Sometimes I feel like I live in a tree house…

Our main floor is actually one level up on the back side…

….when you look out..all you see are tops of the trees…

….the squirrels leaping from branch to branch

Then sometimes, I feel like I am in a Disney movie..

….the squirrels scurrying along side of a deer….Bambi…

It’s nice sitting out there…listening to the birds…and then there are the hum of the golf carts…

….then the idyllic atmosphere is CRUSHED…Crushed the the “ping” of the golf club hitting the ball….

But then again…the sounds of the birds overwhelm the “humm”……and life is good…..

I set the table with my vintage Jadite…made famous by Martha Stewart…

I started collecting it years ago….when it was reasonable…before Martha proclaimed her love for the pretty green
Fire King dishes….

The vintage tablecloth is a cheery daisy pattern made by Vera….

The chicken covered dish is made by Westmoreland….

It’s a beautiful day here…such a difference from the gloomy day yesterday….

We want to expand the upper porch….we have these gorgeous plans that were drawn up…

….the porch to be extended 12 feet in a demi-lune shape with double staircases going down on each side…..

….but until the housing market takes a turn…..we are unsure of pouring a large amount of money into the house…

I will be sharing my plans for a dream upper deck…my “pie in the sky” dream for the back exterior of the house
in a later post….

But until then…I am counting my blessings of having this beautiful space to sit and enjoy the view….

I never tire of my view….

I want to add a few picks of my Iris’ that are in bloom now…

Hope you enjoyed my “Setting Among the Trees” today….

I am joining the following “parties”:

A Stroll Thru Life Tabletop Tuesday

Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday

Common Ground Vintage Inspiration

Cuisine Kathleen Let’s Dish

Fishtail Cottage — Cottage Garden Party

From My Front Porch to Yours Treasure Hunt Thursday

Ivy and Elephants What’s It Wednesday

Jann Olson Share A Cup Thursday

Katherine’s Corner Favorite Things Blog Hop Thursday

No Minimalist Here Open House Party

The Tablescaper Seasonal Sundays

Now what’s a bathroom without a pillow…

We place benches, and ottomans, and other seating in the bathroom….

Why not a pillow?….

I have always had some type of seating in my bathroom…

…it’s a great place to throw your clothes over the chair…to sit and tie your shoes…to sit and watch your
…grandchild take a “bubbly bath” and make soapy beards..and bubbly castles…

But when the hubster went to sit on the chair and found a pillow…

…he said, “now that’s getting a little too girlie”….Girlie??..I did not know pillows have a gender…

I wonder what he would say, if I put a pillow with the face of Mickey Mantle on the chair….

…he would most likely say, “now that’s a classy pillow…”

Pottery Barn pillow embellished with starfish…talk about “Easy Peasy”….

Sorry, no Mickey Mantle pillow here!!!

So where have you gone Joe DiMaggio..???…If found, you probably would have a place in the chair..

…by the “bubbly bath” tub…With adoring eyes of my hubby, saying, “now that’s a classy pillow”…..

I am joining Pillowpalooza 2012 at:

KariAnne’s at Thistlewood Farm…Home of the Freshy Pillows (made famous by her hubby)

Linda at It All Started With Paint

Andrea at The Cottage Market

Now what’s a bathroom without a pillow…

We place benches, and ottomans, and other seating in the bathroom….

Why not a pillow?….

I have always had some type of seating in my bathroom…

…it’s a great place to throw your clothes over the chair…to sit and tie your shoes…to sit and watch your
…grandchild take a “bubbly bath” and make soapy beards..and bubbly castles…

But when the hubster went to sit on the chair and found a pillow…

…he said, “now that’s getting a little too girlie”….Girlie??..I did not know pillows have a gender…

I wonder what he would say, if I put a pillow with the face of Mickey Mantle on the chair….

…he would most likely say, “now that’s a classy pillow…”

Pottery Barn pillow embellished with starfish…talk about “Easy Peasy”….

Sorry, no Mickey Mantle pillow here!!!

So where have you gone Joe DiMaggio..???…If found, you probably would have a place in the chair..

…by the “bubbly bath” tub…With adoring eyes of my hubby, saying, “now that’s a classy pillow”…..

I am joining Pillowpalooza 2012 at:

KariAnne’s at Thistlewood Farm…Home of the Freshy Pillows (made famous by her hubby)

Linda at It All Started With Paint

Andrea at The Cottage Market

My son is a beautiful kind hearted, humble soul..

