Tag Archives: French Country

Home & Garden

A Softer Shade of Blue

Hi Friends!

I hope you and your family had a beautiful Resurrection Sunday as we celebrated the life, death and resurrection of Jesus! I was so blessed to see social media filled with proclamations of Jesus. He is our hope, our joy and our life!

We had an extremely harsh winter here in Michigan this year. And one snowy, icy day I decided to redecorate our entry. I genuinely loved this room before but always felt it didn't flow as well with the rest of the house as I'd like. I wanted less Traditional and more French Country.  

The picture below was taken by the photographer from Romantic Homes a couple of years ago. The walls were blue a soft blue with a painted stencil and below the chair rail and trim was all bright white. 

 
I started the redo by painting the trim and closet doors a light wood tone to match the rest of the house. I painted the walls in Sand by Sherwin Williams as a base coat, from top to bottom, including the chair rail. I'll share the paint technique and raised plaster stencil I did in a later post. 

And then I repainted our blue dresser.
The new color is much lighter and more the color that shows up around our house in almost every room. I'm sorry I can't give you a color name. I used the same color that I custom mixed for our family room a few years ago and then added colors to it and layered it on until I got the look I wanted.
I always use a chalk paint additive I bought on Amazon.   It gives your paint that smooth chalky finish but I can add it to any color that I already have. 

For those of you who are new to this site, I bought this dresser second hand several years ago. It was an old, maple bedroom dresser that someone had in storage. It was in great shape and we paid $100 for it. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our home and I love the impact it gives when you walk in our front door.

I added a little of the light blue to our HomeGoods mirror so that it coordinated better. This mirror was on clearance at HomeGoods a couple of years ago. It was all a uniform cream color and I painted it to match the dresser. 


I layered one of our cowhide rugs over another rug. I love the mix of rustic with the feminine furniture.

Our entry is a pass-through with doors on all four sides. Below is the view from the front door. The door on the left goes into the rest of our house. The patio door you see goes out onto the deck and into the back yard and pool. The door you see reflected in the mirror goes into our garage.  
I haven't shown you the other side of the room in a while. I'll share more details about recovering the antique settee on another post. I'd like to change our light fixtures in here to a soft gold, whether I refinish the ones we have or buy new ones.
There are a few other changes in here I'd still like to make and will give you updates in the future. 

Thank you to those that have messaged me this past year. Your kind comments were a blessing to me and I appreciate it so much.

love and blessings~

"The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22

sources: 
dresser, chair - Craigslist
mirror - HomeGoods
wooden bowl, vase and roses - HobbyLobby
lamp and candlesticks - Furniture City Consignment
french shopping basket - World Market
cherry blossoms - Joann's Fabrics
cowhide rug - Twisted Pine, Estes Park, CO
wall color - Sand by Sherwin Williams
Standard
Home & Garden

A Softer Shade of Blue

Hi Friends!

I hope you and your family had a beautiful Resurrection Sunday as we celebrated the life, death and resurrection of Jesus! I was so blessed to see social media filled with proclamations of Jesus. He is our hope, our joy and our life!

We had an extremely harsh winter here in Michigan this year. And one snowy, icy day I decided to redecorate our entry. I genuinely loved this room before but always felt it didn't flow as well with the rest of the house as I'd like. I wanted less Traditional and more French Country.  

The picture below was taken by the photographer from Romantic Homes a couple of years ago. The walls were blue a soft blue with a painted stencil and below the chair rail and trim was all bright white. 

 
I started the redo by painting the trim and closet doors a light wood tone to match the rest of the house. I painted the walls in Sand by Sherwin Williams as a base coat, from top to bottom, including the chair rail. I'll share the paint technique and raised plaster stencil I did in a later post. 

And then I repainted our blue dresser.
The new color is much lighter and more the color that shows up around our house in almost every room. I'm sorry I can't give you a color name. I used the same color that I custom mixed for our family room a few years ago and then added colors to it and layered it on until I got the look I wanted.
I always use a chalk paint additive I bought on Amazon.   It gives your paint that smooth chalky finish but I can add it to any color that I already have. 

For those of you who are new to this site, I bought this dresser second hand several years ago. It was an old, maple bedroom dresser that someone had in storage. It was in great shape and we paid $100 for it. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our home and I love the impact it gives when you walk in our front door.

I added a little of the light blue to our HomeGoods mirror so that it coordinated better. This mirror was on clearance at HomeGoods a couple of years ago. It was all a uniform cream color and I painted it to match the dresser. 


