The Decorative Dreamer

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Winter Comforts

Hi Friends! I hope your week has been going well. Mine sure has! I've been so busy around the house getting things organized and ready for the new year ahead. I have such a wonderful feeling about 2016 and feel so very grateful to be able to be home, organizing, cleaning, and creating comfort.

The other day, the sun was shining so brightly in the morning I just had to snap a few shots. Still snapping photos on my phone for now, but I'm much closer to resolving that and hope to return to my camera soon.

It turned out to be a beautifully sunny but cold afternoon. It was the kind of day where everything just seemed so right in the world. Maybe, it started out that way for me because I felt so cozy and comfortable inside before setting out and about to brave the cold outside.

In my previous posts, I've been sharing with you how I've been making a few changes in the kitchen. One of the biggest changes I made was to add curtains on the french doors. Last weekend we got the curtain rods up and I hung the panels that I had made for the dining room a few years ago. I had to make a few easy length adjustments and they were done. I love the look of these so very much, I may not even worry about making any others with the darker fabric I have.

I really haven't tried too hard to create a wintry scene in here but I did want to have the centerpiece on the table reflect the season. These whispery white flowers I purchased a few years ago from Kirklands always make me feel so good. They are such a great transitional look and remind me so much of paper whites. Don't you think so? I added in some plain willow branches to give my centerpiece a more wintry look and I was done. I already had both the flowers and the branches. It really could not have been an easier.

These are the hurricane lamps I purchased last fall on sale at Pier 1. I think they will certainly be a new staple for me in my decor. You may recall I used them in my centerpiece on the coffee table at Christmas. You can see that here, if you missed it. Since I already had the snow filler inside them I decided to leave it. I did switch out the size of the candles to a smaller set.

I love how the snow sparkles from the reflections of the sunshine. I wish you had better pictures to see just how pretty it really is. These candles are electric. If you are like me then you have these candles everywhere. I think I may be addicted to them. It's a good day when I find these on sale. LOL!

I really am loving having curtains in the kitchen now. It has just made my kitchen so much more appealing. It's made the whole room more cozy, comfortable and inviting. I am just so amazed that I have gone so many years without even considering them. Of course, the Mr. has pointed out over and over again already how he has wanted to put curtains in here since day 1. He has wanted them to help keep the sun out during our hot, hot summers. I don't enjoy closed curtains and I especially don't like feeling too closed in. I think I'll be safe because when I made these I didn't use lots of fabric. I only made them just large enough to give a somewhat full look but not large enough to cover these doors certainly. We shall see what the summer brings, but for now the winter is feeling very cozy so far!

We're still working on more changes in here, slowly. We getting it done though, just in between getting more organized and learning how to use my new embroidery machine. In between, working on our sailboat and finding some time for thrift sale shopping. Finally and most importantly getting it done in between taking care of my family and my pretty little pup too!

Life is Good and God is Great, feeling so very thankful for all this winters comforts.

Thank you also for stopping in again and I hope you'll come back by and catch up again next time.

Have a wonderful Thursday friends!

Hugs and Waves!

Mary

Sunday, January 3, 2016

My word for 2016 - Change

Have you seen those little, "what's your" this or that type quizzes on Facebook? I know you have, right? I'll be honest here, I get suckered into them every time. Usually when a friend of mine shares one, it's a good one too and I just have to play along. I just love those crazy test things!

Here's the one I did on New Years Eve. It's called, "What's is your word for 2016". I just clicked on the link, put in my name, and this is what popped up. This one is so absolutely amazingly accurate in my life right now I can't even begin to express how surprised I was to see it.

CHANGE

My word for 2016 is Change. Love it! Sounds wonderful, sounds great, sounds simple enough right?

In fact what is said was; Your word for 2016 is Change. Your next year will be founded on change. New challenges will bring you much happiness.

I am sure I don't need to tell you that change is not always all it's cracked up to be. I won't go into all the reasons why change can be so hard or else you'd be here all day. But what I do want to share with you is that for the most part change is a pretty simple thing when you learn to embrace it.

Sometimes in life, situations change rapidly. This is often the hardest to deal with. Sometimes they change very slowly and adjusting is easier. Sometimes you see changes happening and you try to adjust but you can't. That's when you know you need to readjust your sails again. For me change this year is a very personal journey as I learn to be at home again after leaving a job I loved. I won't go into all of that but I will say that I am glad I have learned life long lessons that teach me how to embrace changes, sudden and planned. Change is not fearful for me in fact it's what keeps things interesting don't you think? It is after all a very inevitable part of life.

In my last post I shared with you my inspiration on making some changes in my kitchen. Well let's just say, in my usual style I jumped right in head first. I went out and found a few more things to start making changes on my own before the Mr. was available to help me with a few others.

Here is the area above my kitchen stove. In my head I thought my inspiration piece would look lovely here with a unique shelf and few other items. Before I took this picture I even had a few beautiful turquoise dishes on each side of this vignette. I took those down because it was too much.

When you are standing up close this vignette looks quite lovely. I just adore this shelf I found at Hobby Lobby too. It has hooks to hang things from as well. I even hung a few things on the hooks like measuring spoons and cups, etc.

I then went a few steps further and started moving other areas in the kitchen all around. This desk used to be set up as my Kuerig station. I thought I might like to use it as desk so I cleared it off and then added back a few items I really need to find a home for. My smoothie proteins because I really need to get back on that diet now that the holidays are over were slim enough not to take up too much space here....but looks kinda oddly out of place.

The Kuerig and K cups ended up over on this space with my Crockpot and wine glasses. Very pretty huh? Well.....be honest.

I stood back took a long look at everything I had done and decided to call it a night. Sometimes you need to sleep on it. So sleep I did. Then this morning I got up and got busy even before the first pot of coffee was made.

The first thing to CHANGE was this little vignette above the stove. I had great concerns over this shelf catching on fire. I have a gas top stove and though cooking wasn't really a problem last night I just really didn't want to take that chance. Furthermore, the more I looked at this space it just looked too cluttered to me. I want to put up open shelves above a little table near this area on the same wall and I feel like it will be even more cluttered looking after they are installed. Try as I may to find a new home for my really cool shelf I think it will be returned. It's just not working out. So not all changes are good. Sudden changes are hard and better handled very slowly.

Ahhhh!!!! That feels so much better!

I moved my old picture back above the stove where it has been since the day we moved into this house 13 years ago. It may not be the best picture ever, but I painted it myself. It has a vision I like to see everyday, every morning. My eyes rest on it easily and then move on. They don't get stuck there trying to figure out what is wrong with this picture. I have to move on. Being stuck with something when you know it's not right is the way I want to live, in fact it's unacceptable. Maybe one day I will replace this picture with another but for now it's staying. As for the changes in the rest of the room. Some will happen, some will move back again.

I'm making changes here for sure, but slowing it down a bit, to make sure these challenges bring much happiness.

Wishing you all many blessings for 2016.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hugs and Waves,