and works well in the space. The doors of the buffet were clear glass which looked good but if you want to store things behind clear glass it looks messy. We replaced the glass with mirrors. The doors now are reflective and hide all the stored items.

• Paint table
The table and the china hutch were family heirloom pieces but the homeowner did not want to keep both so we kept the table and updated it. The top of the table was in great condition and we liked the dark color. We had the base and the apron of the top of the table painted in white and then glazed with a light grey to make it look a bit distressed. We also painted the chairs in the same style and recovered the chair seats in a light blue fabric. Now that the chairs are a lighter color the caning shows very well.

• Rug
We placed an 8×10 rug in the space to add a large color splash. The navy of the rug and the white leaf pattern are a stunner! This rug coordinates well with the living room rug and having two rugs helps with the sound reverberation in an all tile house.

• Artwork
The artwork is a 60 by 40 canvas titled, “Free Spirit” and it has many layers of blue. This picture looks so good over the buffet because it pulls in the buffet color the rug color and the light teals used in the kitchen and the living room. I also like the way the sunlight on the water was captured so that the picture looks as if it is glowing.

• Candles
We finished off the buffet wall with four sconces from an online retailer. We filled them with electric candles that can be turned on with a remote. The candles have a flickering flame that looks real.

• Table runner
We added a simple table runner in white and navy blue and placed a very realistic looking orchid arrangement on the table. I like these orchids because they look real but will never die.

P.S. –Attention all club presidents! We give free decorating seminars. It is lots of fun and very informative. Call and schedule your club today. Also, we are on-line check out our web-site at www.ruthdyer.com and you can always e-mail us at ruth@finishingtouchfl.com . Call Ruth your full service decorator at 352-804-2056.

Before and After Pics Below