Monday, September 30, 2013

Our Living Room...

Our living room has had some changes over the years!
It's so fun to see the difference.
 Before:
 Our living room, dining room, hallways and great room were covered in white carpet.  
We saved up for a few years & eventually replaced all of the flooring on the main floor.
The wood floors were definitely one of the greatest improvements we've made to our home.
They really changed the look & feel of the whole house.
This is what my living room looked like for years...
I loved my floral couch set, but then we decided a sectional would open up the space & make it feel more open.  
My neighbor actually had this same set, but her dogs had ruined it, so she bought it from me. 
 It worked out perfect!
The sectional fit just right & really made the space feel so open!  
I also liked having a more neutral color scheme.
Here is another before:
This is the wall you see when you walk in the door.  
This hutch used to be the same color as the table behind the couch  in the first before photo.  
 When I stained my railing a walnut color in my ENTRY, I darkened the hutch & table too.
Now we have a piano here... 
 I moved the hutch to my daughter's NURSERY.
I've just recently added a touch of yellow to the room. 
 I just switched out the pillows & added a few yellow accessories.
  It's amazing how just a little color can make the whole room feel more cheery!
I also got this wicker rocking chair for mother's day...
I love it!!
This is how it looks from the front door now...
Here is how the sectional looks with a few yellow pillows...
I also moved a few pictures around & made a collage by the front door.
It's also been a fun change.
The next project is adding "chunkier" molding around the front door & windows. 
 It's a continuing process, but so fun to see how things have changed over the years.
Here is one more look at the before & after...
I can't wait to show you how I've added a touch of fall to the room!
I'm sharing with these blogs:

Friday, September 27, 2013

Happy Autumn - Show and Tell Friday





Welcome to Show and Tell Friday and welcome Autumn!



I'm sorry to all of you that came by last night to link up to Show and Tell Friday and couldn't. It's just been a hectic week! My birthday was Tuesday and I hadn't anticipated this week being so busy! My girlfriends took me out Tuesday after work and we went to the restaurant where my daughter works. On Wednesday my daughter took me out

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Show & Tell Friday will be late this week!




I apologize...Show and Tell Friday will not be up on my blog until 10:00 am Pacific Time Friday morning.  I'll see you then! Everything is fine...it was my birthday on Tuesday and I went out with friends that night and out with family on Wednesday night.  I'm just running behind this week!

 

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

2013 Parade Of Homes: Part 3

A favorite...
The house with some of my favorite elements was the very last house we were able to get to.
I'm sorry the pictures aren't the best, but it was dark already & we snapped these pictures with my husband's phone.
I LOVED the kitchen...
 It was white & dreamy!  I love the counter tops, the hood over the stove & the appliances were all very nice!
 I absolutely loved the cabinetry.  The decorative legs added a lot of charm, but they were also functional.
It's decorative, but also a great use of storage!!
I loved the wood paneling around the bar & thought the wood corbels under the counter top completed the whole look.  The wood floors were also beautiful!
I also thought they did a good job with the built-in storage in the laundry room.  I would love to add something like this to our laundry/mudroom.
The two bedrooms on the main floor were decorated beautifully...
I love the bedding & pillows in this little girl's room.
 The master bedroom...
GORGEOUS!!
 I also loved the bright white master bath....
 I thought the flooring was so pretty.
The upstairs was amazing, but as far as basements go this was one of my absolute favorites!
 I'm a huge fan of the big barn door in the theater room...so charming!
 This was one of the bedrooms downstairs, but I love how they added this space in the hallway....
 Once again, another great use of the space!  This would be perfect for an office or study area.
This picture is kind of blurry & dark, but I love the outdoor fireplace on the patio...
I also love how they built the BBQ into the space.
This house was beautiful & it would make a great family home.
It was house #33 built by Green Ridge Builders Inc.
You can see more of it on the official Salt Lake Parade Of Homes website
I hope you enjoyed some of the homes that I highlighted from the parade this year!
If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 click the links below...
and
I'm sharing with these blogs:

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Low Calorie Pumpkin Muffins - Show and Tell Friday




Welcome to Show and Tell Friday! I made these muffins almost 2 years ago and I have been thinking about making them again so I thought I would re-share the recipe again! It's such a low-calorie but very tasty muffin and they are really quick to fix!

Here is the recipe:

Just a box of Spice Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines) and a small can (15 oz) of Solid Pack Pumpkin. Mix these two things

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

2013 Parade Of Homes: Part 2

A few of the homes in the Salt Lake Parade Of Homes were actual "castles".
My little girl asked if Cinderella would be inside?  
These homes were fun to look at & were very beautiful, but they felt a little more like a hotel than an actual house.
It was fun to go on tour though.
Here is castle #1...
It was so beautiful on the outside.
The house sits on 3 acres & is 12,000 square feet.  It also has a separate 10,000 sq. ft. garage!
Welcome...
 I told you it was a castle!
You enter into a large foyer with the dining & living room.
It had this spiral staircase with another bonus room.
It had a grand kitchen & great room.
This is what you walk out to off the great room...
It also has a waterfall, theater room, tennis court, outdoor pool & an indoor pool.
 The indoor pool was complete with a lazy river!

Castle #2
This house was amazing...
 Did you notice that roof?
I'm not sure what the material is, but it made it look like a house from the Medieval Times.
 This was a separate garage to the side of the house.
It was also so charming...I love all of  stone & rock.  
They completed the look of the exterior with a stream running in the front.
This was the kitchen/great room....
 You walked out the doors to an entertainer's paradise...
Complete with a pool, hot tub & golf course.
 There were plenty of seating areas with outdoor fireplaces....
 It also had an in the ground trampoline & an awesome play area...
 This is the style that was throughout the house...
 This is the master bath.  It was large & open.
I also loved the circular/beamed ceiling.
This was by far one of the most unique homes.  It was very large, but it is still fun to get ideas that you can incorporate into any sized home.  
I hope you enjoyed my "castle" tour.
If you'd like to see 2013 Parade Of Homes: Part one, you can find it HERE.
I'm sharing with these blogs:

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Dried Hydrangeas - Show and Tell Friday






Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  Honestly it's always sad for me to see summer coming to an end.  Yes, I'm looking forward to wearing my cute boots again but in California where we don't really have seasons it seems like summer ends when my hydrangeas stop blooming but we still don't get the full flavor of Autumn until about November.  We are in that in between stage here...Indian summer.  

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Show and Tell Friday







Welcome to Show and Tell Friday!  With the long holiday weekend last weekend, I lost track of time this week and Show and Tell Friday just sneaked up on me and I am not prepared!  I have to say though...I do love these short work weeks! 



I really have nothing new to share this week so I'll just share an old favorite photo of mine that I took on a trip to Martha's Vineyard back in 2006.