How Sweet The Sound

Christmas Home Tour - Day Seven In My Christmas Sunroom

 

 

 

Welcome to our Christmas sunroom.

 

In a prior life, our sunroom was

 

a screened porch.

 

 

 We wanted to use the

 

room year round, and we had the screens

 

replaced with wall to wall and

 

ceiling to floor windows.

 

 

Now we are cool in warm weather

 

with a ceiling fan and open windows.

 

And, we are warm in the winter

 

with closed windows and warm heat.

 

 

This room is the perfect spot to enjoy your

 

morning coffee or a cool beverage.

 

You can enjoy the quiet of nature

 

or lively visits with family and friends.

 

 

Now it is dressed in Christmas finery.

 

Christmas trees, Christmas birdhouses,

 

a lovely Christmas church, my husband's

 

favorite cardinals and even Santa.

 

 

So, come on in and let's visit.

 

I have coffee, hot cider and hot chocolate.

 

And, of course we need cookies.

 

 

Today I am joining

 

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

 

and

 

Cindy at Dwellings for Amaze Me Monday.

 

 

Christmas Home Tour - Day Four and Saying Grace

 

 

 

This dining room design came about because

 

someone in my home had a dish issue

 

that was in desperate need of accomodation.

 

 

Now, oh so happily stored behind all

 

of those wonderful drawers and doors

 

are dishes, glassware, serveware,

 

flatware, napkins, candles and more.

 

You can read more about all these dishes here.

 

 

The pedestal and pears are the 

 

centerpiece year round.

 

Berries get added for Christmas,

 

and the runners may change seasonally.

 

 

This is the easiest room in my house to decorate,

 

and it is a perfect reflection of me.

 

Those sweet little angels are a treasure to me.

 

My mother purchased them at a dime store

 

about fifty-three years ago.

 

 

The bowl and pitcher belonged to

 

my great-grandmother.

 

Another family treasure.

 

 

My husband and I purchased this server

 

at an antique show many years ago.

 

We had the marble piece made for it

 

when we redecorated the dining room.

 

Can you see those tiny little angels

 

around the tureen on the bottom shelf?

 

My parents got those their first Christmas, 1951.

 

 

I made the ornament wreath several years ago,

 

and it hangs from an oak leaf mirror.

 

 

This is one of my most treasured possessions.

 

I had polio in 1959, and I was confined to bed.

 

One of our neighbors made this for me

 

to have in my bedroom.

 

His nickname was Red,

 

and he and his family were some of

 

the early immigrants to

 

the United States from Cuba.

 

He loved to cook, and to this day,

 

I prepare Spanish Bean Soup from his recipe.

 

My mother purchased the nativity figures from

 

a dime store, and most of them

 

cost less than a quarter.  They are stamped

 

made in Italy.

 

Their is no price for the symbolic and sentimental

 

value to me.

 

 

Thank you so much for visiting

 

my Holiday Home Tour.

 

Please come back again tomorrow.

 

 

Today I am joining

 

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

 

and

 

Cindy at Dwellings for Amaze Me Monday

 

and

 

Kim at  Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

 

and Judy at DIY by Design for Fall Into Fall

 

 

and Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Home Tour - Day One and Welcome To Our Home

 

 

Welcome to our home.

 

We are ready for Christmas.

 

 

I am a traditionalist at heart,

 

and it holds true for me at Christmas.

 

I love the reds, greens, golds and whites.

 

 

I will be sharing our holiday home

 

with you over the next few weeks.

 

I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

 

 

Here is Beatrice to welcome you.

 

You can read more about Beatrice

 

here and here.

 

 

I am one of those people who become

 

sentimentally attached to things,

 

and I like seeing them year after year.

 

 

I might spruce up or tweak things a bit

 

here and there, but after I get things

 

the way I want them, I keep them that way.

 

 

Just like this Santa and his sleigh.

 

I have had them for over twenty years.

 

This year the packages got "rewrapped".

 

 

We love our front porch.  It is the perfect

 

place to relax and watch the world go by.

 

 

If it isn't too cold, we can sip our

 

hot chocolate and visit for a while.

 

 

Here is something I haven't shared.

 

The parrots are named Bill and Ecie.

