Simple Table Setting For Two
We have been keeping busy around here. Mostly working on wedding projects, and although I would love to show you some of them, I am making myself wait until after the big day. So, here is a tid bit of the fun around here, a table setting just for the two of us. Jeremy even helped me think of the fun center piece! 🙂
What do you think? Simple, fun, and totally us. lol. Hope you are all having a nice early spring!
Chair Love
Fell in love. Immediately. Swoon.
I can’t get over it. Love the curtains too. Hope it brightens your day like it does mine! 🙂
The Perfect Mix
I have been keeping a notebook of ideas for each room in the house. Lately, Pinterest has made list making for these ideas so much easier! Here are some rooms that are, to me, the perfect mix!
Here is a gorgeous dining room. I love the cow hide rug layered over a larger, more simple one. I also love that striped settee!
http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/03/28/secrets-from-a-stylist-southern-romance-meets-scottish-charm/
I loved this office. I have been known to fall for over the top glam one minute and then over the top rustic the next, but this is the perfect mix. Perfect.
Another dining room with the perfect mix of an awesome rustic table and beautiful pink wallpaper.
Here is a great living room with an amazing sofa!
I am smitten with this window seat. I could nap there.
Hope these rooms bring you some inspiration too!
Chair Love
These have been a very busy past few weeks. Work, work, work, wedding, wedding, wedding. Time for projects? Maybe a little. I came across this gorgeous blue velvet chair on Pinterest this morning during my coffee. This office looks gorgeous and I think I’d be much more productive in a space like this, just in case anyone wants to help me out!
Aaaah, peace. Even while working so hard! Have a great day everyone! 🙂
Easter!
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! We sure did here. We had a small family dinner at our house and then did some yard work. Very festive, I know. I thought I would share with you our Easter table!
Notice anything different? How about that table? Yes, I finally tried the Restore on it! It worked so well, I think I’m in love! It did not removed the weird patterned spot, so the table is still not perfect, and probably never will be. But, it is so much better! The Restore really does a great job on scratches and scuffs. Anyways, how about the Easter setting? Jeremy even helped to decorate some eggs! I blew out real eggs so that we can save them for next year!
Here is one of Jeremy and I:
Here are the three generations of women in our family who came:
What did you all do for the holiday? 🙂
The Rug Hunt
Remember seeing the antique rug in the dining room?
Well, we thought this rug was a bit too bright and attention grabbing for this area. Plus, it was really taking a beating being in the center of our home. We were on the hunt for a rug. A very specific rug. Most importantly, we had to be able to afford it on our teeny tiny budget. We also wanted it to be big. It had to be at least 3 feet wide and at least 12 feet long. Wider and longer would be even better. This was the hardest part. Almost all runners were only about 2 feet wide. Not going to cut it with a large room and two dogs creating a lot of traffic. We were also hoping for either a print we could agree on, or something fairly neutral, but also not too light so that it would get dirty fast. Gravel roads and a farmer living in the house, oh and those two dogs again, means dust, dirt, and crud on a frequent basis. Do we sounds picky yet?
We hunted and hunted. Then we debated and debated. We found the one. Or at least what will be the one for a while! It was a “dark natural” colored banded jute rug. This one was 3 feet by 12 feet and was from the Home Decorator’s Collection, bought from Amazon.
We really like how the rug choice turned out. Its nothing fancy, but the neutral-ness of it allows for us to paint and change the room when we get the chance. This rug seems strong and durable, but is also soft and welcoming. Actually those bands you can see in the close up picture are super comfy on your feet, almost massaging! It does slip some, and in the future we may get a no-skid rug pad, but for now it has been perfect!
We couldn’t leave the dirty old door mat there with the pretty new runner! Here’s the old grungy mat:
It just so happened that I fell upon an awesome, and very inexpensive door mat right after getting the runner. You will never guess where I found the new mat! Dollar General! $12! And so adorable! It is also jute and looks so great with the runner!
So, what did we do with the antique rug? We put it upstairs in the hallway. We had some traffic issues with the light colored carpet in the hall, but not enough to continue to wear this rug out super fast, so we are trying it out up there. So far I think it is growing on me!
I think this little rug rearranging is going to work out just fine! 🙂
Lilacs!
I love lilacs. I always have. My mom always had lilac bushes when I was a kid and now the smell reminds me instantly of carefree summers. What better smell to have in your yard than “carefree summer scent”? Well, as much as I love them, my new yard has no lilac bushes. 😦 I have been bugging Jeremy to help me plant a bush or two, but time is hard to come by. Someday! But for now, my mom brought me some branches to freshen the house for a bit!
Beautiful! You can almost smell spring coming out of the photo, no? I wish these would stick around all year! I might possibly be able to have my own bushes sooner than I thought, though. When mom brought the blooms she also brought a few roots for us as well! One is larger and two are small. She said they were very hard to dig out! We were afraid that they were beginning to wilt too much and might not make the transfer. She had heard putting tea bags in the water will help them take root. Have you ever tried this?
Here is the big one waiting for its new home:
And here are the two trying to grow more roots:
What do you think? Will these guys make it and make my yard smell wonderful in springs to come?? 🙂
Yard Work And Such
We inherited a lot of yard maintenance to take care of from the previous owners. I mean A LOT. With six acres I am sure that some of that is inevitable, but this is just over the top. The must have never done yard work once while they lived here. Never. The weeds, even in the close to the house areas, were over my head. The trees had split and grown funky many years ago. The rock garden was more like a dirt pit scattered with rocks. Need I go on? So, point being, this is our first spring here and we have been putting in a lot of hard work out there. I can’t wait to get a new shipment of rock and show you how the “for now” patio area is coming. But, for right now I thought I would show you just how much tree trimming we accomplished the other day.
Here is the shot looking back at the house and you can see how the rock beds are coming along and things are even turning green now!
And that is only the front! Hey, we have neighbors! 🙂 There were many other trees like this all over the property, not to mention weeds that had become their own trees all around the house, barns, and outbuildings. We have even uncovered some things we didn’t know were there when we moved in!! No joke! The other day we found an old metal lawn chair set up by a cattle shoot. They had made a shooting range down there and we couldn’t even see it! We found an old wheel borrow with what used to be flowers planted in it, various pieces of junk, both useful and non, and even learned we have an old hand-pumped well! And it works! Yea, so anyways, on to the fun part. With all of this hard work I just knew there would be some enjoyment in the end. Trimmed branches and a wine bottle…
Just a touch of spring, for the yard and for the house! Just in time for Easter. Gorgeous! 🙂
DIY Serving Tray
This has been on my to-do list since we moved it. Or maybe even before. But it became even more urgent when we bought the new couch with an ottoman. Now I have no room for a coffee table, but that means nowhere safe to put drinks and essentials. However, the previous owners left us lots of junk in the barns, so this one was a snap.
Gross old window uncovered in a heap in the barn:
Add some barn door hardware as handles:
The window was in surprisingly great shape once it was cleaned up, so I added a little paint and distressed the edges, added the hardware, and then used an Uppercase Living decal I had packed away on the glass. (I had minor trouble with the decal, so it may get a new one in the future. Talk about frustration!) And here you have our new serving tray:
Just finished this little guy and we already love it. We think it looks cute in that rustic way, but is also super handy!
Well, what do you think? We are happy with the way this quick and easy project came out! Have you ever tried anything like this?
Make Mine Eclectic 
