Friday, December 19, 2008

Santa Likes Pink Too

There is always one stop that I have to make each year and especially at Christmas time and that is to Menzer's Antiques in downtown Tarpon Springs, FL.

Paul and Melissa have a wonderful antique mall filled with beautiful quality antiques.

But what makes this shop even better is the talent of Melissa.

Melissa makes the most beautiful Santa's I have ever seen. Each one is a masterpiece.

I just happened to be lucky to find a pink one for Pink Saturday.

Melissa calls her business Cottageville Santas. Each of her Santa's stocking are filled with trinkets and collectables that will just make your jaw drop as you study the details. Her beautifully designed outfits are so unique. From Fur to flannel there isn't one outfit that she creates that is not just perfectly made to go with the fun filled stockings.


Each face is made by Melissa as well. Just look how life like they are.
Isn't she an incredible artist? If you would like to see more of Melissa's work
or own your very own Santa you may contact her at

www.acpeddler.com/cottageville_santa.htm

Now add a little more pink to your day and visit my sweet friend Beverly for Pink Saturday and the growing list of participants . http://www.howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Have yourself a Merry Pink Christmas!
Becky

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A Wonderful Surprise

Would you just look at this darling tussie mussie that I won. Not only that but I also won a Victoria Magazine. Victoria Magazine has long been my favorite magazine so I am thrilled.
Now all I need is a nice cup of cocoa and off to my chair I will go.
Thank you so much, Rene.
If you haven't visited Miss Gracie House it is a wonderful blog that you will soon add to your favorites. Please visit http://missgracieshouse.blogspot.com/ a blog filled with lovely pictures of items that will cause you to drool. Rene has wonderful taste and a business that I really really wish I lived close to and I promise you, you will wish the same. She and I are definately kindred spirits and I am really grateful to have received such a nice gift.
So once again Thank You Rene.



Monday, December 8, 2008

A few more pictures of the Living Room

I am still working on the curtain for this window. But if you could see the lace you could see that it has birds in it too. If you click on the picture above you can see that the chair has a bird on it too. You may also see where Dave broke an ornament but I actually decided to leave it on the table because the broken pieces were pretty too. Have you ever kept broken things?


We finally got the mirror hung. I just hope it is still on the wall when we get back to Eufaula.
It is different hanging things on plaster. Dave had to use a small board kind of like a picture rails to hang the mirror. He promised it was so sturdy that he could hang off of it.
Hang off of it, he will, if that mirror is on the floor when we get back.
I am just kidding. He is such a wonderful man.




Friday, December 5, 2008

A Blue Christmas for Pink Saturday

Will I be banned from Pink Saturday for showing you too much Blue? But in my defense
if you look real closely you will see that there are pink flowers on the rug.
Pink bands of lace around the pillows and pink in the stain glass.

And zooming in on those stockings you will see pink beads.

Love birds on the sofa.


Too much blue you say?
I guess I have been a naughty girl.
Lumps of coal in my stocking for showing so much blue on Pink Saturday.
For more Pink Saturday fun enjoy your day with our Hostess Beverly from
Happy Pink Saturday.
Becky




Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Stocking Were Hung By The Chimney With Care

In Hope That My Blog Friends Soon Would Be There.
The mantels in the Shabby Old House are my favorites.
I couldn't wait to paint them and decorate them.

This is the mantel in the living room.


And I didn't use pink. Are you Surprised?

I am tempted to take the other stocking and instead of the pretty ornament stick a fishing lure in the lace. We are Lace and Lures ya know. lol
Hurry back I will have more.
Until then have a great day.





Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmas 2007

This time last year I spent 6 weeks in Eufaula working on the house.
I camped out in our RV at White Oak Campground and every day I would go in to town to clean and paint. This picture was taken in 2007.
Alot has been accomplished in our Shabby Old House.
I will show you 2008 in my next post but for now lets see where we have come from.
The dining room has been painted and we are peeking into the living room.
The old couch is one I picked up and it is so comfy. We just put it in the room so we could have a place to sit at the end of each day. The floors had just been cleaned and Dave refinished them all this summer.

