Dining Room Update

Here's where we are so far...

Let me dig up an older piccy...

Can you find the differences?

I'll help ya...

1. Crown Molding is up!

2. Tall cabinets are actually built in, trimmed out, and painted. Now I don't freak out that they might fall over on somebody. They were leaning terribly. Old houses...

3. Table is Refinished! Well, all but the leaves. I'll get to it...

4. Chairs have been recovered.

(Eventually the space between the 2 cabinets will be a built in window seat - I can just see it!) 

Special thanks to my handy man for putting all the trim up - that's not exactly in my line of expertise. But he got a brand new nail gun outta the deal, so he's happy. And I'm happy.

Having the definite opinion that table cloths are a curse from the devil himself, let me just say how much I'm enjoying the "new" table! I'd enjoy it even more if I'd finish those 2 dreaded leaves...

I've got some before and after pics, as well as a few "how-to's" coming up, just to share with you what I learned in the whole refinishing process.  One thing I learned for certain - I'd rather be spray painting!

Fall Photo Shoot

My poor blog has suffered much neglect lately. That means I've been BUSY! I did slow down long enough today to take some fall pics of the boys, before my leaf mulching man does away with all the fall leaves. So for my Finished Object Friday, I'll share a photo before and after.

This shot of Carson is SOOC (straight out of camera) :

It's pretty cute, but rather dull and lifeless.

 And this one is after a little tweaking in picnik.

Much more zippy and interesting! 

My wonderful hubs got me Photoshop Elements for my birthday this week, and I've spent hours trying to figure it out, and from all indications, it's gonna take a few more hours. Or more...

I did edit this photo in PS first, but it ended up pathetic, so I tossed it and went back to trusty ole picnik. It's like PS for blondes. I'm not giving up - I'm much too stubborn for that. I'll keep plugging away till it "clicks". 

Stay tuned for some more cuteness from our photo shoot! (I just need to weed through a few hundred pics...) I will also be sharing about some projects we've been finishing around the house in the next few days. I told you I'd been busy...

Linking up with Chari's Finished Object Friday!

Fallishness Continued...

You'll be proud to know that I finally gave in

 and tossed the very dead ferns. 

(I guess it's time to end the denial. Summer IS over. Sniffle...) 

I replaced them with some fallish mums. We'll see how long they can survive my black thumb of death...

 I totally cheated with the wreath. I just jabbed some fall picks from my stash down into the boxwood wreath that was already there.
I never even took it off the door.
(cuz I'm lazy like that...)
They may all fall out in a few days, but I'm cool with that. 

When they fall out, I'll just poke some Christmas picks in there and I'm all set for the next season. 

Now, that's what I call efficiency. 

(Ok. So maybe it just sounds better than "lazy"...)

Just a Touch of Fallishness...

I'm gradually making peace with fall. Having a few slight flip flop withdrawals, but then, that's to be expected. Still trying to remember to grab my jacket on the way out the door in the mornings... am I the only one that despises wearing a coat?! Oh wait, this post is supposed to be about some fall decor...

I'm not going all out this year. 

I'm enjoying keeping things simple. 

You know...less is more...

And it's a whole lot cheaper.

This corner of the dining room is dressed up with a few simple white punkins and a mason jar filled with acorns and a fallish candle.

The centerpiece on the dining room table is quite simple, too. I spray painted a faux pumpkin, glazed it, then plopped it down on top of some moss on a cake plate. 

I'm going to try to remain calm...(deep breaths....) and quietly mention that you can see here the NEWLY REFINISHED TABLE!!! I'm just a little bit excited to be done with that little project. (I'll tell ya all about it in a later post.) 

 The buffet decor is...yep, you guessed it...SIMPLE! 

 Nothin fancy about an old pitcher full of sticks and a plate of  green apples and acorns. 

By the way... I was reeeally happy to find this big platter at Wal Mart.
 ( Just thought you might like to know that. )

The little old Sunday School chair is looking sweet with some fallishness on it.

That's it! Now I'm gonna go help my sweet and handsome handy man, he just finished installing some pretty crown molding in the dining room, and now he's working on the caulking and painting. And he's probably wondering where his "help" has run off to...

Fall Getaway

We took a little fall vacation last week and it's taking me awhile to get back in the groove. I must be getting old... I've missed visiting with you all, but we did have a nice time in the Great Smoky Mountains!

The weather was beautiful.

We went to the Dixie Stampede again, and Carson got to be one of the chicken chasers - his chickens won the race, but I think they did it on their own. lol! He was just having a great time running around in that big ole arena! I really wish I had a picture of it, but they wouldn't let me take any :(

We visited the Titanic Museum...

Played some mini-golf... (Carson was a total HOOT!)

We also spent a day in Dollywood...too many pics to post them all!

On the way home, we stopped at Rock City on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga.

What a neat place!

It's wonderful to get away for a few days, but it's always wonderful to be back home, too :)

 Now I need to catch up with all of you!

The Kitchen. Take Two.

The kitchen is slowly evolving. I finally got some color on the walls - painted them "Tidewater" by Sherwin Williams. Of course, there's not much wall space in there. Painted the whole thing with a sample can and still have half of it left! The aqua color definitely adds to the retro feel.

 I also put up some beadboard wallpaper as a backsplash. See it? Me neither. That's the problem. After I painted it, it just blended in and you can hardly even tell it's beadboard unless you get reeeally close. I may try some glazing, or maybe even paint it the same blue color as the walls. Ideas? 

Obviously, I still have not mastered the art of photographing a window. Tips would be appreciated. 

 The sun was shining in on the apples today, and it looked so pretty I couldn't resist a piccy - even though I know I've already shown you the red scales...

My absolute favorite addition has got to be this apron. 

Hands down.

I found it on Etsy, and I love the colors!

I can't bring myself to wear it - I'm afraid 

I might get it dirty! 

 I also have a thing for vintage towels, vintage plates, vintage drain racks...

Ok, I'll stop now. Sorry for the photo overload.  I get all shutter finger happy and don't know when to quit :) 

Easing into Fall

I have to kind of ease into fall, psyche myself up for it. 

So today, (proudly pats self on the back...)

 I broke down and let a little bit of fall in. 

See it? 

You don't?

Look up there.

Yep. don't let it knock you over with it's awesomeness. I said I had to break it in gently.

In my grand effort to do some fall decorating, I put some jars of sticks up on the ledge. Now whenever the weather decides to get out of the 90's I may get in the mood to do a little more. Or not. 

But I am liking the sticks, and the old window. 

And I thought I'd throw in this pic because it's kinda purty. Won't cost you a thing. 

And just FYI, those baskets are cleverly concealing about 97 toy dinosaurs. If you bump the basket sometimes it will roar back at you. Raising boys. It's fun. And very challenging to an OCD decorator...

Curb Appeal. Phase 2

One more phase of the "spruce-up-the-exterior-of-the-old-parsonage" is now complete. Just to give you an idea of where we started, I'll throw in the before pic one more time...

And here she is today, showing off her freshly painted foundation, porch, shutters, and doors.

Porch and door before:

And after!

What a difference a coat (or 5 or 6...) of red paint makes! It's also amazing the what a little pressure washing can do. Our steps and sidewalk look brand new!

Now if I could just find somebody to volunteer to landscape the whole place.

Any takers?

Anywhere?

Rats.