Decorating with Old Columns

Hello everyone!

Well, we survived the storms.  Thank goodness!  They weakened, greatly, by the time they made it to us.  So, we've only been dealing with rain so far.  

Have you ever wondered what to do with something you find at an antique store?  I've had these old columns for years.  When I found them, I wasn't exactly sure how I would use them, but knew they would add some personality somewhere!

I recently moved one in my foyer and placed a concrete artichoke on top. I'm using it as an architectural piece.  

I like how simple it is and fills an empty spot without looking cluttered.

The other column I have is in my sitting room.  I'm using it as a planter.

The tops of these columns actually have a hole in them, so I can place something inside if I want too.  

For extra stabilization, my columns have been placed on top of cement capitols.  I like how they look as well.

So, these are just a few ideas of what you could do with an old column if you happen to find one.  I've been enjoying mine for a very long time and can't imagine that I'll ever part with them.  They're truly one of a kind!

Thanks for stopping by! 

~ Kelly ~

Making Some Progress

Hello everyone!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and worked outside in the yard.  We also hired a neighbor (who is a carpenter for a living) to replace some rotten wood on our house.  

Our house is aging and needs to have a lot of things fixed and replaced.  Ughh!  We've never lived in a house this long so it has been a learning experience to have to replace so many things.  We've lived in this house for over 18 yrs.  

The first thing was to fix up our back deck.  My husband cleaned it and then stained it.  He still needs to do one more coat though.  He ran out of stain. 

But, even with one coat, it's already looking so much better!  He will do the same thing to our front porch floor too.

Next, he planted our garden.  It's just a little one but plenty for our needs.

We're just growing some tomatoes, squash, bell peppers and cucumbers.  These should take off soon.

We also cleaned out our woods behind our house.  I love that we have these woods since it gives us more privacy, but it does become a dumping ground for lawn and bush clippings and sticks. So, we used our burn barrel to clean that up.  Still have more to do on that front too!  

Our neighbor and good friend has his own business as a "handy man" or carpenter (I guess you could call him).  He is so knowledgeable about everything construction related and we were thrilled to have him fit us in his very busy schedule.  

He replaced some of our rotten window sills with the kind that will never rot again.

We still have a few more that he will get to at another time.

And he replaced a piece of rotten wood on the back side of our porch.  Our builder did not add flashing above it so that's why the wood rotted.  Our neighbor made sure to do every thing the right way!

Of course, it needs to be painted, but we must pressure wash the house first.  It's always something!

He gave us some tips to improve some other things on our house, too, that we hope to get done on our own.

He told us that homes that were built in the 90's (which is ours) were not always built with the best materials compared to today.  Builders used bad siding (ours has been replaced), bad stucco (we dodged that one), bad plumbing (ours is good), bad septic tank field line set-ups (ours was improved), wooden window sills (ours are being replaced).  And on and on and on!  Whew!  No wonder we sometimes feel like we live in a money pit.  Even the water saver toilets of today are better than the ones that were installed in our home 18 yrs ago.  It's as if our home was the guinea pig for construction and now they're tweaking all the problems.  

So!  It has been a busy weekend, but a good learning experience about our house as well.  

Slowly,  we will make things better ....................and then we'll move!  Ha Ha.  Isn't that the way it normally goes?

Hope you all had a good weekend too.  And to all you fellow southerners, stay safe during the line of bad storms coming our way today!  My heart goes out to all those affected in Arkansas that experienced the deadly tornadoes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

How I Bring Country Style to my Home

Hello everyone!

To me, there is nothing better than a good old fashioned country style home.  It feels livable and relaxed and is very unpretentious.  I try to bring elements into my home that give it that country relaxed feeling that I like.  One way to do that is to not use too many things in my home that don't serve a purpose.  In other words, they could serve double duty in some ways.  I make functional items become decorative accessories.  I don't have a lot of knick knacks around my house because of that reason.  

Here are some examples:

Who needs a vase for flowers?

I used this pitcher instead.  

I hung these coffee cups off my bottle tree.  It keeps them on display until I use them.

I took the doors off a set of cabinets so I could display my everyday dishes.  They're all white and are not only useful but pretty to look at.  

I use this wire basket to hold books or magazines.  Why buy a specific magazine rack when a simple basket will do the trick?

I used this over sized basket in the center of my dining table.  You don't always have to have a fancy flower arrangement in the center.

I'm using this old crate to give more personality to this plant on my fireplace hearth.

Some things just need to be added as a "signature country look".  These are a few that I've added to my home.  

I made this skirt to hang in place of ordinary cabinet doors under my sink.  

I placed this cobbler bench in my foyer.

This vintage enamelware tea kettle replaced a newer modern one.

Who says that all chest of drawers should only be used in bedrooms?  I use this one in my sitting room.  It has a country look and gives me more storage.

