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Tag Archives: Home Decor

A wall decal

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Home Decor

Our neighbor, Toto, has just built a new guest house and put some really nice decals on the walls. It’s a nice way to add decoration when you don’t want to use up a lot of space. When I asked where he got his decals, he offered to get me the contact information. A couple of days later, he came over with a big roll of paper. It was a wall-sized decal of a tree and birds, and another of a branch with more birds!

At the end of last week, I consulted with Fernando, our caretaker, about the wall I wanted to put the decal on. He recommended painting it with enamel first, so he did. We ran the fans for about 14 hours to help it dry and diminish the smell. Today the wall was ready. I started at the top of the baseboard molding and worked my way up the tree, sticking on the picture and peeling back the base layer of paper. As I don’t have six arms, I recruited some help from Carlos when he wasn’t out running errands, and we were able to get all the branches stuck to the wall.

I spent most of the afternoon burnishing the decal in hopes of being able to peel it off easily. This is a large decal, and I went slowly in removing the top layer. Every now and then I’d find a piece that wouldn’t stick properly to the wall, so I used a paintbrush and some white glue and water to glue down the gaps. It took a while to get all the layers peeled off. When the decal was up, I could add some of the birds that came with it. The end result is lovely, and I even found a little wooden bird to hang in the middle.

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Architecture and Design NZ

06 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by winifredcreamer in New Zealand

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Architecture, Home Decor

Like other parts of New Zealand, living along the water is a preferred location, and new houses are squeezed onto steep hillsides facing the bays or open ocean. We have seen houses built very close to the roadside, or on stilts that are three stories on the downhill side with the foundation sitting on the hillside at the upper end. I’m not sure how confident I would be of living in a house cantilevered off the side of a cliff in a place prone to earthquakes, but that’s what we see all around us. Most of the time, I think they are fine, though occasionally an earthquake wreaks havoc.

We have seen refreshing experimentation with architecture and design in New Zealand. There are Victorian style buildings that emulate structures built during the 1840s when the island’s first Europeans arrived. Old style houses may be interspersed with contemporary homes built with repurposed shipping containers, corrugated metal quonset huts, acres of glass, and sharp angles.

futuristic beach house nz
12.17.18 along the Avon Christchurch-001sm

One of our houses…note glass doors to the large deck.

Even traditional-looking homes are likely to have the entire side facing the sun replaced with sliding glass doors to bring the sun in during the cooler part of the year. There is a lot of variety in architecture, from antique to futuristic.

There is an emphasis on nature, focus on the distinctive native wildlife, and bold colors and patterns. Though the houses we have rented tend to be middle of the road family homes, one had a maroon kitchen.

We’ve seen more of stylish New Zealand in hotels. At Lupton Lodge, the exterior was a farm building, while the interior was contemporary.

In Mangonui, the Old Oak used to be the Mangonui Hotel, the first hotel in town. It retains the traditional exterior with an updated interior. The headboard of our bed was an antique wood mantel, while the furnishings were contemporary.

The Old Oak, first hotel in Manganui
The Old Oak, first hotel in Manganui
Contemporary on the inside
Contemporary on the inside

I am sure there is lots more out there, and I enjoyed the stylish places we saw and visited.

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Ballenita, our base in Ecuador

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by winifredcreamer in Ecuador

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Airbnb, Home Decor

During our two weeks on the Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador, we rented a house in Ballenita. There were beds for many more than the two of us and we loved the huge outdoor area with a view of the ocean. Yes, there were container ships parked offshore, but we got used to it.

There was a coffee table and couches, a dining table, and a game table on the porch. When we looked down the coast toward Salinas we could see other houses like ours..
There was a coffee table and couches, a dining table, and a game table on the porch. When we looked down the coast toward Salinas we could see other houses like ours..
8.16.18 Ballenita house-001sm

The indoor living room was also spacious and comfortable and there was an ocean view.

The bedroom was comfortable and had its own bathroom. The only down side to the house was the kitchen. A woman is available to cook and clean and apparently most visitors take advantage of this service. At $25 a day, it would be very attractive for a visiting group. As a result, visitors aren’t expected to use the kitchen, where we found an antique toaster oven, a stove with one burner that wouldn’t light and a toaster that toasts only one side of bread at a time. No dishwasher, naturally. Jonathan made do as best he could–which was pretty great. We ate shrimp almost every day.

