Putting up the Christmas Lights

The daughter of my very good friend, Jessica Abraham, is about as crazy as I am about decorating early for the holidays.  She is quite a bit younger than I am so I am happy to report that this year, my 22 year old volunteered to help with festivities for Halloween.  Once Halloween is over, out come the Christmas decorations at my place.  The very next day.

We had a good time last night, getting our place scarey for the Trick or Treater’s.  We did a few new easy-to-decorate tricks my husband discovered on Pinterest.  My favorite?  Putting green glow sticks inside orange balloons and lining the walk way.  It cost less than $4 to do and sure added to the ambiance.  I took some of their old masks – scarey ones – and stuffed them with paper, threw some red paint so they would drip down the “stakes” and placed the wolf and gorilla mask on the stakes.  Even had these battery operated monster glow eyes and placed them in the masks to make them look even scarier.  Put an entire bottle of red dye in an old pot and placed this fog maker inside that we had and included some apples to BOB in the water that were long past their expiration date. I chuckled when some tough looking teenagers came for their tricks and set off a motion detector that made all this stuff “happen” and scared the bejeezers out of the kids.  Priceless.

Halloween 2014

Today, I almost fell over when my oldest came down stairs before noon and announced it was time to “get Christmas on” but we needed to take Halloween down first. I could hear my dad in my voice when I asked him “what do you want?”  Nothing he replied, “I just want to help”.  Gosh, he even put them in separate plastic zip-lock bags so the lights didn’t become tangled unlike his old habit of throwing them in the plastic tubs!!  A-MAZING  #KidsGrowingUp

Completely overwhelmed.  Watch it Jess – you have competition for Christmas.

 

Does anyone know of someone who is a caretaker? Let them know you are thinking of them.

I posted this story last week on my Facebook page.  After hearing the great news about Sargent Tahmooressi’s release today FINALLY, I hope you all think about our wonderful military in your thoughts and deeds.  I wish our White House did.  Oh, and Army V Air Force today.  Go Zoomies!

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ON FACEBOOK: “I had an interesting conversation just yesterday. I’ve been in a Debbie Downer mood for some time cause things don’t always go my way (damn it). Well, my hubby’s diabetes is so bad, I convinced him to let me sell all his power tools a few months ago. That’s not the story though. A woman had come by then and yesterday she again knocked on my door. Her husband is a Wounded Warrior and she remembered we had a bow flex that I said was collecting dust due to his joint degeneration and asked if I would be winning to sell it so her husband could do strengthening exercises as he lost use of his (3) limbs. Naturally, I wasn’t going to sell it to the nice wife of a Wounded Warrior so my son dismantled it to fit it into her car. We got to talking about what her life was now like being a caretaker yet she reminded me of my friend Kelle from East – always smiling and still amazingly, praising God and happiness.

I mean this wife had it bad. Her day started like mine around 5am but what she had to do in a days time was a lot tougher than my 18 hour days. She was also lifting my mood (I am never down much at all but the past few weeks have been trying), in a quiet way as we both sobbed about the worries we have about illness/injury meant on our children from a parent how we fretted for them and laughed about the endless wonderment that we never forget to give medicine out but forget our own, and the satisfaction at the end of the day was that our kids were happy or our sadness that they may not be. Such a common bonding we women experience, likely because we do talk.

So Jim and I always like to say, what we would do if we were blessed with good fortune? My life is nothing like this young wife who believes in sickness and in health to be never complaining and happy to get support from Wounded Warriors for her husband. How can I, one person only make this woman’s day happier for her? To put her first instead for just an hour? Anyhow, longer story shortened, a couple years back some one gave me a spa card. You know, one of those 25$ gift cards that I never seem to use. I dropped it off to her this morning. Told her she should get her nails done or a massage. First thing she said to me is that she hoped my family was doing well and she had a very close friend who’s life was tougher than hers but said, to sign the card and she would do the same and give it to her friend. You know, like pay it forward. I wonder, how many “friends” could you share a gift card to so that person knew you were thinking of them to make their day go a little bit better. Just for a time. No comments, no likes – go find someone who takes care of a sick one, or a mom who just can’t take it any more, or a remarkable mom who takes care of a special needs child and let them know, in some small way, you are thinking of them and want to make their load a little lighter that day.”

