Holiday Tour Part One - The Living Room

Whew!! What a week! I'm SO happy to have all the boxes unpacked and put away (with the exception of one room that is still under construction...) and now all the Christmas things are up and working their magic :) I can finally breathe...

Want a tour? Let's start in the living room...

(All the photos are clickable if you want a closer look.)

The tree looks so pretty now, but it was nothing of the sort when I was in the process of taking off ALL of the "pre-lit" lights...I was having a scrooge moment about then.

Remember that huge mirror? I moved it, and I'm just loving it over the piano.

I found these 2 gold urns at Goodwill at 2 different times. I think the red ornaments set them off nicely!

I still haven't made the stockings...there's always next year.

Here's a close up of the mantel:

How do you like my "fire"?

I think there's about 15 candles in there...

It is SOOOO nice to have everything put away and in order...

That takes care of the living room. We'll continue the tour tomorrow and I'll show you some of the other rooms while they're all decorated for Christmas!

It is wonderful to be back online again and "visit" you all! I hope you're all having a Merry Christmas Season!

Unplanned Bloggy Break...

I guess you know what that means - no internet at the new house yet. We should have it up and running by the weekend. And I have so many pictures to show you! The move went great and was fairly painless, except for the frigid temps and pouring snow all the way. I thought that wasn't supposed to happen here in Alabama!!! By Saturday night we had everything unloaded, the whole kitchen unpacked and organized, the boys room completely finished (including things hanging on the wall!!), and the guest room all set up. Today I started on some Christmas decorating...FUN FUN FUN! Hope to share pics soon. Till then, Fa La La La La!

My 3rd Day of Christmas... It's pretty sad.

Yep - this is my living room. Not very festive, eh? It's killing me to see all the Christmas stuff up everywhere - I want to get my tree up....drag out ALL those Christmas boxes and totes...light the Christmas candles...bake the Christmas cookies...

So far all I get is Christmas music...notice the radio is still not packed :) BUT - the packing is going well, and is almost done! And then there will be the UNpacking....oh yay. Bet ya can't guess which box will be unpacked first....the Christmas Tree!! I can't wait.

Bring on the moving truck.

Scenes of Thanksgiving

Did everybody have a nice Thanksgiving? We certainly enjoyed a nice little break :) Except for the moment when we shaved the hair off that deer with our car while on our way to visit family...

We're trying to erase that little memory, and those little dents....

But what a nice Thanksgiving! Autumn candles burning, Paula Deen's pumpkin gooey butter cake...

Dave's Mom's famous mouth watering hot rolls...

LOTS of yummy food...

Great times with cousins...

Precious times with family and friends...

Lots of fun playing games...

and Carson sure enjoyed some Mamaw time :)

Had a lovely weekend, and now it's time to get back home and get serious about PACKING! We'll be loading the moving truck this weekend. The vacation is O.VER. Busy days!

The new laundry room / bathroom...

The laundry room is done! WooHoo!! I LOVE progress. And each time we finish a new room, I say it's my favorite :) But, really, I do love how this room turned out - and I can't wait to show it to you!

WARNING - PHOTO OVERLOAD AHEAD!

Let's start with the before:

Not bad, really. Just purple. And ordinary.

And now the "after"...

(ignore the bare light fixture...still gotta fix that.)

The soft sage green did wonders for the walls, and the black really perked up the sleepy vanity and sconce lights.

I saved me a few pennies by making my own curtains (I found the black toile fabric for 1.50 a yard! -Happy Dance- I won't even tell you how MANY yards I bought. I couldn't resist...) You'll notice the very simple style... I didn't exactly want a challenge. But I fancied it up with a little ribbon, and of course some pom pom fringe.

I love how the silver light fixtures looked after they got a good healthy dose of black spray paint, and a couple of new globes.

The new knobs on the vanity were exactly what I had in mind...thanks Hobby Lobby! The harlequin pattern was the perfect finishing touch. And the 50% off sale made them that much better.

