Miracle of Miracles!!

Can you believe it! I actually did it!! I still have my hair and I might have screamed a few times but it wasn't heard 'round the world. I must admit that it was difficult. It took some time to just figure it out.

I just started blogging in September so I don't have the amount of pictures that some will have.
I did enjoy going through all of the pictures and figuring out what to share. The majority of pictures are of the remodel that we are doing to the house we moved into about 1 year ago.

We started the redo in February, First was the kitchen primarily because we were waiting on our contractor to get to our projects. He is very good at what he does but he, also, is so overwhelmed with jobs that you have to wait awhile. We added new appliances, sink, faucet and painted the cabinets. We added wallpaper and took down the fluorescent lighting and added a chandelier.

I also painted all of the kitchen (before the wallpaper) dining room and living room walls and doors. When our contractor finally got to us we added a laminate floor in all except the bedrooms, Completely revamped the fireplace by adding bookshelves and creating a spot for the TV that conceals with doors to which a framed print was added. When the doors are closed it just looks there is a picture there . We, also, added a new tile surround, to the hearth which we enlarged, too. Concealed behind this is all the wiring for the TV, cable box and DVD. The book cases house my large collection of decorating books.

Also you will see a picture of my antique armoire that I completely transformed by painting and antiquing it. This armoire houses part of my large collection of blue and white china. Also,several small shots of different pieces that are some of my favorites.

Some of my sentimental vignettes are also included. Some little objects that mean a lot to me.
Pictures of those closest to me. Take time to look at all of them and see just how much we have accomplished in the past year.

Next year, I am planning to start working on the bedrooms and baths and get the window curtains done for the living room and dining room. When Spring arrives I hope to get more done on the garden and yard. So here's to more creative projects and filling our home with beauty, love and happiness. I look forward to the challenge. But for now I am just SO happy to say I have made a major step in that direction.

Welcome to 2009 and all the future accomplishments we hope to attain! Happy New Year!
Wishing all of you a year filled with health, wealth and above all...LOVE!!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas!

Our Darling Molly!



Merry Christmas to you from our house to yours!

THE YEAR IN REVIEW CHALLENGE!!

The other day I went over to one of my favorite blogs. Cindy at My Romantic Home is
having a year in review mosaic on DECEMBER 29th. Those who want to can join in with their own mosaic. I don't know if I can do it but I'm going to try. So if you hear someone screaming and see hair flying you'll know it is just me trying to get it together. We'll see how it goes, so stay tuned.......<

Fireplace Decorating

Of course every fireplace should have the traditional stockings!! I don't remember exactly when or where I bought these stockings but we've had them for a long time.
I usually get the angel, Jen the Santa and the dogs share the snowman.





This angel sits on the hearth now but she used to go on the top of the tree until this year when I bought the one that is on there now. The new one has a blue apron that goes with this years tree of blue and white. Next year it will depend which color ornaments I use, to decide who will get the honor next year.





These silk poinsettias are on the mantle on each side of the "fake picture" that covers the TV. I added them to some greenery. I think they go really well with the silver and brown on the frame.

IT TOOK AWHILE BUT IT'S FINALLY UP....

Well, the past two weeks have not been too good. First of all, we have been SUPER busy at work. Lots of sick people with colds, sore throats and a lot of injuries. We
do employee health for our entire campus of about 3,000 people. Trying to get a lot of projects finished, you get the picture.

Secondly, I've been sick myself. Last Monday morning I was awakened about 3 am with the feeling that the Left side of my head was going to explode!! I had a sinus infection so I spent most of Monday in bed. Then back to work on Tuesday and try to catch up.

We finally were able to get into the garage today to try digging out our tree and decorations. I still have too much stuff in the garage but I can get my car in so
that is MAJOR progress. When I started going through the Rubbermaid containers I was shocked to see that I had 5, yes, 5 of them filled with fabric. That is in addition to all the fabric I have in the house. What's that saying the one with the biggest stash wins!! My Mom told me that she has the same problem that I do. Must be a hereditary disease. When I retire I want to make and sell pillows and other objects. I have a lot of pretty floral fabrics.

