THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Good Morning TLB friends,

We finally see the "light at the end of the tunnel!" Over the course of the last "4" weeks, hubby and I have met so many wonderful people that were all so excited to buy so many of our treasures.  It has not been "all sad," because everyone was so appreciative and excited about the treasures they were buying from us. I must say it has not been easy on us though. It's funny how attached we as human beings become attached to "things!"

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM TLB

Hello TLB Friends!

As we all know "life" has a way of dictating our future, and mine has taken quite a few turns over the past year. My philosophy has always been, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." In today's blog I'll bring you all up to speed......

Last year my husband's company did some downsizing in preparation of a corporate "buy-out." This affected some of the top executives, like my husband. As many of you know we had built our home in Texas, established our life, and after one year of living in the new house the announcement came.

In the midst of debating whether to sell the house, we received the most wonderful news that our oldest daughter was expecting her first child. She lives in Florida and since we have a vacation home in Florida we decided that it made sense to sell the Texas home and move to the Florida house to be nearer our daughter and new grandchild.

We sold our home to a lovely young family with two teenagers. The kids were so excited when they chose their bedrooms and couldn't wait to swim in the pool! As sad as it was to leave the memories we had already made in our home; all of the painstaking selections, the touches that made it home for us, the friends we had made, it felt good that we knew our home would be filled with the "love and joy of this new family."

So we said-----

AND 

 Hello Florida....

Whenever we move, there is always something that goes awry. Unfortunately, our movers packed the garage door remotes in the Florida boxes, so when we arrived in Florida we quickly mailed them back to Texas to the new family. Soon after we unpacked the rest of the boxes and settled in, we received a note with some of our mail enclosed in an envelope from the new owners. It read, "Thank you for sending the garage door openers, and for the beautiful flowers and wine! We love our new home! 

We always leave the new family's a little something. My Christmas Amaryllis was just the most gorgeous red and full of blooms, it just felt like it would make a beautiful "warm welcome" in the all white kitchen. A bottle of wine is something my husband always likes to leave on the counter for celebrating.

Most everything went into storage in Texas as the Florida house is already furnished and considerably more cozy!!  When we finally land permanently, it will seem like Christmas when we are unpacking boxes. We did alot of sorting and purging prior to this move, making us much more lean. It's funny sometimes how we hang on to some things forever, and when we stop and think about it, we wonder "why?"

Soon after settling into the Florida house, we realized it was time for a bit of freshening. We decided to start with the exterior, giving it a new updated color palette, which we just received approval for from our HOA.

-Body & garage door--Sherwin Williams-#7065 Argos
-Trim-Sherwin Williams-Casa Blanca-#7571
-Front Door-Sherwin Williams-In the Navy-#9178
- Lanai Patio Floors-Sherwin Williams-Casa Blanca-#7571

The beginning of June the painters will work their magic, and in the meantime, I'm toying with new interior wall color, BUT most importantly right now, we are spending a great deal of time with our daughter and new granddaughter.

We just can't get enough of our sweet little-

 Catherine Grace born on February 28th!

Thanks so much for your loyalty during my hiatus. It feels great to be back on the "blogging trail" once again! I have missed all of you!


                                                                        Fondly,

                           Kathleen

                                

NEW HOME/NEW COLOR PALETTE

It's been six weeks since we signed our lease on the apartment, and began our new journey. When I look back at the whirlwind events that have occurred, I'm exhausted! Hubby and I looked at each other, after recalling all of the steps it took us to get here, and both said, "no wonder we are tired!"

After accomplishing all of the unpacking, and settling we stepped into the house hunting world. We've looked and searched and gotten discouraged. We're in HOT market, which can be good and bad. After loosing one house in a bidding war, we regrouped and continue to search.

During this time, I thought I should use my time wisely before chaos ensues.I brought fabric samples from our furniture that is in storage with me, and decided it was time to change our color palette this move. 

