Tin Roof Junkie

Santa in the Foyer

2011-12-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

The foyer has one of our four trees. It's our Santa tree because it has all Santa ornaments. It has my favorite light color combo with red and white lights. All of my Santa decorations are in the foyer also. On the stairs are our second set of stockings and there are four Santas, one for each of our kiddos. Ho Ho Ho

Christmas in the Living Room

2011-12-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

The living room has our main tree. It is the pencil tree that I bought when I first got married 13 years ago. I have always loved it and still do. The nativity is set on top of the computer cabinet next to the mantel. I bought it for $5 at an auction. I did spray paint it gold and I love it. My kids looove playing with it. Especially the little girls. They're so funny so I let them play until the decorating is done and then he's off limits until next year. This is the first year that I decorated the bay window and I really like how it turned out. The pinecones are ones that my kids glittered up for FHE one night. Merry Christmas ya'll!

Christmas Mantel 2011

2011-12-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

Just some pics of my Christmas mantel this year. I love this sweet quote about our Savior's birth. I try to do something different with my mantle and I accomplished that this year. I love the basket on the hearth that has things that remind me of my childhood home. The deer antler's are my daddy's and it has a turtle shell from the river behind my parent's house and the loblolly pinecones. Memories of home make me happy:))

Chritmas Dinner

2011-12-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite blogs is Between Naps on the Porch. She does a.m.a.z.i.n.g tablescapes. When I grow up I want to be able to do that. Until then I'll do a much smaller scale. This is my fine wedding china. It's Parchment by Mikasa on red chargers from Target. On each plate is a tiny pine cone that I spray painted gold. The red mercury glass votives came from Target. They are a steal at only one dollar. The wooden swan in the middle is such a beauty. My mom got it at auction. It is sold wood and painted white. It sits in a silver bowl from Pottery Barn with the inscription, "Together with Friends and Family is Always the Happiest Place to Be." I love it. The table cloth is a brown toile pattern that I got from consignment for $20. It's so pretty to me. Happy Eating:))

Christmas Front Entrance

2011-12-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

I went to Lowe's with the intent of buying greenery for my front door and when I got there it all looked almost dead already. So....I decided to go home and see what I could come up with for free. I decided to let the kids spray paint as many of the large pinecones as they wanted. They used silver, gold, and white. Then I attached them to some ribbon with hot glue and started to poke and wire greenery from our yard. To say I love it would be an understatement. I can't believe how good it looks and the fact that I didn't have to spend any more money. I already had the ribbon and the rest came from my yard. Even my little, ugly artifical trees that I say I'm going to throw away every year look good. I was able to cover up the bases of them with magnolia and pine limbs and then stuffed more pinecones into the greenery. They may even make it another year or two.

Chritmas in the Dinning Room

2011-12-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

We decided to put a little Chritmas in our dinning room this year. I was able to put the girls' Christmas tree in there. It was perfect with all it's girly colors and colored lights. I also put the kids' collection of snowglobes. Please don't look too closely to the stenciled walled. It was a whole lot harder to do than I anticipated, but I still love it. It's far from perfect thought.

Shoe Madness

2011-06-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Do you have this problem?

With four kids and three of them girls we have A LOT of shoes to sort through at our house. My kids are pretty good about taking their shoes off in the garage and putting them in the shoe bin before going inside, but when it comes to finding them it's a different story.

The boy has the least amount of shoes and the hardest time keeping up with his. Of course that may or may not have something to do with the fact that he takes them off in the car, in the yard, on the roof. Who knows what he does with them all I know is that we can never find them. I tend to be an procrastinator so when I'm running late I need things to be where they are suppose to be.

Here's my solution. Cheap and easy, I loves cheap and easy.

Take four boxes, any box will do. I have a lot of these lying around. Emmy and Ally get larger boxes than the boy and Parker. They have more shoes.

Cut the flaps off the boxes.

Then take some duck tape. We have a lot of that at our house. My husband is not a handy man and so this is how I do a lot of my repairs.

I love all the new colors of duck tape now. So much better than grey. Start wrapping the boxes to give them support. This is a little time consuming, especially when you're doing four, but it's simple enough.

I just wrapped the sides and bottom. I didn't bother with the inside of the boxes, but you could if you wanted. In hind sight I probably should have since my dryer is vented into the garage and it tends to get humid in there when I'm drying clothes.

I did all four boxes in a different color and then added numbers to help the kids keep their boxes straight.

This one is Parker's because she is the fourth little one.

And wahhlahh. It has made the biggest difference. We've been using this system for about two months and I can't believe it took me Emmy so long to come up with this idea.

Thrifty Finds

2011-05-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

I was browsing around the Raleigh Flea Market Saturday with my mom and SIL and I came across this little cutie.

It was $40, which was a large chunk of my budget for the day, but I seem to have this thing for water coolers. I asked my mom who owns a thrifting store and she said she thought it was a good deal, but what sold me on it was this

I totally fell in love with the fact that it has a #6 in the crown stamped on it. 6 just happens to be the number of people in my lil' family. I had to have. It is missing the spout, but since I don't intend to use it I will just put a cork in it and if I ever change my mind I can just get one from the hardware store. After I left, my mom said there was another one similar except the lid was missing and it did have the spout for $150. Wooh! Then I spied this one at my fav Pottery Barn. It's almost identical except it is smaller than mine. I'm so pleased with my thrifty find. Now if I can just keep the kids from breaking it.

