One More Home Improvement Project Checked Off the List....

It feels so good to check another thing off our list!  The shed facelift is done and we're so pleased with how it turned out!  (Please excuse the mess still lying around....I took the pictures as soon as I could....didn't take time to clean up yet).

As a matter of fact, Joy said, "Are we just going to store things in it now?"  "It's so pretty, it should be a little cabin or something".  And I totally agree with her.  As a matter of fact, it has a front porch and I think now the porch is begging to be decorated.  :) 

What did we do?  There were some structural things that had to be done as in replacement of some framing.  Then as time and our budget allowed, we (well....mostly Jason) replaced the siding with Hardie board cement siding. We bought a new front door and Jason built the big side door. 

We painted the siding a color called Ginger Spice and the doors were painted Longjohn Red.  And Jason even painted my barn star red for me and hung it too!  That just completed it!

And so it's done!  Yay!  Now to finish my upstairs bathroom!  The list is never ending.  And believe me I DO have a list!  :)  Wish we had the pocketbook to back up the projects we dream up because it would be nice to have it all right now.  But then again, that's part of the fun......dreaming and planning, right?

And thanks to those that gave me leads on finding a stocking for Luke!  My bloggin friend, Gina, had an unbelievably close match in an old quilt and she's whipping one up for Luke!  I'll show it to you when she finishes and we get it hung!  Thank you so much, Gina!

And thank you so much for stopping by and making a visit to my blog a part of your day today! 

Hugs & Blessings,
~ Tammy ~   

In Full Bloom

Anyone that knows me well at all, knows that I don't have a green thumb at all! I've learned (the hard way) what I can grow (when it comes to flowers and shrubs). I've tried ferns on my front porch many times....keeping them spritzed and all, but our front porch gets so much wind that they end up drying out and looking spindly! I've tried petunias in hanging baskets on the front porch and they always look so bedragled! Now, I just head straight for the rose moss or spanish moss. They like me and I like them! They love sun, and dryness, and don't mind being neglected....they still grow! :) As a matter of fact, I have some rose moss in pots right now and usually also plant it in my flower boxes on the front porch too.

But, when it comes to bushes, I love my crape myrtles. I was beginning to think they weren't going to bloom this year! I think they were later this year because it was well into July before they ever began blooming and usually it's June. However, now they're in full bloom.....beautiful bursts of pink and fuschia and I am really enjoying them! I thought I'd share them with you today!

This huge one is my favorite.



It is visible outside my kitchen bay window! It is planted as the center of attention in front of the pool deck, near the stairs. I guess we did okay when we planted it there as we did all of our own landscaping. I can't imagine paying out the kind of money it costs to have it professionally done. We are do-it-yourself(ers) out of necessity! :)







These are in our front yard along our side of the driveway.



These are in my mama and daddy's front yard (next door) along their side of the driveway. We both have this same split rail fence lining the driveway.



And last of all, there's my Jason out there mowing our grass! I offered to mow it, because he was busy helping my dad tear out a bathtub for a bathroom remodel they were working on most of Sunday afternoon, but he wouldn't hear of it! He does such a great job taking care of us!



And thanks to everyone for the kind and encouraging comments on my bathroom! I really appreciate each and every one!

Have a great Tuesday! :)

More Americana....

The other day my friend, Lori, and I had a fun outing to an antique gallery. She was looking for a chest, which she found....and more! Wish I had gotten a picture of that! She got a great deal on it too!

I was looking for a little something to go on the floor of my bathroom that would hold towels. I found a little bench that I just fell in love with! I also found a wire basket that I intended to sit on top of it to hold the towels rolled up. Well I got it home, and the color of the bench that I thought to have more green tones looked very blue gray in my bathroom. I don't know if it was the lights or if it just depended on what was sitting next to it. Anyway, next to my shower curtain, I really wasn't pleased with it there in the bathroom, so I found another home for it.

For now, it's on the hearth of my fireplace. Sitting on it is a stitchery given to me by a friend I met through blogging (Janet) and an Americana birdhouse.



The wire basket found a home on the chest-turned-coffee table. I gathered some things around the house to come up with an arrangement.





And being the lover of books that I am (and homeschooling mom), I love to just slip books out on the coffee table for the season. They make great decorations AND everyone just picks them up and reads them because they catch their eye and then curiosity kicks in! It's great for the parents of piano students to pass the time while they wait too. The books you'll find on our cedar chest coffee table right now are:

By the Dawn's Early Light (The Story of the Star Spangled Banner),



America A Patriotic Primer written by Lynne Cheney (the former Vice President's wife),



In God We Trust (Stories of Faith in American History),



Lives of the Presidents (Fame, Shame, and What the Neighbors Thought),



And It Happened in America (True Stories from the Fifty States).



And although I don't have it hung yet, I couldn't wait to show this to you. This was sent to me by Mary of Gettysburg Homestead. I admired this dress from the first time I ever saw her list it on her website. I received a package in the mail from Mary and this wonderful Americana dress was inside! I was so excited!



See that shelf up there in the living room behind the couch?



Jason is going to add beadboard backing under it with pegs for hanging prim goodies. This dress will have a place of honor on one of those pegs when it's finished. I'll show it to when it's hung in it's place of honor, but I just couldn't wait until then to show you the dress! Thank you, Mary!

And here's an Americana spot outside. You saw this last year and it really hasn't changed much since last summer, but I pass by this every time I walk in to my house from the carport and I can see it out my kitchen window.



The roses have bloomed off and on all summer, and don't look quite as well now as they have in the past few weeks, but I sure have enjoyed my knock out roses.



Now, if I can just win that giveaway of Kim's over at Palmer Falls Primitives...I'll have it made........with even MORE AMERICANA! :)

"Simply Rustic" - Christmas on our Sunporch

This is the first year that I've had our sunporch to decorate. It was all torn apart last year at this time being remodeled from a dull room that was an eyesore (to me) since we walk through here everytime we come into the house.....to a now favorite place. It serves as a transition from the outdoors to the indoors into our kitchen, so it was important that it be a happy place as we walked in from the carport into our home.



I've been really excited about having this room, to say the least. We also have it insulated with a heater out here so it can be used during the colder months if we want. Although, we don't keep it heated out here all the time, because of obvious reasons of saving money, at least we do have the option of doing so and leaving the kitchen door open and this area flows naturally into the kitchen. I am looking forward to having this extra space when we have our ladies Christmas party here and when we have our Christmas day dinner with family and sometimes....just because. And if we EVER have snow, I can just imagine sitting out there watching the snowflakes with all those windows! (Thanks, Kath, for the cyber snow!) lol!

Just like our outdoor decor, it's very simple, with a rustic flavor. I love natural things to decorate with....I love pinecones, pine needles, grapevine wreaths.....anything you might find outdoors is what I wanted to embillish with out here...and with a primitive touch (and on a very tight budget, I might add).



The slim alpine tree out here is adorned with pinecones, snowflakes (from Dollar Tree), a garland (of stars, twigs and pinecones), berries, and birdhouses. The birdhouses beneath the tree were made by Jason and my dad.



And here it is aglow with the twinkling lights.



Here's a cozy table for two. On the center of the table is the birch bark tree that I bought last year. I could just picture it out on the sunporch (when I could finally decorate it)! I bought it at Walmart the day after Christmas.



Topping the birch bark tree, is a "stick" star I found last year too. I do believe this tree is one my favorite things this year! I have visions of standing inside a log cabin looking out of the window and seeing snow covered trees like this! Oh...and sipping on a cup of hot chocolate (Shelley...I guess that's reality for you...you're living my dream!) :)



Over in this corner is a large piece of driftwood my dad brought home for me. I remember my mom having that stool when I was still at home. I found the wooden Christmas angel for .50 at a yard sale last year. The birdhouse lamp came from ebay.



The chippy paint birdhouse perched on top of the driftwood was another .50 yard sale find. Remember the snowflake from the ornament swap? I thought this was the perfect spot for it! It's one way to see a snowflake! :)



There's absolutely no added decorations here on the bench except pinecones, pinecones, and more pinecones (in the tool box and under the bench in the pinecone basket). Our late night family excursion picking up pinecones in the freezing cold paid off I guess....brrrr!



Remember the potting bench Jason made me from the $18 Lowes door? Here it is with a few Christmas decorations...the Santa came from a win playing "Dirty Santa", the snowman shelf sitter, the wooden birdhouse stand underneath, and greenery and surprise....pinecones in the garden box.



There's not much added to the old-window-turned-coffee-table that Jason made me except pinecones, candles, and baskets. The sleigh was given to me by my friend, Betty, a few years ago.



