Home is Where the Heart is: May 2014

Monday, May 26, 2014

I See You !

Happy Monday! I thought for this weeks post I would share with you a bit of fun we are having with Shiloh. He was born December 31, 2012, Gary and I brought Shiloh home to live with us at 8 weeks old from the breeder, he is a Blue Merle Miniature Australian Shepherd who is commonly referred to as an "Aussie" .

Our little guy is now 16.5 months old and weights in at 17.3 pounds. Full of playfulness and love! His favorite thing to do is play hide and seek with his busy bone.
The other day Gary had gone out to run a few errands while I stayed home to finish up on some sewing.
Shiloh was quite and usually will be by my feet while I am sewing. I wandered out of the sewing room calling his name "Shiloh my little one....Where are you" he was so quiet, I looked everywhere for him, then I spotted him there he was, all I could see was his little face!
"there you are I called out" I ran to grab my camera to try and capture the moment.

Ahaaa those sweet blue eyes of his!

Peek a boo I see you Shiloh..hehehe

And there he was hiding behind the buffet looking out the window, he was waiting for Gary to come back. Shiloh stayed there until Gary returned.

So this is how he dose it, jumps onto the ottoman and unto to window sil behind the buffett.

Busted little one, I see you and your nose prints all over the window!

And there he waits ever so patiently.

Half cat I say...hehehe

We have lots of nick names for Shiloh we also call him "Shi-Shi" The Shi-Shi is so loyal we waits and watches at the window every time Gary goes out.

He hears the car and jumps down and runs to the garage door. If he had a tail it would be waging! Shiloh will bend his body in half when he gets excited.

And Daddy's home! we have one very happy "Aussie"

Never thought I could love another dog as much as I did our last sweet doggie who passed away several years ago, but this little one has stolen my heart. He gives so much love and all he wants to do is play and give you big wet doggie kisses. Shiloh is also the protector and will definitely let us know when anyone is at the door.

On another note to my Husband, Dad, brother, sister, Nephew, cousin, Father n law, Uncle and friends, today I want to thank you and all our Vets and Military Men and Woman severing now and have served our country, So that we can live freely and feel safe.
God Bless you all....Happy Memorial Day

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Laundry & Powder Room Combo

Happy Happy Monday Y'all! I hope everyone had a restful and fun weekend.
Thank you to everyone who kindly left notes on last weeks post about the living room. I made a few new blog friends and I was able to visit blog friends that I hadn't visited ever since the move and remolding took place. I have really missed everyone!
As promised from last Monday's post today I would share the room behind the kitchen. Its our laundry room and powder room combo.
Lets go I am ready to show you, so come on in....

Before picture, the remolding consisted of replacing the flooring and duck covers, doors, lock sets, hardware, wood trim, paint, pluming, sink, faucet, electrical and potty. I guess you can say everything was replaced.

During construction, the new floor being laid with travertine tile.

The door leading into the laundry room and powder room was replaced with a glass door, I must tell you although it looks really cool to have the glass in the door...you have to remember when its closed, cuz well I kind-of ran into it, and hurt my nose...yep I did, not looking and "BAM" "SMACK" right into the door I went.
Of course I blamed Gary, he was the one that closed the door and didn't tell me, so how was I to know it was closed, Right! That's my story.......
We do have plans to have a stain glass made to put into the glass opening.

Lets go in and the door is OPEN...I'm nice enough to tell you when the door is open or closed..hehehe

Originally there was a sliding pocket door into the powder room, it did not close well so we thought about a sliding barn door. That was the ticket! For hardware we used a fence door handle. The door to the left leads out to the back yard.
In the summer when the kids are over swimming this is going to be wonderful, no more running through the house wet when they have to go potty. They can come in this door and use the powder room.

The door to the right leads to the garage.

Bead board paneling and trim brightens up the space. Art by Catherine Holmen

A closer look at the barn door hardware. Also the curtains you see to the left are revisable, I made them with a bright cheery floral on one side and other in polka-dots. They are simply rolled up and tied with a bow.

I bought a new washer and dryer for this space, the folks that purchased our last home also bought the washer and dryer.

The paint color we selected is called Ocean Air by Benjamin Moore.

Custom wood trim around all doorways.