I layered one of our cowhide rugs over another rug. I love the mix of rustic with the feminine furniture.

Our entry is a pass-through with doors on all four sides. Below is the view from the front door. The door on the left goes into the rest of our house. The patio door you see goes out onto the deck and into the back yard and pool. The door you see reflected in the mirror goes into our garage.  
I haven't shown you the other side of the room in a while. I'll share more details about recovering the antique settee on another post. I'd like to change our light fixtures in here to a soft gold, whether I refinish the ones we have or buy new ones.
There are a few other changes in here I'd still like to make and will give you updates in the future. 

Thank you to those that have messaged me this past year. Your kind comments were a blessing to me and I appreciate it so much.

love and blessings~

"The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22

sources: 
dresser, chair - Craigslist
mirror - HomeGoods
wooden bowl, vase and roses - HobbyLobby
lamp and candlesticks - Furniture City Consignment
french shopping basket - World Market
cherry blossoms - Joann's Fabrics
cowhide rug - Twisted Pine, Estes Park, CO
wall color - Sand by Sherwin Williams
Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Our Kitchen Island

Happy Monday! Spring has finally come to Michigan and we had a wonderful weekend helping our daughter and son in law pick out some new flowering bushes for their yard and get them planted. 

I'm also adding lots of Spring to our house these days! I have always loved florals and I've been getting some old favorites out and adding them back into our decor.

Our kitchen island has always been a fun place to decorate. It's in the very center of our main floor and you can see it from the living room and dining room and even parts of it from the family room, so I like to change it with the seasons.

I got this beautiful bunch of alstroemeria at the grocery store this week. When I was looking up the spelling I saw that they're poisonous so maybe they're not the best choice for the kitchen! Ha!

I got this little chalk board at Tuesday Morning when we were in Auburn, AL. I managed to fit it in my suitcase and bring it back home! lol It was a little brighter turquoise than this when I bought it and I gave it a coat of SW Interesting Aqua.
It's perfect for a simple message or to help me remember what's important.
This part of our island is right above our sink. If you're like me, you spend a lot of time right here so it's nice to have things here you enjoy.
I got this set of canisters many years ago at HomeGoods.
Our island divides our kitchen, dining room and family room. It's shaped kind of like a 'Y.'
It's always a challenge to try and make the center of it look nice from all directions and I have to travel all around it to clean it. I can't reach the whole thing from one side.
I have always loved this area when we have holidays or family dinners. I can fill this whole counter with snacks and desserts and still have counter space to prepare a meal.

The little wet bar was intended for mixed drinks and there used to be an ice maker in this area. It didn't work when we bought the house and when we redid our kitchen, we took it out and built a niche in this area. This picture is a flash back to when I had this area painted brown. I am really liking the blue now.
We have added some fun changes to our living room lately. I'm adding some Spring to the decor and will be back soon to show you the room.

Have a wonderful day!
love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12

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Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Our Kitchen Island

Happy Monday! Spring has finally come to Michigan and we had a wonderful weekend helping our daughter and son in law pick out some new flowering bushes for their yard and get them planted. 

I'm also adding lots of Spring to our house these days! I have always loved florals and I've been getting some old favorites out and adding them back into our decor.

Our kitchen island has always been a fun place to decorate. It's in the very center of our main floor and you can see it from the living room and dining room and even parts of it from the family room, so I like to change it with the seasons.

I got this beautiful bunch of alstroemeria at the grocery store this week. When I was looking up the spelling I saw that they're poisonous so maybe they're not the best choice for the kitchen! Ha!

I got this little chalk board at Tuesday Morning when we were in Auburn, AL. I managed to fit it in my suitcase and bring it back home! lol It was a little brighter turquoise than this when I bought it and I gave it a coat of SW Interesting Aqua.
It's perfect for a simple message or to help me remember what's important.
This part of our island is right above our sink. If you're like me, you spend a lot of time right here so it's nice to have things here you enjoy.
I got this set of canisters many years ago at HomeGoods.
Our island divides our kitchen, dining room and family room. It's shaped kind of like a 'Y.'
It's always a challenge to try and make the center of it look nice from all directions and I have to travel all around it to clean it. I can't reach the whole thing from one side.
I have always loved this area when we have holidays or family dinners. I can fill this whole counter with snacks and desserts and still have counter space to prepare a meal.