I'm linking up with Southern Hospitality

Laundry Room Makeover

2011-05-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

I finally got to redo my Laundry Room!!! I'm so excited. We've lived in this house for three years and we haven't done much to the laundry room since we moved in. Here is some pictures of the before laundry room.

Not so bad. I love aprons and so I hang them on the shelf. Do you see that bright blue birdhouse? My mom gave it to me for Mother's Day last year. It was one of my color inspirations.

This is the view from my kitchen looking into my laundry room. It's funny how you don't realize how bad something looks until you see it in a picture. My dad helped me make the message board from a yard sale picture and some upholstery fabric I already had. I love having it up and keeping invitations, announcements, thank you notes, etc., that our family gets throughout the year. I love seeing them and thinking of the fun times we've had. I clean it off in January and start again.

These are the lovely 1980's cabinets that are also in our kitchen. Oh how I hate the way they look. The are so sturdy and functional and it would be such a waste to replace them. I've been trying to convince my hubby to paint them for three years now, but he doesn't want to waste money on painting them. He wants to wait until we have enough money to replace them. It's been three years, I'm thinking we'll never get there so I finally succeeded in talking him into letting me paint them. Yay me!

And finally here is the one window and the $2 valance from Ross e that I bought three years ago. It wasn't so bad then, but now......I really don't likey. Notice how dark and dreary the hardware is.

This is what my newly painted laundry room looks like. I totally love it. As you can see we painted the walls yellow and the cabinet a creamy white. I think its Luna from Behr. I painted the table under my apron shelf, it use to be yellow, and now it's a very light grey.

I changed out the fabric in my message board and painted it white. The fabric is left over from the fabric I used to make my kitchen valances with. I'll post pictures later of my kitchen makeover. Can you see where else I used the inspiration color that is on my birdhouse. Yep in my curtains.

I am very happy my my new curtains. For those of you who stalk Target you might notice these curtains from their current line of spring picnic supplies. It's actually a table cloth. They are the exact length that I needed and I love that they're not lined because I want to let in as much light as possible into this little room. They make me happy just looking at them and they only cost $10 per panel.

I spray painted the existing curtain rod and hardware white and just hung the table cloth with clips. It took a lot of spray paint to cover up the ugly hardware. I was so tempted to buy new because I didn't think anything would make the hardware look pretty, but I'm glad I didn't. I really like them now and it saved me some money. I love the way the curtains balloon at the top for a casual breezy feel. Almost like being at the beach. Almost.

I think the yellow paint really opens up the space. I may even enjoy doing laundry now. Maybe.

Another picture of my message board. It looks like artwork and I think I may just hold off on putting stuff up on it. It's just too pretty. The fabric is by Waverly and is indoor/outdoor fabric called Cascading Coral.

And finally my beautiful cabinets. We added crown molding to the top and kept the same nobs, but changed the hinges to match the paint color. So much better. Thanks for looking.

Spring Wreath

2011-04-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

I made a new Spring Wreath for about $4. I got the picks from the Dollar Tree and the ribbon and wreath I already had. It's very Eastery, but I think I'll keep it up til summer. Happy Spring ya'll.

I love the Dollar Tree. They have some of the cutest things. Can you see the eggs in the bow?

I added one of my bunnies to the pot of Pansies on my front porch. It use to be in my house until one of the kids broke the foot off of him. He was too cute to throw away,but I hate broken things so I think I found the perfect spot for it.

Chair Slipcover

2011-04-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

See this sad, but oh soo comfy chair. I didn't realize it looked as bad as it does, anyway I have already upholstered it once and in the process I realized I never want to do that again. So after four years I had to make a change. And I really didn't want to get a new chair. These really are perfect in size and comfort. So I bought a slipcover from J C Penny and it looks like this.

I am not a fan. They're way to big so I'm constantly having to readjust them. Like I need one more thing to do. It's just really sloppy. And thought he color is perfect for four kids I have two brown leather sofas and it's just too much brown.

See sloppy. I don't likey.

So after I meet a brilliant woman named Miss Mustard Seed and she did a wonderful series on how to make slipcovers I was giddy with excitement. I got to work right away. And now my sad, but oh so comfy chair looks like this. It wasn't easy and it's definitely not perfect, but I'm so proud of it and the fact that I did it myself. And it's much better than any of the before mentioned options. Here are a few steps along the way.

This was me adding the ruffle on the bottom.

The ties I added in the back for closure and to keep it fitted. I used two different ribbons because I didn't have enough of one.

Finished project.

I just love the look of it. And as I said it's not perfect, but it was my first attempt and I love how it looks.

I used painters drop cloths purchased from Lowe's. Now I have to get started on the second one. I can't wait and I think I have learned a lot and it should be easier with fewer mistakes. There are lots of others to check out at Miss Mustard Seed so go on over and enjoy.

