KITCHEN ISLAND DECOR TOUCHES

Good Morning TLB friends!

I hope things are well in your world! Hubby and I are very grateful that both of us are fully immunized. My husband had no side affects, however, I was not as lucky. I was down for three days, but all is well now.

As most of you know we have three daughters. Two out of three are currently moving into new homes within a week of one another. Our oldest, that has our granddaughter, lives close to us here in Florida and has built a beautiful new home. Our youngest lives in Chicago and has just purchased a charming Row home. Our middle daughter and son-in-law live in Raleigh where they're beautiful southern brick home sits amongst the trees.

The world we are currently living in is so unpredictable.  We haven't seen our two daughters and son-in-law for quite some time. It's a great feeling to finally be able to visit them.

While I was getting ready for the trips I thought I would share a little "blog inspiration" with you.

I've been doing alot of browsing for unique decorating touches for the new house. I really don't like my kitchen island to be cluttered with paper.  I like to keep it clear of "stuff." While searching I found a unique idea that satisfied both my decorative side and de-clutter side.

I took the left corner of my island and created a very simple vignette. I found beautiful gold and white vases on Amazon. I purchased two different sizes, one large Imax 14797 Flynn Large Vase, White  and one medium, Sagebrook Home 12540-04 Ceramic Vase 8", White/Gold, 5.75 x 5.75 x 8 inches, but I still needed a small size, so I "shopped" my own home. 

A few years ago for Christmas my daughters gave me a gift from one of my favorite artists, Jill Rosenwald. It's a beautiful small vase that was painted in gold/white gingham plaid. It was called the "Jilly" vase. I currently did not find the vase in gold on Jill's website, however, she does paint custom orders if you like the gold.

https://www.jillrosenwald.com/collections/vases/products/gingham-plaid-jilly-cup-2

In the end I was pleased that this simple project added just the right touches I had envisioned for our island.

By going shopping in my own home, I was able to add a couple of "new" inexpensive pieces, making the vignette of "3" just the look I was searching for.

Don't forget to shop in your own home and if you don't find what you need AMAZON's choices are endless....it certainly makes life much easier!

Happy Shopping,

Kathleen

TIME SAVING EASTER CAKE

Welcome to Foodie Friday TLB friends!

Do you have days that as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning you are constantly on the move?  And then at the end of the day, as the sun sets, you wonder why you are so exhausted? 

Never fear, we all have those days. That's why in today's blog I've shaved some time off the preparation of Easter dessert for you!

SIMPLE TWEEKS TO MY FRONT PORCH

 

Welcome TLB friends,

Ever since I decorated my front porch a few weeks ago I've kind of felt like it was missing something. As hubby and I walked through our subdivision we saw soooo many topiary trees on porches. I just felt like I was ready for something different on our porch.

Years ago at our Princeton, Dallas and Houston homes, I used Boston ferns on our porch. I LOVE these ferns and their soft flowy leaves. So we went to Lowe's and there I found two beautiful Boston ferns. My hubby had just sprayed my urns black for me. Yes, they were the "same urns" I've used in years past at those homes as well. Ferns are great for any size porch and add a soft flowy touch.

I also purchased a 1" roll of MacKenzie and Childs Courtly Check ribbon and made a bow for the wreath and tied ribbon on each Pottery Barn lantern. These simple additions "in my mind" added the "icing on the cake" so to speak!

I hope you enjoyed the blog today! See you next week!

Kathleen

CREATING THE ILLUSION OF A WIDER WINDOW

Hello TLB friends,

I hope the sun is shining in your world today! With us now living in Florida we've been getting our fair share of sunshine so we can't complain.

This week I had the bug to complete some projects in the house. I just needed to spend some time thinking about how to tackle things that are not of the "norm." By this I mean the things you come across when you build a "semi-custom home," or do a remodel. Some of the building process you are allowed changes and some they will not allow. And as far as buying an existing home, most of you probably know there is always the unknown you uncover!

Today I'm sharing what I've done to take a bedroom size window, which is in our formal dining room, and make it "appear" larger than it really is.

The dining room window is the window to the left of the front door in the photo above.

This photo of the diningroom was taken just after we unpacked. The window is the only one in the room. You get a better idea of the size of the window in this photo too.

We added plantation shutters to all of the windows in the house. This gives me the choice whether to add draperies or not, and still gives us privacy. Their insulating factors are great for sunny areas too!

I found the draperies in Ballard Designs catalog last Fall. I ordered them in October and I was soooo excited when they finally arrived two days ago!!!

The "Becca Floral" drapery panels are 108" in length and the color is "Cloud." 

I had hubby hang them higher than the window frame, just 3 inches under the crown moulding. We extended the rod end 18" wider beyond the window frame on both sides, giving the "appearance" of a much wider window. 

                            

I was trying to decide whether to puddle the last few inches or hem each panel. For now I've puddled them. Sometimes I just need to see things for a bit before I make a critical decision.

I find it amazing sometimes at how much you can change a room by adding a warm pair of draperies to tie it all together!

Have a wonderful day!

Kathleen

JAZZING UP YOUR PORCH

Hello TLB Friends! 

I hope today finds you well and ready to tackle this New Year ahead of us! Since our world is changing in so many ways, I thought maybe it was time for me to "change up my thoughts" in regards to decorating our porch.

Every time I drive in the driveway, since taking our Christmas decorations down, our porch seemed so bare. I decided it was time for a pre-Spring spruce up. I grabbed my Black and white check planters,  from Studio M  out of the garage, along with my topiaries, and went to work. 

