dream house (with a dose of reality)

You've seen those blog posts, where the writer posts photos of their Dream House room-by-room.

We'll here's my version.  It's not quite a Dream House post, but rather how I most desire my current (under construction) house to look.  I've limited myself to one photo per room, just for the challenge!

Through the front door, you'll find this entry.  Panelling, stair treads, wall color...perfection.

 The powder room on the first floor.  I'm planning to stencil a more geometric pattern.

 John's study.  The least "concrete" room in my mind.  I just can't wrap my mind around it.  Although, I HAVE purchased a light fixture!

 Kitchen.  Our cabinets will be creamy white, dark brown island, and a HUGE lantern.

 Dining.

 Living.  Hope to have my red chairs recovered to look like these.

 Laundry.  We'll have to add some cabinets.

Moving upstairs, we have Grayson's Flag themed room.  He'll have 2 twin beds, which is more fun to plan for than you can imagine.

 Caroline's room.  Will be based from Joel Dewberry's Dogwood Bloom fabric in pink.

 Guest Room.  Where can I get my hands on a blanket like that??!

 Master bedroom.  Killer Colleen McGill curtains.

 Master Bath.  Dark Cabinets, but our floors will be white.

The kids bathroom is the only room I have NOTHING for.  But seeing as they just use ours, maybe I can keep putting that off for a bit longer.

And, obviously, I desire NO color in this house.  Wonder how that will turn out?

After we move in, and slowly make some changes I'll photograph the actual spaces, and see how well I did.  Or didn't!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we invited several families that John works with over for lunch.  One family has just moved to Denver from India, and so it was nice to give them the typical, American Thanksgiving experience!  The other family is from Mexico, and although they have lived in the States for a while, it was nice to have their perspective on Thanksgiving as well.  We enjoyed Indian Samosas to start, turkey and all the American sides, and Mexican flan for dessert!

Here is my table, all set! (minus the kids' Gobble Gobble paper plates that I added later)

 My grandmother always served Thanksgiving on these Johnson Brother's turkey plates (the pattern is His Majesty).  Last year I ordered some for myself, to continue the tradition.  The best part is that mine are microwaveable and dishwasher safe!  Yay for easy clean up!

 Doesn't the wreath work well in here?

 The kids pulled the wishbone before all the guests arrived, and while John was carving the bird.  These aren't great pictures, but I love how Grayson realizes before Caroline that SHE got the bigger piece.  No photos of the crying that came later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Coffee Filter Wreath

Only 2 days before Thanksgiving, I decided not to clean the house, but to make a beautiful wreath to decorate our dining room for Thanksgiving.

Can you say "procrastination"?  I'm an expert.

With the kids down for nap, I gathered the materials I had purchased earlier in the morning:

-14" straw wreath form (half price of $3.47 at Hobby Lobby)

-200 natural coffee filters (99 cents on sale at Target)

-hot glue gun

-glue sticks (LOTS)

-scissors (didn't end up using)

-ribbon for hanging

I found A LOT of tutorials around the web for coffee filter wreaths.  And I picked and chose from the several I read to make up my own version.

I started with a straw wreath form, but I left it wrapped in the plastic cover.  I had read about this on a tutorial from The Nester.  The plastic wrap provided a nice even surface to attach the coffee filters.

 Then I covered the entire wreath with a solid layer of coffee filters.  I picked up this tip from Jones Design Company.  I was worried that if the coffee filters didn't completely cover, I didn't want the straw/plastic to show through.

 Then I started attaching the filters.  I don't have photos of this part, but I folded the filter in half, then in half again, then in half again (is that eighths?).  At first I was cutting the triangular end of the filter off to create a flat surface, and then attaching with hot glue.  (see it here)

This is about as far as I made it with that method.  It was just too hard to keep the filter folded up, standing up, and attached.  So I stopped cutting, and just folded that little end piece over, and using that to glue the filter to the wreath.

 Here you can see my little flaps glue down.  Despite having that little flap to adhere...I still burned my fingers on almost ALL 200 filters.  Ouch.

 About halfway done.

...200 coffee filters later!

I simply tied a brown satin ribbon around the wreath (you could attach with hot glue or pins) and tied the ribbon around my curtain rod in the dining room.

I had considered hanging it on the mirror along the opposite wall, but I was afraid you could see the ugly back in the mirror's reflection.  Plus, simply tying it on the curtain rod was SO much easier.

I'm very pleased with how the wreath looks with my goldenrod drapes from Restoration Hardware. Next, I'll show you how it looks with my Thanksgiving table all set!