A Cozy Cottage in the City

A Simple February Mantel

2012-02-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

Happy "Heart Day" my dear friends! Did you notice that I didn't call this a Valentine's Day Mantel? ...well since I was a little late in putting this up, I decided that I'm going to leave it up until the end of February, so hence it's a "February Mantel." :) Besides, my little one really loves to see the "hearts" up {as my preschooler helped me out with this, by the way}. :)

{via}
Anyway, when I bought this antique dutch butcher's twine from Maria at Dreamy Whites a few weeks ago, I had a whole Valentine's Day craft project in mind...but seeing as how time seems to be elusive in my world these days, well, I had to make due with whatever time I had on hand. :)

So I just took out my silver "Heart Shaped" Christmas {yes, I did say "Christmas} ornaments from IKEA, snipped some twine, and just thread them through {this is where my little one helped out}. :) You can't really tell, but if you look closely at the wall above my mantel, there are two nails already attached to the wall. For some reason, the hubby and I didn't remove it when we moved in, so we just used those two perfectly aligned nails as a place to hang our "IKEA heart banner" made of simple ornaments and twine.

Since I don't have alot of "red" decor, I just used what I already had around the house. Do you remember those fabric felt "Sweet Hearts" that I made last week? Well those made a little cameo on this post as I put them in an old aqua mason jar, along with the dutch twine.

I always have matchboxes on my mantle at any given moment, and this one happens to be perfect for the season. I purchased these at Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Couture Store in Santa Monica when I was there for her book signing last October.

Here I paired an old clear bottle next to a milk glass mustard jar with red writing.

I also hung some red heart shaped glass ornaments on either side of the banner to break up the silver a bit.

Mercury glass pillar and candle holders are scattered throughout next to an old ironstone mustard jar that still has it's original red cap.

If you haven't already noticed, my February Mantel is pretty much a slight variation of my previous "Fall" & "Christmas" Mantels. I know it's very simple - hopefully not too overtly so.

And lastly, here's a white shabby crown bowl filled with paper paisley hearts and a red glass ornament {yes, all from IKEA}, that I placed on a table next to my mantel. :)

So there you have it - my very simple February Mantel. I will be sharing this here:

& here: White Wednesday

I will also be taking a short blogging break of about a week or so. Hopefully by then I will get to share what I have been up to in my little "venture revisited" department. :) Thank you all for your support and well wishes, it really means so much. :) Until next time, wishing you all a most Happy Valentine's Day!

XOXO's,
Jessie

Pretty Pink Petals..a Winner...& a New Venture!!!

2012-02-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hello & Happy Sunday dear friends! :) I'm sure you are probably a little tired of me posting images of blooms whilst using that same framed background as a backdrop to my pictures! But we are in the middle of repainting the interior {little by little as time allows}, so that is just one of the {very few} places in our home right now, that looks decent! So I thank you all in advance for being "patient" with me! :)

I actually made that "shabby frame" in the background using leftover moulding and distressing it a bit with sandpaper. I was supposed to post about that little project months ago, but it seems like time is always fleeting and I never have enough of it these days! :)

It also seems like the spring season is upon us with the very warm weather we have been having here in Southern California. Is it just me, or has the winter been rather "mild" throughout the country? I could be totally wrong, and it just may be snowing on the East Coast! :)

Anyway, these pretty pink blooms were purchased to help remind me that there is a "light at the end of the tunnel" when it comes to our fixer upper challenges! Because right now our home is nothing short of a "war zone" with things still in ~~semi~~ chaos; so I like to surround myself with as many things that make me happy as possible {and blooms sure do make me quite happy!}. :)

Just an f.y.i that the "Dollar Tree" vase above is plastic. When you have some very active boys in the house like I do, then some things just have to be cheap & replaceable! :)

Now on to the "fun stuff!"

I know you all have been waiting to see who the Giveaway Winner is! Now I wish I could give everyone something, but there can only be one winner!

So without further ado, the winner of my Vintage Inspired Valentine's Day Giveaway via Random.org is....

#119 which is Cheryl of Fresh Vanilla For C!!!

Congrats Cheryl!!! Please contact me with your mailing info at: acozycottageinthecity@gmail.com so that I can send you your Vintage Goodies! :)

THANK YOU so much to everyone {current & new blogger friends} who participated! :) I love meeting new people and look forward to getting to know you all a bit more!

I also have some news to share regarding a new venture I am currently embarking on...well, it's more of a "venture revisited!" I wasn't sure if I wanted to share some of my personal journeys out here in blog land, but it is a HUGE part of who I am, and rather affects my blogging a bit. So, I didn't think it would be fair NOT to share some of it with my dear readers...so hopefully I will be posting a little more about it in the near future. So stay tuned for some news & THANK YOU once again for all of your friendships - they are ALL so greatly appreciated!

Hugs,
Jessie

P.S. This "venture revisited" will take quite a bit of my time these days {more on why later}, so if it takes a while to respond or visit your blogs - please know that it's not intentional! :) I hope you can bear with me as I continue to try & sort out all of my "time management" {more challenging than I thought}. :) ♥Jessie

Romantic Red Roses & a Final Giveaway Reminder

2012-02-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous week! Thank you to everyone for their sweet comments on my previous posts - I always appreciate your lovely visits to my page! :)

In honor of St. Valentine's, thought I'd share just a few simple images that I took a few weeks ago of my Red "Market" Roses.

I purchased these at a local Farmer's Market and put them into a dollar tree vase. Just loved the wide open blooms on these Romantic Red Roses!

Also, just a quick reminder that my Vintage Inspired Valentine's Day Giveaway ends Midnight Tonight! So if you haven't already entered to win a Vintage Plateful of Goodies, please feel free to click on the image below for all the details! :) And a special thanks to all my friends {old & new} who have joined in so far ~ you all make this blogging experience such a pleasant one!!! :)

Wishing you all a most lovely Valentine's Day weekend!

Hugs,
Jessie

Sharing with: Pink Saturday

Sweet Hearts

2012-02-07T16:30:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? Well while the boys in my life were busy watching the Super Bowl game on Sunday, I ended up playing with some fabric. Now before I begin, I have to make it clear that I am by NO means sew savvy! This fun little project was solely based on the fact that I wanted to "make some pretty pastries" - without having to worry about eating them afterwards! lol

Ok, ya'll are probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Well, I have gained about 10-15 pounds over the holidays {so sad, but oh so true}. And that's on TOP of the extra 15 pounds I was trying to lose pre-holiday time. So, I figured why not make some pretty little baked goods...but with felt fabric & some beads instead! :)

I was inspired to do this initially by the "fake foods out of felt" that my son often plays with {they sell them at IKEA}. Now I have to tell you that it's been about a "minute" {a very long one...we're talking years here} since I've done any crafting with fabric. So please kindly forgive my ~~rusty~~ non-existent sewing skills.

So I went digging for my crafting supplies, and although I already had some needles & beads on hand, I ended up having to buy some embroidery floss {0.35 cents each} and felt squares {0.29 cents each} at Michaels. And instead of using polyester fill, I went cheapo and just used cotton balls from home {don't laugh}, because I didn't want to buy an entire bag! :)

I needed a refresher on how to blanket stitch and whip stitch, and this website here helped. But clearly I need some practice as you can see from my uneven spacing, but even so, I really enjoyed this fabric craft project. Who knows, maybe it will inspire me to purchase an actual sewing machine so that I can finally learn how to really sew properly {with a machine}! :)

But for now, I was content on making these "Sweet Hearts" and putting them in a box just for fun. :)

So I cut out some circles & hearts. Then decorated them with some "Hugs & Kisses" and some "Hearts." :)

...and some pastel colored beads. Stuffed them and then stitched up the edging all around.

Then put them in a box with some pink ribbon around. And voila, we have a petite box filled with some "pretty pastries."

But what can be better than a boxful of little pastries?

Well that would be a {vintage} plateful of pastries, of course! :) All I need now is some "coffee" or "tea" to go with it. :) Until next time, enjoy your week!

XOXO's,
Jessie

If you still haven't entered to win a vintage plateful of goodies, click on the icon below for all the yummy GIVEAWAY details, which ends {tonight} Friday, February 10th at midnight! :)

I have also installed the "LINKY Followers Tool" on my blog {check out my blog side bar}. And if you follow me there as well, just leave me an extra comment on my giveaway post {click on icon to take you to the post} to let me know, which will give you a total of 7 chances to win! :)

Sharing with: Dear Lillie Valentine's Party, Pink Saturday, Tickled Pink, Show & Tell Saturdays, Freckled Laundry, Sew Crafty, My Romantic Home, Home Sweet Home, White Wednesday, Good Life Wednesday

Paper, Lace & Roses.

2012-02-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

Paper, Lace & Roses. There is something about vintage papers, pretty fabric & pale pink blooms that just spell romance. I guess I'm just a cheesy sap at heart. :) But regardless, I "Heart" all of it.

I have to admit, I've been going a little "Rose Crazy" for the past week or so! Maybe it's because I've been knee deep in paint & projects, that I just needed "some pretties" in my life. :)

So if I'm not at our local organic market {and/or at Trader Joe's} buying blooms, then you can find me grabbing some fleurs at the Farmer's Markets nearby...yes, they are year round and pretty much open rain or shine here! :)

These caught my eye because of their "tea-stained" look, if that's even a way to describe it. :)

With its pale outer petals & dark inner rims.

And of course I like to choose them in different hues. This one here has a slightly darker shade to it.

And even in its faded glory, these blooms look perfect to me, nestled within a vintage french tea cup.

So I place them out & about my home...but realistically, I just put them where there isn't any "fixer upper chaos." Which is limited, that's why you'll pretty much only see pictures of only "two places" in my home right now...because the rest of it is "still in progress!"

Paper, lace & roses.

Beautiful. Simple. Sweet. :)

Here's wishing all of my lovely friends a wonderful day! Enjoy your upcoming weekend!

XO'S,
Jessie

P.S. If you haven't already entered to win this stack of Vintage French Love Letters {dated 1915-1917}, as well as other vintage goodies - please click on the icon below for all the details! :)

Sharing with: White Wednesday, Good Life Wednesday, House in the Roses, Pink Saturday, My Romantic Home, The Vintage Farmhouse, The Rosegarden in Malevik, Show & Tell Saturdays

A Vintage Inspired Valentine's Day Giveway {French, Victorian & Shabby Chic}!

2012-02-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Happy February everyone! Valentine's Day is fast approaching and since I ♥ "Cupid's Little Holiday," I have decided to host a fabulous "Vintage Inspired Valentine's Day Giveaway" ~ some French, a little Victorian & a dash of Shabby Chic! :)

This giveaway will give all of my readers a chance to win a few lovely vintage items from my personal collection {I really hope you love it as much as I do!}. First up are a pair of Vintage French Transferware plates.

I just love all the floral detailing on these lovelies! They are in beautiful condition with no cracks or chips on the face of these plates, so you can most definitely still eat off of them. Or you can use these plates to display your desserts {like the way I did in my recent Rosewater Cupcakes Post}. :)

Next up are a Stack of 15 French Love Letters dated between 1915-1917 wrapped in vintage lace. These little love notes will definitely get you in a Romantic mood for Valentine's Day! I don't know about you, but the thought of these old letters just gets my heart all a "pitter-patter!"

I'm also giving away a chance to win a beautiful Victorian-Inspired, Vintage Postcard that is dated 1913! They just don't make cards like they used to! And this one is just gorgeous with the lovely red roses & Victorian writing.

And lastly, I'm throwing in a simple packet of Shabby Chic by Treasures, floral sticky notes and page flags! Perfect for any occasion! :)

Well, my friends that just about concludes the lovely items in my Vintage-Inspired Valentine's Day Giveaway! Now onto the fun stuff. Here are the giveaway rules for your chance to win A Pair of Vintage French Plates, a Stack of old French Love Letters, a 1913 Valentine Postcard, and some Shabby Chic Notes:
♥ Just leave a comment on this blog post letting me know you are a follower of A Cozy Cottage in the City. Or become a follower of "A Cozy Cottage in the City" using the Google Friend Connect gadget on my page, and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

{OPTIONAL}
For extra entries, you may:

♥ "Like" A Cozy Cottage in the City on Facebook

♥ Follow me using the "LINKY Followers Tool" on my page {right below the Google Friend Connect gadget}!

♥ Mention my giveaway in one of your blog posts.

♥ Post about my giveaway in your blog sidebar {feel free to use the icon below}.

♥ State the giveaway on your Facebook page, with a link back to this post.

♥ Tweet about this giveaway onto your Twitter page with a link back to this post.

Just leave me separate comments for each extra entry. That is a total of ~~SIX~~ SEVEN chances to win! The winner will be chosen via random.org.

{feel free to add this button onto your blog sidebar}

The giveaway will end
Friday, February 10th at 12 midnight, Pacific Standard Time.

A winner will be announced on ~~Saturday, February 11th~~ Sunday, February 12th!

Good luck, and please tell your friends about this wonderful giveaway!

This giveaway is open to both US & international friends. :)

♥ For anonymous users or bloggers with private profiles, please make sure to include your e-mail address in your comment post so I may contact you in case you win. ♥

Thank you all once again for always being so thoughtful & kind. I've met so many lovely friends here in "blogland," and I have to thank all of you, for such a wonderful experience! This little giveaway is to show you how much I appreciate your friendships! :) Take care and enjoy your day.

XOXO's,
Jessie

UPDATE: As of 02.11.2012, this giveaway is now closed! Thank you to everyone who participated ~ a winner will be announced on Sunday, February 12th!

Sharing with: Type A, Homemaker on a Dime, Free Pretty Things For You, Someday Crafts, Home Sweet Home

A Victorian Valentine

2012-01-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

Don't you just love it when you come across a vintage postcard? Whenever I go flea marketing or visit antique stores, I can't help but sift through all the cards, and think about who could have been the sender or recipient of these simple little notes.

This Valentine Greeting Postcard caught my eye with the lovely red roses and the Victorian writing! The front says: "Girlie Dear, My heart beats faster when I think of your sweet name; May I hope as you read this, Yours for mine will do the same." Isn't this just too sweet?

This particular note is dated 1913! I'm always surprised at how well-preserved these cards are ~ that is nearly 100 years ago!

Now tell me, what kind of vintage postcards do you like to collect? I like all different types, but the sweet love notes are my most favorite. And during the month of February {which by the way, is only 2 days away}, I like to take out my collection, and display them throughout my home. :)

Until next time, wishing you all a most lovely new week {and do stay-tuned for my Vintage-Inspired Valentine's Day Giveaway that is coming up very soon for all of my lovely readers}! :)

XO's,
Jessie

P.S. By the way, thank you all for the sweet comments on my last post regarding my Rosewater Cupcakes, I truly appreciate all of your kind words. I also updated that blog post and put the link up to the recipes/tips. You may CLICK HERE for the Recipe Page.

