Guest Bedroom #2 – The Turquoise Room

On October 10, 2015October 11, 2015 By ArlynnIn Home Tour3 Comments

Hi All,

I debated about what I wanted this room to be for months and many options came to mind, how about making it into a craft room? Since it sits on the front of the house and has great light it would make a lovely place to be creative. Or, maybe it would make a great office, or possibly we could turn it into a nice upstairs rec room. In the end I ended up making it a guest bedroom. I don’t need that room to be any of those other things, but, now that it is a bedroom it has already been utilized several times to house visitors. I decided to use turquoise as the accent color because, one, it is my daughter’s favorite color and she had claimed this room as hers when she comes to spend the night, and two, because I love how turquoise pairs with khaki; I had already chosen and hung the curtains in a khaki color (the same curtains that I used downstairs in the living and dining rooms and upstairs in the Happy Room). In addition, I had found the bedding in Bed, Bath, & Beyond and I wanted to use something that would pop against that choice.

We didn’t have extra bedroom furniture left over from our other home to put in this room, so we needed to buy new, but, we decided not to spend a ton of money creating the wheel (so to speak). So, one day while looking at the IKEA website, we stumbled across these turquoise bedside tables!

I knew it was meant to be, so off we went to do a little shopping at IKEA. We ended up purchasing 2 bedside tables, a queen sized mattress, a white bed frame and headboard, a full length mirror, two white lamps, and a white table to be used as a tv stand.

After I had the furniture in place, the bed made up with the comforter, pillow shams, added the throw pillows, and hung mirror on the wall. I started searching for the accent pieces that would help to bring this room to life.

Here are some of the turquoise and khaki colored accent pieces that I found one day when I was shopping specifically for this room. These items are from several different stores…World Market, Hobby Lobby, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

We already had that little table, we painted it white and I found that basket that is housing the towels at IKEA on the same day that we purchased the furniture.

I got the canvas picture that is over the bed at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for 80% off. What a deal!!

I found this sweet little chair at World Market and I used a $50 off coupon on the day I purchased it and the pillow.

My hubby painted parts of the ceiling fan in a turquoise color…spiffy! 🙂

I made this burlap wreath, I absolutely love owls and had already found others to use as accents around the room! So, when I found that owl in Hobby Lobby, I snatched it up to use in this wreath.

As I do in all of the bedrooms, I leave a little basket of goodies on the end of the bed for those who might forget to pack something.

In the end, this turned out to be a lovely room full of warmth and a bit of charm thrown in for good measure. My hope is that anyone who might to stop by to stay for a spell will lay their head down in this room and will feel the love with which it was created engulf them like a warm snuggly blanket.

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

Alaska – Voyage of the Glaciers – Days 1 & 2

On October 9, 2015March 26, 2017 By ArlynnIn Vacations13 Comments

Hi There,

My hubby and I love to cruise…especially to Alaska…and considering that that’s the only place that we’ve ever cruised, we’re experts…haha. NOT really, I’m just messin’ with y’all. But, we have cruised there 4 times and we’ve done the same exact cruise “The Voyage of the Glaciers (Southbound)” every single time. I’m excited to share this journey with you all; if any of you ever get the chance to go and experience Alaska, please don’t hesitate to do so, the grandeur and sheer beauty will be ensconced in your mind for the rest of your life. (Update: We’ve now cruised to Hawaii and I’ve written an entire Blog Series about that awesome cruise on the Star Princess, here is a link if you are interested).

I will admit that even though we were heading on a grand adventure, I was going to completely miss my pups. We’re so lucky that one of our daughters lives close enough to us and she doesn’t mind coming to dog/house sit while we’re away…I’m eternally grateful to her for that. Here I am saying goodbye to Samson:

So, here we go, instead of jamming the entire cruise into one blog post, I will be splitting it up and adding one post per day of the cruise (with the exception of this one and my next one which will cover our two days of scenic cruising). 🙂

Here was our Itinerary:

We always travel a day early because we learned the hard way that if your plane breaks down on the tarmac there is likely not another flight that will get you to Alaska in time to catch your cruise ship. <~~~ That is exactly what happened to us the very first time we booked this cruise, thankfully, Princess Cruises was awesome, and we were able to rebook that cruise for later that summer, but talk about disappointed…yep, that about covers how we felt on that fateful day .

So, the first day of our vacation was spent traveling to Anchorage, Alaska.

