Remind me next year not to paint anything in the weeks prior to Christmas!
December 20, 2011
Reality check...........
Todd came in with one of his many Nerf guns and immediately set up a vase with a snowball on top behind the ivy wreath and shot at it through the circle! Boys will be boys, Papa even got in the act!
Tanner was in a happy mood because he believes in Santa !! hence, his tongue hanging out!
December 18, 2011
December 13, 2011
Welcome to Christmas 2011!
Here are some glimpses around our home this Christmas. I have simplified from past years and it feels good! These photos did not really load in the order I would have liked but in the interest of getting this posted I'm going to go with it.
This is a glass shelf in the kitchen, this sign that I found at HomeGoods was perfect in sentiment and color, a close up will follow.
The front door wreath, a shell wreath in the middle of a green wreath.
This is a shot from the playroom of Disneyland silhouettes of my two kids in the middle in the 70's and their two boys on the ends. A playroom Christmas item follows.
Modern Disney playroom art
Here is the touch of Christmas, Mickey, Minnie and Santa that I bought at Disneyland in September.
I went with a more formal seaside theme in the dining room which used to be the unused living room I came across a couple of sparkly shells on sticks that I built on with ribbon and greens.
I already owned the white seahorses and the mermaid and they just got dressed up.
Simple dining room table decor the runner from Target has silver sparkle in it
The china cabinet kept all my white dishes and added ribbon and sea themed items.
The chairs got simply fancy with glitter dot bows tied on their backs.
The front porch planters got a couple of fresh color spot plants and ribbon with inspiring words.
Back to the family room these white frames from IKEA are so versatile they have an insert that can be moved to have the photo at the glass or an inch back to make a shadow box and fit in some jingle bells, in summer sometimes they have seashells.
The TV just needed a little something that had to be low so we didn't have to move it all the time and unbreakable due to the presence of boys so some soft snowballs.This desk is oak and I painted it white and distressed it a couple of years ago I always like it but it really works now.
This basket changes with the seasons too, always containing kid friendly unbreakable touchable items, sometimes it contains seashells, sometimes mini pumpkins.
Our tree is always traditional although I have suggested a theme tree a time or two I could never get the family to agree, it has wedding favors from my kid's weddings and the cake topper from our own wedding, bronzed baby shoes belonging to my children, myriad Disney ornaments, ornaments through the years as well as some representing our NFL and NL football and baseball teams!
The family room mantel needed some light so I used a mirror that was stored and added a green saying on the front with some removable glue.
The stairs got one wreath this year instead of the garland and yards of ribbon I usually do, I like it for a change.
These are the IKEA frames once again.
I used scrapbook rubon words on these that will scrape off later.
These two mice have adorned the trees for over 40 years they were given to my mother-in-law from someone she worked with who made them.
The etagerie in the family room always has the manger and other items that are there year round get spruced up.
Minnie is my favorite character from Disney, I love her as my treetop angel.Thank you so much for stopping by.
Happy Holidays everyone!
December 02, 2011
October 25, 2011
Just a quick check in .............
because I really have other things to do, don't we all. I will try to keep this up better but for now just a couple of fall decor things. Very quick without digging through everything I own, or it would be a couple of seasons from now if I did that! I will start with a little serenity with a pic of the ocean. So just a peek and I will be back later, hopefully with something more interesting!
December 18, 2010
If anyone is still interested.........
lets move onto the Christmas decor tour of the family room. I don't know if anyone will ever look at these but I am feeling better just getting this all in here so thanks for making me put forth the effort! LOL
There is nothing Christmasy about this one but I just love my beach glass backsplash tile, it is a bit more blue-green IRL. To the left is an opening over the sink that looks into the family room.
This basket that I found at Home Goods and resembles some sort of fish trap, very beachy...lives on the coffee table and changes with the seasons very touchable for the kids and unbreakable. The albums contains 6x6 scrapbook layout of kids on Santa's lap starting with Lisa in 1968, adding Geoff in 1971, Alex in 1998 and Todd in 2002 until the present, we are ready for volume 2.
the roll top desk was also oak and got a white distressed makeover last year.