Anyway, I finally got the tree up. I have so many different color ornaments. I have
blue, pink, white and of course traditional red and green ornaments. I like angels a lot. I even have the first ornaments I made for the tree the first year I was married. That was 1964. I made little drums that I made with toilet paper cores. I covered them with red velveteen, gold cord and different color velvet ribbon trims.
We went to the local T.G.&Y. (remember them?) and bought some little plastic horns and spray painted them gold. I even made soldiers from clothes pins. It was a cute tree.

This year I to decided to do the blue and white with some of the angels. I added some of the old fashioned fans that I had made out of white paper doilies, pleated and tied with ribbon. The little angel in the Tutu is a Madame Alexander storybook doll that has been on our trees for greater than 50 years. A few crystal icicles and some mirrored ornaments that I made with fishing line and little mirrors from the craft store. The angel on the top I bought at a garage sale when we were in Mobile this past Spring.

I love some of the original trees that I have seen on some blogs but I just didn't get organized soon enough to do anything different this year. I don't have all of my greenery out and fixed but I still have some time to do it if I can.

This is a better picture!

The Fireplace is DONE!!

Partly finished




Complete with doors open




Complete with doors open




FINISHED with Doors open




COMPLETELY FINISHED!!



I finally got up the nerve to attack working on decoupaging the print onto the doors to the TV. First I painted the frame. I started with a brown base,then added some shades of green and some blue then added the silver paint. I then added some deeper brown and tried to distress the frame. Then I applied a layer of decoupage glue onto the main part of the doors. I laid the print onto the area with the glue and trimmed it with small craft knife, then I tried to smooth out the wrinkles. That part was tough but after it dried the wrinkles were pretty much gone. I let it dry for a while and then applied another thick layer that I worked around the flowers to gives it the look of being painted. It is a mat finish but with the heavy layer you can see the texture. I had a few touch ups, then let it dry.

When I came home from work today it was dry so I used a completely clean blade and put it deeply into the opening at the top of the frame and then slowly went down the opening until I came out the other end. Then I did the same thing to the middle hinged area.Then I reattached it to the hinges. I still need to do some adjusting of the hinges as it is not quite straight.


I bought the print at Michael's on sale for $7.00. I used my craft paint to paint the frame and I think the bottle of decoupage glue was $5.00. I picked this print as I wanted something that wasn't too busy as I have so much going on in the bookcases.
It also contained some blue and a background that goes with the paint and tile on the fireplace. I still have a little touch up to do but I'm pretty much finished and I'm happy with the way it looks. And just in time for Christmas!

THREE IS THE CHARM

I've shown you two of my kitchens already. The first is in the house I live in now, the second was one that I saved from being the mirrored beast. Now I am going to show you the kitchen from the house I lived in just before I moved here.

It was a great kitchen and it was very comfortable but two people in there at a time meant being backside to backside if you were at the stove and the sink. Even though my kitchen now is small it has a better working pattern and definitely I have more counter space.

The pine cabinet you see is now in my entryway, painted off white with rose appliques. The shelves up above that piece are, also, painted off white
and on the wall in the kitchen here. The shutters on the kitchen window are now on my
dining room window. The old screen door I bought at a flea market. I painted it and attached the small shelf. It is attached to the ceiling with a screw eye, a screw and a piece of wire. The chandelier over the table I have had in every house I've lived in for the past 40 years! The small table bought for $15 at a garage sale, I just added a new glass top that was larger than original.Is on one of my patios and the chairs are in my living room on either side of my armoire. I, also bought the little high chair at a garage sale. It's fun to see how things look so different in another house.

I wanted to do something different with the paper in this kitchen and with the help of my friend Nancy we picked this paper. I love all the roses. There was a large wooden box fluorescent light box on the ceiling that really brought the ceiling down. I removed it and added the track lighting which gave better light than had been there previously.(I had an electrician do this) I also added the bead board and trim and painted it the same color as I painted the cabinets.

The counter top was the butcher block Formica and since it was neutral I left it. The budget didn't allow for something more expensive. I put in a new sink, faucet, stove and microwave. I wish I had the pictures of the kitchen before I started but they are in my old computer and it crashed.