UPDATE: If you would like a chance to win this lovely vintage postcard, as well as other vintage goodies, please click on the icon below for all the details! :)

Sharing with: Rose Vignettes, Vintage Inspiration Friday, Time Travel Thursday, Vintage Thingie Thursday

Rosewater Cupcakes & a Vintage French Plate

2012-01-26T23:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday everyone! Earlier this week I realized that it's only a few weeks away from Valentine's Day. I don't know about you, but I do love "HEART" Day! :) There's something about V-Day that conjures up little images of boxed conversation hearts, roses, chocolates, and all the fun stuff that I recall from celebrating cupid's little holiday throughout my childhood. :)

So I thought I'd bake some Rosewater Cupcakes with Pale Pink Vanilla Buttercream Icing! :) {CLICK HERE for the recipes.} It was one of those last minute, "hey I want to bake something sweet days," so by the time I was done baking & frosting these, the sun was about to set; so the lighting wasn't all that great, hence some of the blurry pics {sorry!}.

Just in case some of you are wondering about my kitchen redo, I took a little break from all of that chaos this week, and decided to work on some of my favorite things to do...baking! But rest assured, I'll start resuming all of our projects this weekend. But for now, making these little delectable sweets were on my to-do list instead! :)

Rosewater Cupcakes are basically like vanilla cupcakes, but instead of adding vanilla extract, you add a dash of rosewater instead {the one used for cooking, not the artificially perfumed variety}, for that "essence of rose" flavor. You can find them at specialty food stores, but you can also find them at various ethnic stores or online as well.

You can also make "Rosewater Icing," but I opted for the basic Buttercream Frosting tinted to a pale pink hue. :)

After baking a batch, I put a few on one of my favorite vintage french transferware. I actually have quite a few of these plates at home, and just love the versatility of it. Then I placed it in a glass cake dome. Makes for a pretty presentation if you are having a few guests over.

Or perhaps you & your Valentine can have some cupcakes over a glass of bubbly {in this case, it's sparkling apple cider from Trader Joe's}. :)

What do you all have planned for Valentine's Day this year? Whatever you decide to do, be sure to have fun! :)

Thank you once again to everyone who has stopped by to message / leave me a comment, it's always greatly appreciated! In honor of my lovely friends here in blog land, and the fact that Valentine's Day is one of my favorite "holidays," - I'm going to be having a simple, Vintage-Inspired Valentine's Day Giveaway very soon. Think of course, Vintage + French, a little Victorian, and a dash of Shabby Chic. ;) So stay tuned for that. Until next time, enjoy your upcoming weekend!

XO's,
Jessie

CLICK HERE for the link to the Rosewater Cupcakes & Vanilla Buttercream Recipes.

UPDATE: If you would like a chance to win a pair of these lovely Vintage French Plates, as well as other vintage goodies, please click on the icon below for all the details! :)

Sharing with: Dear Lillie Valentine's Link Party, Homemaker on a Dime, The Vintage Farmhouse, Dwell on Joy, Valentine Link Party, House of Hepworths, Open House Party, Savvy Southern Style, Michelle's Little Piece of Heaven, Very Merry Vintage Style, Imagine the Possibilities Link Party, Ruby Jean, Craftastic Link Party, Northern Cottage, House in the Roses, Life Made Lovely, Home Savvy A to Z, Under The Table & Dreaming, Everything Under the Moon, Sugar Pink Boutique, Saturday Night Special, Sweet Saturday, Pink Saturday, Fridays Unfolded, Home Sweet Home, Inspiration Friday, The French Cupboard, Common Ground, French Country Cottage, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Chic on a Shoestring, 2805, My Romantic Home, Tickled Pink,

A little sunshine on a cloudy day!

2012-01-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

It rained a bit over here in SoCali over the weekend. And so, I was craving a little sunshine on a cloudy day. :) Here's a collage of photos from a previous post I did last summer on my homemade thyme lemonade. Hopefully it will bring some thoughts of sunny days, especially to those of you who are knee deep in snow. :)

Since I've been sick on & off for the last month or so, my husband persuaded me to rest & stay in bed this weekend, so that I could finally rid myself of this little flu bug that I've been trying to permanently kick for good. And as much as I hated having to temporarily take a break from our projects, I knew a little recuperation was much needed {thank you honey!}. :)

On a another note, thought I'd share this photo of my sweet boys. My youngest one really looks up to his older brother and he insisted that I take this photo of him with his arm around his big bro. Now this darling gesture is enough to keep me smiling for the rest of the winter! :)

Well I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Until next time, enjoy your new week!

XO's,
Jessie

When one wall comes down, another one better come right back up!

2012-01-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday everyone! How was your week? Well, I've been keeping myself pretty occupied as of late, frantically trying to work on different projects at once here in the fixer upper home front! So I do apologize if I haven't been able to respond or comment back on all of your blogs just yet {I've had issues with commenting on certain sites lately, have you?}. With that being said, you are all probably wondering the status of my kitchen cabinets, right? Well, as of last weekend I'm officially done with painting them all white!!! Woohoo! :)

BUT...there are still some major tweaking to do in the kitchen. Namely, repainting the entire kitchen a new color, and I'm pretty sure I've found the perfect color that works for the open living space, so stay tuned! In addition to that, I'm going to be installing some beadboard & trim around the sides of the breakfast bar countertops, as well as installing a backsplash {still flip-flopping between white subway tiles or beadboard}.

I've been researching on how to do all of this because as some of you already know, this is our first house {and a fixer at that} - so all of the DIY stuff that I'm doing is being approached as "learn as you go!" :) Then of course, there's the accessories, pendant lighting & window treatment issues, so needless to say, this kitchen redo is going to be a continued work progress that I'm giving myself until sometime next month to complete!

Now you're probably also wondering why I'm showing you pretty little images of closet spaces with lovely hanging chandeliers? Well, that leads me to another project that I've been tirelessly trying to work on, for what seems like ages now! Remember a few months back when I told you about that flimsy wall that had to come down between the two bedrooms/closets because it was literally made out of plywood and falling apart? Well, that wall went down...and THANKFULLY another one FINALLY came right back up! Here's a recap in case some of you are joining me here for the first time {"hello" to my new readers!}:

Closet wall between the two bedrooms went down.
NOTE: Sorry for the blurriness of some of these pics, but this room doesn't have the best lighting with that tiny window, coupled with my cheap point & shoot cam, and also the fact that I'm posting all of my "before pics" in black in white.

Pulled up the flooring down to the concrete slab & framed out the wall.

The frame went up, and due to the imperfections on the crooked wall {older home with plaster walls}, we had to fill any gaps with foam insulation and removed the excess once it dried.

Added sheetrock on one side of the wall & bought some insulation off of craig's list for a fraction of the price, since someone was selling their leftovers for only $15.00!

And then started "insulating away!"

Then put the sheetrock on this side of the wall, then used paper tape and joint compound to cover up the seams on both sides...

And voila! We finally have an INSULATED & sturdy wall up between the two bedrooms, ready to be painted!
So what's next, you wonder? Well, I have to figure out how to get this mess that's in our master bedroom....into some kind of organization because our home is in dire need of some efficient storage space!

So for the past week or so I've been sorting, selling, donating, & throwing out some of the stuff that's in the crazy pile you see above! I'm now pared down to our most needed essentials, and I realize that I'm in desperate need of some storage organization!

We don't have a walk-in closet, it's more of a reach-in closet. And realistically, it's something like the size above. Except that the "closet" is basically a "carved out" section in the bedroom {on the bedrooms on either side of the wall}. A custom closet from one of those large companies would probably be ideal...but of course I don't have 3-5K to drop per closet...

But no worries, I do have some plans on creative ways to maximize the entire space without spending much. But it's going to take tons of patience and a little work... So that's where I'm at with that project {so once again, stay tuned}. But I unfortunately still have tons of books, pictures, scrapbooking stuff, and important documents that still need to be kept somewhere.

And considering the small closet spaces throughout our home, I've come to the conclusion that some things may "leak" into the living and dining rooms... But I'll have to figure out a "tasteful" and neat way to display/cover up all of our stuff, like in the images below.

Disclaimer: By the way, all of these images are from my inspirational files that were compiled when we first closed escrow months ago, and downloaded from sources on the internet, including by not limited to: Google, Country Living & BHG.com. Since I didn't keep track of each source at the time, I'm not able to properly credit these images to the right source. So if these photos belong to you or someone you know, please let me know and I will properly credit the source or remove the images off this site.

In our townhome, we had open shelving similar to above. But I was hoping not to have to go this route in this home.

But I do like the idea of putting items in enclosed cabinets to hide the "neat" clutter. :)

Even linen and pantry closets / cabinets could use some efficient storage organization!

So what say you? How do you go about keeping your own home clutter free and organized? Especially in a modest, 1600 square ft home like mine with very little storage space {and with the garage out of the question, as it is still in it's unfinished state}? I'd like to know what you do in your own home?

Well my friends, that is all for now. I'll be busy multi-tasking for the rest of the month or so! I'll try to keep you all posted. Incidentally, I suffered a little relapse on my illness, and now I'm sick...YET AGAIN! :( Hopefully I'll recuperate soon because I just have way too much stuff to do! Oh and just a quick little message to let you know that I truly appreciate your comments and thoughts - it really means a lot! :) And although at times it may take some time to respond, I always do! :) So I thank you all for your continued support and inspiration!!!

Until next time, enjoy your weekend!!!

XOXO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Remodelaholic, Funky Junk Interiors, Show & Tell Saturdays

A Beautiful Disaster...

2012-01-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

A beautiful disaster. That's currently how I describe the current state of our kitchen; a bit disastrous looking, but knowing that in the end it will {hopefully} be beautiful and so worth it in the end... :) I've spent the majority of the week trying to fully recover from being ill, while attempting to finish up some lingering projects.

With that being said, I did welcome some stunning gifts & inspiration that arrived recently. That certainly made my heart sing! You may {or may not} recall that I won a fabulous giveaway from Melinda over at Alabaster Rose Designs right around Christmastime. To say that I was excited to be receiving one of her jewelry creations would be an understatement, as she is just one of the most talented individuals I know!

So I just had to share a few images of the gorgeous bracelet that Melinda made {did I mention that her creations were published in Jewelery Affaire Magazine?!?!}. Here I showcased this little gem on one of my German dessert plates decorated with Blue Floral Garlands {I have quite an obsession for vintage dessert plates, by the way}.

She was even kind enough to engrave my initial on it! Isn't it just lovely?!?! :)

Thank you Melinda for making my otherwise stressful week, a more brighter one! :)

In other inspirational news, I was pleasantly surprised to be getting this cute little package in the mail as well.

It's the latest {Winter 2012} issue of The Jeanne d'Arc Living Magazine that I ordered from Tracey over at French Larkspur!

Isn't the packaging so lovely & personal? This has to be one of my favorite JDL issues! Oh the French vintage industrial inspiration that this issue inspires, is just my "cup of tea!" :) If you don't already have your copy, go and order one before it sells out!

Now before I leave this post today, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of the chaos that is {currently, but temporarily} our dining room & kitchen! :)

So our dining room has become a storage depo of sorts, on top of also being the place where I work on my paint projects. Our garage is completely unfinished and currently doesn't have any lighting {or electrical outlets} in it, so it's just easier to work indoors until we get our garage functioning properly. Plus it's too cold & windy to work out there sometimes!

In case you're just joining me here for the first time, thought I'd mention again that my "before" pics will always be in black & white, so that my "after" pics will be shown in full color! :)

See, I told you I was making progress on painting our kitchen cabinets white! ;) Oh it sure has been a learning process - but also a truly interesting {albeit tedious} one nonetheless! :)

...and this is the current state of our breakfast bar counter tops and of the drawers that had to be displaced. We've had to eat out this week because it was too hard to cook anything in that chaos, so I can't wait until this is over so that I can have at least part of my kitchen back! :)

Well my dear friends, that is my update on what has been going on so far. Before I bid everyone a lovely weekend, I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to read my little ole blog. It's been a pleasure having to share little snippets of my journey with wonderful blogger friends & visitors such as yourself. :) Thank you also for the new faces that I see on here! It's an honor to have you stay awhile and check out my cozy little corner here in blog land. :) Until next time, have a most fantastic weekend!!!

XOXO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Smiling Sally

Design Shuffle Guest Post: Decorating with Vintage Fabrics

2012-01-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today, we have a special guest post from Joanna over at Design Shuffle. I know you will enjoy her article on "Decorating with Vintage Fabrics." So without further ado, I will let Joanna take over from here!

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Thanks to A Cozy Cottage in the City for letting me share with you today. I'm Joanna, a writer for Design Shuffle, a premier online portal for interior designers to share their work and for design enthusiasts to gather decorating ideas. I spend my days collecting images of interior designs and sharing them with blog readers like you. I hope you enjoy my post on vintage fabrics today. Vintage fabrics can be used in any room to give a nostalgic touch to the space. Whether it is large floral prints or simple small checks, vintage fabrics are fun and stylish. Take a look at some of the vintage fabrics we found and see if they don't inspire some decorating ideas of your own.

A large vintage style print is made into a wall hanging in this bright and cheerful hallway. Other touches of vintage are found on the pouf and pillow below the table.

A plethora of vintage pillows in a collection of fun prints can be found on this settee. The vintage style rug is a nice touch.

A vintage quilt can be seen hanging from the foot of the bed, which compliments the more modern floral print on the chair in the foreground.

In this bedroom design, a comfy bed is layered with vintage quilts and pillows. Can you imagine enjoying an afternoon nap in the relaxing space?

A vintage Chinoiserie print on a wing back fits nicely with this vintage style living room.

A fun porch swing sports pillows in red vintage prints and textures. A lazy Sunday afternoon would be so enjoyable spent on this porch.

A vintage tablecloth looks lovely on an antique table. A print like this would look charming in all kitchen designs! The white sheers at the window give a nice touch of whimsy to the room.

By far our favorite room, this antique room with its luxurious vintage linens is gorgeous. It is so romantic and simply filled with interior design ideas!

Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Feeling inspired? Then take a look at all the interior design styles on Design Shuffle and connect with Boston interior designers and more!

Thank you, Joanna! I hope you enjoyed her article on Decorating with Vintage Fabrics, and will be inspired as much as I am from this post. To check out more inspirational design ideas, be sure to visit Design Shuffle.

On another note, I would like to thank everyone who responded to my last post in regards to whether or not I should repaint our open floor living space. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your opinions and thoughts really made a difference on my final decision. I promise to share that with you all when our current project draws to a near. :)

Until next time, take care and have a wonderful week!

XOXO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Air Your Laundry Friday & Pink Saturday

January Pinks, Updates & Parisienne Farmgirl!

2012-01-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hello lovelies! How is everyone on this glorious Friday? Sorry I've been somewhat "M.I.A." since my last post, but unfortunately I picked up quite an unfriendly infection post New Year's that left me a bit ill this week. But the weekend is drawing to a near, and I'm feeling much better, thankfully! And I say "thankfully" because I have sooo much work to do this weekend, and I promise you'll find out why soon enough... :)

Since I was "quarantined" at home for most of the week, I was happy to finally be able to leave the house on Thursday afternoon to pick up some supplies at Home Depot. There I spotted these pink carnations; and well, like the floral addict that I am - I couldn't resist but take these home with me. :)

When I was younger, I didn't really care much for carnations {I know, ignorant me}. But as I got older, I actually found these little fleurs to be quite charming & pretty. And I love how they are "hardy" so I don't have to worry about "over handling" them. :)

So I put these lovely pinks into one of my favorite antique English vessels, and then started snapping away! I just love that this gravy boat doubles as a vase! :) Now the rest of my post may not have anything to do with these flowering images, but it's the only "pretty place" left in my home right now, so please bear with me... lol

Now while everyone has probably already taken down all of their Xmas decor & lights, I've still yet to put all of our holiday stuff away. But I promise to cross that off my to-do list this weekend along with FINALLY painting our cabinets white!