For my friend Jeff Smith….

I have a friend from high school, grade school even who is this incredible film maker, photographer and writer, Jeff Smith.  A lot of what he photographs is nature – and I remember just a week ago telling him how his photography takes me to places I can’t go to now but through his eyes, I see the most incredible things.  Like a grizzly in Alaska, at the side of the flowing river, salmon about to land in his mouth, or capturing firelight with a bunch of cowboys standing at night’s edge.  I mean, Jeff has beautiful talent.  You have likely seen his work, whether in National Geographic or even a recent “mermaid” shoot for an advertisement.  (see his work at oasisphotography.com)

Sadly, Jeff lost his brother with a sudden heart attack.  He is raising funds selfishly for his nephew’s college on GOFUNDME.COM  – and wrote a wonderful tribute to his brother as well.  I often think about this from my own perspective – what we all think about – if what if something happened to me? How would my children react?  What if I suddenly lost a sibling, gosh I am still reeling from my parents death.  My heart goes out to Jeff and his family.

Please check this on GoFundMe.com and if you can help, every dollar is well deserved.

Another Beautiful Wedding….and flower girl dress

The bridal business has been a real joy to work in.  I don’t know if I will do this the rest of my life, but it sure makes me happy to participate in wedding festivities.   Early this month, I traveled to Kentucky for what was likely the most magnificent wedding I saw in a long, long time.  I have been fortunate to attend a few weddings each year via my clients, but this wedding was a family wedding, and honestly, I think we have a new WEDDING PROFESSIONAL in my family (LOL), my sister. I was so proud of all she did and happy to share in her excitement this past year, getting her “girl on”,  for Emma, like me, is surrounded by testosterone in the form of three boys (I have two, and trust me, I get sick and tired of smelly socks, football and shavings on the floor).

The couture flower girl dresses were from our Pegeen Fairytale Collections Style 904.

I promise to share more of this wedding because it truly was a wonderful event, filled with TONS of roses and pink and all the things Emma and I missed out on during our child-rearing days. So to you my sister in pink, bravo.  I am so proud of what you did!

Photo by CHRIS CORNWELL

Rehersal Party - Chris Cornwell Photography

Flower Girl Dresses by Pegeen will be posted later on another day but here is a sneak preview.  Photo below, family

Toffee silk and tulle flower girl dresses encrusted with Swarovski Crystals

Oh boy – here we go…. I love Gene Simmons even more!

I have to admit – I am a “Family Jewels” addict.  I am not the kind who follows the celebrity ins and outs (except of course when they purchase Pegeen for family weddings) but I was so interested in hearing him last week on Outnumbered. (Fox). He made such good sense and for any of you that did not hear his perspective :  ” A mother who loses a child is always about family and less about politics,” he continued. “On either side, it’s a terrible thing that’s happening.”

I watched Gene Simmons since I got hooked on Family Jewels – I mean the guy is really business smart.  I was never a KISS fan, but certainly I was cheering him on The Apprentice a few years ago – makes good business sense.

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/08/07/gene-simmons-outnumbered-my-mother-was-holocaust-survivor

 

Pegeen Launches it’s first Crowdfunding Campaign!

We Proudly Launch our Fairytale Collection for Flower Girls at a special price for our Indiegogo Supporters!