The little wet bar was intended for mixed drinks and there used to be an ice maker in this area. It didn't work when we bought the house and when we redid our kitchen, we took it out and built a niche in this area. This picture is a flash back to when I had this area painted brown. I am really liking the blue now.
We have added some fun changes to our living room lately. I'm adding some Spring to the decor and will be back soon to show you the room.

Have a wonderful day!
love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12

Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

A Romantic French Kitchen

We put all new cabinet fronts on our kitchen almost two years ago. It was a major change and since our kitchen is open to our living room, dining area and family room, it has made such a big difference.

I started out a little too farmhouse but eventually found my way back to French Country. I've been adding a little romance to our kitchen lately with blue and white and some other accessories.

This framed canvas of roses is one of my favorite things.

It's been in our master bedroom but it was on the wall where our barn door opens so I've moved it to the kitchen.  An ivy planted in a little blue and white watering can and a small urn complete the vignette.
Our back splash is bead board. I hung a little frieze of angels above the stove that I've had forever.

I edited my Ode de Charles Faudree a bit by taking away a few plates and adding another corbel. (I thought it all looked really straight but I don't think it does in this picture!)
I also recently painted this small section of our island again. If you remember, it was Seal Brown by SW. Now it's SW Rain which is one of the colors I've used on our family room shutters. With our shutters in the dining room and living room being brown, I decided now I wanted this to be blue. lol Someone suggested this when I was trying to decide what color to paint this. Thank you!

My husband told my daughter, "When I left the house this morning some things were brown and some things were blue. When I came home, the things that were brown are now blue and vice versa." Poor man!

You can see from these pictures why I would want our kitchen to be a little more formal than most kitchens. We can see it from every room.
I'm on the hunt for some new bar stools. I've never loved these but I also need three now for our three grand children. They come over often for lunch during the week and our youngest little guy (10 mos) needs a bar stool now. :)  Fitting three in here might be a little close but I'm going to try it.

I keep thinking that I'd like to have different hardware on this blue section just to dress it up a bit and also make it feel like a separate cabinet. Maybe I'll see if I can find some the next time I go to Grand Rapids HobbyLobby.


I had done an antiquing glaze to our cabinets a while back. It added some nice depth from far away but up close, it just looked dirty to me. So I also gave our doors a fresh coat of SW Sand.
It feels so much fresher to me now and I love a kitchen that feels really clean.

I'll be back soon with more changes. Have a wonderful day!

love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12

Cabinet color: SW Sand in Satin and SW Rain in Satin

I'm joining these parties:

thoughts-of-home-on-thursday
addisonmeadowslane
creative-circle-week-61
frenchcountrycottage
impartinggrace
handmade-hangout-97
foodie-friday-and-everything-else
home/sweet-inspiration-link-party-2
myuncommonsliceofsuburbia
stonegableblog
betweennapsontheporch
astrollthrulife
savvysouthernstyle
diybydesign
Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

A Romantic French Kitchen

We put all new cabinet fronts on our kitchen almost two years ago. It was a major change and since our kitchen is open to our living room, dining area and family room, it has made such a big difference.

I started out a little too farmhouse but eventually found my way back to French Country. I've been adding a little romance to our kitchen lately with blue and white and some other accessories.

This framed canvas of roses is one of my favorite things.

It's been in our master bedroom but it was on the wall where our barn door opens so I've moved it to the kitchen.  An ivy planted in a little blue and white watering can and a small urn complete the vignette.
Our back splash is bead board. I hung a little frieze of angels above the stove that I've had forever.

I edited my Ode de Charles Faudree a bit by taking away a few plates and adding another corbel. (I thought it all looked really straight but I don't think it does in this picture!)
I also recently painted this small section of our island again. If you remember, it was Seal Brown by SW. Now it's SW Rain which is one of the colors I've used on our family room shutters. With our shutters in the dining room and living room being brown, I decided now I wanted this to be blue. lol Someone suggested this when I was trying to decide what color to paint this. Thank you!

My husband told my daughter, "When I left the house this morning some things were brown and some things were blue. When I came home, the things that were brown are now blue and vice versa." Poor man!

You can see from these pictures why I would want our kitchen to be a little more formal than most kitchens. We can see it from every room.
I'm on the hunt for some new bar stools. I've never loved these but I also need three now for our three grand children. They come over often for lunch during the week and our youngest little guy (10 mos) needs a bar stool now. :)  Fitting three in here might be a little close but I'm going to try it.

