DECORATING WITH WALL GRILLES

Before I begin my post, please accept this reminder to VOTE Tuesday November 4, 2008. We are privileged to have a voice in our great country.

I have always liked Tuscan design, leading me to decorating with iron wall grilles. I like the different designs that are produced. Fleur-De-Lis, Circles, Leaves, Scrolls. There is an endless array to choose from and mix and match in your home decor. Here are a few wall grilles that I have in my own home. This first one though is from Internet images. Maybe you will be inspired to decorate your hallway, your head board, your porch and even outdoors. The areas are endless and so attractive.

I had this wall grille in my foyer until my most recent purchase in the next picture. I really love the design in this grille but for the size of my foyer wall, I needed something a bit larger. I am hoping to paint or stain my new grille with this same green patina. Hope I don't mess it up. Maybe I can get my daughter Chris from "Just a girl" to help me! She's really good at painting things!

Well, here is my newest purchase from "Hobby Lobby". This 39" black wall grille. I love how it covers more space than the one above. I will be painting it soon and will show you how it turns out.

Here is my foyer coming in from the front door. It is a spacious area and I think the larger grille looks better. What do you think?

I placed this grille in my Florida room. The rustic look of the brick wall seems to compliment the grille. This wall needed something, and framed pictures don't get it on a porch.

Here is another view of the Florida room grille. Just to show the space and size of the wall.

I want to end todays post with the beautiful view I have from my front porch.

These trees, are in my backyard. I took these yesterday. It was really sunny!

This picture shows how large these trees have gotten. I adore trees, but man what a job it is to bag and clean up all those leaves when they fall! Hope you enjoyed your visit.... come back soon.

My Love Affair With Porcelain

I hope you don't mind, but I have a few more photos than usual in this post. As my title reads, I have a love affair with porcelain. I can't go shopping without "dashing to the dishes". I'm sure one of the reasons I have so many is because I like a different setting at almost every meal. I am not fond of cooking (although my food tastes very good!) and figure if I am going to cook, I want it to look nice... These are green glass with fine ribbing. By the way, you will find out that I LOVE GREEN.....

These are my Christmas plates with silver rims and snowflakes. I also collect Crystal, and what a table setting these dishes make. I will post my Christmas table picture soon. Lots of candles lit, good food, and loving family.

Here are my 2nd favorite every day plates. The color is a light sage color with ribbing and dots. My daughter was buying these in white, and I fell in love. Glad she doesn't mind me copying her. She is good like that.
I don't know if I told you, but last week was a grand opening here of Hobby Lobby! This was one of my purchases from there. I sure thought it fit the season. I love platters. They're so great to decorate with besides storing large amounts of food.

This a a close up of the platter. I purchased the salt and pepper shaker too. The little dish looked good to hold some glitter covered baby pumpkins that must have been soaked in cinnamon. Boy did the kitchen smell great!!

The next two photos are my absolute FAVORITES! Several years ago, I was visiting my son who lives in Ventura, California. Well, I was shopping one day and came across these green rose transfer ware in a small quaint little side store there. If you can believe it, I lugged about 20 lbs. of these dishes on the airplane flight back home. They had shipping, but I was so worried something might happen to the tea set, I hauled them through lax airport. After of few hours, 20 lbs. felt like 200... Who does that?

These are so pretty, I serve with these the most! Even for picnics outside. They cheer me up every time I see them. Larry, the man in my life, used to think it was silly to go to so much work to set a table. Now, I think he really likes it. Who wouldn't enjoy a tasty dinner with candles and these pretty plates?

I use these on the stove as spoon holders. Naturally they're green. I have so many more plates and bowls and platters, it's hard to keep up. I know I don't need this many, but it sure is fun for me to shop for them. Guess we all have our weaknesses huh?

A Few Fall Craft Ideas

Hello bloggiing friends. I'm trying to figure all this new posting information, and I had a few problems. My first problem was that I didn't get my pictures to get posted in the correct line up. Hopefully, I will get this down pat soon. Here is my office desk shelf with two metal pumpkins. I decorated them for fall and added a small light my daughter bought me for Christmas. Warms up the dark cubby space a bit and fills it in with some fall colors.



This is the place I do my crafts. My basement....turned craft station. It works very well, and I have lots of storage and work space. It's alot like cooking in the kitchen. You must have the correct tools and supplies to do the job well. It's not in my living quarters, so I can make a big mess and not have to worry about how it looks until I am done creating. I have a tall stainless steel table, and a low table. The tall one I use for crafts and the low one for gift wrapping. My cat, Baby loves it down there. All the little dark places she can investigate, and she keeps me company. Along with the TV of course! Opps.. the TV is on the left. Didn't quite get in the picture.

I made this wrapping paper holder. Works quite well actually. Two pieces of wood nailed to a wood beam. Drilled holes and put in dowels for the paper.

This is going to be my next project. Hope I get it done in a reasonable amount of time to show you the results. It is from Martha Stewart Magazine. Go to her web site and click on "good things" fall paper wreath for the directions. If you have problems getting the directions, I will type them on the next post.

Well, that's it for today friends. Just thought I would add this picture of the perfect fall colors we are able to see here in beautiful Michigan. Enjoy the season. I'll be posting about some wonderful landspace ideas for next time.

Getting my porch decorated for fall.

Well, I am finally doing my own blog. My daughter has a wonderful time doing her blog which is called Just A Girl. She is really good at it, so I hope all my viewers will be patient with me. You know "First Time" jitters!
I really enjoy flower arranging, so think I will start there. Here are my pumpkins ladies. I thought they needed some festive Halloween hats. A few feathers, berries, bows and leaves. "Voila" all dressed up just to sit on the porch.


This is my porch. It is rather long, but fun to decorate because I can have more than one center of attraction. My pumpkins ladies got moved to the front door just after I took this picture. Funny how everything is still so green. Best of both seasons!
I like berries in most of my fall arrangements. They seem so natural. I purchased the welcome pitch fork. I can't take credit for making that one.
Here is the floral arrangement I will take credit for. I had my girlfriend coming over for dinner and wanted to have it on the porch when she arrived, so I worked really fast on this one. I LOVE! airy sticks and airy flowers. They just look more soothing to the eye.
I hope you enjoyed your first visit to my blog. I am excited to see other people's handy work. I admire all kinds of ideas people come up with. It keeps me motivated to start new projects. Looking forward to FUN.....