My happy Place

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone but the pounds I gained will linger on and on and on.....  We at the Harris' household don't do Black Friday shopping trips but we do the annual Harris Home Project since Mark has a couple extra days off.  Lord forbid we just eat big, lay around watching parade or football wearing our jammies but instead we work ourselves silly doing remodeling projects.  The timing was perfect since the last moving boxes were unpacked ....insert eye rolling here.  Anyway I didn't like the kitchen island because it was just to much WOOD and looked like a big box in the middle of the floor.  It had good bones and I knew it could be transformed with my vision and Mark's mad skills.  We've ordered a black  granite slab for the top which we were lucky enough to get from the remnant pile at the stone yard but it'll be later this week before we can pick it up.  Here's the before: 

And here's the midway after:

It's now painted a taupe and just waiting on the gorgeous black counter top. And here's our little supervisor who made sure we got it done correctly.

We also finished the craft room and I got it all unpacked, put away and even had time to get the guest room done.  Whew it's no wonder that I'm exhausted but it's so worth it.  Just look at these pictures and imagine just how big my smile is when I look in that room...ahem closet but I'm still thrilled with it. It's kinda hard to get pictures because it is a small area but here's my favorite space.

 Gifts from my DMQ's make the space even better!  Dana is such a talented artist and she did the drawing after one of our trips so wish I had even a 1/10 of her talent.  And Kathie got me the sign on the door which is just sheer inspiration because it's so ME!  I love any and all things crafty...stamping, scrapbooking, cross stitching, rug hooking and just look at all that glorious wool....drool just waiting for me to get busy

Not sure if you can tell but I glued vintage yardsticks on the shelf edges and I've been collecting them for years just never quite sure what I was gonna do with them.  As soon as the shelves went up the light bulb went off that this was why. There are ones from AR, TN, GA and even IN including one from Grandmother Harris' home that I've drug around for 27 years never quite sure what to do with it. 

Grocery store chip rack to use as my inspiration wall, repo French drying rack to use as a ribbon holder and lots of jars both old and new to hold everything and the best part I only bought the shelves because I already owned all the other stuff.  Damn I have a lot of stuff STILL after all this purging.

Now here's the guest bedroom so we are officially open for business.  Quick everybody pack your suitcases and come visit us! 

That was our Thanksgiving weekend so what did you do?

Asheville Home

This will be photo heavy so grab your beverage of choice and settle in for awhile for a long visit.    I think I'll have a cup of coffee with pumpkin pie creamer....yummmmmm love me anything punkin!!!!!   I've been a busy gal unpacking, sorting and trying to figure out how to make this house our home quickly.  It's almost done and the movers are coming on Monday to pick up the boxes, packing materials, ect.....  Mark glued my craft table  and we bought my shelving last night for the craft room so hopefully by this afternoon I can declare victory over moving box hell.  Ha, Ha, Ha!!!!  Then it's on to the remodeling changes that we want to make and I hope to kick start us this week by painting the guest bath on the first floor during Mark's time off.  So without further ado here's long promised pictures and Welcome to our home.....

I bought this coverlet in TN at an auction right before we moved.  It's dated 1880 and it's in perfect condition

 

LIVING ROOM

 

 

 

German Trunk

 

Built in

Feature Wall

 

Master Bedroom

 

Dining Room/Kitchen

 

Look at those kitty paw prints on that sugar cone. 

 

 

Guest Bath which will be repainted this week! 

Mark's Office

 

 

Craft Room

Ok technically it's a "closet" but it's all mine and it's a CRAFT ROOM.  I even have an outlet so I can set up my sewing machine.  I'll post pics next week after I have everything put away because this project will require a post all of it's own. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

2015 Stitching

It's been a slow year for me on the stitching front but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks.  That is if I ever get to the end of the moving boxes but Mark has sworn that he'll put up the shelving in my craft room this weekend so that will allow me to sort thru the last 30 or 40 boxes.  I collect crafting supplies, bits and pieces of things and craft books/magazines  almost as quickly as you can blink an eye.

Bluebird by Blackbird Designs

Remember Me by Blackbird Designs

Their Song by Blackbird Designs in a vintage frame

Easter Parade by Blackbird Designs

Song of Spring by Blackbird Designs

 

Now least you think that's all I've done this year, I have also finished 2 hooked rugs or ruglets as Mark calls them since they are to small for floors.

