Flora's Crowning Beauty

Our home is a little old cottage. There's a lot about our house that we have changed, and a lot that we have kept. But the thing that sold me on our sweet bungalow, was this mantle. I knew from the moment I walked in the very first time, that even if I changed everything else in the house, this would always be my favorite spot in the house. It is the very first thing you see when you walk through the door, like a familiar smile welcoming you in.

From season to season, this mantle changes very little. Maybe some different foliage, or an additional candle every now and then, but for the most part, she stays set. In fall, she warms us with her candlelit glow, and in the spring she welcomes us with new buds starting to bloom.

I've always wondered about what our house's name was. In the past I've toyed around with Ethel, or Ella, or Myrtle...I knew it needed to be a name that sounded like a little old lady who had beauty beyond her years, and wisdom from her age. However, I never settled on anything. That is, until just the other day.

I happened to meet a man who grew up right across the street from my house. He told me all about the sweet lady who lived here, raised her children here, and even held a neighborhood Bible study for all the neighborhood children (fitting, don't you think?). Where do you suppose she had her Bible study? Yes, just to the right of that very mantle. In that moment, I realized that "Flora's" crowning beauty would always be that very spot.

Now go and get all warm and cozy visiting Emily's glimpses of home tour. It's a sure fire way to make you fall in love with home all over again.

Before and After...Bathroom

For a while we've been enjoying our newly redone bathroom, but I've yet to show the before and after pics.   While relaxing down here at the beach, I was reading an article in one of my Real Simples that I hadn't had a chance to look at until being down here, and it was showing some beautiful shades of green.   It made me remember about my bathroom, and how calming it now is.   

Even though I love decorating, I'm not someone who knows from the start exactly what things are going to look like.   Usually, I decide as I'm in the process.    For my bathroom, I was almost sure that I was going to paint it a serene shade of blue.    I came home with a great shade of green instead.   My husband said, "I thought you were going with a blue of some sort."   I responded, "I did, too."    But, I love the shade I picked.   It's completely tranquil.     The name of it is "Pebble" from Valspar.

We knew we had to redo the bathroom - it wasn't really an option.   It's our only bathroom, and there just wasn't a lot of room.   The vanity took up most of the floor space, so we knew that a pedestal sink would be nice.    There was old linoleum, and we wanted tile.   But we also knew that we couldn't splurge and completely redo everything.    So, the things we chose were a new sink, beadboard to make it feel bigger and give it more character, new floor, and new light fixtures. 

this is my only before picture with the old sink/vanity still in.     River had "decorated" it for Christmas (thus the napkins everywhere and the original reason for the picture.)

sink out,  subfloor exposed

new fixture with same old mirror and medicine cabinet, but a frame made to fit around the mirror to give it a little more class.

i think this shot shows the truest representation of the color "pebble"

It's great.   Still simple, but also serene.    I love being in there now, verses how much I used to dread going in.   Much less...having to let guests use it!    To see more pics of the process, check out my hubby's handiwork here.   And if you ever think a redoing a small bathroom won't really make a difference, you better think again!

Vintage? Or Vintage Inspired?

The other day, my friend Kari said how she like decorating with things that have stories attached. I couldn't agree more. Now, my story might be that I found it in my Grandma's attic, or on the side of the road, but it's still a story.

The other day, when skimming through a Pottery Barn Kids magazine, I saw something that looked familiar. I know that it caught my eye, just because I love the vintage style so much. But it was funny as I looked closer, I thought to myself, "I have the originals!!" And also the creeks, but hey, what's a little character!

Here is the "vintage inspired" bed from PB

the "Olivia Collection"

And here's the matching "vintage inspired" dresser in vintage pink

here's our vintage little girls' bed

(the "River" collection)

the bed beside our vintage pink dresser

I can't take credit for finding this beautiful set. A couple years ago, when we were talking of moving River into a big girl bed, my sweet mom-in-law saw it while down at her favorite antique store in Shallote, N.C. She grabbed a cell phone and got the "YES!!! GET IT!" from me, and it was loaded onto her friend's truck in no time.