Girly Closet Makeover

2011-03-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is MY closet. It is a little bit of a mess and in need of some serious spring cleaning, but I love it. I love having a place of my own to keep MY stuff. With four kids and husband it's hard to find a space of your own. The only thing I don't like (other than the mess) is that it's not big enough for a chair. I swear on some days I would lock myself in there and read if I had a chair....maybe it's a good thing I don't have room for a chair.

On this side of my closet I keep my girls dresses. I'm sort of a dress freak. I love buying pretty dresses for my three girls and I am too lazy to run upstairs on Sunday mornings to find them a dress to wear, not to mention we're usually running late, so I find my closet is the best place for them. Plus it makes me smile to see them.

Now as I said the closet works well usually, but it's not pretty. And I like pretty. So I decided to make a change.

I'd say it needs one wouldn't you.

So I pulled e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g out and cleaned up the floor.

I was amazed at what was in this room. I thought I took a pic, but couldn't find it. Then I decided on a color scheme. I have been hitting the oops paint isle at Lowe's lately and there has been a lot of grays. So I combined them and came up with a grey I loved. Then I thought of hot pink, and got my favorite shoes as my inspiration. And here is what I have.

A grey and hot pink color scheme with black and white accents.

This is what it looked like before I put everything back in. I'm not sure at this point if I love it yet or not. But then....

It came together and I love it.

Everything has it's place and I love how the hot pink pops.

I added a new shelf for the top where I put my clothes that are out of season and a bag. I think my favorite thing is the new hooks I added to hang my belts and jewelry.

All of my things are in coordinating baskets and my 31-accessories that are so pretty have a place to be when not in use. I plan on spray painting that blue basket to hot pink.

I added more hooks for my Premier jewelry that a friend of mine sells.

I'm put my daughter's beach hats up for decoration.

A small place was left to put the few handbags that I love so much I can't part with. I even got the dresser looking pretty with a few things from around the house.

The only draw back that I can think of is that everyone else loves it too. I can't keep the kids out of it and my hubby wants me to do his next.

Cuteness.

I love it and I'm so proud that I did all the work myself!!!.

Here's a break down of what it cost.

Valspar gallon grey paint $6 (oops table, $1 can and $5 can combined)

Valspar pint pink paint -$13

3-black and white lidded basket $16.50

large black and white basket $5

blue basket $7.50

pink and white polka dot basket $4.50

everything else I already had including board and hooks

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total $52.50

I'm linking up to

My Romanic Home

Just A Girl

Beneath My Heart

A Little Bit of Love

2011-02-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

I've just done a little bit of Valentines decorating this year. I've put a few things out, but I'm sure I'll get more in the mood soon and put more out.

My heart garland that I made a few years ago has held up well. The brances have mercury heart and star ornaments that I got on clearance at Target after Christmas a few years ago. I only use them for Valentines decor.

This is my spring/Valentines wreath that I made recently. I just took an old grapevine wreath that I had used many times before. It is full of hot glue from past decorations wrapped it with an old burlap bag that I cut into strips and added a metalic bow and some pink butterflies. This was super cheap. I already had the wreath and the burlap bags. The butterflies and and ribbon was all 90% off at Michaels. So I spent less than $1 on the wreath. Happy Valentines Decorating!!!

Halloween Spookiness

2010-10-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love Halloween and I love to decorate for it. Every year I bring out all my stuff and for the most part I try to put it in a different place. This year was no different except I did have a bit more help with Emmy and Elise getting all the stuff out and trying to decorate with it. It was so fun and here is the end result. Don't be scared it's only pictures. Here goes....

Den Spookiness

My little pumpkin lady and "autumns" chalkboard.

My bay window is a little hard to see because of all the wonderful light coming in, but I think it's my favorite this year. It has my BOO pumpkins and my spookified wreath. Not to mention all the blood and gore on the windows.

This is Ally's favorite vignette. She is forever kissing on all three of my "ladies and gentleman".

This bird cage with the cat inside is part of my bay window vignette. It is my favorite. I love how the crows have trapped the mean cat inside.

It can't be spooky without an urn full of skulls and moss.

My mantel has only a few touches with a few pumpkins, my kid's countdown to Halloween chain, and the "spooky" sing.

This is just the centerpiece on the table in the den, or as we like to call it the things my kids throw at each other on a daily basis. Moving on...

Dinning Room Spookiness

I love the spider web on the mirror.

I use Emmy's old PB witches hat as part of the decorations since she can't wear it anymore.

The centerpiece on our dining room table. I got the orange candlestick holders and urn from PB two years ago on clearance. I paid less than $20 for all three pieces. Perfect for my Halloween decor. I also got the beautiful toile tablecloth from consignment a few years ago for $20. It's one of my favorite things.

A little spooky on the shelf.

And a little spooky under the shelf.

Staircase Spookiness

The staircase is where I stick all the stuff I didn't have a place for int the rest of the house. I love the garland on the stairs and surprisingly my husband does too. He told me last year that it looks so much better with the decorations on the stairs. I was surprised because he's not a Halloween freak like me.

This pumpkin use to be a door hanger until my kids tore it up. Now it's in my garland. I couldn't throw it away because it was too cute. I got it from the dollar tree one year. I wish they would have them again, but I haven't seen them since.

