Frenchy Foyer

Hey All!  Waaaay back in January I promised to share my shinys with you all so here they are!

I have been cultivating a new look in the foyer this year which all started when I moved my painted black sideboard from the dining room into the foyer.  

Please ignore the painted swatchs on the wall.  Remember I did say I was still cultivating this look.  I just can't decide what color I want in my entry way, but I wanted you to see the runner that I added on top of the sideboard.  I already had the runner when I bought the rooster one for the kitchen and was thrilled to see how inviting it looked here.

The next item I added was this wooden sign that carries three of my most favorite words of inspiration. I first bought one in unfinished wood and then when I got home realized the black would compliment the sideboard.  So, I finally made it back and swapped it out for the painted black sign, no work required.  LOL!

 Then the next additions to arrive were the matching pair of candlesticks.

Can you believe after all these years of working home decor retail this is my first pair of mercury glass candlesticks?  Well, they are!   I found these on the clearance isle at TJ Maxx after christmas and immediately fell in love with them though I had no clue where I would put them.  My guess is someone returned them after Christmas.    I was sold by the combination of bling around the edge on top of the mercury glass.  They are just beautiful!

One afternoon while at Hobby Lobby I came across these magnetic lamp shade crystals.  Now I just love crystal and shiny things, and they were on sale so I was sold.

And finally just this past week I purchased the faux lavender bush and postscript pitcher on sale at Michaels.  I was blown away by all the beautiful home decor groupings they have this year.  There sure is lots of cute stuff.  If you haven't dropped in to a Michaels dept. store lately this is a great time to do so.  You will be so excited!

I have been in love with lavender for so long.  I love real lavender, dried lavender, faux lavender, whatever!  I am glad to see it has become so popular and is easily found almost everywhere now.

When I saw this adorable postscript pitcher I knew I had to have it to be one of the final things to pull together the look I have been working on.  The bonus was I knew the lavender would work well inside of it.  The whole look combined with the fleur de lis runner, peacocks and mercury glass bling all just seem so frenchy to me.  Do you think so too?

I also have one more big thing to share with you.  After pulling this look together this past week I also entered a giveaway for a trip for two to Paris at Michaels.  When I was checking out I got a flier that told me about the giveaway.  You have to create a French inspired theme using there products and share your picture and they will pick a winner from those.  Wow!  Wouldn't that be a blast to win!  Even more cool for me because I really wasn't even trying to pull this together for the contest but was simply putting it together as I went.  

Well, regardless of the contest I love how the foyer has come together so far.  I am still not feeling the right decision on the foyer color yet but am leaning towards a pale watery sea blue of some sort.  Any ideas on that are greatly appreciated!

Thanks for stopping by friends!  

Have a great week!

Sailing into the New Year

Good Morning! Some of you may remember that I used to blog under the name of the blog Sailing Simply.   For those of you that remember I do apologize for using the same header that I used  today previously but it really seems befitting to my day yesterday.

I shared these photos on Facebook and they are enjoying them so much I thought I share them here with you.  Today was indeed a sparkly day on the water!

This is the photo everyone on FB loves.  I captioned it, "God is such a great artist!"  I love that I captured the reflection of the clouds on the water.  So glad I had my Iphone handy.

We (the hubbs and I ) spent our afternoon on the sailboat on the beautiful waters of Lake Murray yesterday and it was such a great way to ring in the new year.  We didn't get much sailing in though, only a small amount before the winds died but we continued to enjoy motoring about.   

 Some of you may recall our largest boat was a 27ft Ericson named The Viking 4.  We have had our hearts set on a larger boat for years now and I'm happy to say that finally came to pass late this november.  We are now the proud owners of a Catalina 30 sailboat, dubiously named Jabberwocky.  Our intentions are to change the name as soon as we find a better fit.  In this photo above you see just the handrail and throwable as you are looking out towards one of the other docks at the sailing club where our old boat sits awaiting it's new owners.

I promise to share the new boat on my blog here soon when I get a chance.  I am still tinkering with the inside decor as to what I most want to have aboard.  This is also why you may have noticed a few changes on the set up of my blog as we've had lots of changes in our life last year and I wanted this blog to reflect more of what is in store for this year.  

 I thought you might enjoy these photos as much as I do since they came out so well.  More gorgeous reflections shown on the water in the above photos, don't you think?

After we got back in and tied to the docks we hung around a bit longer as the sun went down and I was able to snap this shot of the moon as it was rising.

It was such a picture perfect day!

Loved starting out the New Year Sailing and I hope you too were able to start out the New Year doing the things you love the most as well!

Happy New Year Again Friends!

A Sparkly New Year!

Welcome 2015!

I rarely ever do resolutions but am going to strive for one this year.

My one resolution; To SPARKLE all year long!

Happy New Year Friends!

Christmas Decorating 2014

Hey All!  Time sure has sped by this holiday season.  I have done my best to keep up with sharing some of my Christmas decorating on my facebook page but am just now finally able to share it here.  I have been unable to share here easily because of I got a new computer this past year and just now finally figured out how to get my photos to upload from my camera in a format I can use easily on this new windows 8.  Very confusing stuff!  Anywho, for those of you who many want to take a peek here is the highlights of my Christmas decor inside the house.  To see the outside porch you need to check out my post before this one.  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too!

In the kitchen I didn't do a tree since I have a puppy now and need to keep her confined to the kitchen while I am at work. I did manage to do a little bit of decorating in here though.

I absolutely love how my Candy Chandy turned out!

I stuck with my usual woodsy look for the den but upgraded the ribbons on the tree by using a new technique of using 3 ribbons to create a very full effect.

Here's a picture of Maizey being caught redhanded.  The little bandit actually did pretty well with only a minimal amount of damage.  LOL!

The Hearth got an Old World Santa look this year using several Santa from my collections.

The newest stocking additions this year.  Both my Cavababy Maizey and my sons dog Kora got their very own stockings.

Around the dining room it was all about the glitzy glamour of gold and silver.  This tree also got an update with new ribbons this year as well.

And finally the foyer was dressed in a simple welcoming look this year.

I am so thankful for having the time to enjoy a beautiful Christmas season with my family and friends and for being able to now share with you too!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year!