Before paying the big bucks, check out antique stores if you're wanting that vintage look. A lot of times you'll find what you're looking for (and even what Pottery Barn's looking for) right under your eyes! At a fraction of the price! Like an 1/8 of the price. Yes, seriously. Now, sometimes you'll have to do your own paint job, but a lot of times you can find them already spruced up, and only a couple hundred, instead of a couple thousand!

Christmas Tour of Homes

Christmas Tour of homes?   So much fun!!    Just still act surprised and amazed if you're coming to my Holiday bazaar this weekend!   I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never...again!

welcome all!

entryway table

front room mantle in the morning light

winter time stick arrangement in living room

my dining room mantle

and she kept all these things in her heart and pondered them

More Show and Tell...

The other night when I was doing some Christmas decorating, I thought about how much I hate taping my cards to my molding. They always fall down, or get pulled off by little hands, and just fold down, and end up looking kind of junky. Especially if you're like me, and leave up Christmas decorations until Feb.

So I decided this would be a cute way to hang Christmas cards!

Ragamuffin Christmas Card Garlands!

All I did was stretch out plenty of twine, and then did two strands, and tied the ends together. Then tie a bunch of scraps of ribbons and fabric at each little section of your twine. Not too much, to make it too tricky for cards to be on there, but enough to catch your eye, and make you happy to see fun fabric. Then, use drapery clips to hang cards, or paper clips (I know it sounds tacky, but you can't see them from the floor), or even just hang the cards over the twine. (I had to put the same Christmas cards on both sides, because I only have 2 so far!)

Here's hoping for Christmas cards that stay up all season!! And not to mention bring a quite whimsical, festive touch to your house!

Projects of the Weekend

Ok, so a survey is too much work for you, huh? Well, instead of taking a survey, I'll thrill you with before and after pictures...because I don't have too much else to say right now. My brain is mainly on house these days.

Randy and I have been slowly trying to update our house little by little. Along with the things in our house. This is our main "living room" where we are most of the time. The kids play in here, watch shows in here, color, etc. But I've never wanted any area of my house to feel like a playroom. So, I like being able to hide things away in bins and drawers, and have a spot for everything. It gets tricky with not much closet space. Every piece of furniture ends up having a storage function. So anyway, I love this wall in here, but the windows are kind of odd, and figuring out how I wanted to cover them has been a little challenging. I really love having the natural light, but we also wanted something to cover the wall of windows. So here's when I just had some fabric tacked up at the top.

And here's with fabric and trim. During the day, I can still open them, but at night we don't feel like we're on display for all to see.

here's close up

And then, we've been wanting to paint our mismatched dining room chairs all black, so I've been working on that a little, too. So, everywhere I go people look at my black fingers from the spray paint leaking all over my fingers. But I like them a lot more black.

Hopefully, I'll have more enlightening things to say soon. :)

Confessing P.O.O.P.I.E.?

Well, the Nester is at it once again! Ridding the world of disastrous decor, one flower at a time. This is an area that I have to say, I'm pretty passionate about. When helping a friend spruce up her house last year, the first thing I did was go to the HUGE arrangements of fake flowers, and say, "How much do you love this? Because it really needs to go." But sometimes, I confess, it's hard to figure out, what's good and what's not. I've got plenty of mishaps over here at my house, just waiting to be redeemed. Or rekonciled, if I do say so myself. ;) So check out the Nester, and look on all the other great blogs to get good ideas, or see what NOT to do!!

These did look pretty when they were real. Someone please take them out of my front door!!! I've been wanting to do a fall wreath, and just haven't gotten to it...so there ya go - a BAD front door welcome arrangement.

I like all these fun outdoorsy things mixed with other things, and I wanted my little bunny to have a place to rest. So, here ya go, little bunny. Isn't she cute!? Whatever little things River finds outside, I just put in there. Yes, even the cicada shell.

