Dreams~

Caution this post is filled with dreams and photos and make take a bit to load~sorry!

The home we are currently living in is small.  It has suited our needs and we have been able to accomplish many projects that have improved our home and made it more suited to our needs.  One of the big pet peeves is that we only have one bathroom.  For a family of four this can be a problem, at many different times through out the day.  Our home is located not far from an airport that is wishing to expand.  There have been talks over the last couple of years that our home may be taken by eminent domain for this expansion.  We have seen many homes in our area purchased and torn down already.  The most difficult part is that we may not know if our home is slated to be purchased. for another two or three years. We have had a difficult time deciding if we should continue with any further projects because of this uncertainty.  For now we have a couple of minor things we may do and wait to see what happens.  

During this waiting time, I've been dreaming.  Dreaming of what our ideal home would be like if money were not an issue.  Living one income and with the housing market in the dumps in our area I don't know if these dreams are attainable but I do know that dreaming is free and so I do.

One thing that I would love to have in my dream home is sliding barn doors.  I love them all.  

These photos are from Everyday Art.  

I love everything in this photo.  What's not to like?!  

 This is another favorite.  I love this pantry behind the old barn door and the chalkboard  wall.

 Love this space, the door and all the light.  This would be a perfect craft room/office and school room.

 Love the boldness of this red door.

One thing I would love in our dream home is a separate family room or great room and a formal living room.

Living room and kitchen photos are from Country Living. 

This is one of my favorite living rooms.

 Love the serene feeling of this living room.

 Love the colors used in this space.

 The vintage feeling of this space caught my eye.

On my dream home wish list is a master bedroom with on suite bathroom.

The bedroom photos are from Good Housekeeping. 

I love the stripes in this room.  I also love the bed.

 Another gorgeous room-love the windows and natural light and the view.

 Dream kitchens~our current kitchen is great since the remodel but it is small.  I would love to have an open kitchen with a large island, beautiful appliances, and a pantry.

Kitchen photos from Country Living.

 Love the open space and feeling of this kitchen.  The island and stove are gorgeous!!!

Another open gorgeous kitchen with a beautiful island.

 Love this pantry!!

That's enough dreaming for now.  I could spend weeks looking through all the gorgeous photos on the web.  There is so much inspiration.  For now we wait and see.

A White Home

Recently I have fallen in love with all shades of white and have been working to brighten and lighten spaces in our home with them.  It gives our home a light, clean and crisp feel.  

One of my recent projects was the hutch transformation.  You can read more about it HERE.

Last year we purchased a new dining set.  I have wanted a solid wood dining set for quite some time.  We found on unpainted and I worked on painting the table and all eight chairs. This is the final product.  I love the crisp, clean lines and bright white.

Last summer we began a kitchen remodel.  I knew that our cabinets would receive a white facelift.  They are painted in Behr paint in an off white tone. You can read more about it Here, and Here.

Our home is small and the use of white has helped to brighten the space and make it seem larger.  It seems to flow so well together now.  I am enjoying the light and airy feel of our home.

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Spring Days

I have been among the missing this week in blog land.  I wasn't feeling well, trying to fight off a migraine.  I am feeling much better now.  

The end of our homeschool year is approaching quickly.  We have been plugging away and little by little, we are reaching the end of our school books.  The kids always enjoy that. This is my daughter's last year of homeschooling.  She will be graduating in June and attending a local state college in the fall. She is hoping to become a registered nurse, specializing in surgery.  Next year it will be just my son and I. It will feel strange not to have her here with us.  

These are some of the things we are currently working on and there is more.  This is what I could gather up and they weren't using at the moment.

At the end of this month I will be attending our local homeschool convention.  It is a time a look forward to each year.  It gives me the encouragement to finish this school year strong and the inspiration to start planning what we will be accomplishing in the next school year.

 

 This is my current crochet project.  I found the yarn on clearance for $2 at AC Moore.  I couldn't resist.  It is bamboo and so soft. I am using it to make a light scarf, just perfect for spring here.  The temps are still in the 50's, rarely 60's and some 40's.  

