Inspired....

Pictures:
1-7 Better Homes and Gardens

8-9 Country Living

Did you notice a theme in these pictures? Yup, wallpaper. I have a weakness for it, always have.

When we bought out first house and everyone else thought wallpaper was evil, we were putting up rolls of it in our foyer and stairway. It was a country pattern that I would now hate but I loved the look. Can you see it in the background? It was a floral top and gingham bottom with a border the middle. It's atrocious, I realize, but I loved it a long time ago.

(Oh and sorry about the screaming baby, that's all she did for her first year of life so we had no choice but to snap pictures anyway. Love that kid.)

In our second home, we did wallpaper again. This time it was a pinkish-red toile on our family room ceiling. The inspiration came from this kitchen which I believe was in Country Living magazine. I wish I had a better picture but after googling for an hour, this was all I came up with. How adorable is this?

This is the room we did using the toile. The "Before" pic of this room was scary, dark wood paneling, ugly floor tiles and a drop ceiling. My poor hubby spent a lot of time putting drywall up on the ceiling just for me to want to cover it with wallpaper. Oops.

The room during our remodel.....

This was the finished room, you walked in from the living room through an adorable french door, down a couple steps....

It served as a playroom/TV room for our girls. I had picked out cottage looking fabrics for the wicker and really tried to make it feel like a cottage porch. I'm mad at myself for not taking more photos. Hubby and I spent days with our arms above our heads hanging that wallpaper, days recovering and resting our sore arms and this is all I have to show for it.

You can see the rest of this house by clicking HERE .

I'm sure that room doesn't have that sweet wallpaper anymore as a single guy bought the home and immediately began trashing it. Five years later and I still tear up over that so moving on....

Where was I? Oh yeah, the point of this post. It has a point, I promise. Last night we were in Lowes and I started looking through this beautiful book while waiting on my hubby (he was looking at boring stuff).

Book can be found here: Amazon



I didn't buy it but I might go back for it. There was a picture of a white kitchen with the sweetest toile wallpaper you ever did see. It looked to be on the lavender side but it looked adorable in the room.

I showed it to hubby and said, "Isn't this cute?"

And he said, "Yeah, actually, it really is nice."

Don't tell him I told you that, I'm sure he would deny it but yes, he does sometimes appreciate a nice toile. I love my white kitchen but I've been doing some tweaking lately and adding color. I wondered if I should wallpaper it with a toile too? While he looked at more boring stuff, I took off to the wallpaper books. I love the smell of them. If someone handed me a coffee, I could have looked through those books all night. I found a few nice patterns but nothing in the color I would want. Still thinking on it but who knows, I might surprise you one day with a wallpapered kitchen.

We'll see.....




So what are your thoughts on wallpaper? I know we all have taken down some horrible stuff and it's a lot of work but I would never shy away from it. The time it takes to remove it is worth the joy I get from having it up for a time. Completely, undeniably worth it.

BHG loves me

Did you get your latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens? Wasn't I surprised to open it and see this page....the everything room! I'm positive that they must have gotten that term from me, aren't you? Don't tell me otherwise, I'm happy here in dreamland. Now, Better Homes and Gardens, I'll be expecting my royalty check in the mail any day now!



I love the look of these cookies on the cover, I may have to try these....

Do you remember my Powder Room project? Do you remember when I said we would have it and the kitchen done before Christmas? Did you laugh at me?? Well, you should have. That was laugh worthy for sure! We ("we" meaning my husband) started working on it again this week and it's coming along. He managed to get the mirror down in one piece so now he just has to move this electrical so we can have sconces instead of a single fixture....

He cut the wall out so we can make a support for the very heavy pedestal sink we found on Craigslist. We propped it up and looked at it and my heart went all a flutter. I wish I had taken a picture, it's going to look beautiful in here....

And the window is getting ready for some pretty trim and a new windowsill....

Sorry I don't have much to show you but to be honest, we're not in too much of a rush in here. We are fortunate to have two other bathrooms to use so we're taking our time getting this room done. We've been in hyper speed on most projects so it's nice to relax with a room redo for a change!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. The sun is shining here today and the kids are quiet so it's a beautiful Saturday. Hmmm....maybe the kids are too quiet. Gotta run!