This is the way we found the old shabby house in 2006.
Dave is scratching his head and wondering what in the world did I get myself in to.
Ya All come back to see Christmas 2008.






Going "from" GREEN

Going Green........I think not, in this case anyway!
Stay tuned

Thursday, November 27, 2008

I can't believe I ate the whole thing!
Hope you are full of wonderful food and memories.
Happy Thanksgiving
Becky

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Friday, November 21, 2008

Moving right along

It took a over a year but this is where the dining room is today.
Still far from what I had in mind.
I had more in mind white walls throughout the house. The plaster cracks throughout the house were long and deep and require skim coating. The ceilings in several rooms had large areas where it had come down. So we drywalled and skim coated in the living room and hall but it was not cheap. We didn't think the walls were too bad in the dining room but surprises came when the wallpaper came down and the drywallers were gone. The cost is almost like having drywall put over the walls. The darker paint did cover my vain attempts at skimcoating. We drywalled every ceiling throughout the main portion of the house. You have to appreciate drywall guys. It is a hard, dirty job. And we thought our necks hurt. Try drywalling a 14 foot ceiling.
We picked out a very soft shade of white with a hint of pink for the ceiling. Sometimes I just want to lay on the tabletop and stare at it. It is amazing to me.

We have come a long way in a years time. The floors have been finished by my darling hubby. The walls and ceilings have been painted and the trim has been painted several times. FYI Make trim board the last thing you do. I painted it before we did the walls. Then painted it again to cover the burgandy hits from the wall, then Dave did the floors, and I painted it again. I can just hear the person who decides to strip the trim when we are no longer around.....
"Can you believe the layers of paint???"
Why yes....I can

Next up..

Meet me in the living room.

What do you think of the rug I found.

Home Goods.....are they not the greatest?









Thursday, November 20, 2008

Getting ready for the Holidays at the Old House

We have been working on the dining room for quite awhile now trying to get it ready for the holidays. This was taken last year and as you can tell the need for a year of neck massages will be in order after painting the ceiling.
Hint, hint to any of my children who happen to read this blog.
But first we have to take down the wallpaper fill in the cracked plaster and then paint.
opps one more look at the ceiling tin.


And then there is the carpet of which we thought would be a breeze to take up.
However the padding was stuck to the floor and the only way we could figure to get it up came by accident when the wallpaper steamer sat steam side down and as we took a break the steam made a wonderful ooooey gooey mess that came up by scooping it with a large drywall knife. This has been a wonderful project. It could only be done a small square at the time. Nobody had any advise for us on what we could use. Adhesive remover probably would have damaged more brain cells than either of us could spare. lol


So where do you think we should serve the turkey?
Thankfully we were asked to join our Pastor and his wife.
So we were very thankful indeed!





Friday, October 24, 2008

Hooked on Houses Tour of Homes

This is our house that we are restoring in Eufaula.
And my blog is about the restoration of that house but the photos below are what lead us to buying a home in Eufaula AL
While on a road trip we discovered a wonderful town in Alabama. We fell in love with the town of Eufaula. So much so that we started to look at houses in the town. This is the home that we almost bought.

It was completely renovated.


Highland View. It actually is for sale today.

This lovely home has been totally restored and the grounds are so beautiful.


Stepping into the dining room you will see why this home was one that was chosed to be on the Pilgrimage Tour of Homes.



The pocket doors were stunning. The Antiques were beautiful.


This picture was used in the flyer for the Pilgrimage Tour.



Unfortunatley the picture was dark but still try to see the beauty of this room





This is the rose surrounded pool...ahh I just wanted to jump in.





This is the family room.




This is a strange window that you actually had to raise the window to step out onto a very special porch.



Up the stairs there was a library on the landing.



This is one of three bedrooms.



Another picture of the beautiful stairs.



Nice bathrooms.















Now it is time for a wonderful adventure.

Julia of Hooked on Houseshttp://hookedonhouses.net/

is hosting a wonderful blogland Open House Special.

Are you ready for the tour.

Let me know your favorites.

Have a great day

Becky