Thursday, 6 January 2011

A Look Back at My Madness ...

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***(Sorry I haven't changed out my Christmas header picture yet ... am working on that right now ... lol!)***

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their friends and families!  I certainly did ... just can't believe it's over already.  Now that Christmas has been packed away, everything in my home just looks empty and depressed!  Time to pull out my decorating magazines for inspiration, as well as checking out your new awesome decor projects ... all of which are such inspiration for me!

Before doing that, I thought I'd hop on the band wagon and show a few of my "before and afters" from last year. 

First off, le mantle.  It went from this:


To this:


I later attacked our master bath, which went from this:


To this:



I then, of course, had to hit the bedroom.  This little fella went from this:


To this.  I love how soothing it is in there now:





I slowly moved my way around the house, preying on the sitting room next! Out with the metallic chocolate brown walls, which I did love:



 And, in with the lighter and brighter wall color (BM Manchester Tan):


My poor dining room was next.  It cringed when I came in with a ladder, paint rollers, tape and plastic mat.  It knew what was about to happen!  So long dark walls and china hutch buffetr:


And, hello fun, new light, bright and somewhat shabby dining room.  PS:  I'm happy to report that neither the shelves, nor the humongous mirror, have come crashing down ... yet.  Yay!


Moving into the kitchen ... we removed the black granite island top:


And, replaced it with a larger butcher block piece, that I don't have to clean fingerprints off of *10000* times a day!  I love having more room there for parties (great spot for all the yummy appetizers), Jax's projects and place for him to eat at times:


We also retired the red accent wall in the kitchen, as well as the window treatments, chandie shades and rug.  Before:


After!  I love how the SW Ivoire looks in here ... the lighting makes it look as though the back wall is darker; however, it's all the same light and creamy shade.  The PB sisal rug works really well in here now, too.  I've already changed the panels ... again.  Shame.


Lastly, the mud room makeover was fun to work on!  While I loved the red, monkey/palm wallpaper, it was time to set them free back into the jungle!  Before:


After!  Yipee.  I LOVE the beadboard that we added!  And, the paint color (BM Manchester Tan) is fun in here, as well (although, it's more of a neutral tan than it's appearing to be in this picture):


And, I'm really pleased with how the picture wall and coat rack turned out.  (This pic also shows a *truer* color of the paint.  As most people enter/exit through our mudroom, it's fun for them to stop and take a peek:


Well, friends, sad to say that every.single.room. that I shared above has since changed (imagine that)!  Nothing big, just accessories and placement. We did purchase new furniture for our great room, which I'll soon share.  I look forward to seeing what decorating trouble I get into this year.  Might be time for an intervention!  Ugh.
Take care,

Becca

Wednesday, 5 January 2011

,

Hues of Pondicherry...

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Happy New Year Everyone!
Our December vacations last year was spent mainly with family, doing absolutely NOTHING:-)
Okay, well almost...one day we decided to drive down to Pondicherry and enjoyed strolling through the various rues or streets.
Pondicherry being a former French colony in India still retains some of the influences. Here are some colourful captures...
Traditional door colored brightly...
The temple elephant...
Fabulous shade of orange...
Loved the huge doors...
...and the grills
The door-knobs...
The street signboards with french and tamil influences...

Hope you liked the various colours of Pondicherry, coming up next is a post on a lovely heritage villa where we stayed.

( images by Arch)

Wednesday, 22 December 2010

,

Christmas Overload!

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Okay, so not to beat a dead horse, but, hey, guess what(?!), I have *more* Christmas pics to show you ... yippee!  Actually, I'll just share snippets of a few other spaces and then, I'll stick a fork in it because I'll be done!  Promise.

Here is the tree in our son's playroom.  It's all things sports, TV characters and handmade onraments.  Jax loves to help me decorate this tree.  (Please click on the pics to get a better view.)