He is an adult, married, and has a beautiful daughter…(my little sweet pea, the CEO of Housepitlity Designs)

He has always been independent..since he left for college, he really has not returned back to the nest…

Unlike me, he is a minimalist…not a “stuff” kind of guy…

And when he sees me place his memorabilia about the house…..

“Oh mom”…sigh…

I have many, many things from his childhood..all tucked away, waiting to hand it down to my “sweet pea”….

Yes, this is what moms do…treasure the memories….

Now, this was NOT his baby scale…

I just dragged this baby out of the attic..one of the things that was not sold from the last move…

The wicker top was a shade of green that did not go well with the room…so Annie Sloan to the rescue!

I placed “some” of his baby things in the scale…placed the scale on the antique chest in the guest room..
My son never really goes into the guest room…so I do not have to hear him say..”oh Mom”…sigh….

I left his shoes with the clay stains from the ballpark…where he chased his dad around…such memories….

His silver mugs and spoon…..sigh…sigh…

So now my guests will see what a sentimental mom I am…but then again…aren’t all moms that way???

Yes!…We are all just sentimental moms…..

…..hanging on to the memories of a simpler time…the joys of watching them grow…

Only to leave the nest and start a family of their own…and then we create new memories…..of sweet peas…..

Joining:

A Bowl Full of Lemons One Project At A Time

At the Picket Fence Inspiration Friday

Ivy and Elephants What’s It Wednesday

Katherine’s Corner Favorite Things Blog Hop

Mrs. Hine’s Class Show and Tell

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays

The Shady Porch Rock and Share

Thrifty Decor Chick is having a link party on dining rooms…so today I thought I would take a few pics of my…

…..NO SHOES REQUIRED DINING ROOM…

That’s because it is a very informal dining room just off my kitchen…a very casual, come as you are kind of room…

The dining room faces the back of the house and property….a view I can never tire of…

Another angle…Dining room table and hutch by Ethan Allen Old World Treasures…now discontinued.
I added new Pottery Barn side chairs to bring in more color and texture…to get away from the “all wood look”…

My granddaughter loves playing “tea party” with this vintage high chair….

A little vignette atop the hutch….

Hope you enjoyed seeing the entire room…rather than a tablescape here and there!!…

Joining the following:

Thrifty Decor Chick Show Us Your Dining Rooms

With Spring in full swing and many tending to their gardens, whether flower or vegetable…

I thought that I would bring a bit of a vegetable garden to my outdoor table…

That is about as far as I can go…..no vegetable garden for me……I would be keeping the deer fat and happy….

….and with living on the golf course, there are too many restrictions with regard to fencing…

….so I have to continue to get my veggies from Whole Foods or Fresh Market…

….and pretend I gathered them from my garden!

A centerpiece of veggies representing the veggies on the plates..I added flowers for more texture and loveliness….

The charger is Franciscan and the accent plate is also Franciscan made by Johnson Brothers England….

When I photographed this morning, it was very overcast…go figure the sun is out now!!

We will working on refreshing and planting the flowers as I believe the ultra cold weather is pretty much over…
….a little positive thinking….

Practicing my photography “rule of thirds”…took my first lesson yesterday!!

So I am excited to get going on bringing more color to our yard and freshening mulch, etc…

I then brought the centerpiece back inside, disassembled and returned most of the veggies to the fridge…
I placed the carrots and flowers in a vase and surrounded it with the eggplant and cabbage for future cooking!…

Hope you enjoyed my “vegetable garden”…One that the deer cannot eat!!!…

Joining the following parties:

A Stroll Thru Life Table Top Tuesday

Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday

French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday

Cuisine Kathleen Let’s Dish

The Style Sisters Centerpiece Wednesdays

The Tablescaper Seasonal Sundays

Under the Table and Dreaming Sunday Showcase Party

Never feared Friday the 13th!!…As a matter of fact, I always had nice things happen on Friday the 13th…

I remember WAAY back when, I was trying out for cheerleading in Junior High and the number that was assigned to me for the final tryouts was 13…

I thought I was doomed…but I made it…with Lucky Number 13…

Today was no different…I tagged along with my very talented friend, Martha and her hubby….

Martha is the REAL Martha Stewart…She paints, she quilts, she does every kind of needlework there is…
She has a green thumb, and not to mention…a gourmet cook…and the sweetest person you would ever meet…

So off we went to Hight Point, N.C…to a frame sale of a picture frame manufacturer…

There were boxes outside the door of the warehouse…Frames…FREE!
We were there about 15 minutes after they opened, so many were taken, but we managed to get a few…

HELLO!!!…ONE DOLLAR!!!…Small heavily framed mirrors for A DOLLAR!!