This is an old rake that is no longer relegated to the outdoors.  It is propped up as a country accent in my foyer.

My coffee table has peeling chippy paint on it for a distressed authentic country look.  (Country homes are not perfect!) 

What to do with leftover old rope?  Why wrap it around your light fixture chain, of course!  

And finally, simple fabric patterns are used,  such as these striped pillows.  

So, now you know what kinds of things I look for to create the country look in my home.  

Do you like the look of a country home? What elements do you use?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Decorating with Branches

Hello everyone!

As much as I love using flowers in my home, I also love using branches.  I like the texture they bring to a space and the unique shape they have.   Best of all, I can go outside and pick them right out of my own yard.  We have a lot of trees in my yard, so branches are plentiful.  

I wanted to share some inspiration pics as well.  There are a lot of great ways to use them.  

source

source

Don't they make a statement?!

So, I set off to do the same in my home in my dining room.  I brought up an urn from my basement and filled it with some oasis.  I used some curly willow branches mixed in with some from my own yard and arranged them in the oasis.  Then I covered the base with spanish moss.  

The good thing about this kind of project, is that it doesn't have to be perfect.  Branches on trees aren't, so mine don't have to be either.  

It's just another way to add texture and interest to a room.

So, next time you're picking up twigs etc from your yard after a storm,  don't throw them out so quickly.  If they have an interesting shape.  Save them and make a branch arrangement of your own!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Easter Time

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a nice Easter yesterday.  It was a beautiful day here in Georgia and it's still going strong this week!  I wanted to share a few snippets from Easter yesterday and some shots from around the house outside.  I just love this time of year!  

My youngest son knows the truth about the Easter bunny, however, he still wanted a basket.  So, I wasn't about to disappoint him!

I'm sure he will be on a sugar high the rest of the week!  

We included our dog in the festivities as well.  He got a new toy bone!  It was hard to get a pic of him sitting still. He was off in a flash to play with it as soon as he got it.

I forgot to take pics of our breakfast, but it was very good.  After breakfast, we headed over to my inlaws for an Easter dinner.  I brought this orange bundt cake. It was delicious!

I included a link to the recipe in my last post (if you're interested). 

Outside, things are looking so pretty now.  The grass is greening up and the trees are budding leaves now.  One of my favorite trees is our River Birch by our front walkway.  It's always so bare in the Winter, so I know summer is coming when it's full of leaves again.

I refilled my bird feeders only to find the usual suspects eating out of them again.

The dogwood trees are in bloom too.

I haven't done much on my front porch yet since we've had some cold snaps and rain lately.  I need to clean it real well first.  So, this is all I've done at the moment.

My husband is buying some clear stain to put on our back deck now that he's cleaned it.  I'm so glad that he's getting some stuff done around here finally!  

See?  This IS a good time of year.  

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Hydrangeas and French Ticking Stripes

Hello everyone!

With so many of us planning our Easter meals for this weekend, I thought I'd share some of my newest additions to my table in the kitchen.

I will be making us an Easter breakfast of homemade waffles and bacon.  Yum!  The weather is supposed to be in the low 70's and sunny.  I'm so happy about that!

So, these pics were taken in the early morning sun.

I found these French ticking striped pillows at 

..........wait for it..............

(Target)!!!!!!!!!!

Can you even believe it?!  I purchased the original ones from an Etsy shop in France just last year!

So this fabric is an exact replica of the pattern.  I also have the originals in beige in my family room.

Target has got it going on!!

I also added some white hydrangeas to a galvanized container as a centerpiece.

Shhhh...........they are fake!

I hope the "fresh flower police" don't come after me now.

I'm planning on making this orange bundt cake too.  

Source:  Zu Haus at Home

Hope all of you get some early morning sunshine on Easter as well!  

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

How to Make an Impressive Lavender Display

Hello everyone!

Remember when I took you shopping with me last weekend?  I found that wonderful lavender display that was created with faux lavender from Hobby Lobby.  I briefly explained how it was done, but thought I would show you with pictures too.  I already had some of the faux lavender on hand and wanted to make mine look as good as the one I saw.  

So I started with this container.

Then I added some grocery sacks to fill it up just a bit, since my container was so deep.

Then I used some of this (purchased at Hobby Lobby with coupon). It came with several blocks in the pkg.

I placed some on top of the grocery sacks.  

Then I made sure to spread out the flowers on each of these stems to get a fuller look.  They start off looking like this.

I poked each stem down into the foam blocks making sure to angle them near the edge of the container.

When done, it looked like this!  This looks pretty full with only using 4 flower bushes too.

What I find the foam blocks do, that the plain grocery sacks don't do by themselves, is it allows you to control the angle of the flowers and keeps them secure.  That's what allowed me a fuller look using fewer flowers than normal.  

I did the same thing in my foyer with the flowers in my olive bucket.

  

So there you have it!  A lush display that didn't cost a fortune.  

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~