I know I had started that project back in November, when I took the doors off their hinges and began sanding them. But everyday life sort of had gotten in the way since then, so I couldn't start finishing off that task until last week! I didn't realize how much {TEDIOUS} work goes into painting them, but just know that I am more than halfway there! Being sick caused me to put this project on hold even more, but I plan on tackling it head on this weekend!

Speaking of paint, I've come across quite a dilemma when it comes to wall color. When I first moved into our home, I had a particular paint color in mind that I wanted for the kitchen, living room & halls. However, back then I did not educate myself properly on the correct way to test paint samples. So, to make a long story short, the paint color that is currently on our walls is not the color that I originally had in mind. :(

Now my question for you is this: would you settle for wall colors that are so-so and be willing to work around your kitchen, living room & hall paint colors {because it's not that I DON'T like it...I just DON'T love it}?

Or would you be willing to find the perfect shade and REDO the entire kitchen, living room & halls so that you can LOVE all of your wall colors? I was thinking along the lines of settling...but then something deep down inside me tells me to just RE-PAINT! I'm still up in the air about this. I have until this weekend to make my decision!!!

And the reason why I would have to repaint all that space is because our house is built in such a way that all of these spaces are NOT separate. It's an open floor plan where the kitchen opens into the living room, which leads to the hall. The dining room {aside from the bedrooms, bathrooms & laundry room} is the only thing that is separate.

And quite frankly, that is SO MUCH painting to do, as I do NOT enjoy cutting in where the ceiling meets the wall and where every other nook, cranny and corner is in that particular space. But I really want to LOVE my wall color, and currently I'm just not feeling it!

And remember in this post where I showed you that we had to take down a wall so that we could put up a more sturdier & insulated one? Well that new wall is now up, but currently we are in the process of building or finding a used closet system...for ALL OF THE BEDROOMS!

What does that equate to? That means we are still pretty much living off our boxes since we still don't have closets. This also means we all {with the exception of our preschooler}, still do NOT have beds yet since the boxes and junk take up the space where our beds and furniture would be. The good news is that I have been purging, selling, and just getting rid of the excess, while we await a solution for a new closet system {have you seen some of the outrageous prices for these systems?}.

With that being said, it might be awhile before you'll be seeing photos of entire rooms {unless those rooms get done, of course}. Only because we are working on more than one project at a time, and currently it looks like a tornado just hit our kitchen! So for now, I'm just going to entertain you with these pink & romantic images. :)

In other news, I also want to mention that the lovely and talented Angela at Parisienne Farmgirl is launching her new quarterly, online e-magazine! If you aren't already a follower/fan of Angela's Blog, I'd suggest you hop on over to her site to check out what this fabulous e-magazine has to offer!

Here is a sneak peek of what she has in store for you all:

Isn't she just great?!?! I have ALWAYS enjoyed Angela's free spirit and honesty on her blog. She really is a unique and talented gal who is just refreshing in every sense of the word!!! She is also having a FABULOUS giveaway in collaboration of spreading the word for the launch of her new quarterly e-magazine. So be sure to CLICK HERE for all the juicy details. This giveaway ends on ~~midnight, January 7th~~ {NOW EXTENDED TO MONDAY the 9th AT MIDNIGHT!} - so hurry up and visit her BLOG and FACEBOOK PAGE to get the scoop. To subscribe directly to her new magazine, visit: www.ParisienneFarmgirlMagazine.com.

Ok my dear friends, that is all for today! Wishing you all a most marvelous weekend! Oh and by the way, I will be having a fabulous guest post next week, so stay tuned for that {think Vintage}! :)

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: My Romantic Home, Rose Vignettes & all the the lovely ladies at Pink Saturday
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Common Ground, Feature Yourself Friday, Homemaker on a Dime, Home Sweet Home, House in the Roses, Sassy Sites, Saturday Show Off, Tickled Pink, & 2805
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New Year's in NYC Revisited & Cheers to 2012

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Greetings dear friends! I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as you are ringing in a blessed New Year! A few years back, my hubby & I decided on a whim to fly to New York right after Christmas so that we could literally watch the "Ball Drop" from Times Square. It was a very last minute trip, so we were lucky to have various friends & family "receive us" on the other end as we flew from one side of the country to the other.

It was lightly snowing when we arrived, and we were sooo not prepared for the weather! Our friend from college had just graduated from law school & was trying to start out his career in New York, so he let us rest our "jet-lagged" selves in his tiny {but cozy} Manhattan apartment. It was so small that the shower was in the kitchen! lol The pic above was a view from his apartment window.

After we rested a bit, we scrambled to try to find a hotel room that wasn't ridiculously expensive to stay in. After all, it was the morning of New Year's Eve, and we had to find a place somewhat close to where the "ball would be dropping." So we used one of those online companies that tell you the price, the amenities, the location, but not the hotel itself until after you "click ok!" lol And out of sheer luck, we were able to book a night at the Hilton in Times Square. Thank goodness, because we didn't want to have to keep using the subway & cabs to get from one place to another.

So after checking in, we rushed to "get in line" to where the ball would be dropping. Well, mind you it was already 6pm, and many people had already been waiting since that morning or had even stayed out over night to get the best possible front view. So needless to say that when we arrived, the area was pretty packed!

And they told us when we got there that you couldn't leave, otherwise you'd "lose your spot" since the street was blocked off. Have you ever tried waiting on the streets of New York in the dead of winter for 6 hours straight, and wearing clothes that were fit for a Southern California winter? I was soooo frozen at the end of the night, I literally thought my hands were going to fall off, they were so cold & numb! But we were determined to stick it out, and were so glad we did! :)

I admit, it's not something I'd do again - but IT IS something to experience for the first {and only} time! :) My hubby & I enjoyed the instant camaraderie that we had with those that were waiting to ring in the New Year right along with us! :) If you've ever seen the ball drop on T.V. {the concerts, etc.}, then just imagine that experience multiplied by 10 when you are in there in person!

Afterwards, the Hilton was throwing a complimentary New Year's Party with free drinks & food for those staying there, but I was so cold & exhausted that after we got to our hotel, I took a HOT shower & just wanted to stay in bed. So my sweet hubby ordered some food & bubbly for us, and we enjoyed the rest of the night relaxing in our hotel room! The blurry pic you see above was taken during our "walk back" to the hotel.

{The Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center}
The next couple of days were spent with my generous Aunt & Uncle who live in Long Island, New York. They were gracious enough to let us stay with them while we tried to explore the rest of the city, which included visiting the beautiful Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center and...

.sighting-seeing.

{visiting beautiful churches}

{and drinking "Dean & Deluca" Coffee, to name a few.} :)
I really wanted to go ice skating at the rink in Rockefeller Center during the day, but the lines were just ridiculously long!!! lol

My aunt & uncle then took us to the Empire State Building to see the beautiful 360 degree views of New York! This was an experience like no other! :)

We really enjoyed the gorgeous views - it was just so amazing to be that high up!!!

During our visit, my husband's cousin was also kind enough to host us with complimentary drinks at the bar that he owned in Manhattan at the time, and then invited us over for dinner afterwards at his NYC brownstone as well. I can't thank both our families and friends enough for being so hospitable during our stay!

Well my dear friends I hope you enjoyed these cheerful New Year's images! Whether you celebrate 2012 out and about, or are staying in with your loved ones - I hope you have a most blessed & wonderful New Year's! CHEERS to 2012!!!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: It's a Good Life

December to Remember

2011-12-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hello dear friends! I hope you all had a most joyous Holiday Season! In the week or two leading up to Christmas, it was a rather busy time here in our household {as I'm sure it was in yours}, so I apologize if I haven't posted or if I haven't had the chance to reply and/or visit your lovely blogs just yet. I recently arrived back into town late Tuesday night, after spending the holidays with my parents and family in Central California, so I look forward to catching up on what everyone has been up for the holidays! :)

Today I'd like to share with you some images of a few memorable events throughout the month of December. This year was our first Christmas in our new {old} home, so it was a very special time for all of us. Although we kept it fairly simple this year, we all had so much fun {especially my boys} decorating our cozy little cottage home.

On the "Eve" of Christmas Eve {aka December 23rd}, we turned on the twinkle lights in our living room and let our little one leave some milk and a small plateful of sweets for good ole Saint Nick! :) This was done a day early because we had planned to travel on Christmas Eve.

So 'Twas two nights before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...

Speaking of stockings, I would like to thank Susan from Evelyn & Rose for the lovely hopsack linen stocking with the raw-edged cuff that you see hanging above. I won some lovely items in her Christmas giveaway, including the stocking, a white burlap bag, and a pillow made out of cotton red toile that you see in the table below {thank you Susan!}. :)

As you can see, Santa decided to stop by for a snack and a drink, before he dropped off a few simple gifts underneath the Christmas tree. :)

The next morning we drove up to see the rest of my family in Central California. I was so happy to be able to spend some quality time with my dear mom & dad, as well with my sister and her family. It was just my sister and I as siblings growing up - so we are very close! :)

Here we are at my parents' home, passing out the gifts. I'm the one in stripes, and my sister is the one wearing purple. :) She was so sweet to gift me with some charming vintage items, including these 100 year old holiday post cards! ;)

I felt so blessed to be able to see my entire family again - especially my wonderful dad. Although I wish he was in better health, he is improving and I cherish each moment that I get to spend with him!

Other memorable moments in the month of December, included celebrating my dear husband's birthday on December 22nd. This year I made him a Peppermint Candyland Swirl Cake. This was White and Red Velvet Cake swirled together, frosted with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting & filling! A little decadent, but it was just so much fun to make! :)

His gift was then dressed up with Brown Paper Packaging, and then tied up with string. {The wrapping is just a Trader Joe's grocery bag}. My hubby loves to play the guitar, so inside the package is a vintage guitar magazine! :)

Other exciting events this month included my little one performing in his first Christmas program at his preschool, and my older one attending his new school's football banquet held at a local hotel ballroom.

Oh, and at my little one's preschool Christmas party, he did manage to bump into Santa as well! :)

Well my dear friends, that is all for today! I hope you are all enjoying and celebrating this blessed season with your loved ones and friends. May the upcoming New Year bring you peace, love and extra happiness!!!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: How Sweet the Sound, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Home Sweet Home, My Romantic Home, Feathered Nest Friday, Free Pretty Things For You, Faded Charm, What's It Wednesday,

A Whimsical Holiday Cake!

2011-12-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, there's just one more week left until Christmas - can you believe it!?!? This holiday season sure went by fast didn't it? In December it's pretty busy over here, because not only do we celebrate Christmas, but we also celebrate my husband's birthday. Today, I'd like to share with you a whimsical holiday cake and a favorite cake cookbook of mine.

I made this "Winter Wonderland" cake for my husband last year, for his December 22nd birthday. Growing up he always had his birthdays combined with Christmas and never had a cake, so I always make it a point bake him a little something each year. This cake was inspired by his story of always wishing for a snowman cake as a child. He never did get that wish growing up, but hey it's never too late {or you can never be too old} to have your wishes come true, right? :)

So I decided to make him this holiday birthday cake from my favorite cake cookbook The Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye Hansen & Liv Hansen. The authors are a mother & daughter duo based out of New York. I absolutely love this book - I've had it for quite a few years now and have made most of my birthday & celebration cakes from here, and each recipe has always been stellar!

The cake that I made was a two layer white butter cake with raspberry mousse filling, buttercream frosting, white chocolate "snow," and custom chocolate edible toppings - where I used the "melted chocolate relief" method to freestyle pipe each design one by one. I'm not going to lie, this particular recipe was a little labor intensive, but it was so worth it in the end. This was my first time working with "melted candies" as toppings, but I think it came out pretty decent for my 1st time.

This wonderful cake cookbook has tasty cake recipes, with a variety of delicious fillings and yummy frostings! So even if you don't want to work with custom edible chocolate toppings, you can still create fairly simple, bakery worthy treats! If you would like the recipes for the White Butter Cake, Raspberry Mousse Filling & Buttercream Frosting, then click here.

Well my friends, I hope you are enjoying the last week before Christmas! May you enjoy this blessed & beautiful time of year with your family & friends! Hugs & Happy Holidays to all!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: 2805, Stuff & Nonsense, At The Picket Fence, Home Sweet Home, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, Good Life Wednesdays, Wednesday Show Off, Faded Charm, Uncommonly Yours, Making the World Cuter, Life Made Lovely, Blue Monday, Masterpiece Monday, Creative Bloggers' Party, It's So Very Cheri, Under The Table & Dreaming, Home Savvy A to Z, Craft-O-Maniac, Keeping It Simple, Everything Under the Moon

Christmas Time is Near!

2011-12-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hello dear friends! How is everyone doing? With Christmas fast approaching, I have enjoyed all of the lovely inspiration that has filled blog land recently! The amazing talent that I see never ceases to amaze me! Well I know it's been a short while since I've posted last, so I thought I'd share with you what I have been up to for the last week or so. :)

Last Friday, my husband & I had a "date night," which is rare since he often has to work late/many hours, and when we're both finally free, we are always doing something with our kiddos {I'm sure most of you can relate}! So, imagine my delight when he tells me that we have babysitting for the evening, and that we have a couple of hours to ourselves {yippee}! :)

We went to the "Americana at Brand" here in Southern California and had some dinner & drinks, and then enjoyed the festive decor all around! Of course I couldn't resist perusing through the shops there. And the Anthropologie at that location was no exception. :)

So many tempting goodies to buy every time I set foot into that store...but I was a good little gal and didn't get anything for myself {I'll just wait for "Santa" to cross off my wish list}. :)

This past weekend we also managed to get our tree up & decorated, finally! I know I'm really behind again this year. Every year I keep telling myself that I'm going to do my decor and crafts on time, but that usually gets thrown out the door because of some time management issues! And it's even more so this year with all the ongoing fixer upper projects. So I do envy you gals out there that seem to have it all together for the holidays! :)

The kids opted for a beautiful noble fir. And I let my boys pick out the "theme colors" for this year's tree, and they chose red, silver & white. Luckily that worked out since we were working with a limited amount of decor because we left most of our ornaments at my parents' house in Central Cali.

So we kept it simple this year with a few boxes of ornaments that I picked up at the "IKEA holiday tent" one week before "Black Friday" {thank goodness because all the ornaments there were pretty much sold out by the 1st week of December}! Both of my boys decorated this tree all by themselves, and I think they did a terrific job! :) The decor was simple & sweet with:

and

pretty silver boxes tied up in shiny string. :)

The rest of the tree was adorned with shatter-resistant ornaments of Christmas past that we thankfully found in the back of my in-laws garage. And of course let's not forget the red, felt star which tops the tree for a simple, yet festive treat. :)

Oh but wait! We have to wait until it gets dark to enjoy the warm glow of twinkle lights which really adds some sparkle to the tree... :)

.glitter balls & vintage inspired hearts.