 

I give family names to interesting things

 

around our home.  Bill and Ecie were the

 

nicknames of my in-laws.  Their real

 

were Philip and Lillie which I think are

 

such nice names.  I suggested using those

 

names, but my husband insisted on

 

Bill and Ecie.  It just seems right.

 

And, isn't it nice that they are

 

Christmas green and red?

 

I enjoyed your visit.

 

Please come back tomorrow,

 

and we will take a peak inside.

 

 

Today I am joining

 

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

 

and

 

Cindy at Dwellings for Amaze Me Monday

 

and

 

Kim at  Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

 

and Judy at DIY by Design for Fall Into Fall

 

and Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home.

 

 

 

Painted Pumpkins

 

 

 

You see those pumpkins, don't you?

 

They are recycled.

 

Yep, I have been recycling those

 

very same pumpkins for years.

 

Purchased, over times, at Michaels 50% sales.

 

Orange, white and even black.

 

But, those shockingly bright colors

 

have always bugged me.

 

 

Sure, year after year our neighbors

 

asked if it didn't get expensive buying

 

pumpkins every year.

 

I just giggled.

 

And, this year I got out my crafting paint

 

and some make-up sponges,

 

and I smeared and splattered those pumpkins.

 

Now I'm happy.

 

And, kind of proud of myself, too.

 

Not to mention we cut holes in them,

 

put in a piece of PVC pipe and a dowel,

 

and now we have topiary pumpkins.

 

... Because those light-weight and recycled

 

pumpkins had been blowing around

 

every time a good gust of wind came along.

 

Fixed them!

 

 

 

And, while I had the little paint bottles out,

 

I grabbed these three pumpkins off of our

 

yard sale table.

 

No make-up sponges this time.

 

Just a Q-tip.

 

Try not to be too impressed.

 

 

 

Today I am joining

 

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

 

and

 

Cindy at Dwellings for Amaze Me Monday.

 

A "Wicker" Lift

 

 

We have all heard of face lifts.

 

And, we have all seen the results of some face lifts.

 

Many not so great.

 

Right?

 

This vintage plant stand had what is known as a "wicker" lift.

 

Now, if I was a really together blogger,

 

you would be seeing a before "wicker" lift photo,

 

but ...

 

We found this at the ReStore run by

 

Habitat for Humanity for $5.00.

 

We felt instant love

 

even as we looked at the chipped paint,

 

dust and cobwebs.

 

I think it looks beautiful.

 

All that was needed was a good brushing,

 

some glue and some paint.

 

And, it is the perfect spot on our front porch

 

to add a pot of pretty vinca.

 

 

Today I am joining

 

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

 

and

 

Cindy at Dwellings for Amaze Me Monday.

 

 

 

Did You Notice?

 

I know.  I know.

 

  You have seen lots of photos of my dining room.

 

But, did that "huge" blank space behind

 

my bowl & pitcher bug you as much as it did me?

 

 

I tried to make it better by adding seasonal

 

clippings.

 

  And, while better, it wasn't quite right yet.

 

 

Yep, it still needs something.

 

Then I came up with the idea of a ceiling medallion.

 

Which led to a search for the perfect medallion.

 

 

 

And, I found it.

 

Perfection!

 

 

Did you notice?

 

 

Today I am joining Susan at

 

Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

 

 

and

 

 

with Cindy at

 

Dwellings for Amaze Me Monday.

 

 

Once Upon A Time

 

 

Once upon a time a very nice lady

 

wanted a bottle tree

 

of her very own.

 

She looked the land over

 

for several years,

 

but she never found

 

the bottle tree of her dreams.

 

 

The incredibly handsome, talented and kind

 

husband of this lady

 

helped her search for

 

the bottle tree of her dreams.

 

 

Then one day he planted

 

a bottle tree seed

 

in their garage.

 

 

The seed began to grow,

 

and he transplanted

 

the bottle tree to their woods.

 

 

 

The tree was very happy

 

living in their woods,

 

and it soon began

 

to grow bottles of all colors.

 

 

 

Now it shares it's bright colors

 

for all to see.

 

And, the lady and her wonderful husband

 

live happily ever after.

 

 

 

Today I am joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch

for

Metamorphosis Monday.

 

Thank you, Susan.