I keep thinking that I'd like to have different hardware on this blue section just to dress it up a bit and also make it feel like a separate cabinet. Maybe I'll see if I can find some the next time I go to Grand Rapids HobbyLobby.


I had done an antiquing glaze to our cabinets a while back. It added some nice depth from far away but up close, it just looked dirty to me. So I also gave our doors a fresh coat of SW Sand.
It feels so much fresher to me now and I love a kitchen that feels really clean.

I'll be back soon with more changes. Have a wonderful day!

love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12

Cabinet color: SW Sand in Satin and SW Rain in Satin

I'm joining these parties:

thoughts-of-home-on-thursday
addisonmeadowslane
creative-circle-week-61
frenchcountrycottage
impartinggrace
handmade-hangout-97
foodie-friday-and-everything-else
home/sweet-inspiration-link-party-2
myuncommonsliceofsuburbia
stonegableblog
betweennapsontheporch
astrollthrulife
savvysouthernstyle
diybydesign
Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

A New Barn Door in the Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom make over is done except a few little details and we are enjoying the changes! The last big item was getting our barn door hung and we can finally mark that off the list.

We've never had doors on this opening between our bedroom and bath and in reality, we don't really need them but we've always liked the look of barn doors and this was a perfect place.

They were a challenge to get hung but it was more our situation than a problem with the hardware.  As you can imagine, these metal pieces are heavy-duty and add the weight of the doors and you need to be sure everything is securely hung. The tract had pre-drilled holes to hang it on the wall but these holes did not line up with the studs in the wall. The molly bolts that came with the hardware set would not stay set - they twirled when we tried to put the bolts in.

In an effort to make a long story short, we made several trips to the store getting new molly bolts, new screws, trying to fix the molly bolts into the wall, etc. We finally gave up and attached a board to the wall under the tract. And that worked!

I still need to find picture hangers for this large piece of art that are flatter to the wall.  The ones we have now are causing the picture to stick out too far for the door to open all the way but I think when I change that, it will.

I bought these doors at Menard's. I would have loved to have had antique doors with some wonderful details but I like these. They're just regular 28 1/2" doors without the predrilled holes. I like them so much that I wish we had found this style when we replaced all the doors in our house but these are a fun difference. These doors are hollow. The solid doors were a lot more expensive but also a lot heavier. Mark added reinforcements to each door where the hardware was attached.

I painted them with SW Rain with a tiny bit of black added to the paint to make the color a little grayer. Then I added a deeper blue in places and blended it out. I had a mix of SW Deer Valley mixed with a little gold glaze from another project and I painted that into the details and blended it out.

When I was done, the color coordinated well with our new draperies.

We got our hardware from Amazon. It came very quickly and it's a good solid quality. Straight-Rustic-Double-Sliding-Hardware.   I would give it 4 stars instead of 5. The holes that were predrilled in all the pieces were not evenly spaced so the first time we put everything on the doors, they were uneven. In other words, the uneven holes caused the doors to hang crookedly. We had to mark where each hole should go and redo it to make everything plumb.


Here's a before picture to remind you. I liked this but it wasn't really my style - I got too influenced by what was popular right now.  Here are the links to my past posts on this room makeover.

Update on Our Master Bedroom

Making Pillows for the Master Bedroom

Beams In the Bedroom


Oh! and in case you're wondering, nothing's happened in our master bathroom yet. In fact, I'm waiting on the contractor to get back to me again. We have had him come out and measure, we've picked our tile, and now we're waiting on an estimate.
Our Master Bathroom

I've been busy 'tweaking' lots of things in our house lately.I also got some new dining room chairs a couple of weeks ago and have refinished them. I'll be back soon to show them to you!


love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12
Sources:
Bedspread and shams - Overstock.com
curtain fabric, pillow fabric and tassel fringe - warehousefabrics.com
rug - QVC, Royal Palace about 12 years ago
French chaise - second hand
doors - Menards
barn door track - Amazon



Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

A New Barn Door in the Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom make over is done except a few little details and we are enjoying the changes! The last big item was getting our barn door hung and we can finally mark that off the list.

We've never had doors on this opening between our bedroom and bath and in reality, we don't really need them but we've always liked the look of barn doors and this was a perfect place.

