Sitting Room Makeover

Hello everyone!

I've been very very busy this weekend making over my sitting room.  I decided it was time to lighten and brighten it to match the rest of my home better.  I painted some furniture, painted the walls, re-arranged furniture and re-accessorized the room.  It looks completely different now. 

First, I painted the walls Linen White by BM.  It is the same color used throughout the house. I moved the wall hutch out of the room and placed the chest between the two front windows.  I painted the secretary grey and moved it to the back wall.  Two slip covered chairs balance out each side.

I filled the secretary with old books, plants and silver pieces. A touch of burlap and some string add texture. 

I had to switch the chests from the family room and sitting room since they are different sizes.  The one originally in here was too big to fit between the windows. 

My black chair (minus the ottoman) moved to the opposite corner of the room.

This corner of the room remains  unchanged.  I am expecting something in the mail to place above the small mirror on the wall.  I realize it looks like it's hung too low right now. 

The wall hutch moved to the dining room.

I like it in here much better.  I displayed some of my white dishes in it.

I made a couple of other changes to another room which I'll share later this week.

I don't really want to see a paintbrush for a very long time now!  That secretary was a bear to paint.  It had so many nooks and crannies and locks and drawer pulls and hinges and levers.  Whew!  I did not realize how much work it was going to be when I started it.  Btw, it was not made of any kind of fancy high dollar wood.  So I didn't ruin it by painting it.  Just thought I'd share that.  I know some people get upset about that.

Hope everyone had a good and productive weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Linking to:  Met Monday

Restyling the Armoire

Hello everyone!

Remember when I painted the armoire in my family room?  I painted the exterior grey with a white wash over it.  The interior was left dark.  Well.......I didn't like it that way.  It seemed like a cave inside.  So, out came the white paint and now I'm happier with it.

Now you KNOW me by now, I'm sure!  Do you think, after painting the inside of it, that I could just leave it alone?  Of course not!

I decided to relocate my brown and white transfer ware from the sitting room into here. I added a few shells and some blue bottles too. I left the baskets on the bottom though.

Do you see what I did with the blue bottles?  I put shells in the top of them.  I've seen them on bottles before where they're soldered on and they cost ALOT!  Well, I had the old bottles and I had the shells, so I just placed them in there and voila!  I'm happy with it.

I like the new summery look of the cabinet now. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Go out and catch some sunshine if you can.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly~

Linking to:

Feathered Nest Friday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Inspiration Friday

Raindrops in the Garden

Hello everyone!

My husband and I finished putting out pine straw in the front yard and now we're working in the back yard.  We're almost done....finally!  After a light rain today, I thought I 'd show you what's blooming around my house again.  There are a few new things I haven't shared with you yet.

Don't you just love how everything looks after it rains? 

First of all, I found a colorful striped pillow for my swing. I'm liking the pop of orange with the black and green already out there.

Let's take a tour of the yard, shall we?

In the front yard, I have one peony bush that always makes me excited when I see this.

I can't wait for these buds to open up!!

 My knock-out roses are going crazy!  I have them in red and pink.

Looking back at the front porch, my hosta is very full.  I will be adding ferns by my front door later this week.

Down by the mailbox, I have honeysuckle vine and a forgotten rose bush that keeps rearing it's head!  It has bloomed now too.  See my little "puppies in a basket" cement statue?  That thing weighs a ton!

Let's move into the backyard now. At the back of our driveway is a retaining wall covered in ivy.  We planted rose bushes (not knock-outs) for height and flowers.  They do well this time of year, but not so great in the summer.  I think it gets too hot for them. 

This is just one bloom, but look at ALL the buds that have yet to open!

Over by the back deck, I have yellow iris.

And, I wish I could remember what these are called.  I just know that they bloom bright yellow flowers.  I think they're in the iris family because they started from bulbs.  My MIL gave them to us.  They haven't bloomed yet, but they will soon and last a long time.

Here is one side of our back yard.  I still need to buy hanging flower baskets for my back deck. They hang off the iron scrolled stand at the corner.  That way I can see them from inside the kitchen too.

Excuse our grass.  This time of year, it is still greening up and will eventually choke out the weeds. 

Taking care of our yard is a never ending process.  Certain times of the year it looks better and then worse.  I love this time of year in our yard the best though.  Everything has new life and there is a promise of beauty to come.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Linking to: 

Wow-Us-Wednesdays
What's It Wednesday

Porch Flowers

Hello everyone! 

I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend.  We have had the most wonderful weather here and decided to take advantage of it.