I need to see if I can find a way to get all those pictures out of that computer. I've purchased a removal stick thingey (don't remember right now what they are called) so this won't happen to me again.

Eclectic Mix

Well, it is Wednesday evening and I've got my cranberries ready for tomorrow to
take to my niece's house for our family dinner. Work is done for the week, my daughter is dog sitting and the dogs and I are sitting here watching HGTV an catching up on reading some of our-I mean, my favorite blogs.


I recently bought this wire 3 tiered basket and being influenced by some of the blogs who do eclectic displays I wandered around my house, poking into drawers and boxes and gathered up a variety of objects to place in the baskets.


Some of them include an old silver baby cup, an antique bracelet or two, a broken leg from a china doll, a sugar and creamer, crystal prisms left over from my dining room chandelier, a small brown transferware dish from Stoke-on-Trent, a bit of lace, some old photos,an old clock face and an old bingo card. Some paper money from Hong Kong, an old draw pull, a little leather box, some keys, a fancy hair comb. Take a little time to see how many you can see.


Hope your Thanksgiving is a blessed and relaxed day and your week end is great.
From our Home to Yours... Happy Thanksgiving!

Memories.......

On this shelf are some things that bring back memories.A picture of my Mother and myself taken on Easter about 25 years ago. I still had dark hair and my Mom was blond. Both of us have white hair now!! Also a picture of me when I was probably 8 or 9, posing in one of those photo booths from long ago. It is amazing that those pictures have held up so well considering the cost of them. I got the picture in the back ground at a garage sale. I liked the sentiment. " God Tucks Mothers In At Night." How many times have we tucked our children into bed but is nice to know that we are looked after, too. I recently purchased the Scrabble letters and stand at a local craft/antique store. I think it looks right at home right here with these pictures.

I'm SOOO EXCITED!!

I just got my first blog award from Melody at Tea Time With Melody. I'm supposed to link to her but I don't know how to get it to work. I've tried several times but I must be doing something wrong?????????
I am so honored! I've gotten tagged by a couple of other kind bloggers for games but not an award! WOOHOO! Thanks Melody. I don't really know too many people that I know well enough to tag, so I'll just say Thanks! You made my day!!

International Button Week

When I was reading Dawn at The Feathered Nest I read that this week was International Button Week. You are supposed to post to show your love of buttons. Here are some pictures of the button jewelry that I made several years ago.
One is all silver tone buttons, the next are goldtone. I have collected buttons from all over the country.

I've tried REALLY hard to get pictures of my button jewelry. I had a hard time getting some clear pictures so I hope that you can see all the beautiful buttoms that are in these pieces. Enjoy!

The Entry Way

When you come in the front door of the house there is a small area that is an entry way. I put a cabinet there that I bought at a craft/antique store. It was pine when I bought it. I originally had it in the kitchen of a previous house. When I moved here I had it in the dining room, my bedroom and finally in the entry.

I painted it the off white of my walls and added french flower appliques. Above it I put some empty frames that I got from various places, a wag-on clock and some of my blue and white dishes. The wire armature I bought at Pier One and I will be changing it to winter evergreens in December. Also, I added a small candlestick lamp on a timer so that it is never dark when you come in the front door. Above that is gold scrolled piece that I wiped with off-white paint to tame the shine.

I won't change the flowers till after December 5Th which is my daughter's birthday. I have always done this ever since she was born as I wanted her to have her own birthday,not associated with Christmas. I also have always given her a half birthday in June, also, to make up for having a December birthday.

Sow's Ear to Silk Purse

Before



During



After

Recently I was reading one of my favorite blogs, My Romantic Home. Cindy was showing photos of some houses in her local area.She made the statement that one of the houses was too modern for her. It reminded me of a townhouse that I used to live in. When I moved in there it was very contemporary modern with mirrors on the kitchen cabinets, modern cabinet pulls, mirrored verticals on the windows and even mirror panels on the front of the refrigerator.


