Vignettes Around The House

 We've been busy around the new Casa Fanatic!!!

No major transformations yet, but they're  coming. 
Last week 99% of the delivered boxes had been unpacked, shelves added to storage closets and it was time to start making things pretty. I LOVE organizing, but it's a lot more fun when the house is decorated. Plus decorating makes a house feel like home.

I can honestly say things were a little more cheerful once the artwork was put on the walls. There also wasn't a single curtain rod in the place - just plain white blinds against boring plain walls.
The framed chalkboard had come apart in the move, so Mr. DIY put it back together and then put it up on the Foyer dresser. 

The Dining Room was the first room to be unpacked and somewhat put together. 

We still need to put up some curtain rods and draperies. We brought the custom draperies I made for the last house, but they were made for one big window, so I have to divide them into two.

I'm searching for a new chandelier and possibly a server and as I'm looking at these photos, I'm thinking that this artwork might look better in the breakfast area. 

Mr. DIY purchased some Ikea Hemnes bookcases for our office and I filled them up fast. They were larger than our previous bookcases (taller ceiling than the last office) and gave us 2 extra shelves. The extra space was used to hold books that had been stored in the armoires that were in the Family Room at the last house. We're using the armoires in the office in this house, so there isn't any storage in the Family Room until Mr. DIY has time to build a custom entertainment center. 

The lower shelf is one of my favorites as it holds some of our girls artwork they made in school. 


Our youngest daughter's room is decorated nicely and

  it's already been painted a new color. She still has artwork to hang and we'll be trading out her wire closet for a semi-custom one in another month or so. 

You saw this photo last time, but I had to include it. The curtains are too short so we have to purchase new ones at Ikea, but until then, these dress up the place, along with my grandmother's antique mirror. This mirror hung over my parent's fireplace and now it's displayed prominently  over our Family Room fireplace.

There's still so much that has to be done so we do a little bit every day. 

Next big project: Mr. DIY will be working on installing a wall of garage cabinets first so we can have the last trailer/pod of storage, garage items and miscellaneous furniture delivered. Can't wait for that! 

I miss our porch furniture and a couple of chairs that were put in that last trailer.

Hope you're enjoying these last days of summer. I'm looking forward to cooler days and night. 

Hope today is a good day for you,

Pam

Spring Has Arrived!

 If you've been following me on Instagram, you know that I always do a Spring countdown.

January Vignette In The Foyer

Now that the Christmas decorations have been taken down and put away, something pretty had to fill their place on the dresser in the Foyer. 

I brought out an antique furniture leg that was found in my grandmother's basement many years ago and placed it next to some vintage books, along with an antique key and a tall candleholder. 

I set out one of my favorite candy dishes, given by my brother and sister in law back in the 90's(?) I had seen that same dish in a catalog that year and I was so surprised when I opened the gift!

I set out the Valentine Vintage Hearts and hung them on some bare branches in a crystal vase.  I made them a couple of years ago from some fabric that my grandmother made me a dress out of when I was in elementary school.. Stop by that post to see how I made them...If you follow the link at the bottom of that post, you'll see a photo of me when I was about 8 years old wearing the dress my grandmother made me. 

I think the Framed Chalkboard makes a great backdrop for just about any vignette. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hope you are staying warm during this cold Winter month of January. 

What are you decorating with now that all your Christmas decorations have been taken down?

Pam
joining
Savvy Southern Style

A Sweet Gift And A New Vintage Dresser

Happy Monday Everyone!

Hope you had a nice weekend.
Had to share something sweet a neighbor did for me. 

The doorbell rang the other day and I thought it might be a neighborhood kid selling a fundraiser of some sort.  It took me awhile to get to the front door, but when I went got there, these little lovelies were on the door mat. 

I knew there was only one person who could have left them, so hollered out "Thank you Sydell!" 
My neighbor was still outside and walked back over and we talked for a bit. She's growing these beauties in her yard and sells them to a  local retail shop. 

I put these gorgeous dahlias in a pretty crystal vase and set them on the table in the Breakfast Room. 

I thought they'd look prettier on the vintage dresser that came to live with us last month. The dresser was Mr. DIY's when he was a boy. Mr. DIY helped his mom move into a smaller apartment and she was downsizing to one dresser, so he brought it home. 

I love the detail on the dresser. 

Originally the dresser had more flowery details like the one the coordinating tall dresser that my mother in law kept, Both dressers were purchased from a garage sale way back when, but Mr. DIY's mom scraped off the frilly flowers since it was going into a boy's room. Mr. DIY took photos of the detail with his cell phone and sent them to me. 

Sorry this is blurry. 

The dresser is missing a knob, so I think I will try to find some crystal ones and put those on the top drawer and move the other knob down the the bottom drawer. 

I've been enjoying the beautiful dahlias on our "new" vintage dresser. Wasn't that sweet of my neighbor to share the flowers with me?

Pam

A Fall Vignette In The Foyer

Hello friends!

Yesterday it finally started feeling like Fall around here. It was cool in the morning and evening and it was sunny and warm without the humidity in the air. 
But, there were still a few mosquitoes buzzing about.
Makes me wish for the first hard freeze.

Did I say that?

Now that it's feeling like Fall, I thought I ought to bring out a few Fall decorations and set up a little vignette on the dresser in the foyer. 

