Wall Sconces

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had a good weekend.  It was so nice and sunny here.  It was hard to say goodbye to a nice weekend like that.

I wanted to share the item that I found at the antique mall with you.  

I found these old looking (but they're probably not) candle wall sconces.

  

I have been wanting some wall sconces for a while now, but haven't been able to find exactly what I was looking for without a huge price tag.  Until I saw these!

I love how they match the frame on the mirror so well and even compliment the style of the mirror.

I'm not going to add candles to them though.  I like them empty.

I love how they stick out from the wall giving some added dimension to the space.

Here is a better close-up.

And I couldn't leave without sharing my latest love, my flowering cherry tree right outside my dining room window.  This is the first year that it has done this well.  I think it's finally mature enough to show all of it's flowers now.  I recall getting it several years ago for Mother's Day.

It has finally gotten tall enough where I notice it from the street.  It compliments the left side of our house perfectly.  I wish I had one more in the backyard too. Maybe we will plant one when the swing set comes down.  That should be in the near future.

Can you believe it is almost Easter?!  Time is flying by.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

Linking to:  Inspire Me Tuesdays

Shopping Tour

Hello everyone!

Are you having a good Saturday so far?  It was an early morning for me.  I had to take my son to the dentist for a cleaning.  He has to go more frequently with his braces now.  Then I came home, and my husband was doing this!

He is pressure washing our back deck.  It hasn't been done in so long!  Isn't it a pretty day outside?  We are loving the sunshine today.  

The other day I went to my favorite antique store to walk around.  I brought my camera so you could come along with me. (I'm sure my sister will recognize this place!)

I stopped in one of my favorite booths.  I love all the blue and white dishes they have and french style accessories. This is the booth that I bought my blue and white plates from last time.  

Just check out all the french goodness in this booth! 

(This dresser reminds me of mine in my foyer.)

I would love to have that large blue and white platter and pitcher!  They're expensive though.

See?  They have fresh lavender bundles, pretty artwork and grain sacks too.

She sells a lot of french baskets which I love as well.

Ok..........there is more to see.  I took too long in this booth.

If you are a pillow hoarder like me, then you'll LOVE this booth!

I met the lady while she was setting up this booth.  She said all of her pillows are handmade with real french linens.  I believe her too!  (You should see the prices.)  They're all so beautiful though.  

More cute stuff.

I loved this harvest basket filled with twigs.

I about died when I saw this arrangement!  This is the same faux lavender that I have.  They placed it in an old bucket, but arranged it in oasis so it would have a fluffier look.  I loved how it looked.  I have some in my olive bucket in the kitchen.  I may give that a try.  They wanted over $100 for this arrangement.  WHAT?????

You can get this stuff at Hobby Lobby and make it yourself.  No need to spend that kind of money!

Are you still with me? 

What's not to love about this?  (Oh, the price.)  It was $89.  And I would need 2 thankyou!  

I loved these hanging planters with wire.

Another cute wall basket.  I liked the greenery.

Lisa Gabrielson's booth

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this.  It's just like my dog!

Well, that's all for today.  I hope I didn't put you to sleep with my long shopping tour.  This place is huge and can take hours to go through.  Oh, and did I purchase anything?  Glad you asked!  Yes I did.  I will share that in another post.  And...........it is in one of these pictures that I shared with you.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy your weekend.

~ Kelly ~

French Styling in the Foyer

Hello everyone!

You may recall, in my last post, that I moved a chair out of my foyer and into my family room.  Well, that created the need  to fill that spot and a few other changes as well.  Things just hop all around at my house.  They don't stay in one place too long.  

The chair got replaced with a basket of faux lavender.  

On the chest, I placed a wicker style bowl and filled it with a vintage grain sack.

I added some pictures around it.

  One is this new little french style plaque that I picked up the other day.  It has bulls on it.

I like the colors of it because it picks up the color of the chest.

So there you have it!  A little bit of French styling in my foyer.

At least for today!  

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

Distressing the Mantel

Hello everyone!

Well, you know I can't leave anything alone.  After I painted my fireplace mantel, I kept feeling like it didn't look right.  The grey paint looked darker on the mantel since it was next to the stone.  So, it looked slightly off from all the other greys in the room.  I don't mind different greys, but this had a different undertone or something that just didn't look right.  So, I decided to water down some white paint and rub it on to give it more of a distressed look and lighten the grey just a bit. I also did the same thing with the mirror frame.

