THE FIREPLACE...

Hello everyone!  Since Donna's SNS party's theme is mantels, I thought I would put together a quick post so I could link up to her fabulous party.

If you've visited my blog before, you know that my home was built in 1979 and had all the original finishes when we bought it.  That alone should paint a pretty picture for you, but I included a before picture just to make sure you have a clear picture of the "horror" (aaah!) that it was before we remodeled it.

It's kind of funny, because I was just doing a little fluffing to the mantel today, so I've already changed  my display.  It's still not quite done, so I'll have to show that in a later post.

My husband tore out all the brick in one day (what a trooper!) and we re-used it to build the new fireplace.  (I warned you it was scary!)

I designed the fireplace from inspirational photos from various books and we had a carpenter rebuild it for us.

I found the french door mirror at my favorite antiques shop, Good Goods.

It fit perfectly above the mantel and gave it more grandeur. 

My husband and I installed the bead board around the base,

and then we painted everything white to unify all the different elements.

Head on over to Donna's at Funky Junk Interiors and join her SNS link party.  There's always a lot of inspiration to be had and it's a wonderful way to find new-to-you blogs.  Thanks Donna for hosting every week!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

'Til next time...

Hugs ~ Jo

:o)

WHITE WEDNESDAY PICTURE FUN...

Happy White Wednesday everyone!  I hope you're all having a lovely week so far.  I thought I would have a little fun this week and try to get creative with my pictures especially for White Wednesday.

I hope you enjoy them...

I finally received my order from Faded Prairie's Etsy shop on Monday (yay!)!!

I thought I would have some fun using everything as props for picture taking before I found a permanent home for them (will be posting soon).  Well, there's never really a permanent home for any of my collectibles.  I'm always moving things around my home...

fluffing here, fluffing there. :)

Kristin sent this sweet thank you note, assuring me to let her know if there were any problems with my order, along with some antique bank receipts (dated 1890), and a vintage game card .  How sweet is that?!  Thank you Kristin...I loved all the extra little goodies you sent me!! :-)

I was blown away when I saw how old the receipts were and that they came from a town called Springville, Iowa, because I live about 20 min. from a little town called Springville, CA, and visit there all the time.  At first I thought, WOW...they came from Springville (our Springville ~ lol)!

I thought this vintage farm funnel made a lovely flower holder.  I love the contrast of the delicate white lantana against the rustic galvanized metal.

A little brown and white transferware pitcher filled with white lantana.

French Vanilla roses in my garden.

I LOVE this vintage white enamelware coffee pot I got from Faded Prairie.

It's in wonderful condition and is a fabulously LARGE size! :) 

Thanks for stopping by today and taking the time to leave a comment.  You put a smile on my face with every word. :)

I don't think there is anyone left in Blogland who hasn't joined in on White Wednesday (lol), but if by chance you haven't, you should definitely head on over to Kathleen's blog, Faded Charm, and check it out.  It's always a lot of fun and loaded with tons of inspiration.

Don't forget... I'll be announcing the winner to my CSN giveaway on Thursday.  Good luck!

Hugs ~ Jo

:o)

COULDN'T BE HAPPIER...

Hello everyone!  I hope your weekend is off to a good start.  I've been working out in the garden and finding homes for my Etsy finds today.

So far, I've received everything I've ordered except from Faded Prairie.  She lives the farthest away from me, so it's to be expected that it would take longer.  I was so excited when they arrived and pleasantly surprised by their beautiful presentation.

I ordered the carving set above from Sara's Etsy shop, Sadie Olive.  She sells amazingly beautiful pieces of vintage silverware and other antiques and collectibles, as well as her beautiful photography.

In addition to the carving set that I ordered, she sent along this beautiful postcard with her photography on it, the vintage measuring spoons, and her business card.  How special is that!  I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised or happier with my experience of ordering from her shop. :)

The postcard is just as beautiful on the back side as it is on the front.

The cute little vintage measuring spoons found a home in my white ironstone creamer in my kitchen.  I added some measuring spoons that I actually use for cooking to the other creamer to balance the look, but I'd like to find some vintage spoons with that perfect old patina to put in there instead.  I feel another Etsy shopping spree coming on. ;o)

I took the postcard and business card she sent me and punched a hole into both.  I added a vintage key that I already had and used tattered ribbon that was actually sent with another Etsy order (pictures to come below) to tie the ensemble to a hook I had saved in our tool box...

...which I then (with the help of my husband) hung inside this vintage frame in my mudroom.

I used to have a vintage ironstone lid with a beautiful handle on it hanging inside the frame.  That got knocked off the wall and broke (boohoo), so I temporarily hung this little wreath there just to fill the space until I found something better.

But, I think this looks prettier.

What do you think?

This is how Dore sent me this awesome vintage street sign that I ordered from her lovely Etsy shop, Burlap Luxe.  She sells her beautiful pieces of original artwork that she uses to create magical signs and other lovely household decor that would be a wonderful addition to any home or garden. 

There's the tattered ribbon I told you about earlier.  She attached this sweet thank you note and a little snippet with the definition of "shabby" on it.  I LOVED that!  Dore and I have visited often through our blogs and e-mails, and she is a kindred soul who knows how much I love all things shabby. 

I placed it in my little ironstone dishes (what are they for?...not sure) that I have displayed on my kitchen island.  Thanks Dore!  You're a dear blogger friend. :)

I tried a number of different spots in my house, before I decided this is where I like the sign best.  It was a perfect compliment to the other enamelware pieces I have in my mudroom, and it's something you really notice as you come in the door from the carport.