Topper with big snowflakes and branches:


You *know* it's just not Christmas unless Spiderman is hanging on your tree:


Back into the kitchen, here's our breakfast area.  I placed simple wreaths on the windows and painted over the Fall saying (that used to be above the windows) with chalkboard paint and added a Christmas wish.  On the table, I scrunched up a red blanket from Wal-Mart, along with a wreath around a hurricane:


And a closeup of the centerpiece:


And, the Christmas chandie with colored balls, ribbons and snowflakes:


And, a yummy faux goodie bar on the dry bar by the kitchen table:



When you peek out the kitchen windows, you can catch a glimpse of our screened in porch where I put our rustic Santa, birdhouse and lanterns on top of the fireplace. I love sitting out there by the fire when it's chilly! We've talked about enclosing this space, but, with the real estate market being the way that it is, we really don't want to put any more money into our home that we may not get back whenever we sell:
  

Lastly, a glimpse at one of our bathrooms, all decked out in apple green and gold to tie in with the wallpaper:


Well, folks, that's IT!  I sincerely hope that each and every one of you has a wonderful holiday!  I will be sad when the holidays are over as I'll miss everyone's festive decor!  Gotta start thinking about projects for the New Year, don't we?!

I'm going to link on up with these fabulous folks.  Come play!

Savvy Southern Style/BTB Party

Elements Interiors/Whassup Wednesday

My Romantic Home/Show and Tell Friday

Huge hugs and Merry Christmas!

Becca



Monday, 20 December 2010

Ready for Santa!

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I'm back again!  Thanks for your sweet words about our sitting room!  And, with Christmas being only a few days away (eek), I'm going to overdose you with more of our holiday home (even though, you're probably bored with it by now)!

So ... come on in (and, as always, please click on the pictures to enlarge)!


I fell in love with the handsome plaid ribbon and just had to have it!  I thought that the festive "Merry Christmas" black/gold ribbon might be a fun compliment to it and the red ribbon:


This "Home" saying and chunky garland greets you when you walk in:


The table in the great room holds a couple more Nutcrackers, along with a messy floral arrangement I threw together, and festive plates that I found at Wal-Mart:


Love the lit branches peeking through:


Annnnd, our big ol' fat "faux" 9 foot tree:



Another crazy tree topper.  I'm absolutely crazy about the wide, red ribbon I found at Kirkland's:


Here's a sweet White House ornament that my brother-in-law gave us a few years ago:


A glittery apple green tree hangs next to another beautiful White House ornament:


A couple of Radko ornaments:


A steal of a deal "Peace" pillow (from Wal-Mart) leans against a soft and yummy "faux" fur pillow from Pottery Barn:


The mantle that you've already seen:




Fun gold, glittery frames I found at Home Goods for $4.99(!):


And, behind the pictures sits an apothecary jar filled with inexpensive shatterproof Christmas balls from Wal-Mart:


I love turning the lights off as it begins to get dark so that we can see the tree glow in all its glory:


As always, I sincerely enjoy your visits!
I'm going to crash a few parties ... please join these wonderful blogs with me:

Sunday, 19 December 2010

Sitting with Christmas

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I love being part of the blogging world during the holidays!  So many fun linky parties ... taking a peek into your beautiful homes and seeing your festive decor keeps me in the holiday spirit! 

Here are just a few pics of our sitting room.  This is where our "family-themed" tree is (which has been up since late September)!  It holds pictures of family members (those still with us and those who have passed), along with familial and other thoughtful sayings.  I wish I could keep this tree up all year round!  (As always, feel free to click on the pics to enlarge them.)


When I put it up this Fall, I kept the colors neutral so that people wouldn't laugh that I had a tree up *that* early!  I later added touches of apple green, along with brown and gold ornaments, to make it a bit more "Christmas-y:" 


The topper consists of brown and white snow covered branches, pheasant feather and big ol' bows.  I did add a few apple green sticks, as well, but they aren't pictured:


On the ottoman, a red tray holds a few "faux" musical instruments and fancy candle:


And, our musical Santa stays seated on the wing chair ready to give us a little concert.  (Jax's *Elfie* chose to fly in and stay put by Santa all day):


Last year, our village was on the buffet in our breakfast area.  This year, I thought it'd be fun to scatter just a few houses on the bookshelves ...

Celebrating that school is officially out for Christmas vacation, Mom and kids load up the perfect Christmas tree to go home and decorate, while other kiddos finish up a snowman in the background:


A sweet Nativity will greet those who will soon arrive for Christmas Eve service: 


Friends roast marshmallows before being called inside for hot chocolate:


And, a family gets a bit of last minute Christmas shopping done in this charming village.  Wouldn't you love to spend a day there?


On an accent table stands carolers who are festively singing:


As always, thanks so much for stopping by ... I really appreciate your visits!  Come join me at these wonderful blogs to share Christmas:

Dittle Dattle/Amaze Me Monday

BNOTP/Metamorphosis Monday 




Happy Holidays,
Becca