Keeping It Real - Lighting

Here is a post about keeping it real....when you are remodeling a home your house is NEVER clean. NEVER orderly and NEVER ready for family or visitors.

So, since I think of you all as family I am going to let you come on in and see a teeny bit of the mess that I have lived through for the last 2 months.

Here is Mr. Comforts of Home installing a new chandelier in our dining room. When we purchased this foreclosure, the previous owners took the chandelier with them.


The chandelier came in a box, filled with boxes, filled with chandelier parts. Thank goodness I am married to Mr Comforts of Home. He knew where every part went and how to install it.


Along with the chandelier for the dining room, we also received the lighting for the powder room, master bathroom.....


...and the lighting for the foyer and living room ceiling....and the chandelier for the eat in kitchen as well as the lighting that hangs over the kitchen counter. So we will be living with boxes and boxes of electrical parts, plastic wrap, Styrofoam and wiring for the next week or so while Mr Comforts of Home installs the lighting in between his day job of engineering.

Here is a quick, unedited (keeping it real, here) picture of the dining chandelier now that it is up and working. On the dining table are the parts for the foyer lighting.

Thanks Mr. Comforts of Home....I love you!

Welcome Home,

Penny

It's Starting to Look Like A Master Bathroom!

Even though it is a cloudy day outside and my pictures are dark, I couldn't wait to show you what's going on in my master bath!

The tub was installed today!! Doesn't it look great? I want to take a bath in it tonight, but I am forcing myself to wait until the entire bathroom is finished, so I can really enjoy it. Besides, I still have the window covering issue to deal with.


And I know that seeing a toilet, might not be very exciting to you, but for the last month and a half we have been sleeping in a guest room UPSTAIRS, because that is where the only working bathrooms were.

Our master bath toilet was also installed today, so we are moving down to the master bedroom.

A little bit of progress every day...
Welcome Home,
Penny

A North Carolina Blog Luncheon

I had a wonderful day today! About a month ago, Rhondi from Rose Colored Glasses invited all North Carolina bloggers to come to a lunch at her house. Rhondi and I have been blog friends for a couple of years and last year Rhondi drove from Charlotte, NC to my house (about a 2-1/2 hour drive) to spend the day with me. I was so excited to be able to drive over to her house to see her again!

Two other North Carolina bloggers also attended Rhondi's luncheon. Mary from Across The Pond (who lives in the Raleigh area and I just met two weeks ago when she was visiting Asheville) and Donna from Dobco, who I had not met until today were there.

From left to right, Rhondi, Donna, Mary and Me....on Rhondi's front porch.


Here is a picture of Donna, Rhondi and Mary standing just inside Rhondi's dining room before lunch. You can see Rhondi's living room behind everyone and her beautiful crystal chandelier over her dining table in the left fore ground.



Of course, you know you can tell a BLOGGER when you see someone with a camera taking a picture of food!

Rhondi's lunch was delicious! She served homemade butternut squash soup as the first course, followed by a broccoli quiche and a wonderful spinach salad with raspberries and mandarin oranges.

For dessert Rhondi served us tea from her vintage tea cart and gorgeous Dainty Blue china tea service.



The dessert was Mango sorbet with Rhondi's homemade oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies.

We spend the entire lunch talking about everything from blogging to trips to France and Thailand, quilting, photography, other outstanding blogs and more! I felt like I had know these wonderful women for years.

Mary brought this wonderful French style laundry bag and a English Lavender room scent as a gift for me. I love them both!

And Donna hand made this lovely Christmas bag and filled it will a cookie cutter, recipe cards and a mini loaf of yummy bread!

It was a lovely day. As I drove home I thought about how I would love to recreate this wonderful idea that Rhondi had. Maybe a luncheon next spring or early summer....

Welcome Home,

Penny

Window Treatment

What to do? I have this pretty lead glass window in the master bathroom that my tub is going to sit under. It is not a privacy window. You can see through it. We have neighbors.

So how do you treat this window? It is so pretty, you don't want to block it with blinds. I took some time to look through BH&G website for some ideas.

Here is my window below....


Here they used blinds...not an option for me. It would cover the leaded glass too much.

Here above the tub - they didn't use window treatments...must not have any neighbors at this house.

Another with no window treatment....

Below, they used accordion , honeycomb type blinds. That is an option. When pulled completely up, they almost disappear, so they wouldn't cover the pretty leaded glass.

In the picture below, they used curtains. I like this option too. They can be pulled away to the sides and the pretty leaded window would still show, when privacy was not an issue. Plus they soften a hard space with a lot of tile.

Another bath with curtains....these are too shear, but I really like the idea.

So what window treatment would you use, if you had a beautiful window you didn't want to hide during the day, but needed privacy at night? I would love to hear your ideas!

Welcome Home,

Penny