They were a challenge to get hung but it was more our situation than a problem with the hardware.  As you can imagine, these metal pieces are heavy-duty and add the weight of the doors and you need to be sure everything is securely hung. The tract had pre-drilled holes to hang it on the wall but these holes did not line up with the studs in the wall. The molly bolts that came with the hardware set would not stay set - they twirled when we tried to put the bolts in.

In an effort to make a long story short, we made several trips to the store getting new molly bolts, new screws, trying to fix the molly bolts into the wall, etc. We finally gave up and attached a board to the wall under the tract. And that worked!

I still need to find picture hangers for this large piece of art that are flatter to the wall.  The ones we have now are causing the picture to stick out too far for the door to open all the way but I think when I change that, it will.

I bought these doors at Menard's. I would have loved to have had antique doors with some wonderful details but I like these. They're just regular 28 1/2" doors without the predrilled holes. I like them so much that I wish we had found this style when we replaced all the doors in our house but these are a fun difference. These doors are hollow. The solid doors were a lot more expensive but also a lot heavier. Mark added reinforcements to each door where the hardware was attached.

I painted them with SW Rain with a tiny bit of black added to the paint to make the color a little grayer. Then I added a deeper blue in places and blended it out. I had a mix of SW Deer Valley mixed with a little gold glaze from another project and I painted that into the details and blended it out.

When I was done, the color coordinated well with our new draperies.

We got our hardware from Amazon. It came very quickly and it's a good solid quality. Straight-Rustic-Double-Sliding-Hardware.   I would give it 4 stars instead of 5. The holes that were predrilled in all the pieces were not evenly spaced so the first time we put everything on the doors, they were uneven. In other words, the uneven holes caused the doors to hang crookedly. We had to mark where each hole should go and redo it to make everything plumb.


Here's a before picture to remind you. I liked this but it wasn't really my style - I got too influenced by what was popular right now.  Here are the links to my past posts on this room makeover.

Update on Our Master Bedroom

Making Pillows for the Master Bedroom

Beams In the Bedroom


Oh! and in case you're wondering, nothing's happened in our master bathroom yet. In fact, I'm waiting on the contractor to get back to me again. We have had him come out and measure, we've picked our tile, and now we're waiting on an estimate.
Our Master Bathroom

I've been busy 'tweaking' lots of things in our house lately.I also got some new dining room chairs a couple of weeks ago and have refinished them. I'll be back soon to show them to you!


love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12
Sources:
Bedspread and shams - Overstock.com
curtain fabric, pillow fabric and tassel fringe - warehousefabrics.com
rug - QVC, Royal Palace about 12 years ago
French chaise - second hand
doors - Menards
barn door track - Amazon



Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Mixing Rustic with Romance

I'm so sorry to be gone for so long!

My husband and I made a trip to Auburn, Alabama last week. Mark got his Ph.D. there and worked for the Mises Institute. He makes a trip back every year and I often go with him. We had a great time visiting old friends and enjoying the beautiful weather. Then we returned to Michigan and 16 degrees and snow!

We were exhausted from our trip and woke up the next day with bad colds. So I have been recouping.

And painting!

I don't know what's happened but I am suddenly looking at everything and asking myself if it's the way I want it. French Country has been my style for a long time but there are so many different and beautiful ways to do it that no two house have to look the same.  About 3-4 years ago, I dramatically changed our decor and went from reds and yellows and lots of prints to a more simple style with lots of white and lots of rustic.

This is our family room about five years ago. I wasn't blogging then.

 It's hard to believe this is the same room! It was so much more formal and a little English Country. The walls were a yellow/gold and so were the draperies. This is the same couch - I've since slip covered it in an off-white.
You can see the rug that now lives in the living room here. These chairs were in our living room too for a while, but I had slip covered them in white. I've since given them to our daughter.

You can see I loved blue and white even then and I actually loved it with the yellow and red florals.
I would change things from time to time but kept this color scheme for almost a decade.
I was getting tired of this but I didn't know what I wanted to do. And then one day, I walked into a Pottery Barn in Grand Rapids and fell in love!

What I loved about the Pottery Barn store was the mix of fresh white couches and chairs with rustic wood, barn doors and sturdy, farmhouse tables. (I don't know why I bothered to say that because we ALL love that - right?!) But, Pottery Barn is not quite blingy enough for me and needs a little more romance.

So I've been figuring out, for the last three years, how to mix the two gracefully. And incorporate the new, fresh color scheme.

When Miss Mustard Seed posted these beautiful pictures, I fell in love.  I pinned them and stared and realized how much I loved the color of the wood. And then figured out that I hadn't combined enough 'rustic' into my 'romance'!