My husband took me to the nicest plant nursery to pick out flowers for our porch.  I had never been to this particular nursery and, unfortunately, forgot to bring my camera.  I know...."bad blogger"!  I was disappointed that I didn't have it because they had so many pretty things to share with you.  If I ever go there again, I'll be sure to remember my camera! 

I wanted a hanging basket to hang off the front porch beside the stairs.  I have a nice hanger there already.  So, I opted for this Bougainvillea plant.  I was going to transplant it into a nicer hanging basket until I realized it had lots of very sharp thorns in it!  So, we just kept it as is.

It will continue to grow and eventually you won't even see the pot that it's in.

Then we found some wave petunias and sweet potato vine to fill the coco basket planters on the porch railing.

All of these plants will spill over the edge of these planters creating a full and colorful basket.  (So I'm told.)

I will be sure to show pics as they get fuller. 

I really like the colors of the deep purple and white petunias next to the chartreuse green sweet potato vine.

School starts back tomorrow and life will resume as normal (thank goodness).  It has been a long, but fun week.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Old Flowers - New Places

Hello everyone! 

I can't believe this week is almost over.  We still have so much yet to do while the kids are on Spring break!  Today,  I wanted to share with you some flowers that I have around my house.  Most of these I've had for a while, but they are now in different areas of the house.  It's funny how changing their container and location makes them look like something new all over again!

In my master bedroom, I moved the cherry blossom branches to a new spot next to our bed.  I also added some white peonies and roses to help fill out the lower half of the table.

I love them next to my bed.  I don't know why I didn't place them here sooner!

Aren't they a perfect match?

On the other side of the bed, I placed a peony bouquet in a small wicker basket.

In the master bathroom, I added some fuchsia orchids to the side of the tub.

I don't think I've shown a full view of this tub (probably because it has the outdated brass faucet and shower surround).  Oh well, today's your lucky day!  Ha!  I added another peony bouquet in here too.

In the dining room, I placed a crate full of these wispy white flowers (forgot what they are called) in the center of the table.

In the kitchen, I placed pink and white peonies in an old milk crate on top of the  computer cabinet.

And finally, in the foyer, I changed out the pink cherry blossom branches for some white flower branches instead.

I love sprinkling flowers around the house.  I prefer the non-traditional flower arrangements in my home.  I like for them to look more cottage style, as if I just picked them from outside and placed them in a container.  I think peonies, roses, floral branches and orchids work well for this look.  Of course, you may remember in some recent posts where I have lily of the valley flowers on my mantel and kitchen table too.  I didn't want to forget them!

Do you like decorating with cottage style flowers too? 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Linking to:

Feathered Nest Friday

Inspiration Friday 



It's All In The Numbers

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share with you something that I ordered from Etsy.com.  It arrived today and was packaged so cute.

It came with extra gifts too.

Check out this cute little metal fragment that can be used to hang off a knob.

The back of the tag says this:

Isn't that a nice suggestion?

 

This is what was inside the tissue paper.........

This is called a zip code pillow!  The numbers are my own personal zip code.  I ordered it from Kijsa P. Housman Studios.  Her sister is the author of the Thistlewood Farm blog.  She has an Etsy shop and sells handmade items.  So, if you want your own zip code pillow, head on over there!

Here is how the back looks.

I placed it in a chair in my kitchen.

Also, I discovered something as I was playing with pillows today.  One of the little square cushions that I ordered from Wuslu.com fits my stool perfectly!  So, I decided to use it on there.

So, that's what I wanted to share today!  Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far.  My kids are home on Spring break and we plan on seeing a movie and planting some flowers.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

Linking to:  Wow-Us-Wednesday



"Just a Swinging"

Hello everyone!

I've been enjoying the beautiful sunshine and warm weather we've been having and working outside.

My husband and I went to Lowe's today and bought a new porch swing.  Our other one was 16 yrs old and had a broken piece of wood on it.  It was also in need of a paint job.  So, we decided to just replace it instead.

Since this one is black, it matches our rocking chairs. I like this one much better than the one we had before.

I'm looking forward to sitting out here after the pollen season subsides.

Now, I have to clean and repaint the rocking chairs.  Also, we plan on buying flowers for the porch railing planters this week.

I was able to put out more pine straw in the front yard too.  Still, more is needed!

As you can see, everything is greening up nicely.

Some more flowers have bloomed since I last took pictures.

We have light pink knock-out roses blooming.

Also, some deep pink knock-out roses in bloom.

Our hosta came up.

Our nandina is nice and green now too.

Our one remaining azalea bush in the back yard (that the dog didn't kill) is in bloom too.

You can see all the pollen on it.

So, that's what I've been doing this weekend.  How about you?  Anything exciting or something that has been on your "to do list"?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~