If you are planning a trip to Alaska and if you happen to travel on a clear day, once you get into Alaska and are about an hour from landing be sure to look out your jet’s window and take a look at the breathtaking beauty that appears…just a sampling of what Alaska has to offer.

Here is a little video I took from our jet’s window of these most awesome scenery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rYH7FrgJIE&index=1&list=PL7IYwAf6RPtxDaiULJS4gnc0zUQ7QDcT1

I’m always amazed at the wildlife that resides *in* the Anchorage airport. 😉

Let me first say that we always let Princess handle all of our transfers to and from the airport and we let them handle booking any hotel accommodations that are needed before and/or after the cruise. They also handle all baggage, once you retrieve it from the baggage claim at the airport and drop it with your awaiting Princess Representative, you don’t need to touch it again (other than to retrieve what you need out of it at the hotel because they deliver it to your room and then come and collect it the morning of the cruise and the next time you see it it is sitting outside your Stateroom on the ship). They, of course, transferred us too, from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the cruise ship. It is a bit pricey but worth it for the peace of mind. So upon landing in Anchorage, we found our Princess Rep and she directed us to the motor coach that would take us to our hotel for one night, the Hotel Captain Cook which is located in downtown Anchorage. It is a beautifully appointed hotel and we enjoyed our stay there.

We had a wonderful night’s sleep in the hotel and the next morning we went out into Anchorage to do a little shopping. To say that the streets were not bustling is an understatement, lol. 😉 It is a lovely city though, nice and clean, and the people are all so very pleasant. 🙂

We then caught our motor coach and began the trip to our cruise ship; this cruise starts in Whittier, Alaska which is a deep water port that can only accommodate one cruise ship at a time; the Alaska railroad also runs to Whittier (it was built during World War II and it became the way the Army entered Alaska). On our way to Whittier, we traveled along the Seward Highway right beside the Turnagain Arm. It is a beautiful drive, absolutely beautiful!

Here is a little video snippet of our motor coach ride:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKEGkqqk3cM&index=2&list=PL7IYwAf6RPtxDaiULJS4gnc0zUQ7QDcT1

We stopped along the way to take a look at the Portage Glacier.

There is only one road leading into Whittier and that is where the road ends. In order to reach Whittier you need to go through the one lane Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel; they change the direction of traffic every 15 minutes. The tunnel accommodates cars, buses, trucks, and trains. When you exit the tunnel, you can then lay your eyes on your mode of transportation for the next 7 days–your cruise ship, in our case, The Coral Princess.

The embarkation process is always quite painless with Princess and this day was no exception. From stepping off of the motor coach to stepping aboard the Coral Princess, no more than 45 minutes passed. The first thing that we did was go and find our stateroom, a mini-suite with a balcony; I would highly recommend a balcony stateroom while cruising in Alaska, there is *always* something gorgeous awaiting your gaze and it hardly ever gets dark (kinda messes with your mind…haha). We then went out to explore our ship and the pretty scenery that was already abounding around us.

Every person that resides in Whittier lives in that large apartment building

Once the ship set sail, we headed back to our stateroom to unpack. We were so excited for our first stop the next day and the day after that. We’d be doing “scenic cruising” to Hubbard Glacier and through Glacier Bay. The beauty that we witnessed will be the subject of my next entry in this Alaska – Voyage of the Glaciers series.

A sneak peek into Glacier Bay:

***Update*** I’ve now completed all of my installments in the Voyage of the Glaciers Series and have included links to the next post in line (so to speak) at the end of each posting. So, here is a link to the next post and it covers our time at Hubbard Glacier & Glacier Bay .

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn

I’ve also written two other blog posts that go hand in hand with these blog entries. Here is a link to my Alaska Wardrobe Choices entry. And here is a link to my What’s In My Carry On, My Must Haves, and Packing Tips and Tricks entry. 🙂

Guest Bedroom #1 – The Happy Room

On October 9, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Home Tour4 Comments

Hi Y’all!

Continuing on with my “Home Tour”, here I will be highlighting the first of 3 upstairs guest bedrooms. My hubby and I have dubbed this room “The Happy Room” because of the bright colors and whimsical decor.

