I've been tagged by Mary Ellen @ It's me I think. Since I new at this blogging thing I hope I do this right.....here goes.....

1. I was as tall as I am now when I was 12! (Almost 5'8") Believe me boys are a lot shorter at that age than girls. I wore flat shoes a lot!

2.The first time I went to college I was an Art major. Art is still a major part of my personality. (I'm a Gemini, so that blends the science side (nursing) and art, I love to remodel and decorate.

3. I've been divorced for over 34 years. Never married again. Went back to nursing school when I was 31. (so now you know how old I am)

4. Italian food is my favorite. Probably because I'm half Italian but don't speak the language. I do speak French, though and can figure out a lot of Italian when I read it.

5. I'm originally from Kansas City. Love that town but hate the cold weather so I moved to Phoenix Arizona for 18 years before coming to Texas 10 years ago. Texas is a blend of both. The weather is more like AZ but the trees and green is more like KC. The picture above is the Country Club Plaza, a major shopping area in KC , they have lit this area at Christmas since before I was born. It is so beautiful!!

6. Pink Roses are my favorites

7. My greatest vice is...magazines. Don't smoke and barely drink.

Don't know any one well enough to tag them so Hope you find my answers interesting.

My Inspiration

This beautiful fabric is the inspiration for the whole color palette used in the house. I bought a small piece from e-bay and fell in love with it.

The only problem is that I can't find any more of it. The selveges were cut off when I got it so I can't even search for the pattern on the internet.

I have spend endless hours scouring every site that I can to see if I can find it. The only other place I have ever seen it was a long time ago on a designer show on HGTV. If you know the name of this fabric or where I can find more, PLEASE let me know.

I would like to do cushions for my bar stools and a valence for my dining room window. I have spent over $100.00 on fabric for this project and am disappointed every time with the way that it looks. Nothing seems to look right. I just have to find this fabric if I can

The Shabby Kitchen Display

The vaulted ceiling in the kitchen afforded a great opportunity to have a great display above the cabinets, but I wanted something a little different. I went scrounging around my house for something out of the ordinary for a kitchen.

The clock was a great find on the sale table at Home Goods. It was all black when I got it. I was painting the cabinets and just started wiping it with my cream paint and it just turned blue.I was so pleasantly surprised, it was just the color I would have chosen. Who would have thought!!

Next I found an old frame or two that I got from my Mom, some blue and white to pull some of my blue and white china from my collections and some other shabby things accumulated over the years. Topped of with some green plants and I was done.

Garage Sale Chandelier

I really wanted a chandelier for either my dining room or kitchen but after shopping on line and e-bay I didn't think that I could afford them on my budget. One of the neighboring subdivision was having their semi-annual garage sale. I found this one at one of the sales. It was brass and colonial looking with a big brass ball in the center. I took off the ball and glued the finial on, painted it white then antiqued it with my acrylic paints. I still needed crystals. Since some of the stores were already starting to put out their Christmas decorations (In early August?) I looked to see if any of those would work but I discovered at Michael's in the wedding section they had these glass crystals. Each box was about $5.00. I think I used 3 boxes with wire I had here at home. I also got a crystal garland to twine in the middle. I figure I got the whole thing for $40.00. I had the shades from a previous chandelier and Voila! We took out the fluorescent light that was there and put this one up. I have a chain cover and want a dimmer so I can soften it when I want. I am going to have a young man I know who does electrical jobs do that when he hangs my dining room chandelier, too. I think it really dresses up the kitchen.

From Drab to Fab

The first place that we started was in the kitchen. It was still the original 80's look with the original appliances. Yhe first thing we did was replace the stove and dishwasher. Later an over the stove microwave,sink and faucet. Then the cabinets were painted Edwardian Linen by Ralph Lauren. Next we painted the wall a soft grayed French blue. Then crown molding to the top of the cabinets and lastly the walls were wallpapered with Toile wallpaper. I also replaced the flourescent lighting with a chandelier to complete the look. The result is a wonderful, warm area to cook and bake.

This is picture of my little cottage here in Texas. I bought it recently to downsize and prepare to retire. When we bought it it was "plain vanilla" and we (my daughter and myself) are working to turn it into a cream puff. For almost the past year we having been working to start updating it. So far we have put down wood laminate floors, redone most of the kitchen, updated the fireplace and painted all of the main living area. It has been a big job and we still have a long way to go. I hope to be sharing a lot of what we've done in future posts



Thanks for visiting!





Sandy

Hello!

My name is Sandy and this is my first post on my blog.