I don't think I've ever been gone from my blog this long before!
I've missed it, and missed visiting so many of you too.
After Christmas we had my sister's family until the New Year, and then a few days later my parents' health began to decline. They live in Arizona and so I have been there, and been on the phone a lot to try to get them into a different living situation.
They are now in a care center, and so I feel much better knowing that they are being looked after. One thing I have learned from this is to live by at least one of your children as you get older. All 5 of us live very far away from my folks and it has been difficult for all of us.
Throw in 2 trips to Florida and it probably won't surprise anyone that I am still taking down Christmas decor. I had 8 trees this year and I am happy to say that as of last Sunday they are all put away!
It feels so good to have something back to normal.
We had our floors done last summer and I am still recovering. Here you can get a glimpse of the new color. This was hardwood before and we just had this area sanded down and restained a little darker.
As I put the house back together I am trying to be very purposeful about what I keep out and am trying to fill the back of my SUV with things I no longer need.
"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
William Morris
This quote has always been a favorite and I am keeping it in my mind as I slowly work through each room.
The dishes have been washed in the top of the hutch.
I have begun to look for gold and white china when I am at flea markets and antique stores. I have 12 inexpensive plates I bought at Nell Hill's ages ago, and I use them quite a bit. I have a few different Christmas salad plates that go with them, but nothing that wasn't seasonal. It is fun to hunt for them and I always try to buy even sets, either 2, 4 or 6 of a pattern.
I am trying to add more live plants. I do love them, but it is hard to keep up when I am gone so much. I am picking pretty hardy plants so far.
I am also keeping a punch list. Little, or big, jobs that need to be done, or things I would like to add to a room. The granite on this little server has been broken forever and I don't plan to replace it, but next time I have some stone work done I am going to see if they can mend it. If it wasn't on the list I would totally forget about it at that time.
I moved this little dish of foreign coins to try to cover it a little. I don't shop that much when we travel, but I love this dish of coins. I am so glad I saved them, because I think the year after we went to Germany and France they switched to the Euro. After our cruise this summer the dish is overflowing. I've always liked this dish that I bought in London at the airport.
The far wall has 2 oil paintings that remind me of Italy.
The wall color is not accurate in the photo below. It is more like the picture above.
Faux flowers I know, but I love the colors and the flowers.
Here is a better picture of the floors. You will be hearing more about the floors in more posts about the house. We had the entire first floor done, except for the library and the guest room and 2 bathrooms.
In ridding the kitchen of the red, I had some extra pots. I think they will go to the consignment store eventually but for now they found a home in the dining room and these 2 are strategically hiding the cord from the hutch.
I do like them, I just don't know if they are unnecessary clutter.
Probably yes, huh?
And just to show you the before, this is the house as it looked when we were house hunting.
We had all of the woodwork painted SW Designer White.
The walls in the living area are SW Jersey Cream. {the color of butter}
The dining room is SW Anjou Pear.
The only thing we kept was the chandelier:-)
We have lived here 5 years now, and the room is still basically the same as I first decorated it. I really don't plan any changes except for perhaps getting upholstered chairs at each end of the table.
The rug and the chair covers are from our previous home and so are about 8 ~ 9 years old. You can see that I don't change much over time.
I'll try and share the living area next week. It'll motivate me to keep on cleaning:-)
Joining Richella for her Grace at Home party.
