Aunt Penny and Uncle Ron- Can I Move In???

My Hubby's Aunt and Uncle have the most gorgeous home, I could literally move in and not change a thing!  They so graciously let me and my kiddos stop by unannounced for a quick visit.  Mind you this was our first trip past the county line in 8 weeks since Dayton's surgery and we were a little stir crazy.  We were willing to knock on just about anyone's door at this point! 

Meet Uncle Ron and Aunt Penny

This is their family room, so cozy and comfy and white!!!

I remember seeing this shelf at their home over 10 years ago and asking her where she purchased it, I bought the same one! 

She purchased the old pie safe from a friend years ago who said it was always in his way! 

I love how the new kitchen looks like it has been here forever!  So clean and fresh, loved the white marble countertops!

She even grows her own tiny little rosemary topiaries!

Loving the dining room, there is nothing like an old home with cool windows and window seats! 

and built in cabinets!

and a grand staircase!

Her "summer version" of the formal living room, she has black and white ticking striped slipcovers for the winter. 

When their boys were small they used to say Good Night Good House so she had this painted on the mantel. Such a special memory!

The tall chair was hers from her teens, she asked her mom to buy it for her from a neighbor's garage sale! 

Sweet comfy spot in the family room

She had the cabinet made for the tv!

It has some great bookcases for displaying all of their summer treasures!  You know I am loving this!

Ahhhhhh......

They have the most charming little foyer, all wallpapered in toile.

And then there is the outside of their home, just as beautiful as the inside!

She has some major gardening skills!

This is the neighbor's barn, how perfect

Just look at her hydranges!  I was having major hydranges envy!

Oh and let's just throw a gorgeous pool into the mix why don't we?!!!

So beautiful!

They live in a super cool neighborhood, gorgeous victorian homes nearby, she picked this up at one of their garage sales, Uncle Ron said it took 3 men and a boy to carry it!!

Isn't it just charming?!!!

Love all of her flower boxes!

Before I left she cut a beautful bouquet of these for me to take home, she is so lucky, she can cut hydranges any time she wants!!!

I remember the first time I went to their home it was several years ago, and their house just had this charm about it.  I fell in love with it way back then.  Aunt Penny had my kind of style before it was even in style.  She has great taste, a flair for finding great bargains and unlike me, has a green thumb.  I asked if I could please share some photos with you, keep in mind that I caught them off guard and they were preparing to leave on vacation , she said if she knew we were coming she would have "fluffed" the place up a bit, I told her we would not judge!  They raised two sons in this gorgeous home, Aunt Penny and Uncle Ron are newly retired, wouldn't this be a wonderful home to retire to?!!! I love her shades of whites, grays and occasional pops of black toile.  She said she has loved toile forever!  Classics never go out of style!  And you know I love how she has seashells scattered everywhere!  I seriously could live here and be happy as a lark! 

Thanks Uncle Ron and Aunt Penny for letting me and the kiddos stop by, wish I had brought my good lens with me (next time!)

Dining Room Is Ready for Dinner!

For years I have struggled with this room, honestly, it has never worked for our family, it is not a very large space and it was always hard to find furniture that would fit in here and not be too crammed. We never ate in here unless we had lots of company!   The other day my sister asked if I wanted to take this furniture off her hands, I said "of course!" and rented a u-haul and went up north and got it!  My sweet hubby has been my partner in crime lately, he is re-decorating along with me.  I love to decorate, always have, just never had the money to do things how I really wanted to.  But thanks to her generosity, I finally feel like this room fits us.  As soon as I got home and unloaded the furniture I went right to work with decorating.  I love the light beachy feel to things and I finally feel like this room is a part of the rest of the house.  I am so thrilled!  And Mel came down today and loved it so I knew that I had done a good job!  I had all of the accessories, funny how you keep the things you love for so long knowing that someday you get to decorate how you want to.  Well, my time has come!  And right before I turn 4-0!!  Yeah!!!  I feel so blessed! 

Here is the sad before picture, the antique furniture was just not working for us

Here is our new dining space!  I love the pine table and Ethan Allen chairs and buffet.  It fills the space perfectly, the table is quite large, and the best part, all of my pretties do not have to be removed when we eat!!!

I  got this look from a visit to a gorgeous home last week, I will post those photos later. Can you believe that I had my fake mercury glass candle holders in my garage sale last week?  Yikes!! So glad they did not sell! Of course I had to have some shells in here!

I have always loved these large banquet photos, this one cost me pennies a few weeks ago at a garage sale and was all rolled up, I found an old frame laying around and put it in there!  Now we will always have company for dinner!

Bliss to me!!!

**For those of you who have asked my paint color in here is a very pale blue from Lowe's Olympic brand called Dawn's Early Light

My Family Room Reveal!!!!****Updated!