And lots of frames for A DOLLAR…100 cents…

Rows and rows of beautiful frames…from A DOLLAR to five dollars…

Miss Martha perusing large sheets of matboard (One Dollar for a very large sheet) for her watercolors…
She is in many beautiful art shows…
Oh….and she also is a major collector and seller of antique/vintage linens..She was a vendor at Brimfield last year….

Here she is again perusing frames..
We gals in the neighborhood also refer to her as the lady with the beautiful hair and skin….

So here are my purchases of my dollar frames…Set upon my soon to be yard saled rug..
I have plans for them…A little paint…a little chalkboard…hmmmm….

Oh…those are my bare feet in the mirror!

This trio of frames cost ONE DOLLAR EACH…so a great piece of art for $3.00…Oh, the Lucky 13….

And then when I arrived home..a package was on my front porch…
It was my books that I won in a giveaway from Rattlebridge Farm..

Michael Lee West featured her friend, Lori Wilde, “The Cowboy Takes A Bride”

And the newly published book of Micheal Lee West’s “A Teeny Bit of Trouble”

So today was a very good day “AS I WOKE UP AND SAW THE SUN”…..and got framed…

Joining:

Southern Hospitality Thrifty Treasures

No…the famous “barefooted” chef, Ina, will not be joining me today at my table….maybe tomorrow…..

In the meantime…..

This is pretty much how my table will look, for lack of a better word, normally…..

No tablecloth, no pretty dishes from the cupboards…plain…simple…take your shoes off…table…
Well, the candles aren’t normally lit..just today for “blog effect”…

When my hubby saw this house plan, he loved that the dining room was informal….
Right off the kitchen like a breakfast room…
A dining room with a view..a view of the backyard, rather than the typical street view….

Street view…

Down the street view….

Hello my lovelies…they just sprouted up from last season..tonight they will have frost on them!..:(

I wasn’t sold on this informal dining room thing…I guess I consider myself a semi-formal kind of gal..

But when you sit in this very casual dining room almost every day…I agree..he was right..BUT DON’T TELL HIM I TOLD YOU!!
It was a good decision….I love the view…and as my friend Linda says, “it’s all about the view”….

In our former homes, we rarely used our dining room..we all seemed to gather in the kitchen/breakfast room…

A hurricane with shells and candles..simple…set on a silver tray…my reminder of Florida…of sun and sand…
Well, actually there are grits, yes grits, in the bottom of the hurricane…had to add a touch of North Carolina!

The vases are my crystal pineapple candlesticks turned upside down and used as a vase..it is hollow on the bottom..
Love inverting things!….

Shells and grits…great juxtaposition…

Yes, it’s all about the view….

Yes… simple… sandals or bare feet…This is where we have most of our meals…..And “that’s a good thing”…
But then again… I am not sure that Martha would approve of bare feet at the table….

Hope you enjoyed my everyday…. barefoot living….. table….

I am joining:

Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday

Cuisine Kathleen’s Let’s Dish

An idea…

Your head swimming with the thought of an idea….

You try to go back to sleep and hope that when you wake up…

YOU REMEMBER YOUR IDEA!!!

Well, I did that last night…

Had an idea…a “Freshy” idea…for definition of “Freshy” click Here..

I needed “something” to go over the bed in the main guest room…it is a king size bed, so needed more than just one item over it..something different…

An epihany!…

To use leftover fabric and frame it…I saw it done in the HGTV Dream Home..in which I did not win ..
They framed fabric and hung it over that gorgeous fireplace…talk about cheap…no inexpensive…art

I proceeded to measure and cut…See..no power tools required!!

Set the matte to get the design I wanted…Look Karah, (the space between blog)..still no power tools or band-aids required…hubby would be proud…

So here you go..one with a matte…

And one without….

VOILA!!!…Easy Peasy…It’s a Cinch!…

The inspiration for the fabric was the bedding by Pottery Barn, Sienna Paisley
The coverlet is Pottery Barn Pin Tuck, egyptian cotton euros and bedskirt by Martha Stewart..

A chair from my sunroom/keeping room..recovered in the “fabric”

This room is still a work in progress…more things to hang and pieces to paint and accessories to tweak…

Hope you enjoyed my “easy peasy…it’s a cinch…wake up in the middle of the night” project.

Joining the following:

At the Picket Fence Inspiration Friday

DIY by Design

French Country Cottage Feathered Nest Friday

From My Front Porch to Yours Treasure Hunt Thursday

Ivy and Elephants What’s It Wednesday

Katherines Corner Thursday Blog Hop

Mrs. Hines Class Show and Tell

Southern LovelyShow and Share

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesdays