Home is Where the Heart is

Sunday, June 9, 2013

HGTV Wallpaper in the Entry

Hello! its been so long...please forgive my absence, retirement has been keeping me really busy!!. I just don't know where the time has gone. Thank you all so very much for all the sweet wishes on my retirement.
Way back in the late 70's and 80's Gary and "loved" wallpaper and wallpapered almost every room in our home! yep we sure did...LOL
I felt so sorry for the ones that had to rip it all off the walls when wallpaper went out of fashion.
I have always loved wallpaper and wanted to use it again but not on every wall.
While watching HGTV I saw a commercial about the new wallpaper line HGTV was sponsoring with Sherman Williams.
I began dreaming of wallpaper in the entry and of course my curiosity got the better of me and I just had to go see for myself all the patterns of wallpaper.
I fell in love with the bold red rose pattern when I first laied eyes on it and knew it was the one I wanted for the entry.
Gary also liked the pattern and agreed it was the right choice for our home.
So we ordered a double roll (that is how it was sold only in double rolls) we only needed one double roll it was enough to complete our entry and only papered 2/3 way up the wall.

The wallpaper was unpasted so we had to paste. I must say at first I was a bit worried about the process of pasting but to my surprise it was so easy and went up nicely, not much waste at all.
Gary put the chair-rail up for me (thank you honey XO)

It was a bit hard to get good pictures for you since our front door has so much light coming through. We kept the door green, I think its OK, what do you think?.

This picture is a bit dark (sorry) but I wanted to show you more of the entry. I'm not very good at fixing the color on my photos. I guess I should take a photo class now that I am retired...( but I don't have time) hehehehehe.

So what have you all been up too?.

Joining in this week with the following blog parties.

Mary-Boogieboard Cottage Masterpiece Monday

Susan-Between Naps on the Porch metamorphosis Monday

Alderberry Hill Make the Scene Monday

Kathryn-The Dedicated House Make it Pretty Monday

Judy-DIY by Design Winter Blues Wednesday

Kim-Savvy Southern Style WOW us Wednesday

Courtney- French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday

Sherry-The Charm of Home Home Sweet Home Party Fridays

Sunday, April 21, 2013

I Did It...I REALLY Did It !

I RETIRED!!! after 28 years at the same job I retired on April 1...yep April fools day LOL. It was a day full of tears as I said Good-By to wonderful co-workers and friends. I have so many special memories that I will hold close to my heart always.
28 years is a lot of life spent with co-workers, you get used to seeing the same smiling faces everyday that greet you with a happy "Good Morning".
I have been so lucky and blessed to have worked so many years at the same place with so many sweet and amazing people.

A gift I received was this beautiful quilt wall hanging made by my friend Linda who is a talented quilter and who has inspired me and given me encouragement to quilt. When the quilt was presented to me I could not hold back the tears, just look at the little bone Linda added for our little puppy Shiloh and she even used "Home is Where the Heart is".

I can't believe I really retired, there has been so much to do! the paper work to move monies over to new retirement funds, meeting with our retirement investors and re-applying for medical....crazy I tell ya! I have been so busy with paper work. I think maybe its taking longer since I retired way before 62.
My dear husband is 8 years older than me and he retired 18 months ago, he really pushed me to retire so we could spend time together enjoying life. I must admit I have been very nervous about retiring younger than 62 but I think I might just be getting used to it...

The month has just flown by with retiring and than we took a trip to Costa Rica, my sister n law and brother watched the "baby Shiloh" while we were away. Our little guy is growing up and getting into all kinds of mischief.

He loves his toys and chewies. Shiloh is so quite when he walks Gary put a bell on him so we would know where he was. Its so hard to be mad at him, he just looks up at you with his sweet baby blues and we melt.

Such a little rascal

The days have been busy with Shiloh and settling into retirement life. I'm sorry I have been MIA I have missed you all so much and now with retirement I will be able to read more and visit more!

