Happy New Year!

As an avid blog reader...I have been seeing a huge amount of "TOP 10 of 2013" posts in the last few days.

I have to say I am NOT a fan of these and quite honestly I don't click over for posts like that. 

I want to look FORWARD not back - is that weird?  I hope not!!

So I'm not going to bore you with another look at my most popular posts...

I'm just going to send you my heartfelt wishes for a wonderful 2014...

May the New Year find you happy and healthy...

And may the memories you make this year, LIVE on in your hearts!

My hope is that you find strength when you need it most, and overcome whatever obstacles

you are facing in your life...

and 

May you have LOVE and GIVE LOVE wherever you go!

My sincere THANKS for following here...May 2014 be your best year yet!!

Cheryl

Merry Christmas!!

We just wanted to take a few moments to say Merry Christmas to all of you that follow here!

We are down to our last day in the countdown - only one more sleep as my kids would say.

May this Christmas find you amongst family and friends - and may the New Year ahead bring you

all that you wish for!

Many thanks to you for following here and making some of our dreams come true!!

See you in 2014!

Cheryl

Decking Halls...In the Family Room!

WELCOME BACK!  This is the final installment in our Christmas Tour - Christmas in the Family Room!

This post is pretty photo heavy, so I will keep the commentary to a minimum!

Before I show you the family room - let's take a quick look at the penguins on the ledge going down the stairs.  My daughter won these penguins about 15 years ago in a Christmas draw when she was in elementary school - she is almost 24 years old now and still insists that they are put out to greet guests!

Now on to the family room!

Just like last year, I put the tree up in our antique trunk.  I used most of the same decorations - traditional red, green and silver.

Our fireplace decked out for the holidays...

One of our most precious Christmas decorations is a small bubble lamp that McG bought for his mother when he was 12 years old...almost 40 years ago - he saved his paper route money!  It just wouldn't be Christmas in our house without it!

I want to wish all who follow here a wonderful Christmas filled with magical moments that will live on in your hearts for many years to come!  I so enjoy your visits here and your comments...Here's hoping 2014 is an even better year for everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Cheryl

Linking Up @
Averie Lane
The Nesting Place
A Stroll Thru Life
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Stone Gable
Kathe with an E
A Few Minor Adjustments
The Happy Housie
Thrifty Decor Chick
My Repurposed Life
Evolution of Style
Boogieboard Cottage
The Tablescaper

Decking the Halls...Part II - Kitchen and Dining Room

It's been a busy week here...I've completed a little more Christmas decorating - this time in the kitchen and dining room.

Nothing extravagant or over the top...subtle touches - quick and simple is the theme for me this year.

Taxidermy is a real trend lately, and its something that McG is excited about!  Finally, I have agreed to let him have some antlers in the house!  They usually reside outside in the garage!

These are young bull moose antlers.  I added a small sign I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby and a star ornament from The Dollar Tree.

Next is the sideboard.  I kept everything as I had it originally, just added a branch of red flowers I found on clearance at Target for $2.39 and some green, blue and silver ornaments, a silver tree and a Christmas candle from Bath and Body Works.

A simple garland with lights on the ledge between the kitchen and dining room.  It is decorated with blue ornaments and green and red glitter birds.

On the island, I added a large vase with ornaments and a battery powered candle.

This year I am finding simple ornaments and subtle touches like branches and pinecones are all I need to get the holiday spirit in my home.  I am really liking the simpleness of it - it looks lovely without being overdone.

Are you decorating more simply this year as I am - or are you enjoying lots of decorations?  I'd love to hear from you!

Up later this week - our basement family room.

Cheryl

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Cozy Little House

Christmas Details...

I wanted to share with you today some of the Christmas decorating I completed this past weekend.

For those of you who may be just joining, I decided to take an nontraditional approach to my colour scheme on our living room tree this year.  I shared last week that I was going with Teal and Orange as my main colours on this tree.  I did add some additional blue, green, copper and gold ornaments, as well as, some mercury glass birds to the tree.

I also added some other decorations around the room.

For the top of the china cabinet, I changed out the fall platter for a gold rimmed plate with cardinals.

I took the sticks out of the urn and added some pine branches instead.  I changed out the printable in the frame to a great Christmas subway art printable I found over at Eye Candy.

Next I added some ornaments to my blue Ball jar.

And finally a small wooden sign - Believe!

For the dining room table, I used an old wooden tool trug that McG found at a yard sale this summer.  I filled it with Christmas greens and a few pinecones and some red and blue ornaments.

One of the endtables got a metal sign on clearance from Hobby Lobby and a few ornaments.

I also have a small Norfolk pine that I dressed up with some tiny ornaments.

Nothing too extravagant...just little bits of lights and shiny bulbs.

I have yet to finish the sideboard and the ledge between the kitchen and dining room.  I will be back later this week to show you those and our main tree in the basement family room!

Cheryl

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City Farmhouse

Jennifer Rizzo

Finally...We are starting to decorate for Christmas!! (And a sneak peek of some new colors...)

That's right people...I know you've been seeing all kinds of Christmas decorating going on already in blogland.  It makes me feel like I'm a little behind the times, but here in our home there can be no decorating before December 1st - says a proclamation sent down by King McG himself....

Actually if he had his way I think we wouldn't decorate at all...(shh - he's a bit of a scrooge!!)

Many years we didn't decorate until after his birthday, but then it just feels like we are making a whole lot of effort for nothing as he likes to take it all down and put it away on Boxing Day!! - told ya - S-C-R-O-O-G-E!!

Today we will be working on getting all the boxes out from under the stairs - and tomorrow I will be in full force decorating around here.