Here is a close-up of the new finish.

After I did it, I instantly loved it and felt that it solved the problem with the paint.  Now, it has dimension. 

Of course, with a new look for the mantel, I decided to tweak a few things around it too.

I moved the chair from the foyer in here and placed my topiaries in some white tureens.  I needed that white contrast to keep it from looking blah.

I added a french ticking striped pillow in the chair and some soft greenery in a white pot on the hearth.

Now I feel that everything is more cohesive and  has that "country Swedish" look that I love.

Here is a before and after, side by side, for you to see.

I think the new look is better.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Yard Work

Hello everyone!

I didn't mean to go missing so long, but it seemed there was a lot to be done this week during Spring Break.  We did end up taking a day trip to the mountains though.  It was a nice little getaway.  But, back at home, there was a huge need to work in our back yard to get it ready to grow grass.  In January, we had our septic tank field line expanded and it tore up a lot of the back yard.  So, now with the warmer weather being here, we were finally able to get it back to normal. 

My husband had to rake up all the hay he put out to cover the dirt from the construction.  Then he could get it regraded properly.   

It's time to retire this old birdhouse now too!

We hired someone to run a bobcat around the area to regrade that section of the yard.

After the bobcat was done doing its magic, my husband created a new shape for the backyard and bordered it in pine straw.  He put down grass seed in the area that he wanted to grow grass in.  That is the area covered in hay that you see closest to the house.

The existing grass will get reseeded in the Fall.  He needs to aerate the yard first and it will do better in the cooler months of Fall. So, right now it doesn't look as good as it will.  We will probably plant something in the pine straw border as well.

The grass will continue to fill in and get greener as the months go by. The hay that is in the wooded part will eventually go natural as part of the woods.  We had to cover up the red dirt for now. 

We have pressure washing to do and someone coming out soon to replace rotten wood on our house too.  Our house is 18 yrs old and needs quite a bit of work now.  There are other areas in our side yard and front yard that will get some TLC this Spring too.  Can't wait! 

Despite a lot of things being in limbo, we are starting to see some pretty flowers blooming.

My flowering cherry tree near the dining room window.

And my Camellia bush near the front porch.

  We also have a flowering crab apple tree beside our driveway that is in full bloom now too.
 

So, today is a day of rest for us! 

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~ 

Fireplace Makeover

Hello everyone!

It has been a glorious week here in GA!  The weather is beyond gorgeous and our schedule is light since there is no school.  So, with the relaxed atmosphere, why not throw in some spontaneous projects around the house right?  Isn't that what everyone does when they don't have too much on the calendar?  I decided to repaint my fireplace mantel so it would stand out more from the wall and accent the stone nicely.

So, here is the before:

And here is the after:

Now, I didn't hate the white mantel by any means.  It was classic and accented the stone nicely and matched the room perfectly.  I was just ready for a change.  I wanted to warm up the mantel a bit more to make it more of a focal point than it was.  

And I also painted the frame around the mirror above the mantel.  Felt like they should match.

I used the same paint color that I've used practically everywhere.  

Fawn Brindle by Sherwin Williams

It is obviously my "got to" grey color!  I like how it contrasts against all the white I have everywhere.

Have you done any spontaneous house projects lately?

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Kelly ~

Loving Stripes

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for such sweet anniversary wishes on my last post!  My husband and I went out to eat to celebrate and enjoyed a quiet weekend together.  

I wanted to share some new striped pillows that I've been enjoying lately.  The pattern reminds me of mattress ticking.

I added a rectangular beige striped pillow on my sofa.  It's just enough to add without it becoming jumbled full of pillows again.

It has a down insert in it and is from Ralph Lauren.

Then I found this black striped one in a square shape for my bed.

It adds just enough pattern and color to compliment other items in the room without being too busy.

Spring break is officially here for my youngest son.  We will be taking some time to do something fun this week.  Luckily, our weather couldn't be nicer too!  It is shorts and tank top weather around here.  Hard to believe that just a couple of days ago I needed a jacket and an umbrella!  

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~