I found the quilt, pillow shams, & throw pillows in Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I’ve built the rest of the room’s decor around those vibrant colors; pinks, oranges, yellows, “happy” colors. 🙂 The room’s furniture is kind of a hodgepodge, we’ve had the headboard and dresser for years and years, my hubby made one of the end tables to match. The other white end table, the vanity, and the ‘towel rack’ were items that we had in our other house and I just decided to incorporate into this room. I chose panel curtains with oil-rubbed bronze grommets (they are the same as the curtains in the living and dining rooms downstairs only in white); the curtain rods and tie back hooks are also in oil-rubbed bronze.

I found this picture on sale at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and I couldn’t pass it up, the colors match the quilt set perfectly. I found those three doves at an online store, they are pretty heavy, but they were not expensive at all.

I found these sconces at Hobby Lobby for 50% off one day, they match the picture that I put over the bed perfectly! 🙂

I fill baskets full of little goodies and I leave one on the bed of each guest room. I include items such as shower gel, hand cream, chap stick, a loofa, bandaids, etc…I know when I travel, I invariably forget something, so I want to provide our guests with some little necessities just in case they have done the same. 🙂

I found that orange shelf at our local Home Goods store along with that sweet tea pot and tulip candle holder. The glass plate standing up in the back was purchased on the same day that I found the quilt because it matched perfectly and I couldn’t pass it up. Arranging the items on that shelf was so much fun! I included many different accent pieces, but, I used the same technique that I always use to do my Cozy Corners.

I found these cute little canvas pictures at JoAnns Fabrics on sale (I would never pay what that price tag says for something like those). I got the mirror at Hobby Lobby for 80% off…*Score*!!

I made that deco mesh wreath, this is one of the first wreaths that I made on a 24″ wreath form and it turned out to be huge! I found that little metal owl plaque with the saying “Most People Are As Happy As They Choose To Be” and that was the inspiration for that wreath. I think it fits into “The Happy Room” nicely. 🙂

We decided to install a white ceiling fan in the room; my hubby came up with a great idea, he painted some of the brackets on the fan to match the room colors…sweet!

I have found that when I’m out and about shopping that I stumble across all sorts of things that match this room, so I’ve been picking stuff up here and there–all on sale– for quite a little while. Here are some of the things that have found their way into this “Happy Room”. 🙂

I put this little arrangement together to sit on the dresser:

This hall bathroom serves 2 of the 3 bedrooms upstairs, but it sits beside the Happy Room, so I went ahead and decorated it to match and gave it a similar feel.

My hope is that when folks come to visit and they choose to stay in The Happy Room, that it puts a smile on their face and makes them feel cheerful, content, and comfortable.

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

The Upstairs Landing

On October 8, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Home Tour4 Comments

Hi Everyone!

We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms on the upper level of our home and this landing is what greets you as you get to the top of the staircase.

At first, I wasn’t going to do anything with it up there, but, once I started decorating the bedrooms, I felt as if I wanted to do a little something against the one railing that looks over into the foyer.

These two chairs are so comfortable and cushy. I did special order them and the round wooden table that is snugged between them at a local furniture store. My hubby thought I was crazy when I chose that whimsical pattern for the chairs, but I loved it and I wanted that space to be completely inviting and those chairs to in effect call you to them inviting you to sit and just relax. 😉

This is what you see when you are sitting in one of those chairs:

The upstairs landing isn’t a huge space, but it is a comfy space where guests can gather and chat while they get ready. Again, my goal is to decorate in a way that makes people feel welcome, comfortable, warm, and cozy. This is one place where I feel that I’ve achieved my goal. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

The Living and Dining Rooms

On October 7, 2015October 21, 2015 By ArlynnIn Home Tour3 Comments

Hi All,

Many people have asked me why we built a home that had a living, dining, *&* family room…”why did we need that much space”? Well, first off, we have had the dining room furniture for a couple of decades and I wasn’t willing to part with that, not to mention the fact that I totally fell in love with these rooms. They are bright and airy and flow beautifully from one to the other. I wouldn’t say that I’ve created a strong “country” style in these rooms, it is more of a subtle touch of country here and there. The staircase that you’ve seen in the pictures of our family room separates the front and the back of our house. The living and dining rooms sit on the front of the house and the picture below shows you the view as you walk into the front door, dining room to the left, living room to the right, and the family room, straight through the foyer separated by a little hallway:

And if you look straight up, you can see the landing up on the 2nd level:

Here is the foyer looking through the family room straight through to the front door:

As I explained in my Mud Room, Powder Room, Kitchen Eating Area, & Family Room post, we purchased these rugs from a local carpet store. We chose a nice piece of carpeting and had rugs cut to our measurements and had them bind the edges. This soft gray color with a touch of a khaki & cream is what we chose for these two rooms. We also chose a cream colored piece of carpet for the foyer rugs.