I am in love with my new Ikea white slipcovered furniture!  The morning after my garage sale my hubby asked if I wanted to go to Ikea and pick up my furniture and I jumped out of bed so fast!  We looked online and they showed that our store was out of sofa's so we called and they said they had 8 of them!  The grubby bench in front that I am using as a coffee table/footstool is something that I have had for years, I bought it at Violet's Blue (hi ladies). I have always wanted to use it inside instead of on my front porch.  I have placed a few yard sale bowls full of shells and candles on it and a fresh plant.  The little wicker  chair in front was a gift to me as a little girl from my Uncle Cleo.  I have treasured it my whole life, especially since he passed away right before we went to China.  I love how it finally fits into our life.  The pillows are from Ikea and SaSea boutique. 

My uber talented little sister Melanie loaded up my car last night when I was up north visiting her and the girls.  She gave me this huge gorgeous canvas painting, I love it!!! I love having a punch of color with my all white!  And my house is actually becoming a gallery of all of her works!  How lucky am I?!!!

I found this at an antique garage sale, love the blue!

This basket is a story in itself that I will share with you another day, long story short, it cost me a dollar!  It is huge!

More Melanie pillows!!!  Love how they compliment my PB pillow cases.

See that cool waffle weave throw, that was only $2 at a goodwill in Florida! 

I found this for $4 it looks like an  old oil pan or something but it fits my sad excuse of a succulent garden!

Another thrift store find, the candle holder, still has the price tag on the underside from one of my favorite, yet expensive stores The Weed Lady.  Of course I sprinkled it with shells!

My summer mantle

I have always loved the angel vines. 

I know I left you hanging on last week with glimpses of my bedroom makeover but something else came up like making a thousand dollars at my garage sale and it became an emergency redo of my family room.  I have lived in this room for 6 weeks while Dayton healed and frankly I was just about sick of it.  I have never been happy with it and sold one of my leather couches in my sale and put the one that used to be in my family room down in the basement/rec room.  Now you know I am a frugal one so I went to the only place that I could afford new slipcovered white furniture of my dreams, Ikea!   A few hours later I had my family room of my dreams.  Thanks to some great inspiration this weekend I went to my local thrift store and nursery today and purchased the rest of my items to complete it!  I will type more later, Dayton has the all clear from his surgeon and I am going to drop him off at the golf range!  Enjoy the pics of my little slice of Heaven! 

Hubby's aunt cut these for me from her gorgeous garden!  They laughed at how much I treasured them!

Two of my thrift store finds today, the planter and the corbel, sit in front of our summer fireplace. (it does not get used! )

This just makes me so happy! I was really having a hard time breathing when I purchased the furniture, I was so excited!  The lady who checked us out laughed because I told her to be patient with me while I paid with my garage sale money, Let's just say it was a stack of bills, mostly small bills! She was happy for me!

This frame caught my eye at the same antique garage sale that I bought the blue tote, it had no price so I asked and the lady said "how bout a buck! "  Um....yeah!!!

I have always dreamed of having my home full of things that have meaning to us, this photo is just that!

My summer scent!  Coconut Lime... reminds me of Florida!  I really want one of the Volcano scented ones!

My sign that Mel made for me on top of my hutch that I once again moved back out into the kitchen.  All those bottles came from the same sale of the dollar basket, I think I paid pennies for them! 

I literally bought the last two Ikea Jenny Lund chairs that our store had, so glad we got up early!!! I would like to purchase an ottoman eventually. 

My makeover cost under a thousand dollars!  That was mostly the furniture and a little left over for accessories!! Thank goodness for my garage sale ads in the paper and on Craigslist!

The pictures just don't do it justice, you will just have to come visit and see for yourself! 

We live in this room, although I swore it would be more of a sitting room, it just seems to be where we hang out.  So we have to have a tv in here!  Like the dresser?  Five dollars and a coat of paint and she is  now a beauty and houses all of our dvds and video games. 

Hope you enjoyed my little tour!  I am off to go and relax for a while in my new room!  By the way, I will show my bedroom in a couple of days.  There are lots of changes going on around here!  I am going to be 40 in 16 days, I am really looking forward to my 40's actually, a fresh new decade, trying to declutter and simplify, being homebound with Dayton for the last 7 weeks has taught me so much about myself and my family.  It's all good. 

***for those of you who have asked the paint color is Wicker  by Eddie Bauer at Lowes.

A Dreamy Sneaky Peaky

A little bit of new.....

A little bit of old....

                              And  a little help from some dear friends......

                             Equals my little bit of Heaven on Earth!!!

More to come later, I am having a garage sale tomorrow, yikes!  Too much to do around here!!! 

Happy Independence Day!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable 4th of July!  We are spending the weekend at home, hubs has to work, and Dayton is still on crutches so I am going through the house cleaning like a mad woman, it feels good!!!  Don't feel too bad for me, we are going to see the fireworks tomorrow night at our friends house on the lake and we just grilled up some delicious burgers!  Oh and I just might drive through DQ in a bit!  I love this old photograph, I found it in a bunch of my Grandma's things, makes me think of her.  Last 4th we were up at my mom's on the lake and Grandma spent a few days with us.  I will never forget her riding on the pontoon with us eating ice cream.  I also will NEVER forget the moment she pulled Mark and I aside and  told us that she had something for us.  Little did we know she was asking us to sign her DNR papers!  We were very hesitant to do so and a little caught off guard but she gave us her reasons for "why" this was so important to her and it actually made me feel special that she asked something so important of us.  I never would have imagined that just a few months later those papers would be used.....and she would be gone.  But we sure enjoyed every second that she spent with us last 4th of July and now treasure those moments that we got to spend with her. 