I love the new grays and whites and the freshness that they bring to a home, but I also love the warm golds that I always seem to gravitate to. I used some of the grays in the Princeton bedrooms, but I wanted to add more to the new house.

So I started researching color combos....and chose a palette that incorporates our past golds and brings in some of the new grays also. It feels calm and serene.....
  

PINTEREST PHOTO-credits to design-seeds.com


I've been spending my days exploring looking for all of the basics, grocery store, church etc., but I also ventured into a model home in a subdivision near the apartment.

Here are a few photos that I took which confirmed my thoughts of incorporating the golds and grays into our home.

This photo does not reflect how I would personally use the choices....not fond of that tub tile, but confirms to me how lovely the two colors flow together. (I apologize for the clarity of my photos, I used my cell phone camera.) The cabinets were a shade of gray and the counter tops were a deep charcoal. The mirror was accented in gold and the mosaic tile was shades of gold, brown, and gray with a creamy grout color.

The photo below is much better lighting and reflects more accurately the true colors. I love the golden vanity stool....nice touch!

The Master shower was the same marble tile with the mosaic shower bottom. Again, not my favorite choice of colors in the pattern.

Venturing into their kitchen were white raised panel cabinets, dark wood, nail down, flooring (which we see a lot here in Texas). The dark wood against the white is lovely.

And in this case a Silestone Quartz counterop that resembles Carrera marble.  The bar stools have just the right amount of golden linen fabric to bring the color into the kitchen also.

Thanks for stopping by today. Let me know what you think of my new color palette. I'd love to hear your comments!

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Kathleen

HOUSEHUNTING

Well, it's been a whirlwind since we have arrived here in Southlake, TX, a suburb of Dallas. We chose a location between the airport and work for my husband, not knowing how much traffic there would be commuting to and from. 

The facts we used when determining where to plant our roots-

*   Great school system. Southlake public schools rank as one of the top school systems in the DFW metro area. 

(Even though our children are grown, we are always concerned about resale, therefore, choosing a hot area with short  re-sale turn-around.)

*   Close proximity to an airport.

*   Not more than a 30 minute commute to work.

*   Cozy town feel....in this area of Texas we have found town squares which are

quaint areas where you find Town Halls and parks in the center, surrounded by

stores, hotels, restaurants and movie theaters. They are really quite lovely!

House hunting has proven to be quite challenging. Of course when we arrive in town, there is a shortage of homes! Yes, that's correct!  We have a great realtor who is working diligently to find us a home, but unfortunately nothing has worked out as of yet. I've toured about 6 homes with her, and one would have been a great fit for our family. Over the weekend we submitted a bid on that home (very similar to this one), great neighborhood, custom homes built in the mid 1990's. 

Well, remember how I said there was a shortage of inventory available? Have you ever heard of bidding wars for homes? We've come across this once before when we were looking for homes in Northern NJ very close to NYC. For some reason it didn't come as quite a shock in that area, but DFW area, especially Southlake....guess we have alot to learn! 

Our fin was down a bit when the realtor called and said they had multiple bids and suggested we write a personal letter to accompany our offer. We did, we pulled out all the stops.....I even included a family photo!   Multiple bids.........14-21 is a common theme on some of the homes lately, but after a valiant effort we lost!

Whew....we then realized we could very well have a LONG road ahead of us .Thank goodness we divided our household goods between pieces of furniture and kitchen items to hold us over in an apartment, and then the long-term storage. It could be a long time before we see the rest of our household items. Until then we'll enjoy our..........HOME SWEET HOME--Texas style!

Do you have any stories of multiple bidding wars? I'd love to hear about yours!

    Have a wonderful day!

   Kathleen

                                               

DALLAS WE'VE LANDED!

It's so nice to see y'all here today! I just wanted to share with you how much I appreciate you visiting "The Lavender Bouquet" and being part of my life's journey.....

GOODBYE NEW JERSEY

It's been a busy Spring for our family! The vacation home renovations are not all that we've been working on.