 This is the pattern I am using.  It looks different with the bamboo yarn.  I would love to learn the process that is used to transform bamboo into yarn.

I am enjoying the days with sunshine. The warmth of the sun is invigorating.  It makes me want to get outside and work in our garden.  I am looking forward to a large harvest this year.  I missed the garden last year. 

Savoring the quiet, rainy days at home before the hustle of summer fun. 

Dreaming of plans for a deck or patio.

Perusing magazines and books for inspiration.

What are your spring plans and dreams?

I hope you are enjoying sunshine and warm spring days.

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Spring Wreath & Giveaway

My front door has been bare for quite a while now.  Longer than I want to admit actually.  This week I decided to take an old wreath and give it new life.  I had a grapevine wreath that I had spray painted white and used before.  I yanked away all the globs of hot glue and gave it a new life.

I started with this little bird house that I had purchased a long time ago. I painted it brown first so I could distress it later.

I mixed a couple of blue paints I had.

One was too light and the other was two bright so I mixed them.

 Here it is all painted.  I did this on my new granite counter tops so I made sure to use my shopping flier.  Would not want paint on the counter.

 An wooden oval that I painted white and then dry brushed it with brown.

 I wanted to add a small bird to this plaque and because I don't have a Cricut or Silhouette I did it the old fashioned way.  I printed the bird from a google image.  Turned it over and used a pencil to cover the back of the image.

 Then, I flipped over the paper, set it on the little plaque, and traced

 the image of the bird.  You can see it lightly.

 Once that was done I filled it in with a black paint pen.

I made some burlap rosettes and put it all together on the wreath.

Here it is at first.  I was not happy with the placement of the plaque.  I used hot glue and it slid down a bit more than I wanted.  At first, I left it.  

 But it was bugging me.  I ran out to do some errands but as soon as I came home...

I had to fix it.  I was able to pull it off, with the globs of glue, and not ruin the wreath.  Here is the final product.  Love the burlap rosettes and bow.

Visit 504 Main for a great giveaway:  Lifestyle Crafts Epic Six Letterpress Combo Kit.

Holly is giving away one of these great kits.  This great machine can letterpress, die cut and emboss.  Visit Holly at 504 Main for all the details.

This kit includes: 

Epic tool

Cutting platform

Cutting mat

Embossing platform

Letterpress platform

Ink base

Ink brayer

Black ink

Printing plates

Paper placement guides

A2 paper pack

Adhesive sheets

Nesting Circles cutting dies

Don't miss out on this great giveaway.

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Spring Touches

Spring~where has it gone.

  It is quite elusive, here one day,

 touching us with warm sunshine, 

promising to stay but in the next moment it is gone.

Last night, it snowed here.  The same happened last week.  Not a lot of snow but enough to let us know that winter will not go away quietly.  The calendar may say spring but winter is holding on here in the Northeast.  Today we have a cold, rainy day with temps only in the mid 30's but I am warming up our home with spring touches.

Cherry blossoms in my favorite bottle from Ikea.  I have also taken the bamboo plant that is in the background, out of it's container and put it into a small milk bottle I purchased at an antique store.  It looks so cute.  I will have to take a picture of it next.

 Flower covered eggs~so pretty

 Kids working on homeschool work in the background

 Love this cloche~I need to stage better photos (messy couch behind, glass table top showing the remote underneath, ugh!).

 Spring Apothecary jars with moss, eggs and sea glass.

 Found this blue canning jar, finally, on our recent trip to the antique store.  Have to have some spring chocolates, too. All the doilies I use are made by my mom and my grandmother, who passed away.  My mom still loves to make them and always has about three or four projects going at once.

Colored Modge Podge book paper eggs with baby blue eggs to brighten my tureen.

 Spring Hutch~the keys are also recent finds from our antique store trip and the mercury glass votives are from Anthropologie.

I hope you are enjoying better spring weather where you are.

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