Enjoy your week,
XO Elizabeth

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Eight Pounds of Cuteness

Here I am melting to peices, just look who stole my heart on Saturday and came home with Gary and me.. Meet Shilo a Miniature Australian Shepherd. Shilo is a Blue Merle, White and Copper adorable little boy with bright blue eyes. He is 10 weeks old and what a doll. Just a little ball of soft fluffy puppy fur.
I know, I know I have always said no puppies on the sofa, "but" it was just for a few pictures and before I had run over to Pet-co to pick up a little bed for him.
Shilo likes his bed and is getting use to it already. Miniature Australian shepherds will grow up to 18 inches tall and weigh in around 17 to 30 pounds. It looks like Shilo might weigh around 24 pounds according to the breeder.

Look at his sweet little nose it's shaped like a heart! Aw

Gary has been wanting a puppy for a long time, I just couldn't agree. Our family dog Kona passed away around 4 years ago and I have not been ready to replace her. But then.......we went to see the pups on Saturday and that was all she wrote, I was done for, just one little cuddle from him under my neck and his sweet soft fur and blue eyes. Yep I done for I just melted into butter!

Oh NO we are not spoiled..LOL LOL, just taken a nap on Gary's lap

A little squinty eye looking up at the camera

And a floppy ear

Silly puppy!!!

Aw its a puppy world, all tired out from playing.

We are just proud new puppy parents. Wooing and Awing over 8 pounds of cuteness.
Gary is in L-O-V-E with this little guy, our family is too. Shilo is going to be so loved and so spoiled.

Have a sweet week everyone.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Hutch in the Entryway

Happy first week of March everyone. Thank you so much for all your wonderfully sweet comments on our headboard and the lampshades. You all bring such joy to my heart.
Its time for spring cleaning and re-arranging the furniture.
The hutch top you are seeing was sitting out in the garage, I didn't know where to put it and then I thought why not try it in the entryway. I wasn't sure if would look to big for the space and at first we just had the bottom half of the hutch in the entry. But then there was the hutch top just sitting out in the garage collecting dust and truly it was in the way for Gary in the garage.
So while my sister n law and brother n law were visiting, my brother n law asked me what he could do to help me and I said "do you think you and Gary could bring in the top half of the hutch so we could see what it would look like in the entry"
well I knew this baby was not light and would take some muscle to lift it. But he said sure he would help so the guys brought the top in and us girls even lent a hand lifting it up high.
I think I like it, and even if I didn't I don't think the boys would want to lift it down again LOL LOL.

Around the corner from the entry is our kitchen it faces the street. Does your kitchen face the street? It took me a while to get use the kitchen facing out to the street, but I really like it now. I can see all the pretty neighborhood trees blooming. Gary loves looking out at the trees and what is going on up front and sits down for his breakfast everyday for a view of the world.

In the corner we have a vintage bucket that was used for holding chicken seed for feeding the birds. We are using it to hold walking sticks and umbrella's when its been raining.

Inside the hutch we have a few sentimental pieces that we enjoying using.

Now the front entry has been spring cleaned, I can now move on to the next room. Have you began any spring cleaning?.

Today is a very dear friends birthday....you might her Ana from A Petite Cottage
Happy Happy Birthday Ana, the world became a sweeter palace the day you were born.

Enjoy your week everyone, the weekends sure do fly by and then its back to work. I need more time in my days, I bet you do too. I hope your week is blessed with everthing that makes you happy.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Chocolate Tree Leave Lampshade

Happy Monday to you the last Monday of the Month. Where did February go!
Thank you so much everyone for all your kind and sweet comments on our headboard. It was overwhelming and really touched my heart.
This week I would like to share our new lampshades with you. While browsing one of our favorite lighting stores in town, Gary and I saw these green lampshades that caught our eye, the green was so beautiful to us.
While reading the tag we saw that the shade was made my hand with real cocoa (chocolate tree) leaves and was eco-friendly.
Wow! we had never seen anything like it before. So what do I do?, well I smell the shade of course, the tag did say made with real cocoa. LOL, LOL.
We had been wanting to find new colorful lampshades and when we saw these well you know (we had to buy them) and here they are in all their glory.

Light bulb off.

The lampshades that came with the lamp base were a basic white shade, nice but not us. We bought the lamps knowing that one day we would re-placed the shades.

You can see the cocoa leaves, I love the texture of the shade and the way it changes color with the light on and at night. I took these pictures this morning when the light was good.