Best of April

Today I thought I would share my top 5 viewed posts for April.  I can't believe this is the last day of this month already.

Coming in at #5 is Spring/Easter buffet

#4 is Sitting room bookcases. 
I wish my sitting room looked like this now.  All the stuff from our closet is sitting in in right now.

#3 is one of my favorites Birds and bunnies mantel

#2 is Springtime in Tuscany

And much to my surprise #1 is My candle closet

Tuscan dining room table

Just a quick post to show the dining room table after I removed the Spring decor.  I haven't got much done this week as we had one of our employees quit so we are short handed and I have to stay at the shop more.  On a happier note our closet system is going to be delivered today.  I can't wait to get the closet done.  It has been almost two weeks of living out of piles of clothes.  Now back to the dining room.

I still haven't had time to finish the East wall but here is a sneak peek at the side table there.

Linking with
Between Naps on the Porch, Dwellings The Heart of Your Home, I Should be Mopping the Floor
Huckleberry Love,  Karen's Up on the Hill, Coastal Charm, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Cozy Little House, StoneGable, Our Home Away From Home, A Stroll Thru Life, Elizabeth and Co
Home Remedies, The Style Sisters, Ivy and Elephants

What would you pay for a puzzle

How much would you pay for a puzzle?  How about $120.00?  I am getting in the mood to start doing  puzzles again and I have some ebucks on Ebay to use and thought I would get some. Thomas Kinkade's are my favorite.  In my search I came across this puzzle.

I found two on Ebay for $120 and $124.  I am not sure why they are so expensive.  They are both new but I found a few more that are new and are  around $43.  The cheapest one that was new was $36.  I like this scene but I just couldn't justify over a hundred dollars.  I also couldn't spend the $36 either.  I like to get my puzzles cheap as I seldom do them over and over again.  I am seriously thinking about getting some that have no boxes.  Someone sells them with no boxes but they are in the sealed package and comes with a picture.  They are much more cheaper and they have a great selection.

I am really drawn to the Lamplight Lane puzzles.  Here are my two favorite.

Dining room buffet and closet update

Today I started working on the dining room getting it back to basics.  I removed all the Spring decor and went back to tuscan.  I got everything done except the corner area with my new barrel so for now I will show the buffet.

Now for the full view.  I have to take this picture on an angle otherwise I will be in the mirror.

Here is a close up of the bottom shelf.

And now for close ups of each side.

Now for an update on the master closet.  Everything was to be delivered on Friday but of course nothing was delivered.  Why can't I ever have that easy button.  At least I did have the closet painted.  Here is the new color. The baseboards are off right now as we will need to adjust them for the new closet system.  It is the same color as the bathroom.

Here is a shot of the ceiling area.  At first I was going to paint the ceiling the same color but I decided to keep it white.  I hope that they come soon as I am tired of living out of piles of clothes.

Linking with

Dwellings The Heart of Your Home, I Should be Mopping the Floor, Huckleberry Love, Karens Up on the Hill, Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, A Stroll Thru Life, StoneGable, Our Home Away From Home, Elizabeth and Co, Home Remedies, Savvy Southern Style, The Style Sisters, DIY by Design, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Bajan Texan, Just a Girl and Her Blog, The Happy Housie, The Dedicated House, From My Front Porch To Yours, Common Ground, A Delightsome Life, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson, Katherines Corner, Posed Perfection, All Things With Purpose, Embracing Change, Anderson & Grant, Rooted In Thyme, Imparting Grace, The Charm of Home, Shabby Art Boutique, French Country Cottage
I'm Not a Trophy Wife, Serenity Now, Life With Lorelai, My Romantic Home, The Shabby Nest
DIY Vintage Chic, Just Us Four, Pieced Pastimes, Scrapality, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Pink When
Thoughts From Alice, Finding Silver Pennies, DIY Show Off, It's Overflowing, Rustic and Refined
Tabler Party of Two

Butterflies and birds

So I bought some new plates the other day at Home Goods and I was going to do a tablescape today.  Well it turns out that I cannot find my blue and yellow floral material that I have or even some coordinating napkins for these plates.  For some reason I just don't have blue napkins.  Looks like I will have to get some.