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Your room is ready

19 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Home Decor

I finished redecorating the guest room and it is now posted on Airbnb. We have already blocked out the dates for friends who we know are coming to visit, so it is not all business. Today I go to Lima to meet Lillian and Neil at the airport and tomorrow we will return to Barranca and let our young guests try out the space.

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This is the doorway to the suite from our central patio.

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Double bed with wall hanging of mantas.

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Sitting area with baskets hung on the wall. The bathroom is through the doorway to the left, the walk-in closet is through the doorway to the right.

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The update falls within our budget and was completed within a month.  I am happy with the result and curious to see whether there are people out there who would like to stay with us. Ours does have the advantage of being only one room. No neighbors making loud noise. The dog does occasionally bark and the birds sing very loudly early in the morning….we can’t do anything about them.

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Worshipping our icons

16 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Home Decor

12.14.15When did the kitchen become a shrine? The two covered items are those we worship, the microwave and the toaster oven. In order to keep them functioning, they must be covered with a towel when not in use. This may sound silly, but it works. We now have had the microwave for more than one year! It’s a miracle. The toaster oven is new (previous post) and therefore larger than the microwave.

The candles and vases are a nice touch, though I don’t keep the vases filled with fresh flowers as in a proper shrine. Now take a look at the opposite side of the kitchen, where the kitchen mother overlooks all the activity.

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I particularly like the forest of travel mugs below her and the wine and water glasses on either side. I guess that covers everything.

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An update on Home Improvements

09 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Home Decor

I’ve moved ahead with preparation of the suite for guests. Here’s a photo of the partial redecoration. By next weekend I should have most of it completed, though there will be fine-tuning until Lillian and Neil arrive.

Here is stage 1 of the basket wall:     Now stage 2 with better chairs:

Here is where the new table and wicker chairs will go.
Here is the new table and temporary chairs.

I created this wall hanging from mantas that women use to carry babies, and other things.

I created this wall hanging from mantas that women use to carry babies and other things.

This will have a bar and clothes hangars.

This will have a bar and clothes hangars, and perhaps a small lamp shade on the overhead light.

Making ice cubes with bottled water.
Outside the bathroom in the guest suite.

Should I put a dispenser of drinking water outside the bathroom on a stand (in the space to the left of the door) or just a pitcher of water? You can brush your teeth with the local water, but we drink (and make ice cubes) from bottled water. We make tea and coffee with local water on the theory that it is boiled, though not for 15 minutes. Neither of us have suffered from the local water, ever. I drank it full time for a few weeks at one point a few years back, though I don’t remember exactly why. No ill effects, other than the gray hair.

That’s it for now. We are going to Lima on Thursday for doctor’s appointments and shopping. I am hoping to have the rest of our improvements in place shortly after we return on Saturday.

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Planning Ahead

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by winifredcreamer in Peru

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Home Decor

We are planning to offer one of our bedrooms that has a private bath on Airbnb after the first of the year. My pilot guest will be Lillian and her boyfriend Neil over Christmas, and before they arrive I want to get the room as well-arranged as possible. I can use some help.

11.23.15 Barranca-001The bedroom has high windows and I don’t want to put curtains on them because it becomes difficult to open them in the morning. The mattress is a good one, so I believe the bed will be comfortable. I am going to center a hanging over the head of the bed. I have good cotton sheets, so the basics are there. I believe it also needs a coverlet that is coordinated with the hanging, pillows, and a small straw mat on either side of the bed. Since we are on the beach, rugs don’t work very well, and there are some very nice locally made straw mats. The next photo is the space to the left of the bed.

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I am having a coffee table made to replace the checkerboard table, but I’m not sure what to do about chairs. The doors of this room are narrow and an overstuffed chair or recliner won’t fit through the door. Small upholstered chairs made here are very low.

I am considering mounting a group of baskets on the wall because it is a large space. I was going to bring in an armoire for the corner of the room, but it won’t fit through the door.

 

Below is another photo of the space and a couple of ideas I have of patterns for mounting baskets.

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If you have other suggestions, let me know. I am thinking about using natural baskets, because I would like to use quite a few.

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Colorful baskets are also available.

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You may notice that right now the room doesn’t have a color scheme. The floor is brick red, a common treatment for cement floors in Peru. The walls are white. (I don’t want to repaint.) What about shades of blue or blue/green? Alternatively, yellow and orange to complement the brick colored floor?

Your comments are welcome.

 

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