 

 

 

A New Life For Our Dining Room

Today I am joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch

for

Metamorphosis Monday.

 

Thank you, Susan.

 

 

 

 

I had been waiting over twenty-one years to redo our dining room, and I started the process about three months ago.

 

 

 

Here is a photo of our "before" dining room.  You might wonder why it took me so long to redo this room.  It is because the furniture belonged to my mother, and she doesn't like change.  I finally bit the bullet and told her it was time.

 

 

 

The first thing we did was remove the wallpaper below the chair rail and add molding.  I like the wallpaper, but there was just too much of it.

 

 

 

 

Then we added the molding and primed the walls.  During this time, my husband changed all of the outlets and switches from ivory to white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, we contracted with a furniture maker for a built-in cabinet for a twelve foot wall.  I also choose fabric and ordered upholstered, skirted parson's chairs to use as side chairs for the table.  I choose a complimentary pattern fabric, and we recovered the seats to our two arm chairs.  I ordered a rug to go under the table.  I had two table runners made because my plan was to place them across the table, and it was impossible to purchase the correct length.  I found an oil painting to place in a frame we already had and loved.  Last year we added a new chandelier and ceiling medallion, so at least that was already off our to do list.

 

We had to move everything out of the dining room, and it took residence in our garage, our living room and our foyer.  You know I was anxious to finish the redo so I could get organized.  I admit to being a neatnik, and I had to turn my head the other way during this unorganization.

 

 

 

 

The built-in was supposed to be installed mid-October, but the job took longer than planned, and it was finally installed Thanksgiving weekend.

 

The carpenter set this work area up in front of our house.  Everyone out for a walk stopped to ask what was happening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture shows the installation close to completion.  The doors for the lower center section had to be remade because they were sized incorrectly.

 

Now we had the painter here for almost a week, and then we had to let the paint age for almost two weeks before we could place our things in the cabinet.

 

 

 

 

We are finally finished, and we are loving our "new" dining room.

 

Since the holiday season is already upon us, I displayed my Christmas decorations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New painting.  Old frame.

 

Madonna and Child.

 

 

 

 

Amazing Grace.

 

 

 

 

Table centerpiece.

 

 

Our Family Photo Gallery

Today I am joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch

for

Metamorphosis Monday.

 

Thank you, Susan.

 

 

 

When we moved into our home twenty-one years ago, I hung a gallery of family photos on a wall in our upstairs landing. While I loved the photos I had hanging, I didn't like the mish mash of frames. When I had the upstairs painted, I didn't rehang the photos because I planned to reframe them. The empty wall remained that way because I just couldn't get myself to the place of being ready to tackle such a big job.

Finally, last week we decided to go for it. My husband and I both had the week off of work, and we spent many hours working on this. Photos had to be scanned, edited to black and white and then printed. My husband had my office floor taped to the size of the wall, and we used that to come up with the layout.  It was actually fun going through all of these old photos and looking at pictures we had not seen in many years.  I am still working on photo identification labels to go on the back of each frame.

Here is the wall before we started.  This is a difficult place to get photos, so please excuse the quality.

 

 

 

Here is our design layout on my office floor.

 

 


 Here is the finished wall.  As you can see, we had to alter the layout a bit because our layout plan was off by about three inches.  Who would have guessed three inches could be such a huge issue, but we finally finished.

And, we are liking it.

 

 

 I am also joining Marina on Tuesday at Only Cute Things for Step By Step.

Our Window Box

Today I am joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch

for

Metamorphosis Monday.

 

Thank you, dear Susan.

 

I don't have any "before" photos, so I need you to imagine this window without the window box.  The window looks out from our half-bath onto our deck.

I've wanted a window box for the longest time, but I just never seemed to get around to purchasing one.  Well, I finally did it.  I purchased one from Gardener's Supply Company.  We have purchased from them many times, and we are always pleased.

We decided on the 39" self watering box in red, and we are love it.  Here is a link in case you are interested.

 

 

 

We planted yellow and red lantana, dahlias, sweet potato vine and English ivy.  We are so thrilled with how it is doing, and we give the credit to the self watering feature.  This feature is a bit more expensive, but wow is it worth it.  We plan to only purchase pots with this feature going forward.