Kitchen

Two years ago, or so, I was asked by Kim at Savvysouthernstyle to post some pictures of my kitchen.  It's taken a while, but here it is.  

Our cabinets were custom-built, by Dixie Cabinetry in Springville, AL.  I requested a mantel over the stove.  I bought the plate in St. Augustine at the Columbia.

I requested a brick floor when we were building this house.  We had to go to five different Lowe's stores to get enough of this brick because it was being discontinued.  But I love it.  

The cabinets were painted white with a chocolate glaze and antique brass hardware. 

I also wanted plate racks.  So handy!

That's my daughter's hand-print on the plate.  The artist turned it into a rooster.  What a good idea!

My favorite granite is "Mahogany Blue Eyes."  United Surfaces in Springville, AL did our kitchen, bathrooms, and the brick and tile floors. 

Below is the bar.  We eat most of our meals there.

This door leads into the pantry.  And this is also Caroline's corner of the kitchen.  Her little kitchen was made by her great-grandfather in the 1950's.  She loves it.  I hung her artwork and a picture of her and her cousin on the wall above it. 

And this was a piece of furniture that my mom gave me.  I took the doors off of the top of it and had it painted to match my cabinets.

These french doors lead out to the back porch.  

Hope you enjoyed the kitchen tour.  Have a great week everyone!

Linking up to Wow Us Wednesdays!

Thinking outside the box...about jewelry.

Hello all!

Who else out there has a jewelry box?  You know what I mean...  One of those wooden boxes with all of the drawers, and you have soooo much jewelry that you can't even close the drawers or the top of it because your jewelry is spilling out of it.  Well, I do.  Technically, I still do, even though it is in the closet right now, hidden from all eyes.  

I've been wanting to find a way to organize my jewelry, but in an attractive way.  I have no hidden space in my closet to hang up one of those cute, Pinterest-y, fabric boards with the kitchen hardware.  You know what I'm talking about.  :)  

Now I don't expect everyone out there to LOVE what I've chosen to do, but for now, it works for me.  I found this shelf at Kirklands.  It has faux, crystal door knobs which I thought would be perfect for hanging my necklaces.

So the dresser is not what I want it to be...  I still need to paint the dresser to match the pillow on the bed.  Suggestions are welcome.  :)  I just bought a new lampshade for my "trailer park" lamp.  Yep.  I bought the lamp at a yard sale at a really, dumpy trailer park.  I gave it a coat of spray paint and I do love it.  I especially love it now that it has the new shade.    I will show you the NEW shade in a post on another day.  I am also going to get a piece of granite for the top of the dresser.  

Here are some close-ups for the shelf...

I also added some little bowls to the top of the shelf for my rings, bracelets and earrings...

So there it is.  My way of getting my jewelry out of that out-dated, kind-a-ugly, small, jewelry box.  Hope you enjoyed it and hope it inspired you.

Have a good week everyone!

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Master Bedroom Tour

Does anyone else enjoy sleeping in a really nice hotel room?  I remember many years ago, when my husband and I were on our way to Lancaster, we stopped outside of D.C. to spend the night and the hotel was so clean, comfortable, but best of all, the bedding was amazing!  Down comforters and pillows...and all in white.  The mattress was the most comfortable mattress I had ever slept on.  And I was several months pregnant at the time!  So when we returned home, I immediately purchased a down mattress pad, comforter and pillows.  I wanted our room to be a place that we could really relax.  

Welcome to my master bedroom. 

I really try not to over-decorate the bedroom.  I have tried to keep it mostly neutral, but HAD to buy these monogrammed pillows from Pottery Barn.  And my number one rule for decorating the bedroom is NO photos of children, friends, family, or pets.  Only photos of you and your spouse.  I read that in a magazine a long time ago and thought, "That makes sense!  Who wants Granny staring at you while you're in bed with your husband?"  

...and HAD to buy this decorative pillow.  It's from Pottery Barn as well. It's basically the only thing in our bedroom with color right now.  But I'm working on that!  :)

...except for these gorgeous hydrangea blooms that came from our yard.  What a good year it has been for hydrangea!  And why leave them outside, when you can have bouquets to enjoy indoors?

And I like how the blue looks in my room, too.  Hmmm...

So I love the colors in this pillow.  Orange, rust, blue, green, and mustard.  Now I'm wondering what I should do about wall art above the bed.  I have a pretty tall headboard but still think that the wall needs something.  Any suggestions?  I'd love to hear them.  

