A Few of My Favorite Things

My most favorite thing?   Getting the house ready for Christmas.

 I love red and white wood ornaments, mushrooms, and wooden birds.

Ergebirge angels clipped onto branches.   Tiny red mushrooms.

 An elf making a list, a very vintage ornament.

 Reproduction Putz houses on the tree.  Especially if they have reindeer on them.   Steinbach bavarian ornaments.

 Clip on mushroom glass ornaments.  Paper birds covered in glitter.

 A Bavarian clock-maker.   A red-roofed Putz house.

 Any ornament out of old paper.  Garland with red bells.

 More paper houses.  Flocked trees.

 Globe ornaments with animals inside.  Wood reindeer.

 My red and white tree.

Pierre Deux Quimper stockings.

 Rows and rows of 30+ stockings in the hallway.

My second tree with pine-cone ornaments, plus glittered fruit for color.  The deer underneath the tree.

Globe ornament with deer and mushroom!

 Pinecone Owls!

Bird house with pine cone roof.   Stieff fawn in the tree.

 pine cone branches with ice crystals.

 Pine cone ball ornaments.  Scrap paper garland

 Glitter pomegranate.

 Bird nests with eggs.

 Bird ornament.

 More ice crystals on pine cones.

Reindeer wall hanging.    I think about how I hauled it across the country on an airplane....

Snowman Tree Toppers.

 German words in place card holders.

 Steiff animals on table.  More German words in place card holders.

The snow village barn with the cows.

Erzgebirge angels on staircase.

And waiting for my daughter and son-in-law to come home. 

House Progress

I apologize for being absent.  My father passed away and the past month has been more than rough.   I haven't been able to work on the house much, but there is some progress being made.  Before I confuse everyone I need to tell you the story.   I bought the house from a national builder.  As to be expected, they were inflexible, and I wound up having to settle to do things after we moved in.  For instance, I could only use one cabinet manufacturer, and we didn't feel the quality was what I could get elsewhere for the same price ($325/lineal foot).  That buys pretty custom cabinets and all handmade out of real wood, not picturewood on cardboard that I could tear with my bare hands.  I'm not a strong person!

This is the shot I took as we left the house this evening.  Sorry about the cell phone shot (again)

Here is a before photo of the kitchen from my previous post. 

Much improved, don't you think?!!

Here is the awesome crown moulding:

Here is an other shot of the floor:

It is antiqued travertine.  for some reason it looks really vibrant in these photos.  In the house is looks like a pale cream color.  I am really proud of these floors, because my husband and I put them in ourselves.  We do stuff because we get tired of contractors on getting things right....and tile is something I get really picky about.

This is what I am thinking about for the backsplash:

I haven't ordered it yet.  I am supposed to get my counters tomorrow.  I'm not holding my breath.  Oh someday!

Moving on to other things.  The guest bathroom is almost done.   

Yes I know, what possessed me to wallpaper.... Well, I wanted antiqued mirrors, but it was turning into a Taj Mahal project so something had to go out of the budget.

Next item:  The houseplans have two french doors accessing the patio--to the left and right of this bank of windows.  These windows are in the family room, and when you sit down, there's NO VIEW.

Well, not any more:

Other things I am working on is carpet in the master (on the left)  and office (on the right)

so how would you lay the arabesque pattern?   If I lay so we are walking on the pattern when we enter the room, wouldn't it look funny with the bed on it to the left, going the other direction?  That's the problem with a non-square pattern.  I don't know why I am liking the geometric carpets, I just do.  Maybe I should order the same carpet for the 2 bedrooms on the other end of the house....

And then I am messing with fabrics...

I am looking at Vervain, Bennison and Chelsea editions.   I will mull things over.  I pray for a very quiet November. And progress on the house.

Kitchen Remodel

If you've been following my sparse posts, you know I have moved and am having a house built.   Well, we got the keys to the house.  Hurrah.   This is what the kitchen looked like when we got the keys.

This is what the kitchen looks like now:

Sorry about the blurry cell phone picture. The wall is opened up so we can wire for cabinet lighting.  The tile is chipped up, the cabinets are (almost) gone.  In 10 days we get some fabulous cabinets.  I put free stuff on Craigslist and was happy to give things to people who couldn't afford much and were really excited about upgrading their kitchens and carpets.

Below is the door that Mark, a real craftsman, made up as a sample for me.

In the mean time, I have lots of decisions to make.   I have a Jack and Jill bathroom that needs some jazzing up.  Here's what I am thinking about:

It is calacatta marble tiles, 3" x 12"  Above it is in a diagonal herringbone.  Listed below are options of how to lay this type of tile.  What pattern would you pick?   I am tired of the herringbone, because I have done it a number of times.

After the house closed, we did take a break so we could feel like we had a summer.  We had thought we'd be in the house for a couple of months when we originally planned the trip. So we headed to Maui.

 My favorite place to go is the Grand Wailea.   It's hard to stay tense about remodeling in this beautiful setting!

When we land on Maui, like everyone else, we stop at Costco to get suntan lotion and sundries, and of course, tuberose leis. My daughter and I had fun spending the afternoon in a cloud of tuberose. (Grand Wailea gives you orchid leis on arrival)

I don't really know how to relax, but I did have fun taking walks on the beach and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Now it is back to work.  I can't wait to get out of this apartment into the house!

Summer Georgian Girl

I know I haven't blogged much even though there are alot of changes in my life.  The big move out of our family home has taken some getting used to.  I am thankful that I know all my treasures are boxed up somewhere.

We do get our new house this Friday, and I will share with you all that "downsizing" stuff and let you know if it's going to work.

In the mean time, I thought I'd share one of my treasures I got before I packed everything up for the move.

She's a lovely little girl isn't she?   I  just had to have her.  Thanks Ebay.  I still love my coral fabric toile on my chippendale child's chair.  Blogged about here.

Given that all my stuff is being stored, using chairs as easels seems to be a habit of mine.  It also keeps off overweight adults who don't have the sense to not sit on a fragile chair.

 Above is a lovely antique handcolored print.  I can't resist anything old.  What can I say.   I really do miss opportunities to find treasures.  

I am trying to de-stress by gardening these days.   Below are some summer photos of the garden in Calif.

The flower carpet roses are doing really well right now.  They surround a lavender bed which has another flush of lavender.  Below is a photo of the other side of the walk--instead of flower carpet roses we have drift roses.  They are a bit lower in height than the flower carpet.  However I do not like them as well as they don't bloom as much as the flower carpet roses.  Note--we planted Red flower carpet roses--not scarlet, which I think turns more pink.

My son-in-law loves gardening, and took care of the property for the past 3 years.  He planted a huge garden, tons of flowers and grasses.

The zinnias do a great job of coming back every year and filling up spaces with amazing color.

The trellises were a summer project.  I designed the end cuts, thanks to an antique plate providing the perfect round template.  That wasn't easy to do.  My job was to draw the pattern on the board.

The zinnias have jumped the sidewalk on the left, and are now headed towards the open space.  We'll see how far the wind blows those seeds!