I wanted to share a few photos of some new colours that are being used on our small tree upstairs in the living room...not really traditional colours....

TEAL AND ORANGE!!

These pictures make the orange ornaments look kind of red, but they are a coppery orange.

These beauties I found at the Dollarama  - $1 each - SCORE!!  The glittery orange pinecones below were three for a dollar!  I paired them with some mat-finish teal ornaments that I found at a local greenhouse 6 for $6.99.

Here they are tucked in an arrangement on my dining room table.

I can't wait to get the decorations flowing around here...I am definitely in the Christmas mood...

I know you are going to hate me for this but...
I am done my Christmas shopping and have everything wrapped!!  
All I have left to do is to send out my Christmas cards and get this place decorated!!

I will be back with more details on my decorating adventures this weekend...with lots of pictures so stay tuned!!

Tell me...is your home decorated already for Christmas...or do you live with a Scrooge too!


Cheryl

Another New Addition to the Living Room...

I am so thankful that my Mom knows how to sew!  She is a great seamstress and has even reupholstered some furniture in her day...but those talents she didn't pass on to my sister and I!!

Last time you were here, I showed you the great new metal wall plaque in our living room.

The orange in that plaque is just what I needed to warm up the space.  I knew I needed to bring some of the red and orange into the room, but I really wasn't keen on those orange and brown striped pillows.  They are the ones that originally came with the sofa, but I had been hiding them in the office as I never liked them.

This week though I made a trip to Fabricland and found a great new fabric to help tie everything together.
I had Mom sew some new covers for those striped pillows.  She rolled her eyes a bit when I showed up with the fabric and pillows.  It seems I have a reputation of being a bit of a "pillow whore" - or at least that's what my family thinks!  I feel it is just a great cost effective way to bring new life to a room!

The fabric was clearance priced at $10.00/metre (originally $27.00/metre) - still kind of pricey, but I knew that one metre would be more than enough to cover the two pillows, in fact I even have some leftover!

The background of the fabric is a khaki tan that co-ordintates well with the piping on the sofa.  The colours really brighten up the room and tie in the colours from the wall plaque.

These new colours are going to be what I work with for my holiday decorating as well.  I am excited to be adding some fresh new colours to our home.  They really radiate warmth and that's just what we need now that the temperatures outside have dipped pretty low.  It's a balmy 24 degrees Fahrenheit today and with the windchill it feels even colder.

I've started bringing out small Christmas touches...trying to sneak them in without McG knowing.

I will be sure and show you this week as things progress.  We are still finishing up with the painting of the trim and doors in the bedroom.  Once that's complete (it shouldn't be too much longer) I will be able to haul out all of the Christmas boxes from under the stairs and get to work.  I feel like I'm behind as most other bloggers have already had their trees and decorations up for some time now!

That's what's going on this weekend here at our house...what are you up to this weekend??

Cheryl

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Life on Lakeshore Drive

One More Time Events
Cozy Little House
A Few Minor Adjustments

Warming up the Living Room...

Well the paint fumes are still lingering, but the hum of the compressor is quiet this morning.  Last night I posted a quick pic on facebook letting you all know that we were well into getting the new baseboards installed in the master bedroom.  I am thrilled that all the trim is finally done in there!!  We are still in the process of completing the closet doors, but that sadly will not be done until the weekend (insert sad face here).  Winter weather has come to town...and the temperatures are now too cold to spray paint the door hardware!!  However, they are predicting warmer temps this weekend, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed that we can get this project completed.

In the meantime, I wanted to show you some new additions in the living room.  While I am still loving the blue-grey colour we painted last fall...lately I have been finding the room a bit flat with all the cool colours and all the dark brown with the furniture and dark flooring.  Here's a reminder of what it looked like BEFORE.

 I knew that the only way to liven up that room was to add some brighter colours!

While I still LOVE the mirrors I bought on clearance at HomeSense ($15/each) I wanted to try and find something brighter, with more colour.  I have been on the lookout since the end of August when my #1 daughter gave me a HomeSense gift card for my birthday.  I can't tell you how hard it has been for me to find ANYTHING to buy with that card...it was so frustrating as I can ALWAYS seem to find something to buy there when I really don't have any money to spend, but that card was giving me shopping paralysis!  I persevered though, popping in there at least once a week to check out the new stock in the hopes of finding something.  I am sure the staff there must have grown accustomed to seeing me there.

This week, though, my perseverance paid off!

Let me introduce you to my new brighter and colourful wall art....drum roll please!!

It's a large metal plaque - all chippy and colourful - and the orange and red accents are just what I was looking for to add some more colour and brightness to the living room.  Here's a closer look!

I added some orange striped pillows that I had downstairs to the couch.  I am not sure if I like the stripes, but they do add some of the orange too.  I will be on the lookout now for some brighter fabric that incorporates those colours, but in the meantime I am really liking this new shot of colour!

I also added some orange and red to some of the other areas in the room as well.  A fall platter I found in a thrift store and some orange sticks in the urn.

I found this little owl pitcher at The Christmas Tree Shop this week while I was shopping in Michigan...I just LOVE him! (and he was a steal at just $2.99!)

Are you decorating with bright colours, like orange and red?  I don't normally, but I was missing the warmth now that our fall decorations are packed away to make way for the Christmas decorations that will be added in the coming weeks.  I will be shopping the house today to see what else I can add to the mix - I LOVE mixing things up...it really does make for a whole new room without spending any money!

Hope your week is going well...please leave me a comment and let me know what touches you are adding to YOUR home this week!

Cheryl

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Embracing Change

Common Ground