My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Making a Room Gorgeous Doesn't Require a Lot of Money.

I've had my mind on decorating a lot this past year as I bought a new sofa and a new chair which you can see here. My intention was for the new sofa to go in the living room, but I love my old one so much, I switched them around—new one in the family room and old one back into the living room. I truly wanted a new look for the living room but that 20 year old sofa has been my favorite from the get-go and it'll stay in there. But it still made me think of what else I could do to make it look differently so I bought the new Ethan Allen chair with a bit of French flair to it with the plaid fabric. It's also gorgeous. Well, to me it is!

The old chairs now sit in our family room waiting to be taken over to granddaughter's new home. I spoke with her recently and she doesn't have room for them right now. She and her hubby are shopping for new furniture and can't make up their minds on what to buy. She said to bring them over and she'd put them both in her office at work to have a cozy place to sit while they straightened out the new house. Hubs and I are going over soon and since it's winter we don't want to have to take our truck over with the possible threat of snow so we've decided to take them over at another time. In the meantime, our small family room has a full size sofa and 3 chairs in it! I hate to give 2 Ethan Allen chairs away but it might come to that if she decides she doesn't want them. My grandsons aren't married yet so they don't want anything yet. But they're good chairs and I've had them reupholstered twice and they are still in great shape. Here's a recent picture but bear in mind the end tables are about 25 years old, the coffee table is about 15 years old the lamps are 10 years old and the sofa is 20 years old. Only the 2 chairs are under 8 years old and all pillows are made by me:

So anyway, I was thinking about how many times we decorate in our lives. The rich probably do it on a regular basis every couple of years, but the average person only does it a few times in their life. We've decorated when we've gotten the money or moved into a new place through the years. This has me arriving at one certain thought: We don't have to buy all new furniture, just a chair or table, curtains, inexpensive lamps redone, new color of paint for the walls or even wall decorations and pillows can make a huge difference in a room. That also means a lot less money. And sometimes that can make the difference in doing something or not. Think about it. ;-)
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What a gorgeous entrance with red walls, that elegant staircase and dramatic black and white checkered floors.


A sweet country window with shutters, blue gingham curtains and a potted flower.


And then we have another dramatic entrance to a log cabin.


And a stunning pink rose.


I love the shabby chic look here also. Looks comfy.


Then the dramatic view from this restaurant somewhere in the warm climes.


Lovin' the round ruffled tablecloth. I'm still working on my chair seats for the French dining chairs. Or I should say, thinking of working on the chairs. I've been so lazy lately.


This striped headboard goes horizontal instead of the usual vertical. I have to say it's beautiful with the reds and those pillows.


My idea of a cute and homey kitchen eating area.


The colors grabbed me first but I love the side chairs with green seats and flowered backs.


A sweet little area in someone's delightful yard.


If you could find an old bucket, you could wallpaper it like this and have a gorgeous place to store wrapping papers.


Love these old vintage kitchens as they remind me of when I was a kid growing up.


Love these bucket containers for flowers from the garden. Ours will soon be blooming. Can't wait!


What a delightful family room for kids. Colorful with lots of books and slipcovers so mummy won't have to worry about the furniture. ;-)
~*~
Linking up with Pink Saturday

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Rambling 1/21/2014

Have you given any thought lately to how hard it is to keep up with technology? I have and it's difficult. Every month or so there's something new to learn about phones, computers, iPads, etc. When will it give us a break?
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I was washing my face the other morning and asked hubs if I was that fresh-faced girl he had married. He said, "The one that drools [on the pillow I suppose]. I told him he didn't need to say that.
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I saw a bumper sticker the other day that made me chuckle. It said, "If God were my co-pilot, I'd be going 120 MPH."
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Some politicians worst enemy is a functioning conscience.
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Only a grandma would spend $2.24 to send a package of 68¢ M&Ms to her great granddaughters.
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There is no such thing as "open marriage"; it's called adultery.
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I also am a firm believer that a charmed, happy life is when you actually want everything you do have. I am one of those persons.
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I adore this beautiful casual room. Lots of white and a lot of color thrown in also. Wonderful for a large family.


This is a Pierre Deux fabric on this pillow. I was in one of their shops in Carmel, California, once and bought several small journals with their fabric on it. Their fabrics are really gorgeous.


Another room I could live in comfortably. Sofas plumped for sitting with lots of pillows and an ottoman for my feet. Cozy! Yummm.


