The Pictures Told the Truth

I took pictures and shared my daughter's former bedroom last week. It was looking at those pictures that let me know that I wasn't at all satisfied with the changes in that room. 

I spent the day thinking about it. I went shopping looking at new bedspreads, new furniture, etc. Just generally thinking about what I didn't like and how to make it better.

After spending most of this day thinking about many different possibilities, I came to the conclusion that the wall paint was something that had to change first.

When I chose that paint color, my daughter had a bright turquoise comforter with red and lime green in it. It was loud and proud. The green barrel chair worked with it. She had all different pictures hanging up in there. It was young and fun. The drapes worked with the wall because they balanced all the bright colors.

I realized that there is nothing green in the room anymore. It is just not working for me.

What got me to thinking about new paint color was really two things. I don't see me getting rid of the white bookcases right away, because they are solid wood and custom built. I may save them for a grandchild of my own:) In order for me to replace those with something really nice, it would be a big price tag. I still may do that, but I am going to give some other things a whirl.

I have several ideas for making it a bit more put together.

The second thing that led to paint color was the adjoining bathroom. We only have two paint colors on the wall in our home. Cliveden Sandstone by Valspar (Lowe's) and Silver Sage (an original Restoration Hardware paint). The first color is a very neutral tan in almost all of the rooms. Everything looks good with it.

The bathroom has that color and I love the look of the blue towels against it, so I am thinking it might make the blue drapes pop a bit... rather than blend in as they do now.

Stay tuned for the redo. It will take me awhile as I have a busy week this week.

I had to start tonight though, so I could see how it would look. One corner done.

Daughter's Bedroom / Guest Bedroom

I am sharing my daughter's old bedroom today. I am slowing changing it over to a guest bedroom. I am guessing it will always be Lindsay's room to us. My mom visits with us more now, and she stays in there, so I have made a few changes to accommodate her.

I have many things I would love to change out, but budget says it will be a long time before that happens. One of those is the white bookcases that flank both sides of the bed. They are great solid wood pieces that we have had since she was very little. 

It is interesting to look back at pictures of her bedroom as she has grown up. The bookcases tell the story. From dolls and stuffed animals to more books and TONS of framed photos of friends in high school.

I have changed out the two bottom shelves on the one above to hold many of the books I have not allowed myself to part with from the days of teaching. Oh, and two of the framed Barbie clothes were mine from when I was a very small little girl. Sometime in middle school, we framed them for her room

Like every girl her age, American Girl dolls were the thing. Her favorite was Molly. The shelf with the birthday girls were gifts from Nana. When Nana passed away, I found that she had purchased them all (goes up to age 16). Every year, I gave them to her on her birthday. These shelves were literally covered with photos, so I took them out of frames and tidied these up just a bit. She doesn't want to get rid of any of the books, so they will stay. Much like her Mama on that one.

Moving on...

The framed bird picture above the bed was actually a gift from my daughter last Christmas. I love birds, so she surprised me with it for Christmas this past year. I had seen it in a gift store in Destin and raved about it.

Added the birds from Hobby Lobby to match the painting.

Another favorite thing in the room is the barrel chair. It was left over from Nana's furniture when we moved into the house. It was pink, so we had it recovered. I absolutely adore pink, but my daughter does not. She is quite girly, but doesn't like pink or bows. Imagine that. It was quite distressful to me when she was three. I have moved past it.

The quilt is her crib quilt that her Grandma gave her.

I have added the glider for my mom to sit in when she comes.

I will tell you I wasn't at all crazy about the gold in this house when I moved in, but you have to love mirrors like this in all bedrooms. The gold has grown on me, and I am actually seeing a return of it in magazines.

Above the closet is one of the things I cross stitched Lindsay when she was born. 

This is the entry to the bedroom. There is an alcove that begins the room. Out the door to the right is the octagonal shaped foyer. 

Here is the remainder of that alcove.

The batik she did in art when she was in 8th grade.

I love my little chalkboard. My addition. Do you see that old fashioned teacher chalk holder?