Pegeen Fairytale Wedding Collection

Pegeen.com Designer Childrenswear announces the launch of their Fairytale Collection through a Crowd Funding campaign. What exactly is crowd funding? The easiest way to describe it is this:

 

  • Crowd funding is when a Business (like ours) posts a project available for funding on a crowd-funding site (in our case indiegogo.com) to help get backers interested in our products and company.
  • In return for backing a project, our customers receive different rewards depending on the amount of funding they commit (from levels of $5 through $500) and also with a very special opportunity, that is to collaborate with Pegeen and help design, name and receive the dress you designed along with our ensuring someone who is less fortunate or has a very special wish to receive a dress so they can be a princess too!
  • Interested backers donate during the project, sharing our campaign over their social networks with their friends and contacts
  • What we receive in exchange for your support is the ability to expand greatly our advertising and marketing budget as we grow our company to an even higher level
  • What you will receive are various rewards, the opportunity to be able to say that you helped our company realize our dream of growing our business to the next level, and someday even, to fulfill our dream of being able to open a store (s) in the Downtown Disney area and beyond.
  • Moreover, Pegeen has arranged with a few organizations to be sure that we can provide to someone in need a princess dress of their very own through some really great charities like Give Kids The World. We are reaching out to Wounded Warriors and Make a Wish foundation as well and hope to get a response from them soon!

Everyone can participate even at the smallest of levels and know that Pegeen is one company who will REFUSE to outsource to other countries the manufacturing of our goods. In addition, you will help with building within our community the opportunity to share our really beautiful dresses with some really sick and needy kids so that they can become princesses too!
We hope that you will listen to our pitch and pass it on to friends as well!

We Proudly Launch our Fairytale Collection for Flower Girls at a special price for our Indiegogo Supporters!

For details click the link above for the video.
What your contribution to our campaign would mean to us:

We at Pegeen know that we create exquisite and well made products, not just for girls, but for boys as well. We are really proud of what we have accomplished in 33 years started by the talents of Marg Hyland. Behind the scenes are still the husband and wife team of Marg and Jim whose union formed just four years into the company’s origin and who steadfastly believe that answering the phone, producing in the US and dedication continue to help steer the company’s mission: to create beautiful clothing for children to remain looking like children. Joining the couple are some very dedicated seamstresses and one heck of a talented web developer.

Pegeen is always anxious to grow. Moreover, it’s a personal endeavor. “When I see the garbage that is coming in from China as counterfeit goods, I am mortified. I realize everyone has financial constraints but our job at Pegeen is to price our dresses so that a reasonable amount of people will make sure that their children wear heirloom quality goods. By offering our garments on the internet we actually can offer our creations without the markup of a retailer. We will continue to do so while improving the way our customers can purchase our goods.”

We really want to thank Addie Brie Hays for her wonderful participation in this project, Bill Frank for his guitar accompaniment and Rob Fong for an unbelievable new website and our now famous Pegeen Dress Dreamer!

For more information on our campaign and info on how you can help make a little girl feel like a princess, click the link below.

FAIRYTALES COME TRUE: Pegeen Childrenswear

Disney, be the Happiest Place in the World – return to your policy for families with disabilities

