Mystery Piece

Any ideas on what this gorgeous piece of carved wood is exactly?  I have to admit, I would not have known if I wouldn't have been told by the person I purchased them (I have two matching pieces) from...they are piano legs!  Pianos carved in this ornate manner are extremely old, and I am proud to have a set of these beautiful legs in my home!  My sister had to point out to me that I am displaying them upside-down...but I think they are more sturdy this way since they are not attached to a very heavy piano.  These pieces stand on either side of my tv cabinet, and help make it appear wider since the tv on top is so wide.  I am very happy with these pieces, and after thinking about it, have decided they are probably the oldest things I own!

Furniture Groupings

I love my furniture grouping along one wall in the living room.  Since my living room walls are a blue, blue, blue (see past post), I'm trying to stick to neutral furnishings and accessories.  Neutral, however, does not mean boring or plain!  Most of my furniture in this room is white, then I have black, pewter and red accents.  I've mixed up fabrics in the room - particularly on the throw pillows and throw blankets - with stripes, solids and floral patterns.  And I truly love the khaki-colored upholstered chairs!  Even though my chairs don't match (and, honestly, I don't want them to be too matchy-matchy), the common colors and height among them (and the table) help tie them all together.  The same idea goes for the accessories...they aren't matchy-matchy, but the focus on the same colors help tie them all together - including my favorite vintage globe!

A little bit of Easter...

With the exception of Christmas, I'm just not much of a holiday decorator anymore.  And my Christmas decorations even get fewer and fewer every year.  I love holidays and the meanings behind them, so the issue for me really is focusing on those meanings not the actual decorating and cleaning up afterwards!                                          Easter being only a few weeks away, I decided it was finally time for me to get a few things out.  The first thing out was this little egg wreath for my front door.  I've considered making my own egg wreath out of blown eggs and a grapevine wreath.  However, several years ago I actually blew out 4 dozen eggs to dye and will NEVER do that again.  I felt like I blew my brains out.  Really.  So, now I resort to just buying cute egg wreaths instead! 

These cute little eggs were a gift from my sister.  I seriously did have to talk my son out of taking bite of one of them! 

So, moral of the story is to go ahead and put out a few decorations, but only as a reminder of the tree meaning of the holiday - not as a distraction!



Black or White?

I just purchased this white tall pedestal table yesterday - I love the curvy legs and round top!  I have been needing something tall and skinny to place next to this armoire in my living room.   The armoire is the tallest piece of furniture in this room, and is obviously quite massive, so I needed something next to it to make the armoire seem slightly smaller.  I also needed something curvy to make up for the boxy appearance of the armoire.  I think those goals definitely been accomplished, and I like the pop of color from the sap bucket and red flowers.  However, I'm thinking this might be too much white?  Originally, I planned to paint the table black, but then I thought keep it white, and now I'm thinking black again?  What do you think?

Flowering Trees, Part 2

I just had to post about flowering trees again because of the sweet story behind this photo.  We have a beautiful crab apple tree in our front yard, and we have just been waiting for it to bloom this spring!  After I had an absolutely terrible day at work roday involving certain 8th graders, my sweet daughter picked this blossom for me and put it in a tiny vase - knowing it would cheer me up!  And it did.  It doesn't take much to put my heart back into the right spot!  Thank you Emma!

Flowering Trees!

Flowering trees - what better sign of early spring do we have in Northwest Arkansas?  I absolutely love all the Bradford pears, forsythias, and crabapple trees blooming right now.  But I especially love my tulip trees!  We have two in our back yard, and I could have about twenty more.  I love their bright and bold splash of color in the yard, especially after a drab winter.  I also love to cut branches off my flowering trees to bring inside as the first touch of spring color in the house.  Let spring begin!

Collections

Both of my kids are wonderful naturalists, and collect 'treasures' from the outdoors every time we go anywhere.  As much as I love this hobby of both of theirs, I absolutely deplore the displaying of these treasures.  It's messy, dusty, unattractive and utterly impossible to keep clean.  Until now.  Recently we (as in my husband) ripped out the carpet in both kids' rooms and replaced it with a wood laminate (post coming about that later!).  While the floor renovation was going on, I took advantage of the chaos to slim down my kids' collections.  Only with their permission, of course.  Then, on to ideas to corrall the stuff.  My daughter and I, armed with our 40% coupons,  visited Hobby Lobby.  In the glass aisle, we found many gorgeous containers (with lids to keep out dust) to keep her wonderful finds in.  The key is to get as many of the small things inside enclosed containers, so only the big things are left out.  That way, when it comes to dusting...yes, I said dusting...it is much easier to do!  So, I no longer cringe when my kids pick up rocks/acorns/cicada shells while we are hiking.  Now I know they are going to a more organized and beautiful space!