A Curtain Project

Instead of copying everything here on this blog, I'm just going to put up a link to my other blog Sahmbie Chronicles, so that you can see my finished curtain project.

See it here.

TN House Pics...Master Bedroom/ Bath

I'm gonna warn you now...my master bedroom aint nuttin' special. There are just too many things that I "never got around to doing," that I absolutely hate about it. But, there are things that I love too. But I do want to address the very bad wallpaper. It was one of those things that was here when I bought the house and thought I'd change one day. And six years later, I still find myself trying to decorate around it, because I just don't want to fool with removing wallpaper! It's ugly, I know. But at least I don't have to look at it anymore. And I know that the curtain rod above the bed is just not long enough...another reason it's always better to measure twice and "buy" once! And to those diehard decorators out there, I know I'm breaking some cardinal rules, like never put a TV, or a ceiling fan, or exercise equiptment in your bedroom. But hey, I LIVE here. My home is not a decorating magazine, it's a place where REAL people live. I happen to like watching TV in bed now and again, and having a place to retreat when my husband insists on watching football on the flatscreen in the living room! And I like to ride my stationary bike and watch TV. It goes by faster! And if I don't have some air circulating at night, I simply suffocate! So, those are the things that may not be so great about my master. So now on to the things I do like about this room. I do like the size of it. And although it's not the biggest bedroom ever, it is bigger than ANY of the bedrooms in the new house. So, fitting in this big funiture will be tricky, but I'll make it work. And it does have a half bath and 2 nice windows. I don't like a lot of light in my room, but they are nice if you do like a lot of light. And last but not least, I love the hardwood floors. My allergies have reduced tremendously since we got carpet out of our bedrooms. It's been amazing!

In my new house, I hope to decorate more for my husband and I both. Right now, this room has a real "granny" appeal to it. But I do collect Depression glass and prefer light quilts to heavy comforters. So, some elements of my taste may lean toward "old-fashioned." But I do want our room to be romantic and restful. I hope I can achieve that in the new house! So whatever your opinion, good or bad, here are pics of my room.

My husband's "massive" tie collection. He has no where else to hang them, so they hang on the back of the bathroom door. Oh well, it's his room too.

This dresser has an enormous mirror, so I put this tall birdcage in the center for height. The candles I placed inside look really pretty at night when they're lit.

TN House Pics...Dining Area

As promised, here are more pics of rooms in my house. Today I thought I'd show you my dining area. We have an eat-in kitchen, so you may catch pics of it too.

This is one of the new(er) Pampered Chef wooden serving pieces for the stoneware. I have it perched on top of my china cabinet with some fake fruit.

The topper from our wedding cake.

This little lady and the pitcher above are from one of our favorite restaraunts in St. Augustine, FL called, Columbia. They have the best chicken and yellow rice. Anyway, they sell all these beautiful pottery pieces. Below is a pic of the large platter I bought there as well.

More Pampered Chef...sparkly napkins and napkin rings!

I love yellow and red together.

A look at the hallway.

TN House Pics...Spare Bedroom

Now that I've finally got my computer up and running correctly, I just wanted to share some pics of my home with you. This is our spare bedroom. It's remained the messiest room in the house for many years because it's my closet and our whole family's personal dumping ground! Only when we were ready to sell the house, and start showing it did I clean it up and decorate a little. Isn't that a shame? I could've been enjoying this room all these years. I won't make that mistake again in my new house!

A shot of the spare room at night with the lamp on.
I love this Wal-Mart rug I bought several years ago.

I actually like calling this my "spare oom" because I have this big ol' wardrobe in there (get it? "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe?"). I bought it at a junk store for $60! It's supposed to have a mirror, but I covered the plywood panel in the center with fabric. The wood veneers on the sides of the wardrobe are splintered and broken off in places, so I've wanted to cover them with beadboard and paint the whole thing white. Maybe that'll be a project when I move!

A friend let me have this pretty little night stand. I love the oval mirror. It goes really well with the dressing table which also has an oval mirror.

I salvaged this hundred+ year old door from my mother-in-law's flooded house before they tore it down. I've seen a lot of people turn these old doors into baker's racks, shelves, headboards...but I'm going to make mine into a hall tree for the new house. I didn't have anywhere to store it while the house was showing, so I stood it in the corner and hung a wreath on it. The rocking chair in front of it and the lamp were gifts from my friend's yard sale (well, the rocking chair was). It's a lot of brown, but I think it's pretty cute.

This is another old table that a friend gave me. The basket, the hobnail lamp, and the McCoy planter were all from yard sales.

This is the dressing table that matches the wardrobe. Also bought from the same junk store for $60. So, both pieces for $120!

I got this Waverly bedding at Target when I first bought this house 6 years ago. I found the same Waverly pattern in some beautiful, ruffly curtains at Big Lots around the same time. I didn't use them in this room because I only have one set, but I'll definately use them in my new house because that guest room only has one window. I just love the cool white and purple. That's why I want to paint the other furniture white. I believe it will look better all together than the dark wood.

My First Crafty Project and Kitchen Pics

My first finished craft project in many, many years! I've been really inspired by some of my favorite bloggers to get "crafty!" I have a few BIG projects in mind for later, so little projects like this will help give me some confidence I think.

At Like Merchant Ships, she says to "use what you have." So, to fill an empty spot on my kitchen wall, I went looking! There on my back deck were these little flower pots in their rusted ivy holder. My mom gave me these probably 4 or 5 years ago and I never used them. Before I cleaned them up, they were filled with dirt and bugs and had spider webs all over them. I kind of like the rust, so I left it. I didn't have any paint or ribbon or trim to dress them up to fit my red and green kitchen. But, I did remember that I had a red checked gift bag that would probably work to cover the pink flowers. Here's what they looked like after I cleaned them up. Here are the materials I used to decorate the pots. I love the checked bag. I just cut stips of the bag to fit around the lip of the pot, and taped them on.
I'm pleased with it. I used fake ivy until I can get some little pots of real ivy. Here it is hanging on the wall. Cute!

Here are a few pics of my kitchen. I love this glass light catcher. I get evening sun through the kitchen window, so I love the colorful light it casts while I'm cooking dinner!

Here's another pic of my new project and my green and red curtains. I got all the curtains for my kitchen at JC Penney on deep discount. It's my favorite place to find good quality, stylish curtains. These were about $8 for two panels. The valance was about $8 as well. I love them!

This was a unique, inexpensive fix if you want a change for your kitchen tile. I wanted to go with red and green and a Tuscan feel in my kitchen. It was country blue and butter yellow. The tile backsplash was white with a country blue strip. I have a good friend who is an artist and she does beautiful murals. I asked her to paint a Tuscan scence on my tile backsplash. All I had to do to prep was paint on an oil based primer and then paint a cream color base coat. She came in, and once she got going, it took about an hour (she's quick!) to paint the scenes. Over the stove I wanted a scripture that was uplifting and talked about the goodness of God. I love the murals. I know that my kitchen is one of a kind.
My "Cucina" (kitchen) sign. On the other set of cabinets, I have one in black that says "Amore." I do love my kitchen.