Both the living and dining rooms are pretty much the same size the only difference being that the dining room has a tray ceiling and the living room has a large bay window at one end. The dining room furniture is every bit of 25 years old and because it wasn’t used too much in our other home, it is still in great shape. We did purchase all new furniture for the living room before we moved into this house and when we did that, I ordered a bolt of the same material that the couch was made from so that we could reupholster the dining room chairs to match.

Here is the dining room, the hutch and the sideboard were mine, but the little hutch on the left was my Grandmother’s:

This lamp is another keepsake that was passed down to me from my Grandmother, it sits atop my sideboard. I sat it on a tray and decorated around it, this is the arrangement that I created for Fall.

Here is the living room:

I especially love it at Christmastime, last year I purchased a white Christmas tree and placed it in the bay window…Trust me, it *will* go back there again this year. 🙂

This was my Grandmother’s Secretary, she would always keep it closed and I used to love to play in it when I was a little girl, but one day I had a little epiphany and decided to open the big front door and do a bit of decorating inside of the Secretary. I’ve really enjoyed creating new groupings on top of that opened door.

These are the most comfy chairs and they recline! I chose a soft green color to be used as an accent in these rooms, that color runs through the paisley in these chairs. They set the tone for both rooms decor.

I chose very basic curtains for these rooms; they are drapery panels sheered on with square oil rubbed bronze grommets; we chose oil rubbed bronze curtain rods and tie back hooks as well. I purchased them from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, unfortunately, I am not able to find them and provide you with a link. My apologies!

**Side note: All of the light fixtures, faucets, and door hardware on this level are in oil-rubbed bronze.**

Here is a shot of the foyer rugs and the three pups posing so prettily:

I couldn’t be happier with how these rooms have turned out, I’ll go into the living room to sit in one of those comfy chairs to read, talk on the phone, work on my blogs, or just relax; the ‘feel’ in there is soft and calming. I’m a pretty high-strung lady at times and these rooms help me to find my “off switch”. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

How To Make A Bow Tutorial (Video)

On October 7, 2015October 8, 2015 By ArlynnIn Uncategorized9 Comments

Hi All,

I’ve made y’all a little “How To Make A Bow” tutorial…I hope this helps any of you who might like to attempt to make one. In this video, I make two bows, the first one is with a one-sided, (meaning it has a back and a front) burlap ribbon and I made the second one out of a double-sided wired country plaid ribbon. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below. 🙂

~Arlynn ❤

The Laundry Room–Our Creation

On October 6, 2015September 9, 2016 By ArlynnIn Home Tour4 Comments

Hi All,

How about if we take a tour of our laundry room. I’m sure to most people, the laundry room is about the least interesting room in the house, but to me, well, yes, it meets all of the necessary needs regarding doing laundry, but this room is so much more to me. 🙂 This is also where I feed the pups, do all of my ironing (trust me, I don’t do much of that), where the hubby washes out dirty brushes, or his dirty shoes and honestly we do a myriad of other tasks that I can’t think of at this moment in time. This is more of a utility room than a laundry room…and get this, it sits right on the front of our house. I have to be honest and tell you that I did baulk at that idea when I first saw the floor plans, but we went with this model because we loved the rest of the home so much. Now that we’ve arranged it just how we want it to be, it is actually located in the perfect place; I can be nosy and look out those the two windows when I iron–not that there is anything but deer and woods to look at, but both things are sure pretty. 😉 Anyway, let me explain how we brought this empty space to life and made it exactly what we wanted and needed it to be. 🙂

First, the color of the ceramic tile floor is almost a terra-cotta color–a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I loved it so much, I went with it and am so that glad I did…it is the perfect color for that room and snugs up nicely to the dark hardwood floor in the hallway. I ordered those curtains to match the floor from Country Curtains and I will say they were pretty pricy, mostly because I needed them to be 96″ long (yikes), but worth the cost, they are such nice quality and I know they will last me a good long time in there.

We didn’t pay our builder to put one thing in this room except that we did ask that it be plumbed for a sink on the opposite wall to where the washer and dryer would be located. My hubby installed every cabinet that you see in these pictures; he purchased them online at Kitchen Cabinet Kings, unfortunately, he just told me the other day that they no longer sell these fronts…good thing we got all that we needed.

