I have wanted a wreath on my door for almost seven years now. Do I have one on my door? No, because I'm too cheap. I cannot tell you how many times I have gone to Hobby Lobby to buy the supplies to make my wreath, only to come home with a half eaten bag of chocolate covered peanut m&m's. I will someday be the proud owner of a door wreath, I know I can do it, but until then...
I did recently make a wreath for a very good friend of mine (who also has a beautiful front door) and have decided that if anyone would like to buy them then please contact me. They are available in (large)door size and (small)window size.

Isn't home such a sweet smelling place? I recently arrived home after 19 hours or so on the road, only to discover my home doesn't smell so great. It's a mixture of sulphur, decay and something undefinable. I had the gas company come out and we were all good there, except they had to install themselves on my list of "Really, don't call these people unless you are good and sure you have a gas leak". I say that because after telling me that I did not have a gas leak, he then told me that he had turned OFF my furnace AND my water heater (no I had not had the privilege of showering yet) for some various and not so very good reasons. He also said that I needed to have an HVAC guy come out and take a look at the problem. Welcome home to me! So HVAC is here and says it smells of sewer. Yum, I knew it was going to be good. So all of this to say, enjoy your sweet smelling home, I've got the smelling part cornered, just got to find the sweet.

Well I'm super excited about another idea that I plan on stealing from The Lettered Cottage

They recently did a very awesome makeover on a room in Virginia Beach for little $$. I want to take their idea of the bookcases to put in our family room for games, pictures, books and all that stuff that I don't want in my garage or sitting in the middle of the floor. As they mention on the segment, they just put a little crown moulding around the top to give it a custom look, and all the rest of it is purchased from Ikea. So check out what they did and stay tuned to see the same cool storage in our family room!

The Lettered Cottage

I had the perfect coffee table in mind, only problem was I couldn't find it anywhere! Well, at least not for the price I wanted. I finally scored big time as I browsed Craigslist yet again for the coffee table of my dreams. I love, love, love this table! It was all I had hoped for and more. Perfect for two busy boys and a husband that likes to set his feet on the table. It's already scarred and worn in all the right places and the green color it's painted on the bottom is just perfect. It even had a secret drawer! We only had to go 15 minutes to get it and with the price of $125 (birthday money) it was the one!!

So this one is actually for two favorite things, my great coffee table and for the best place to shop, Craigslist!

I have been working on these paintings for my sister for a few weeks now and everything was going fine until I got to the eggs in the nest. I have not been able to get them the right color no matter how many times I try. 3rd times a charm has not worked here. Anyway, lets hope they work in her room.

I have a lot of favorite things in my house. One of them is a little flower pot that I whitewashed then painted a 5 on the front and stuffed some moss in. It makes me smile everytime I see it. I love it when something so simple can add so much. Like a fresh bouquet of flowers, a well grouped collage of picture frames, a few old books stacked together or a fresh roll of toilet paper. It doesn't take much...

My biggest and slowest project right now is our boys bathroom. I have been taking my sweet time on it, mainly because it is a little hard to paint and cut wood with two little boys around. Excuses aside now, I'm being really slow, but I'll show you where it started and where it is now...


Before (previous owners):









Where we are now:









I think there is some extra little hands in there, but you get the idea. So far all I have done is take down the wallpaper, start painting a custom color blue from Home Depot and repaint the mirror. Next up I will be finishing the painting, put up board and batten and hang some curtains. Right now it looks worse than when I started, but we're headed in the right direction. We'll see what happens from here.

One of my favorite things in the whole world of decorating is before and afters. So I have a few that are semi done (is anything ever truly done?) Check out my before and afters from time to time since I am always working on something.


Before Bedroom (previous owners):




The somewhat After Bedroom:



I still plan to repaint a soft white, lay some wood flooring and change out some of the pillows.
I think these two very different pillows are perfect. Of course you can also find some amazing, awesome pillows at http://www.etsy.com/ along with thousands of other amazing, awesome things.





I cannot remember where this one came from, but I hope to find one like it or make one





Country Living

What do you think about family traditions? I have to say that I have mixed feelings. If they are my family traditions then they are great, but if they are someone elses then they are dumb. Wait, I think the problem is that I'm just jealous that I didn't think of the idea first. So all in in all I think they are pretty cool.

My oldest sister started a pretty cool one with the birth of our first nephew years ago and has continued it for each of the 12 grandchildren that have followed (more to come too!). She had a pewter cup engraved with their name and birth date. They are timeless heirlooms that make you feel a little richer each time you look at them. Granted I would feel even more rich if they were silver, but she's not made out of money. So, she now has two little girls of her own and I took it upon myself to continue the tradition for her girls. I found some beautiful cups at Shirley Pewter Shop in Williamsburg , VA. I didn't actually go there, but purchased them on the website http://www.shirleypewtershop.com/.

So tell me what your traditions are, and don't mind if I steal your idea.

I have to be honest, I've always thought blogging was dumb...

Then I learned what blogging actually was.

I am totally and completely in love with it!

I try not to over think this because if I do, then I'm afraid I will go back to my previous conclusion (never).

So here I am. Right now I don't have too much to say, but stick around, check in from time to time and I'll come up with something. I always do.

Until then....

Jillian