The finished product. Not such a good picture, but it really is cute.

And last but not least....

Laundry Room Spookiness

Winnine the Witch on the shelp that holds our aprons.

And our boo bat hanging from the ceiling.

I've also decorated the outside, garage, and bedrooms, but haven't gotten around to taking pictures yet. Maybe I'll get to it before Halloween is over.

Happy Fall Ya'll

Photo Wall Complete...

2010-08-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Well, almost complete. I still have one row, but I can't reach it and I'll have to get my husband to hang the pics and that may take a while. But I am happy with the progress so far.
First, I laid out my frames to see how I liked it best.

Then I realized I didn't have the patience for it and just started hanging them. Since I did a staggered arrangement it turned out well even with my unorganized method.

I love having something for my eye to look at when going up and down the stairs. That way I don't notice all the other things I dislike about the stairway when I'm having to use the stairs.

A much better view.

To Photo Wall or Not To Photo Wall?

2010-07-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is probably the single most hated feature of our current house. It's definitely in the top five. It's our staircase. Our staircase is positioned right at our front door and it is kind of closed it. It's narrow and I don't like how the ceiling drops down about midway the staircase. I also hate the fact that our painter totally ignored my request to use semi-gloss paint when the painted our house and used flat instead. I'm sure you can see all the dirt and smudges that my kids and their friends leave when going up and down the stairs.

See this is the drop down ceiling. I do thing this is the biggest reason why I hate the staircase.

We did update it when we moved in. We took the carpet off the stairs, painted and stained them. We also replaced the wooden spindles with iron ones that I totally love. These changes helped a lot, but not enough.

This is a shot from the top of the stairs looking down. The woman who grew up in the house and whose dad built the house came to see what changes we had made and she loved that we chose a door with glass in it because it was way too dark with just a solid wood door that they had when she was growing up. I can't imagine. It really is a dark entry and there aren't even any outlets to plug a lamp into. As you see I have a lamp, but I have a drop cord running to the plug outside. My husband LOVES that, not.

Now this is a shot of the hated drop down. I want to do a picture wall up the stairs and I don't know if I should extend it to the drop down part of the ceiling. I had a friend who has this and she put a cute picture that her soon had done at school. It looked really good, but she didn't have anything on the side wall. What do you think? I'll have to try it and see what looks the best and maybe have a lot of my families smiling faces to look at when I'm walking up the stairs will take my mind away from how much I hate the staircase.

Bathroom Essentials

2010-07-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

My husband's aunt that lives in California is visiting this month and Sunday she asked if I could find some pretty things to put her bathroom essentials in. She wanted ones like I have in my bathroom and I was excited to help. I love decorating projects and this is a simple one. The hardest part is going to be for Aunt Linda to fly these glass apothecary jars back to California and not get them broken. Good luck with that.

I'm going to let her pick what combination she wants. They're all so cute and I was planning on taking back the ones she doesn't want, but I may end up keeping them.

I also love white dishes and bowls, so I like to add them into the mix.

I also think putting the apothecary jars on a white platter makes it more uniform and adds much needed texture.

So pretty.

Lamp Love

2010-06-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

I love lamps. I don't know why, but I hate overhead lighting. My husband doesn't seem to mind, which really irritates me sometimes. Anyway, when I go to a yard sale I can't resist a cheap lamp. I found this big beauty at a yard sale last month and initially I got it because it was only $2. I didn't think I needed another one and I wasn't in love with the way it looked, but I couldn't just leave it there. It sat in my garage all month and then one day I decided to paint it.

Well after I painted it I feel in love. So much so I went to Wal-Mart as soon as my husband got home from work and spent $15 for a shade to go on it. I know, crazy..right? It's beautiful and I found the perfect spot for the lamp I didn't need:)

Pratical Use of My Decor

2010-01-31T08:50:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to put this up to prove to my husband that my many decorations can have a practical use to them. He often fails to see them so I need to help him along.

See these ~~sticks from the woods~~ cute branches that I glittered up and hung some heart ornaments from, can help dry my babies mittens after a snowball fight. I knew all along they would come in handy.

Valentines Love

2010-01-22T07:01:00.000-08:00

I'm posting some of the Valentines projects I've made recently from stuff I have around the house. This next project was super simple, but I made a few mistakes that I'll be sure to not make the next time.

First I started with an old picture I picked up for $1 at a yardsale. I always get these when they're only $1 because I think there are so many things that can be done with them. I'm sure it was really pretty back in it's prime, but now not so much.

Then I took a burlap sack that my mom gave me. She's allergic so anytime she gets any of this she comes across any burlap she gives it to me. Lucky me! I also used Gorilla Glue, that was my first mistake. I should have used my glue gun, but I couldn't find it at the time and I was anxious.

I took the frame and spray painted it black, took out the class, stapled the burlap to the old pic. and glued these glitter words that I got at Michael's after Christmas sale. They were 80% off so I paid .40 cents for both. My second mistake was not flipping the old pic. over to the cardboard side. It only shows through because of the flash so I'm not going to redo it. Project total $1.40. Can't beat that.