Well there you have it: a decorated tree that made its way onto an uncluttered corner {rare} of our home! :) I am proud of my boys for decorating this tree the way they did. :) Oh & another exciting milestone this past weekend was that my youngest performed in his first Christmas program at his preschool, and my eldest attended his first sports banquet of the year, at his new school. :) I feel so happy & blessed that despite the often "fixer-upper chaos" & the move to a new school/area, they are making great friends and enjoying the holiday season. :) Until next time, have a bright & beautiful week!

XO's,
Jessie

P.S. I would like to also thank everyone once again for their sweet comments on my last post regarding my holiday mantel. We don't have much this year due to the recent move, & the unforeseen repairs to our home; so these days we really do have to work with what we already have. So I thank you for your kind words on my simple mantel. :)

Sharing with: The House in the Roses, My Romantic Home, Homemaker on a Dime, How Sweet the Sound, Home Sweet Home, Freckled Laundry, Faded Charm, Very Merry Vintage Style, Free Pretty Things For You, Primp, Wednesday Show Off

Antique Shop Finds on my Holiday Mantel

2011-12-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone! As promised, I thought I'd show you some of my recent antique shop finds during my trip to Central Cali. All of these items were purchased for a great deal, so I was very excited about that! :) I also incorporated these finds onto my holiday mantel, which I will also show in this post.

First up are these lovely vintage bottles: 1 amber bottle & 2 lavender ones! I found these for $1.25 each!

I love finding old bottles, so these were happily added to my collection!

Then I came upon these two vintage english bowls.

I really loved the scene on this staffordshire lavender bowl!

The floral bowl had some lovely crackling that I love oh so much! Both bowls were a steal {at least for me} for $2.00 each!

Then I was a very happy camper when I bought these vintage ornaments for 0.25 to 0.50 cents each!

These box of Shiny Brites were found for $2.00!

I purchased this old Dundee Jar for $1.00, and I just LOVE the patina on this one! I like to collect these jars & use them for a variety of purposes like holding paint brushes, pencils, pens, etc. And they are also great to use as candle holders too, if you find the right shaped ones to fit. Here I used mine to hold sprigs of pine.

Now on to the fun stuff. :) This year's Holiday Mantel sort of mirrors my previous simple fall mantel. I just switched things around, used what I already had, and then incorporated my recent antique shop finds.

I decided to showcase the vintage ornaments atop the pair of found lavender bottles by placing them upside down. The glass candle holder in the middle is from the dollar tree. I placed these all onto my vintage silver tray which was also used in my fall mantel {but instead of placing it up against the wall, it is now set flat}.

I wanted to incorporate lavender throughout my mantel in honor of the advent season.

I also placed the vintage blue green ornament onto the amber bottle.

I just love the way this combination looks next to these lovely matchboxes that I bought from the Shabby Chic Couture store some time ago. It doubles as both a functional & religious purpose.

Leftover rose blooms were placed inside the lavender bowls. I love mixing both rustic & romantic natural elements into my decor.

I usually place some of my vintage ornaments into a glass vessel, but our mantel is slightly off kilter {you can't tell in the picture, but it is crooked enough that something may fall}. So until we redo our mantel, I opted out of putting any heavy glass onto the mantel and decided to leave the shiny brites as-is, in its box. And to tell you the truth, I actually like it better that way! :)

And of course I just had to display my mercury candle holders {my favorite!}. I also placed a vintage french mustard jar onto my mantel {as in my fall mantel}.

Love the cream colored jar against the pale pink rose.

The fall leaves were traded in for scented sprigs throughout, for a simple touch of greenery.

The rest of my recent antique shop finds that are not pictured, included an old white bottle, and a vintage Chanel No. 5 eau de cologne bottle. I also found a handful of 100 year old vintage Christmas postcards, which I will be showing you in another post. I took a lot of pictures of my simple, vintage-inspired holiday mantel - I hope you enjoy them!

This is what my vintage-inspired holiday mantel looks like overall.

Well there you have it - my recent antique shop finds on my simple holiday mantel. This weekend I also worked on a project that involves leftover molding & a miter saw. Stay tuned, as I hope to share that project with you soon! So until next time, Season's Greetings to all!

Cheers,
Jessie

Sharing with: Home for the Holidays, Christmas Mantel Link Party, Mantels at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, My Romantic Home, Home Sweet Home, Common Ground, Coastal Christmas Link Party, 504 Main, How Sweet the Sound, Faded Charm, From My Front Porch To Yours, Everything Under the Moon, Boogieboard Cottage, Amaze Me Monday, Coastal Charm, Vintage Thingy Thursday, LaurieAnna's Vintage Home, The Frugal Nest, Stuff & Nonsense, Homemaker on a Dime

Roses & Pine

2011-12-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hello my dear friends! Have you already started decorating for the holidays? I still don't have my tree, but I did add a touch of Christmas in my home by pairing up my favorite rustic & romantic pair for the holidays: Roses & Pine! The blooms and pine clippings were from a local market {all for less than $10.00}, and then I put them inside my IKEA tin plant pot {0.99}! Be forewarned that I did take quite a number of photos and played around with different textures to showcase their beauty. This for me is just pure eye candy, so without further ado - I'll just let the pictures do all the talking. :) I hope you enjoy these images as much as I do!

Roses & Pine! I'll be back again to share with you my recent Central Cali antique shop finds. Until next time, Happy Holidays!

Cheers,
Jessie

Sharing with: A Stroll Thru Life, The Lettered Cottage, French Country Cottage, My Romantic Home, The Charm of Home, 2805, Rose Vignettes, At The Picket Fence, 504 Main, Stuff & Nonsense, How Sweet the Sound, The Rosegarden in Malevik, The Tablescaper, & House in the Roses

I'm Back...and just a few updates!

2011-11-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hello all! How was your Thanksgiving holiday? We just got back late last night from visiting my folks, and things are still a bit chaotic over here in terms of settling back in, so this post is going to be a "hodge podge" of sorts in terms of a few quick updates! :) The traffic to and from was a little hectic, but other than that, I really had a wonderful time seeing my parents - especially my dad. I'm having sooo many mixed feelings right now about the entire situation, and I'm having a really hard time coping with it all. I was so happy to see my dad again, but felt so guilty for having to leave my parents' home. Sometimes I feel like dropping everything altogether and moving back home temporarily so I can take care of them. But that's easier said than done when you have your own children to raise. I can see that my mother is overwhelmed with having to work full-time, and also having to care for my dad post-surgery. I mean, he is fully alert and can talk, and can even walk on his own...but without having to get into details, there are just some things that he needs help with right now. But my mother has been so stressed out about everything, that her health is starting to suffer as well, which makes her patience run quite thin at times... Well I don't want this post to sound anymore depressing than it already does, so I shall digress on this particular subject, and move right along. But I'll be honest, I'm worrying all the time about them, but I'm just going to have to turn to a higher power to get me through this...

On a lighter note, my hubby and I did manage to steal a few hours out of the house to explore the neighboring towns, which included some really wonderful antique shops. We were on a mad rush on Saturday, so I didn't get a chance to take more than a few pictures. But I promise to share with you my lovely vintage loot at another time! I have been on a major budget, so I was excited to score some vintage goodies for a really, really good price! My eyes also spied so many old doors and windows, but I opted out of buying any of them because I knew they couldn't fit in the car during our trip back to Southern Cali {we all carpooled with my sister and already had too much stuff in the vehicle}!

One of the antique stores that we visited was located in an old Woolworths building...and I was delighted to see that their diner was up and running!!! So we took a burger and fries break during our antique shopping...well, my hubby did. Because I'm vegetarian, opted for just fries & a drink! :) Before I end this short post, I just want to thank It's So Very Cheri & Under the Table & Dreaming for featuring my Previous Post on my pie & crust recipes. I'm honored to have anyone even reading my posts, let alone acknowledge them! So I thank them for the honor and I thank all my readers for staying even remotely interested in anything I have to say! :) Thank you all for your continued friendships!

Well that is all for now. Now I'm off catching up on messages and visiting all of your oh so lovely blogs!

XO's,
Jessie

Thanksgiving Blessings!

2011-11-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello dear friends! I'm sure almost everyone is probably already busy prepping for their Thanksgiving Table, or getting ready to leave out of town. So thought I'd wish you all a most Blessed Thanksgiving in advance! :) Wherever you are, may you enjoy this holiday with family and friends! We will be taking a trip to see my parents to spend Thanksgiving with them this year, so you probably won't hear from me until after the weekend is over! :) Hopefully the traffic tonight won't be too bad {though it probably will be!}. I look forward to seeing my dear dad, and I am thankful for each day that I have with him. I am also thankful for my hubby and boys, and being surrounded with such amazing & kind blogger friends, like you all!

Eat, drink and be merry everyone!

XO's,
Jessie

Autumn in my Kitchen Part Deux: The Recipes

2011-11-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? It's been raining really hard over here in SoCali - is it raining and/or snowing wherever you are? If so, I hope that you are keeping yourself both warm and dry! :) Since the holidays are coming up, I thought I'd finally share with you some recipes from my initial post, "Autumn In My Kitchen".

For the apple pie recipe above, you can actually find the entire recipe {dough & apple filling} by CLICKING HERE. However, I just want to let you know that I use a different recipe for the pie dough. I have been baking for many years and have tried many various pie dough recipes, and there is one that I use that tastes perfectly buttery & flaky, every. single. time. :) So this pie dough recipe, and the recipe for the Pumpkin Pie is what I will be sharing on in this post. Also, at the end of this post, I will share with you some simple tips on how to make your pie dough as yummy & flaky as possible. :)

Now I was planning to actually make the pie dough recipe myself and take pictures to show you what pie dough looks like when you are making it, but unfortunately I have been taking care of two very sick kiddos this weekend {my youngest was diagnosed with early stages of pneumonia last Friday}. And since I don't want to delay this post any further, I will just do my best to describe to you the steps, and use pictures from my old files {and/or from the internet} to try & show you.

RECIPE FOR A FLAKY BUTTERY PIECRUST
NOTE: This recipe below will make piecrust for one Pumpkin Pie. If you want to use this crust for apple pie, which requires a bottom and top crust, just double the recipe.

1 1/2 CUPS BLEACHED ALL PURPOSE FLOUR

1 TABLESPOON SUGAR

1 TEASPOON SALT

5 TABLESPOONS COLD UNSALTED BUTTER, CUT INTO 1/4 INCH PIECES

4 TABLESPOONS COLD SOLID VEGETABLE SHORTENING, LIKE CRISCO

3 1/2 TO 4 1/2 TABLESPOONS ICE WATER

This recipe calls for a "Food Processor," but if you don't have a food processor, you can still make this recipe too. When I started baking pies & crusts, I didn't own a food processor, so I will also show you the alternative way to make this without one.

{food processor source}
Put the flour, salt & sugar in the bowl of a food processor using the steel blade & pulse briefly to mix. {Alternatively, you can mix these ingredients in a large bowl and use a hand held electric mixer on low speed or use even a fork, to mix these together if you don't have a food processor.}

Scatter the butter over the flour mixture & toss lightly to coat using a spoon.

Pulse 5 times at 1-second intervals.

Add the shortening in small pieces and pulse 4 more times at 1-second intervals.

NOTE: Alternatively, if you don't have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender/cutter to "cut" the butter into the flour like in the picture below. I bought my pastry cutter at IKEA for a cheap price, but they have it anywhere that sells bakeware.

{pastry blender source}
**Whether you use a food processor or a pastry blender, the texture should resemble coarse meal, with the butter & shortening bits no bigger than peas.**

Add 3 1/2 tablespoons of the ice cold water over the mixture, and pulse the dough until the dough begins to hold together, about 6 times.

Pinch a small amount of the dough between your fingers. If it doesn't hold together, add 1/2 tablespoon of the water and pulse 3 times. Pinch the dough again. If necessary, add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon water & pulse 3 more times.

When the dough holds together when pinched, then it is ready. Don't allow it to form a ball in the processor.

Transfer the dough to a large sheet of plastic wrap. Press gently and form the dough into a 5-inch disk. Note, form into a disk NOT a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, but for BEST RESULTS, refrigerate it OVERNIGHT.

At this point, the dough may be refrigerated for up to 2 days, or frozen for up to 3 months in advance.

Let the chilled dough soften at room temperature for 10-15 minutes (longer if frozen).

Using a rolling pin, tap the dough firmly to flatten it.

You can use any rolling pin, but I found that the tapered rolling pin is the easiest for me to use:

{tapered rolling pin source}

Sprinkle some flour around your work surface, and lightly sprinkle some flour on both sides of your dough.

Place the dough between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap {I like to use parchment paper for less non stick} and roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness.

Transfer the dough to your favorite pie dish. I like to use the Emile Henry Ruffled Pie dish for its amazing presentation & superior quality, but any pie dish will do.

{ruffled pie dish source}

After transferring your dough into your pie dish, use scissors to trim the excess dough, leaving a 1/2 inch overhang under itself so that the folded edge is about 1/4 inch beyond the edge of the dish. Crimp decoratively.

Roll any scraps together into a disk, put in a plastic wrap, and refrigerate for later use.

Some pie recipes, like Pumpkin Pie, call for "Blind Baking," which just means prebaking the crust. Instructions are as follows:

"BLIND BAKING" INSTRUCTIONS FOR PUMPKIN PIE
Refrigerate the pie shell {your pie dish + dough inside the pie dish}, for at least 1 hour.

Position the rack in the center of the oven, place baking sheet on rack, and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Press two 12-inch squares of aluminum foil into the pie shell so that the foil covers the edge of the crust.

Use pie weights or dried raw beans or uncooked rice, and position the weights as far up the sides as possible to prevent the crust from shrinking. Williams-Sonoma sells these pie weights, but you can use dried raw beans or uncooked rice, which works fine too.

{source}

Set the pie dish on the baking sheet and bake for about 17 minutes.

Transfer the pie dish to a wire rack and let cool.

RECIPE FOR BOURBON PUMPKIN PIE +
WHIPPED CREAM
NOTE: The 1 tablespoon of bourbon that this pumpkin pie recipe calls for, plus all the lively spices make the taste of this pie YUMMY! Don't worry about the alcohol, it evaporates so you are left with the flavor {for those worried about that}.

1 RECIPE FLAKY PIECRUST {SEE ABOVE}, OR ONE 9-INCH DEEP DISH FROZEN PIE SHELL {If you are pressed for time}

3/4 CUP SUGAR

1 TEASPOON SALT

1 TEASPOON CINNAMON

1/2 TEASPOON GROUND GINGER

1/8 TEASPOON GROUND CLOVES

PINCH OF GRATED NUTMEG

2 EGGS

1 CAN PUMPKIN {15 OUNCES}

1 1/2 CUPS HEAVY CREAM

2 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT

1 TABLESPOON BOURBON

1 TABLESPOON MILK {this is used to brush the outer crust edges, so don't add this to your mixture}

NOTE: If you are using a homemade piecrust, bake it blind as directed from the instructions listed above. If you are using a frozen pie shell, prebake it according to the package directions.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Position the rack in the lower third of the oven and put a baking sheet on the rack.

Note: there are various types of baking sheets, just use whatever you have. I prefer to use the one with edges, but any kind of baking sheet will do.