I decided that I wanted it all to be more cottage as modern is not my style. The cabinets in the kitchen were painted blue, which wasn't too bad as I like blue but they were a little too purple for my taste. so I painted them an off white, then I cut bead board to fit the area where the mirrors were and attached them with a brad gun.


Then I got screen molding and added to the edge, mitering the corners. (This was my first attempt at mitering so it took a few extra tries ) I then filled the cracks with caulking, primed and painted. I also added traditional knobs and old spoons as the draw pulls and crown molding above the upper cabinets. Voila! Modern to Cottage!!!

I'm Confused

I'm having a meltdown. I am trying to figure out what I like. Lately I've been reading some blogs from people who went to Marburger and Round Top, held twice a year and gets people from all over the country.(A big antique show here in Texas, attended by all the major country magazines.) They have shown some of the things that they saw while there. A lot of it is very eclectic, architectural salvage and unconventional arrangements. Really cool stuff, very shabby. More toward Paris Apt. than RA. I'm not quite pink and ruffles but I'm not into black or dark colors either. I notice that when I post about old music or my shadow box, I either get no readers or no comments. I know that what you all want is part of blogging, especially if you want lots of followers. I want that, too, but I am hoping that I can combine them both. What is your opinion? I'd like to know, but also know that I am a very sensitive person so go lightly if you have negative comments. Thanks for helping make my house and my blog, hopefully, better.
Sandy

Antique Shadow Box

This beautiful shadow box came from an antique store in Scottsdale Arizona. I bought it about 15 years ago. Actually, it originally wasn't a shadow box. Some clever person added a box on the back of this old frame. The box is constructed of plywood that has been painted.

Inside the box is a sort of coiled nest that really is dried coral vine. I harvested it from the vine after the frost had turned it brown. I also added moss to fill in around the vine. I think it gives it a very woodsy look.

The picture of my daughter is when she was about 15 months old. She was at the birthday party for a friends' daughter. It is one of my very favorite pictures of her. I have the picture tucked into a floral frog that I bought at a garage sale. Then added a touch of lace to soften the look. A little piece of an old beaded necklace is strung on the vine. The little baby bonnet hanging on the side of the frame is crocheted with the tiniest little chains and small flowers. I, also, bought it at a garage sale years ago when I lived in Arizona. It is so small that it either has to be for a large doll or a newborn. I just love the delicate look of it.

This box is hanging on the wall above the chest of drawers in my bedroom. It is the same chest that I've had since I was a very young child. It has seen a lot of moves and a lot of paint over the years and even endured my daughter drawing on the front of the drawers with a permanent magic marker when she was five........

I've been tagged for the photo game

The game is to go to your computer, go into your pictures and pick the 4th folder and the 4th picture in that folder. I've been tagged by Jean at myromanticountry home.blogspot.com.

This picture is of my kitchen before I started to update it. I bought a banner at our local craft gallery that had old music behind the letters so I began to notice thing with old music.

I saw in a magazine, but can't remember which one, where they had wallpapered the back of a cupboard in a bathroom with old music, it looked really neat. I went to e-bay and bought some old music to do that for my antique armoire but wondered if it would be too busy.

I tried it on the back splash in my kitchen just to see if it would look good there. I have since wallpapered the kitchen with toile wallpaper so I won't use it in the kitchen. My Mom told me she thought the music was too busy so I just abandon the idea. What do you all think???

This is a picture of the armoire in my bedroom. You can see the banner that I bought hanging in front of the mirror. I am getting ready to paint the armoire white when I start working on my room. If you look in the mirror you can see my dressmakers form. I saw on Notes from a Cottage Industry where she used old music to decoupage an old dress form and I think it looked really great. I have plenty of old music to do it with. Hopefully I will get to it soon.

Can someone tell me how to get the pictures between the text? I am totally clueless how to achieve this. Thanks!