Valentine's Wreath

2010-01-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make one of the many really cool Valentine crafts I've seen all over blog land and since it's been so cold out I've had to find activities for indoors. Perfect time to go through my craft stuff and try to find the supplies for a Valentine's craft. I thought I would show my Valentines wreath since it's is the first one I completed.

It was super simple. I started with 3 rolls of garland that I got for 75% off at Target's after Christmas sale. That's what I love about Christmas and Valentines Day sharing the color read, you can use some of the same things for both holidays. Then I had this heart shaped wreath that I got at Michael's for 40% off. All I needed then was my hot glue gun and some old ribbon that I used for my girls' hair bows. It was so simple and it turned out really pretty. I have very little things that are Valentines decor so this wreath was a cute addition. Now if I can just make the cup cake liner wreath that I've seen over at Tatertots and Jello my wreath collection will be complete. Have a nice Thursday.

My Christmas Home Tour

2009-12-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'll start my Christmas Tour at the front door. This huge stocking is from PB on clearance after Christmas about 4 years ago.

We have two sets of stockings to that we put up. One is more formal and these are more childlike. And yes they both get filled by Santa.

This is our Santa tree. It's located just inside the foyer by the front door and directly in front of the stairs. It's one of four trees that I usually decorate. However, due to a new baby I'm only putting up 3 trees this year.

This little shelf is in the foryer, across from the stairs, and I originally put it up to hide the thermostat. I love the way it looks especially being able to change out the tassels with the seasons and add a few decorations to my family pics.

Now onto the dinning room, the lest used room in our whole house. I love the cone trees from TDT and the .99 votive holders from Target.

This is my wedding china that's only been used twice. It's Mikasa Lace, I think. It really is beautiful. It's a shame I don't bring it out more often.

Wreath I have hanging on my dinning room wall.

Our Christmas tree in the living room. I love all the golds and burgandy colors along with a few punches of cream colored ornaments.

My kids collect snow globes. We go to Target for the after Christmas sales and they get to pick two out. At 75% off all four of my kids get one for the original price of just one. I love decorating with them at Christmas and they're sentimental to me. I write the kids name and the year on the bottom of the globe. I collect mercury glass and I love displaying the two together.

Another snowglobe stacked atop a cake stand.

Since I didn't put up one of my trees this year I have a lot of bulbs left over. My husbands loves it when I put them in containers like hurricane lanterns or mercury glass.

An up close shot of some silver balls and my favorite ornament from my teaching days, in a mercury glass container.

A shot of the mantel and fireplace from one side of the living room. We have a really large living room so I divide it up like two seperate areas.

One half of the mantel. I think Christmas decorating is perfect when there is a mantel involved. I've lived in five houses and they've all had a fireplace with a mantel. Our very first house was decided on because it had a fireplace. I just think they make a home more cozy.

The other side of the mantel.

I love to put things in the greenery when I can. Especially the most beautiful ornaments like this mercury glass pinecone.

On the right side of the fireplace I have a wreath hanger with s pinecone arrangement that I made with pinecones from my yard. I just spray painted them white and hot glued them to some pretty ribbon. Super simple and versitle. Last year I hung them over the mirror on the mantel. I try to change things up from year to year and not do the same thing. That way it makes my decorations all seem new to me.

On the left side I have more ornaments in the greenery and a vase from Bombay that I've put glittered and sugared twigs in and then decorated with my small and special ornaments.

I love the twigs and as I was putting it out this year I was remembering that I didn't do it last year and couldn't decide why. Unfortunately, now I know. My kids have already broken about 10 of the tiny ornaments. It's because they're too close to their stockings and I declare they check them several times a day to see if there is anything in them.

And finally, a shot of the entertainment center. I love the nativity I got last year at an auction with my mom. I got it for only $5. What a steal. I did add a coat of spray paint to it this year. It was looking quite dull.

More mercury glass and ornaments.

Oh my, I almost forgot. What kind of mom would I be if I didn't let the boys have their own tree?

I truly hope you all have the Merriest of Christmases.

I'll be linking up to Southern Hospitality Home for the Holidays Home Tour,
The Inspired Room: I'll Be Home For Christmas, Hooked on Holiday Houses Tours,
Funky Junks Chrismas Trees Unite,

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

I usually put up four trees, but this year with the new baby I only put up three. I also try to arrange all my decorations differently. That includes putting the trees in different rooms if possible. This is the first time I've put this tree in the living room and I love it here. It'll be hard for me to change it next year.

These angel ornaments are some of my favorites. My mom had some like these when I was little.

I love these word ornaments from Wal-Mart. They're only $1 and are nice and big.

Christmas Wreath

2009-12-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

This is my newest Christmas wreath. I love the bronze and lime green theme. It's on the wall in my dinning room.

The bird picks are so pretty to me.

And even some lime green, glittered fruit nestled in there. Hope you're having the merriest of Christmases.

Christmas Table

2009-12-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

I never use my dinning room or my wedding china, so I thought I would stage the dinning room with my wedding china this year. It turned out beautifully, so beautiful that my children want to eat in here every night now. We did have a candle light spaghetti dinner in here tonight while my husband was at the temple, just me and the four munchkins. The loved it and even cleaned up the table afterwards.