Her dresser is an antique. It matches the nightstand. It had a bed, but the bed didn't survive. The dresser, however, is another thing. It is extremely heavy! There will be no moving it around to change up an arrangement. Even with the dovetailed drawers out, it is still unbelievably heavy.

The wall next to the dresser and at the foot of the bed contains a very special painting. It was bought in Germany in the early 1960's when my dad was stationed there. I am sure it was a sidewalk type vendor, but I have always been fascinated by it. I actually asked to have in my bedroom as a teenager and begged Mama for it along the way. 

I am not sure why I still like it, because I am definitely not a mountain girl. As a kid though, I just loved to imagine what it would be like to sit on that grassy area overlooking the water.

The bedroom opens into the bathroom. The door on the left goes into the bedroom. The door on the right back out into the foyer hallway, and behind me is the entrance from the kitchen hallway. So yes, guests have to close three doors to use the bathroom.

I would love to change out those white bookshelves, but let's face it..I am a book lover, so I have to have places to store books. I would love some dark stained book cases. It will be awhile before that happens, because when we moved those white bookcases into that room through that alcove, Hubby said they would stay there forever!

AND to boot, he actually struggled with me taking down all her photos of friends in there and homecoming ribbons, etc. that adorned the corners of her dresser mirror. 

It is way busier than I would like in there, but it is a process especially since her closet is still full! Not really room to box up more of the bookcase stuff and store in there.

I wouldn't really change all that though... She is my girl, and I am pretty much having trouble letting go the look of it being her room anyway.

Sandy

Adding Summer to the Decor

I have many coastal items that stay out year round in my home since I live on a bayou of Choctawhatchee Bay. They don't seem like summer to me, but just part of our natural environment. Lately though, I have added a few new items to the decor.

I saw these herons in Ross the other day. I thought they would look cute in my foyer since I had changed up things in there the other day. I thought the gold in them would match the gold in the candlesticks. I think they will be so cute at Christmas with red bows.

These walls are opposite of each other.

I added a dough bowl with shells to the guest bathroom. I am not sure I completely love it where it is placed. I am in love with the dough bowl and the shells, but haven't quite found the best place for it.

Other coastal things are in this bathroom year round.

Of course, I had already added the shells to the dining room table when I changed out the lamps on the buffet table. I am really loving the silver tray with the starfish.

Like I said, there are coastal things all over my home that stay up all year, as you can see in the clock in our stairwell.

I love the coastal life and summer even with its sweltering heat.

Sandy

A Year of Retirement

It has been a full year since I walked away from the classroom and into retirement. I will say it has not been all that I expected, but yet, oh so wonderful too.

With Mama being sick so much and the many trips to her house taking care of business following my step dad's passing, it has been much busier than I had hoped. I had visions of so much leisure time that hasn't quite panned out. However, I am very GRATEFUL that I wasn't teaching and trying to do all that has come about this past 12 months.

I have made an effort to enjoy my morning coffee on the deck and enjoy the great area I live in.

One of the things I haven't been able to do is sew. I have so many things I want to accomplish there, so I am going to try and make an effort to do more of that. The house will never be perfect, so I am going to have to settle for that and put in a bit more time on the things I long to do.

My latest projects have only been monogramming things my daughter has bought to give as shower gifts.

My cross stitch project that I started last June has been a wash. I just lost motivation. Got to work on getting it back.

I am looking forward to the second year of retirement, and I am hoping I can do a better job of living and doing, instead of worrying and fretting.

The latter I have done a little too much of this year.

Blessed and looking forward with anticipation,

Sandy

School's Out Party

My hubby is a principal of a local high school. Graduation was scheduled for Thursday evening for two of the high schools in our district. Well, one was able to do it, but not Hubby's school. Rain is one thing, but lightning another, so Hubby tried to postpone, but to no avail. Thursday evening ended up being a long and tense one trying to make the call when 4,000 people are in the stands waiting for your decision. One of his best friends was able to pull graduation off at the other high school with just rain.

Yesterday, they met again for the event. No lightning, but a deluge of rain. There is no space in the area large enough to bring it inside, so 450 graduates with Hubby and his administrative team got soaked. It was if the cloud of rain both nights was one spot off the radar....right over the high school.