{bake sheet source}
Stir together the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs in large bowl. Add the pumpkin, cream, vanilla, bourbon, and the sugar and spice mixture and mix well.

Tip: Use a large, clear glass bowl so you can see underneath the bowl to make sure everything is mixed well. This is optional, but you'd be surprised to see how much of the mixture needs to be blended {even though you think you've whisked it well}.

Brush the outer edge of the piecrust with the milk.

{pastry brush source}

Remove the baking sheet from the oven.

Put the pie shell on the baking sheet and fill the shell to the rim with the pumpkin mixture.

NOTE: Depending on your pie shell and the dish, you may have as much as 1/3 of the pumpkin mixture left over. {That's why I prefer to use the Emile Henry Ruffled Pie Dish, as it is a deep dish to house as much filling as possible}.

Cover the edges of your crust with foil.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Then reduce the oven to 350 degrees F and bake until the pie is set in the center, 40-50 minutes more. {The filling will still jiggle when moved}.

You can remove the foil the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool completely.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR "DECORATIVE EDGES"
NOTE: If you want to add decorative pieces around your finished pumpkin pie {like in the one below}, then you may do so using the pie dough scraps that you put in the fridge. You will also need cookie cutters of your choice.

{decorative crust source}

While you wait for your pumpkin pie to cool down, take the dough scraps out of the fridge and roll it out like you would when you made the pie dough.

Instead of putting them into a pie dish, use cookie cutters of your choice and press them into the dough.

In my 2nd picture above, I used different sized "leaf" shapes and also "acorn" shapes. But you can use whatever you want, just make sure they are not too big.

Once you have yours cut out into various shapes, place them on a baking sheet {or for easy clean-up, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper}.

Use the tip of a small knife to carve out the details of the "leaves," "acorns," or whatever it is that you used.

Brush them with milk.

Place baking sheet with the cut-out dough pieces into a preheated oven set to 350 degrees F.

Bake for about 5-10 minutes or more, depending on the size of your cut pieces.

You'll have to watch the oven to make sure they are not burning {just lightly browned}.

Once they are ready, take out of oven and let pieces cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Place the cooled "leaves" around the edges of your cooked Pumpkin Pie. This is also a great way to conceal the edges of your Pie Crust if you accidentally over brown them! Put some on the center too {another good way to conceal the "cracks" on the center of your filling if you accidentally leave it in the oven too long}.

Now Pumpkin Pie wouldn't be complete without a dollop of fresh whipped cream!

RECIPE FOR BOURBON-SPIKED WHIPPED CREAM
Note: This makes a yummy "adult" whipped cream topping! Try it and you will see. If you are serving to kids, just omit the Bourbon.

1 CUP HEAVY CREAM

3 TABLESPOONS SUGAR

1 TABLESPOON BOURBON, PLUS MORE AS NEEDED

Combine the cream, sugar, and the 1 tablespoon bourbon in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Alternatively, you can put the ingredients in a large bowl, and use an electric hand mixer {takes longer for the peaks to form}.

The cream should slowly fall over forward when lifted with a whisk.

Serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream!

Now I would like to share a few tips for a successful/flaky piecrust.

TIPS FOR A FLAKY PIECRUST

Make sure ALL of your ingredients are COLD! I usually measure out my ingredients and put them back into the fridge for at least an hour.

Always start out with cold butter & shortening. After cutting your butter into 1/4 inch pieces, put them back in the fridge again because when you cut them, they become warm.

Measure out your shortening, then put that in the fridge too.

Do NOT use unbleached flour. There is some debate on this one on regards to why {just google it}, but I prefer to use unbleached flour for my cookies and piecrusts, as it has worked better for me throughout the years. But do whatever you are comfortable with.

To measure your flour accurately, spoon it into your measuring cup and level it with a knife. Do not scoop flour directly from the bag into your measuring cup and level it against the side of the sack.

Make sure your flour & sugar are cold too.

Lastly, use ice cold water, but make sure you don't have "ice pieces" in your ice water.

If you follow these little tips, you will have a perfect piecrust every time!

If you still need some help on how to make the perfect piecrust, or need a visual. Here is a link to Martha Stewart's video. In this video, she doesn't use shortening in her piecrust recipe, but the video is helpful so you can see how your dough should look like during each step.

Well my friends, I hope you've enjoyed my recipes and the tips for a flaky piecrust. If you have any questions, please let me know. If you decide to try these recipes out - let me know as well! Until next time, take care and enjoy your new week!

Hugs,
Jessie

Sharing with:
Masterpiece Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Amaze Me Monday, CraftOManiac Monday, Life Made Lovely, Making the World Cuter, Its Party Time, Just Something I Whipped Up, The Tablescaper, Under The Table & Dreaming, Everything Under the Moon, Type A, Not Just a Housewife, Savvy Southern Style, & The Gingerbread Blog

Facebook

2011-11-17T13:20:00.000-08:00

Just letting you all know that I just created a Facebook Page today for my blog. Still currently updating it, but feel free to "like" my page if you want. If you have an FB page, please let me know as well! Hope to see you on there! :)

Have a blessed night everyone!

XO's,
Jessie

Vintage Hearts

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! How is your week going so far? So I went to Ikea the other day & came across these adorable vintage inspired heart ornaments. I was so smitten by their aged look, that I had to grab some for the holidays.

I love that they even had a "chippiness" about them.

Here I put them in a bowl that I bought at the Shabby Chic Couture store.

I picked up these bowls while they were on sale, and I love the gold floral details on them.

These vintage inspired gold ornaments also come in silver too. I picked up those as well since I'm kind of obsessed with heart shaped ornaments at the moment. ;) They have a good variety of heart ornaments, and I got them at the "outdoor IKEA holiday tent," in case you decide to pick some up for the holidays too.

I really adore these, and I hope you've enjoyed these Vintage Inspired Heart Ornaments too! Until next time.

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with:
White Wednesday, Very Merry Vintage Style, Free Pretty Things For You, No Minimalist Here, Time Travel Thursdays, Home Sweet Home,
Vintage Inspiration Friday, Feathered Nest Friday, My Romantic Home,
The Shabby Nest, Potpourri Friday, & Debbiedoos Newbie Party

A Weekend in Review

2011-11-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends! How was your weekend? I hope you all had a most wonderful one! First and foremost, thank you again for your sweet & thoughtful comments in my last post regarding my dad. Your kind words mean more to me than you'll ever know, and they are always so greatly appreciated! :) These past few weeks have been a roller coaster of a ride, but we are all hanging in there. Thank you all for your continued support!

Well I had both a relaxing & an eventful weekend. Kind of contradictory, I know. But I did manage to work on some projects, and then enjoy the other half of the weekend spending some good quality time with my family. On Saturday, I decided that it was finally time to work on painting the kitchen cabinets white. Actually, I should say "prepping," because we haven't exactly painted them quite yet!

{we took down the cabinet doors in the above photo to sand, in case you're wondering why they're missing}
If you will recall, our modest sized kitchen has maple colored cabinets, black granite counter tops and an L-shaped breakfast bar that I one day {not anytime soon} hope to remove, and then add a size appropriate island. But since the only thing we can afford at this point in terms of redoing the kitchen, is to repaint the cabinets white - that is what our next project will be. :)

{the drapes above are from the previous owners, & I only plan to change it after this project is completed}
If this is your first time visiting my blog, I have decided to post all of my "before" photos in "black & white" instead of color, since I tend to work on projects in "sections" as I post, and I thought it would be too anti-climatic to post the "befores" in color. That way, when I am ready to reveal it later, I can do so in "color!" :)

By the way, excuse the fact the that all the doors to the upper cabinets have been removed. I forgot to take the "before" shots, so I ended up taking the pics after we removed the doors! I'm going to work on the top cabinets first because there are more bottom drawers and cabinets than the top {not shown yet in the above pics}, so I figured it would be less overwhelming for me to work on it in sections.

We are also having some hideous kitchen plumbing problems! I'm only going to post that one picture above to spare you the disgusting details. Needless to say, our kitchen sink is out of commission and I have been washing dishes in my hallway bathroom! Ugh, so not fun!!! I think we are going to need a plumber to come in & fix this issue since my hubby put a 12 ft drain auger to see if he could clear the pipes, but to no avail! We really don't want to have to pay a plumber to come in, so we shall see what my hubby can do to try & fix this issue, as I'm not sure how long I can last without a kitchen sink!

While my hubby worked on fixing the plumbing issue, I started on the cabinet prep. Here I am using a hand held sanding block to smooth out the larger surface areas. Then I tore out pieces of sanding paper to work on the grooves of the cabinets by hand. And pay no mind to the patchy areas throughout the grass in the background. Our fixer upper is a constant work in progress, which also includes both our front and backyards! :) Then it started to rain, so I put everything away and worked on the rest of it on Sunday.

This air compressor came in handy when installing our baseboards, when it was used with a nail gun...

...and then it also came in handy when I used the tip of the compressor to remove the fine dust particles within the grooves. Then I dusted it with a lightly damp rag, and then went over the cabinet pieces again with an electric circular sander, using extra fine sand paper!

You are probably wondering why I'm not just "lightly sanding" our cabinets. Well, I am going all out with the prep because the cabinets were very glossy & grainy to begin with, and I really wanted to scuff up the surface so that the primer & paint will be less likely to peel. I also wanted to "smooth" out the surface of the cabinets to remove most of the graininess. I know it won't be "perfect," but I feel that if I prep the cabinets really well, then the "painting part" will be more of a breeze. Then I used a tack cloth to finally remove the rest of the fine dust particles. The next step now is to prime these, hopefully I can get that done this week, as I still need to sand the upper cabinets in the actual kitchen.

Now on a completely different note, last Friday night my eldest son attended his first High School Homecoming Formal! It was such an exciting time for him and I am lucky that he seems to make new friends pretty easy - especially since the move to a new school, which I know can be stressful for many kids.

The guys: can you guess which one of the above teenagers is mine? :) There were 10 couples that rode in a limo en route to the Formal, and I can't believe 20 kids fit in here - but they all did!

So the next morning, my son chats with me during breakfast and tells me that all of his friends thought I was his sister! Well, I surely wasn't expecting that - so that made my day considering I had been feeling rather tired & drained out lately! :)

So that is pretty much my weekend in review. How did you all spend your weekend? Was it also eventful, or did you manage to sit back & relax? Until next time, enjoy your new week!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Type A

Vibrant Hues for a Hopeful Week

2011-11-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hello dear friends! How has everyone been? Even though it's only been a little over a week since I've been on here, it seems like it has been much longer! Before I begin, I just want to thank everyone who offered their kind words, thoughts & prayers regarding my father being ill. I haven't had the chance to respond to everyone quite yet, but I just want to let you know that I really appreciate your uplifting comments and messages regarding my last post. Thank you so much - your kind & encouraging words helped me a great deal when I was in the hospital, and at times in doubt... Speaking of which, my dad's surgery went extremely well - thank you God!!! Aside from the issues that initially made him ill, he is a strong & resilient being! He is currently recuperating and is on the good road to recovery! :)

While I was visiting my folks in central California, I spent much of my time reflecting. For one, there isn't any internet back home, as my mom refuses to "get online!" :) So, I ended up doing a lot of thinking, reading & reflecting during my visit. After my dad's surgery, I started to rethink my priorities and decided that life is way too short to worry about the trivial things in life. I know that sounds really cliche, but I confess that I do spend a good amount of time getting stressed out over certain things, when I should really just stop & step back for a moment to appreciate all of God's gifts.

Now, I'm not really one to talk about religion or philosophy openly, but I did want to acknowledge that this event made me realize that I have been missing out on many of the things that used to make me happy. You know, the kind of "happiness" that you don't even have to think twice about, if that makes any sense? Sometimes you spend your waking hours going through the motions because it is what is expected, and everything is pretty much "black & white." And for a moment there, that is how it has been...

But wouldn't you know, everything happens for a reason {something I have ALWAYS believed}. And even though these past two weeks have been very difficult emotionally, I really do think God was giving me a little sign...a "boost of color," if you will...

So this cluster of colorful daisies is a little rendition of what I have been feeling as of late: Vibrant & Hopeful!

Sometimes we spend so much time thinking about the past & wanting to know about the future, when we should just focus on what is currently in front of us. I would hate to miss out on a beautiful memory of today because I was too busy thinking about yesterday and tomorrow. Thank you God & thank you dear dad for helping me realize that whatever happens in life, I don't need to fear or be saddened by the outcome! :)

On another {inspiring} note, I also did a lot of reading during my visit {remember, no internet}. :) So I went to the local bookstore and began browsing through the usual reads. But I then came across a familiar publication that I just had to pick up for the first time...

An issue of "Artful Blogging!"

My friend, Tricia at A Rosy Note did a post about being featured in this magazine, so I couldn't grab this issue fast enough! Her photos are so inspiring and beautiful, and never cease to make me smile - and boy did I really "need a smile" that day! :)

Well, I have to admit that I got more than I bargained for when I flipped open my first issue of this stunning publication! All I can say is "Wow!" :) Featured in this mini catalogue, are pages upon pages of inspiring blogs showcasing a variety of themes: From photography to decor to food to art to everything else in between!

If you haven't already picked up your Winter issue, go out and get one! I assure you, it will not disappoint! :)

Needless to say, this lovely little mag came home with me this week. :)

So this weekend, you can find me cozying up in a corner somewhere enjoying my colorful blooms, while thumbing through the rest of these inspiring pages. That and also catching up on all of your wonderful & lovely blogs!

Well that is all for now. Thank you once again for your sweet comments and kind words, they are always greatly appreciated! :) Hugs & have a great weekend, my friends!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with
Good Life Wednesday, Life Made Lovely, Pink Saturday & "I'm Grateful For"

Thinking of you.

2011-11-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

This past week my heart has been a little heavy. On Tuesday, November 1st my father celebrated his 89th Birthday, and I was a little saddened that I couldn't be there for him on his special day. Last weekend something happened at home where 9-1-1 had to be called. To make a long story short, he is now hospitalized and awaiting surgery. This weekend, all of us will be taking a trip to visit him and I plan on making him a wonderful birthday cake as the nurses/doctors made the ok to "celebrate" his birthday at the hospital. And I know having us around will really brighten up his day - he doesn't like hospitals at all!

Lately, I've been feeling really happy & sad at the same time. Happy that he was able to take part in so many milestones in my life, like walking me down the aisle and dancing with me on my wedding day, 6 1/2 years ago. He has also been such a wonderful grandfather to both of my boys and they are sooo blessed to know him and have him in their lives. I never got to know any of my grandfathers or even my paternal grandmother; so, having him around my boys means the world to me.

At the same time, I am a little saddened to think about the future and how many MORE memories I would like to have with him. Does this make me selfish? I hope not. Because even though he is with us right now, I can't fathom the thought of not having him in our lives anymore. The thought of it makes my heart feel broken. Anyway, I will stop at that. Don't forget to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you...

XO's,
Jessie

And the Shabby Chic WINNER is...

