Red Bird

The cardinals around the house seem to become more visible when the trees are bare. They flock to our feeder in the morning and just before the sun goes down.  

I found one set of the cork backed placemats at Home Goods after Christmas last year.  I scouted every Home Goods for a second set with no luck and eventually found a set on Ebay for 3x as much as I paid at Home Goods, of course!

I used my painted brass candelabras and Henry Lauder's Walking Stick branches for the center of the table.  I added some lighting and pine cones.  The fat cardinals are from Ross.

Red napkins and Ralph Lauren stemware to finish.  

I usually put small cardinals on the branches, but felt it would be too much with the placemats. 

I decided to put them on the island to bring some color to the kitchen. 

I am linking to Dishing it and Digging It and Tablescape Thursday

Exterior Transformation

Before the renovations we had a typical early 80's ranch, but inside it had a few quirks.  The two windows on the far right of the house were not usable.  The house looks like a single story ranch, but b/c of the hill, the garage was dug out and placed under the master bedroom/bath.  The original builders wanted the windows all level so those two right windows are partly upstairs and partly in the garage.  That meant the window went through the floors from the upstairs to the downstairs.  A box was built around the windows to keep people from falling through to the garage.  

As part of the remodel, we wanted to retrieve those windows. 

In order to rescue those windows, we had to raise them up above the upstairs floor line.

Now we have upstairs windows which we are loving. 

 

Our original plan was to paint the brick since we were unable to match it, but those darks spots you see are actually holes in the brick.  If we painted it would like like polka dots! We have a stain kit to try and match the old brick.  

We always hated the little front porch and we wanted to expand it. 

We wanted to bring the porch out past the sidewalk and extend it from the left end of the house to past the window on the right.

Under construction. 

Once we saw the size of the porch (14'x40') we decided to screen it so we could actually use it. 

Now we can enjoy the view.  Hubby and his crew laid the pavers for the porch and the sidewalk. 

There is nothing new on this porch except the cowhide.  Everything else came from hubby's grandmother or estate sales.  

We loved this porch all summer and are looking at infrared heaters so we can enjoy it during the cold months too.  Linking with Marty at Inspire me Tuesday Metamorphosis Monday

The Dining Room Transformation

The old dining room was large and had loads of natural light, BUT.... it was also separated from the rest of the house by a wall and two sets of sliding glass doors.  

I rarely took photos of this wall because I hated the view into the kitchen. 

The two china cabinets on the opposite wall were nice, but I always saw a lot of wasted space.  The ceiling fan and the popcorn ceiling were just down right ugly! 

When the doors and walls stated to come down, I was ecstatic!

We raised the ceiling from 8 feet to 12 feet in the dining room and installed a new back door that is four feet taller than the previous door.

We used spruce planking on the dining ceiling.

We replaced two of the china cabinets with built-ins. 

The pull-out shelf above each set of drawers is to provide a resting place.  The cabinet maker carefully matched the color of Mama's table and chairs for the new cabinets. 

I did keep one china cabinet on the back of the fireplace. 

The new view into the kitchen! 

This dining table & chairs were used by my husband's grandmother (Mama) for years on their farm in Memphis.  With no air conditioning and the hot temperatures, the shellack finish on the chairs melted in the summer, trapping lint and thread from everyone's clothing.  I refinished the chairs when we brought the set home, but the table has it's original finish.  Mama, kept the pads and several table clothes on the table at all times, so the table top was like new.  It is so wonderful to give Mama's table a deserving space and to finally be able to use my wonderful dining room. 

Sharing with Inspire Me Tuesday