Valentine's Day Decor

I have to admit, I have a difficult time with Valentine's Day decorating. I don't use much red or pink in my home and, although I make an exception for this particular holiday, it doesn't mesh well with the rest of my decor. I also find that so many commercial decorations for the holiday of love are on the silly side. And not the good kind of silly. I keep a little bit of silly around here for our wee ones but try to keep it to a minimum. Putting out their special school projects is a must but balance is key here.



Here are some Valentine inspirations that would make Cupid proud. I'll show you my own festive touches in another post. All photos courtesy of the wonderful Better Homes and Gardens website.

Paint Colors

I often receive comments and emails asking about paint colors. Welp, I'm not shy about sharing them so I thought I would put them all in a single post.

Shall we start downstairs?

Living Room:

Walls ~ Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore

Ceiling ~ Wickham Gray by Benjamin Moore (we had this one color matched at Home Depot though (big mistake in my humble opinion) and I believe they mixed it slightly bluer than the actual BM chip)

Dining Room:

Walls ~ Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore

Ceiling ~ Clear Moon, Semi-gloss finish, by Behr

Hutch ~ Cottage White by Behr

Kitchen:

Walls and cabinets ~ Clear Moon by Behr

Ceiling ~ Same Wickham Gray as mixed above

Everything Room:

Upper 2 Walls ~ Brown TeePee by Behr

Other 2 Walls ~ Wallpaper by Target

Lower Walls ~ Clear Moon by Behr

Ceiling ~ we left alone so I'm unsure of the color

Door ~ Sunwashed Blue by Ralph Lauren

Okay, heading up the stairs is the same Coventry Gray/Wickham Blue combo through the hallway.

Master Bathroom:

Walls ~ Antique White by Behr

Ceiling ~ we left it alone so I'm unsure of the color

Master Bedroom:

Walls ~ Georgian Green by Benjamin Moore

Ceiling ~ Clear Moon by Behr

Hailey's Room:

Walls ~ Hazel Woods by Ralph Lauren

Ceiling ~ Clear Moon by Behr

Emidio's Room:

Walls ~ Mineral by Behr


Ceiling and trim ~ Clear Moon by Behr






Ella's Room was color matched paint as well and I'm not sure of the original color. I'm trying to get her to agree to a room redo but so far she isn't going for it. Who will win that one, hmmmmm......

A Rough Weekend

We lost a very special four legged family member on Friday, our sweet Yorkie Casey was called to the rainbow bridge. It's been difficult. Casey was my parent's dog but he was mine too. He lived to be almost 15, just about half my life. When I was in high school, I really wanted a dog. My mom and I drove out to a breeder that had a litter of both Yorkies and Maltese. I fell in love with tiny Casey and the breeder said she would hold him so that my mom could bring my dad back to meet him. I had to work that night and my parents took the drive back out.

When I came home from work there stood my mom in the kitchen holding my little baby puppy. I didn't think I could be more thrilled....until my dad walked into the room with a Maltese puppy. You see, my dad fell in love with another dog....but my mom had promised me the Yorkie. So they came home with two. We named them Josh and Casey and they were like brothers, they were buddies.

They ran around the house like crazy as puppies, playing and wrestling. Casey could fit behind the couch but Josh couldn't so there would be a lot of teasing as Casey stuck his head out just a bit from the couch and Josh would go nuts of course. They were fun and we loved them. Like any dog lover knows, they were part of the family.

Josh passed on a year and a half ago and now Casey has gone to join him. The kids are heartbroken. I know going to my parent's house for the first time will be difficult on them. Like my mom said, even at just 3 pounds, that pup had such a presence in the house. He will be terribly missed.

We've gone through periods of sadness this weekend, along with pangs of guilt as well. There are people suffering in Haiti and here we are crying over a dog. But I'm going to not let the guilt take over. He was special to us, to our family, he was our "Casey Doodle," our "Noodle" and our family.

Rainbow bridge picture source: http://ottawadogblog.ca/tag/remembering/

Guest Posting Today For Rue...

I'm hanging out at Rue's place today. Come stop by and say hello! And for those coming here for the first time, welcome! I'm so glad you stopped in.

You can read my post Here .

Sometimes....

Sometimes it's the smallest things that bring a smile to my face....

Like a sweet tin in a perfect shade of blue....

Purchased from: Taras Vintage Kitchen

Or a mirror that is so worn you can barely see your reflection

(some mornings this is a very good thing)....

Purchased from: Ebay

Or sometimes it's a chippy old number that represents our family of five....