Disney, Common Sense, and Discretion

Disney has asked a District Court in California to throw out a lawsuit by families of some children with developmental disabilities. Apparently these plaintiffs feel that a new policy carried out by Mickey’s people that leaves the children waiting in long lines for which they are ill-suited. I have had firsthand experience at Disney World with an autistic family member and we were treated with dignity and respect under the now defunct disability protocols. It seems Disney had to do away with and then replace them because of abuse and misuse by guests. Stories abound of guests hiring disabled strangers to accompany their families in order to enable them to skip the lines, people feigning disabilities and so forth.
Greedy, lazy people spoiling it for everybody, but most of all for those who really need it. Many autistic kids (and adults) simply cannot wait forty five to sixty minutes or more, often in the hot sun. This is Orlando and Los Angeles, after all. Funny thing about lines, the longest lines are for the most popular (and fun) attractions. While everyone deserves the same access to these attractions, may I suggest that the autistic child and his or her caregiver perhaps deserve a little bit of extra consideration? I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of people waiting in line would gladly give up their spot to a family with an autistic child. The trick is to do it without embarrassing or stigmatizing the family. Any ideas?
I also think the cheaters would be reluctant to con their fellow man in a long queue (most of them anyway). Now I know there are line jumpers out there and I think they are the lowest of the low. Ask my wife and kids, I always embarrass them by pointing out the perpetrators and making a scene. They are much more likely to try that on a Cast Member (that’s what Disney calls their employees) because it’s more impersonal. The cheater rationalizes that the Cast Member is not waiting so has no skin in the game. Therefore no harm, no foul, the people behind him in line are a step removed, no pun intended.
Discretion has been removed from the equation in this matter. I happen to think that left to their own devices, people in line and Disney Cast Members will almost always do the right thing, particularly when it involves compassion and children with special needs. For me, the best thing about going to the parks is seeing the joy on the faces of the little ones and their parents. It brings back the happiest of personal memories for me. It’s a shame that the harsh, intractable rules that needed to be put in place because of a few bad apples will deal another blow to families who already have enough to deal with.

Rather than arguing with the courts to throw out the lawsuit, do your homework Disney and figure out HOW to catch the cheaters. Be the kind, happiest place in the word and get your act together.

My little munchkin, Jessica, is engaged!

From the moment I met her, I loved her.

My niece Jessica wearing Pegeen.com  c1995

When I was a single gal, my closest brother had the most beautiful girl in the world named Jessica.  I had a few other nephews and nieces by then whom I love dearly, but when Jessica was born I got a “daughter” as well.  I was close to my brother Tom – very close, and when his first child was born, it was as if I was a “mom” too.  Tom and Joanne, my sister-in-law, let me into their lives like no one else could.  Thomas followed Jessica and all I could think about was how amazing he was – and mechanical!  When they were sick, I was sad.  When one of their kids got hurt, I was devastated.  These were MY children.  When their 3rd and final child Kate was born prematurely, this tiny little bundle would sleep on my chest and I would just watch her in amazement.  Here below is “my fam”.

Here's my "fam"

Jessica was and still is the apple of my eye.  I love her intelligence, her humor and sweetness.  She, and her two siblings are more than just my children…. she is the honorary Godmother to my oldest son, and really I think of her as a more than daughter, and the same for her siblings. I spoiled her to the point of madness. When she was little, I would give her EVERY dress from our then Pegeen Everyday Collection and we would pick out bows for her hair, making sure she had one for every outfit for Kindergarten. She hugged me and said, “Aunt Marg, you are the best aunt ever. You give me every dress I could ever want!”   My brother’s kids and mine grew up together, in fact we would trek to her town some 50 minutes away every Halloween just so we all could go trick or treating together. It wasn’t until we moved to Florida that my kids remarked that Halloween seemed empty without their “siblings”.

Jessica and her siblings were my models too for Pegeen. Here are a few of my favorites!
Jessica and Janelle modeling their Pegeen flower girl dresses Jessica's getting married!  Jessica and Thomas modeling their Pegeen Children's Bridal Wear

Now, my Jessica is going to be a bride. I am like so in love with her Alan, and now I am not sure who will be sobbing more at her wedding, my brother Tom or me!  As a flower girl dress designer, I KNOW Jessica will have kids in her wedding – “even if I have to rent them Aunt Marg” she once exclaimed!  I know she will because we picked out those styles YEARS ago.  I love you Jess.

Tropical Pools – A great way for a year round vacation

I have to admit, when my family (i.e. kids) visited Disney, their biggest facination was the pool. Where were we staying?  They would ask.  Do they have a pool?  Can I go in it.?  I swear, we really didn’t need to buy park tickets, all we had to do is set them in a really cool pool.  The more things in it to do, the better.  We have stayed at beach themed (The Boardwalk at Disney was pretty cool and reminded me of Wildwood, NJ summers) and the best pool we thought was at Disney Coronado (awesome slide).  I think we hit likely, 14 or 15 different vacation places down here and by far, it was the pool that got the kids the most excited.  These builders now a days are really creative.  I met with Tony from TC Luxury Pools for example and couldn’t get over his work.  These guys are so creative and the software they use really can give you a 3 dimensional walk around your new pool.