I got the cone trees from the dollar tree and I love them. I only bought three and Lovey has already destroyed the green one. I wish I had bought more. I think I'll go tomorrow and see if any are left.

The red votives are from Target and they were a steal at $.99. When lit they are even prettier than the mercury glass ones that I got from PB a couple of years ago. They have gold, green, and silver. I think I'll go and get four green ones. You never know when you'll need some pretty candlelight.

The center piece is from a metal bowl from Cracker Barrel that my mom bought me about 10 years ago. I love it. It's filled with pine cones, wreath balls, and green faux fruit and even a veggie. The red toile fabric is just some I have left over from a project, I love toile and use it whenever I can. The china is Mikasa Lace and I'm not certain what the stemware is. This is my first link up to Table scape Thursday. I've loved looking at other people's table for over a year now and I've finally got something to add. I'm so excited. Happy Holidays
To see more beautiful tables go to http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Boy's Christmas Tree

2009-12-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

My little boy is a huge Tarheel fan and when it came time to choose a tree can you just guess what he chose for a theme? Yep, a Tarheel theme.

Cute little baseball helmet. We don't really have a hard time finding Carolina ornaments which is both a curse and a blessing.

Ramsey is looking tough.

Go Heels!

Painted Pumpkins

2009-11-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to try and paint our Halloween pumpkins white. I've seen it done all over blogland and the magazines and I love it, but I have never tried it. First I had to clean off our pumpkins.

Then I taped them up. I tried to make different designs, but when I was done it really just looked like two designs.

Then find some cute helpers that LOVE to spray paint.

And wha la. They fill up my pots by the front door andtook the place of my mums that had already bloomed. I love this idea because it is very low maintance. No watering involved.

Happy Friday before Thanksgiving ya'll!

Thanksgiving Mantel

2009-11-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

I decided to do a Thanksgiving mantel this year for the first time.

This is a turkey gravy boat that I got from TJ Maxx. I've never seen one before.

My son's pumpkin that he painted white. I think it pops in the orange vase.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Pantry Makeover

2009-11-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my pantries organized this week with the help of my sweet little girl. She took everything out of pantries and organized them into piles and I put them back in. I can't believe how much better I feel just walking into my kitchen. That day after we were done I just kept opening the pantry doors and looking at all that organization. Now I can actually find stuff! Imagine that.

Are you wondering why I have four jars of opened peanut butter, so am I.

I even managed to find room for all the canned vegetables that my parents brought up for me this week. It doesn't get any better than that. Especially since I didn't have to grow it, pick it, clean it, or can it.....Oh my, I'm starting to think I might be a little spoiled.

My smaller pantry is really deep and dark so I made cards with what was on each shelf. I even wrote in pencil so I can erase when I take something out.

Lovely isn't it. Now if I can just find the strength to organize that monster of a laundry room and my upstairs playroom closet. Scares me to even think about it.

New Wreath

2009-11-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to making my autumn wreath. I took the one that I've used for the past three years apart and threw away the old flowers. Since I don't have a cover over my front door, my wreaths don't last very long and I have to at least change out the ribbon yearly. I use to discard the whole wreath, but I've learned that if I just stick the florals in and not use hot glue I can easily change out the florals. Yes, sometimes the flowers fall out, but it's not that big of a deal, I can just poke them back in. And it totally saves money.

My kids made those cute pumpkins. I love them. I'll have a post about them later.

Upclose of the ribbon. I totally love ribbon. I would put it on everything if I could and I think that's what makes my wreaths look nice. I add many different textures and types, and I like to throw in an unusual color just to shake things up.

This is the first year that I've added a sign. Something I saw in blogland. It was a sign that I got on clearance for $1 and I spray painted it with chalkboard paint and wrote "Welcome Ya'll". Lou Lou wanted me to write "Happy Fall Ya'll", but I didn't have enough room. Now to see if it holds up with all the rain that's coming from Hurricane Ida.

Quick Bathroom Update

2009-11-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

I had decided that my master bathroom was sort of hohum and needed a little updating. I have two towel bars that house monogrammed towels that my SIL gave me for Christmas three years ago and I totally love them. Really I love anything with a monogram, but I felt they needed some updating.

So I decided to add a robin's egg blue(that's the accent color in my bath) hand towel from Belk, and some pretty hand towels that I've been wanting from PB. The were $19 for two and I had a $25 off of a$50 purchase. Then I added a robin's egg blue plate that I already had. I think it looks much better and prettier.

My Domestic Nightmare

2009-10-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is my domestic nightmare. I ususally have an organized house. I'm not OCD or anything, but my husband and I both are pretty good about putting things where they belong and teaching our four kids to do the same. Having said that, I can not seem to tame the clutter of my pantries. I have two in my kitchen, one large walk-in in my garage (it's very organized) but neither one in the house is organized. What can I do? I need some serious help.

All of my canned foods are behind those boxes and tupperware containers. Can you just imagine how fun it is to try and find something canned when I'm cooking?

This is a picture of the smaller pantry. It mainly holds extras. You know the 4 bottles of Miracle Whip I bought because they were on sale. We believe in stock piling food.

Anyone out there have any ideas to help me out. I'm telling you I need some.

