con-tain-it

Home-schooling...Literally

 

Wow...talk about the value of life skills...this is home-schooling at it's best! 

Sorry for the play on words...but I sure do wish that this part of home-schooling could be incorporated into our current public high-school curriculum.  So many of our teenagers would benefit from learning how to build their own homes.  I could see this encouraging them to stay in school and to have something to look forward to after high-school.  It would give them hope for a future on their own without the burden of sustaining a lifestyle and acquiring huge debt and/or school loans.  It would provide for the freedom of choice...to find employment based on their interests alone and NOT on the salary required to pay their everyday living and debts.  It would encourage travel with the ability to live anywhere in the country that they are curious to discover and learn about...talk about tolerance and character building!  Most of all...it would help them build self-esteem because they would have started and finished  something.  That sense of accomplishment alone would provide the key building block to their self-confidence.

Now you see it...Now you don't!

The Library Table That Is...a Ballard's Exclusive ;}

Boy I sure wish all of this downsizing was as easy as waving a magic wand...but it's not.

What can I say...other than "the idea of it"  was better than the reality!  Mainly because it always became a catch-all for everything as we came in the door.  The longer we live here and realize that we need less and less, the easier it is to get rid of stuff!  Like the little red plant stand that use to sit in this corner by the front door...it has been given away.  And now, this corner holds my scrapbooking bookcase...much better use of space.

What your mess says about you...

Read these articles today on AOL's Shelter Pop and found them to be very enlightening!  First up is an article by author and environmental psychologist Sally Augustin, PhD, who shares What the Location of Your Mess Says About You.  She covers several areas such as; the Entryway, the Living Room, the Dining Room, the Bedroom or Bathroom and my messiest...the Kitchen.

Nautical Charts: On the walls...

Oh wow...I just love the wall treatment in this video...of course the black furniture and travel theme are also my favorites ;)

This really makes me miss my black walls in our dinning room in our Mint Hill home...

A Tale of Two Recliners...

Most decorators and designers hate them...BUT I don't care...I just cannot live without my favorite recliner!

It's the first thing I miss when we travel (that and my own bed pillow ;) and I simply cannot wait to get home to my favorite chair...

Before we downsized to the Love Shack we had  "his" and "hers" leather recliners (sorry...this is the best photo that I could find ;)  DH's was the big over-sized, over-stuffed recliner on the right and mine was the more formal looking one on the left.  At the time this photo was taken we were living in an apartment in Charlotte and these chairs were about eight years old and the leather was well worn, but they were still the most comfortable chairs...our family used to fight over who sat in them first...lol

Ethan Allen...you're so vain...betcha think this post is aboutcha...dontcha...dontcha

Sorry...I went there...it's just me mourning the loss of my furniture once again {still ;}

 

Blame it all on John & Sherry, from Young House Love and their posting of their results to the Ethan Allen’s “What’s Your Signature” quiz! 

 

Oh yeah...after reading John's hilarious post about their quiz results...I was flooded with memories.  Sad memories of the (very expensive, custom) Ethan Allen furniture that we were forced to sell {it literally felt like a shotgun funeral for me ;} because it just did not fit in the Love Shack when we downsized and moved here over 18 months ago.

 

First there was my chippendale love seat with the single down cushion and special order fabric...butter cream chenille paisley.  I had envisioned it being a proper settee in the master bedroom...ONLY to find out on moving day that it couldn't even fit through the bedroom door!  That would be because of the impeccable, Ethan Allen solid construction...which included LEGS that do not remove because they are one solid piece incorporated into the back-frame of the love seat :}

 

Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop: Gardens

WHAT IS THE GUSSY SEWS INSPIRATION WORKSHOP!?
The Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop! is a weekly link-up party hosted by Gussy to create further connections with her on-line community and to encourage inspiration among her peers. 

♥ This week’s prompt is gardens.   This week Gussy encourages you to find inspiration in the gardens that are all around you.  Perhaps you have a GARDEN you are proud of and want to share? OR...you have a friend with a green thumb? Or a neighbor?  This doesn't need to be a GARDEN you've harvested or even have taken a picture of {just be sure to give proper photo credit if the photo is not yours}. This is your interpretation of the GARDEN prompt.  Share with us, your take on the prompt by linking up your blog post.

A few months ago I saw this slideshow on Houzz and have been enamoured with Rain Chains ever since...especially the ones that are shaped like bells and that make wonderful tinkling sounds...

traditional entry design by other metros general contractor Andrew Melaragno

31 Days to Purge my Storage Unit

Saturday morning (really early 5:00 a.m.) we were woken up by horrible thunder and lightening storms...which normally would not have bothered me...in fact it would have lulled me back to sleep :}

HOWEVER...we had plans to empty some of the stuff out of our storage unit and rain was not a welcome part to the start of our day.  Thank goodness that it had all pretty much, cleared up by 11:30 when we headed on over to our unit.

Be prepared...because this space is FULL...and has been ever since we moved into the Love Shack over 18 months...ugh!

Even before we moved here in April 2009, we moved all of the contents in our apartment's storage area from Charlotte to a rented storage unit here in Raleigh in February.  The thought was: to reduce the stress of our "official house move" in April...yeah right!   Also added to this storage space were the oak bookshelves that we had in our apartment and that we had trouble selling.  So we had thoughts/dreams of storing them until we could possible add a sunroom/office space onto the back of the Love Shack.  But NOW, after living it for over 18 months we realize that adding on is just not in the cards.  MAINLYbecause we just don't feel like adding on more space to stuff more stuff into...capish?