Typically, we came down to visit Disney in December until finally, once cold day in 2003 we decided we had it and decided to set our roots down here.  So then came the building of the pool.  Our first home had enough space to play water volleyball for my growing and rambunctious sons but by far, the best part was an 8 man spa.  What I didn’t know at the time was we were making for some great family nights together in that spa.  It was large enough for the kids, who were 7 and 10 at the time, to go diving in the spa – one of their favorite things to do – but big enough to actually float on their backs and observe the stars.  We lived far enough from the fray that we were always seeing shooting stars, and though not the desert sky bristling with glowing shards of light, it was sill plenty of fun.  The greatest part was when the shuttles would go off, especially at night, and we would follow their path into the great sky.  It was a pretty boring pool looking back at it, but it was a great place to bond.

The next two are by TC Luxury Pools and then Clayton Builders, both out of Orlando.tc-luxury-pools-3 clayton-3

SO, here we are again, thinking about building a new pool and of course a spa.  This time, because of our thinking about grand kids someday, we want that pool to have the same list of great things we always found in the pools at Disney properties.  We decided too on a lazy river so that my husband, who has advancing diabetes, can always exercise against the resistance of the flow.  But more than anything, we want to have a spa – a time for us to gather again.  To talk about our day – or our dreams.  My youngest son once decided in our pow wow session to collect books to help the decimated libraries after Katrina, and collect we did. 10,000+ books.  My oldest would mentally write his papers for class and later, his college essays.  Eventually, it became the place to hang for awhile.   Once, during a bad hurricane season, we had no power for three days and trust me – it was the best place to cool off in the summer heat.

I’ve got my heart pretty set on this one below by Backyard-Oasis.com – even the name of the company sounds great, but again, need a giant spa.

SO I have been looking at our favorite “dreamy” sites, watching Exotic Pools on HGTV and pulling out every magazine I can get my hands on to dream of that perfect respite and drooling over the ones at Houzz.com – sigh. My kids are sure its just an opportunity to pick out new tile (my second favorite thing to do).

POOL-IDEA2 POOL-IDEA3

The International Awards of Excellence are awarded by the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP). Every year, APSP honors talented pool builders and pool designers for their amazing projects and water features.  Here are my absolute favorites:

So now, all I need is the right 6 numbers!

Pegeen Finishes our Spa Blue Heaven House

SO… this is going to be a really long post. Forgive my indulgence but I am really proud of the results.

On a recent trip up north for a wedding, my family asked me to post more photos of our home.  I was asked how we were attracted to this house in the first place – and my immediate answer was that the outside was painted, of all colors, my favorite shade of aqua – Pegeen Blue!

Painted swing  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

The interiors were all white but that left me that pallet to do what I had been dying to do – multiple shades of spa blues, sea glass and tiffany blue throughout the interior.  Because most of Florida tends to be new construction, and since we loved renovating older homes, this new home/old Key West charm was the attraction.  We loved the old doors on the second floor in each of the bedrooms (although my grown up sons find it odd that they are all-glass) are antique window paned doors.