Blue and White China

When my daughter and I went on vacation this spring we went to Mobile Alabama to visit my dear friend Nancy and her husband Rob. They moved to Mobile over a year ago to be with her daughter and husband and four grandchildren. In the mean time her youngest son came to Mobile also. Nancy and I became friends a little over five years ago. We both love to decorate and though our styles are slightly different we both love Shabby Chic and Cottage.
We took off the day after Memorial day and drove the 12 hours to Mobile. It was the first time we had ever been in Mississippi or Alabama. We really enjoyed the drive but we were really glad to get to our friends house.
Nancy and I are both shoppers, budget shoppers at that. We went on a whirlwind shopping tour. We got a lot of great bargains. We went to a shop that was going out of business. Nancy got the most incredible gazebo for a fraction of the price and I got the shelf pictured above.
Some of the china on the shelves were gifts and some are garage and discount store buys. I love the Spode blue and white transfer ware. I have found a lot of the plates at TJMaxx and Marshalls. I'm now concentrating on getting extra pieces like sugar and creamers, platters, etc.
We came home from Alabama with the car loaded and three old fashioned screen doors tied to the top of the X-terra. In later posts I'll show you more of the things that we bought back.

October is Breast Cancer Month

Everyone has been posting about Breast Cancer Month all month long. I know that this is the last day of the month so I am posting this so that as we move into next month that all of you out there will be reminded one last time to think pink and remember to get your mammograms. As a four and half year survivor of this dreaded disease I can tell you that mammograms DO save lives!! I had no symptoms but they found it on my yearly mammogram. We all get really busy with the holidays so don't forget to be proactive and don't put off getting your mammogram. It is the best gift that you can give you and your family this holiday season.

A blast from the past

It's been a very busy week. The weather here has turned off cold in the past few days and it is the beginning of the cold and flu season. The clinic has been very busy. I haven't had much time to do a lot so I thought that I would share a picture of the patio and fountain that I built in my last house. I did have help lifting all the heavy rock but I dug the hole for the fountain and built it and the flower beds alone. Hope you enjoy......

Pink Saturday, Sort of....

I have seen a lot of people showing pink things today and a lot of fall things.
I guess I'm somewhat of a maverick, I went to Home Depot today to buy dirt for a flower bed that I am building and they had bright pink geraniums. Bright pink geraniums are my all time favorite! So I just had to buy a couple to keep in my dining room window for the winter. We get lots of sun there so I am hoping that I can keep them alive and hopefully blooming. If not I'll move them outside but for now they really fit into my little vignette.
The pie cupboard,leaded window and shutters are garage sale finds. The spoon holder is from an antique store in Bingen Washington, a small town in the Columbia River Gorge, when visiting my BFF a couple of years ago. The old tray in the back is from a local craft/antique shop. The garden container from is from Home Goods. Hope you enjoy this little glimpse of my dining room.

New Fireplace

When we moved into this house we downsized from three bedrooms to two. We used our third bedroom as a den and TV room. I decided that since we had to watch TV in the living room I wanted a flat screen TV. That kind of set the tone for what we wanted to do with the fireplace. With the brick on each side, and a flat area between it was the perfect place for the TV. I wanted to update the look and I also wanted to have a way to hide the wires and a place to put the cable box and the DVD player. I really needed some book shelves to house all my decorating and gardening books.
You can see from the sequence of the pictures that we enlarged the hearth so that the bookcases were grounded. We covered the dated brick with tile in a neutral tile and I wanted a mantle so we could hang our Christmas stockings. The part that isn't finished is a print to go on the doors so when they are closed it just looks like there is a picture there. I will decoupage the print onto the doors. I also have to paint the trim along the edge to look like the print is framed. It sure doesn't look the same, does it.

Something New, Something Old

I've shown you all a lot of pictures of my kitchen so I thought that I would show you something else in my house. The picture is of my miniature perfume bottles. I've picked them up from lots of different places and some were gifts from friends who knew that I was collecting them. This box hangs on the wall of my dressing area just off of my bedroom. The pictures in the box are of my daughter. One is her newborn picture and the other was from a dance when she was in high school. I haven't really started working on my bedroom yet. I will start on my daughter's bedroom next as she has finally picked out some fabric to make her coverlet. I swear that girl can't ever make up her mind about things. So I will try to get in an do it before she tells me she's changed mind.

I want to show you all pictures of my living room next but I don't have one vital part of the revamped fireplace done, maybe I'll show you the process we went through and later show you the totally finished project. Stay tuned!