Oops Paint, Cactus and Shopping!

Yesterday I painted the primer on the master bathroom walls.

Today I started to paint the actual color - Dover White by Sherwin Williams. As I started trimming the walls, I could see that this paint was just toooooo creamy for the room. It almost looks pale yellow against the white subway tile.

So I stopped painting and drove to Sherwin Williams with a piece of subway tile. They came up with a pretty good match and I will start painting again tomorrow.


In the mean time, I snapped a couple pictures of my Christmas Cacti...I think they are really Halloween Cactus :-). They are both blooming beautifully!






OH! And yesterday, I took a few hours off from working on the house and went shopping!

I bought some more goodies for the master bedroom and bath. As soon as the tile is grouted and the walls painted I will show you what I bought.

Welcome Home,

Penny

The Master Bath and Great Room Fireplace

One step at a time. That is how this tiling is going. The travertine tile has been set on the fireplace in the great room, but it has not been grouted. The mantel and corbels will be created by Mr. Comforts of Home once the tile is grouted. The 2x4's are there to hold up the tile as the adhesive sets.


The master bath tile is almost complete. All of the subway wall tiles and the shower floor are now installed. The shampoo nook still needs to be tiled then it all will be grouted.



This afternoon I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought a comforter and some shams. The Pottery Barn bed skirt I ordered arrived today.

Tomorrow (Friday) I am painting the walls of the master bathroom. I am using Dover White from Sherwin Williams.

So as soon as the master bath tiling is done, we will move out of the guest room we are currently in and into the bedroom. Hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday. We will have a toilet to use then ( a very important feature) on the first floor.

It is a little bit like camping right now :-)
Welcome Home,
Penny

More Tiling....

More progress on the master bath room tiling! The subway tiles are going up on the wall. Here is a close up of the top of the tiles. They still need to be grouted.


The tiles are about 40 inches up from the floor. Protective paper has been laid on the black and white floor tiles, while the walls are being tiled. The rest of the walls will be painted.


I finally was able to find a little time to change out the dying flowers in the lions urns with some pumpkins and fall leaves...



Off for more sister time...See you soon.
Welcome Home,
Penny

Toile and Checks

First I want to mention that Jen from Sanctury Arts at Home has be doing a blog every Monday on Women Who Create in blog land. Today I am honored to say, she has featured ME! Thanks Jen! When you visit Jen, make sure you scroll back through previous Monday posts to see all of the wonderful bloggers she has featured!

Toile and Checks

Every fall the publishers of BH&G also publish a Country French Magazine. I have 4 issues and look through them for inspiration all of the time.



The cover of this issue provided the inspiration for my new comforter in my master bedroom.




Here is a shot of the inspiration picture without the writing on it...





Below is my new comforter. The picture doesn't show the marigold color it is. I purchased it from Pottery Barn. I am going to build my master bedroom decorating around this comforter using the magazine bedroom as my inspiration.



Now for the CHECKS part of this post. My master bathroom is coming along. The floor is finished and grouted. The shower stall has been sealed. We are hoping to have the tile work finished in the bathroom in a week.

Off to spend time with my visiting sister....see you soon!


Welcome Home,


Penny

Working on the Dining Room

I know I have told you before, in this post, that I love Pierre Deux catalog. It is filled with all things French. I enjoy looking through it and getting decorating ideas, just like if it was a magazine. But the Pierre Deux items are VERY expensive. So I hunt around looking for similar pieces at a much better price.



About a month ago I was at an antique store and found the PERFECT dining room set for my new home. It reminded me of one I had seen in the Pierre Deux catalog, for A LOT less $$$.



I haven't finished decorating the dining room. Really I haven't even started decorating it, but I wanted to show you my dining room furniture and the inspiration photos from the Pierre Deux catalog.



Here is MY buffet....



Below is a picture from Pierre Deux catalog that was my inspiration. Remember I haven't started decorating mine yet. They are very similar aren't they?




Here is a full shot of my dining room, as it looks right now, with the table and chairs that go with my second hand dining set.

Below is the table and chairs from the Pierre Deux catalog.

Don't you think they look similar? I love my dining room furniture...and it was a real bargain! I can't wait to started decorating the room and warming it up with curtains, rug, centerpiece, etc.

My sister left yesterday and another sister is arriving today. So if you don't see me for a few days, you will know I am off having sister time...

Welcome Home,

Penny

Mountains, Sisters and Black and White

The tilers started on the master bath yesterday. Here is the floor, so far. This pattern will be on the bathroom and shower floor. The subway tiles will be on the shower walls and also on the bathroom walls about 1/3 the way up. It is looking great!


One of my sisters is here visiting this week and another sister arrives next week. The Blue Ridge Parkway is about 5 minutes from my new house. Today we packed a picnic of Brie, fresh apples, crisp white wine and a baguette and went for a drive on the Parkway to see the fall leaves.

We traveled to Mount Mitchel, which is the highest peak east of the Mississippi at 6684 feet above sea level.


As we left the parking lot to hike up to the observatory tower we saw snow!!



