Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Fall Birthday Tablescape

We had company on Sunday for a birthday lunch. 



I wanted to share the tablescape with you. 



We have black chargers so that was the base for the design. 



 The grocery store had these beautiful yellow sunflowers. 
Black and yellow is a popular color scheme.

  


The plates are Adam's China. 
The napkins are actually dishrags from Dollar Tree.
We are getting a Dollar Tree a couple of doors down from work. Yahoo.  


My sister in law brought me the roses. They are just gorgeous and went perfectly with the table.




We have had the corn teapot for a few years. 
We got it from Bill's Granny Vi. 
We were missing her presence on Sunday.

 

I took the chalkboard off of the wall last week when I made the temporary backsplash a little more permanent. I just set it on the table. 
It is so cute as part of the centerpiece.



That is it for this Wednesday. 
What are you up to?
Katie  
Linking with,
French Country Cottage   
From My Front Porch to Yours  
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Stone Gable Cottage 
A Stroll Thru Life 
Savvy Southern Style 

Monday, September 28, 2015

Our New Exterior Shutters




I told y'all this summer that Bill was building us some exterior shutters. 
Searching Pinterest and driving through neighborhoods gave us the ideas we needed to cultivate a design. 
Bill is a planner. 
He thought through the following issues according to his Facebook post.


"Because I was using wood and I knew that there would be expansion and contraction with the effects of the weather change, I chose to leave a space between each vertical board. 
This made it a little more challenging to keep it all square."
Each of our windows on the front of our house is a different height. Three of the four windows have a brick arch but because of the different widths, the arch is different on each. The shutters had to be adjusted for the varying widths of the eyebrow. 
This meant each set of shutters was going to be a different length.  
That brought in a decision on where to place the cross supports that tie the vertical boards together. As you look at the house we didn't want there to be just a random looking lines for the cross supports." 

We went with a board and batten shutter design. 
We opted not to arch the top of the shutters to mimic the eyebrow windows. 


Once he was done building the shutters, I primed them with the best primer Bill could find. 



We began discussing the color and went back to Pinterest because we could not agree.
We tossed around black, gray, brown and cream. 
I didn't want brown but the front door is brown. 
We figured there was enough black in the mortar that it would would work but in the end we decided to go with charcoal. 


The air conditioning was out at the store when we went to get the paint.
 Their computer was slow and they couldn't find our account. 
They told us a 30% off sale was starting the next day. 
Seems to me that if they are making you sweat while you wait they should give you the discount a day early. 
No.
Instead, we left the store empty handed. 
Once we were home I changed my mind. I wanted white. Not bright white but the same white as the trim. 



We held a primed shutter up to the house and Bill reluctantly agreed. 
I began painting in July but then we got hit with a heat wave. 
The temperature hovered around 105 degrees for three weeks so hanging shutters was out of the question. 
Instead we clean up the garage. 
In the meantime, Bill was pondering some other issues. 

"I think the thing that was most difficult was mounting them. 
I stressed a lot over how to mount the shutters to the brick while on a ladder, how they will weather over time and how not to get mold buildup between them and the brick."

Bill was able to find rubber baffles to put over the screws to keep the shutters off of the brick. 


Bill woke up on Saturday ready to tackle this project. 
I told him I could help with the first story. 
He called our son to help with the second story. 


Things went off without any problems.
Placing the top of one side of the ladder on the shutter helped hold it in place so Bill could screw it in. 
Jonnie helped by handing the drill drivers out to Bill and by making sure the shutter lined up with the brick and was level. 




"We even had to make an installation day adjustment on the length of one set which I wasn't thrilled about." 
Bill wasn't thrilled when I took issue with the placement on the battens on the second set of shutters. We ended up cutting off two inches of wood off of the bottom of the second set. If we hadn't the second set would have been 11/2 taller than the first. 
That would have been noticeable from the street. 


Before


After

 They are so cute!! I'm beyond thrilled with how finished they make the house look. 



I took these pictures with my phone so I'll be back with more photos, thoughts and feedback. 
Happy Monday!
Katie   
Linking with,
Between Naps on the Porch 
The Scoop 
A Stroll Thru Life   
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia   
Savvy Southern Style   
French Country Cottage   
From My Front Porch to Yours 
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Autumn in the Living Room


Happy Fall!
I've been working on adding some fall color to the house. 
Read about the dining room here


I'm feeling a little anti-pumpkin this early in the season. 
Instead, I'm inspired by leaves and trees in various stages of color. 
I went through my stash and culled a painting that has the warmer tones expected for the season.
This little gem came from Bill's mom last year. 
I just love it. 


The Nandinas from the front walk add the perfect touch of lime and coral. 
Yes, the books are still turned around backwards.
Thank you, Pottery Barn. 
My family has yet to understand this decorating phenomena. 



The late afternoon sunlight was just perfect last Saturday. 


The galvanized container came from Tractor Supply and was only $12.99. 


It is loaded with creamy white throws for the cooler months. 


The trunk we use as a coffee table got additional Nandina leaves in a white pitcher. 
The pitcher came from Bed, Bath and Beyond. 


The tray is from IKEA.


The throw is also from IKEA. 
We've had the gold velvet pillow forever. 
The Hermine Throw has gold runs in the plaid that are perfect with the pillow. 
The ticking pillow is from Pottery Barn. 


We found the squirrel bookend in an antique shop. 


Shut up!
He is so cute.
He is hoarding some wooden acorns from eBay.  



The coffee cup is from Starbucks.



I flip flopped my end tables before taking these pictures. 
I also removed a chair. 
This living area is odd and I've never felt comfortable with the room arrangement. 
There doesn't seem to be a natural place for the television so it is like the builder expected that the t.v. would be upstairs.
Many of the houses in the neighborhood are the same way. 


The slice of wood from Michael's got some chalkboard paint. 
The chalk oak leaf mimics the leaves in the Audubon Bird print.
It came from a book of prints that I picked up at Half Price Books.  
This concrete squirrel is one of my favorites. 
He came from First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas years ago. 


This frame is a sponge painted Eastlake Victorian.  
 The russet tones with the oak leaves of the picture are fabulous together.
We have oaks in our back yard so the oak leaf is a fun motif for our house. 



That is about it for now. 
More fall coming.
Maybe pumpkins will even make a showing. 
Thanks for stopping by,
Katie 

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Vintage Kitchen Vignette

When we got the countertops in May, the damage to the wall when removing the tile was atrocious. 
I covered it up with a "temporary backsplash." 
I guess I'm confused at the meaning of temporary because four months later it is still here.


I can make a list of very good excuses.


We did have some unplanned expenditures.
Our youngest son's car died.  


I spent about a week carless until we were able to find him a new used car. 
We picked up his car on a Monday afternoon. 


Tuesday morning our daughter called...


She was stranded on the side of the road. 


There are still good Samaritans out there. 
Her car needed extensive repair work but it was fixable. 


Bill received a bonus check in August. 



I'm sure you guess that a lot of it went to the car fiasco.


Some of it went towards a trip to  



Disney!
I've never been and I can't wait. 
We are all meeting Chris there in December! 


The temporary backsplash has to wait until February so I caulked all the seams and painted it with a stronger finish. 
I styled one section with some vintage accessories. 


I'm not complaining. 
I could have called the tile guy in June before all of this happened but I just cannot decide what I want.
Once the tile is in-it is in!  
Sometimes DIY is easier to go with because it can be
 un-DIYed.


Know what I mean?
Happy first day of fall!