I still need to paint the screws we used to hang it up with white.

I decided to put the vintage flour sifter I ordered from Gypsy Fish above my mudroom closet.  I thought it fit in nicely there.  It didn't come with a special presentation, but it was shipped promptly and arrived undamaged.  What more can you ask for? :)

These are flowers from my garden that I took a picture of especially for you to say THANK YOU to all of you who stop by and leave such lovely comments.  I appreciate each and every one of you!! :)

I'm linking this post up with:

 Funky Junk Interior's SNS party.

Shabby Nest's Frugal Fridays

  Head on over to these lovely blogs to check  out lots of fabulous inspiration.

There are still a few more days left to enter my GIVEAWAY sponsored by CSN.  Click HERE to learn all the details.

I hope you all of have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs ~ Jo

:o)

IVY... A QUIET BEAUTY

Happy Friday everyone!  The weekend is here, and it's going to be a hot one, but that's OK because our wonderful neighbors are going to be out of town for a week, and they gave us the "key" to their pool while they're gone.  THANK YOU TIM AND CHRIS!!  We sure do appreciate it! :)

Today, I thought I would share with you guys a post I put together the first week I started blogging.  Since I was so new to the blogging community at the time, I barely had any followers (if any), and I only received one comment. Since nobody has really seen this post yet, I thought I would give it another go.  I hope you enjoy it. :)

Even when  all of my flowering plants are in full bloom in the garden,

 I still find myself drawn to my ivy.

This is a little spot I have on my front porch.

There are so many different varieties of ivy.  This one, in my favorite chippy white painted urn, is a variegated ivy.

They look beautiful in a variety of different containers.

It grows well inside or out.

Ivy is a spot of green in the garden to balance all of the color that surrounds it.

I love it!!  How about you?

This weekend my husband and I will be working in the garden pulling weeds in the 100 degree heat (ugh!).  But it's all OK, because afterwards, we'll be sitting by the pool sippin' a cold one...sweet!!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend planned, and take time to smell... the IVY (hehe)! ;o)

I'm linking this post up to Funky Junk Interiors SNS party.  Head on over to Donna's blog to check out all the wonderful inspiration there is to be had over there.

'Til next time my blogger friends...

Hugs ~ Jo

:o)

LOOK AT IT NOW...

Hello everyone!  I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far!

I just wanted to sincerely thank all of you who stopped by and left such nice comments about my mudroom fluffin' post.  I sure do appreciate all the input and love getting to know all of you gals!!

I wanted to share with all of you the beautiful show this crape myrtle tree has given us this year.  About a week ago I did a post about the garden and showed you a lot of our crape myrtles, as well as other parts of the garden (If you haven't seen that post but would like to, you can check it out here.).  The crape myrtles were just starting to flower at that time. 

This is how the tree looks right now (above)...

...and this is how it looked just one short week ago (above).

Isn't it amazing how much can change in the garden in one short week?  I've been absolutely amazed by the profusion of blooms it has on it this year!  Crape myrtles actually seem to flourish in the immense heat.  It's been between 100-106 degrees for a week now, and THIS is how it responded to the heat (above)!

I still can't believe it went from the way it looks in the above picture to how it looks in the one below in such a short period of time.  Mother nature never ceases to amaze me. :)

Thank goodness for the crape myrtles!

They've added the summer color needed in the garden while my roses and lavender are suffering from the heat.

There are so many beautiful gardens in Blogland to look at, so I appreciate you taking the time to let me share mine with you.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your week my blogger friends!

'Til next time...

Hugs ~ Jo

:o)

A HOME FOR MY TREASURES...

Happy Monday everyone!  I've been doing a little fluffing in my mudroom today, and in the process, I found a home for a couple of the treasures I found while we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago.

The mudroom is still a work in progress.  The window still needs trimmed out, and I still need a few more decorative pieces to complete the space, but I thought I would share with you what I've done so far. :)

This is actually my laundry room area that leads into the mudroom and to the outside.

If you remember, I found two of these sconces at the Pottery Barn at 60% off!  I had originally planned on hanging them in my living room, but they didn't look right there, so I had to get my thinking cap on and find a different place for them.  I placed one of them on the desk in our mudroom nook.  I thought it complimented the galvanized pot of flowers I already had sitting there nicely.

I tied some vintage keys onto the hoop at the top with a pretty ribbon.

A closer look at the details.

I bought this hook rack at Good Goods years ago, long before we bought this house.

Good Goods is my favorite local antiques shop.  When I say local, I mean a town about 35 minutes from where I live.  If you'd like to learn more about Good Goods, click here.

This is where I chose to put the vintage Dutch milking bucket  and enamelware teapot that I found on my trip.

I had this basket sitting in a closet.  I hung it from one of the hooks using some pretty left over ribbon I had.

I still have a little tweaking to do, but it's getting there.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog today.  I always get a kick out of reading all of your lovely comments!  It's nice to know that there are so many other like-minded people out there in the world.  There aren't many here where I live, so I'm glad I've got you gals to bounce my decorating and gardening ideas off of.

There's still plenty of time to enter my GIVEAWAY sponsored by CSN.  Click HERE to find out all the details.

I'm linking this post up to:

White Wednesdays at Faded Charm

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal charm

I hope you all have a fabulous day!

'Til next time...

Hugs ~ Jo

:o)