Purchased from: Gracies Cottage

Sometimes it isn't the expensive or showy things that speak to us.....it's the simplest of things that become treasures.

The one that got away

Picture source: Ebay

Did you ever pass something up at the flea market, antique store or at a garage sale....and then had regrets?

For me it was a scale like the one above only older and chippier *sigh*. It was love at first sight and $40. I lingered at it for a while and eventually walked away due to cranky kids and a hungry hubby. I've been kicking myself ever since! The hunt is on to find another like it, one of these days I'll come across the perfect one and it will be mine.

Tell me about your one that got away.

Happy Thoughts

I have a friend, her name is Sarah. We "met" on a pregnancy forum in 2004 and have been friends ever since. I love her and her adorable family to pieces. Not sure how you can love someone you've never met in person (she's in Texas and I'm in Pa....it's a problem) but I do.

How cute are they??







Sarah is pregnant with her third precious baby and recently found out about a complication. This complication means she has to sit her tush on the couch and rest. Not much fun for this normally active chick. AND her hubby has to work from home to help take care of her and the kiddos. Need I say more?



I'm not one to ask for prayers but if you could send some of those (if that's your thing....if not, happy thoughts are acceptable too) her way, I would so appreciate it.



This is her blog:


http://mamacanon.blogspot.com/




She's bored and her rear end is numb but I know your comments will put a smile on her face.

Boring you with burlap

I'm sorry to show you two burlap projects, one right after the other but this was just too cute to pass up. I had to do it, I apologize.

This is my Valentine's Day version, I'll change the ribbon out with the seasons. And please tell me I'm not the only one who had a hard time finding a wire hanger?! We are just not "dry clean only" type people so no wire in this house. I had to go to the dark depths of the closet to find one, it was scary.

For the easy instructions complete with pictures, visit Where The Heart Is.

Thank you Jennifer for sharing this great project!

Hot glue and ruffles...

Before I get to the post, I just want to say THANK YOU so much for all the great advice and support on my son's sleeping issues! There is something about getting advice from other moms who have been there, done that. It's the kind of advice you just can't get out of a book (although I had gotten a recommendation for one of those I'm keeping in mind too!).

So far, so good! Day 1 we started at 8:00. We got him jammied up and read a story. Put him in his bed and....he cried. It was really, really hard. He even tried to coerce his sister to go get us for him. Although he never got out of his bed he whined on and off and finally fell asleep around 9:20. Not much fun but we were convinced it was the right thing to do.

Day 2 we started again at 8:00. He told us 1044846363 times that he didn't want to go to bed (you know, in case we didn't hear him the first time) and cried when we kissed him goodnight. BUT, he stopped quickly and was asleep by 8:30!!! Wow!

Honestly, had I known it would go this well, we would have started this routine earlier. He's still coming in our bed during the night but we're off to a great start.




With our sleeping issues on the upswing, I had all kinds of motivation to have that date with my glue gun I talked about in my last post. I had leftover ruffles...and a boring sconce.


I gathered all my supplies. Shades, fabric, ruffle trim, and of course a glue gun. The best thing would have been linen fabric but I didn't have any so I used burlap (is that stuff crazy awesome or what?). Here's the part where I make a weak attempt at showing you how to do this. I'm not a good teacher so bear with me.


Fold your fabric around the shade and glue as you go. Try to stretch the fabric a bit as you do this and hold it with one hand so it goes on without wrinkling up....

When you get to the end, cut a straight line and glue along it. Cut your fabric close to the shade all the way around. Don't worry about it being perfect, you'll cover it anyway.

Fold the top fabric over your shade, cutting a slit for the metal thingy. Technical, I know. Use your glue gun to tack it down. If you've done everything correctly, at this point your shade will look like this and your lap will be covered in lint.....

Now it's time to glue the ruffle. Sandwich your shade edge with the trim and glue the top piece along the bottom edge of the shade. All the way around....

And then you'll glue the bottom piece of the trim to the inside of the shade. Pull the ruffle down a bit as you glue so you get a tight fit and help the ruffle to sit pointing down, instead of sticking out. Easy right??

And when you're done, you end up with this!

Aren't they cute? I may not have ruffle shades but at least I have ruffle sconces!

Happy gluing!

I'm linking this post up to The DIY Show Off! Go check out the home accent party over there:

http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/