Show Us Where You Live Friday - Foyers & Entrances

I'm a little late, but this week is Foyers and Entrances over at Kelly's Korner Blog. I wanted to show you what "staging" and "neutralizing" looks like when you have a very custom home. When we purchased this house, we LOVED the colors. Some people call us crazy, and the house was actually priced DOWN because of all the color and the fact that most buyers would never have the furniture to match such color.

But this house was the builder's house of the neighborhood, and had all kinds of custom features. He put a lot of extra money in to this home, and as a real estate agent, I knew what a deal we had gotten. In fact, during negotiations, the sellers (builders) realized they might have priced the home too low and tried to get rid of us by extending the deadline, yada yada, but we wouldn't budge. We had to wait months to get in, but it was worth it. I've never loved a house more than this one. Too bad all the bedrooms were upstairs because if we lived there now, I'd be sleeping on the couch in the living room since I can't do any stairs with my nerve damage/numb legs and feet situation with balance issues.

So here are the original colors: (I negotiated that rug into the purchase price, because I knew it was from Pottery Barn, expensive AND tied all the colors together.)

The builder's mother was an interior designer and you can see the wall color matching the custom carpet edging, and if you've seen the kitchen photos from previous tours, you will see the dark green repeated in the counter tops.


Here is a better photo of the rug.


When we knew we were moving to another state, we had to get rid of that navy carpet and dark paint to maximize price, as the market had started to slow. If I had to do it over again, I would probably have picked a buttery gold for the walls, but this light green was really popular and in all the builder's models. I HIGHLY recommend you go visit the model homes to get an idea what is popular in your area when making these decisions.


We left color in the office and the sunroom, but had all other rooms painted. The only room in this house that did not have deep, dark gorgeous color was the hall bathroom upstairs. It was crazy!
And if you've noticed that the office to the right keeps changing colors (it actually went from navy, the color it was when we moved in, to beige to a deep gorgeous plum), click here - Paint Party - for the explanation and photos of that adventure!


If you would like to see all the colorful photos from the entire tour, click HERE. As I've discussed, I HAVE to have color in my life. You can always paint over it if you don't like it, get tired of it, change decorating styles, etc. Studies show color affects mood, and mood affects everyone, right?

Thanks for visiting!

One of my favorite photos

This is Ryan, our now 20 year, when he was 6 months old. So cute!

Andrew is in town

Always the planner (not) lol, Holt asked us Sunday night if we could go get Andrew in Jonesboro Monday evening. It worked out, and I went with Andy for the 4 hour round trip. We meet Andrew and his father in Jonesboro - about half way between the two of us. He will be here most of the week, probably going home Saturday. Andrew and Holt were best buds when we lived in Arkansas.


Tonight, they requested a run to the movie store and I snapped this photo (being the irritating mom I can be. lol).


And finally, as Holt got ready to drive us home - this photo was before he noticed the camera, which is why he is smiling. The next photo is his "usual" smirk. lol



Holt has still been working most days, but does have off Thursday and Friday so they can have more time to do things. I'm guessing they will have some major pool time the next few days.

Tomorrow morning early, Holt has an orthodontist appointment AND he is begging for a haircut. Yay!!

Have a great day!

Window Mistreatment - Instructions

For all who know me, I have always been a perfectionist. I have been known to throw out completely brand new, just finished custom curtains made from my efforts because they weren't perfect. Well, those days are no more. A lot of stress accompanies the striving for perfection and it just isn't my goal anymore.

Ever since The Nester started writing about window mistreatments, I have been interested. With my nerve damage and resultant physical limitations, I can no longer sew for hours and do things like squat on the floor, etc. In the "old" day pre-injury, I proudly made all the curtains and shower curtains for our homes. I loved having custom creations. For now, we are living in a rent house and I have been dying to make some curtains for the main room/breakfast area, but didn't want to purchase rods and the whole bit. Here is what we did this weekend in under 1.5 hours for 2 windows.




Here is the finished product on one window:

To start, you will need:

54" Decorator Fabric, give or take 3 yards per side of window
Mug/cup hooks - 3 per side of window
Clip Rings - 3 per side of window
Stitch Witchery - (regular or heavy weight, depending on your fabric - photo below.)

For fabric, I am really frugal and just won't spend full-price for any fabric. I went to the local Hancock Fabric and back behind the regular fabric are some bolts that stand up on end. They are usually $5 to $10 a yard, and I wait until a sale, usually 40 to 50% off of that price. I was able to get 6 yards for around $30. That is an excellent price. I picked this particular one because the walls are gold, our couch is red and our breakfast table is black. This floral pattern picked up on all those colors. I prefer the decorator 54" fabric because it will have a nice weight to it and won't be flimsy like regular 45" fabric usually is. Although I have seen some 45" decorator weight fabric at JoAnn's Fabric, so do look around.



Decide how high up you want your curtains to go. We have a vaulted 9 foot ceiling and I wanted the curtain to reach almost to the top. This was what my window looked like "Before".


We did 3 cup hooks, 5 inches apart. The first one to the right is 2.5 inches in from the edge of the window. I did this because my curtains won't be lined, and I didn't want too much fabric covering the window, or it would be obvious there was no lining. The beauty in this is when you move or change your mind, you only have 3 little holes in the wall instead of the big mess curtain brackets make.



Get your 54" wide decorator fabric and get ready to cut it in half. Fold the fabric, selvages together and iron down the middle seam.

