Better late than never Christmas tour.

I'm incapable of getting my Christmas act together until all the holiday house tours

in Blogland have come and gone.  I don't make big changes in the way

I decorate for Christmas from year to year, but I felt the need to publish a post

 to pull my blog out of the toilet, so to speak.(I'm referring to my last post.)

Sunshine and days off rarely coincide, so here's our dining room
on a gray winter day.  I had to take dozens of photos just to get a few shots
 with all the chandelier lights shining. I got my workout going up and down
the chair to screw in one temperamental light bulb and then hightail it
back to my camera to quickly snap a shot before it flickered out.
   So there you have it.  All 250 watts burning bright.

Total calories burned during my chair stepper routine = 250 (I wish!)

The chandelier crystals take on a new persona at night
when they catch the rays of the 24/7 light show next door.
Red and green and flashing all over.  :o)

An old quilt is my table dressing for the season.

I added some glittery wood snowflakes to my autumn acorn garland.

Green trees in teacups and an angel in a birdcage?
There is no logic involved in Christmas decorating.

I retired my sheet music wreath and resurrected "swamp thing"

with a piece of pine garland and red berries. The Swedish candle holder

was a thrift store find.  Score!

Red white & blue brighten up this corner of the room.

I keep the buffet top simple so I can easily move everything
 to make way for Christmas goodies.  We need lots of room for goodies.

I made little gingerbread houses to decorate the kitchen shelves,
and as of today there have been no uninvited guests
nibbling on the walls.  Whew!

The red and white mugs were a World Market find this year.
I also found a cookie cutter at WM for mini gingerbread houses
that will make assembling the houses so much easier next year!

Since I still haven't replaced our living room furniture (no big surprise),

I spruced up the sofa with a fun new throw from TJMaxx.

A round red placemat from Target brightens the basket on the wall.

On my to do list for several years was to make a big chalkboard (3 ft. x 4 ft.)
 to hang over the sofa.  It only took a few hours and cost around $10 to make.

I wonder how long my chalk art will last when our grands arrive?

The only thing I've yet to do is assemble candles and votive cups
for the luminaries we line our sidewalk with on Christmas Eve.

Our son-in-law Jeremy has taken on the duty of lighting
 the luminaries each year, which is not an easy task when it's
cold and windy.  I'll be watching from the nice warm house.

It was a difficult year for us at 911, but as 2017 draws to an end,
I realize how truly blessed we are.

We love you Santa.
  It wouldn't be Christmas without you.

Thanks so much for visiting and Merry Christmas

from our house to yours!

Vickie

Simply orange.

I've seen so many lovely rooms decorated in neutral tones for autumn,

but for me it's all about orange.  It's such a cheerful accent color

 that instantly warms and brightens our house as the days get shorter and cooler.

Peonies and olive bucket from Hobby Lobby 

liven up this corner of our living room.

I just plunked three bunches into the bucket.

Easy!

It's been so long since I've bought any new autumn accents,

but this pretty throw was 75% off, so why not?

A few items from my dwindling stash top my pie safe.

Orange candles and twigs from our yard decorate the mantel.

Cinnamon scented pine cones are a must during fall and winter.

These days I don't make a lot of changes for the seasons.

I have very little left in my decorating stash - and I'm not at all sad about it.

In fact, I just dropped off another load of stuff today!

I cut back all my hydrangeas today, but I didn't bring any indoors to dry.

It's been an awful season for outdoor allergies, so I'm trying to keep
our house free of my allergy triggers.

I bought a very inexpensive Wally World off-white area rug

to keep my toes warm and tide me over until......pigs fly, I guess.

It's not as blindingly bright as it appears in this photo, and best of all,

unlike my old red rug, it doesn't clash with orange.  :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

*I'm joining the party at:
The Essence of Home Share your Style

Magic carpet ride.

We're getting our first taste of spring up north, and even though it's only 42
and overcast today, Delores Claiborne and I are hanging our sheets out to dry.

While they're drying I'm puttering around inside with a few new
acquisitions I've made over the winter.  The demijohn and oil painting
fit perfectly on the wood shelf over our fridge.  I never thought I'd have
anything pink in our kitchen, but I like it!

I've been trying to freshen things up in the living room, too.

The red rug is deteriorating and discoloring our wood floors,

so it's time to give it the old heave-ho.

Here's what I bought to replace it....

It's a gorgeous wool rug from World Market, but unfortunately it reads

as seafoam green in our living room.  You know how one new thing in a room
makes everything else look shabby?  Next to the rug, our sofa looks like it's on life support.

 And it is.

   27 sofa years= 108 human years.

All I need is a few candelabras, some cobwebs.......