Sorry, didn't mean to get so depressing but thems the facts folks and it was a holiday weekend that I never want to forget.  Here are a few images from our home on the 4th!

How To Score at Garage Sales

As I am sure you already know, one of my favorite summer activities is treasure hunting at garage sales.  If you would have told me 20 years ago that I would be addicted to finding little signs on the road and "banging a u-ey " as my grandma would say, I would think you were crazy!  I used to despise going to sales with my family.  My mom and grandma's were the queens of picking up stuff at garage sales, I was always so embarrassed and would  sit in the car and sometimes even slide down the seat to hide my face when my mom would pull up to a nice house.  I just didn't "get it".  I do now!  I have had a blast furnishing our home with someone else's rejects.  I am sure it helps that my style is somewhat shabby to begin with!  I have really found some unique things this season. I thought I would share a few of my favorite treasures that I got for a steal!  I have encouraged more than one friend to pull over next time they see a sign too and I love getting calls from them squealing in delight with their new found treasures.  It is addicting I am telling you!  I have a few tips to share too.  I find the best sales in our area are on Thursdays, not sure why but it seems to be the best day, with the best selections and a greater number of sales.  I also have taken advantage of technology in my search, I go online to the newspaper's websites and look up the classified ads for garage sales.  Craigslist is also a great resource for finding sales as well, some of them even have pictures of what will be at their sale.  I punch addresses into my GPS and away I go, it saves me lots of gas and frustration when I know right where I need to go.  I usually print off the list from the web and carry it with me and highlight the sales that I want to for sure visit.  I also scope out the big picture when I walk up to a sale, sometimes we are so focused on what is in front of us that we miss the good stuff and someone else walks away with the treasure.  I also have a "wish list" in my mind of things that I am looking for, you would be amazed at how lucky I get at finding exactly what I am looking for, usually in perfectly new condition, for a fraction of the price. 

Something that I hear all the time is that people feel uncomfortable if they don't buy anything.  I used to feel that way but not any more.  If you know me, you know that I am pretty friendly, I always say "hello" when I walk up, sometimes I make some small talk about how they got a "great day for their sale (good weather)" and if I don't find anything that I like/need I will say "thank you " and walk away.  They don't expect you to buy anything, they are hoping that you will but they understand if you don't, remember this is stuff that they no longer want, they don't have a place for it, you don't have to take their junk off their hands.  Only if you want to!!!  Believe me, there are many times that I am skipping away thinking to myself "who would get rid of something so awesome? This is my lucky day!"  And I make sure to tell them how happy I am with my purchase if I really love it, it makes them feel good that their things are going to a good home and will be loved.  Many times I get a history about the piece too, I love that, I like my things to have a "past".  And last but not least, probably my favorite tip of all, don't be afraid to go off the beaten path.  I have found some of my best treasures at homes that you would not expect.  I tend to like the older homes as opposed to the newer gorgeous subdivisions.  At least for what I am looking for.  And the prices seem to be much better.  I convinced my friend Sherry to do this the other day and she called me all excited and said "you were right!" I don't know why but it seems to be my theory.  Oh, I almost forgot one last piece of advice, the early bird gets the worm.  So true. 

Here are a few examples of my summer scores from this season! 

Cool antique hand form 50 cents

Just like new pro steamer for $25, I have wanted one forever!  Retails for $180

Three Vera Bradley bags, $5 a piece, including matching wallets!  I threw in Dayton's best friend this summer just to show you that things aren't always so glamorous around here, we have nicknamed it Walker Texas Ranger.

I have wanted some rain boots for so long, these were almost brand new for 50 cents, Sperry boots retail for about $60.  Can't wait to wear these in my garden!

The huge shell was $2, the basket was 50 cents and the scoops for my collection were all under 50 cents. 

Loved this mirror for $4!

Another Vera purse, brand new all silk! 

I filled this with sand from our Florida trip!

Can't wait to make a gorgeous fruit salad in this compote!

I love picking up glass pieces, they are so expensive in the stores, and usually only a dollar at sales.  The coral and candle sticks came from a sale too!  The large cloche was brand new Southern Living at Home, I got to the sale late and it was still there!  It was only $2! 

And just because it is worthy of two shout outs, my gorgeous stash of Tiffany silver for $3! 

My next post I will be sharing with you a gorgeous find for $5!  So go out and have fun!  And I will tell you, that in a few weeks I will be having my own sale, I love to get rid of things that we are no longer using, I  despise clutter and love giving my things a new home as well!  So if you are in the area, stop by!

Our Anniversary

Seventeen years ago today I walked down the aisle and into the arms of this wonderful man.  It was and still is  the best decision I have ever made in my life.  I love him to pieces.