We chose to go with a cream color cabinet in there because of the dark flooring and to have something a smidge different. We used the same cabinetry hardware in there as we did in the kitchen. And best of all, he installed a “trash can” cabinet, but…guess what I keep in there? The dog food!! Yep, what a little bonus! No more hauling around huge bags of dog food (for my huge doggies…Meet the Pups <there). You would not believe how much that cabinet helps me each and every day. 🙂

Here is the faucet and the counter top:

Shoot, I even made a wreath to hang in there…lol…I’m shaking my head and chuckling at myself for doing that. 😉

Now that this room is complete, we couldn’t be happier with it, yes, it is a pretty room to look at, but it also functions beautifully. 🙂

***UPDATE- 9/9/16***

My hubby has done a little work in our laundry room as of late and I’m excited to show you what he has completed. 🙂 When he ordered the cabinets he has also ordered crown molding to go across the top and a light rain to go across the bottom of the upper cabinets. Also, we had purchased ceramic tile a while back, and he installed a backsplash. Here are some pictures of the *now* completed laundry room:

We are thrilled with the final result, the prettiness of this room now matches the functionality; it is definitely one of the most used rooms in the house. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

Meet the Pups

On October 6, 2015August 1, 2016 By ArlynnIn My Dogs3 Comments

Hi All,

To say that I am a better person because of my dogs, well, that is a no-brainer. They love me unconditionally each and every day, they are never in a bad mood, they think that all of my opinions are right, they don’t judge me, they don’t mind if I spend all day crafting or reading or just sitting–which I never do, but they wouldn’t mind if I did. They are as sweet as sweet can be…honestly, there is not a mean bone in any of their little (well big) bodies. ❤

So here we go…

This is Gracie, she is a Golden Retriever and she is 9 years old. She is a special girlie who can do every trick in the book and then some. She is as smart as a whip, no kidding, this girl can learn a new trick in minutes. She can “close” doors–doesn’t matter what kind of door, cabinets are her favorite thing to close, she can sit pretty, give a high-5, and a high-10, speak, spin, roll over, fetch, stay (for hours), come when called (thank goodness); I’m sure I’m forgetting some of her tricks, but, the girl is amazing! The Newfs adore her and they all play and live together beautifully. Gracie loves her toys and still tries to play tug-o-war with Samson. She has started to have a few health problems, but we watch her closely and care for her lovingly when she isn’t feeling her best. She is an wonderful little lady…Miss Gracie Mae….yes, indeed, just wonderful! ❤

This is Sophie, she is a Newfoundland, and will soon be 9 years old. Her big personality matches her physical bigness, she weighs 161 lbs. and is 32″ at the withers (yes, she is bigger than the “Standard” Newf…more to love in my humble opinion). 🙂 This girl was quite an ornery puppy, in fact, there was the one time that while trying to retrieve a ball from under a couch, she literally pulled said couch away from the wall and into another room in order to capture the ball again <~~~ That is a true story! lol She has calmed down in her older age, although, she is still as agile as can be, she runs like the wind, and is as animated as the day is long. When we were building this house, we’d let her ride along with us over here every day so she got accustomed to her ride (you know we went *just* for her…<~~ in her mind anyway), so now-a-days at 2pm every single day, without fail, I take her for a little ride around our neighborhood—no, I do *not* spoil my dogs… <~~~ I just told a big fib! lol 😉 But, Sophie gets so much joy out of that little ride each day, I just can’t deny her. 🙂 This girl doesn’t have any health issues! Her white muzzle and eye lashes and brows are the only way that one can tell she is getting up in age. She is as strong as an ox and I feel as if she will be with us for many years to come. ❤

This is Samson, he is also a Newfoundland, he will be 6 years old soon, and he is a very special fella. Yes, he is huge, he weighs 148 lbs. and is 30-1/2″ at the withers (exactly what the “Standard” calls for). Samson has a sweetness about him that is undeniable, this boy has never met a stranger and has put many smiles on many peoples faces. His favorite pastime is laying his head in peoples laps when they tell him to “Come say hi”. ❤ My Mom, who passed away a few years ago, was in a nursing home for the last several years of her life (Alzheimer’s–hate it). Whenever I would go and visit her, I’d take Samson along with me, trust me when I say that this boy was much loved in that nursing home; his very nature was meant to help people feel better. Here are a few pictures of him at the nursing home, he was amazing:

