Show Us Where You Live Friday - Home Offices

Kelly over at Kelly's Corner Blog is having her meme "Show Us Where You Live Friday" and it's Home Office week.

Now, I will admit I LOVE paint, but as you shall see in the following photos, sometimes a girl just doesn't know what she wants!! This was my all-time favorite room and I LOVED that desk.

When we first moved into this house, this room was navy blue and the carpet was hunter green. I never bonded with this blue color, but this picture shows the desk the best, I think.

The desk has granite on the top and was beautifully carved. I was a real estate agent, and sometimes had clients run by my home to fill out contracts. Hence, the extra chair in the corner.

Behind the desk was a beautiful console table, but this is the best picture I could find of it and you can't see much. It was obviously Christmas time and I just loved decorating that home!!


I finally decided to lighten this room, and with the carpet color, decided to go with a nice neutral. While the photo looks great, I just could not handle this color. It was too bland and blah - my creative juices just did not flow. lol But here are some photos:


The black "blob" you see on the floor in multiple photos is our solid black Pekingese dog. lol Looks like a wig on the floor since you can't see her eyes or anything else.

This is the only photo I have that shows the top of the desk - the granite.

This room was the first room on the right as you entered the home.



Although this beige color was probably the best color from a staging perspective, I just hated it. One day, it hit me that I needed to paint my office a color I loved, a color that made me smile every single time I saw it. After all, it was my office.......where I was supposed to dream big dreams. Color is a happy part of my life. So..........I took the plunge, asked my husband to trust me and painted it the most gorgeous color of all times.....Carob Chip from Pittsburgh Paints!!

Honestly, this might be one of those colors you have to experience in person, but you have to trust me - it was the perfect shade of plum with brown undertones. None of that regal purple shock effect or anything.

We eventually neutralized the home when we knew we were moving, but left this paint color because everyone who came loved it. The carpet went neutral and we turned this room into a proper formal dining room.

My biggest decorating advice? Do not be afraid of color!! Particularly with paint, you can always paint over it if you get tired of it or don't like it.

To see my former entries from the past 5 weeks, click HERE.

Thanks for visiting!!




Cheri

Found the Utility Box Photo!

In last week's Show Us Where You Live post regarding Children's Bedrooms, I referenced how Holt slept in some utility boxes for weeks until I begged my husband to build him something. Found the photo:

And here is what hubby built him - we called it "The Condo":

For the whole story with photos, click HERE.

Have a great day!

Cheri

Green Smoothie Challenge

On another site, someone started a Green Smoothie Challenge. I LOVE smoothies and juicing, but don't always keep my eating healthy. I was all for this challenge and thought I'd document as I go.


So here we go! The recipe I am using is the following:

2 bananas
1 orange
1 white peach
1/3 English Cucumber (seedless)
1 cup water (or more)
2 cups greens (most people use spinach, I used green leaf lettuce)
2 TBS. honey or to taste - local honey is best (for allergies, etc.)

Peel bananas, orange, and cucumber. Chop greens very small. Blend until extremely smooth. I have a regular blender. The best overall is the Vitamix - on my wish list! I use only 1 cup water, but the original recipe called for 2 cups. Chill and serve. Enjoy!



Look how much it makes! I drink 8 oz in the morning, and the rest later throughout the day. It really does taste very good and sweet! Hardest thing for me is actually the color. lol


Results so far: I usually drink at least one glass of sweet tea each day. For the last 2 days, that tea hasn't been as appetizing, as if I don't really want it. Yahoo!

Have a great day!

Cheri

Doggies and Haircuts plus some drama

Both doggies had beauty appointments this week and got their summer do's. Sage was a breeze, no problem at all.

Sweety, however, wouldn't let anyone near her and was deemed an aggressive dog. Since each time she is groomed it is quite a challenge, the vet recommended we bring her back a few days later to be sedated while groomed. Did that, and brought her home. She was acting weird, so I kept an eye on her. In half an hour, her face started swelling. Turns out, they also gave her vaccinations and she was having a reaction. This was her second reaction in her life to vaccinations. We ran her back up to the vet where they kept her the rest of the day, gave her a shot to halt the allergic reaction. We brought her home after dinner and she was good as new. Both dogs appear to love their new summer hair do's!


Have a great day!

Cheri

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Children's Rooms

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner Blog has her room tour this week with Children's Rooms or Nurseries. Since my kids are almost grown, I thought I'd share something interesting, or maybe ODD would be a better word! lol

Our youngest son Holt has always done things his own way - he loves dark, small spaces.....we've often thought he was part "bat". We also hope his future wife isn't claustophobic! lol

What is THAT, you ask? lol I KNOW it is ugly, but that kid would not let me decorate it!! I begged and begged!! lol

This was created after WEEKS of Holt sleeping in 2 utility boxes retrofitted together. Yes, I said UTILITY BOXES. I requested Andy build him something that would give this crazy kid privacy, but NOT be made out of cardboard. Little did I know he would pick MDF (that stuff is crazy heavy!!), but I digress.....

