Snow Day!

Yippee!!! A snow day! I know if you are from up north you must be ready to move on to spring....but we get so little snow here in NC I just love it when it happens!

This cement rooster is covered in about 10 inches of snow in my backyard.


The cardinals look exceptionally brilliant red when it snows, don't they? This guy and the little wren are enjoying an afternoon snack.

Well, I am off to sit by the cozy fire with a cup of hot cocoa and a good decorating book. The beef short ribs on cooking on the stove and the house smells wonderful.

Hope you are able to take a snow day too.

Welcome Home,

Penny

Kitchen Eating Nook Before and After

I know I have shown you bits and pieces of the Kitchen Eating Nook, as we worked on it, but not the whole area. So here is a picture of the before.

BEFORE

And here is the AFTER. We painting the red and olive green walls Belgian Waffle and replaced the chandelier.

This furniture was in my formal dining room at my old house. We hope to add some curtains or valances on the window and maybe an area rug, down the road.

Well, we are suppose to get about 11 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. I am looking forward to it! Have a great weekend.

Welcome Home,

Penny

Lightening Up

I have been reading all over blog land about everyone lightening up there homes. I think when the days are short and the skies are grey it can get a little gloomy inside.

So the other day, in order to lighten up a little I painted some black candle sticks I had, a creamy color.


Here is the candle sticks BEFORE in black - which I loved, but I was ready for a change.... Ready to lighten up...



AFTER
And here they are a creamy white. I dry brushed a little gold craft paint on top of the white and sanded them a little.



I love the new look! Now that doesn't mean that I won't paint them again someday....maybe red down the road...
Welcome Home,
Penny

Shopping Around With Blog Friends and Kitty Bartholomew

Remember last year, when I showed you a post about a table lamp that I bought because I fell in love with the one in Kitty Bartholomew's living room in her decorating book? You can read that post by clicking here. Right now that table is sitting in my living room - not the great room and I still love it!

Well anyway, I also fell in love with the vintage bocce balls she had in a bowl on her living room coffee table. See the picture below for both the table lamp and the bowl of colorful balls pictured in Kitty's book.



Well a few days ago a blogging friend, Becky from Sweet Cottage Dreams showed some vintage croquet balls on her blog. I didn't realize it at first but she was selling them in her ETSY shop!

I thought they were very close to the bocce balls that Kitty Bartholomew had, so I bought them. They came today and I LOVE them! Now I am on the hunt for a few more including some blue ones. I have a larger vintage wood dough bowl that I can place them in when I get a larger collection.

Inspiration....it can come from decorating books, tv shows, magazines and blog friends....

Where do you find your inspiration?

Welcome Home,

Penny

The Red Toile Guest Bedroom Before and After

I am participating in Susan's Metamorphosis Monday....after visiting me here, stop in to see Susan and all of the other wonderful transformations!

Here are pictures of the second guest bedroom. The first picture is the before. You can click on any picture to enlarge....

BEFORE

Here is the AFTER....

I painted the room a lighter cream color. We removed the dark laminate flooring (because it was about 1/2 inch below the real hardwood floor in the hallway leading to the room) and replaced it with cream carpet.

The bedroom furniture, bedding, quilts, curtains, plates and tole trays are what we used in my master bedroom in my old house.

The only NEW thing is the sweet Home pillow from Kathy at Kathy's Cottage. I knew I had to buy this as soon as I saw it on her blog. Long before this room was finished, I knew exactly where it would go. Visit Kathy - she has just finished making some new pillows!!

We still need to put something above the bed....art, mirror, dishes - something. But that will happen in time.

Welcome Home,

Penny

I'm A Shackster!! And A Giveaway!!

Meet Kelee!!



I am so excited! I have to tell you that I am being featured on The Kattillac Shack blog. Blog owner, Kelee, has made me a Shackster!! Want to know what a Shackster is? Visit Kelee and find out.

Kelee is a wonderfully inspirational, creative and motivational lady! If you have not met her yet, you need to head over and introduce yourself. You will love her as much as I do!

You will also have a chance to win a mosaic birdhouse created by me! But you have to go visit Kelee and leave a comment on the post featured at at this link - Click Here - to leave comment.

