ANNIVERSARY

I started taking down Christmas decorations yesterday..... this will be a process.....I have also decided to leave various "snow" themes up until the end of January  ... you know, snowmen, snowflakes, etc. .... I'm thinking this will make the general "taking down" less time consuming.....or not!!! Anyway.... that's what I'm doing.

On a footnote, we celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary yesterday....wow....we both congratulated ourselves .... and are ready to go at it for the next 20 years!!!! Went out for a delicious meal at one of the popular steak houses in our area and had a wonderful evening together. 

WISHING YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just a few pics of the our front door which will be welcoming family and friends this Christmas. 

 

Blessings to one and all.....!

Mandy

KITCHEN AND PANTRY

Here is the rest of the kitchen.

 As you can see the peninsula houses my farmhouse sink which I love because of it's size and depth, the dishwasher and trash compactor. They are all hidden behind custom cabinetry panels. 

I read in one of the blogs that someone was removing their "old fashioned and yucky" trash compactor. This surprised me because I think they are a great green idea as trash is compacted before it goes out the door..... and they are really easy just to wipe down. 

We do have another trash can and recycle bin under the island next to the small prep sink too. 

You may have noticed that I have very few upper cabinets. Well there are several reasons for this. First of all I don't have very many walls in my kitchen area because I really wanted an open feel to the space. Secondly, because of the sheer size of the pieces in the kitchen there is loads of cabinet space. All of them, where applicable, have pull out shelves. A wonderful, practical addition to any cabinet. And thirdly, a talented kitchen designer suggested having the pantry open to the kitchen with finished cabinetry in it (more on the space in another post) which has turned out to be a great addition to the kitchen as we house another built in oven and microwave oven and the coffee station in there. 

In this pic you can see the pantry door opening and catch a glimpse of the oven and microwave. Oh and you can also see where I house our toaster....see? Under the island...I keep it parked in a deep tray so that the crumbs stay put. It is plugged in under there and just slides out and placed on the island when in use (which is every morning!). Behind the cupboard doors on this side of the island are all the kitchen gadgets i.e. mixers, blenders, crock pots etc. 

Here is the pantry. The shelving and cabinets on this side of the wall are very shallow, about 8" deep and are perfect for canned goods etc. It's so easy to keep tidy that way too....I loved playing shop as a little girl and this sort of reminds of that ..... We also have a second refrigerator here as well. Great for a large family of teenage boys!!!

The pantry is open on three sides. To the back corridor making it easily accessible with groceries etc. To the kitchen, of course and to the sun room. Again, I wanted an open feel. We did have pocket doors installed as seen in the pick, just in case but that turned out to be a waste of money as we never close them. 

Okay hoped you enjoyed seeing some more of the house!

Hugs for today,

Mandy

SHARING SOME FAVORITE POSTS

Lori at abigstory.blogspot.com posted this great idea for a teacher's gift or anyone else for that matter! They are personalized hand sanitizers. But get this, the personalization is INSIDE the bottles...go to to her blog to see how she did it. These are so cool and fun, love it!

Anna-Mai from annemaile.blogspot.com made these wonderful ornaments out of jar lids!!!! They are so pretty,easy to make and GREEN, I have already started saving jar lids!!!

Finally what a great idea from Leigh & Amy at  dirtcheapdecoratingdivas.blogspot.com!This is an advent calendar made with a frame and scrap paper and old cards. I know a few of you are like me and like to save their old cards (Christmas, birthdays, etc) and remake new cards out of them so wouldn't this be a great inexpensive gift idea? 

Finally nanniepannies.blogspot.com December 15th blog gives us a wonderful display of seasonal flowers from her home and garden. She really knows how to take a great pic and to grow some gorgeous plants!!! This poinsettia is now my desk top picture for the rest of the month. Isn't it gorgeous? 

Hope you enjoy this posts as much as I did!

DECORATING WITH TASSELS.

   I do love tassels!!!! 

In fact, while decorating for Christmas I realised just how many of them I own throughout our home!!! Well it occurred to me that as it's Christmas why not decorate the ...... tassels....?!!! I know, decorate a decorative item....hmmmmm.....oh well....

I added a candle ring (evergreen) and this cute little fairy guy to this tassel, cute eh?

The beads & chain are actually an old necklace that belonged to my mother in law. There's a bracelet tucked in there also. And another little fairy guy on top.

This cute birdie guy sits on top of another candle ring, some ornaments and has 3 "icicles" hanging beneath.

This was just a fun little ornament that I added a candle ring evergreen to by attaching a couple of the wired branches to the little deers legs. Then I added a long pair of earrings I got for 1$ from World Market. 

Okay this is the last one .....for now.....He is quite the personality...he also sports a turquoise teardrop crystal...Why are they all "guys"??? I have no idea....don't ask!


I am linking to Cottage Instincts "Make It For Monday" http://cottageinstincts.blogspot.com/ 

PLEASE FILL MY SHOES ST NICK!

These are my kid's baby shoes and my husband's and his mother's!!!! My mum didn't keep any of ours, it isn't really a tradition in England. I hated to have them stored away so a couple of years ago, I brought them out of the dark and hung them on our Christmas trees. They looked lovely.