2011-11-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

{original source}

Greetings!!! Thank you once again to everyone who participated in my 1st Giveaway, I really enjoyed having you all join in on the fun. :) Now for the exciting part - the winner of my "Shabby Chic Inspirations Giveaway" via Random.org is:

Number 87 ~ Diane from okcamp said:

CONGRATULATIONS, Diane! Please send me your mailing info at: acozycottageinthecity@gmail.com

Thank you once again to all of my lovely friends who could participate! I would also like to take the time to extend a warm welcome to all of my new ~~followers~~ friends {I see you there}! Hello & welcome! I look forward to getting to know you here in blog land! :)

In regards to some other news, I've been having some issues with my internet lately - so forgive me in advance if it takes me a while longer to get back to you. :) Many of the pages that I visit do not load properly, as it is slow on my end {I think my computer may have a virus}. :( Additionally, our fixer-upper projects will be going on in full effect over here during the month of November, so hopefully I can share with you some of our progress soon. And last but most definitely not least, I will be taking a trip to visit my dear dad. He turns 89 today, and will be celebrating his birthday this weekend! Happy Birthday Dad, I love you so much!

So until next time, have a most wonderful & blessed week!

XOXO's,
Jessie

Vintage Inspired Halloween Greetings!

2011-10-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

I love sifting through old vintage postcards and reading through the thoughts of others from years gone by...

{circa October 31st, 1911}

Here's wishing all my lovely friends a most wonderful Halloween! :) Where ever you may be, stay safe & enjoy!

Sharing with: Time Travel Thursdays, Life Made Lovely & Making the World Cuter

{On a side note: My Shabby Chic Inspirations Giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated and/or posted it on their sites! I will be announcing the winner tomorrow, Tuesday, November 1st. Til then, Happy Halloween!!!}

Midnight is the "Witching Hour"

2011-10-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

{source: old Hallmark.com image}

Cinderella: Why, it's like a dream. A wonderful dream come true.

Fairy Godmother: Yes, my child, but like all dreams, well, I'm afraid this can't last forever. You'll have only 'til midnight, and then...

Cinderella: Midnight? Oh, thank you.

Fairy Godmother: Oh, now, now, now, now, now, just a minute. You must understand, my dear: On the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before.

Cinderella: Oh, I understand, but... it's more than I ever hoped for.

Hello my dear lovelies! :) Why is it that midnight seems to always be the "magic hour" or the "witching hour?!?!" Even Cinderella's enchanted evening had to end at midnight! Speaking of which {and no pun intended}, it's officially the Eve of Halloween, and just a little reminder that you have until Midnight tonight, Pacific Standard Time to enter my Shabby Chic Inspirations Giveaway! :) So if you haven't already, click here to join in all the Shabby Chic fun! :) Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend thus far. Stay safe & try not to eat too much candy {even though I know I will be}!!! :)

XO's,
Jessie

{MIDNIGHT tonight is fast approaching}

Simple Pleasures

2011-10-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

On a cloudy autumn day, there's nothing more enjoyable than finding an uncluttered corner in my home, and enjoying a morning cup of coffee with a plate of homemade walnut chocolate chip cookies, from the previous night's late night baking fest {4 dozen to be exact}! :) What are your simple pleasures this season? Until next time, Happy Friday everyone & enjoy your weekend!!!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Life Made Lovely, Home Sweet Home & Sweet Saturday

Pretty in Pink

2011-10-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday my dear friends! In honor of October being "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," thought I'd share with you some of my favorite "Pinks!" Just stepping back in time 6 1/2 years ago to a Shabby Chic, Victorian Affair {we were married in a church, and the reception was held in a very old, historic Victorian Home}. The main colors were Pale Pink ~ plus Faded Greens, Ivory Cream, & a touch of Brown. Because these photos are actually "proofs" - plus a few extra that some family members had taken, I decided to fudge with Picnik a little bit on some of these. :) At any rate, I hope you enjoy them!

Hope you have enjoyed all the "Pink!" :)

XO's,
Jessie

This weekend, I will be partying with Beverly & all the lovely ladies at Pink Saturday! Come join in on the fun, as these gals are about the friendliest bunch ya'll ever did meet! :)

&
will also be joining Saturday Show Off

Just a quick reminder that you can still enter my Shabby Chic Inspirations Giveaway that ends this Sunday, October 30th @Midnight, Pacific Standard Time. Just click on on the icon below for your chance to win some Shabby Chic goodies! :)

"Vintage Pretties"

2011-10-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings dear friends! How was your weekend? Or rather, how is your week going so far? :) Fabulous, I'm sure! Well this post wasn't going to be about anything "vintage" at all. You see, it all started with a bag of glass knobs waiting to be installed onto our {"knobless"} hallway cabinet doors.

I was just going to show a simple "before" & "after" picture of how our linen pantry looked liked sans knobs, and then with them installed. But then I decided that I wanted to first showcase these little glass lovelies on something "pretty" instead. And that's how this old English plate came into view.

I liked how the clear glass looked atop the white plate with dainty little blue flowers.

But then I saw that there was something else "blue & white" in the room already...so I grabbed my french pitcher filled with roses, and threw them into the mix unexpectedly...

You see, no matter what the weather is, if possible - I always try to incorporate fresh blooms in my home. Even if they are just tucked away in a corner amidst all the current chaos of our constant projects.

And these rosy notes in their rich vibrant hues did not disappoint...

And so before I knew it, I was snapping away! This by the way, is one of my favorite white enamelware pitchers, chipped in all the right places - with its "blue marbling" throughout...

But wait a minute, wasn't this post supposed to be about glass knobs? Oh yeah those...

And so here I think these "Vintage Pretties" pair well together. :) And no, I haven't forgotten what I was supposed to initially post about in the first place. :) Here's a little "before" & "after" comparison after these little hob knobs made their way onto our hallway linen closet doors:

Bear with me here on the quality of these pics because it was difficult to get an accurate view due to the low lighting in our hall.

I also want to share a quick tip with you lovelies. Many of you may already know this, but to those who don't, it's good to know. You know when you buy those knobs and they come with some screws - usually it's one very long one or you get two screws, a short one and a long one? Well, sometimes when you install your knobs {using the given screws}, it's always a tad bit too long. To remedy this, you can use "washers."

They come in various sizes, and you can get them at Home Depot or at your local hardware store. I believe they are like 0.20 cents or something like that. Anyway, these really help in alleviating the pressure of your cabinet doors & knobs for less wear & tear in the future. And if you have old cabinets like us, this helps tremendously.

Usually you just put one small washer on the outside of your cabinet, and another washer on the inside of your cabinet.

But here you noticed that we put 2 large washers instead of just 1 on the inside of the cabinet. We did that because the screws were just a tad bit too long, and adding one extra washer made it fit just perfectly. On a side note, we used a "large" washer because our knobs were on the larger size. So, you could also use a "small" sized washer if your knobs are of the smaller variety.

Just make sure you align it/center it with your fingers while you screw it in on the other side.

Well there you have it! Hope you enjoyed that quick tip and this little post about some "Vintage Pretties!" :)

{Source: Various glass knobs - Anthropologie & Home Depot; Vintage English Plate: Shabby Chic Couture, SM Location; Embroidered Linens: Ikea - 2/$5.99; French Enamelware Pitcher: Flea Market Find; Blooms: Local Organic Market - $3.00 a bouquet; Dresser: recent hand-me-down}

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Rose Vignettes, Blue Monday, Show Off Your Cottage Monday, White Wednesday, Free Pretty Things For You, Vintage Thingie Thursdays, Time Travel Thursdays, Vintage Inspiration Friday, & My Romantic Home

One More Week to enter my Shabby Chic Inspirations Giveaway!

2011-10-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

{a sneak peek of the publication}

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. As for us, just trudging through with our usual ongoing projects! Not to mention I'm sifting through our boxed items making lists for Goodwill, eBay & Craigslist! Hopefully I'll be able to share with you some of our "fixer-upper" progress in the near future, as it's still quite chaotic over here in the home front! :)

Meanwhile, just a little reminder that you have one more week to enter my Shabby Chic Inspirations Giveaway which ends this coming Sunday, October 30th @12 midnight, Pacific Standard Time! If you haven't already, click on the icon below to enter to win Rachel Ashwell's newest book, Shabby Chic Inspirations & Beautiful Spaces PLUS a little something extra I'm throwing in from the Shabby Chic Couture store. This giveaway is open to both U.S. & International bloggers!

Please let your friends know about this fantastic giveaway! :)

I also want to take the time to kindly thank all my blog friends, old & new {I see you there!}. :) Please know that I appreciate each and every one of you, and value your friendships here in blog land! I will be catching up on everyone later this week, and I look forward to seeing what you all have been up to! :) Take care and have a wonderful upcoming new week!

XOXO's,
Jessie

Delicious Eye Candy

2011-10-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hello there lovelies! How is everyone doing so far? Due to all the inspiration here in blog land, I decided to make a few changes by adding a header and tweaking my side bar a bit! :) Woohoo! lol Anyway, a few weeks ago or so I took some pics of a favorite Anthropologie location here in SoCali, during one of our weekly outings. So I thought I'd kick off the week's {almost} end by sharing with you some of that Anthro Eye Candy. :) I have to say that walking into this place always satisfies that fix for some "feast for the eyes!" lol And in light of the chaos that is going on right now in our home {see my previous post}, I sure do need it! lol Maybe it will inspire you to take your own trip to your favorite {inspiring} place this weekend! ...so ENJOY!!! :)

{dinnerware}

{vintage crates & other lovely stuff}

{a varied collection of hob knobs & hardware}

{glasswares, cafe au lait bowls & tea cups}

{vintage inspired plates}

{luscious scents in romantic packaging}

{a collection of signature mugs}

{a tablescape of goodies}

{platters, books, & more!}

{a cozy corner with a mirror, lamp & chair}

Alrighty my dear friends, that's all for today. :) And in case you're wondering, this Anthropologie store is located at "The Grove." here in LA. On a side note, I dropped my old school, point & shoot camera onto our tile floor...it's not looking too good! :( That's either a good thing, or a bad thing. I can either get the poor, battered thing repaired or maybe buy a better & more advanced one?!?! That certainly would improve my picture quality...We shall see. :) I'll most likely be "MIA" until the "weekend's end," as we try to finish up those crazy projects going on...wish us luck, sure going to need it! Until next time, take care and have a safe & fabulous {upcoming} weekend! :)

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: Inspiration Friday

The Craziness that is Home! :)

2011-10-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Greetings dear friends {old & new}! How are you all today? As promised, I thought I'd fill you in on some of our ongoing projects. After the initial stress of figuring out paint colors, brands, sheens, etc., we figured we definitely needed to tie up some miscellaneous loose ends around the house and start tackling some major projects!

{source}
I decided that due to the chaos, I'm just going to post all of my "before's" and "transitional states" in "black & white" so that when it's time for the entire reveal {whenever that may be}, it will be unveiled in all it's multicolored glory! :) Until then, black and white it is!

Here we have my hubby peeling, repairing & painting the return air grill slot. When you buy an older home, there's alot of this going on. Plaster = lots of cracks = filling, smoothing, sanding, and so on! Not to mention when layers of old paint makes closing of certain doors and windows rather difficult, uneven, and sometimes downright impossible! At first it didn't seem like a lot of work, but the whole process becomes easily tedious.

If this is the first time you're dropping in on my page, I have to tell you that 50% of our house came with tile. I wasn't too thrilled with the rustic colored tiles when we first moved in, but I suppose they have grown on me. :) I would have preferred new wooden floors {not in the budget right now}, so this is where Rachel Ashwell's book, Shabby Chic Home has really helped me: embracing your home and working with what you have. In other words, if it's not broken, why fix it {at least for the most part}??? The only draw back about these tiles is that they are uneven in some parts, so when my hubby and I put in new baseboards, there were obvious gaps between the board and tile...so that's where shoe molding comes in {extra strip you see between the tile and baseboard above}. This really helps close in the major gaps.

Now moving on to the "closet dilemma" that I have been stressed out about. When we moved into our home, ALL the bedrooms had textured ceilings {you know that popcorn like appearance}. After testing it for asbestos {negative}, we smoothed out the ceilings {had to have professionals come in to do this - and it was NOT cheap!}. When they did this we had to remove all the closet doors {we were going to replace them anyway} because the closet ceilings were also textured! Upon doing this, we found out that the wall that separates our bedroom and my son's bedroom is not really even a wall...more like a flimsy board?!?!

So we have decided to take down the thin wall and build a new one - albeit a more sturdier, thicker and insulated wall! In the picture above you see that the walls went "bye, bye!" So how do you build a new wall? Well that would be trips to Home Depot, measuring, cutting, and making darn sure you know where the ceiling studs are!!! :)

Ok remember a few weeks ago when I said that we finally had our "dining room" in place...well, I take that back. It has now become a storage depo of sorts! This is pretty much where we work on our projects because our garage is unfinished {no lights in there!!!}, so we don't even eat in our dining room anymore - we have to use the breakfast bar in the kitchen because it {the dining room} has become our new "dumping ground" once again.

This is what {half} our dining room looks like in its current state. Did I also mention that we were given some hefty hand me down furniture for free...but that's for another post because in all honesty, I'm not too sure of what to do with those pieces... now back to the closet issue:

Ok now since the ENTIRE house is undergoing DIY "closet reno," we still have the majority of our clothes, linens, shoes, etc. in BOXES scattered around our bedrooms. This is why we don't have beds. That's right, with the exception of our preschooler who sleeps in his toddler sized bed still, the rest of us sleep on the floor or rotate to the couch. Why don't we have beds? Well we got rid of them when we moved because they were old, flimsy and too small. But because of the scattered boxes, that does NOT leave us any room for new beds just yet, so until we get this closet issue fixed, 3/4 of us are on the floor/couch! Do you really want to see the craziness right now? Look below, but don't say I didn't warn you!!! :)

This is part of what our bedroom is like {above}...

And my little one has his room in chaos as well...and this is only the half of it!

And I won't even get into what my teenage son's room looks like... "Teenage son's room." Those words should be 'nuff said. And couple that with renovation...well, you can only imagine... But I have to keep telling myself, "one day at a time" and it's a "work in progress!"

So here you see the hubby making sure we know where the ceiling studs are so we can attach the initial plywood above to begin the framing of the new wall. We managed to get the first piece up, but had to call it a day when our last minute out of town guest arrived last Saturday evening. So we had to hide all that junk that was in the dining room into the garage temporarily...

And here my little one insists that he helps daddy on this project, while he wears a bandanna as his makeshift "superhero cape!" :) Well, that's all for now. We will be resuming our projects this weekend. Hopefully a wall will be up sooner rather than later!!! :)

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with: White Wednesday

An Award, Giving Thanks & Quirky Things About Me

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? We spent ours attempting to tackle on some crazy ongoing projects at home. We also hosted a last minute out of town guest, so it was a little hectic trying to "hide" all the equipment, tools, junk and such into the garage temporarily during his short stay! I will post more about our chaotic projects later this week.

In the meanwhile, I just want to thank Jen @Bungalov for passing on to me my first award - A "Versatile Blogger Award" early last September! I was supposed to pass this along and write some things about myself. But because I'm not really comfortable about writing things "About Me," it has taken me so long to post about it...