Taking your sewing scissors, cut along ironed line you just made. Special modeling credit goes to my wonderful husband, who helped me with this project. Thanks honey!


Trim the white selvages off your fabric.


Take each long side and iron down a small portion, about 5/8" to 1" or so. This is so a raw edge will not show.


Once both edges are ironed, hold up fabric and decide how much you want to turn down for the top. We decided on 7 inches. You can iron that or not.

Get your clip rings and put one on each end. Then fold the fabric in half to find the middle for the 3rd clip ring.


Get your Stitch Witchery Fusible Bonding Web ready - this will be what will seal your hem. No sewing machine or thread needed. This stuff is amazing.


Hang curtain on your cup hooks. Decide at the bottom if you want a regular hem or do you want to leave it bunched at the bottom. My husband prefers a regular hem as we have shedding dogs and he did not want the fabric to be such a dust collector.


Fold down your fabric to make the hem. Iron. Hang the curtain back up to double check the measurement for the hem. If you are happy with the length, put the Stitch Witchery under the edge of the fabric and iron down. You will want to hold the hot iron over the hem a little extra to melt the fusible web and bond the fabric.

Hang your curtains and voila'!! You did it! This photo is of the breakfast area window we also did.

And here is a photo showing both windows from the living room. Adding these simple and quick window treatments really enhanced the room!


So now, when we move, I have 6 yards of fabric that can be used again, not necessarily for these curtains......leaves my options open. And hubby will only have 12 small holes to fill and it will be as if these window mistreatments never existed!

If you have any additional questions or if I could add some more instructions for clarity, please let me know!

Thanks for visiting!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Yards & Garages

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner Blog is having her Show Us Where You Live Friday, Yard and Garages addition. Well, I'll show you the yard!!

We are renting this house, if you can believe it. This pool is awesome - gunite, salt-water filtration, mood lighting including the waterfalls with their own mood lighting. Just fabulous!! We've never had a pool before and after this, I don't think we'll ever go without one again! But we are spoiled to this top notch version.






Here is an example of the mood lighting at night - this is my favorite color. It also goes green, red, and another shade of lighter blue.


Thanks for visiting!

Guess who's College-Bound?

Yes!! Ryan is accepted, enrolled and will be attending The University of Mississippi (Ole' Miss) in Oxford this fall!! He is all lined up to live in the dorms and take a full load of classes. He will move down and classes start mid-August. Although he is tranferring 12 hours, he is still considered a "freshman" and must attend freshman orientation. Parents also must go and this will be just a few days before school starts.

He is very excited and we are very excited for him! His job will end just weeks before leaving and that works perfectly for him. He has been power-saving his money and doing a great job of that.

He will be trying to walk-on the golf team and that will his number one goal. He has been golfing every week and doing really well. He met up with a new golf buddy, a local chiropractor in town, and they are visiting courses all over the area. Ryan is thrilled to have someone able and eager to golf with him.


This photo was his favorite win - the Grand Champion of the local golf tournament in our former town. That trophy is HUGE. We have quite a collection of trophies and plaques. Ryan was very lucky to have been members of golf teams that all won state his 4 years in high school. 3 years in Iowa on the Bettendorf, IA golf team and 1 year in Mountain Home, Arkansas. It was amazing and quite an accomplishment. He also individually placed in state several years. He has taken a 2-year hiatus but is ready to get back on the road to a golf career!

Very exciting month for our family! So proud of both boys!!

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Have a great day!

Joys of Homeschooling High School - Update on Holt

Someone in the family is not cooperating with photos nowadays, so I will just start posting cute baby and toddler photos of him!! lol Granny and Papa, look at him curling his toes like his Daddy and Granny!!

We have been homeschooling Holt in the last year for his Sophomore year in high school and will continue until he graduates. We had homeschooled for almost 2 years when he was in elementary school, and he was always interested in homeschooling again. Well, this year has been a great success.

We had him take the ACT 3 weeks ago to see where he is at academically. He has 2 more years to go in high school and hasn't had all the math he needs, but we wanted to know where he stood. He declined to study (so shocking, NOT) considering this was a "test" run on the ACT, but he did take 2 practice tests. He came home from the test all relaxed, telling us it was quite easy.

Well, I guess he was right, because he scored a 26!!!!! Based on the report we received, he is ranked in the 93% in our state and the 85% nationally!!! We are so proud of him!! This score opens doors to scholarships as of right now, whether he takes it again or not. This is GREAT validation that homeschooling in high school CAN work and certainly quiets the worriers who weren't so thrilled we were doing this.



At this score, he can go to the local community college and get almost the entire thing paid. The scholarship will cover most of the tuition, room, board and fees! (This campus is 30 minutes away and does have dorms, which I thought was unusual for community colleges?) He would have to get a 29 or higher to get more money at that institution.

He is very excited, as are we. If everyone remembers, Ryan scored a 26 and won an Academic Scholarship that covered 100% of his tuition at the local 4 year university a few years ago.


Anyone remember this photo I put together? Holt is going to try to graduate early, maybe by the end of next year. If that works out, he will be going to college "on-time" and will be 18. We held him back a year to start Kindergarten since he has an August birthday. But he's ready to get on with it, so we shall see if he pulls it off (graduating early).

Oh, Holt has decided to get a Criminal Justice degree, and is very interested in being a police officer. He can get a 2 year or a 4 year degree with that, and we are encouraging the 4 year.

Holt, if you are reading this - we are VERY proud of you!!

Have a great day!