a bit of halloween decor - sophie style

Since we moved all the home decor back to NC the house was a bit sparse here for Halloween.

That is until Sophie got bored a couple of days and made us some decorations.

She
 took an old book and made a pumpkin by cutting it and then dying the
edges orange.  She also added a nice lime green stem.  Then she stole a
roll of toilet paper and covered it with tissue paper and added more
lime green for the stem and tendrils.  She also made a tiny bat from a
toilet paper roll.

Last but not least she made a mummy out of a box and toilet paper.



I'd say she did an amazing job and the pumpkins can stick around for Thanksgiving too.

Thanks Sophie.

our first halloween in texas

We've recently moved here to military base housing in Texas.  It has been a challenge making it our own. You know rules that must be followed and not many changes to be made on a permanent basis.Welcome to our foyer.  There is a big opening that we closed up with an old screen door and my table that painted.  We like it creepy here.
 

Notice the book- To Kill A Mockingbird..hahaNext we tried to spookify a boring kitchen...
 

Then we stroll into the dining room..scary, spooky and fun.
 

 
 Do you decorate your bathrooms?  We did one..haha
 

We love to fill glass with scary items..heads- yes doll heads- they are funny in a scary way, skulls, rats etc..
 

Well with that I'll leave you - Happy Halloween All.  Whether you do it subtle, fun or gory it is a great day to have fun.  Here's to much candy in your bag at the end of the evening.
 

NC home tour

This is a hard post as we had to say good bye to our lovely home the end of June for 3 long years.  We are pcs'ing to Texas with the Air Force for circa-mans last assignment before retirement.  We rented it out and I will say it feels very unsettling to have strangers living in the home we have spent so much time fixing and making ours.  Here's the tour via what the realtors want for pictures.  I dated it this year because when we get back it will undergo many changes.  Until then enjoy..
Welcome to our NC 1929 historical foursquare home.  We bought this house June 2007. It had me at the front porch.  I love a "farm-style" looking home.

Next we step onto the front porch. The bead board ceiling needs a touch of hainte blue..maybe when we get back.  I love a swing.

Come on inside and you enter the living room.

To the left is our family room where we hang out the most.

Straight ahead you see where the stairs are..we call this odd space our displaced foyer.

I really am itching to paint the railing white and I know it will get done when we get back.
Next to the left is the Dining Room.

And this is the butlers pantry you see peeking above.  It is original to the house.  It has the wavy old glass and all.

Then we go into the kitchen - our masterpiece.  Yes we bought a new refrigerator and making it fit snowballed into a full gut and remodel.

Across from this room is our mudroom/office/catch all room off the back door.

From here we go to the relaxing back screen porch.  One of my favorite places..bugs can't visit here.

Our backyard is pretty big for a in town lot.  I'd love a pool but circa-man is sooo opposed to it.  He seems to love his grass.

It needs more landscaping and a privacy fence.  And our garage needs some work.
Now we head back inside to the second floor.  We have 5 bedrooms and 3 baths.
The small un-renovated hall bath will become a laundry room when we get back.  That is why we didn't do anything to it for now.

The second bath was our master bathroom.  We decided that it made more sense to give that space for another bath for the kids.

We have 4 bedrooms for the kids.  Jack's room:

Sophie's room:

Jon's room:

and Josh's room:

This room is my fave..it has full windows on two walls.  We call it the tree house room as it feels like you are in the trees.
Next up is our master bedroom:

We still need to paint the window and door trim white..yea yea another project on the never ending list of to dos.

And since we gave away our master closet we hit up IKEA to come up with a built in look.  We will enclose it at the top to give it a true built in look when we get to that project.
Lastly is our master bathroom:

This is "my" room.  Yep the tub is my clawfoot dream.  It's a girl room.  All mine.
Thanks for visiting - don't let the gate hit you on the way out :)

tammy

NC kitchen tour

Our kitchen was old and needed work when we moved in.  Cabinets that didn't hang level, drawers that didn't close without sticking and appliances that needed upgraded.  I tried painting cabinets but it didn't work out at all.  I then was so tired over the small fridge so bought a new one..that brought on KITCHEN DEMO AND REMODEL 2009.  All because the fridge wouldn't fit and the wall had to come down and a cabinet had to be cut.  Bring on the new kitchen:

We ordered the cabinets from Lowes.  I wanted simple and white.  The counters are oak from IKEA.  The walls are all done in bead board painted white.  The island is in a contrasting black.  I had circa-man get a corner appliance garage because I can't stand appliances on the countertops.  Clutter drives me crazy.
 

I've always wanted a dual fuel stove and by golly I got one.   I hide the microwave in the island which helps the smaller kids reach it.  The pots and pans needed a place to go and that wall is the back of the FP in the dining room so I figured why not.

Open shelving was a must.  I didn't want the kitchen to feel closed in with so many cabinets like it had before.   Our sink had to be an apron front sink to keep the farm feel of the room. 

The floor was a problem.  It was so much wood and we had the black island.  We needed to bring black in more areas.  I checker-boarded the floors and then we painted the crown molding black.  The lights, wonderful old school house pendants found online, carried the black up to the ceiling area.
I love this kitchen.  We spend so much time in it now.  We will be figuring out if it stays there when we get back or moves to the large wasted space dining room.
I'll let you know..
tammy

our NC dining room reveal

Again sparse as realtors like it that way for showings and photos.  It is a huge room - I guess the people who built this house in 1929 had a large family.

Are the windows not to die for?  I used to put the buffet where the blue desk is - until I added the chalkboard to it.  Then it was just too tall.  The blue desk is not normally in here- just for the showings.

This room has a fireplace - doesn't every dining room?  haha You will notice the butlers pantry off to the left.  This room is huge I say.  We are contemplating when we get back in 3 years of moving the kitchen to here or turning it into a family room.

Thought I'd just share the spring-y table centerpiece.  I love nests and birds.
Hope you enjoyed the tour..
tammy

a formal menu chalkboard

Every dining room needs a chalk board to put pretty menus or sayings on.  My dining room is no different.  But I wanted a different chalk board.

It started out as an old dresser mirror frame.  The mirror was missing so circa-man cut a piece of thin plywood for me.  I painted it with chalkboard paint.  And painted the frame white.

I love it.  Right now I have one of my sheet music wreaths on it.  I added a graphic from Graphics Fairy to the center as a medallion.  If you ever need a graphic- Karen has anything you could possibly think of. Seems too pretty to write " frozen pizza" on it but I'm not proud. :)
tammy
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