I love Rum Cake!

Happy Friday !!

I'm keeping this short and sweet, but wanted to share something that we've wanted to do for a long time ... we *finally* got new carpet! 

BEFORE:  Not *too* bad ... in PICTURES!  But, up close ... it had a much different story to tell!  Trust me!

DURING:  Goodbye boring, flat builder-grade carpet filled with pet stains, kiddo stains, food/drink stains annnnd, yes, paint stains (not to mention lots of pink undertones, which I never truly noticed until after seeing this picture)!  

AFTER:  Well, hello Mohawk SmartStrand Silk "Rum Cake" carpet!  The fine folks from Lowe's installed it for us, and we couldn't have been more pleased with the installers' promptness, skill and professionalism.

I LOVE how lush and semi-shaggy this carpet is ... the padding is nice and thick, too!  Our Dyson is not quite sure what to do with carpet that it doesn't glide over ... it actually has to work now!  LOL 

We also had Jax's bedroom and "guest room turned playroom" done in this carpet, as well.  Our 4th bedroom (which is John's office) is hardwood.  Yes, this was definitely a "why didn't we do this years ago" project !!  I'm sure many of  you have those types, as well!

I hope you all have a great weekend.  I'm going to go roll around some more on the new carpet!  LOL

Thanks for stopping by,

Becca

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SkyView Back Yard!

This post is sort of crazy in that my young and cute, handy dandy handyman was up on my roof fixing some shingles and he said, "Go get me your camera, and I will take pictures of your backyard from up here for your blog"! Isn't he just wonderful thinking of you guys? To take these pictures, he was standing at the top of the roof right where the arrow is...crazy guy! Since he had my camera, I

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All Ready for Fall!

Yup, I'm all decorated for Fall!  Okay, okay ... juuuuust kidding!  But, I simply couldn't resist the great gathering that Amy is hosting at WhisperWood Cottage.  You can share your Fall decor and projects from last year to get everyone's wheels spinning for the upcoming season!  In fact, your fabulous project(s) could even end up on the pages of "Cottages & Bungalows" magazine! 

So, humor me as I take a stroll down memory lane ... starting with our Fall mantel! 

Even though it took *foreva,* one of my favorite elements was the garland I made by stringing inexpensive wood craft beads onto picture wire ...

Over on the buffet, Mr. Roo took center stage:

And, how easy was it to add a little something to our lantern by nestling a candle in burlap:

Burlap even made its way to our lamp shades, too! 

The breakfast area didn't go untouched, either ... and, those who know me know that our Fall family tree means a lot! 

I always look forward to wrapping it with natural elements (such as burlap, grapevine, pinecones and leaves) and adding special family photos and sayings to remind me what is truly important!

In the neighboring kitchen, a simple word filled a chalkboard (inspired by SugarPie Farmhouse):

Kitchen canisters were easily filled with Fall goodness:

Onto the dining room ...

mixed in with the fun mercury were the white pumpkins that used to be orange ...

that is, until I painted them with Annie Sloane's Old White chalk paint!

Our neutral sitting room was splashed with corals, reds and browns.  And, yes, those are leaf placemats that I layered on top of the mirrors:

I know white pumpkins will be alll over our house again this year, too!  Here is another painted one that I simply placed on a bright orange leaf ... love the contrast.

Lastly, outside ... I made inexpensive pumpkin topiaries to flank our front door ...

and one of my mesh wreaths stood front and center to greet our guests:

As much as I don't want to wish summer away, admittedly, I am looking forward to football, chili and Fall decorating!  Who's with me ?!

Thanks for stopping by ... don't forget to come on over and party!

Becca

I'm also joining:

Savvy Southern Style/WUW

Coastal Charm/Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

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Mudroom Changes!

Greetings, sweet friends ... remember me?!  May I just say I've been a bad blogging friend lately!  My crazy summer projects here at home, finishing up my parents' home, along with enjoying family fun, have kept me busy, busy ... out of the blogging loop!  Now, it's time to catch up on all that I've missed!

One of the things I've recently tackled was revamping our laundry room just a bit.  Here's a peek at the before ...

And, here's the AFTER (sorry for the grainy quality):

It's amazing the difference a couple of little changes can make, isn't it?  First, I painted our cabinets Annie Sloane's Pure White.  I then painted the walls BM Wythe Blue and the ceiling BM White Sand.

Our little "command central" is clean and fresh (well, kind of, lol) ...

Canister of clips for fun:

I didn't change anything on the soffitt ... really like how the white plates and pitchers look against the blue wall color:

I moved our fun, family sign in here ... nice reminder to us since it's the first thing we see when we enter the house from our garage:

BEFORE ... admittedly, as much as I loved the shelf on the long wall, it was a bit too long as the door entering the house would *some*how always bang into it.  So much so, that the shelf went *kerplunk* on the floor one day, along with the pictures that rested on the shelf ... wasn't a whole lot of fun picking up all of that broken glass!

AFTER!  We removed the shelf, as well as the hooks below ... added more/different frames, which elongated the family gallery wall.  I love how the black frames pop against the wall.  I'll also be adding a family quote (in vinyl) above the pictures:

I then added individual hooks right into the case molding ... super easy (I may end up adding a few more):

Annnnd, of course, the P-U basket is still here, LOL (such a sturdy basket from Target):

Speaking of gallery walls ... I look forward to showing you all more of the coastal redecorating I did at my parents' house, including the gallery wall I created.  Here's a peek at what I added above the frames ... I took an ordinary oar from this:

to this.  I just added layers of paint I had on hand (CeCe Caldwell's Seattle Mist and Vintage White, followed by a bit of Annie Sloane's Duck Egg Blue and navy craft paint).  I then added "FAMILY" and started sanding away ...

love how sanding here and there revealed the layers of paint ... I then added a bit of nautical rope for a fun touch, too:

Stay tuned ....

And, as always, THANKS for stopping by,

Becca

I'm linking up with:

Savvy Southern Style/WUW

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No more Dirty Little Secret!

Remember my post on our Dirty Little Secret where I shared with you the rot that our wood siding and trim had after only 15 years? If not, you can see it HERE.




Rot at arrow
We had our young and cute, handy dandy handyman come with his new crew and replace All the wood siding on the upper story with vinyl (Brand: Certainteed; Color: Savannah Wicker). The bottom story is brick.
 He also covered

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Can You Stand ANOTHER One?

If you follow my blog, you will remember that recently, I did two posts on columns that we have and you can see more on that HERE & HERE.


So can you really stand an 11th one that we own? Do I have a magnet for these pillars? I don't know, but I do know that when we recently had a huge dumpster at our house because of exterior work being done, one of the workers said that he was going to bring

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Watermelon Slice Anyone?

I found a great piece to go with my famously painted Watermelon Propane Tank...


The lady that I paid $1 to for this watermelon slice said that, in 1970, a Sycamore tree was cut down and she kept this slice and painted it to look like a watermelon. Isn't it perfect in front of my propane tank?




These parties I love to link up to or check out my Blog Parties tab
Party Time @ It's So Very

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