And here is a sneak peak at what is on the other side of the room.  You'll get to see the rest next week.  But I'll tell you this...I think it's one of the better ideas for organizing that I've ever had.  

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  And any suggestions on wall art will be very welcomed.  Have a good week everyone!!!

Linking up to WOW Us Wednesdays.

Amish Country Treasure

My in-laws took my husband, kids, and I to Amish Country yesterday.  By Amish Country, I mean Berlin, Ohio.  It is wonderful!  There are the best shops and boutiques for home decor.  And we stopped for lunch at Der Dutchman, where all of the food is home-made.  Caroline had a wonderful time.  At our first stop, she found some baby goats and pigs and got to feed them and play on the playground while I did A LOT of shopping.  I was in heaven.  The candle-holder on the right in the photo below is something that my MIL bought in the first shop.  It is beautiful.  She let me move some furniture around her home today, and do a little re-decorating.  She is so good about that.  And she usually loves what I do, too!

 The lights and the greenery and candles are all typical of what you find in the home decorating stores here in this part of Ohio. 

 And a lot of battery-operated candles.

 This is another picture of the candle holder that she purchased along with the greenery.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.  Have a good week everyone!

Linking up to Wow Us Wednesdays.

With the cousins.

Tonight, we were invited by my husband's cousins to go to a local Japanese Steakhouse for dinner.  Caroline really enjoyed dinner with all of her cousins.  She has no problem being around ALL boys.  No girls needed.  ...and she was introduced to something called a "blue marble drink."  That's what you see the kids toasting with in the picture.  There is a glass marble in the bottle, so it makes noise while you drink.  Can't really figure out what the drink is exactly...the ingredients are water and high fructose corn syrup.  I guess the flavor of hers was "blue."  LOL!  

She's something isn't she?  You have to be, to keep up with a bunch like this!

An Ohio Graduation Party

....for my special niece.  Isn't she beautiful?

Her school colors were gold and red.  I added zebra print to it to make it more "Kristin."  Below is the cupcake table.  Guests seemed to enjoy this more than regular cake.   

I made the banner, pom poms, labels and embellished the candles with scrapbook paper.  I also made the tutu for the dress form, which I named "Shelley."  Don't ask me why...she just looked like a "shelley" to me.  Ohio graduates have "picture boards" at their graduation parties, I've learned.  Kristin and her mom were on board with doing something unique and I got the dress form idea from Pinterest.  I just added the tutu and did it my way.  :)  

I wanted to surprise Kristin with a 16x20 senior portrait of herself.  This was put on the gift table. 

The party was held at the American Legion Pavilion.  I used zebra print fabric and brought lanterns from home to decorate the food table. 

On the menu was:  meatballs, haluski (cabbage and noodles), rolls, veggies, macaroni salad, watermelon and fried chicken.

And let's not forget the rigatoni.  Not having rigatoni at a party or shower up here in Ohio, would be like not having pimento cheese in Alabama.  

I heard that a lot of people loved the idea of hanging the pictures from twine using clothespins.  

It was cute, easy to view, and also something more different than what everyone else was doing.

Yes...I know the difference between chocolate and vanilla.  

Here is a good picture of "Shelley" in all of her glory.  

This is a sign of a fun party.  Isn't he the most beautiful baby boy you've ever seen?

Kristin with her dad, mom and brother.

All of Pap's and Grandma's babies together. 

A local bakery made the cupcakes.  Kristin's mom had a good idea to not have bright red icing.  No one wants red teeth.  The cupcakes were tinted instead. 

Personally, this was my favorite part of the decorating...  Kristin loves Nutella.  So I decided to put jars of Nutella with a little bit of zebra print tissue paper in a clear treat bag and use them as balloon weights.  So much more cute, fun and personal than the standard, one-dollar, foil balloon weights.

Here is my precious girl enjoying a cupcake.  She had so much fun at this party.  The pavilion was in the perfect wooded spot with a playground for the kids.  And she had LOTS of cousins to play with.  

One happy family with one happy niece.

She loves her big cousin Kristin!

...and there's nothing like being photo-bombed!

 We love you Kristin!!!!  You can accomplish anything that your heart desires.  Continue to make good choices in life, and always know that you can count on us when you need it!

Linking to:  Wow us Wednesdays!