Now-a-days, Sam spends his time lounging, playing, and enjoying folks around town when I take him out and about. I do not take him to nursing homes any longer…too tough for me honestly. BUT, he still puts plenty of smiles on plenty of peoples faces. 🙂 He is very healthy, yes, he does have a few joint issues, but we are supplementing him for that, a few skin issues now and again, we are managing those as well. All in all, he is a very special pup that I feel was meant to be in our family. ❤

I would be totally lost without these pups in my life, yes, I’m a crafter, but, I’m a Mom first and foremost…to my human girls yes, but also, to my pups. They enrich my life in so many ways; they calm me when I’m not having the best of days, they put a smile on my face every day, they make me giggle when they are romping around and playing, or running in the snow…they make me happy when I see how they make others happy when they greet them exuberantly. Well, they make my life whole. Yes, I am one of *those* dog Moms…haha. 😉

~Arlynn

Mud Room, Powder Room, Kitchen Eating Area, & Family Room

On October 5, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Home Tour9 Comments

Hi All,

One of the reasons that my hubby and I chose this model of home to build was because we loved the open and airy feel of the entire floor plan. In this little post, I will highlight what you see as you enter our house from the garage. First, you pass through a mud room and as you enter the main house, you can look past the kitchen table (kitchen is to the left) and on into the family room. We have 9′ ceilings throughout the entire house, except for the kitchen, it has a cathedral ceiling and the family room’s ceiling soars up to about 18′ (it is completely open up to the second story); the high ceilings really add to the open feeling of the whole house.

Here is the mud room as you enter from the garage:

And if you go to the doorway that leads into the kitchen’s eating area and turn around, this is what you see:

As you enter the kitchen eating area, to the right there is a little hallway with the powder room on one side and a coat closet on the other side and at the end of the hallway you enter the laundry room. You can see the hallway leading to the laundry room to the right in this picture.

I’ll talk about the powder room next. The builder offered a pedestal sink and an oval mirror with a small light above it as their standard. We knew we wanted a little something more substantial in there as it is a pretty large powder room so after we moved in we decided to purchase a new vanity, wood framed mirror and light (from Home Depot). Here are a couple of before and after shots for you:

Moving on into the kitchen’s eating area, as I mentioned above, if you stand at the mud room door and look through, you can see straight past the kitchen table into the family room.

We purchased a new kitchen table, chairs, and hutch for this home and I wanted to make sure that the kitchen table didn’t get ruined because invariably, things ‘land’ on that table and it was just a matter of time before something sharp landed and scratched that pretty top. So we ordered a table pad with leaves included from Affordable Table Pads. This table has 2 leaves and we were able to purchase the table pad with two removable leaves (with magnets on the edges so that the leaves stay in place when on the table). I love it!

Here is a view from the staircase of the mud room doorway on the left, the kitchen table and the kitchen .

Next, let me tell you about the rugs that are under the kitchen table and on the family room floor. We went to a local carpet store (I’m sure that Lowe’s or Home Depot would do this sort of thing as well) and chose a piece of carpeting that we liked with a subtle pattern and neutral color and we had them cut them to a size (we provided them with the exact measurements) and they the bound the edges. We found that this was much more cost effective than purchasing large rugs. Admittedly, we had to choose pretty high-end carpeting because they told us that the binding holds up better on better quality carpeting, made sense to us, so we went with it. We’ve lived in this house for 2 years now and our rugs still look brand new, I am so happy with how they turned out and the design we chose pairs beautifully with all seasons and with our decor. Here is a picture of the pattern and color we chose for the kitchen/family room rugs (the ones in the living and dining room are a slightly different color, I’ll show you those rugs when I write about those rooms):

The family room is one of my very favorite rooms in the house. I love the open staircase, that wall of windows, and the height of the ceiling. The gas fireplace serves as a wonderful focal point, and I have so enjoyed decorating it up as the seasons pass.

And a couple of shots from the other direction:

One of my major concerns when moving into this home was how in the world was I going to make this home look and feel warm with decor. I have worked diligently to *not* over decorate, but, instead to subtly bring Southern warmth and charm into our home with a touch of country but without the cluttered look that I felt I had at my previous home. I’d love to change the paint color to a warmer color (nothing too wild, just like a sandpiper color or possibly a little darker), but other than that, I’m extremely happy with how things have turned out. 🙂

My hope in showing you these pictures of our home as a whole will help you to ‘see’ my crafts, groupings, and arrangements and how I’ve tried to bring them all together to create one complete decor theme. By keeping the basic color of the furniture, rugs, flooring, and walls in more of a neutral pallet, it lends itself to being able to accent with color or design for whatever event or season for which you are decorating.

