shopping, chopping, basting, baking-it’s that time of year!

 

It’s prep time at our home. 

Busy shopping and chopping;

basting and baking and on and on it goes.

  

Just in case you can’t read this it’s worth repeating.

“May we eat bread with JOY and drink wine with a MERRY Heart.

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Sharing with Tabletop Tuesday at my dear friend, Marty’s place.

Thanks!

Nothing like being featured to make your day a bit brighter…

and that’s just what it did when Roeshel featured a couple of my projects on

The DIY SHOW-OFF! 

Thanks Roeshel!

just sharing a lil’ Thanksgiving…

 

 

from our home to yours.

Come on in.

 

 

 

Sharing with Vignette Friday and Show and Tell Friday.

~distressed frames & a lil’ chalkboard paint too~

 

We’ve been doing a lot of sprucing up lately;

remodeling, painting the walls and changing decor around.

After doing some major changes to our kitchen,

we painted several rooms including the dining room,

foyer, and great room. 

After painting the foyer walls in Sherwin Williams Latte,

I wanted something different above our bench.

I loved this painting above the bench, but not the frame. 

We’ll fix that later in the post.

But first…

 

I had this mirror stored in the attic. 

(Sorry, I didn’t take an original photo.)

I taped down the frame and sprayed the mirror portion with chalkboard paint. 

(I know!  I’m probably the last one in blogland to explore this project.) 

 

 

 

 

The green paint on the frame didn’t work for me anymore

so I painted over it with one of the samples from painting the walls.

(Sample paints work great for projects like this one.)

Next, I rubbed a dark stain on the painted portion and wipe it off with a soft cloth.

Now I can greet guests to our home with a personal welcome message or dinner menu…

or for everyday just a quote that makes me happy.

~

Now, let’s talk about that painting in the first photo of this post.

Remember that ugly gold striped frame?

Go ahead – scroll up and check it out.

Take a look now.

I sanded it lightly and then painted with a dark brown color.

Next, I dry brushed it lightly here and there with different tones of gold, rust, and beige paints,

wiping the paint off with a soft cloth to get the effect I wanted.

I love this kind of distressing because you can’t make a mistake.

I just played with it till I got the look I loved.

While I was having so much fun, I also painted an old plaque to tie in with my wall theme.

(Sorry again; didn’t take a before photo of this.)

I used the same process as the frame on this plaque,

but also sanded the edges to distress a little more and stenciled it with the letters “HOME”.

 

I began to notice a while back that I have collected quite a few houses through the years.

So I decided to group several of them together.  

All of these represent a personal memory to our family which makes this collage extra special.

Sharing with other changes and redos at

Met Monday,  Before and After, DIY Showoff Project

Transformation Thursday , Make it 4 Monday

& Show Off Your Cottage Monday

~dining room re-do~

Hi, my dear blogging friends!  Thanks so much for the kind comments on my kitchen redo.

After finishing our kitchen, we, uh, I decided to paint the dining room. 

Cigar Man thought it looked just fine the way it was, but reluctantly went along. 

Can anybody relate?

Here’s our dining room before. 

Limey green walls which I lived with for seven years, but now I can admit, I never really liked. 

Can anybody relate? 

I stenciled the border myself which I did like, but covered it up anyway. 

Change is Good!  In this before photo, you can see a little of the valance I made for the bay window. 

Again, Change is Good.

I stripped it away.  In this next photo, you will see I don’t have anything on our bay window yet.

I’m thinking of Plantation Shutters though.  What do ya think?

 The new wall color is Sherwin Williams’ Oyster Bay. 

Let me tell you, I love the $4.99 samples that Sherwin Williams’ offers. 

I painted roughly 2’ x 2’ squares on the wall of 4 different samples

before deciding on the color that I loved.

Previously, I painted the ceiling inset brown with some gold swirls. 

Again, Change is Good!  J

 

Now, our ceiling inset is the same color as the wall, Oyster Bay. 

The perimeter of the ceiling is Sherwin Williams, Kilim Beige. 

I painted our kitchen ceiling in Kilim Beige also for consistency.

Yes, the rug is gone too.  I may replace with another at some point,

if I can find the “perfect” compliment.

 Now for the fun part! 

The little touches!

 Replaced light switch plates…

and even air vents!

 

 

I found these plates at a local antique mall.

I fell in love, especially since they were only $36 for 6 plates!

The pattern is Wellesley by Wedgwood, Made in England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I treasure this antique pitcher, I‘ve had for many years. 

I’ve set it in my bay window for now.

Thanks for letting me share my dining room changes at Kim’s Before and After

and Transformation Thursdays and Show and Tell Friday

and Feathered Nest Friday.

and now I’m skipping over to check yours out!.

{front porches in autumn}

On such a crisp sunny day in Tennessee…

 

what better way to spend your time

than go for a walk

through the autumn leaves?

Want you come and join us?

It’s our version of…

“trick or treat”.

You see, children “trick or treat” by gathering candy.

Those of us that blog, “trick or treat” by gathering

“eye candy”!

We have the most beautiful historic homes in our little town.

Let’s see how they decorate their porches for Fall.

Don’t you love the red door?!

  Isn’t this a sweet little cottage in the backyard of a larger home?

Now they have the Halloween spirit!

Love this door too and the wreath hung below the window.

That window is way too beautiful to hide!

hmmm… don’t know if the shoes fit,

but the porch sure does! 

Love to sit here a while and watch life pass by.

Notice the oval window around the door. 

How unique!

Do you have a favorite?