Goodbye Whiteoak Place

Today we closed on our house.

I am happy and sad.

Happy about the changes and yet sad to say goodbye.

The new house we are moving to is only a few blocks aways but still.  A part of me will miss this house.

I am just thankful that more of me is Happy to be moving. 

Ballard Designs

I tend to gravitate to things in the Ballard Designs magazine. 

If you don't already get it, then you should.

I tend to favor browns, blacks, and nutreals.  I find these colors from cover to cover in Ballard Designs.

Here are a few pictures that caught my eye.

 

We interupt this blog ...

For about  a month now dh and I  have been working out the details for selling our house and buying another one.  I am excited about it all!  I'm dreading the packing but excited about my new house.  We hope to close around the first week of April.  So I will be busy packing and pitching things.  I will update from time to time during the process.  I am looking forward to re-doing the rooms in my new house and sharing it with you. 

Spoon & Fork Canvas

 Over the summer I started a small kitchen redo project.  I painted my kitchen RED and stopped there.  I wanted to hang stuff on the walls but I have been slow to do so.  I don't want to just throw something on the walls.  I want to put something up that I really love.  I had spotted some spoon and fork canvas that I really loved.  I thought maybe I could paint one but never really got around to it. 

So....last night as I go to my local Family Dollar store to grab some laundry detergent as I push my cart through the store my eye spies a very pretty spoon and fork canvas!!!  Not only is it beautiful and a good size but it is only $10!!  Did you read that?  TEN DOLLARS I SAID.

The details of the spoon and fork are wonderful.  Behind them is one of my favorite bible verses

Joshua 24:15

"As for me and my house we will serve the Lord".

The canvas is actually two canvas but they were stapled together and I left them that way.

They measure 20 x 25.  I think that is a good size.

 Here is a picture of my kitchen.  I have hung up drop cloths for curtains, painted the walls red, and hung a few items on the wall.  The things I want to change here are the chair cushions and I'm looking for a vintage black phone.  I will change and add things to this breakfast nook as I find things I love.  For now, I am really happy with my new canvas.

I am in Love!

I now have the prettiest dining room suite.  It once belonged to my husbands great grandmother.  It has wonderful details and is very lovely.  I am told it is about 80 years old.  I am just smitten with it.  Here are some of my "before" pictures I wanted to share with you.  It does need some cleaning and freshening up. 

The color of the wood is beautiful and I love the details of the doors on the buffet.

The captain chair.  See the dust all over it?

The simple details of the chairs are quit lovely.

The table has been sitting in grandpa's house for some time.  There has been a doily table cloth on it and you can still see the pattern after the table cloth was taken off.

Isn't she marvelous?  What a Buffet.

Confessions

I must admit that my house is not what I would want it to be.




Now, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my house. Mainly, the square footage is what I love…it has plenty of room for my family to spread out in. My kids can run around like crazy sit and play games without disturbing anyone. My oldest daughter has her own apartment suite upstairs. (Okay, it’s not really a suite but we do kid her about how much room she has upstairs.) I can actually say we have rooms in our house we don’t use that much.



With all that being said, there are only about 2 maybe 3 rooms in my house that I love. This year, 2011, I plan on making a few more rooms something special.



I love looking at blogs and seeing what other people are doing with their homes. You guys are my inspiration.

New Dining Room Plan

I now have ideas and I'm headed in the right direction with my dining room.  A couple of weeks ago I asked for help in my dining room.

Here are some ideas that I will be using in my own dining room very soon.



GOING TO USE A LITTLE RUB N BUFF ON MY CHANDELIER




RE-DO MY DINING ROOM TABLE LIKE NO MINIMALIST HERE.




ADD SOME DROP CLOTH CURTAINS LIKE TRACY @ BENEATH MY HEART



ADD SOMETHING LIKE THIS ABOVE MY BUFFET TABLE.
THIS IDEA CAME FROM MAPLE & MAGNOLIA



ADD SOME FLOATING SHELVES LIKE YOUNG HOUSE LOVE DID.



I plan on starting this weekend.  I will keep my camera handy and let you know how the progress is going.

:)  I love it when a plan comes together.  Thanks to all those who commented with your ideas.  They were a big help.

Brass Lamps + Spray Paint = New Lamps

I had picked up two rusty brass lamps from a flea market for FREE.  I took them home not knowing if they worked or not.  To my delight when I plugged them up, the light bulb came on!  Sweet!  (that really is what I said)

I failed to take a before picture.  I wish you could have seen these lamps.  The bottom was rusted and by all means, they should have been headed to the dump.  I cleaned them up the best I could.  I used a wire brush to get the loose rust off.  I primed them and painted them a glossy black. 

I painted several things this day.  Stay tuned for the other stuff.

I LURVE the glossy black!

The finished product!  They are so sleek and pretty.  The lamp shades were only $5.00!!  You cannot beat that price either.

Now I just have to find a place for these two lamps. 

I don't really think that will be too much trouble.





Dining Room Help

A couple of months back I painted my dining room a very pretty dark blue.  Since then, nothing else has happened in this room.  I am at a stand still of what to do.  I would like to get this room finished and have the look complete.

Posted a couple of pictures about what I don't like.  In this picture you can see my chandelier.  I think it is a beautiful chandelier, I just wish it wasn't brass.  I cannot take it down but I have even thought of taping paper to the ceiling and so I could spray paint it but I'm afraid to actually spray paint in the house.   What do I hang on the walls is another dilemma I have.

I am not loving these curtains but until I can find something I love that is in my budget, these will stay.  This dresser is what I am using for a buffet.  Should I take the mirror off?

We eat at this table 2-3 times a week.  So I don't want a fussy table that I have to clear everytime we want to eat in here.  So a simple tale decoration would be good too.  I would love something low that I do not have to even take off everytime we sit down.

Help Please

New Table for Me

I found this great old sewing table at a consignment shop this week for only $5.00.  I thought it was a good height for my bedside table.   It is in good shape and very sturdy.  It just needs a little attention.

I actually completed my redo last night. 

But the pictures I took for it are all blurrrrry. 

So you will have to wait till next week to see how it all turned out.

Have a great weekend!



What is Your Style?

Over at Thrifty Decor Chick today Sarah is talking about what kind of style her home is.  (I say that as if I know her personally and that we talk all the time about decorating but in truth, I'm just a follower of her cool blog.)

As I was looking at Ethan Allen today, they have a style quiz.  So I took it and according to them, I am HayLoft.  They describe that as being energetic. Fashion-driven. Practical. Materials borrowed from industry, architecture, and nature. Clean shapes. Punches of color. Spontaneous and fresh. Kids and pets? Bring them on.   

Ummm.. Okay, if they say so.  I think it sound good and so I went on to look at some pictures of things they say I might like. I love, loved them.  I posted some of the pics below.  I think they hit the nail on the head.  I do love these photos and would just die if my home looked like this.  I would be in home decor heaven.

Happy Friday All!

Apple Re-Do

A couple of weeks ago if you will recall, I hit the JACKPOT!  I passed by an old flea market that had a

FREE FOR ALL

sign out front.  What is a girl like me to do other that stop and go in?

I want to show you the first item I have done something with.  (Let's face it, it was free for a reason. You just have to be a person that can see beauty in those things...and I am.)

These are 5 wooden apples I picke up from the free store.

Here is their before picture. Really faded and with some cracks.

I painted these apples bright green an they are now sitting on my kitchen island.  It is a nice touch of color as you walk in our back door (because no one uses our front door).

 Even with the cracks I love how they look in my kitchen.