To celebrate a year of hard work from his administrative team, we celebrated with a day outside on the bayou.

He has one of the best teams ever. They all get along so well. Such camaraderie is rare.

All of their children are elementary aged except for one, but she was a fish in the water. The kayak, paddle board, and floats were put to good use today, topped off with tubing.

The menu was spectacular and everyone ate well.

Menu

Grilled Pork Tenderloin (Hubby is quite famous for it in our friend group.)

Barbecued onions

Homemade sauce

Baked Beans

Corn Dip

Pound Cake

Peaches

Homemade Whipped Cream

I will be back on the diet tomorrow.

I think all really relaxed and enjoyed their time on the water. Cloud cover was intermittent all day, but I think that kept it from being too hot, so I was ok with that since we were all outside. The kids only came out of the water for eating. Even the adults all took a kayak or paddle board ride. 

All of the wives of the male administrators are teachers, so I know it was a great release for them too, as the last day for students was just Thursday. I was glad to kick off summer for all of them.

Looking forward to many more sunny summer days,

Sandy

Buffet Table Redo

One thing leads to another. I moved some things around in the foyer last week, redoing my foyer table.  I have wanted lamps for my buffet table for awhile. I have been so busy the last few months with taking care of Mama that I have done ZERO shopping. Today was the day I decided to just stop and do something I wanted. I started out at the beach, but only got to stay an hour. I know I live on the bayou, and I never ever get tired of that or forget how lucky I am, but there is just something so therapeutic about the beach. The Gulf view, emerald waters, and sand can calm stress like... well,  really nothing else. I only got an hour in before thunder. I don't do lightning at all, so I came home and cleaned up to go shopping. 

Shopping led to new lamps.

I hate that nowadays, there are few places to shop in Fort Walton Beach. Everything has moved to Destin. So usually, it is Destin or Pensacola for home purchases. I just was not in the mood to deal with the tourist traffic today for a Destin trip, so I shopped locally.

I started at Tuesday Morning and found cute lamps, but wrong shades. I almost passed Ross up even though it is in the same shopping center, but ended up stopping. Both of these stores in Fort Walton Beach are quite small compared to the Destin stores. I walked into Ross, and Bam!!! there was what I had in mind.

I purchased two gold buffet lamps, right height, and right color shades...TAUPE.

Then, to make sure I wasn't going to find something better, I drove on over to T J Maxx, and no, they had only silver. I love silver, but my house was built in the 80's, so it has gold galore.

Pleased, with my purchase, I came home, and plopped them on the dining room table. Off to take care of other things. 

Do you see Lemony, the Golden peeking over the table? I had a cookie while I was redoing things  and she was hoping there was a crumb left. Isn't she adorable?

Hubby left to go do the graduation thing as he is a high school principal. I don't go to graduation with him. I would just have to sit by myself, and quite frankly graduations are not so fun. Instead, I do Baccalaureate with him. (He just texted that they had to cancel because of the thunder storms. I am guessing he will not be in a good mood when he gets home.)

When he left I went into the dining room to set up my new lamps. I cut off my plastic and those TAUPE shades kind of looked gray. Hmmmm. Then, I put a bulb in and plugged them in, and danged if those shades are not amethyst.

I definitely am liking the look of the lamps on the buffet, but I am concerned about the color. I am not hating it...kind of like it, but hoping it matches. Dear Daughter says yes...I have decided to keep the lamps. Honestly, the price was a big YES, even if I have to change out the shades that were TAUPE in the store. 

I also changed out the table centerpiece. I have seen silver trays everywhere. I decided to pull mine out and do a little summer centerpiece. I am thinking that vase needs some white or coral roses.

I am guessing the store lights and plastic really threw me, because even turned off, they have purple in them.

Lastly, the bowl of shells on the buffet has an interesting piece in it. That ball of straw is called a hurricane ball. They are quite rare. A friend of mine found it after Hurricane Ivan just off the Eglin Runway.

This project is going to lead to more because I loved the lamp and candlesticks that I had in there, so I have to find them a new home.

Older version of buffet.

Candlesticks that have to find a new home.

Enjoying the opportunity to have time to move things around for a new look.

Sandy