However, this year, I thought it would be nice to honor a tradition from Geneva, Switzerland where I grew up, of children putting their shoes out for Jolly Ole St Nick to fill on Christmas Eve. So I lined them all up in front of the fireplace in our living room. Here they are.... from left to right, my mother in laws little buckle shoes (so sweet!), one of my twins (now fourteen and almost 6 ft tall!!), my oldest son's with baubles instead of bows (17 and over 6ft!), my other twin (he wore special shoes longer that's why his are bigger) and my "HunkaChunka"'s. Aaaah so cute....! One of the boys asked me, a little worried, if these replaced their stockings this year!!!???!!! I should've said "yes".....

Quote of the day: Love is a language spoken by everyone but understood only by a heart. - Shirley Rindoni.

SANTAS, OLD ST. NICKS, KRIS KRINGLE....

A woodsy Kris Kringle

A winter Clause

A Nordic Christmas fairy

Like so many of you, I have my fair share of that special character that we all love but call different names depending on where we come from....

Old Pepsi wagon & Jim Shore Santa

Up, up and away...

Quote of the day: "Christmas is love in action" Dale Evans.

GUEST BEDROOM

We had a young lady staying with us last night, which prompted me with the idea of taking some pics of our guest bedroom...

Do you recognize the bird cage from a couple of posts ago?

Another old piece from our favorite old consignment store.

A little Christmas in the floral arrangement.

One of two little tables I picked up at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago for $35!

I bought this wreath when we first moved in 10 years ago. It still looks so great and goes with the romantic style of the room.

I hope your holidays will be filled with visits from family and friends. From what I have seen of all your blogs I know that you all have wonderful accommodations for them when they arrive :)

BOOT TRAY TABLESCAPE!

Well, as I am now linked to Tablescape Thursdays over at Between Naps on the Porch,  
  I decided to continue the kitchen tour and show you my kitchen table decoration. I took these pictures at about 4:30am the other day....no I am a good sleeper but my husband had to drive a young guest to the airport that morning and I got up with them. I did head back to bed for a little while as the boys had a two hour snow delay, so I was able to catch up on some sleep then!

The huge copper tray is actually a boot tray that I bought at Target with this idea in mind. 

I wanted something substantial for decorating purposes year round but that I could also remove in a jiffy for meals. 

This tray has worked out wonderfully as the deep edges contain everything beautifully. I have greenery in there in the summer, pumpkins and whatnot in the fall etc. 

So here it is decked out with a winter scene.

Under the "snow" are several "arrangements" like the one below. 

 I decided to glue these little groupings on extra drink mats I had and I also used some furniture sliders when I ran out....I know a little bit wasteful of me, but one, I don't like using this particular size of furniture mover (the really big ones or the really small ones are handier) and two I wanted to get it done!!!! Anyway, I glued different groupings on each little mat and then glued some snow on each as well. They don't fall over now when I move the tray and will make decorating quicker next year! Of course many burnt fingertips later....I was done. Now, here was an opportunity to display some kiddie treasures too. There's a little snowman, some reindeer and a little glass votive cup (baby food jar) all made by the three muskaters when they were sweet little boys....(sweet? did I actually say that???). 

 

As the burlap table runner is just a piece of burlap that I fringed at the ends, I added an old rusty bell to each end to "finished" it off nicely.

 I brought this bench in from the outside this fall. I love how it looks with my old English table. And look how perfect Sonya's wonderful pillow looks nestled between the other two pillows!   beyondthescreendoordesigns.blogspot.com/

  LOVE IT!!! I cannot praise the quality of her craftsmanship enough. Quality and reasonable prices....perfect! If you aren't a follower of her blog you will be as soon you visit it and her store!!!

I also purchased a runner from her but have decided to wait until after Christmas to display it...something to look forward too when all the pretty stuff gets put away for another year.....

Here is a candle lit scene that turned out great! I love my little birdhouse snowman (birds again!) and you can also see a little wooden tree that I bought in a market in Germany. I love the little row of mailboxes (a recent purchase). I added the glass ornaments and the white non breakable ones to the vignette to add some glow and fill in. Down the center is a narrow rectangle copper candle holder from Southern Living At Home on which I placed 3 milk glass bowls that were my mother in law's and a bisque candle votive bought on a special trip to Strassbourg, France with my husband. I love the winter scene that shines through when the candle is lit. The milk glass also glows with candles.

 

Hope you enjoyed this posting as much as I did. Have a great Thursday and here is  a quote to help you through these busy times!

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle"

SUN ROOM ON A SNOWY DAY

Thought I'd show you some pics of my sun room. The sky is gray but at least this is a sunny corner.....

I recently recovered the ottoman with the zebra print...lurv it! and the the chair pad I hot glued the fabric on....it's holding up fine, just added some trim on the not so pretty edges! Sorry about the white lamp cord...gotta remember those little details....the pillow to the far right is made from a mini skirt a client of mine didn't want anymore.

I love my flower picture frames....note another birdie nest in the topiary...

Here is my little cafe area. I painted the chairs back in October. I will talk more about these soon. The windows are never closed but I like how they give this area an outdoor feel.

Here is the top of the driveway...see told you it was a gray day!!!

Have a warm and cozy day!