Spring Countdown

Spring is only 19 days away! 

Woo hoo!!!

You know I'm excited about Spring's arrival. 

I count down the days on the framed chalkboard in our Foyer. 

Couldn't resist buying this cute green bunny at HomeGoods this past week.

Been changing up the decor in the Family Room, as well. All the sunshine we've been having just brightens up the whole room. 

Our oldest daughter's old room is so light and airy now that it's been painted Revere Pewter (Ben Moore).

I would love to redecorate our master in a similar fashion. 

I bought two of these Safavieh chairs at HomeGoods awhile back and love them...the perfect shade of gray and cream.

They are comfy too.  

I borrowed the sweet bunny from our youngest daughter's room. The tissue paper pom poms were saved from our oldest daughter's graduation party. 

Do you save stuff like that too?

Sammy came in to visit me and loves to have his picture taken. Maybe we should have named him Hammy. hehe.

So excited about Spring this year. I've been busy planting things outside already and can't wait for them to come up. 

We'll also be getting back to the mountain cottage soon and hopefully finishing the upstairs bathroom.  

I believe it qualifies to be on of THE smallest half bath on the planet, 

but it will be good to have a bathroom upstairs.

Mr. DIY (yep I changed his name)and I have been working on a few other projects at the mountain cottage, as well.  

Can't wait to show you. 

What have you been working on? 

Any Spring projects planned or in the works at your house?

Pam

A Little Snow And A New Chair

Since  snow was in our forecast yesterday,  here in Charlotte, North Carolina, 

I put out a little faux snow encrusted birdhouse ornament. 

I found this little birdhouse at Marshall's on Monday. 

It was too cute to pass up.

I thought it would looked great in a little vignette with a brand new chair that I found at HomeGoods last week.

I actually found two of these beauties and brought them both home.

Well, I did have an excuse for buying them....

Mr. Fanatic asked me to look for a side chair for him to put in our bedroom so he could work in the evenings. Seems sitting on the bed or the upholstered chair in our bedroom is just a little bit too comfy and, well you know what happens...

zzzzzzzzzzz

I bought the 2nd chair because I've been looking for a french side chair for our office.

HA!

Killed two birds with one stone.

Is that still ok to say?? Hope so.

The chair is comfortable, (but not take a nap comfortable)

I love the details too. 

Love Louis XVI style with a round back.

I love that little birdhouse too.

We actually had some snow last evening. It looked so pretty with the big flakes swirling in the wind.

Of course the pretty white flakes melted as soon as they hit the ground. It should be back up to the mid 60's by the weekend.

Pam

Ready For Fall

 I wish Fall weather would hurry up and get here because it's still HOT where I live.

It's still summertime HOT

Tomorrow it's going to be 90 degrees with a lot of humidity thrown in.

Can't say that Fall is my favorite season, but for the first month or so the weather is perfect. 

Usually around the first week of September, the nights start to get cooler and in mornings  you might need a light sweater and the humidity mid day is non-existent.

Nope, hasn't happened yet.  I've planted my cool weather veggies twice now and they've either wilted and died or been eaten by bugs that go away when the nights get cooler. 

Here are the two reasons why I haven't cared for Fall in the past:

1. All the falling leaves everywhere look messy.

  Mr. Fanatic can spend 2 hours blowing leaves and 20 minutes later, leaves are everywhere.

2. Winter follows Fall and I don't like cold weather.

Notice, I said in the past...something might have changed my mind...

I'll give a hint towards the end of the post

Today, in hope of ushering in cooler weather, I changed up the vignette on the dresser in the Foyer.

I was cutting back some overgrown Lantana and just couldn't throw them away. They are so colorful and cheerful.

I can't remember where these vintage books came from, but I love the darker green cover for Fall. The vintage camera and case belonged to Mr. Fanatic's dad.

I still need a good quote for the chalkboard. 

Any suggestions?

So, I can't tell you the reason why I'm looking forward to Fall this year

yet

I'm hoping I can let you in on it after the 18th...ya know you just don't want to jinx these things;

anything can happen.

and that would be disappointing.

But, a hint is that it will help me look forward to Fall and maybe even Winter....

and you will be seeing a lot more of me because of it.

That's all I can share right now, but I would love to know if you LOVE Fall or have another favorite season that you enjoy.

Would also like to know WHY you love your favorite season...

Pam

joining:

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

Bring The Beauty In

 

I often go out to the garden and cut whatever looks interesting and bring it inside and put it in a vase. There aren't always flowers blooming in the yard, but there are a few in the Spring. 

Sitting outside yesterday looking out onto the woods I noticed how the leaves of the once little Japanese Maple on the edge of the patio were looking so red and vibrant. 

 Then I noticed the tree was looking a little overgrown and droopy. A few branches had grown and were drooping right over several of the nandina in front of it. 

Took me about a minute to go get some sheers to cut those vibrant red Japanese Maple branches.

Several of the  peonies had grown large too and some of the big heavy flowers were practically on the ground. 

I cut the droopy peonies and brought them inside and put them in a vase with some water with the branches.

They look perfect on the table in the Breakfast Room.

Think I'll go outside and cut a few blooms off one of the Knockout Rose bushes like my daughter did the other day.

What beauties do you have growing in your backyard that you could bring in?

wishing you a beautiful day

Pam