We just replaced all of our doors in our house - we still have a few more to do. Our former doors were very eighties. They were super heavy and solid but were a plain surface with an oak finish and brass 80's hardware. At the time I thought I wanted the classic look of all white trim and white doors. But when I saw these pics, I knew it was the perfect way to tie everything together.

Then Joni at CotedeTexas posted these beautiful photos and I was swooning all over again.


These are the photos that inspired our master bedroom 'boards.'

So I've been painting doors to give them this wood look and we've been adding beams and boards to add 'rustic' to our 'romance.'

We finally got our barn doors up and I will show them to you soon.  Between sitting down and trying to get rid of this cold I've been taking stock and doing lots of tweaking. And lots of painting. And some rearranging.

I hope to have lots to show you soon!

love and blessings~

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12

I'm joining these parties:
poofingthepillows
share-it-one-more-time
lifeonlakeshoredrive
coastalcharm
betweennapsontheporch
myuncommonsliceofsuburbia
stonegableblog
astrollthrulife
cozylittlehouse
wow-us-wednesdays
share-your-style-61

Standard
Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Mixing Rustic with Romance

I'm so sorry to be gone for so long!

My husband and I made a trip to Auburn, Alabama last week. Mark got his Ph.D. there and worked for the Mises Institute. He makes a trip back every year and I often go with him. We had a great time visiting old friends and enjoying the beautiful weather. Then we returned to Michigan and 16 degrees and snow!

We were exhausted from our trip and woke up the next day with bad colds. So I have been recouping.

And painting!

I don't know what's happened but I am suddenly looking at everything and asking myself if it's the way I want it. French Country has been my style for a long time but there are so many different and beautiful ways to do it that no two house have to look the same.  About 3-4 years ago, I dramatically changed our decor and went from reds and yellows and lots of prints to a more simple style with lots of white and lots of rustic.

This is our family room about five years ago. I wasn't blogging then.

 It's hard to believe this is the same room! It was so much more formal and a little English Country. The walls were a yellow/gold and so were the draperies. This is the same couch - I've since slip covered it in an off-white.
You can see the rug that now lives in the living room here. These chairs were in our living room too for a while, but I had slip covered them in white. I've since given them to our daughter.

You can see I loved blue and white even then and I actually loved it with the yellow and red florals.
I would change things from time to time but kept this color scheme for almost a decade.
I was getting tired of this but I didn't know what I wanted to do. And then one day, I walked into a Pottery Barn in Grand Rapids and fell in love!

What I loved about the Pottery Barn store was the mix of fresh white couches and chairs with rustic wood, barn doors and sturdy, farmhouse tables. (I don't know why I bothered to say that because we ALL love that - right?!) But, Pottery Barn is not quite blingy enough for me and needs a little more romance.

So I've been figuring out, for the last three years, how to mix the two gracefully. And incorporate the new, fresh color scheme.

When Miss Mustard Seed posted these beautiful pictures, I fell in love.  I pinned them and stared and realized how much I loved the color of the wood. And then figured out that I hadn't combined enough 'rustic' into my 'romance'!


We just replaced all of our doors in our house - we still have a few more to do. Our former doors were very eighties. They were super heavy and solid but were a plain surface with an oak finish and brass 80's hardware. At the time I thought I wanted the classic look of all white trim and white doors. But when I saw these pics, I knew it was the perfect way to tie everything together.

Then Joni at CotedeTexas posted these beautiful photos and I was swooning all over again.


These are the photos that inspired our master bedroom 'boards.'

So I've been painting doors to give them this wood look and we've been adding beams and boards to add 'rustic' to our 'romance.'

We finally got our barn doors up and I will show them to you soon.  Between sitting down and trying to get rid of this cold I've been taking stock and doing lots of tweaking. And lots of painting. And some rearranging.

I hope to have lots to show you soon!

love and blessings~

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12

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Home & Garden, Tips & How To

A Garden Gate

Happy Good Friday!

It's not looking much like Spring here today. We got several inches of snow the last two days and then it added a layer of freezing rain. I kept looking out the window yesterday because you could hear a constant cracking and breaking as small branches fell from the trees and every once in a while there was a 'whamp' and a 'thump' as a big branch hit the ground.

This morning it looks more like Christmas than Easter!

