Make it Happen

I'm so "not-a-winter-kinda-girl".
This is the time of year I refer to as "the bowels of winter".  Nuff' said.

I bought this little plaque at a few weeks ago and placed it in the living room.  It's been a great reminder and has really "inspired" me.  Love it!  I've even been making a point to ask Mister about his "happy" each day.

  "A merry heart doeth good as a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones".  Need a little mid-winter lift?  Give this a try.  You have it within you to make it happen every day.

Some of my "happy" things have been:

A Warm Bath (rather than a hurried shower)

A BIG Brownie w/frosting

Spying a Deer nearby

Good news via a phone call

etc. etc.

What was your "Happy" for today?

Your "happy" may give us encouragement.

The Big Wall

 There's only one thing more boring than a big blank wall - a big, blank, BEIGE wall.  I've been looking at the big, blank, beige wall, in the living room, for six months, waiting to be inspired. "Sunrise.  Sunset.  Quickly go the days..."  Anyone remember that great ol' tune from "Fiddler on the Roof"?  Finally I did what lots of people do when they're looking to be house-inspired, I went to the Houzz app and searched for "photo walls".  So many visuals.  Love it!  (Not an advertisement for Houzz)

With their inspiration, this is what I did.
I thought it was a good start.  

The wall still has room to grow with more photos and such, and I can move on to another project for now.  For some reason, unknown to me, I find the most difficult things to decorate are my walls.  Maybe it's because I have the attention span of a gnat and get bored so easily, so it's difficult to decide on what I want to look at every day.

Nest project:  Deciding which photos to put into all these frames.

What are you doing to fill the winter days?
Reading, Crafting, TV watching,

Home projects, or dreaming of Spring?

Dear Mister...

Thank you for returning two long curtain rods to the store for me.
And a "double thank you" for doing this knowing I had lost the original receipt for the purchase. (Oops!) And a "triple thank you" for standing fearless in that long Walmart return line.

You are a Warrior!

Lighten up!

"Take it easy, take it easy.

Don't let the sound of your own wheels 

drive you crazy.

Lighten up while you still can

don't even try to understand

Just find a place to make your stand

and take it easy."

                                                                       ~Jackson Browne and Glen Frey

This speaks to me today.
Perhaps it's a good winter mantra for these dark, gray, days.  "Lighten up while you still can".  For me that would look like faith rekindled, and contentment in all things.  It would mean more emphasis on being in the moment and finding the "sunny side" even in the dreariness of winter.
Ahhh, I feel lighter already!  *wink

What would "lightening up" look like for you?

Yep.  I really want to know.

I'm not . . .

...a decorator.

        OR

...a home Blogger

        OR

...a photographer.

But I am decorating my house (we've lived here 6 months) and I am gonna blog about it now 'cause that's what I'm doing at this particular time in my life.  It's a lot of work but it's also a lot of fun.  I think I'm getting a lot of it right, but I've also made some mistakes.  "Ah hem", and I'll even show you those too.  Mistakes happen when you're not a professional.  Right?  Please say "yes".  Good and/or bad, home is my favorite place to be and I'm enjoying getting our new-to-us place in order.

This is our little guest piwder room "Before".

It had royal blue wallpaper with both an 8" top & middle border.  I managed to remove the borders myself (please be impressed because this was a LOT of work), but the background wallpaper wouldn't budge.  That's when I hired a professional to texture the wall (over the old wallpaper), so it would be ready for me to paint.

I was pleased with the results.

(Nary a hint of the old yukky wallpaper)

I love it when I get things right.

Riddle

Riddle:  Can you guess what this is?

Riddle:  Or this?

The top photo is a a photo of my breakfast room wall.  Wallpaper gone, texture in place, and ready for paint.  The second is the same except it's the wall in the guest powder room.  Within a week both should be painted!  Strike up the band!! 

I'll be so over-the-top excited  glad to get these projects finished.  Know what I mean?!

I've looked through magazines and websites to get ideas on decorating this new-to-me house, but decided the trends are not for me.  I'm so NOT  a "white/neutral" kind of girl.  I've got to have COLOR!  Some people find neutrals relaxing, I find them sad.  They depress me.  Forgive me if you're a neutral gal - your house is much more "in" than mine. But for me and my crew COLOR is our happy place, with just a few tiny exceptions.  And NO, I'm not painting my house RED.  LOL  My wall colors are the "n" word, neutral, but that's only so I can add lots of color elsewhere.

Do you love this?

As soon as we've finished painting, these lovely sheets will come down and bright red curtains will go up in their place in the breakfast room.

And this over-sized print (my longtime favorite)

will go onto the wall in the tiny guest powder room.

When one sits on the potty there will be no choice but to stare directly into this pretty scene.  Yes, I'm a little bit excited.  This sort of thing is what gets me through the cold winter. (not sitting on the potty, you know what I mean.  ;-) 

"Oh happy day"!

Got any projects lined up?

Have you ever wondered why people who blog about their homes never share their mistakes or bad ideas?  Maybe they don't make blunders. (?)  Just wondering.