Isn't this little snowman pillow the cutest thing? I found it at a yard sale too...$1.00. He found a home out here on the sunporch loveseat. He makes me smile! I don't mind sharing this seat with him at all!



And don't you just love it when you find something that you forgot you bought? I found this sign put away in a closet upstairs that I bought last year after the season for $2.00. It's really the only thing I added to the shelves above the windows except for greenery...........and pinecones! :)



And here's a couple of pictures of the sunporch my favorite way....lights off...aglow with lamplight and twinkling Christmas lights! It feels cozy this way!



That's it. I told you it would be simple.....and rustic....(with pinecones)! :) It seems like I'm doing simple more these days. Besides, I also wanted you to see how a room could be decorated for Christmas with nature's free decorations and very inexpensive thrift store and yard sale finds.



Thank you so much for stopping by to visit our sunporch for Christmas! I'm so glad you did. And a very BIG thank you for all the nice comments on the exterior of our home. I was really overwhelmed with the kindness! You all are wonderful! You just don't know how much it means to me! You really know how to make a girl's day!

And I know everyone loves giveaways, so be sure to click over to Beth's and sign up for Gracie! Beth is drawing out a name on Sunday evening and sending her to a new home....it might just be yours (or mine). I'll take really good care of her, Beth! :)



I'm not really sure which room will be next on the Christmas tour....I guess the next one will just have to be a surprise. But you're definitely invited! And have a great weekend! :)

Welcome to our Home - Front Porch Christmas Decor

Welcome to our cedar home! We have no snow on our roof, although I would love it if we did!



A few years ago, Jason and I came to an agreement. Although, he does love to get the tree out and deck the house out with Christmas decor, the part he didn't like was decking the house out with Christmas lights. Icicle lights did look pretty outlining the steep roof, but I wasn't the one that had to climb up there and put them up! He liked the look of greenery with flood lights on the house. Although it wasn't easy convincing me to try it, we did and I was sold! I love the way it illuminates the house and the simplicity of it. And I'm sure Jason loves the simplicity for a different reason!



This year so far we've just put the wreaths up on the windows. Sometimes we add garland draped around the porch.



Last Saturday night, Jason, Joy and I were outside at nearly 10:00 in town picking up pinecones and it was COLD! We were laughing about the fact, that Colt might very well get off work and drive by and see his family outside near Kroger (there's a bunch of pine trees near there) and wonder what we were up to now....although I'm sure he wouldn't be surprised at anything he might see us doing! I'm sure he was glad he wasn't out there! Anyway, we picked up quite a few pinecones, which I love to decorate with at Christmas. I filled the flower boxes with them here on the front porch.



And this is "Flakey" the Snowman.....or so Joy calls him. Last year he was out on our fence. This year I decided to put him right beside the front door to welcome visitors.



And on this side, we do have "Frosty". He was a purchase a couple of years ago. I fell in love with him at Hobby Lobby and Jason bought him and brought him home! He welcomes folks on the other side of the front door.



That's it.....nothing fancy....very simple....but then so are we! I hope you enjoyed it! Now come on in out of the cold for some hot chocolate!



Thanks for stopping by to visit! Next on the tour for Christmas decor will be the sunporch....so come back soon!

Backdoor Guests are Best

Nothing fancy today. I just thought I'd share our simple country backdoor with you!

With the addition of the sunporch this year, I wanted to make our backdoor entrance more inviting. This is the door that opens into the sunporch as we come in from the carport.



I saw the enamelware pot in my mom and dad's garage. It was full of bottles of car oil and cleaners. I asked about it and ended up trading my mom a garden angel for it. I planted red petunias in it. I usually don't have just wonderful luck with petunias, but these aren't really in the wind and they get a little shade. So far they're doing just fine and I love the splash of red there under the flag.



The rest was very simple. The backdoor also had to have an American flag (by my standards anyway). I wanted to be greeted by one. I told you it was patriotic at our house, remember? The vertical welcome sign worked perfectly in the little spot there and the twig wreath was an inexpensive fix to add another simple country touch.



Oh, and if you remember a few weeks ago, I showed you our deck and pool area. Well, I was looking for a clock or star to go on the shed behind the pool. I was thrilled to come across a barn star on clearance for $1.00! Can you believe it? So I snatched it up and my dad hung it for me the other day. It's barn red and it makes such a difference there! I'm still looking for a clock for my blank wall by the pool though! This is what you see looking to the right as you walk to the back door.



So there you have it.....now welcome, backdoor guests!