Ok, this is just SAD. I got these really cheap to be able to put into my Christmas tree last year to give it a little more flare. Since then, they've pretty much been hiding in my dining room, and after the kids played "Palm Sunday" with them, over and over again, they just look so sad. I mean, it's like palm pig tails or something. Again, I need to TAKE THEM AWAY!

This is one of my favorite yard sale things ever - and why? Because I got it from the Nester's yard sale. I know, I know, it's sad that I have to use her trash, but hey, when it's cheap, and looks great, why not?! So, these have been from one end of my house to the next, and they've fallen apart and I glue them back together. But I still love them. Nester, you see anything else that looks familiar? ;)

Here's another thing from the summer - I mean, it's NOT like it's FALL YET! I don't have my PUMPKINS OUT YET! Gosh, give a girl a break. heehee.

So, yes, I'm a P.O.O.P.I.E. but they're are lots of things around my house that could use a good refreshing!!!

Red Roosters and Antique Stores...Just the Thing I Needed

As I come to know myself more, I learn that there are somethings that I just can't get away from. Take for instance my love affair with the color red. The other day, I was in my room (which for many months has been the catch all room for some reason) and I noticed that I had not one, not two, not three, BUT FOUR lamps with red lampshades. They weren't supposed to all be in there, and weren't even all plugged in. But just to give you the picture, of how much I love the color red. Which is pretty funny because for the longest time I didn't. But then, the week before I graduated college, my friend, Blair and I went dress shopping, and I couldn't take my eyes off the red dresses. But, I tried to ignore it, because, you know, I didn't like red...especially not ON me. After holding it up and being told how great it would look, I eventually got talked into trying the red dresses on, and one thing lead to another, and well, here we are. With four red lamps in my room. I took two out, mind you, and tidied up a bit. Much better with only two, and with my window mistreatments finished after two years of only having half of it done.

After Randy and I had a wonderful night at The Baird House, which is a beautifully restored 1790 Farm House, we ate a delicious country breakfast (she must have known French Toast was my favorite), roamed around by the Watauga River for a bit, and then had a blast going shopping together without our two kids. We always like going to the Mast General Store because it's just such a fun place with lots of different things from shoes, to candy by the barrel, to vintage toys, home decor, to regular food on the shelves. So, I immediately fell in love with this huge red rooster, and it's now making quite a scene in my kitchen. Thus, the other thing that I'm coming to realize more and more. I definitely have some of my country roots left in me. I've never described my style as country. I think my Mom's farm animal trinkets left a bad taste in my mouth. But as I grow more into what my style is, I definitely see how much I love the cottage feel. And I don't mind saying "French Cottage" one bit. But, come on, who are we kidding. French Cottage IS country. So even though I won't ever hang ceramic white and blue cows in my windows, I do have a big red rooster waking me up every morning. I'm just glad it's not this one.

We also went to a few antique stores and boutiques in the Boone / Blowing Rock area. I love going to antique stores - not the ones that are totally overpriced and leave you feeling deflated. But the ones that you can find things for a deal and enjoy giving this old item a new life in your home. I feel like they have a story of their own, and could tell me many secrets of old, if only they could speak. There's something so fun and nostalgic about finding history in pieces of furniture or accessories. Probably why I can't walk away from vintage hats and shoes when I find them at Salvation Army. So, anyway, I found some great deals on some vintage trays and fabric, which later inspired me to make these cute aprons...

I haven't taken the time to make things for a while, so being inspired by all the beauty of Valley Crucis and the creativity of Blowing Rock was a nice boost. I definitely couldn't afford all the fancies of the boutiques, but I did come home and make a few things to add to our shop. Any little girls in need of a tutu?

I think these are the cutest ever, and I've been wanting to make some for a while. All it takes is just a little time and inspiration...and staying up WAYYY past my bedtime. ;)

We ended our time eating a fabulous dinner at The Bistro in Boone and headed back home to our babies. We loved having time for just the two of us. It is so needed in the rush of life and two children, to just take time to dream a little and to truly celebrate this life that the Lord has given us to share. I can't imagine a more perfect get away....well...maybe for our 10th next year, I could. France or Italy, maybe? Yeah, baby!!!