Updates on the room most lived in.

We have been busy little beavers over here and I'm so excited that things are finally calming down, for a while at least.  It seems like we always get caught up in a crippling stand off when it come to house stuff, a battle of the wills..or will nots..or budgets..or screw the budget 

I WANT ALL THE THINGS!!

Okay snapping right back to reality now..  Everything we do around here runs on a tight budget and most of the time I like the challenge.  It's like a giant Tetris game of trying to make all the pieces fit with little time and just enough space,  some how I've figured out how to do most of what I want done and often times that involves a lot of good ole fashioned bartering.

It started with scraping the lovely 1980's popcorn off of our ceilings, which was exhausting but also convienient since I counted it as an upper body work out.  Seriously try being 5'2" and scraping over 400 sqft. of ceiling that is several feet over your head (up the ladder, spray, scrape, down the ladder, move the ladder, repeat often).

Once all that was done, it was sanding which made me look like the abominable snowman.  

Then priming and then painting the beautifully flat new ceiling!

After that we moved onto painting over the golden mustard colored walls that were all the rage with the tuscan decor style that I got sucked into over a decade ago.. :/  

They are now an amazing shade of blue/gray/green from Behr called Horizon Gray.

It's super cool how the wall color changes with the light, it's a light blue gray in the daylight and more of a green beige under lamp light.

Then the cherry on top... I spent my days painting sheds (another upper body workout) in exchange for a custom bookcase which was built for the back wall of my living room. We beefed up the trim and painted it Pottery Barn's  'Simply White'.  I would love to say there was a researched and tested train of thought behind picking the "perfect" white for the space, but honestly I was so fried at this point that I just  picked what Pinterest told me to and it ended up being perfect! 

YAY for a Pinterest win! 

That was what this space has been needing for so long!

Ahhh...  It's amazing how dumb I felt since it took me so long debating if I really wanted to put a bookcase in that back corner or not...  It completed the room and added so much instant charm and warmth, don't even get me started on the storage and practicality of it.

All of this had to be done back to back.. since our house is small and EVERY square foot of it is put to good use it's not like we could just sit back and take a break while we avoid the rooms that are "in progress".   There are no short cuts in our house, you really have to walk thru the whole thing to get from the kitchen to the bathroom, or bedroom, or upstairs, or back deck...  It may have taken a while but I am so happy with the outcome, I laugh and shake my head every time I think of how long it took me to get up the nerve and actually get it done.  

Life lesson...  Just do it!  Nike is so wise :)

Salvaged Wood Trees with a Story

 They don't build

them like 

they used to.

 

This is all that was left when I drove by.  As soon as we were in view my husband heard an audible gasp of disbelief and saw my watery eyes and knew exactly what had caught my attention.  His response was "oh, I'm so sorry honey"  an automatic response of condolence, like this was a personal affront to me.  In reality, although I have driven past this house pretty regularly since childhood this was not my house, I never knew the people who owned it or where the family is now, I've never been inside or walked the wraparound porch that graced most of this home.  Even so, to see it like this was heartbreaking to me and even worse is knowing that many more grand old homes are being torn down to make way for fancy new subdivisions.  

I know it's economics, housing for people moving into our area by the masses, people bring money, they find and create jobs, they boost our economy.  But it's just hard having been raised here and remembering all the dirt roads and barns and fields and ponds that have all disappeared and been replaced with houses and shopping.  I get it... I love to shop too. 

Thankfully I had my Hubby with me and we were riding in his big red truck!

 As my sweet and charming husband got out to talk with the demolition crew I sat patiently waiting all doe eyed in the passenger seat while our three year old was singing ' Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ' in the back (in broad day light). 

I saw the foreman look my way and shake his head, apparently his wife is crazy too because just then my hubbs waved me over.   He was sweet enough to walk around the perimeter with us and pulled out any planks of wood I pointed at.  Unfortunately most of the house was already down and carried to the landfill, so all we could see was just a pile of wood.  

We were able to get enough beaded board planks and trim for some projects but not much more than that.  So the other day I fired up the chop saw and went to work.  

 I loved how these trees turned out and that I know exactly where they came from.  Even if I can't save a whole house I'm happy that I can at least make something joyful from the destruction of it.

   *Angela*

Mini Mason Jars

Twinkle  Twinkle

Little Star

Shine Bright in 

Your Mason Jar

Thank goodness the heat and humidity is (maybe) over.... I say that because you never really know in the South.  Monday it's hot and humid then Wednesday you're snuggled up in flannel only to step outside on Saturday and be drenched in sweat again.  I've lived in the south all my life and for some reason it still catches me off guard.  

The only sure sign of fall is obviously the brightly colored falling leaves which I LOVE, but in case you haven't noticed yet...it's getting dark about 7:30 now.  I just assume God timed it that way so we can still get outside and enjoy a nice bon-fire with out freezing our hind quarters off.  

Either way, now it time to add extra lighting to some of your favorite spaces.  I tend to lean more towards string lights in the spring/summer and candles in the fall/winter.  For some reason I think I can feel the warmth coming from such small flames. 

You can even turn your candles into string lights like I did with these mini mason jar candles.  Just tie up a bit of twine and hang them away from anything that could catch fire.  It adds such a warm and fun ambiance to the chilly evenings on the deck.

  

*Angela*

Pumpkin Spice Popcorn!

Yum 

 yum  

Yum

It was an experiment that I thought went so wrong.... then I tasted it, and it was so right!

A little sweet and a little salty with a pinch of pumpkin and a whole lot of Fall.  

 

It was a perfect treat for a rainy night in. 

*Angela*

Fall Dining & A Salvaged Find

 Happy 

Harvest!

 I am loving the simplicity of our dining room this fall. 

 

 This caddy is the perfect piece to round up all the odds and ends for the table.  It used to be an old oil can caddy in it's past life, all the can were already taken but for some reason the guy said people get confused on what to do with the caddy.... I can think of several different things to fill this it with.  

 

 My table runner is just a piece of scrap fabric folded over with the rough edges showing, I really liked the color combination and couldn't bear to hem it.

 

 Hope you enjoyed the photos. 

 *Angela*

It's Official! HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

Autumn, 

the years last 

loveliest smile

-William Cullen Bryant 

 I love when the fields turn gold and the crock pots turn on low, the smell of stew fill the house all day with anticipation 

of curling up in a sweater and savoring what seems to be the shortest season of the year.  

 Happy Fall!  

Don't waste a single minute. 

*Angela*

Downtown America

I have always been drawn to quaint little downtown areas,  they make me feel like that past is still alive and I am just a piece of it walking the same path as so many before me.  

We are so lucky that our Raleigh area is brimming with so many wonderful and lively downtown communities.  Many of them have been restored to their former glory or are at least on their way to be.  Others have salvaged what they could of the past and then expanded upon it with a seamless transition between old and new.   

Sometimes I get nostalgic and  remember how there used to be an ice cream parlor in a space that is now an automotive store.  I remember those days I would walk into town after school and stop to get ice cream on my way to the Library until my mom could pick me up.  I remember wandering around with a friend and popping into a pet store to play with the cute little puppies only to be commissioned into bathing them for the owner who was tied up with customers.  For some reason we thought that was a ton of fun and kept coming back to wash puppies.  Talk about free child labor.  

It really wasn't that long ago and spending a few hours meandering around small downtown areas always take me back. 

Here's to the simpler days. 

*Angela*