The TV will be hanging on the wall and be lower than the window tomorrow and that ugly black plastic stand will go. I did change the autumn pics out of the Ikea shadow box frames over the rocker and replace them with Christmas photos of the boys.
Thanks for joining me on my Christmas tour!
Here is one last shot that Lisa took of my precious boys today with Santa. I wish all of you a wonderful holiday and a blessed and healthy new year!
'Probably should have done this in bits but here it is all at once!
Let's do some more holiday decor pics. It was a challenge to do the rooms with just the one box for each room that I could reach...much simplier. With a purge of holiday stuff a couple of years ago I ended up with just two boxes of tree ornaments and this year I even edited that down to those I buy at Disneyland every year and all the other ones had to be meaningful so the tree is simplified too! Feels good!
First lets do a pic from Alex last year, sitting at the now white kitchen table in its "before" state of oak. (See the recent post as it is now painted white and distressed.
Now how about a little dining room. This used to be the living room but several years ago I realized no one used the living room and we needed a dining room so Voila!
I love these subtle bows that I tied on the backs of the chairs.
The sled on top of the china cabinet was a gift from my sister years ago, there are oversized mercury glass ornaments tied with ribbon and place randomly on a plate here and there inside the cabinet.All the white stuff in there is what is there all the time.
Right around the corner from the dining room at the end of the hall is the locker that I just ordered for myself then suggested Dave might want to pay for it (so now he thinks I did him a favor!) I haven't been married for 46 years and not learned a trick or two.LOL The antiques skis leaned here belonged to my sister Dana, I think she bought those for herself when she bought the sled for me. Treasures.
There are two of these urns on the front porch one on each end simple new cyclamen, the wreath is artificial after years of the big boys with big shoulders knocking the real ones apart!
I'm not sure how long of a post Typepad will allow or how many photos so I will end this one and do another.
December 10, 2010
Holidays 2010 !
Well, it has been a long time and now all of a sudden it is the holidays!! How on earth did that happen? I did finally fiinish a project that I should have done in August but at least it is done now. And then there is the Christmas decor. I have gone with the simple approach this year. I could only get to two main boxes of goodies and used a lot of things that I ordinarily have around during the year, it was challenging but also very freeing! I will do more shots but for the moment here are a couple plus the project...........I painted my kitchen dining set white, it was oak. I distressed it and I'm liking it so far. I have been on the fence about what to do about it since we remodeled the kitchen and changed the oak cabinets to maple. Thanks for looking........I am thinking if I am going to blog at all I need to be a little more whitty! LOL
'Just a quick peek and more decor photos to come!
August 15, 2010
There's a new sofa in the house!
Over a month ago I decided to finally choose and order a new sofa. When we did some remodeling a couple of years ago, I didn't find anything at first glance and was too burned out to continue looking. We just dealt with the old leather one that we picked up on the spur of the moment several years ago at Costo when we needed to replace one. I always tend toward monochromatic color schemes and thought this would be kind of a sand color, almost rethinking it after it was already ordered as so predictable, until it arrived! I was having doubts that sand was going to conflict with the existing chair that I did get a couple of years ago and was even wondering what room I could relocate it to and what I would replace it with. When first unpacked by the delivery guys I was suprised at the warmth of the color and that it even had color, since the name of the shade in the sample book was some sort of ivory! I decided to think it through and came to the conclusion that I needed a tiny push out of my comfort zone and now I really like it. It adds so much warmth to the cool colors I have used in the family room. It is super comfy and I am rolling with it!
The old one:
And the new............
There is an optical illusion because both sofas were within an inch on the outside measurement but the curved arms both inside and outside on the old one took up space and we actually have more seating capacity! I love the more modern shape on the new one. It's nice when life holds a pleasant surprise!
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