I went to Goodwill yesterday and came across this lovely tray.  It was $13.99 and on sale for half off.   I has some cracking going on but I like that look.  I was going to use this for the tablescape too.  So I guess for now I will just show what I was going to use.

Now for some added cuteness.  I just had to show this picture of my little Kolby.  He gives me this look all the time and I think that he is so adorable.

Linking with

Between NapPieced Pastimess on the Porch, Rooted in Thyme, French Country Cottage, My Romantic Home, Shabby Art Boutique, I'm Not a Trophy Wife, Nancherrow, The Shabby Nest,  Chic on a Shoestring, DIY Vintage Chic, Just Us Four, Serenity Now, Scrapalaity, 3 Little Greenwoods, Pieced Pastimes, Life With Lorelai, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Pink When, Thoughts From Alice, Tabler Party of Two, Finding Silver Pennies, DIY Show Off, Dwellings The Heart of Your Home
I Should be Mopping the Floor, Karens Up on the Hill, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Dedicated House

Ready for texture

The master closet is now ready for texturing.  It took me 2 nights to get all the patching and smoothing out done.  I  know this doesn't look like the closet but I thought an all white picture to start off with was boring.  I find this cute little lamp at Goodwill today and I am thinking about using it in my closet.  We have an outlet on one wall and I was thinking about making a vanity area there.  Of course I will have to paint the lamp base bronze.

Now I know this doesn't look to exciting being an all white closet right now but I can't wait to get this done.  I never realized how hard it is to take a picture of a white wall.  My camera was having a hard time finding something to focus on.  If you stare at the picture you can see the patch lines.  Once the texture is done I can get to painting it the color of the bathroom.

My everyday mantel

Yes I am back at it again.  I just had to change out the mantel in the living room.  I finally got the rest of my new tables for the living room and decided to spruce up the mantel.  I am still working on getting one more lamp and decorating the tables so when that is done I will be posting the whole living room.

My house is a disaster area again.  We are working on the master closet and so everything from there is piled up in the sitting room on the other side of this fireplace.  I have all kinds of projects going on around the house and I just can't seem to get anything done.  I am going to try and get this house in order by the weekend as I need to get in the backyard and get the flower beds cleaned up.  So much to do and so little time.

Linking with
Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Beyond the Picket Fence, Ivy and Elephants, The Bajan Texan
The Style Sisters, The Happy Housie,  Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson, A Delightsome Life, From My Front Porch To Yours, Common Ground, Katherines Corner, Posed Perfection, Rooted in Thyme
Anderson & Grant, All Things With Purpose, Imparting Grace, The Charm of Home, Embracing Change, French Country Cottage, My Romantic Home, Shabby Art Boutique, I'm Not a Trophy Wife,
Finding Silver Pennies, Tabler Party of Two, DIY Show Off, Dwellings The Heart of Your Home, Karens Up on the Hill, Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm

Bye bye closet

After almost 3 years living with our master closet we are finally going to get a closet system.  When my hubby asked what I wanted to do with our tax refund I said "get the master closet done!"  We decided to order the Closetmaid Impressions in the chocolate color.  Here is a photo I got off of the Home Depot website.  I also included a close up of what the drawers look like.

We will be getting the 25 inch cabinet, the 25 inch hutch cabinet and 4 of the corner units.  We also will get 6 drawers to use in the cabinets. 

So today I worked out getting everything out of the closet.  My hubby wanted me to take a picture with everything in there and show everyone but I just couldn't do it.  I am way too embarrassed to show how my closet looked before I emptied it.  I will show you what it looks like empty.  This is what you see when you open the door off of the bathroom.

Here is to the right of the door.

 And now to the left of the door.  Do you notice anything?

How about a closer look.

The rod is crooked and if you look even closer you will see this.

And no I did not do that.  This was what the previous owner did.  In fact all the the closets in our house had this do it yourself fix.  Most of the rods were too short.   I changed out the basement bedroom closets already with new rods and holders.  It was a very inexpensive fix and looks much better.  The only thing that we did to this closet when we first moved it was changing the light fixture.  It had an ugly fluorescent fixture.

