Home Making II

Well, I'm on a bit of a roll, so I may as well do one more to catch up. That leaves only two more that would catch me up. Back on the subject of home making. I have had a sweet lettle pond in my front courtyard for about 6 yrs. I was fond of the pond, but it was messy. Always had to be cleaned. The area surrounding the pond frequently looked messy. Over grown, some dying off, and leaves from the magnolia tree on everything. I decided to remove the pond and just lay stone and make a courtyard for sitting. I had a workman that was going to take care of a lot of the manual labor for me. First we had to remove the pond and fill in the big whole, then clear all the growth out of the area.

This shot was taken at night, but you get the idea. Lot of ferns and fallen leaves. The pond is a plastic form, it came out pretty easy and the space was cleared and the whole filled. My worker came to help lay the flagstone, after we picked them up in my car. Fortunately for me, we didn't get enough. I had to go back and it took a good while and the worker had to go start anther job. I say, that was fortunate, because when I saw what he had done, it was not good. It wasn't level and there was big gaps between stones. He had covered half of the area also. SO I picked it all up and made some calls for estimates to have it done. Hardee Har Har. It is really expensive to get that done. And frankly, I didn't want to pay anyone that much, when it knew it would only take some elbow grease. So, I knuckled down and put down the stone.

After I laid it, I swept sand into the spaces. It looks better and brighter, and now I only have to sweep it. But I am not really happy with it. It i fin for now, it will get me through a few months that I don't have time to mess with it, but I want some one to come and do a professional job. So I hope to have a pretty porch post for you by april!

Home Making

I can't believe I go so long without blogging. I think about it and I take pics and then 2 months went by!
There was a lot going on, so I could really use some catching up, but I will start with the most recent.
I think most of us like a certain panache in our homes. We want them to look stylized, decorated. If that wasn't the majority, HGTV wouldn't be what it is. But I know for sure, I always want to do things around my home. I call my style... Stylized Rustic. I love natural elements and warmth and I always want to decorate as if it were fall. *sigh*.
So there is really only one part of my home that hasn't been touched since we have been in this house, and that is the Master bathroom. Crazy right? But 10 yrs goes by quicker than you think it will and the main part of the house gets all the attention. That's mainly what people see. But it dawned on me that our bathroom was leaving me quite cold. I would just get in and out. Cleaning when I had to, not feeling any love at all. And it was like a light bulb went on and I suddenly realized (seriously, it was very sudden) that I could change it. I didn't have to live with that!! And it wasn't going to take a renovation.

I'm not sure if you can tell, it has a natural grass wallpaper, which is actually pretty cool, but as I am sure you can tell, the glus shows through. I guess that is age. There is no way I am tackling removing wallpaper this year, but, I am considering painting it. I will keep you posted, it won't be until after the first of the year. None the less, what I have done is switched out the light, this fixture is sooooo ugly. I can't imagine someone actually picking that. I have warmed up the floor with cozy rugs and the thing I think is really instrumental in changing the feel here, is a shower curtain. Duh!! I can't believe I didn't do this before. I also hung a picture I found that I find appealing. So, that was the before, and here is the after...

One other thing you can't see, I added a nightlight. That little light of mine (hee hee) casts a golden glove in the bathroom, which makes me feel cozy whenever I go in. And I feel SO MUCH BETTER. I can't tell you. It cost probably in the neighborhood of $150. That includes the light fixture. Maybe I will have inspired some one else now, to make every inch of their home as inviting and styled as you can afford. It only takes a wee bit of effort.