This looks almost like an English living room made up for the holidays. I like everything about it also.


If it's white with bright pink or blue doors you know you're in Greece. What a gorgeous entry this is though.


An adorable little drum-like hanging lantern done up very froufrou. It makes my heart drum enthusiastically!


And the always popular white ethereal rooms for the lovers of Shabby Chic, of which I am one of the lovers of SC.


A small sweet bouquet of roses hanging on an old door in a garden. Magnificent!


A beautiful spot, but all that ivy growing on the patio cover and house will eventually deteriorate it. Beautiful but isn't a good thing to do.


If I wore necklaces, this would be the kind I'd wear. I love the way someone crafted it.


Pink soap and pink roses. Doesn't get much better than this for "eye candy." :-)


Another beautiful living room with a lovely fireplace.


More of the Shabby Chic look. I especially like the square ottoman with a white ruffled cover. Darling.


Another great idea putting two sofas together with a high table between them.


The kind of kitchen most of us grew up in. I can definitely relate to this kitchen and dining area with the Wilendur tablecloth.
~*~
Linking up with Pink Saturday.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Another Christmas Story

I've another story to tell you about the Christmas holidays. But first a word from Caroline's great grandmother: ME! She's a very auditory child as stated by her school. That means she rarely forgets things to which we—her family members—can attest. Here's a small video of her and her mummy coming home from school as her mummy is recording her. Bare in mind that this story is made up as they go along. Mummy will say something and Caroline adds to it and then back to mummy and again Caroline adds her part. We think it's hilarious but I am, after all, her great grandma. It's my blog and I can post her video here if I want. You, however, have the option to not view it. ;-) Fair enough!

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The night before Christmas eve I chomped down on a candy cane and immediately broke a molar, the last on on the top right side. I hastily stuck my index finger in there to see if it was the candy or tooth as I couldn't tell immediately. I cut my finger big time. So what do I do then? I stuck my left index finger in and immediately cut that but not quite as bad. Hubs tried to get the bleeding to stop on my finger and finally put two bandages on the right and then one on the left. It was late so I took some gauze and wrapped it around the back of my mouth from front to back on that tooth. I finally called my dentist but everyone was on vacation and I didn't get an immediate call back so I called my friend whose hubby is a dentist and asked if he was working this Christmas Eve and she said he'd fix me up immediately. So I met them up at his office, just 2 blocks from our house and he fixed it to get me by the holiday. I've got a temporary crown on it now but let me tell you, the inside of my cheek was raw from that tooth. It was a crown anyway and that substance is hard and very sharp when broken. So I'll spend the next several months paying for this iMac and the new crown. My regular dentist will be surprised when he sees it next month for my regular 6 months cleaning. I love my dentist but the other guy is great also and closer when there's an emergency.
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I've fallen in love with little pincushions I've found on the internet.


This one in particular is a dazzler. Red velvet and a gorgeous rhinestone pin to top it off.


My favorite color combo—red and yellow. Nice to know someone else likes it.


Of course this room steals my heart with the pink and white striped sofas and the red toile on that chair. Red touches in the table and a vintage rug just top it off!


Yep, another favorite fabric of mine, red stripes. Actually I love that chair and ottoman. I'm going to purchase another chair later this year. Other things are coming first as you can see from my above story.


I'm on a "red streak" today I think. I love the coziness of this setting with the hearth and the bay window that echoes an inglenook.


What can I say about this room?! I love it. It's gorgeous and I truly love how they have a lot of white paint on the trim and wainscoting. One of the prettiest rooms I've ever seen.


This could be a Charles Faudree room. It looks like something he'd do for an entry room or a mud room.


I'm always enthralled with ribbon work as I love doing it even though I haven't for a long time. But it's one of those heirlooms I like to pass down to my kids and granddaughter. The boy grands couldn't care less about such things though. ;-)


Isn't this beautiful? It's not practical where we live though, too much dust from our farmers swirl around here. I'd be forever cleaning it off and we all know how I feel about work!


Adorable idea for a centerpiece for a dinner or buffet.


Just gorgeous pink eye candy for you.


This is a blogger's craft/sewing room. I'd love to have this much space but I don't do near what this woman does.


An absolutely adorable idea for a birdcage light.


Just because I love pink. This looks like a setting for a wedding or birthday cake.
~*~
Linking up with Pink Saturday.  

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Holidays Aren't for Wimps!

