My Two Girls

Jackie was a rescue pound puppy, we think a border collie/lab mix. I called her my little pig and sometimes Patricia when I first got her, about 11 years ago. She was 6 months old and I got her as a companion for my other healer mix dog, Simon (who ended up being adopted by a physician friend on his farm, and even saved his life.) Jackie was very sick and I had to tend to her all night long for quite a while. I thought, "THIS must be what it would be like to have a newborn!" Well, no, after having three newborns, I can honestly say she was WAY harder. When I met my husband, he was able to tame that wild beast of a puppy and that is how I knew I loved him. Even though he momentarily lost her when he dog watched her as I traveled out of state for the birth of my first nephew....

I thought I had trained her to stay off the couches, only to discover she has now adopted this chair.

Being a dog owner/companion, I always thought I would NEVER allow my kids to put her in second place. When I became pregnant with my first, we had to start to train her to not sleep in our bed. She is an old gal now, cataracts and lumps and lots of allergies and smells and old lady quirks... and it is true, she does get the back burner of attention when so many kids are under foot. But, we still love to cuddle when we can find those moments of peace. She's my little noodle chup.
 

Homefront: Christmas Tour of Homes 2012

I changed my long and narrow living room layout to three separate areas from the two I showed last week.  so this is a little teaser. More on that in another post though, because today is Nester's Christmas tour of homes, and I finally feel festive!

 Isaac is in first grade, and he wrote me a beautiful story of his Christmas plans!

 

Until I find my mini nativity pieces, the lion and lamb ornament will keep this cute stable company.

 

 The candle is an advent candle. You burn it one dot each night, until Christmas Day it is down to the last dot. I love this book, A Special Place for Santa. For those who struggle with meshing Santa and Christ together, it tells a lovely story of the historical Santa, and how he ties into the Christmas story.

 We made festive, candied, chocolate dipped stirring spoons for hot chocolate or coffee for the kids teachers. Check out the tutorial, they are so easy and yummy!


2012 Christmas Tour of Homes via The Nester linky party 

Homefront: Living Room Split in Two

Well, we have been here a few months now and I have not actually shown a photo of this whole space aside from small glimpses here or there. Our one living area downstairs is both long and narrow, and we needed to create a few functional spaces here, a play area/computer area and tv area, so I split the room in half. My sis took these photos while she was visiting for Thanksgiving (hence the pumpkin decor), but as of a few days ago, I have already changed a lot of this around and put up our Christmas decor.

I still have some painting of furniture to do, lots of things to put up on walls and those two recliners fabric are in pretty bad shape, so that will need to be dealt with eventually, but so far it is a charming little home that works for us and is ever changing. I have restyled it now into three areas instead of the two shown here, so that will be fun to photograph and post about, but I can enjoy the metamorphosis through these images.

Homefront: Moved In

We are moved in! Still unpacking, but we are here... and there are some interesting set of design challenges we have. Our living area is basically, one very long, narrow room. So, I can make two living spaces out of it, but I can't come up with a configuration that doesn't feel awkward. We have the tv seating area which is in the back of the space, than this other area in the very front of the room that contains my computer hutch (it's at the outlet on the long wall in the below photo). So, basically everything you see in these photos is open for a seating area. I thought a pair of wingback chairs would make a nice addition.

I got these two wing back chairs on craigslist... the fabric is in worse condition than I thought... and not exactly my style, but the deal was too great for a matching pair to pass up. Still trying to get them smelling clean and fresh though. I looked online for slipcovers, but all wing back slipcovers I find are for t-cushions. Now I'm thinking of trying my hand at upholstering or making a slipcover, probably jumping on the drop cloth bandwagon, since I already have a few. I would love to redo these, and my office chair in a matching fabric, since my computer hutch will share a living space with this seating area. It's going to be an interesting set up for sure. But first, we must finish unpacking!

I've been looking at a lot of design ideas for utilizing awkward and small spaces, creating a pretty/practical home, marrying two seating areas together and conquering the intimidating room, and have come across some neat solutions I will review soon. But better Homes and Garden's "What is Your Design Style" quiz caught my eye, and kind of gave me a starting point. I thought their answer sounded very much like me, I would love to hear what it says about your style and if it matches you!

Your Design Style is: Polished Casual

"You love to mix and match your favorites from several styles, so Polished Casual is the best way to describe your look. Crisp, fresh, and always comfortable, this approach anchors itself in neutral, subtle hues and furniture that isn't fussy but isn't slouchy either. Pair your clean-lined sofa with a dark leather wing chair or a weathered metal table—anything goes, but simplicity is key."

Homefront: Reviving a Framed Painting with.... Paint

I got this large, Barbara Hails 1990's print in a semi-lovely fame at a garage sale for $7 a few months ago. It's been sitting here, looking all park bench floraly and very dull, sucking the energy out of the room. I only wanted it to bring some color to this massive brick wall, but the frame drabbed out any colors in the otherwise pretty painting. Obviously, the only clear solution is to paint it, white.

I'm lazy and don't sand, not even when I did my headboard or my mirror. But if you did prime and sand, you will have more longevity on the paint job and it will look better. I really don't mind if I have to touch up a nick, or I may even add intentional nicks to balance out accidental nicks.

 You can dry brush for a naturally shabby chic look and call it fin.

But I liked to pile on the paint, too thick layers, before allowing the first to dry. I'm impatient. I used plain old acrylic craft paint in ultra white. This painting doesn't come out of the frame. But if it did, then a can of spray paint would have been easy.

The print is a textured vinyl, so any paint I got on it, easily wiped off with a lightly dampened paper towel. I even think it would be fun to stencil or free paint some crazy design on here. If your picture surface is also not removable or vinyl, then be sure to cover it, so paint doesn't ruin your picture. I went around right under the frame edge with a piece of paper as I painted and it worked fine.

 It really does seem to brighten up the whole fireplace and give the colors some subtle intensity.

Our inheritance from my husband's grandmother's passing. His parents got this in Germany when he was  born and gifted it to his grandmother. A lovely, huge, vintage scenic candle, handcarved by Johann Gunter.  There are a few broken parts, but it's been moved around 20 times, though it is still very charming.

 I got his lovely bust and The Dicken's Bedside anthology book a few months ago at some antique shops.

 

Love my little bottle collections. This one is from my favorite antique mall a few years back and I glued a vintage brooch on with E6000. The flowers came from the mister. You know how a dying bouquet usually has a few good flowers left? I usually remove those when throwing the bouquet out and add them to small bottles.