Antique Bedroom Doors  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

PAINT: Colors used through out the house we primarily custom-mixed as i gave swatches of fabrics to the great paint crew at my local Home Depot but there were many colors used that came from the OOPS table there.  I used them especially for the wash of the antiques (yep I painted most of my antiques and even re-purposed some,

Repurposed Breakfront for TV

We re-purposed a mahogany Breakfront for the TV as well as repainted almost all of our antiques

PAINT COLORS:  Even though I am a children’s wear designer, I still believe that I could be born again as a MIXOLOGIST! I found that most paint colors had too much hue or the “whites” were too washed out. Except for using Behr’s Honeydew (lime green) because it was an exact match for the plaid in my antique Drunkard’s Bench for our reading nook and Teal Ice for the office, I really had to start from scratch. Remember the scene from “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House?” Well that was me – red, blue, green, yellow, white. I LITERALLY had to take pieces of tile, our Pegeen Website background, fabric swatches and spa glass I collected over the years and because there was this WONDERFUL staff (and manager MJ) at my local Home Depot, I was able to accomplish the exact shades of Spa Blues that I required for the house. I tested them too on a board and later hung the board on the wall.

Tested paint board  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Many of the fabrics come from our silks we now carry and since I had difficulty achieving precise colors from brands such as Valspar, Ralph Lauren, Glidden, Porter, Benjamin Moore, I found that working with the paint team at Home Depot on a custom basis worked best for me. I also found their “oops colors” ($5 a can) worked great for my dry brushing technique for our antiques that I learned from painting scenery in my Theater Days…. I mean there was almost no piece of furniture I didn’t paint. Once I found out no one wanted to buy my antiques I had collected, I took to the paintbrush and a piece of cardboard to wipe off excess (men’s shirt cardboard works the best).

I was able to put my mix and match set of glassware and various collections together to form a set of dishes x30 years into marriage but they held together.

Fiesta Ware from Dillards with Mexican blown-glass from Amici

Fiesta Ware in Lime, Turquoise and Teal with Mexican blown-glass from Amici and additional glass ware from Pier One

When we started to look for a place, we needed one that was smaller since our children were off to college but something that if grand kids finally come, we had room.  Recently, we were able to entertain with 14 overnight guests and still had room without putting them up on our office floor.  The open floor plan was perfect for entertaining.

Great Room - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Reading Room - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Our goal was to find a place that was a fairly clean and open canvas but one we could personalize. I didn’t want to put a lot of time into renovating (been there and done that) but the house was SO white on the inside that it was really the perfect place for me to experiment and display all the turquoise “things” we had collected. The house is located on one of the many lakes situated near Downtown Orlando. We really were looking for a home that would be the perfect visual spot for our weekend office….I was so tired of looking at basements, train tracks and brick walls when away from the factory. So I was particularly interested in a lake view.

Lake view with turquoise swing - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Though the house doesn’t have a pool yet, it has a tropical feeling and I will be able to look at it in the rear as well as my lovely lake views in the front. It will be a lot of fun for us to design the pool and spa area as we are looking to make it recreational and very kid friendly for my kids will start families of their own and we are thinking building one to suit (like a lazy river) and a REALLY big bar area! LOL.

Truly a spectacular LAZY RIVER pool. From http://www.backyard-oasis.com[/caption%5D

I really had to thank this wonderful upholsterer (Beverly’s Interiors) in Winter Park for her fabulous work – and the fabrics I was after was again, pretty much in one pallet throughout the home so I headed to this great chain throughout Florida called Boca Bargoons who carries all fabrics from Lee Jofa, Pindler, Brunschwig & Fils and so many more – I was going for this 1950’s Tropical Barkcloth look in that Frank Sinatra “A Hole in the Head” or “from Here to Eternity” look.

[caption id="attachment_486" align="alignnone" width="640"]Truly, a GREAT ROOM Truly, a GREAT ROOM

Besides the experiment in color, I find that Pier One has that “look” for accessories but I am always scouring Tuesday Mornings, Marshalls and of course flea markets and auctions….. There is this fabulous one in Dover NJ called Berman’s that my kids used to go to with me – a really great source for art deco and really any period and I wish there was an auction house like that here that I could find. I also shop a lot in Naples FL as well as nags Head for certain things but again, we are talking life time of collecting.