This wall 'gate' used to sit on our plant shelf in the family room.  I bought it on clearance at HobbyLobby a couple of years ago and it's been several place in our house over the years.
It used to be black but recently I painted it with chalk paint to match this little chest and put it above it to balance the desk at the other end of the room.  You can see how I painted this chest here.

This has always been kind of an odd little spot in our house.  It's a hallway that leads from the entry to the living room. It's also right at the bottom of the stairs. It's too small a spot for a very big piece of furniture and so once I put this little chest here, I've never changed it.
But every once in a while, I change what's above it.
I love this French sign. I got it at HomeGoods a couple of years ago and it's been hanging in the hallway to the kitchen. We've recently made some changes in that hallway and I thought it would be fun to move this sign to a more obvious spot. It had a kind of apple green color on the wood trim around the sign and I painted it a dull tan/brown before I moved it.

Some silk delphinium give another pop of color.
I've had this lattice fabric for a couple of years now. I bought it originally to make slipcovers for our dining room chairs. I got it out this week and I'm thinking I'll either go ahead and make the chair slips or use it in the living room. I love anything 'lattice' and this fabric is so fresh and pretty!

And lattice and summer flowers go perfectly together!

Have a wonderful Easter as we celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus! May we celebrate His life every single day of the year! Jesus is the Lord of lord and the King of kings and I am forever grateful for His sacrifice of love!

love and blessings~


"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12
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Home & Garden, Tips & How To

A Garden Gate

Happy Good Friday!

It's not looking much like Spring here today. We got several inches of snow the last two days and then it added a layer of freezing rain. I kept looking out the window yesterday because you could hear a constant cracking and breaking as small branches fell from the trees and every once in a while there was a 'whamp' and a 'thump' as a big branch hit the ground.

This morning it looks more like Christmas than Easter!

This wall 'gate' used to sit on our plant shelf in the family room.  I bought it on clearance at HobbyLobby a couple of years ago and it's been several place in our house over the years.
It used to be black but recently I painted it with chalk paint to match this little chest and put it above it to balance the desk at the other end of the room.  You can see how I painted this chest here.

This has always been kind of an odd little spot in our house.  It's a hallway that leads from the entry to the living room. It's also right at the bottom of the stairs. It's too small a spot for a very big piece of furniture and so once I put this little chest here, I've never changed it.
But every once in a while, I change what's above it.
I love this French sign. I got it at HomeGoods a couple of years ago and it's been hanging in the hallway to the kitchen. We've recently made some changes in that hallway and I thought it would be fun to move this sign to a more obvious spot. It had a kind of apple green color on the wood trim around the sign and I painted it a dull tan/brown before I moved it.

Some silk delphinium give another pop of color.
I've had this lattice fabric for a couple of years now. I bought it originally to make slipcovers for our dining room chairs. I got it out this week and I'm thinking I'll either go ahead and make the chair slips or use it in the living room. I love anything 'lattice' and this fabric is so fresh and pretty!

And lattice and summer flowers go perfectly together!

Have a wonderful Easter as we celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus! May we celebrate His life every single day of the year! Jesus is the Lord of lord and the King of kings and I am forever grateful for His sacrifice of love!

love and blessings~


"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12
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Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Making Pillows for the Master Bedroom

We had beautiful weather here over Spring Break. We didn't go anywhere because my husband had recently returned from an Economics Conference and has another one coming up soon.  So we spent the week with our family and working on a few small projects around the house.

We almost have our barn door up.  We ran into a few snags but are working them out and should have it up this week. I can't wait!

So, in the meantime, I've worked on some other small things. I don't usually buy throw pillows very often. Every once in a while I'll find something I really like and buy it but usually I'd rather make mine out of whatever fabric I'm using in my room.

I ordered this gold damask fabric along with the tassel fringe when I ordered the blue damask. I canceled the blue when the company notified me that they required a minimum order of five yards. I couldn't use all five yards and I didn't want to spend that much money. I had ordered this gold fabric, thinking I would use it too, but when it came I decided to make all my pillows from it.

The blue in this fabric is very subtle but the tassel fringe had all three of the colors of the fabric and was perfect to tie everything together.
The links are at the end of the post for the fabrics and fringe.