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

The Kitchen

On October 4, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Home Tour6 Comments

Hi Y’all!

What better place to start my home tour posts than the kitchen, it is definitely the heart of our home and my very favorite room in our house. In fact, this kitchen is one of the major reasons why we built this model. We did throw quite a bit of extra money into the kitchen, we upgraded the cabinets, the countertops, the faucet, the appliances, the hood was extra, and we added more recessed lighting (because it has a cathedral ceiling in there and the lighting provided from the builder was not gonna cut it). The hardwood floors were also an upgrade.

Let’s go through our chosen materials and finishes:

The cabinets are KraftMaid, the uppers are 42″ high, and the color is called “Autumn Blush”. The cabinet doors and drawers are all “full coverage” meaning it would be next to impossible to open them if they didn’t have handles on them. All of the doors and drawers are “soft close”, there is no way one can slam anything shut. 😉 All you need to do is push and the doors and drawers gently close softly.

We chose to put a large crown molding around the tops of the cabinets, and a piece of molding around the bottom called a light rail. Those two pieces of molding really make those cabinets pop!

Here is the under cabinet lighting, I’m thinking that eventually we will change it out for more ambient lighting. But, it is fine for now, in fact, the flouresent lights aren’t as harsh as I thought they might be.

My hubby is quite handy and is a pretty savvy online shopper; he saved us a ton of money with those door pulls. The cabinet company was going to charge us $25 a piece installed, yes, I said *a piece* for each one of those door pulls. Complete highway robbery in my humble opinion! Yes, they are quite pretty and nice and heavy and they were including the labor for installation in that cost, but $25 a piece? Ridiculous! My hubby found them online for $7 a piece and purchased enough of them for every door and drawer. Now, I’ve seen in other homes where folks choose a knob for uppers and a pull for lowers, or vice versa. We chose these pulls for all doors and drawers and I love how they look. AND **bonus** we didn’t have to pay an installation fee, my hubby made jigs and drilled the holes and installed every single door and drawer pull, 60 in all–better him than me…goodness knows I would not trust myself to drill holes in those pretty cabinets!

One spiffy upgrade that we chose was a trashcan cabinet. In our other home, I used to keep a trashcan under the sink, I’m not one who enjoys seeing a trashcan sitting out on the floor, so even though we had a small kitchen in our previous home, part of the under the sink space was utilized for a trashcan. So this is a real luxury for me.

Now for the counter top and backsplash choices, to say we struggled with these choices is an understatement. I wanted to keep the kitchen’s color pallet in a more classic hue. Adding splashes of color via paint and decor is always a better option in my opinion. So we chose earth tones. The counter top’s granite is called “Santa Cecelia Gold” and the backsplash is a travertine tile in beige tones. I feel that these colors paired beautifully with one another and also contrasted nicely with the hardwood and cabinet colors. I was glad these choices were finally made; I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights I had while making these decisions. I know how expensive it is to redecorate a kitchen and I didn’t want to have to do that…well, really…ever, so these choices were some of the most important that we made. 🙂

The island! I love the island! It has a pretty curved bump-out on one side where three chairs sit utilized by many people as they keep us company while we cook or while I craft. 🙂 It has tons of storage space underneath of it as well. It is 8′ long and 4′ wide at the widest point. We use this island for tons of things, but, mostly, it is my creative hub. 🙂 I make all of my crafts on this island..of course many other uses are just as important, like setting dinner out, or setting up a buffet for larger gatherings. It is awesome and I cannot say enough good things about it. 🙂

The triple windows along the back wall are another one of my favorite features, I did an entire blog post here showing you how I change the window decor out as the Seasons change.

There is also a walk-in pantry that holds anything and everything including our wireless router and printer.

I composed a Blog post that describes how I came up with the decor that is arranged on top of the cabinets. Here is a link to that post.

I cannot express to y’all enough how much I adore our kitchen, and again, I feel so humbly blessed that we are able to enjoy it from now on, this is definitely the last house we will ever have and we waited for a long time to build exactly what our vision was for our retirement years. 🙂

Until the next time, y’all take good care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

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