"Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity"


~Plato

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Who Chooses Who?

How do we choose
the houses we live in?
And why do we choose
 the ones we do?

Is it the money,
the location, the space,
the curb appeal
or is it a feeling?

I believe there are
certain tangible things
that lead us, but it's
the feeling you get when
you walk into a house
and know your home
that truly makes our decision!

Which leads me to who chooses who?
Do we choose our house or does it choose us?
I knew this was our house just by reading the ad...
it said "house surrounded by big oak trees"

Sounds PERFECT! 
Sweet husband said I was cracked.
But how can a house be bad if it's
surrounded by big strong oak trees?
We haven't regreted our decision yet


Throw in some Spanish moss...and you have me!

(this is our street)
I love the lines from this song....it makes
me think of our little house..
"And my house it's not much to talk about,
but it's filled with love that's grown in southern ground"

(okay so south florida is a bit of a southern stretch...but i'm still a Georgia girl so it counts)

someone should really trim the hedges....are you reading this sweet husband???

While we are on the subject of houses....
i've been internet house stalking this morning
Take a look


thehouseplanshop.com



aroomsomewhere.net


heritagebuilt.com


southernliving.com


flickr.com


OOOOHHHHH...Lanterns!
My favorite!!!!!!


I would choose any of these houses
any day!



"Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest."
~Henry Van Dyke

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Dream Kitchen

While flipping through the
recent edition of House Beautiful
Magazine...my heart skipped a beat!
I do believe I am completely and
totally in LOVE with this kitchen!

Sorry the picture quality isn't that great
I couldn't find it anywhere on the Internet
so I had to scan it...





True Love......
from the marble counter tops to the glass door refrigerator!
Look at the french door...LOVE the hardware!
It's hard to tell from my poorly scanned picture
but there is chicken wire on the cabinet doors
Seriously, what is not to love in this kitchen? 

Dear owners of this house,
if by some miracle you read this blog....
and if I ever make it to San Francisco
I am so going to be peaking through
your windows to get a better look at your kitchen!
It's Gorgeous


picture from June 2011 House Beautiful Magazine
Designer Ken Fulk
Nice Job Ken...if I ever win the lottery i'm giving you a call~

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Porch Inspiration

I am in need of serious
inspiration for this
next project!
The Back Porch....

Anytime we try to re-do it
a little it never turns out
exactly like I envisioned..
So this time I intend
to research and plan!

Here is a picture of our back porch currently...
well minus the candles hanging from the ceiling!
They had a tendency to drip on unsuspecting
dinner guest...sorry again Dad!

I would really like to paint the ceiling a blue color
I think it would really brighten up the back porch
(shelterpop.com)


And lighten up some of the dark furniture....
by painting a few things and changing the
color of the cushions on other things

(countryliving)

(countryliving)

And of course add lanterns!
I am completely obsessed with them right now~

(southernliving.com)
Put back the curtains....
although I think I would like white
ones better this time
(megmcghee.wordpress)

Now if only I could change the view from my
back porch to this view...i'd be all set...sigh

(veranda)


It's going to be a big project! 
Wish me luck!!!!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Estate sale treasures..now what to do with them??

So I told you how on Mother's Day
we happened upon an Estate Sale..
Well I found some really cool things!
Now I just need to figure out what
in the world to do with them...
Big jar of old keys....some I will use to make
pendants and stuff with. 
 But that's a lot of keys....

Look how cute this is....
(gadgets.boingboing.net)

That would be really awesome to do with the keys...
but I would need to find a few more skeleton keys.

We also found 40 glass insulators...
you should have heard sweet husband suck wind
when I asked the lady how much for the whole lot...
it was kinda funny....thank goodness it was
Mother's Day or else he might have told me no

Two people stopped and asked me
what I planned to do with them...
okay folks...i'm not that smart...I have no idea
But I bought them anyways...

Sweet husband suggested making lighting out of them
Sounds good to me....

(betsyanco.com)

Love Love Love these....
really need to have a bigger kitchen first though

(theinteriorevolution.com)

We also found this old wooden rocker for $5
I think it will look great once it's sanded
& painted or maybe stained dark.
Our next project is fixing up the back porch
so this will fit in just perfectly!


This stuff always comes in handy for something.


Then on our way out I saw this trunk....


It turns out that this trunk belonged to the man who
lived in the house.  He had passed away and his
children were holding the Estate Sale....
sometimes Estate Sales can be sad. 
Anyways...this was his foot trunk from
when he was in the Marine's during
World War II.  It went with him to Iwo Jima.
Isn't that incredible....
I love that I know the story behind this trunk
and that I was able to meet his family.
And I am very honored that they allowed us
to bring it into our home.
We will always cherish it.