I first made two big shams out of the damask. I measured my fabric up against a king-sized pillow and cut it out with enough to fold over.
I sewed this all around. I then cut out two pieces for the back of the sham.  I didn't want to use up my damask so I used a tan fabric that I already had.  Plus, this damask is so heavy that putting two layers together would be too much.  If you're interested in purchasing this fabric, it was great for these pillows but it's the heaviest fabric I've ever used. My sewing machine would not go through these corners and edges of this back fabric. I would not try to use it for a slip cover. It's upholstery weight. It doesn't fold...it bends.  lol
I made an envelope opening on the back of this sham and then inserted my pillow.  I didn't worry about centering my pattern on the pillow because I knew I was going to tuck it behind the bedspread shams. Otherwise, you want to center your pattern on your pillow.
I also made two large square pillows with my blue fabric on the back and the gold damask on the front.

I backed both of these pillows with the bluestone polyester.  This gives me the option of flipping them over and having more blue on the bed. After I put them together, I stuffed them all with polyfil and hand-stitched the openings closed.

This little one I made with what fabric I had left after all the others. I would have liked it to be a little larger but this is all the gold damask fabric I had left.  If you're wanting to make these same pillows and want this one to be bigger, you'll need to order more than 2 yards.

I made one small square pillow with blue on both sides.

The large shams are tucked behind the shams that came with the spread.  The gold pillow in the middle was one I already had (ready-made). It has small fleur-de-lis in the fabric.

I got my French chaise painted and reupholstered today. It needs a pillow. I probably am going to have to make some more! lol

If you're on Spring Break this week, I hope you have a wonderful time!

love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12


Pentex Antique Gold Damask Fabric - 2 yards
Bluestone Polyester - 1 yard
Blue Tassel Fringe - 7 yards

I'm joining these linky parties:
stonegableblog





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Home & Garden, Tips & How To

Making Pillows for the Master Bedroom

We had beautiful weather here over Spring Break. We didn't go anywhere because my husband had recently returned from an Economics Conference and has another one coming up soon.  So we spent the week with our family and working on a few small projects around the house.

We almost have our barn door up.  We ran into a few snags but are working them out and should have it up this week. I can't wait!

So, in the meantime, I've worked on some other small things. I don't usually buy throw pillows very often. Every once in a while I'll find something I really like and buy it but usually I'd rather make mine out of whatever fabric I'm using in my room.

I ordered this gold damask fabric along with the tassel fringe when I ordered the blue damask. I canceled the blue when the company notified me that they required a minimum order of five yards. I couldn't use all five yards and I didn't want to spend that much money. I had ordered this gold fabric, thinking I would use it too, but when it came I decided to make all my pillows from it.

The blue in this fabric is very subtle but the tassel fringe had all three of the colors of the fabric and was perfect to tie everything together.
The links are at the end of the post for the fabrics and fringe.

I first made two big shams out of the damask. I measured my fabric up against a king-sized pillow and cut it out with enough to fold over.
I sewed this all around. I then cut out two pieces for the back of the sham.  I didn't want to use up my damask so I used a tan fabric that I already had.  Plus, this damask is so heavy that putting two layers together would be too much.  If you're interested in purchasing this fabric, it was great for these pillows but it's the heaviest fabric I've ever used. My sewing machine would not go through these corners and edges of this back fabric. I would not try to use it for a slip cover. It's upholstery weight. It doesn't fold...it bends.  lol
I made an envelope opening on the back of this sham and then inserted my pillow.  I didn't worry about centering my pattern on the pillow because I knew I was going to tuck it behind the bedspread shams. Otherwise, you want to center your pattern on your pillow.
I also made two large square pillows with my blue fabric on the back and the gold damask on the front.

I backed both of these pillows with the bluestone polyester.  This gives me the option of flipping them over and having more blue on the bed. After I put them together, I stuffed them all with polyfil and hand-stitched the openings closed.

This little one I made with what fabric I had left after all the others. I would have liked it to be a little larger but this is all the gold damask fabric I had left.  If you're wanting to make these same pillows and want this one to be bigger, you'll need to order more than 2 yards.

I made one small square pillow with blue on both sides.

The large shams are tucked behind the shams that came with the spread.  The gold pillow in the middle was one I already had (ready-made). It has small fleur-de-lis in the fabric.

I got my French chaise painted and reupholstered today. It needs a pillow. I probably am going to have to make some more! lol

If you're on Spring Break this week, I hope you have a wonderful time!

love and blessings~
"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:11,12


Pentex Antique Gold Damask Fabric - 2 yards
Bluestone Polyester - 1 yard
Blue Tassel Fringe - 7 yards

I'm joining these linky parties:
stonegableblog





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