I really wanted big black cafe style shelving over the washer / dryer area. But I thought I'd have to put it out of my mind for sure when I began to price them. These are the ones that gave me the idea, from the Ballards catalog...

I described what I was wanting to the hubs. A few days later he brought home some shelving that had been discarded at the job site, and they were perfect!

He cut them down to size for me, and attached some old brackets that I had saved from our last kitchen remodel. (Thanks, Baby - You are DA MAN!) Then, you know the routine, I spray painted the daylights out of 'em.

I think they are perfection. Mainly because they were FA-REE. And my storage baskets fit perfectly. And besides that, they're just so CUTE!

I'm not real sure why, but I have ALWAYS wanted an old antique iron. I finally found one cheap at an estate sale, and I love how it adds a touch of nostalgia to the shelves. It looks right at home up there :) And it's a great reminder to me, that ironing COULD be worse...

We've had a busy week...and it's only going to get worse! We celebrated our 11th Anniversary on Friday, and I was so busy I didn't even get a post up. Shame shame... Oh well, Happy Anniversary to my Sweetie, and thanks for the wonderful kid free dinner out!

And now we're planning the MOVE. It's going to happen the week after Thanksgiving. If we're still alive at that time...

You know what that means...I gotta get myself in gear and get this house packed up!

See Ya...

I SHOULD be packing...

...But I'm playing with my camera instead.

I mean, how could I NOT photograph this face?

OK, I've got my fix for a while...guess I'll get back to packing.

...sigh...

FOF - Let's create a little JOY!

Happy Friday!

Have y'all seen the blog Shanty 2 Chic? If you're lacking creative inspiration, it's your one stop shop! I love lots of their projects...but when I saw this one...

I knew I had to try it. Like Right That Very Minute.

I found an old piece of 2x4 in the garage, hubby cut it all up into blocks for me, and then a quick run to Hobby Lobby for a few other things and I was in business. Here's my Shanty knock-off:

But they're not exactly "finished" yet.... For the life of me, I can't figure out what happened to my little Christmas jingle bells. Whenever they turn up, I'll add a few to make them a touch more festive. These were super easy to make, and think of the possibilities! I can change out the letters for other seasons, stencil monograms on them, stencil fluer-de- lis on them....ya know, I could really get carried away... My only problem now is deciding where to put them. On the mantle, on the buffet in my new dining room, on the kitchen counter....maybe I should make some more...

But I'm not the only one getting started on Christmas things... You'll find some more holiday creativity at Chari's Finished Object Friday!

The Beachy Den Reveal!

Ta Da!

All of my grunt work is starting to pay off. I'm so excited about how the den is coming together! Never mind the little guy on the couch, he was so intent on his drawing that I didn't have the heart to make him get up.

Do ya remember the "before"? Let me refresh your memory...

And another "after".

Actually, it's more of a "during". I still have to decorate and move in some more furniture.

I finally finished re-doing all of those prints and got them hung on the wall. I just love it when things turn out right, don't you?!

I found the lifesaver ring at Goodwill. It had bright red stripes on it, so it got a major redo.

Oh, and let me tell you about the sofa! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the IKEA and Pottery Barn white slipcovered furniture, but I wasn't about to shell out that much moolah. So, (beware, here comes another redneck remedy...) I found a nice used sofa on craigslist that was the same size as the IKEA sofa. Get this. I paid 25.00 for it, and the guy threw in 2 filing cabinets just because I bought the sofa. It just don't get much better than that. Then I ordered the slipcover from IKEA for 49.00. So I got my Pottery Barn sofa for 74.00! That's WAY more like it.

Then I found some cheap throw pillows from Wal-Mart, and stenciled on some beachy little starfish to complete the sofa. I wanted to make pillows out of burlap, but in the end the comfort factor won out. Burlap is a bit scratchy...

Now I can't wait to get those bookshelves filled with goodies, move in a few more things, and call it done. But right now...I'm just gonna take it easy. I painted like a mad woman for a whole week, but I got 3 whole rooms done!! I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, if the train doesn't run over me first...