Killing Flowers & Getting Fat

I am so proud of my hydrangeas this year. 

 My mother always had these plants in our yard when I was growing up and seemed to
grow them effortlessly.

I had to move them around the yard 3 times before I found a shady moist spot where they 

were happy.  I murdered quite a few before I started moving them.

They are so pretty, I almost hate to pick them.

On the other hand, I'm not having such good luck with some of the Gerbera Daisies. 

 They want sun...but not too much,

water but not too much, shade but not too much....

I feel like screaming, "Tell me what you want!"
"Waaaaa,"  they are such babies.

I'm about to give up.

At the same time, I went outside the other day and found these.
I had totally forgotten that I even planted them last year.

I have ignored them and they are filled with blooms.

Along with a few others I had forgotten about.

I don't even know their name.

The Plumbago is also starting to bloom.

Maybe I am only meant to grow purple flowers
or the kind you can ignore.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said; "Earth laughs in flowers."

But I say;  "Flowers laugh at me."

I have backed off of my blogging because it is making me fat.
It's all your fault!  OK, Not really.....

Cooking and photographing pretty food has been fun, but I had to slow down.

I have devoted this summer to taking off the 30 lbs. that I have put back on over the past 5 years.

I am 1/3 of the way there.  I will tell you more in a later post.

It's a Beautiful Life

There are so many things to love this time of year.

I am taking it all in.

Being out of school and loving my life as a stay at home mom

Cool mornings and evenings on the front porch

 Watering my plants each morning

The gerbera daisies that my children gave me for Mother's Day make me smile.

Morning sunshine and late afternoons

So many things to look forward to

And I got a new kayak last week!

Now we have three and we don't have to share.

I'm looking forward to the summer adventures.

Let's get going and not waste a minute.

Linking with Grace at Home
Be Inspired 

Spring Touches in the Dining Room

Welcome to my dining room.  I made a few changes for spring and thought I would show you 

around today.  My dining room is located to the right of my foyer through these doors.

I may as well show you the light in the foyer, it is one of my favorite things.

I have a thing for stained glass and have several pieces throughout the house.

We added  beadboard to many areas in our house to make it feel like an old house.

We also added old fashioned transom windows in the downstairs.

I think one of the best complements I ever had was when someone visiting said

they thought it was an old house we had fixed up.

That was exactly the feel I was going for.

This is a before photo from Easter.  The old Duncan Phyfe dining table has an extra 3 leaves to

extend it when all of the family is present.

I always have fun changing this room around, moving pictures and sliding furniture.

I took the leaves out of the table, set it on the diagonal and put on the lace tablecloth.

This is the first time I have had the buffet in front of the window.

I will add the leaves when everyone is here, but for now it is kind of cozy to be able

to use it during the week with just the 4 of us at home.

 I moved a few of the chairs to the corners and added some doilies.

 

This is so me.  I love Victorian, lace and leopard print.

Feminine with a wild side.

 

It started with taking down the gold tassled curtains and hanging some lace ones back up.

I created a valance from vintage handkerchiefs. I starched them and then used pins to hang them. 

My daughter and I had many laughs hanging these.  She said, "Ohhhh, this one is pretty,"

each time she handed one up for me to hang.  We had a hard time picking a favorite.

You can also see in this photo that the ceiling is gold. 

I love the spring feeling the floral handkerchiefs and lace gave the room.

It is at this point I hear my adult kids saying, "What?"  "She is using handkerchiefs for curtains?"

Sometimes I wish I had never told them I have a blog.  ha ha

When I found this beat up plant stand at a thrift store for $8, I knew I wanted to add

a little shabby chic to the dining room.  I do love my dark wood throughout my house

and I would never go all shabby with everything, but I do like a little mixed in here and there.

I saved a couple of handkerchiefs to use on the plant stand.

I love the round handkerchief.  I had never seen a round one.

 From there, I was on a roll.  I gave the plate rack a coat of heirloom white.

 Then I decided the old Kirkland's candle holders should get shabbied up.

I  love the detail that comes out when you use the white.

I added some twine and dried roses to the candles.

You have to add lace and a cherub

 and a few pearls.

 My favorite creamer.

I bought the china cabinet and buffet last year.

I have had several buffets throughout the years. I'm always buying, redoing, selling them, and moving on to the next one, but when I found the buffet and this matching china

cabinet in a consignment shop last year, I fell in love with it.  I think I will keep these.

 I love having the drawer on this cabinet to store my cloth napkins in.

I seem to always be drawn to the 1940's antiques.

The Victorian piano picture over the cabinet is one of my favorites. It reminds me of my oldest daughter playing the piano and my oldest son playing the violin.  I have 3 versions of this

picture in my house.  My family will be glad to know that I actually passed up

another one a few months ago, BUT. . . I wish I had bought it.

There is always room for one more teapot, teacup or pretty plate here.

I found this old picture years ago in an antique shop and have had lots of fun with it.

It used to be hanging over my fireplace mantle in the living room.  We would tell guests that it was my

 Great Grandmother Viola, who we had inherited all of the antiques from.  They would ahhhh and then we would laugh.  I have since learned that it is actually called The Southern Belle.  

Remember the old shelf and caddy I bought while thrifting?

As I showed you in my last post, the shelf is now shabby and holds my creamers

with a little thrift store bling in the corner.

I was very pleased with how the little caddy turned out.  It now sits on the table and 

holds flatware and cloth napkins.

This was my first attempt at transferring and using a paint pen.

It really was much easier than I thought it would be.

There is a great tutorial and video HERE if you want to learn more about how to do this.

I am always moving the old tea cart around.

The top is a glass serving tray.

I moved the tea set to the bottom shelf and got out my summer glasses.

I bought these frosted glasses in an antique store years ago.  A set of

8, each with a different flower.  They just sing summer time!

The pitcher was a recent thrift store find.

I guess should have made lemonade for the photo shoot.

The flowers were made from recycled quilt pieces.  I found them in a little craft shop at a place we

camp on the Suwannee River.  I knew some of you would want to see a close up and maybe make some.

Because I am a detail person, I must show you everything.  

When we built the house, we rounded the openings in the main area and my husband

custom built these columns that I dreamed up.  My son and I spent weeks sanding and staining

these columns throughout the house and wondering if we really needed them.

Those are my aprons hanging next to the pantry.

I haven't talked my husband into the screen door on the pantry yet.

I love my red (Behr -Cherry Cobbler)  dining room and begged hinted for my husband

 to put up that chair rail for a long time.

It took him all of 15 minutes.

Once he put it up, I can't decide to... or what color to paint the bottom portion.

I have since fallen in love with:

google image

Board and Batten
I think I'd like to lighten it up in here a bit.

  It's still in the talk process. So we may be removing the chair rail for this.

My husband says, "add it to the list."

Which means, "it ain't happening anytime soon."

 

 

I am considering painting this light white.

But I am also considering getting my chandie back out of the attic.

Do not feel sorry for my husband.  He is used to it.

I like to change out lights, he understands.  At least,  he says he does.

So there you have my style.  I'm a little bit Victorian with a little Shabby Chic and some Farmhouse.

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll with some old hymns throughout.

My children would say simply; She likes old stuff.

I'm sure it will be different the next time you stop by.

In fact, if I don't stop retaking the photos because of the sunlight through those

lace curtains, it may be different before I get this blog post out.

I always say, surround yourself with things you love,

things that will make you smile every day.

And when you stop smiling, you change it all around again.

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