Upholstered stool from our 1760's antique drunkards bench  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

1920's Art Deco glass table and chair - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Water color from our NJ Tudor Home  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

The house color and style (Key West Style) quickly sold us after our search for a lake Home. Literally I searched on the internet for months but then, once I saw this house was turquoise blue I almost couldn’t contain myself… I knew it was mine even before we saw the house. We walked out on the dock and looked back at the house (with our agent) and wrote it up right there.

My entire hope was that I could “brand” my house in Pegeen Blue and from the porches to the bedrooms, my inspiration were spa glass colors – piece of glass worn long by the ocean from my childhood in the then tiny town of Sea Isle City NJ. I have been lugging glass around since the late 1950’s and anytime I saw one, I would pick it up and wonder where it came from. The real excitement was when you found a glass that was turquoise or teal that was unlike any other in my collection.

Closet Office

Closet Office

 Cribbage board and game collection - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com  Cribbage board and game collection - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Repainted china cabinet - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Kitchen view - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Reading room - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Repainted china cabinet - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Repainted and formerly built-in bookcase Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Repainted china cabinet - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Kitchen view - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com reading area and home office - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

I think this house, my Pegeen Blue “turquoise” house is a real bit of Spa Heaven.

Guest bedroom  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Young man's bedroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Master bedroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Master bedroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Young man's bedroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Master bathroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Hallroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Young man's bedroom - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Stairwell - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Laundry room - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Also at Berman’s in Dover NJ, we were able to purchase quite a bit of antique glass and some of them fit perfectly in bathroom and bedroom windows.

Antique glass windows bought at auctions - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Antique glass windows bought at auctions – Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Antique Glass  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Antique Glass  - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

I had a blast with spray paint from Rustoleum – I mean LOOK at these colors! My projects ranged from painting the antique bird cage to a flower “bed” for my yard.  Krylon’s website is much better to see their colors – but I am pretty sure they are the Lowe’s choice and I usually shop Home Depot that carries Painter’s Touch.

Summer Porch - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Deck and swing- Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Antique Finch Cage- Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.comGarden "bed" - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Rustoleum Spray Paint projects:  Keylime Chairs. Lagoon coffee table and flower "bed", Aqua swing and bird cage and Fern Green porch tables

Rustoleum Spray Paint projects: Keylime Chairs. Lagoon coffee table and flower “bed”,  Aqua swing and bird cage and Fern Green porch tables and Silver for the chandelier

Painted chandellier - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Since I have been designing my whole life, whether it was the red fur lined cape I made in 3rd grade or doll house furniture made of sponges (my mom’s idea), I have always been imagining, designing, playing with fabrics. A trained dancer, I have my masters degree in dance and theatre arts.  As a kid, I used to either perform in plays or help paint or construct sets for plays. In college I learned from some of the best in Theater Arts.  I think it helped me transition into children’s clothing and especially like the Christmas Season when I create the several hundred Clara Party Scene dresses from Pegeen’s Nutcracker Collection.  The house finally gives me the view I craved for over 30 years of seeing cinder block walls.Pegeen Design Studio   - Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

I started my children’s wear company PEGEEN shortly after my sister’s daughter, now 35 or so, was born. Although I no longer have to sew as I have some really great seamstresses that work for me, I still do what I did as a small girl, create clothes for my “dolls” – and now they are just a bit bigger…. As in the flower girl dresses we now produce. My design studio was built so that can work the long hours that I do and create the website or work on new designs for my clothing line. PLUS it’s really nice when you need to make curtains to have the girls sew it for you instead~ !!

Pegeen.com Weekend Design Studio

Pegeen.com Weekend Design Studio

Finally, I have had a good time working on the outside garden. Eventually, I will work on doing something at the waters edge but for now, I am just happy to remove much of this Augustine Grass.  Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Porch -  Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com Porch -  Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.comPorch -  Pegeen Finishes by Pegeen.com

Well, that’s all.  Thanks to my sister-in-law Joanne who gave me the nicest compliment – “Can I live here”?

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