china cabinet

We are on a roll here folks, 2012 has been a year of kicking butt and taking names! LOVE all the progress we've made. I feel like we are really starting to put some finishing touches on the house. It's hard when for so long we were working on the house itself and not furnishing the house. Seriously, up until last fall when we bought the dining room table set we hadn't purchased any large furniture.

So starting around Christmas time, we finally were at the point where house tweaks are coming to a close and decor can take more of a front seat! Que the china cabinet:

Another hand me down furniture item that is really nice but not quite the look we were going for. Mainly it was just a little too small for the space. Which is why we tried to give it some height by hanging the platter above it:

But with a dark table, dark walls and a dark china cabinet we just getting too DARK! 

So we lightened up the space first with a new rug, then with the china cabinet! 

But of course when I found exactly what I was looking for in the perfect shape, it was in the wrong color. BUT it was the right price so I bought it and painted it with heavy duty cabinet paint so it would last, and we are loving it. Like seriously loving it! 

and now: 

I painted the the outside a creamy white to coordinate with the legs of the dining table 

and the inside is painted a cool aqua, that you might be seeing more of sometime soon elsewhere :)

The rug and the china cabinet have definitely helped right? But we aren't stopping there! Stop back soon for some new paint and hopefully not too far down the road for the dining room chair re-upholstering in these fabrics

Patio preview

Well the patio has officially been sealed twice and is just drying before we can put all the furniture back on it! Does it seem like this process has taken forever??? For me too, but the weather just wouldn't cooperate for us! For months all we did here in Texas was pray for rain, and now when I just needed a few good sunny days all it did was rain!

We don't have everything quite back in place but I wanted to give you a sneak preview of what it's going to look like

see all that gray in the sky! 

Once we dry out and put ourselves back together I'll have a final reveal for you VERY soon!  :)

tulips

Spring is just ALL over! In addition to the pretty spring wreath I told you about last Friday look what else has just popped up this weekend!

How pretty is that!!!?!?! I've never planted tulips before so it was very exciting to see them start coming through the ground

you can also catch a glimpse of the easy peasy solar lights I put in the front bed to light up the front sidewalk! LOVING them. They are Smith and Hawken for Target and they are a little more heavy duty than most of the other ones we saw,

I can't get enough of them!!!!!

P planted these right after Christmas and we really had no idea what we were doing or if they would come up but all 16 have come up and are starting to bloom! FUN! Now I want to do zillions next year!

Spring

Look what arrived from Etsy last week for me to put up on the front door just in time for spring!!!

Isn't she pretty?? I got this wreath and actually one other last year from Shannon of Elegant Holidays on Etsy. She makes beautiful wreaths that are very well put together and the materials are beautiful! AND One of my favorite things about her is the way she ships the wreaths with the wreath wired down to the box. They make the perfect storage containers for the wreaths out of season!  

See how full they are? And with all the greenery. Just perfect

I have this one too, which she has in her shop right now

Sorry for ICK old photo- here's a better pic of the color/ fullness:

Seriously go check out all of her beautiful wreaths!

Elegant Holidays