Log Cabin which was my 1st rug and looks amazing on these chair with the coverlet kitty.  Yes there are a lot of mistakes but everyone has to start somewhere

Hearts in Flowers from Create and Decorate magazine.  I bound it way to tight but again folk art is forgiving of our mistakes!

 

So hope y'all have a great weekend and I'll be back next week with house pictures along with more of Zeva I'm sure.  Do something this weekend that makes you smile! 

 

 

We're Moved!!!!!

So tomorrow we will have been here 30 days and I'm almost unpacked.....sorta.  The main rooms are unpacked, sorted and decorated but this house is much smaller than our previous homes so there is a lot of purging that is being done.  I have done nothing but purge my treasured collections for the last 3 years and still find that I have way too much stuff!  I have truly made it my mission that it's time for quality over quantity when looking at my treasures.  This means lots of facebook, craigslist and ebay posts will be occurring in the very near future.  How the heck have we gotten so much stuff????  We've moved a lot which always been catalyst for purging but we still have a lot of junk like record albums  We haven't had a turntable in over 25 years so why have we held onto the albums?  It's not like they are in pristine condition or rare but what do you do with them?  I don't know but those 3 boxes are outta here!  I admit that I border on hoarder tendencies at times with memory filled items including receipts from vacations, scraps of paper and old calendars including mine from high school which was a long, long time ago.   It's time to get rid of this junk because I don't have a lot of storage areas so out with it all.  Sounds good but as I start looking at things it's harder than you'd realize. 

Clarice is having trouble adjusting to the new house so we've been the vet three times already.   She's been throwing up almost daily and we've been doing everything we can do to not stress her.  She's been wearing a calming collar, we're spraying calming spray everywhere, changed her diet, her food locations, ect......but she's still having some problems.  Hopefully we can get some relief for her soon.  Poor little girl is just not quite herself and that's hard for us as well. 

We're not even completely unpacked yet but we've started making changes to make this house our home already!  We have a lot of plans but as we all know that takes time and money plus a lot of patience so I'm trying to adjust my expections.  I know this will sound weird but we've only bought one preowned home in all our married years.  I'm used to moving into a new house that's exactly what I want, painted colors that I chose, ect..... but we'll get there.  It sounds like I'm whining and spoiled but trust me this house is almost perfect with such amazing views that the rest doesn't matter that much.  The home came with a hot tub on the back deck that we had absolutely no interest in owning so I listed it on CL the first week to give away.  We had a taker almost within the first 10 minutes because we only asked that they bring help to move it and that was all.  Of course, they had to get it up the side of the mountain to take it home but they did.  Now here's the really weird part, the couple comes to look at the tub and we get to talking because they just relocated here from SC so just chatting away about Asheville, places to eat, shop, ect.....  I mentioned that we moved from Atlanta area and they asked where so I say North GA mountains about 45 minutes from Atl...we chat a little longer and she said we have a chiroptor that we love in Atl and we're willing to make the drive to see him.  She tells me that they attended church with the guy's parents and used him until he moved away then have traveled to see him when her back issues got so bad.  She then said "Dr Clayton is worth traveling hours to see" and for some reason I just made the connection that her Dr Clayton is my Dr Clayton Willimas in Cumming.  Seriously!!!  It's a small, small world.  And I agree with her that Clayton's adjustment is well worth driving a couple of hours for but who would have thought we'd know and use the same DR.  and I met her on Craigs List.....Crazy!

Now for the best news EVER....I'm a Great Aunt to a beautiful little girl names Zeva Ellis and she is just so stinking cute.  I can't quit looking at her pictures and just grinning like an idiot.  I love this little gal with all my heart and I haven't even met her yet.  I know when Zared was born I felt like my heart just exploded because I love that kid so much but knowing he's a daddy to this precious little one takes it to a whole new level. 

Ok that's all for now because I've got to get back to sorting, purging and unpacking before I lose my mind and fall again over all the crap.  Yep that's right I have taken 2 really bad falls and managed to skin my knee like a little kid and bruise myself so bad that it looks like I lost a major brawl with someone. 

Do something today that makes you smile!
Donna