And someone had made this cute little snow man. It stood about 12 inches tall and had a moss hat. (you can click on the pictures to enlarge)

Here is a view from the very top of Mount Mitchel. The mountains go on for miles and miles. You can see a couple of states from here.

Below is a picture of the road we traveled to get to the top.

The weather was perfect today. The skies were blue and the views spectacular! Hope you are having a wonderful fall week!

Welcome Home,

Penny

Master Bath

Today we ordered the subway tile for the walls of the master bath and the floor tiles in black and white.

Picture of a dream bath from BH&G

The tilers are coming tomorrow to start the work on the master bath. I will take pictures every step of the way.

Welcome Home,

Penny

A HOUSE vs a HOME

What makes a house a home? A lot of love....a little bit of soul and some personal touches. Here are some pictures of the home we just recently sold, before we moved out.

The living room.


The eat-in kitchen.


My studio.

Today we went to our old house and cleaned it. We vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the bathrooms, spackled the picture holes and painted. We wanted our house to be ready for the new owners to make it their home.

Our old house is not our home anymore. We have taken the home out of the house and brought it too our new home.

What makes a home?

After we moved out the furniture.....

Master bedroom

My studio

Eat in area of the kitchen

A home is family...love, heart, soul and a little but of "comfort". Don't you agree?

Welcome Home,

Penny

A Great Addition To My New Home

One of the wonderful things about settling into a new home is decorating. Sometimes you see that PERFECT piece that will just make you home feel right.

A little while back one of my favorite blog friends Kathy from Kathy's Cottage posted a picture of a lovely pillow on her ETSY site. I when there immediately to purchase it and it was already sold. I was one of MANY who wanted a pillow like the one she posted about.

Luckily Kathy has taken on some commissions and made some more of these wonderful pillows and I now am the proud owner of one of them!

I love the black, white and red! Look at all of the lovely detail on this pillow. It is perfect in my guest room. When the guest room is finished, I will show you the whole room.

Thanks Kathy! I LOVE my new pillow. It is so perfect for my new HOME~

Welcome Home,

Penny

A Wonderfully Fun Day!

Today was a wonderful day! I took a break from my moving, packing and unpacking to meet up with a blog friend. Mary, from Across The Pond, and I have been blog friends for a couple of years. We live in the same state , but about 4 hours apart. This weekend Mary and her husband came over to my area. She emailed me and wondered if we could meet. OF COURSE!

We met this morning at the Screen Door. A wonderful place in Asheville, NC filled with antiques, garden items, books and home decor. Here we are in front of the store - Mary's husband is taking the picture. You can see him reflected in the front door.


Mary's husband left us to shop - we would meet later for lunch with my husband. Here are some pictures from inside the shop...click to enlarge and you will see wonderful things!

I am thinking about this chandelier for my master bath....I love it.

Loved this table/desk too...I want it!

Mary's and my husbands met us at this restaurant below. It is called Stovetrotters Bistro.

Here is picture of Mary at our table. The place was empty when we arrived at noon, but quickly filled up.

A shot of the open kitchen.

From left to right. My husband, Mary's husband, Mary and me.

This was my lunch. A wonderful crab cake and a bowl of "fusion" soup. Half butternut squash soup and half tomato basil soup...wonderful!

Mary had a wild mushroom strudel and salad.

My husband had a pastrami sandwich and Mary's husband had the crab cake too.

We came back to my house (still a mess and boxes everywhere!) for coffee and Mary handed me a couple of wonderful packages. I tore open the package before taking a picture, but here is the paper....vintage French newspaper over some white wrapped paper...wonderful!

Mary knew from reading my blog that I have been collecting vintage gardening books with green, red, blue or yellow covers and found two for me! She also gave me a sweet lavender sachet with my initial on it, some fleur de lis magnets and....

a wonderful flower pot that she made....isn't it charming?

I had the most wonderfully fun day! Thank you Mary and Bob for taking time to see me when you were in this area! We are looking forward to meeting again.

Welcome Home,

Penny

The Move...Studio

The Move......So here is a picture of what the studio looks like right now..this moment.

I have my computer set up on what is normally the table I mosaic on. All of my plates, grout, tile adhesive, nippers, etc are still at my old home. We are moving all of that over on Saturday.

See the white floor? I know I told you I planned on painting a harlequin pattern on the floor. But after spending a couple of days using the room, it is not feasible. Every move of my chair creates a mark. So, I am looking for an alternative.

Tomorrow I am taking a break. I am meeting a blog friend for the first time. She is coming to my area. Stay tuned to find out who she is....

Welcome Home,

Penny

Moving Day

The movers at the end of the day....no they weren't drinking the wine. Good friends stopped by and dropped off dinner, dessert and some wine.


The moving company was called Two Men and a Truck. Yes, I know there were three men...

As you can see, there still is painting and back splashes to be done...on hold until we unpack.

Last night was the first time I saw the house lit up at night. Looks pretty good.

Just a quick post to say that yesterday - moving day - went pretty good! It was a long, long day. We got up at 6AM and the movers finished unloading the truck at 7PM.

We still have my studio and our barn to pack and move. We are planning that on Saturday. In the meantime, I am unpacking here at my new home at night and driving to my old home and packing there....

See you soon!

Welcome Home

Penny