It is nothing fancy but it looks better than the other.  I couldn't talk the hubby into something nicer.  He said no one was going to see it anyway so why spend the money.  I wouldn't mind having a little chandelier in here myself.  Maybe once the closet is done I will sneak one in.

Now off to gutting the closet, patching, texturing and painting.

I need some help

I am wanting to repaint the powder room.  Right now it is blue but my hubby has never liked this color and I myself am ready for a change.  So I need some help from everyone.  What color should I paint the walls? The vanity top has some specks of blue so that's why I chose blue for the walls.

 I don't want to do white since the vanity is off white and I would like it to stand out.  All the fixtures are bronze and the cabinet over the toilet is dark brown.  Please excuse the Fall pictures as I am at the office right now so I have to use older pictures.

I could really use some help since I don't necessarily want to paint it beige or a dark color.

Love where you live

I just got my new Southern Living magazine today and the cover says "Love where you live".  Well, if this was my view I sure would.  I have always wanted to live near a lake.

I love my house but not my neighborhood.  The HOA here is way too strict.  I wish I could move my house to another area and then I would love where I lived.

April snow showers

I know the old saying is "April showers bring May flowers" but here in Colorado we sometimes get snow showers instead.  That is what is happening today.  Lately we have been have weather in the 60's and 70's and boy does that make me want to get out and buy some flowers.  But of course I know better and today is one of the examples.  Right now the flakes are pretty big that are falling but it is not sticking to the sidewalks or streets.

I was hoping to get the foothills in this next picture but it is too cloudy today.  They are really beautiful with a light dusting of snow.  So all you will see here is the neighborhood behind our home.

I took some pictures in the front yard since my flowers are more in bloom there. For some reason the backyard is behind.  Everything looks pretty with a little snow on it. You can barely see my little purple flowers by the lamp post.

The rule of thumb here is to wait until Mother's Day to do some planting.  The first Spring in this home it was so nice in May that I decided to plant all new flowers and bushes in front of the house in the middle of the month.  Well of course it snowed a week later and killed most of my new plantings.  I now wait until the first of June to plant anything.

Springtime in Tuscany

I love my dining room mural.  It makes me feel like I am Tuscany sitting on the terrace having a glass of wine and enjoying the cool breeze.  Now if I only had that view to look at in my own backyard. (sigh)   I thought that I would remove the bunnies in here and go back to my colorful rooster.  He goes so well with the mural.

Now I just need to put away the Easter on the buffet and get it redecorated.  Of course that will have to wait until the weekend.

When we took our dogs for a walk this morning I saw this in my neighbors trash.

I just can stand to see perfectly good items go to the landfill.  I am all about recycling.  I only throw out what cannot be recycled or donated.  I didn't see anything wrong with this except that it has a few nicks on the side.  I am going to take it off the stake, remove the greenery and repaint it.  I think it will look nice hanging on the door or even inside a wreath.  Look at me already thinking about Christmas.

Linking with
Savvy Southern Style, Beyond the Picket Fence, DIY by Design, The DIY Dreamer, The Style Sisters, The Bajan Texan, The Happy Housie, A Delightsome Life, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson, Common Ground, From My Front Porch To Yours, Posed Perfection, Ivy and Elephants, All Things With Purpose, Katherines Corner, Embracing Change, Anderson & Grant, Rooted In Thyme, Imparting Grace, Between Naps on the Porch, The Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, Shabby Art Boutique, I'm Not a Trophy Wife, Nancherrow, My Romantic Home, Life With Lorelai, Serenity Now, The Shabby Nest, DIY Vintage Chic, Just Us Four, Craftberry Bush, Scrapality, Pieced Pastimes, 3 Little Greenwoods, Pink When, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Thoughts From Alice, Tabler Party of Two, DIY Show Off, Finding Silver Pennies, I Should be Mopping the Floor,   Dwellings The Heart of Your Home, Huckleberry Love, Karen's Up on the Hill, Coastal Charm, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Cozy Little House, Our Home Away From Home, A Stroll Thru Life, StoneGable
Elizabeth and Co , Home Remedies