The before photo of the sink and cabinet. It had been designed and built on a angle, also it closed off the room. It was a bit weird.

New sink with all shiny chrome fixtures. The sink has an industrial look to it. It gives more openness to the powder room and is working out great for us. Also the lock we used is a latch used for fencing, its a simple and inexpensive way for privacy while in the powder room.

New potty is manufactured by Toto. It fits very nicely behind the door. We did not want to see the potty sticking out into the doorway. It's tiny but effective! LoL

Before photo of potty.

After photo, the Toto potty has a slightly rounded tank and a self close lid (perfect for the boys)lol
The sea-shell wreaths I made a few years back and was able to re-use them in the powder room.

Another before photo, the toilet paper holder was set into the wall now its a prettier more updated holder.

The mirror with frame dresses up the powder room and the lighting we choose was two crystal pendant lights in green that are halogen. They have such a pretty glow at night. I wish I could have captured it better for you.

One of my favorite pictures hangs in the powder room. To bring a smile to everyone who see's it.

So that's it the tour of the Laundry & Powder Room behind the kitchen.

Enjoy your week, see you all next Monday!

Joining in with the following link parties:

Susan-Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Mary-Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday

Kathryn-The Dedicated House Make it Pretty Monday

Brenda-Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday

Marty-A Stroll Thru Life Inspire me Tuesday

Kim-Savvy Southern Style WOW Us Wednesday

Sherry-The Charm of Home Home Sweet Home Party Friday

Alison-Nancherrow Life at our House Fridays Unfolded

Courtney-French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday

Sunday, May 11, 2014

The Living Room

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a marvelous Mother's Day weekend.
This week I'll take you into our living room, so welcome one and all its rather cozy so everyone squeeze in.
Gary and I were able to use some of our furniture from our other home, not to sure if it really works or not but, for now we are living with what we have.
We were thinking maybe a small sectional but Gary loves his recliner. I have seen sofa's with a recliner built in, they are pretty cool.

I changed out the slip over on my sofa from the blue jean denim fabric to the off white duck cotton. It's more summery and I do love the lighter fabric and airy feel of the room with this slip cover.

The pink open tulips on the counter were a Mother's day gift. How I adore tulips.

The Kincaid hangs nicely on this wall beside the sofa.

The beautiful red tulips were a gift from my Mom and Dad..I love the color, I only wish we could have tulips year round, I will have to enjoy every minute of these charming delicate flowers.
Oh and just look who's in the picture again...yep i'ts Shiloh ( he follows me everywhere I go )

Here's a before photo looking towards the front door.

And now....

Larger view of the living room, It's very simple but comfortable for Gary and me.

Before photo of the fireplace wall, the previous homeowners had their TV in the corner. Ours did not fit and Gary wanted to add surround sound.

We removed the stone veneer fireplace and replaced it with the same brick we used in the kitchen and dinning room. Knocked out the wall and corner cabinet and extended the wall into the hallway, also creating a archway.

The new ceiling fan being installed, this is the coolest fan it so quite and cools down the room quickly. It reminds Gary of airplane propeller.

So this is how the TV was mounted above the fireplace, we had all the electrical installed before the brick was laid.

Installation of the gas fireplace, we had to have a gas line run.

Aw a nice and toasty warm fireplace. Very economical. The fireplace is an Enviro.

And Gary helping with the installation of the TV. As you can see in this photo the floors had just been laid. By the way Gary installed the wrong TV bracket, silly guy! but he did not want to redo it, it's holding just fine. We get a chuckle out of it.

We have TV, Gary is in his glory. Do you see who I see again?

Looking in from the front door. Hi Shiloh, I see you baby....

We are loving all the brick, it just seems so right for us.

The original artwork of the cottage homes, was painted by no other than Dwayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis).
We met him and his wife about six years ago at an art gallery. What a nice man.

Really! Shiloh again....

So I have to tell you a little story about the curtains. I will make it short, anyway Gary and went to JC Penny to purchase our roman shades because after looking at so many fabrics I fell in love with the fabric red floral toile. We only ordered the shades for the front windows.
While out and about one day we stopped at one of my favorite fabric and rug stores and low and behold guess what we found? The same fabric as the roman shades!!!!!
I was floored to say the least so I bought enough to make the curtains for the french doors. I lined the curtains due to the strong sun that hits mid day.