I'm again recommending that you go to my Pinterest page where a total of 23,910 followers on all the boards and over 13,600 photos are there for your perusal. I think you'll find a lot of images you like. The imagery is absolutely gorgeous for you and I have absolutely nothing to gain by sending you there. :-)
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Well, the holidays have come and gone and I am grateful they're over. Ooooh, no, I'm not a Scrooge but just the regular grocery shopping is brutal at that time of year. But hubs and I spent a very quiet week at home...well, let me rephrase that. We spent a NOT so quiet week at home. My iMac started giving me some problems. Let me tell you the story.

It just didn't seem right for a while. We all know when our computers are doing things that aren't normal, right? Well, I could tell something was amiss. And let me say here and now that I'm a big advocate of external hard drives. We have 3 of them for our Macs. Those have saved our tushes a couple of times, especially when I inadvertently "trash" something and then empty the trash, realizing a week later I need that "something" badly. Easy peasy with an external HD.

Then I called the Apple store in Boise for an appointment. After leaving it with them for a week doing exhaustive tests on my RAM, they decided that was the problem—bad RAM. Go figure. Anyway, that was replaced.

In the mean time, I'd been lusting for a 27" iMac for a couple of years now. I decided to go ahead and get a new one since we weren't too sure the 21" iMac would make it. So after putting it in the Apple store for repairs, I ordered one online from Apple—the 27" iMac, which was to be delivered Dec. 24th before 8 pm. It didn't arrive then. But the online FedEx support person told me we could pick it up in Boise at their facility between 9 am and 1 pm Christmas day. Getting out of bed and driving there wasn't much of a problem, but when we got there they said it was put on a truck to be delivered Christmas day. We hurried home. The delivery guy got there about an hour later with it and I actually gave him a kiss and a big tip for working the holiday. I treat tradespeople very well. They're the lifeblood of online shoppers.

So we go pick up the 21" iMac at Apple in Boise, bring it home and it's worse than before. I couldn't even empty the trash or even drag anything to the trash. Nothing on my desktop would open. It would then just quit unexpectedly. It's very unusual to experience problems with Macs and they're known for that and their tech support. We take it back in and after a few little tests, they rebooted it in the latest OS, which is Maverick, and even threw in an updated version of iLife free, a $49 savings. Can it get any better?! I have to say here and now that we have converted several friends to Apple and they love their Macs for the beauty of the OS and the support. It is by far superior to any other company in the world! And I do NOT say that lightly.

I also vowed to eat out as many meals during the holiday week as I could. We even ate Christmas dinner at a local restaurant and there was a waiting list when we got there. They told us that Thanksgiving was worse than Christmas. I figure more wives are opting to take a break and be treated to a dinner out! We've eaten breakfast, some lunches and most dinners out this past week. I'm at this moment cooking oriental chicken for hubs for being such a great sport and babying me.

And we didn't shop for any presents for anybody other than the grandsons under 18 and great granddaughters, even ourselves and we're all just fine for that. We had a very blessed and Merry Christmas and were in bed by 11 pm on New Year's Eve. One of the happiest Christmases I've ever had! I told you I was an easy chick! Okay, forget the iMac. It was needed and essential for the running of this household. ;-)

A stunning cake plate of mosaics.


I'd love to have a little cart like this but I don't walk to any grocery store. I remember as a kid going on my bike to the grocery store and buying a six pack of Pepsi or Coke in one of those carry-type cardboard packs I could put on my bicycle handles. It cost 30 cents! And I don't remember a charge for returning bottles either.


A beautiful living room in the yellow I like with pink. I love the sunny bright yellow.


Dream on, sisters! Beautiful patio.


Yeah, a beautiful place in Italy to visit.


Beautiful bathroom but I'd want 2 sinks in there. The rug is what drew my attention though.


I remember being in Ireland in the rain and the Irish actually washing their windows, business as usual. And they all had gorgeous lace on their windows. That's my style to this day.


Love this beautiful flower-y pillow.


A brave man lives in a house this pink, but my hubby would do it if I wanted. Just gorgeous.


What a sweet small breakfast room this is.


Love this dining room also. I'm still looking for chairs like these for our dining area.


A cute little rest area in a garden.


Now, this is what I'd like our dining/kitchen area to look like—a bit formal but not too formal and near the kitchen. I love this style.


Gorgeous roses and lamps in this vignette.


Can we say we like this area also?! Sigh...
~*~
Linking up with Pink Saturday.