Butter Dish

2009-10-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

I have a small obsession with butter dishes. I don't know why, but I totally love them. I have so many and have been collecting them for many years. I had them packed away until I discovered blogland and realized that I could use them for something other than butter. Imagine that! So here is my absolute favorite butter dish, in my bathroom holding my facial cleaning pads. It's perfect and I love to be able to look at it every day.

Sweet Delivery

2009-10-17T06:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm totally new to blogland, but I'm also totally hooked. I've seen many talented women put beautiful things in their Etsy (never even knew that was a word before) that I would love to have and I think the idea of supporting stay at home moms is great. All of that makes me a warm and fuzzy inside, but yesterday I reached a new level when I came home with a box on my porch from The Lettered Cottage Home which is The Lettered Cottage's etsy site. I couldn't wait. My first purchase from an etsy. How exciting! Can you tell I don't get out much?

I tore open the box and saw this.....

and finally this.

I uncovered these four beautiful boxes. I can't wait to put them up. They smell so good, I think they're made out of cedar. Love them. I post some pics when I decide where to put them. I don't think they'll fit where I had originally thought. They're much bigger than I thought. Have a great weekend!

Rehab House-Alan I-Part 3

2009-10-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

These are the last of my pics for the horse farm house. I so wish I'd taken pictures of the horse barn outback. It is so pretty. There are lots of pretty details and rooms that I missed. I took these before my blogging days. Now I would do a much better job at capturing the details. It's amazing how much I've learned from everyone in blog land.

If you notice the circular room on the roof we called this the Princess room. It's round and full of windows and a spiral staircase leads up to it. It's amazing. I do think the house would look much better painted a different color, but it just wasn't in the budget.

The sink area in the kitchen.

This is the kitchen in the mother-in-law suite. It even has it's own entrance from the garage.

Master bedroom on the first floor. I believe there were a total of 6 bedrooms in this house. Have a great day.

Rehabed Houses-Alan I Part 2

2009-10-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted a few pics of a house on a horse farm and today I want to show a few more, especially the outside. The view is the best.

This is the wrap around porch and this is the fenced in horse pasture. It takes up several acres. They're both breath taking.

This is a picture of the foyer. Not a very good picture, it doesn't do the space justice.

And the final picture is of the master bath that was almost completely redone. We debated taking out the stain glass window, but decided to leave it.

Hope you enjoy having a look. Have a great day.

Rehabed House-Alan I

2009-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

My husband buys houses that are in bad shape and cleans them up and resales them. I'm really bad about taking before shots, but good at taking after shots. You really should have seen it before to appreciate the transformation. It's a beautiful house on a horse farm and these are just a few of the after shots. I know I love looking at houses, especially well loved house so I hope you enjoy.

This is the formal dinning room. We didn't replace any of the cabinets, we just changed out the hardware and put on several coats of polyurethane then put new flooring down. The floors are marble.

The kitchen was totally redone with granite and marble floors. Still the same cabinets with polyurethane and new hardware.

This is the living room. We painted the brick because the old brick was very dark and I happen to love painted brick. First we tried grey, but changed it to this caramel color.

Memories to Be Framed

2009-10-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

I love decorating and it has always come easy to me, that's not to say that everyone would love what I do in my home, but I love what I do in my how. However, I've always had a hard time with hanging things on my walls. For some reason it's a struggle for me to commit to putting something on my walls and I often leave them blank until I find the perfect piece. Now this has been a time consuming problem because we move often (5 times in the almost 10 years that we've been married) and so my walls are left empty more often than not. But I have found something that I always love to look at and it fits in every house that we live in. It's one of each of my kids baby outfits that I had framed. In this house they're in our Master Bedroom, but I've put them in the living room, library, and hall at other houses. I will never tire of them and my children love them.

This is my little boys. He was born in November so his is a Winter outfit. Below the outfit is a card with his name and birth date.

This outfit belongs to my first born. Hers also has a silver spoon engraved with her name.

And this dress belongs to my little Lovey. If you notice they all have the same frame, my sons has a walnut finish while the girls have a cherry finish. That was an accident by the framer, but I liked it and didn't make him redo it. Another thing that my framer messed up was that originally he put my son's baby spoon in the frame, but he put it in at an angle not under the outfit and it looked off to me so I made him take it out. It just bothered me to look at it and made it unsymmetrical. It wasn't pleasing to my eye. I very much appreciate symmetry. I've used this framer for many years and he was very good about fixing the mistake. I don't have many things professionally framed because of the cost, but I do think it's worth paying the money when it's something you love. And I love looking at my kids baby clothes. I know some people say that you shouldn't have your kids things in your bedroom, it should be all about you and your husband, but my husband and I are all about our kids and this makes us happy to look at. Now I just need to get the Chubsters outfit framed.

Fall in the Dinning Room

2009-10-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have a few more Fallish decorations for the dinning room. This is a turkey gravy boat that I got this week at TJ Maxx. It will last me through Thanksgiving and it's one of the few Thanksgiving decorations I have.

I really like these bottle lables and creepy food signs that came from the dollar tree. Perfect for my buffet table.

And finally, I have a tiny pumpkin peeking out of a bowl on one of my shelves. It use to be a door hanger, but Lovey got a hold of it and took care of the hanger part. Oh well, I think I like it even better now.