Now, go on over and visit Kelee and sign up to win a mosaic birdhouse! Please tell her I sent you!
Welcome Home,
Penny

The Fireplace Mantel, Finished At Last!

This post was published in 2010 but I am linking it to:
Jennifer Rizzo
At long last the fireplace and mantel are finished! Just as a reminder this first picture was taking the day we bought the house. Though I had always wanted built ins around a fireplace, I didn't like these. They were actually laminate kitchen cabinets and were not in the best of shape. I also knew that we didn't want a TV above the fireplace. I wanted the fireplace to be the focal point of the room. (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them for better detail.)

BEFORE


The first picture below is my inspiration photo. It is from Country French magazine. I loved the mirror, the tiles, the mantel and corbels. So I asked Mr Comforts of Home if he could build it for me. He knew he could make the mantel, but we hired a contractor to build the faux chimney chase first. You can see pictures of that here.

INSPIRATION


The rest of the pictures are of the AFTER. I love how it turned out! The first picture I am standing in the eat in area of the kitchen. We are looking for a tall secretary for the right side of the fireplace - or two MATCHING book cases to go on either side. We even thought about using to large vintage doors to lean against the wall like the inspiration picture...I let you know what we eventually do.

A close up of the paint and glaze technique I used.

I thought I would show a few more pictures of the great room from different angles.

I would love to slip cover the couch in some sort of red pattern....someday.

We still need to add curtains to the windows and some area rugs, but that and all of the other decorating and nesting will happen in time.

I really love the way the fireplace turned out.

Welcome Home,

Penny

Rainy, Foggy Day

It's a foggy and rainy day today. I wanted to show you pictures of my finished fireplace mantel (YES! It's Done!!). But I couldn't get any good pictures of it.

Here is what it looks like from my front porch. This is the middle of the day and the street lights came on.


So I will just leave you with this pretty picture of some white roses in a silver mint julep cup I have on my nightstand.

Welcome Home,

Penny

My Studio Before and After

I am joining Kim at Savvy Southern Style for the weekly before and after party.

BEFORE
Here is a picture of my studio, the day we closed on the house. Aug, 28, 2009.

AFTER

Today.....I have finally started working again in my studio! I need to hang my blackboard and a few other wall pieces, as well as some track lighting, but it felt good getting in here to work!

I love all of the space I have. It is so nice being able to have everything in one room instead of 3-4 different rooms.

I decided to use my old work table as my computer table, so I bought an inexpensive hollow core door and a couple of metal saw horses and put them together for my work table. It is a lot bigger and I can spread out more. I love the industrial loft look of my new work table and my storage shelves.

Here below is my old work table, now being used as my office desk.

Some inspirational pieces....

One of my sisters gave me this cute piece a couple of years ago.

Who doesn't have a pig in their studio? I really do plan on covering this in mosaics someday....really :-).

Some more inspiration....

Welcome Home,

Penny

Sage Toile Guest Bedroom/Bath Before and After

I am participating in Susan from Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday. To see other wonderful before and afters, visit Susan. Susan is also having a wonderful giveaway. So go check it out!

Here are some pictures of one of our guest bedrooms and bath. The first picture below is the before picture. The previous owner had painted the walls, baseboard molding and ceiling all the same color olive green. There are no windows in this bathroom and it was very cave like.

AFTER
Here is the bath today. I painted the ceiling and baseboards a crisp white. The walls are Belgian Waffle. The shower curtain is a waffle weave spa type curtain.

Here is a BEFORE picture of the guest bedroom. The walls were a pale blue and the floors were the dark laminate. The precious owners had removed stained carpet in the bedrooms and placed inexpensive laminate floors down. The problem was they were thinner than the adjoining real wood floors in the hallway and there was a 1/2 step down to get into the rooms.

AFTER
I painted the walls a sage green that matches the green toile curtains and bed skirt perfectly. We replaced the laminate with cream colored carpet. Since these are guest rooms they don't get a lot of traffic, so I wasn't worried about the light color.

The cream duvet and the sage sheets are the items I purchased at Home Goods last week with my gift card.

We have hung a few pictures, but still have not really decorated this room. That will happen in time, as I find pieces while out flea marketing and antiquing.

Come back in the next day or so and see the second guest bedroom makeover...
Welcome Home,

Penny