Of course I needed to add an "in-between" seasonal wreath, and a new welcome mat since "Merry Christmas" was not appropriate any longer! I chose a Magnolia wreath from Frontgate and it gave me just the right amount of character I was looking for.  I found my welcome mat at Personalization Mall. (links below)

I hope you've enjoyed my idea of adding some simple touches to "jazz" up your porch! 

GOOD LUCK JAZZING!!!!

Kathleen

PLANTERS

(https://www.studio-m.com/ap18089.html)

WREATH

https://www.frontgate.com/magnolia-wreath/906801?fromt=true&gtmPageName=Shopping%20Cart&fromGtmPageName=Search%20Results 

GREENERY PERSONALIZED WELCOME MAT

https://www.personalizationmall.com/Greenery-Welcome-20x35-Personalized-Doormats-i63237.item?productid=23401&sdest=Search&sdestid=111388992

BLOGGING MILESTONE #1 THANK YOU 300+ FOLLOWERS

Happy New Year TLB friends!

As we head into "2021", I want to take a moment to "thank you all" for your continued support, inspiration and comments on the blog.  I now have over 300 followers, and 3000 "Likes" on Facebook. I have set stricter parameters on my Instagram to be keep my life a bit more "private" with a total of 804 followers.

Now that hubby and I have settled into our "forever" home, I plan on spending more time on my writing. If you have a certain subject you are interested in, please let me know by leaving a comment for me. I'd love to hear from you.

My very best wishes to you and yours for a Happy and Healthy New Year! 

CHEERS to 2021!

Kathleen

CHRISTMAS 2020 HOME TOUR

Welcome Friends,

I hope that things are well with all of you! These times are difficult to maneuver in many ways for all of us. I've been having some ups and downs myself, but I came to the conclusion that, "life is what we make of it." We make choices everyday, and I've chosen to enjoy my family this holiday season and be grateful for all that God has bestowed on us.

If you are like me at times we need distractions. In my world lately I've chosen to jump into "holiday spirit" head first. A new home, and lots of Christmas decor that came from our past homes, and corporate storage; this always feels like it's new again! It's a tedious job to recreate and reimagine where things will go, but in the end, AND THIS IS OUR END, it's quite rewarding! It's also interesting to see how my taste has changed through the years as far as placement and use of our furnishings.

 As I've shown you in past posts, our new living area is open concept. The kitchen, informal dining area and family room are in one large open space. It's been interesting to decorate both for every day living as well as Christmas time.

The area rug grounds the area that is our family room. Our sofa and chairs ground the perimeter of the living space and the entertainment system, buffet and end tables anchor family room perimeter. The decorative entertainment grounds the space and adds a warmth with the medium wood finish. 

FAMILY ROOM

 

We placed our "live" Christmas tree from North Carolina, between the sofa and chair, creating a warm little vignette. Since we don't have a fireplace in this home, hubby found a beautiful fireplace screen saver for me while I sit and write my blog this evening. It's almost like being in Bozeman, MT again, however, the temps outside this evening are 67 degrees versus 20 degrees!

           

This little alcove off the family room leads to the Master Bedroom and Master Bath.

Below is the view from the informal eating area into the family room. 

 

The kitchen is located to the right.

I was able to recycle the draperies I had made for our Texas home. They were hung on 2 story windows and were straight panels. Instead of including them in the sale of our home I decided I could possibly reuse them in the next home. As it turned out it was about 1/2 day project, of measuring, cutting and re-heming them for our new family room sliding doors. This was quite a cost effective thing I have done on numerous homes. By installing straight panels only the length needs to be changed. It's amazing how different they look in our new home. (I'll be writing a future blog on just how easy it was for me to tackle this project step by step.)

The wooden shades in the informal dining area are from Budget Blinds. I wanted a woven look window shade to try and bring a bit less formal look to the area. They were a bit expensive, but since I had saved money by hemming my own draperies my budget allowed me to do so.

My kitchen color choices are timeless; white cabinets bottom and top around the perimeter and black on the island. I chose a neutral gray veined quartz countertops. The island chairs are black and white from Serena and Lily. #serenaandlily I decorated the chairs with small wreaths for a festive touch and the counter perimeter with small Christmas touches also. The linen island lights (black and white) appear blue because of the LED light bulbs at night in photos. They actually look white in person.

Riviera Barstool

Below is the rotunda located in the center hallway of the house. It has double trayed ceilings with dimmable lighting in them along with the chandelier in the center.

I painted the nativity below while I was going to college. (and that was a LONG time ago!) It has been part of our family from the beginning. Our ritual is to have the children place the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas day. Some years when the kids were young, they sang "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus.

New to the scene this year, at least for me, were Gnomes! I find them so fascinating. Since we have a 2 1/2 year old granddaughter, I thought this would be something she could easily pick up and play with during the holidays. Although, she has been curious about them, she's really not as fascinated as I was. Oh the mind of a child!

The formal dining room is located just as you enter our front door on the left side. My husband's office is located on the right with window paned double doors for privacy.

I have a small vignette containing a comfortable chair and our small Christmas tree to greet holiday guests.

I wasn't keen on the open dining room design, however, by adding the trayed ceiling with increased height, it appears to have opened up the room somewhat. I have kept the furnishings, china cabinet and formal table and chairs, and bar chest with mirror because, they are a part of my husband and I and our journey. Sentimental pieces are so important to us because of the memories that come with them.

I was able to use some Christmas pieces of china to add a festive look in the china cabinet. And simple greens and candle sticks on the dining table.

Wishing you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS 

and a 

HAPPY  HEALTHY NEW YEAR! 

See you in 2021! 

Stay safe my friends!

Kathleen