"Among the men who fought on
Iwo Jima uncommon valor
was a common virtue"
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
16th March 1945


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

My new set of wheels..

I hope everyone had a wonderful
Mother's Day weekend!
It's been one thing after another
around here.....
Sunday was Mother's Day
Monday was our 13th wedding anniversary,
Thursday is my parents wedding anniversary
and the day our oldest will turn 10
YIKES! 
Where does the time go?

Back to Mother's Day....
I had a lovely day
sweet husband and the children
were very good to me!
They bought me something i've been wanting

A shiny new bike with a basket in front!


Isn't she pretty! 
We had a great time biking up and
down the streets surrounding us
(well if you can ignore sweet husband humming the
song from the wizard of oz as he rides behind me...
you know what song i'm talking about! The one where the
witch is riding the bike....yes he is just sooooo funny)

I brought my camera and took a few pictures of
houses, flowers and stuff....

Wouldn't it be so cool to pass through this to get to your
front door!  Inside the big hedge I could see
 a fountain with a big pond. 
This house is actually for sale!

Do you think the people who live in this house would
mind if I came and had tea in their little gazebo? 
I'll take a picture of the big house one day....it's gorgeous
but the neighbor was watching me when I took this one.
Yep...you are going to see me on the news one day...
crazy lady on bike taking pictures and
stalking her neighbor's houses tonight at 5!

And then there is this curious house....
It's a castle! 
With gargoyles and everything...it's very odd
But hey...to each his own!

Look how beautiful this tree we saw is...


We made it all the way to the beach...

And then after our bike ride...the best thing happened!
We found an estate sale.....
Really, do days get any better than that?
Here I am riding home from the sale
with a new treasure.
 
Stay tuned....tomorrow i'll show
you everything else I found! 

As my son likes to say.....
It was the BEST DAY EVER!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Last week in a nut shell...

Here is last week in a nut shell...
or maybe it was a nut house
I can't be certain!
I've been trying to figure out why
I haven't had time for blogging lately
And then I downloaded all the pictures from my
camera and I realized...it's been crazy around here!

So here goes my last week in pictures...
Saturday:  finished up prep for Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt
Easter Totes, Easter Pins, 50 mini desserts
Little League game
Then went to see Jimmy Buffett in concert
(On the night before Easter...who does that? But it was a blast!)
Sunday:  Hosted Brunch for 32 family and friends
Loved every minute of it!
Monday: cleaned house top to bottom
Tuesday - Wednesday:
painted mirror frames, placed thrift store items
found the week before Easter...prepared for the Royal Wedding!!

Thursday: Little League and spend the night party with
Mom and Sister! 
Friday:  Up at 4 am! 
Tea Party and Scones at 6 am
Just in time to watch the wedding!

Then went flower shopping and found
these beautiful Peony's..
my favorite of all flowers!

Friday night....dinner Al Fresco...seafood pasta


Saturday:  Up at 6 am!  Flea Market at fairgrounds
Another Little League game
Then it's time to put sweet husband to work..
hanging new mirror...pictures and relocating lantern


So here is whats new....

Found this Horse Canvas Print at a garage sale
 put on by our Baseball Stadium! 
Completely out of character for me
but I LOVE it! 
Reaction from the household...
boys...really?? horses?? with funny looks on their faces
girls...squeals of giddiness and gushing over the horses 


Sofa table found at Goodwill for $25!  Really had all
intentions of cleaning it up and reselling it...but
now I think I might keep it for awhile (shocked I know)

This gorgeous mirror I found at the flea market...
I do believe it's official now, I have an addiction to mirrors!
The frames are all so beautiful...like works of art...I just
can't help myself!

Found these bottles at the flea market also...
added a starfish and a piece of coral to the tops


Relocated the lantern that Sondra and I found
while in Sea Island.  Had sweet husband move
it from the garden to here...
What do you think of it here?  Is it to much?
Or is it just right?


Last but not least...found this at the garage sale
and hung it in our daughter's room. 
Added some moss and a few of her fairy's and
it makes a sweet little fairy garden!

Now it's Sunday and i'm exhausted!
But I think i'll go and catch up on
every one's blogs that i've missed this
last week....who knows what
inspirations i'll discover for
next weeks redecorating escapades!


P.S.....For those of you keeping count
I was able to fit ANOTHER piece of furniture
into the living room...but that's it....I SWEAR!
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