New furniture is on the horizon, but I don't even know where to start.

The rug is expensive and if history repeats itself, I don't want to be
tied into a blue/green color scheme until I'm 85, so it's going back.

It is pretty.

Next, I ordered a neutral rug from Overstock at 75% off and free shipping.

What a deal!

Or is it?

If our living room looked like this......

this .......

or this.....

(All 3 living rooms via Pottery Barn.)

I'd keep it!  But at the moment, our living room looks nothing like this.
It's like putting lipstick on a pig.

I gave the rug a fair chance and left in on the floor for a few days

hoping it would grow on me.  It didn't.  It's just so.......

brown.

  And stinky.  And it sheds.
And my coffee spills when I drag the coffee table over its bumpy surface.
And I have no idea what sort of insects could be making a home in it.
(I've watched way too many episodes of Infested.)

I looked out the window and it's the exact color of 

our freeze dried lawn.  No likey.

With the outrageous cost of return shipping, I may as well

keep the darn thing and try to sell it on Facebook.  (Since I never

visit my Facebook Buy and Sell account I set up, this will require

the assistance of a visiting daughter.)

 Here's the rug cemetery on a bedroom floor.

  As long as you made the trek up here,
check out my new tall dark and handsome in the bathroom....

 I love it!

I'm past the dusty plaster repair and onto the paint phase.

Have you ever tried manhoovering a wood stepladder in a 2 x 2 room?

It's impossible.

I think I know what direction I'm headed with

the bathroom décor.  I just need to find the right rug.

Back to the living room.... 

In the end, this is how our living room will look until I either find a rug I like
or purchase new furniture.  I'm hoping the sun will even out the color variations on the floor,

but I'm not too concerned because there will be a rug covering them.....eventually.

This is the last you'll be seeing of this room for quite a while.

What have I learned from this rug buying fiasco?

1.  Ordering rugs online is risky business, and costly too.
2.  I need color in our home to combat all the gray gloomy months.
3.  Online companies should provide color samples of the rugs they offer.
4.  If a store has a good return policy and the rug fits in our car.....  :o).

5.  My arms will be ready for kayak season this year.  6 x 9 rugs are heavy!

In the past few days, my microwave handle broke ($90 for the plastic handle,
so instead I've glued it with E6000), my beloved black clock
 in the kitchen died (but I was able to temporarily resuscitate it),
and my one month old laptop made a visit to the computer hospital.

On the other hand, spring has arrived and that's a good thing.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Vickie

tweet tweet

A little piece of history.

Swamp Thing (my straggly green wreath) has been replaced with tulips
 to brighten up this rainy day.  There's snow in the forecast later this week
and our flowers won't be blooming here for quite a while,
but I'm looking forward to green grass and leaves on the trees.





Speaking of green grass, isn't this a pretty setting? 

I wonder what it would look like in sepia tones with a wood frame around it?

Presto chango!

How would it look hanging above my sofa?

Hmmmm, I think I like it.

I've got a thousand nail holes above our sofa, yet I still haven't found "the look" I'm after.
Do you find it difficult to fill a large wall space, or is it just me?

Instead of a grouping, I actually want just one statement piece
 above the sofa.  This is the one spot in our house where a mirror won't do.  There's too much busyness on the opposite wall to reflect (dark brick fireplace, stained glass windows).
 I'd love a landscape painting and the large vintage photo gives me a preview

of how it would look.  An extra-large unframed canvas would be perfect.
  Round it out with a few small items like a new sofa,
 chairs and a rug and I'd be a happy camper.  :o)

Gasp! This is the one.  Perfect size and subject matter. If anybody has one
stashed under a bed, I'll be more than happy to take it off your hands.
source

I bought the vintage photo for a discount price at a local shop

because I want the large wood frame for a future project.

The label above was glued to the bottom corner when I found it,

so I did a little research

.

source 

Here's the grand opening of the national park in 1954.  I suppose the photo I own

was part of a promotional campaign for the park and found its way from Massachusetts

 to Minnesota's Iron Range via the nearby Minnesota Museum of Mining

or Ironworld Discovery Center.

 And now it's found its way to the wall over my sofa.

  I'm on a mission to collect photos of our home in its early days when it was

surrounded by cow pastures.  I know they exist because a former owner told me

her daughter has them in storage.  If possible, I'd like to enlarge

one and frame it (in the frame above) to hang in our upstairs hallway.

  It will also serve the purpose of covering holes from picture ledges I took down.

Holes waaaaaaay up high where I don't want to paint again.

Until I possess those photos of our old house.......

I'll enjoy this one.....

for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

I'm joining:
The Essence of Home Share Your Style