DECORATING, GRAIN SACKS, AND FAMILY TIME

In order to provide balance in my life this summer, my blog posts have been few and far between. While trying to live more and more in the moment, be there for family, live through some extensive  house repairs, refinish furniture to get ready for our Labor Day sale, and just enjoy the beautiful summer, something had to go.

Here are some updates on what has been happening in MY neck of the woods:

LIVING ROOM WALL CRACKS WERE  REPAIRED AND PAINTED

 

Previously there were "saloon doors" ( not sure why I kept them all these years ) between the living room and kitchen, and this white wall was dark paneling! UGH! The ceiling is 14 ft. high which is nice. I'm changing the colors in my living room to blue and white but I can't do it all at once. So for now I'm just bringing in more of the blue from the previous blue/ mustard/cranberry color scheme. I thought it would be fun to put a sliding barn door to the kitchen but the buffet on the right is in the way. Now I'm thinking of folding louvered doors, just to block out the appliances. I'm still deciding on that one.

Next I'll have these chairs recovered in blue and white. I have two of them. I bought the primitive wooden rake at a garage sale for $20. The two primitive paintings (on this picture and the previous picture) I purchased at the Salvation Army for $3 each. The artist is a famous one whose paintings have been purchased by many celebrities.

 This chair was my grandmothers which was been recovered many times over the years. Now I'd like to have it recovered in a grain sack material with blue stripes. The little blue side table I bought a long time ago at an Estate Sale. The armoire on the left I purchased for too much money before I realized the unique and fun things I could buy at Estate Sales.

 

This little antique  chair I bought at a garage sale for $2.  The boxwood wreath I bought online at Decor Steals. 

So that's one side of the living room...It had the most dramatic change because of painting the dark paneling white. The whole family was thinking I was crazy but what do they know about decorating, right? Now they love it! 

ORDERED AN AUTHENTIC SWEDISH GRAIN SACK FROM ETSY

I have been eyeing many beautiful grain sacks that only seem to be found somewhere outside the U.S. They are also VERY EXPENSIVE, especially when you include the shipping charges. I wanted to make pillows out of them or recover furniture with them. Well, I finally decided to take the plunge and I purchased one from Antique Linen Store ! It was one from Sweden which I wanted because I'm going for a partly  Swedish Country look in our living room since my heritage is Swedish/Norwegian ( I also really need want some dark hardwood floors!). When it came it was like Christmas! I was afraid to cut it up for a pillow just in case I messed it up, especially at that price! So I carefully pulled apart the seams of the sack to double the size and then left it like that. It is now a large runner on my dining room table and I love it!

REFINISHED FURNITURE FOR THE HOB NOBBER SALE

I have a lot of furniture to sell at our Labor Day sales event. Some of the pieces will remain as is, while others needed a bit of TLC. Here is a very cute desk/bench set that I finished in shabby white. No "before photos". ; (

ENJOYED FAMILY...HAVING DINNER OUTSIDE AT THE WEEKLY "THURSDAYS ON FIRST"

This is always a fun local event where once a week several streets downtown are closed, artisans set up tents to sell handmade items, restaurants and other food vendors serve food outside, and there is a band playing on every street for entertainment.Here our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Charlie wait for our food while the band plays on. Though you can't see it here, the streets are PACKED with people!!

 LIVING IN THE MOMENT WHILE ENJOYING THE BEAUTIFUL GROUNDS SURROUNDING US

Here you see a path that winds around the greenhouse. This week I'll share another post about the history of the mansion we live in. You can read a bit about the background of it here.


Obviously there was a lot more happening but I'm a "bad blogger" and don't take photos of everything. Props to the  bloggers who are so "with it" that their camera is there to take photos of spills, mishaps, and before and after photos!

 Oh, wait! I DID take  photos of the mess being made before the work was done in the living room. Check back a post to see it. Hah! Maybe I'm not such a "bad blogger" after all!

I 'm joining the party, Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings.