Porches and Petals

I have a few new additions to my Christmas décor in my living Room this year. I found this mantel decoration at Goodwill for $6.99, and I found the candles to put in it the same day so they match perfectly. The Santa has to be where the most amazing finds my mother pointed I while we were shopping in Bliss Thrift store. We could not believe when it had a $20 tag attached to it. I had been thinking last year that I would like a Santa that was more life sized but I knew it wasn't practical.  I did not really have any real plans on buying one until I saw this and that it was such a great deal . The Santa does not move or anything like that, and he is lightweight and easy to carry myself,  now I just need to figure out where to store him until next year. The beautiful red and gold tablecloth is another item I picked up for less than one dollar at Bliss Thrift Store.  I think it is perfect for Christmas! The Santa is another Bliss find from earlier this year. He wa

I don't remember how I came across this recipe for quick raisin bread, but I tried the recipe last month and I thought it was absolutely delicious! The recipe I'm sharing today is going to be a little different from the one I found.  The first time I used the recipe I did not have baking powder available so I did without, and I really did not see much difference this time, it tasted great and came out fine anyway. For my version I did not bother to soak the raisins or do any thing different as far as when or how I added the ingredients,  I just put everything into a bowl and mixed it up.  It was very gooey and sticky but I was able to scrape it out into the pan, which I of course had greased beforehand. I also did not pre-heat my stove as I tend to always forget. I think the preparation time took about 10 minutes and the cook time was around 40 minutes . This is such a delicious raisin bread, and I'm not even a fan of raisins usually, but there's something so d

It was a long time coming, but I finally did some renovations to my foyer.  The Main thing I did was to seal all of the edges around the floorboards and paint the walls white.   I decided to go with white for the floor is well. Since moving to this house, I often felt that the foyer was very dark and creepy.  I decided I wanted everything to be all white so I could see any little creatures that were moving along the floor.  I think the white floor is going to be hard to keep clean, especially because we don't have a paved driveway in our yard, yet. Because of that, when it rains, which is very often here in Virginia, the yard gets very muddy, and we end up tracking mud all over the house.   In these "before photos," you can see the wallpaper that was original to the house when we bought it.  The wallpaper is actually in fairly good condition, and fairly attractive. But, since I have a fear of spiders, I did not want the busy wallpaper that could hide bugs and

I remember seeing these lemon plates online last year on Youtube haul videos.  I seacrhed all over, and I was only able to find the bowls and mugs to purchase.  I just love the yellow and green color combination!  I am not sure why, but I, and many other people seem to really be fans of this design.  I have never particularly loved lemons before, but something about these plates I find beautiful. I was very happy when I saw the lemon plates were going to be available again this year. This time I was able to pucchase a set of four dinner, and salad places.   I just checked on the Dollar Tree website, and was sad to see it appears they are already out of stock again.  Hopefully they will be back again next year for anyone that wanted them and missed out. All of the crystal, and the glass butterdish were purchased at thrift stores.  I like usinig clear glass and crystal pieces because they all go very well with each other, and pretty much any other dishes you will use. The

I found this first table at Goodwill for under $20.  It was scratched, and a little worn, so I spray painted it gold to give it a new look, and match the rest of the decor in my dining room.  I had been wanting two side tables for a while, but had not had much luck finding anything the right price, and style.  I like that this table has the added piece along the bottom, since it really helps with storage. This next cabinet was purchased for around $25 at Habitat for Humanity.  It was just a little too worn to be left unpainted, so I spray painted it gold, also. Here is the after! I am so happy with how they both turned out!  For now, I am storing a lot of my crystal and clear glass in the cabinet.   The candelabra on top was a $10 find from a thrift store in Amelia, Virginia.  I had been wanting one for a long time, so I was thrilled to find this one, and at such a great price, too. The large crystal vase with the palm trees was a Goodwill find for around $25.  

This post has been such a long time coming!  Today, I am finally posting the before and after of the bedroom renovation of our home. The first photos I am sharing are of the room when we first purchased the home.  We ended up not changing much at all in this room except for the dirty, old carpet.  We removed all of that, and also the particle board that had started to decay and fall apart.  It was a lot of back-breaking work, and we ended up taking many weeks to complete just the removal.   I think this wood paneling was probably put in place back in the 1970's.  I am not a huge fan of the dark wood, but I just could not bring myself to paint over something that still looked brand new, as far as wear, after more than 40 years.  Perhaps some day I will end up painting it, but we still have far too much to work on in the rest of the house to bother at this time.    Here it is!  The next picture (below) shows the end result, as of now.  I am so thril