Found a photo of the utility boxes...


We called it "The condo". It was on stilts with removable sides. The very end had doors that shut magnetically. He could also enter the bed from underneath - you see the ottoman under there? Just at the base of the mattress, there is a large opening through which he could go up or down (or he could use those end doors - whatever he felt like doing.) Also, notice the TV in the upper left corner? Holt could sit in bed and watch TV, play video games to his heart's content.

We lined it with leopard fleece - Holt likes things SOFT, the softer the better. He also had quite a fascination with pillows, and usually had at least 10 or more at one time. Some day I will share a post on how I believe Holt and I both have Sensory Integration Disorder, and soft things comfort both of us.

Here is a photo (with my nephews) from years ago (3 or 4?) and Holt has his game controller in his hands. Notice the light above his head?? He could read in bed, also. This photo shows the side panels removed (there were 3 panels across the side). You can see the little squares of commercial velcro - that is how the sides were connected. Holt would have been happy with non-removable sides, but I had a fit and required there be a way to breathe. lol

Holt finally outgrew this monstrosity, errrr......I mean "neat bed". lol I wasn't too sad to dismantle this, but I think he was. I am sure that if he hadn't grown to over 6 feet tall, he would still be sleeping in it. lol

Previous weeks:

Show Us Where You Live Tour


Kitchens
Living Rooms

Guest Rooms Dining Rooms


Have a great day!



Cheri

Trip to Dallas - Andy's Family

We made a quick trip down to Dallas and were thrilled to get to go to another Maggiano's, our favorite Italian restaurant, with Andy's folks. I remembered to bring the camera and we had a rare moment all together.


And here is a photo of Andy and his Momma.


The boys were able to golf almost every day and had a blast. We also saw my family, but of course, we forgot to take photos. Ugh. Maybe next time! We were gone from Saturday to Wednesday - with 16 hours of driving. Quick but fun! That's our last trip during swimming season - Andy plans to enjoy every available minute in the pool. lol

Have a great day!

Cheri

Show Us Where You Live Friday -Dining Room

Kelly, over at Kelly's Korner Blog, is continuing her meme, Show Us Where You Live Friday with Dining Room week.

Easily my favorite color combination........just gorgeous. A sneak peak........

Here is our current rental dining room, one of my favorite rooms in this home. Everything in this room was purchased or I made it years ago, but I still love it all!


I love this shade of green on the walls, not sure what it is. I think it brings out the gorgeous shade of wood on the table perfectly.



I made this floral arrangement several years ago and I still love it. Someday, I will tweak it, but not any time soon. I purchased the brown container at TJ Maxx and the silk flowers at Hobby Lobby, 50% off sale, of course! The wood stand it is on came from Marshall's if I remember correctly.


I snapped this wreath up at TJ Maxx, also. Again, my favorite colors.


This mirror is enormous - would fit over a 2 sink bathroom vanity. Here is a close up of the frame:


Bought this coat rack at Hobby Lobby years ago and still love it. And a final photo - with the doors to the kitchen closed.

I love the white trim, chair rail molding, white doors. I think you can splurge on paint when you have white trim - you can get away with so much more color! Again, this is a rental house, so these colors were here when we moved in. I'm sure you can see, though, that my decorating embraces color and we were thrilled we didn't have to rent a "beige" house. lol

Previous weeks: Click on Photo or Room Descriptions



Kitchens



Living Rooms



Guest Rooms

Thanks for visiting!



Cheri

How Safe is Your Community?

During the time we lost our 4 babies to miscarriage (their story), we were stunned to learn that our community had a high levels of chemicals known to be Reproductive Toxicants being emitted by a company just down the street from our house. Was it related? We'll never know.

This helped in our decision to later move out in the country, far away from any industry. (It was a rural town of 13,000, a retirement destination, beautiful lakes, idyllic location. No smoke stacks, no obvious pollution.)

Pollution in Your Community
Get an in-depth pollution report for your county, covering air, water, chemicals, and more.

Click Here - ScoreCard

Check your community - type in your zip code and see what companies are responsible for the majority of the pollution where you live. By clicking on the company, you will see the chemicals being emitted. By clicking on the chemicals, you will see what hazards they are known to cause.

Wow, I just clicked on a link taking me to what companies are releasing the most Developmental Toxicants to air in the US. In other words, the most chemicals known to cause birth defects. Check this out: Here

Does this matter to you? Would you move or live somewhere else if you found high levels of certain chemicals being emitted in your town? Have you had any experience with pollution in your community?

Interestingly, I just checked our new town, where we moved almost a year ago. We have since been told that we don't live in the preferred community - the one where it is mostly residential, more like a bedroom community. You know how people get that way, whether it be personal opinion, snooty tooty behavior, whatever. lol However, just tonight I have learned that this preferred community has 8 major companies emitting serious pollution, where our town? None. How ironic! This will definitely impact any future moves.

Information is power!

Cheri