So, I'm just going to change this up a little. First and foremost, please visit the lovely Jen @Bungalov! She is amazingly talented when it comes to her transformations - not to mention a creative and crafty gal! Secondly, I just want to thank these list of bloggers who have played an integral part in my journey in blog land. In their oh so busy and talented + creative lives, they have always taken the time to message me and assist me regarding some of the questions that I initially had. Seriously, if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed blogging as much as I do now. In no particular order, I would like to give thanks to:

Jo @Secret Garden Cottage
Melinda @Alabaster Rose Designs
Stacey @A Sort of Fairytale
Jami @Freckled Laundry
Tricia @A Rosy Note

Thank you ladies for your help and always having such kind and encouraging words for me. You gals rock! :)

As for the "About Me" part, well CLICK HERE for the link if you want to read about some fun and quirky things about me.

Until next time, have a wonderful new week!!!

XO's,
Jessie

My First Giveaway: Some Shabby Chic Love!

2011-10-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends! How are you this week? Well, I'm so very excited to be having my very first GIVEAWAY!!! It's been such a pleasure blogging within the last few months and meeting such amazing & inspirational people! :) This has been an experience like no other, and I would love to host a ~~follower~~ friendship appreciation giveaway!

Today, I am giving away one copy of Rachel Ashwell's new book, "Shabby Chic Inspirations!" If you haven't already read of how I ended up with TWO copies of this book, click here to read about it {and how I met Rachel} in a previous post! :)

I just love, love, love this book! Full of inspiration and lots of Shabby Chic Love!!! Here's a sneak peek of some of the pages in this lovely publication:

Are you inspired yet?!?! If so, here are the giveaway rules for your chance to win "Shabby Chic Inspirations," by Rachel Ashwell:

** Leave a comment on my blog letting me know that you are a follower or become a follower of "A Cozy Cottage in the City" using the Google Friend Connect gadget on my page, and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

{OPTIONAL}
For extra entries, you may:

** Mention my giveaway in one of your blog posts.

** Post about my giveaway in your blog sidebar {feel free to use the icon below}.

** State the giveaway in your Facebook and/or Twitter Page with a link back to this post.

Just leave me separate comments for each extra entry. The winner will be chosen via random.org.

The giveaway will end
Sunday, October 30th at 12 midnight, Pacific Standard Time.

A winner will be announced on ~~Monday, October 31st~~ Tuesday, November 1st!

*** Because I truly appreciate all of my lovely friends, I have decided that along with the book, the winner will also receive "a little something extra" that was purchased at the Shabby Chic Couture Store. ***

Good luck, and please tell your friends about this wonderful giveaway!
This giveaway is open to both US & international friends. :)

**For anonymous users or bloggers with private profiles, please make sure to include your e-mail address in your comment post so I may contact you in case you win**

{feel free to grab this icon & put it on your blog post/side bar}

Thank you once again to everyone for being so kind & encouraging during these past few months of blogging! Until next time, have a wonderful upcoming weekend!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with:
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Homemaker on a Dime

A Shabby Chic Affair

2011-10-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend? I'm sure everyone is all abuzz about this past weekend's festivities from all over the country, whether it be "Remnants of the Past" here in the West Coast or "Na Da Farm's" event over in the East Coast! I can't wait to see what everyone has been up to! As for me, well today I just want to share with you some pics of a little event that I was so excited to attend!

Last Thursday evening, I attended one of Rachel Ashwell's book signings here at her Southern Cali Shabby Chic Couture location in Santa Monica, CA! Let me just tell you that I was sooo excited to meet her!

It was a little crazy trying to get there because I had to pick up my kiddos and drop them off to the in-laws, then drive back to the westside, so I could attend this event with my sister since my hubby had to work late.

Needless to say that 2+ hours in traffic was a little stressful! Those of you who live here in Southern Cali will know that being stuck on the 405 AND the 101 traffic is no bueno! lol So by the time my sister and I arrived, we were more than an hour and a half late to the signing.

So the first thing I do is try to figure out if it's ok for her to sign my own copy of "Shabby Chic Interiors," as some places make you buy the book there to have it signed. The only problem with that was I had already pre-ordered her new book, "Shabby Chic Inspirations" via Amazon.com, but it was still in transit! :( So I took my other favorite book of hers {Shabby Chic Interiors}. By the way, I have a really FUNNY story to share at the end of this post regarding this situation... ;)

So I get there and everyone is mingling nicely. They are serving champagne, drinks, pastries, treats & such - while I was still quite frazzled! The ladies there told me that she can sign any of my own books and that it was ok to take pictures {had to ask to make sure}. Then I spot Rachel in her oh so charming and extremely lovely self, taking pics with fans. So I get in line excitedly, with my little ole book in hand.

And then finally, it's my turn!!! I chat with her for a bit and tell her that she has been an inspiration, and that "Shabby Chic Home" has really helped me embrace ~~all~~ most of the imperfections of our newly acquired "fixer-upper." She then asks me which books most influenced me, and I tell her without hesitation: Shabby Chic Home & Shabby Chic Interiors.

And there she is signing my book!!! :) She then proceeds to ask if I want to take a picture with her...well of course!!! She is just stunning in person - she is a woman who is elegant, graceful and oh so classy. Me, on the other hand...I was not looking my best! lol Frazzled as I was from the rush of trying to get there {the traffic, the rain, trying to find parking, then having to walk a few blocks}, I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this pic...but here I am with the queen of Shabby Chic! :)

After I take a pic with her, she tells me to relax and make myself at home, and to have some drinks or snacks to enjoy {sweet, isn't she?!?!}! So my sister {who by the way refuses to allow me to post pics of her on this blog, that's why I had to delete my other older post which featured a pic with her} and I grab ourselves a little bubbly and proceed to lounge on the comfy sofas.

There are quite a few to choose from...so I opt to sit on one side of the store. Then make my rounds to taking more pics of the cozy little place, as people move from one section to another to mingle. I took a bunch of pics, but please note that if they seem to be at funky angles - it's only because I was trying to take pictures so that I wouldn't have any people in the background. ;)

Sky's the limit in your type of eye-candy...I know I had to contain myself on my purchases there... :)

Doesn't this piece here look delicious!?!?! I love it!

Curtain call, anyone???

And do you love yourself some linens? Well, this store doesn't disappoint! :)

And they even have a darling nursery section for all you mommies to little ones!

And here we have some very, very vintage plates & such! Can you guess what exactly I bought from this shelf??? :)

They also have lovely table linens, sparkly accessories, candles, mercury glass votive holders, candlesticks, vintage flatware, plates, mugs, cafe au lait bowls, etc.!

Vintage prom dresses

A desk set & an inspirational board.

So many yummy goodiness to choose from! :)

And amongst all this fun, I met another fellow blogger! I heard someone call her by her name...and she was holding a camera in hand. Do you know who I may be talking about???

So in my usual quirky self, I ask if she was..."Dusty Lulu?!?!?" And sure enough, it was!!! Oh she is just the most darling & sweetest person! I tell her that I'm a fan of her blog and we chit-chat and laugh away! I love it when I get to meet another fellow blogger in person! :)

Ok now on to the "funny story" that I had mentioned earlier in this post. Well, the ladies at RASC were throwing a little raffle. And for some reason, I felt that I was gonna be a lucky little gal that night. So at 8pm, they draw out 3 names from a jar...and lo & behold, the 2nd name they call out is me!!! Yippee!!! So I get up to grab my prize, which is all wrapped up in white with ribbon. I knew it was a book, but why I didn't put "two & two" together to realize that I had won the NEW book, "Shabby Chic Inspirations," - I won't really know...a little too much bubbly, perhaps? Nah, I didn't even have half a paper cups worth! lol

So here I was bummed out that the book that I pre-ordered from Amazon.com hadn't arrived in time for the book signing, when I should have unwrapped the little goodie in my hands and have her just sign her new book right there!!! Oh no, instead the next day {Friday}, the book that I ordered from amazon.com arrives...only it comes a day too late! Then the aforementioned hits me like a ridiculous light bulb!!! Just makes me want to pinch myself! lol

So here I am above with my little loot...unaware that it's a book that RA could have signed! lol For some reason, I thought her older book was wrapped up in there {don't ask me why, the darn thing is "see-through!"}! :)

{at home with my Shabby Chic goodies}

Now I have TWO copies of "Shabby Chic Inspirations." Which leads me to mention that I plan on having my very first giveaway sometime soon {can you take a gander at what I might be giving away?!?!?}...so be sure to come back & visit and stay tuned for that! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the pics of this event, as much as I enjoyed attending it!!! Until next time, enjoy your new week!!!

XO's,
Jessie

UPDATE: Please CLICK HERE to join my First Giveaway where you can enter to win a copy of Rachel Ashwell's latest book, "Shabby Chic Inspirations." {Giveaway ends 10.30.2011}

Sharing with:
A Beach Cottage
At The Picket Fence
Faded Charm
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Life Made Lovely
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Type A
Very Merry Vintage Style

A Few Traces Of Fall

2011-10-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends, how is everyone this week? As for me, well the projects here in the home front are taking much longer than anticipated, so it's going to be awhile before I'm able to reveal anything major! With that being said, I couldn't keep myself away too long from blog land, so I thought I'd share with you some photos of my "simple fall mantle." Be forewarned though, it really is a very plain {but hopefully still festive} mantle! :)

With the current state of our home, I really had to work with what I had. And truth be told, I wasn't really planning on showing my mantle at all this year. Why might you ask? Well, the hubs and I had plans to reface the brick portion of our fireplace, redo the hearth, and also remove the over-sized {and oh so crooked} mantle & replace it with a size appropriate one. Preferably a chippy, shabby one made of reclaimed wood.

This was supposed to be done by this December, but since there seems to be a delay in many of our projects, I figured I would go right ahead & share "traces of fall" in our mantle - even though it's still perfectly imperfect. :)

I decorated my mantle this year with what I call, the "Three P's!" Which translates to Pumpkins, Pomegranates, and a Pear! :) Here in our household, we really try to "eat with the season," if you will. And these three were in the equation.

So I pulled out some mercury candlesticks, pillar & votive holders. And instead of just using the conventional candles, I propped some pomegranates & pears on top of the them to add a splash of color and fun!

I wanted some more "green" in here, so I added a clipped hydrangea head and placed it into one of the mercury votive holders.

Can you tell this hydrangea is "faux?" lol Most likely so, but at least I'll have these all season long. :)

Then I added a little silver platter & scattered some faux autumn leaves {a 0.99 cent store purchase}.

To break up all the "silver" on my mantle, I placed a vintage french jar in between the candlesticks. To soften up the look a bit, I had planned to insert a few stems of white spray roses in this jar, but the day I took these pics - autumn's first rain arrived hard here in SoCali. So my daily walk to the local organic market where I usually buy my blooms, was put to a halt.

So just picture in your head, "white spray roses" somewhere on this mantle. :) I know that does not really relate to the "fall season," but roses are one of my favorite blooms, so I try to have them in my home as much as I can. :)

On the other side of the mantle, some "browns" were incorporated by an old vintage book that was already sitting on my mantle along with the old Jaz clock atop it. So I just left it there.

I didn't really want to put too much brown on the mantle because enough brown was already incorporated by the fireplace cover above. We picked up this piece recently, and what I love most about it, is that it is made from salvaged wood.

In it's {almost} entirety, this is what our fireplace + mantle looks like. I told you it was VERY PLAIN. :) Because our mantle is slightly crooked {you can't tell from the pic, but it is}, I did not want to prop any of my mirrors, pics or frames - for fear that it might fall. I have a little one, so that was out of the question. AND, I say this is what our mantle looks like in it's "almost" entirety, because in the expanded view, the mantle is actually a whopping 7-8 feet wide!!!

Well, there you have it - my simple fall mantle. :) I hope you enjoyed these photos of "traces of fall" in my home. Until next time, happy fall!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with:
Debbiedoo's Newbie Party
Homemaker on a Dime Creative Party
Fall In Love Link Party @Modern Country Style
Trick or Treat @The Vintage Farmhouse
Vintage Inspiration Friday @Common Ground
Farmhouse Friday @LaurieAnna's Vintage Home
Feathered Nest Friday @French Country Cottage
Potpourri Party @2805
Show & Tell Friday @My Romantic Home
Seasonal Sundays @The Tablescaper
and
Show Off Your Cottage Monday @The House in the Roses

The Eve of October

2011-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well today marks the last day of September, and what I like to also call "The Eve of October!" :) This means crisp mornings, cooler weather, and more chance to enjoy my favorite fall flavored Starbucks coffee drinks! ;) Today I just want to share a few simple pics of "autumn in my dining room." After a few months of eating meals at the breakfast bar area, we finally cleared out most of the "fixer-upper junk" in the dining room, so that we could finally bring in our table from the garage {and utilize it}.

I haven't really done much in terms of "fall decor" around the house quite yet, so when I went to the local organic market and saw these autumn beauties, I decided to bring them home with me.

I just put the loose cluster of blooms into an old stoneware piece that I had, and plopped them right in. Just very simple, nothing fussy.

I really love the mixture of daisies, roses & berries, in autumn hues.

Yeah, that is an old black IKEA table from my townhome living days...I hope to either "IKEA hack it" by painting it white & distressing it...or getting myself an authentic farmhouse table. Only time will tell as there are way too many projects going on right now! :)

Oh, and I had some apples on hand so I thought I'd throw these few pics into the mix, even though it's random. I often put a variety of fruit around the dining table so the kids have something healthy on hand, and this is was what I had on the table that day.

And here I put the apples on a simple white cake stand {I often do this with my fruit as I own way too many cake stands}. :)

Well, that's it for now when it comes to "fall in my dining room" - or anywhere in our house for that matter. I just want to let you know that it might be a brief while before I post again since there are some MAJOR projects that need to get done around the house. I'm hoping that the next time I post, I'll get a chance to share with you some of these changes/projects. In the meanwhile, I will still be visiting all of your lovely blogs - as I enjoy looking at everyone's fall decor, with the dressed up mantles & decked out porches! Hopefully during this time next year {after all the fixer-upper madness}, I can truly decorate it for the season as this truly is my most favorite time of the year! :)

Also, I haven't forgotten about the recipes to the previous post in regards to "Autumn in my Kitchen". Please bear with me, I promise I will post it before the holidays end. Everything is still in disarray over here! lol Half the house is still in the middle of "fixing-up," with unpacked boxes, missing furniture, and even "missing walls," etc.! So I have yet to find my recipe box {the pictures I took were from last year's festivities}! :) We're also in the middle of dealing with some unforeseen plumbing issues in both the kitchen & bathrooms {oy vey!}! Until next time:

Happy October!

XO's,
Jessie

P.S. If you haven't already signed up for "Barn Light Electric's" $1000 & $500 Giveaway, please click here for more details on how to do so! It's a great chance to get some vintage lighting for your home or ongoing DIY projects! :)

Sharing with:
Feathered Nest Friday @French Country Cottage
Show & Tell Friday @My Romantic Home
Home Sweet Home @The Charm of Home
Seasonal Sundays @The Tablescaper
and
Fresh-Cut Fridays @Rose Vignettes

Paint Me White {Need Your Opinions Please}

2011-09-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

{source}

Hello, my friends! I hope you are enjoying the first week of autumn so far - I know I am definitely enjoying the cooler mornings & evenings over here! :) Well, we have begun the confusing process of choosing the "right shade of white" for {painting} our kitchen cabinets. Who knew that there were sooo many shades to choose from. Just when I thought I found the right go-to color, after tons of research on online forums:

White Dove by Benjamin Moore

I started second guessing my initial choice when I came across more "paint chip samples" at the local hardware store, like this...