Yard Sale Finds!

2009-10-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

My SIL and I went yardsaling this weekend and we went to one community yardsale that was to die for. We both got a lot of good stuff and here is just some of my score. The bowl above was $.75.

I got the whole set of white potter with pinecones for $3. The white chip & dip was .75 and the 4 candles were $2.25 for all three. They still had the plastic on them. The beautiful white baby afghan was $1. Oh and I got that sconce thingy(not sure what it's called) for free and the yellow shelf in back for $1.

This mirror and framed picture was $1 each.

And these beautiful plates were $.50 each except for the white one in back. It was a whole dollar. I'll be sad to see the yard sales end, which is real funny since I've never been before this year, but I'm definitely a believer now.

More Fall Goodness

2009-10-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

I love this pumpkin peeking out from behind my peace lilly. My Lovely is in love with this pumpkin man and she recently broke one arm off and his head. Oh well, we'll glue on again next year.

This is our little grave yard inside. I got the BOO idea from a blog that I read last year and totally love it. I got the white pumpkins from Michael's and free handed the letters with a Sharpie marker. They're one of my favorites.

These beautiful ladies came from Cracker Barrel last year after Halloween. I think I got them for 70% off and I've been waiting all year to put them out. I had to put them up high on our entertainment center so little Lovey wouldn't totally destroy them. She already broke the purse off of one.

Isn't this so sad. The grim looking cat is holding a sign that says "Beware of Cat" and those mean crows have locked him up inside.

I hope everyone is enjoying this nice fall weather. I live in North Carolina and it couldn't be more perfect. It's the simple things that make life some pleasant. Oh and don't forget to go by Kristen's @ Kristen's Creations for a seriously terrific give away. Her frames are georgous.

Thanks to all who left sweet comments yesterday. It was the first time anyone left any comments, I told my husband (who is a big supporter of how much care I put into our home) and he was excited too.

Fall Goodness

2009-10-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite time of the year and I'm so happy it's October 1st so I can decoratre. (I fibbed a little, I've been fall decorating since mid-September) Rhonda over at Southern Hospitality is having a fall party so go over and check out all the pretty fall decorations in blog land. I love looking at other people's house and decorations. It's so inspiring and addictive.

My sofa table has a mix of fall and Halloween decorations. The kiddies love them.

I love the tiny pumpkin under the cupcake holder, so does my two year old. I'm shocked it's not broken already.

Love the skulls in the glass all but one came from the Dollar Tree. Can you guess which one?

Yard Sale Finds

2009-09-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have recently been converted to yard sales since I started reading blogs and I can't believe I've waited so long to finally go to one. I've always been a bargain shopper, but yard sales take it to a whole new level. I went with my MIL and Mom and we had a great time, however, I can't decide if I like going alone better than going with someone. There are definitely pros and cons. What do you think?

Pretty toile lamp shade with base $1.

I got this cake plate for $.50 at TJ Maxx. It has a chip and the plate had to be reglued to the base.

I got 2 of these pictures for $2 each. I've already changed out the artwork inside with calender pictures.

I got this lamp for free for my sons room at the annual Share Ware that our church host. It's where members bring things they don't want anymore and other members come and take what they want. You can't beat free.

Outside Halloween Decor

2009-09-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is my Halloween wreath. It's the first strictly Halloween wreath I've ever made. I usually just hang a fall wreath and I'm done until Christmas, but this was super easy. I just wrapped black garland, jack-o-lantern garland around a grapevine wreath and stuck in bones and hands. I love it. It's one of my favorite wreaths.

Spooky walk up the steps just to get some candy.

This is the first year that I've put the ghost on my door. I really like it and my kids love it.

I've got tons more to show so check back soon.

Seeing Stars

2009-09-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm obsessed with barn stars. I'm grew up in Tobacco Row and I've always loved what barn stars symbolize and I think they are a great, inexpensive way to decorate a wall. These 3 babies were at Roses (yes, there are still Roses stores out there, they're just hard to find.) I'm lucky enough to have one near me so when I was there the other day and spotted a box of 3 for $10 I snatched them up. They were originally red and if you could look real close you could tell they were intended for Christmas decorations because they have holly embossed on them. I spray painted them black and you can barely see the holly leaves and vines. Love them, and the price.

Calender Art

2009-09-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

I bought 2 pictures just like this at my very first yardsale ever, at the beginning of the summer. I loved the frames and they were matted. They're quite large and only cost $2 each. I know you're jealous, especially since the price tag on the back is from Bed Bath & Beyond for $29.99. But I hate the picture in it. It's way too abstract for my taste. So I found a calender at Michaels on Collections for one dollar and changed out the pics. The whole project only cost me $5 and I have more pics. from the calender if I want to change it later.

I think this is my favorite because I love brown transferware. I also flipped the matting over because the oppisite side was a blue grey that goes much better in my yellow, brown, and blue master bathroom.

I love this one too. The white seashells and grey, blue bowl are beautiful. Not to mention the distressed wicker that is barely captured on the side. All things that I love. I'm amazed at how different the pictures look and at how cheaply I got it.