The Way She Was

Last week I shared a photo of what our soon-to-be house looks like today. Here's what she looked like 100 years ago...

Thanks to the current owners for providing us with this photo.

I'm a porch enthusiast. I grew up in a house with a front porch (swing included). All three of the houses we have lived in since we married have had porches (ok, one was little more than a stoop, but it was covered!). Call me silly or whatever, but I can't wait to have a front porch like this! I can just imagine it festooned with garlands and lights at Christmas, bunting for the Fourth of July, and creepy crawlies at Halloween. This house is "in town" so I long to sit out on the porch to watch the passers-by and hopefully meet some new neighbors.

Dear Hubs is excited, too. Here's a composite he put together of the current house with the old porch:

Ok, I'll admit that it looks a little weird. But it helps to imagine what can be (and hopefully will be soon).

Only another month until we make the move! I'd better start packing!

Thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Met Monday. And, thank you for stopping by!

Something Old, But New To Us

A few weeks ago I posted Something Old, Something New and showed you this picture and hinted of things to come.

Now I can finally tell you about it! That shot is the back of this...

Our soon-to-be new old house!! We are moving to Illinois this summer and we are buying this 1903 (approximately) Victorian! Right now it is divided into two flats (notice the two front doors) but we are going to open it back up and restore the porch and the interior to it's original state. It is in very good condition as is, so it won't need too much right away. We're going to do things in stages and hopefully one day end up with our dream home.

While we're doing some renovations on the house, we'll be living in this...

The coach house behind the main house. (Sorry for the bad photo. I took this from a video and didn't have a full shot.) This was the original stable for the house and was converted to a garage/workshop/apartment in the 1940's. It's so charming inside and will be so fun to decorate!

So hop along for the ride! I'll have A LOT to blog about with this project!

I'm posting to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday this week because this is a MAJOR change for us! Thanks to Susan for hosting!

By the Shore

Before I write any more, I want to tell you that I am sick about the crisis in the Gulf, as I'm sure you are, too. My intent for this blog is purely for entertainment purposes, but I just couldn't post this tablescape today without acknowledging my heartbreak over the people and wildlife that are suffering. I pray that it won't get any worse and the long term effects won't be catastrophic.

Now, like I said, this is about entertainment...a little escape for us all, so please join me for dinner by the shore.

We are beach people! I'm an East Coast girl and grew up visiting the coasts of North and South Carolina. Dear Hubs frequented the Gulf shore. We are continuing the tradition with our boys and have a trip planned to the Carolinas later this summer. I'm getting a little antsy and can't wait so I had to put together a beachy scape!

Most of the things on the table came from shopping the house. I already had the place mats, dinner plates, napkins and tableware. I found the lovely salad plates earlier this year at HomeGoods. Last week, I was there and spotted the seaglass-colored goblets. I couldn't resist them for their color!

The goblets are made in Spain from recycled glass. So perfect for a beach theme!

I love the relief detail on the salad plates.

For the centerpiece, I used a glass vase with shells I already had, some starfish tea lights, a smaller bowl with shells and some ornamental maiden grass from the yard. Does anyone remember my allergy to daffodils? Well, turns out I'm evidently allergic to maiden grass, too! After I cut the blades, my arms started to itch and break out. Fortunately, it only lasted about 30 minutes. I'm really going to have to be careful with live plants from now on!

I can feel the ocean breeze, hear the gulls crying, see the waves crashing, smell the salty air and taste the fresh fish now!

Thanks for stopping by! Many thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Tablescape Thursday! Come back on Monday (I'll be linking up to BNOTP's Met Monday) for some more BIG news (to add to the big news from last week)!

Something New

Hi, everyone! I'm back after several weeks of endless adventures. End of school, family vacation, trying to keep the boys entertained now that they are out of school...you know the drill.

Anyway, I teased you a couple of weeks ago with things to come. Now I can finally tell you part of the super exciting news! How many of you watch HGTV? I'm willing to bet most of you. Have you seen Bang for Your Buck? Well.....our basement is going to be featured on Bang for Your Buck!!!! And Vern Yip is going to be the designer for our episode!!! If you could hear me now, I'd be saying this in my high-pitched-excited-voice.

Long story short, our basement contractor contacted us to see if we'd be interested. We said sure and went through the interview process. Our basement was one of three selected in the Atlanta area. The show will tape in mid-July and will air sometime in early Fall.

As you may know, our house is for sale and I kind of quit decorating when we put it on the market. But for television, now that's a different story. I can't very well leave the basement unaccessorized. Oh, the HORROR!

My first project was the console table in our game room. This is what it looked like before:

Kind of naked. Until now, this table was used as a place for people to place their drinks while they shot pool.

I shopped the house and some stores, too, and now it looks like this:

Not so naked. I'm still debating on putting filler in the bottom of the candleholders, but I think with everything else it would be too much.

I love the mossy and wood balls! They were a new purchase and unfortunately not inexpensive*, so I'll definitely have to find a place for them in the new house. You read that right...new house. Well, new, old house but I'll tell you about that another day. *I'm editing here to add that I'm confident that many of you could have made these balls for cents on the dollar. But I was in a time crunch and didn't really want to sit and saw little logs into discs to glue on styrofoam.* :-)

Thanks for coming by! Thanks to Susan for hosting Met Monday!