{my kind of whites}

{creamier whites}

{cooler whites}

{warmer whites}

{paler whites}

{as if I wasn't already confused, I came across these family of whites}

and these "aura" whites by BM below:

{from to right: frostine, steam, mascarpone & paper mache}

And of course, there's a plethora of more BM "whites" listed out there, such as:

{chalk white}

{cotton balls}

{atrium white}

{china white}

Which leads me to ask for your opinion & advice on a some things, since many of you out there have already taken the plunge & have taken upon the task of painting your kitchen cabinets white.

1. What is your favorite "white" paint color & why?
2. If you have painted your cabinets white, did you go latex or oil-based, & either way, how are they holding up so far?
3. Did you use a fancy sprayer or did just a good quality paint brush and/or roller work for you?
4. And aside from the usual prepping like cleaning, sanding & priming - did you use an additional additive like "Floetrol" to reduce paint strokes? And if so, was it worth it? And if not, was there a problem in paint strokes showing up {minor or major}?
5. And lastly, if there is anything that you learned along the way when painting your cabinets - please feel free to lend your advice & comment, it would be greatly appreciated!

Well, I really look forward to anyone chiming in! I've only had the task of painting the entire interior of our house {the hubby + I = team work} prior to moving in, so painting cabinets is new territory. So I kindly give thanks in advance for any thoughts & advice that anyone may have. Take care & I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with:
White Wednesday @Faded Charm
Whatever You Want Wednesdays @Free Pretty Things For You

A Little Rustic Inspiration

2011-09-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends! I hope everyone had a most lovely weekend. On Sunday, we enjoyed the cooler weather by visiting various places here in Los Angeles. One of our stops was Restoration Hardware in WeHo {West Hollywood}. This particular store opened last summer, and I was in the mood for some rustic inspiration. Walking into this Restoration Hardware looks just like the chunky Fall Catalog that was mailed out recently.

Some places don't like to be photographed {case in point, Pottery Barn}, so I was trying to be sneaky when taking these pics. Therefore I'm only showcasing just a small portion of the store, and I apologize in advance if some of these photos aren't very clear. :)

Wouldn't you just love to have this little piece in the corner of your home somewhere?

This maybe a little too grand for my taste, but still fantastic nonetheless!

And I spied this wonderful rustic chair that I almost wanted to take home with me...well, that is until I saw the $445.00 price tag {eeks}!

Now off to the 2nd floor we go...aren't those chandies in bird cages something else?!?!

...and here we have a little bathroom inspiration {if only my bathroom was big enough to house a double vanity AND that storage}...

Loved these bust forms!

The hubby did like this set-up for a "reading area" for the home...

And back downstairs on my way out, I snuck in a photo of this.

Now, the unique thing about this location, is that they also have a lovely garden set-up right next to it, for all of your "patio" or backyard inspiration as well.

Is this worthy of an outdoor dinner party or what!?!?

They were also serving complimentary drinks, so if you look ahead you can see a few people lounging on the seats as they enjoyed their tea.

Now as I made my way to the back of the garden area, I spied myself a little door that lead to the florist area...yeah, can you believe they have a floral boutique there too?!?!

At first glance, I thought the flowers in the galvanized tins were fake, but the scent of the room made me think otherwise! :)

Now as wonderful as this rustic inspiration was, I couldn't help but think how much I missed the "old Restoration Hardware" set-up. They closed many locations to revamp their new "luxury look" as seen in these pics. But I think I enjoyed RH when it still had that simple 1940's look about it, especially during the holidays. Now whenever I go there, I think to myself how lovely all this stuff is - but with the high price tags on 95% of their items, who actually buys this stuff??? And did I also mention that this location's only means of parking is via Valet? Enough said. lol

After that little outing, we headed out to The Grove for our usual Farmer's Market fun. That's when I literally bumped into "Kat Von D!" Now I'm not too much of a "Kat Von D" fan, but I have to say that she does look better in person. But I'll save that encounter for another post... ;) Until next time!

Hugs,
Jessie

Sharing with:
Anything Goes Tuesday @Type A

Vintage Lighting Anyone?

2011-09-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far. This weekend we are prepping our kitchen redo...which means researching a perfect shade of white for our kitchen cabinets & also picking out some new replacement pendant lighting for our breakfast bar area. I'm a shabby chic meets vintage industrial type of gal when it comes to home decor. With that being said, these are just two of my MANY favorites at Barn Light Electric {I say "many" because once you go to their website, it really is hard to pick just one favorite!}:

I really love this School House Pendant

and

this Barn Light Warehouse Pendant

This is how our kitchen looked like in it's "transition state" when we were repainting the ENTIRE interior of our house ourselves {the kitchen used to be a "bubble gum pink color in high gloss}. You see those 3 pendant lights above the breakfast bar area, I'd love to replace them with some of the lights featured above! It would be my dream to redo the entire kitchen by removing the L-Shaped Bar to open up the space and add a size appropriate island, but since that's not going to happen anytime soon - repainting the maple colored cabinets white & adding some new hardware and lighting is the next best thing!

Come to think of it, we are actually in need of more lighting in the house. Currently, both my boys' rooms do not have any ceiling lights yet {we are still in the "fixing up phase"}.

This is my teenage son's room...

...and this is my youngest one's room.

Notice that the center ceiling lights are missing? My older son's room is going to have more of a vintage industrial theme, so something like this would look great in his room:

Barn Light Warehouse Pendant 12" to 27" Shade

and there are a variety of flush mount ceiling lights that would like great in my little one's room!

And let's not talk about how my hallway AND laundry room light fixtures need to also be replaced...

Well, we're in luck because Barn Light Electric is having an awesome online giveaway until October 12th!!! Just follow the directions below to enter, or for more info click on this link.

The Prizes: They are giving away one $1,000 Grand Prize and one $500 2nd Place Prize to two lucky winners who enter their homes. The two winners will each receive a Barn Light Electric Gift Certificate to purchase new lighting for their homes or to finish off that lingering renovation project.

Here's how to enter:

1. Look around online at Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own
2. Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!
3. Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article so others can enter
4. Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to: contest@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends Wednesday, October 12, 2011
5. Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by reading the Official Rules

Now I REALLY hope I win this one. Seriously, this would really be great!!! Good luck to everyone who enters, and don't forget this giveaway ends on October 12th!

Friday Night Is Movie Night!

2011-09-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

TGIF friends!!! Friday night is movie night and we're having a sleepover! Well, a virtual sleepover that is. :) I happened upon D Reyne's {Donna's} Blog @A Life Reclaimed through Jami @Freckled Laundry, and boy have I missed out. I'm sure many of you already know her, but if you're like me and haven't heard of her until now, be sure to hop on over to her lovely blog. She is also currently hosting a cool new linky party where you can share your favorite movie set designs {homes} that inspire you!

"Gone With The Wind" has been one of my all time favorite movies since I was 8 yrs old. I remember I wanted to be "Scarlett O'Hara" and dress up in all her frou-frou dresses - and live in that greek revivial home with the pillared front and winding staircase!

Actually, come to think of it - there were a handful of lovely homes that were showcased in that movie, and I loved them all!

And the acres of land that "Tara" was on...well, I would've loved to stroll through that garden...just amazing!

"Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood!" Now this is another FAVORITE movie too! I also loved that Southern {Louisiana} home that was featured.

Can you imagine sitting on a chair on that wrap around porch, drinking sweet tea AND having a view to the lake?!?! Maybe some of you already know what that feels like, but for me - well, this little California gal can always dream... ;)

Now, I must be a southern gal at heart, because the next all time favorite movie that I want to share is, "Fried Green Tomatoes!" What's there not to love about that movie? "TAWANDAAAAAA!" {that's what Kathy Bates character would often say in the movie...if you've seen it, then you know what I'm talking about!}. ;)

From the rustic little "Whistle Stop Cafe"...

...to the entire quaint little Alabama town...

...and of course the "Threadgoode House"

Well, that just about concludes my little movie set inspiration on some of my most FAVORITE movies of all time. Now I don't know what you'll be up to on a Friday night, but you can find me on my sofa with my feet propped up, wearing my comfiest PJ's, eating popcorn & guzzling down some ice cold Dr. Pepper while I watch my favorite films! ;) Have a great weekend everyone!

Sharing with:
The Sleepover @The Life Reclaimed

Autumn In My Kitchen

2011-09-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hello sweet friends! Tomorrow marks the official first day of autumn, also known as the "Fall Equinox!" So I thought I'd share some pictures of "Autumn in my Kitchen" - well, in last years kitchen that is. ;) These photos were taken from a few of last year's Fall Festivities, and I can't wait to do the same thing again this year - and then some!

Baking pumpkin pie is an absolute fave here in our household! Even more so when the kids get to pick out the pumpkins that will be going into their dessert. If I'm pressed for time, I used canned pumpkin, but using fresh pumpkins is even better!

My little one also loves to help me bake sugar cookies! From helping me with the {Halloween} cutouts...

...to helping me ice them - well, he usually eats most of the homemade icing before it gets to the actual cookies! ;)

here we have orange pumpkins...

...and black cats & bats!

Then of course there is baking homemade apple pie! There's nothing like the smell of apples & cinnamon in the air that signifies fall, at least with me. And I really need to share my no-fail, pie dough recipe in another post {I have a vegan & non-vegan version}.

I like to slowly simmer & caramelize my apples on the stove-top before putting them in the oven. And the key to a tasty apple pie is using two varieties of apples, usually one tart variety & one sweeter variety to give it a unique texture tastewise. For this particular pie, believe it or not, but there are 4 pounds worth of apples in here!

And when I'm baking any pie, I always use my Emile Henry Bakeware. I received the original pie dish 6 years ago as one of our wedding gifts. The ruffled pie dish like the one above is lovely to use if you are entertaining, as it makes for an excellent presentation.

For both my pumpkin & apple pies, I like to use my cookie cutters to make cutouts for decorating the edges. It also makes for a unique lattice appearance on the apple pie.

Well I hope you enjoyed the pictures of "Autumn in my Kitchen." This is my most favorite time of the year, and I look forward to what this new season has in store. Wishing everyone a most "Happy Fall!"

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with:
Debbie's Newbie Party
Home Sweet Home @The Charm of Home
Inspiration Friday @The Picket Fence
Show & Tell Friday @My Romantic Home
Farmhouse Friday @LaurieAnna's Vintage Home
Feathered Nest Friday @French Country Cottage
Show Off Your Cottage Monday @The House in the Roses
Making the World Cuter Monday @Making the World Cuter
Just Something I Whipped Up Monday @The Girl Creative
Motivate Me Monday @Keeping It Simple
Whatever You Want Wednesdays @Free Pretty Things For You
Seasonal Sundays @The Tablescaper
and
Fall in Love Link Party @Modern Country Style

Remodeling Pics!

2011-09-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Hidee Ho friends! How is your week going so far? Today, I thought I'd share some wonderful remodeling pics...but they are not mine, they are of my brother-in-law's recent renovation. As some of you know, the hubs & I moved into our first house this past summer & have been diligently, albeit very slowly {due to budgetary reasons}, trying to fix it up to make it more functional. Ours in an old house, with tons of charm, but it just needs ~~some~~ lots of TLC. At the same time, my BIL & his wife decided to do a full renovation on their 1930's home. Even moving temporarily into an apartment for the summer while this major reno was taking place. The pics were so inspirational to me, that I thought I'd share a few of them with you today.

Some background info: When they moved into this Los Angeles home, it was already fully remodeled by the previous owners, so there was not much that needed to be done functionally or even cosmetically to the home. However, my hubby's brother & his wife have specific tastes {don't we all}, so two years after purchasing this home in 2001, they decided to do their own renovating {with the help of pros, as he told us that he "doesn't do DIY"}. But it was only for cosmetic purposes, and it was already perfect back then!

Fast forward 10 years later in 2011 - they really wanted to upgrade their 2 bedroom, 1500 square foot home into a 3 bedroom home {but keep the total square footage}, which happens to lie on a hill {which means a nearly nonexistent front yard and a slanting backyard with a pool}. Therefore they had to do a full on redo which included taking down walls, creating new ones, adding & removing windows, rewiring all the electrical, etc. And being that my bro-in-law isn't the Do It Yourself type at all, they hired major professionals to tackle on this entire project. Let's just say that the cost of this remodel was way into the 6 digit figures - something way beyond our scope! But still inspirational nonetheless.

It doesn't seem that any details were spared for this renovation! And I have to admit, I was a bit envious at first, but after seeing this transformation {wish I currently had the "before" pics to share}, I am in awe of it all, more than anything else. The designers that worked on this home had my taste in mind nearly exact. With the muted grey walls {3 rooms in our own home are painted in different shades of grey}, wainscoting {love, we have that here too}, white kitchen cabinets {to-do list}, a farmhouse sink {to-do list}, subway tiles {to-do list}, and dark rustic hardwood floors throughout {I wish, but that's not in the budget at the moment, so we have tiles + carpet throughout for now}!

Let's start with the kitchen shall we? This here used to be their son's bedroom. Now herein lies the the more spacious and thoroughly updated kitchen, equipped with new appliances, carrara marble countertops, and even a mounted flat screen TV on one side {it's on the wall opposite the fridge}.

Before, there used to be a closet in the kitchen that could only hold a stackable washer & dryer. But now the space has been redone so that a full-sized washer & dryer can be used.

The picture below used to be a "sitting room" with one french door, and includes a shared fireplace with the living room on the other side. Now, this room will be a dining room, as their initial dining room used to be at the front of the house next to where the kitchen used to be. To do this, they removed the center french doors, extended the space forward a bit, and replaced them with the white windows that you see below. Next, they added french doors on both sides of the windows.

Now this space will fit a cozy little dining table {they are a family of 3 with no plans to expand} that will have views to the backyard on one side. On the other side, they will still keep the shared fireplace, they just redid the mantles on both sides. Now if you look ahead in the picture above, you will see a dark door. This leads to the master bedroom.

In the living room, the exposed beams were done by the previous owners. So the changes made to this room included opening up the wall to the left of the fireplace {where there used to be only one entrance to the right side of the fireplace, now there is two}. The floors used to be a lighter color with dark walls. Now they switched it up and painted the walls lighter and added dark wooden floors. They also redid the fireplace & mantles on both sides.

The master bathroom boasts a tub & a shower, complete with double vanities and carrara marble countertops.

The picture below is of their foyer. This too was redone. The window is new and the wall behind the mirror used to be an opening that lead to the initial dining room. Now the dining room is where the 3rd bedroom is {more like a small office - picture not shown}.

These were the only pictures that I was allowed to share. Not shown are the master bedroom, and the hallway which leads to the second bedroom {which is their son's bedroom}, the 2nd bathroom, and the laundry room. I hope you enjoyed the photos of their magazine worthy renovation. I know it surely inspired my hubby & I to get to working on our DIY projects with a new passion. Because after awhile, it's easy to get burnt out trying to juggle fixer upper challenges coupled with the entire family adjusting to the move along with the new commute/schedules. Until next time, I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of the week!

XO's,
Jessie

Sharing with:
White Wednesday @Faded Charm
Wow Us Wednessday @Savvy Southern Style