new dining chairs

 After debating with myself....for what seems like forever....I've finally decided on some new dining chairs.

I went modern.....and I love them.

I wanted chairs with a low back and skinny legs.....and something that wouldn't be too busy....and these fit the bill perfectly!

I like the mix of rustic farm table, crystal chandelier and modern chairs....it fits my style and family to a tee.

they're coming along

Just wanted to show you were I was at with the stairs so far (the green stripe is painters tape). I found a color that's a pretty close match to the grain sack that inspired the colorway for the stairs.....you can see the inspiration here.

By adding the linen colored stripe, my wood floors blend nicely with the stairs now. I think I'm really going to like the combination of white, linen and blue on the stairs.

More to come soon!

Have a wonderful weekend!

bathroom tile

In between me painting the basement stairs....we're getting ready to start putting the bathroom back together. Hubby is done fitting the shower with Hardiebacker so that I can hopefully start tiling some time next week. There's still a few preparations we need to do before that can happen....like pouring the cement floor in the shower, sealing all the joints of were the Hardiebacker board meets and getting the shower seat ready for tile too.

The photo above shows what tiles we'll be using. The whole shower and seat will be done in white subway tile....and the floor of the shower will be done in the grey and white pebbles.

We were originally going to use 2x2 inch white carrera marble for the floor....but decided to go with something a little bit different...but in keeping with the same color scheme....and this is what we came up with.

Oh...and see the wood floor underneath the tiles....that's actually our porch floor....but that's a hint at what kind of flooring we'll be installing in the bathroom.

So there's my little bathroom update.

More to come soon....

stair progress

I thought I'd show you my basement stairs progress so far. As you can see, in the photo below, I haven't committed to stripes yet.....why you ask....

well....see that first photo up above....with the beautiful aqua painted stripe....i love that....but after much debating (which was just me thinking too much) I've come to figure out why those stairs just won't work in my home.

The reason....all the painted stairs I see....that I love....all have painted floors to go along with them. My floors are not painted wood floors....they're stained wood floors....and to me, the white painted stairs and stripes look amazing with white floors....maybe not so much with stained wood floors. Do you see my dilemma.

So what I came up with is to paint an oatmeal colored stripe and then stripes in the center (like I've shown in the above photo, which is of my stairs currently). The reason I think this may look better is because the oatmeal color would blend the stairs in better with the hardwood floors.....then the stairs won't have such a stark contrast with my wood floors.

What do you guys think?

Any suggestions....I'd love to hear from you.

a winner....and cheesecake in a jar

I received a number of emails asking for the recipe for the cheesecake in a jar I made.....I found the recipe here.

I would recommend using a more stout jar...like this one...because the cheesecake can be rather rich....and a little goes a long ways.

Now....onto the winners of the Lisa Leonard giveaway....

Sally and Kym

Congratulations Sally and Kym!

And a big thank you to Lisa for the giveaway!

Happy Friday!

a beautiful giveaway

 Are these just not the dearest necklaces you've ever seen....

 I love their simplicity....

and the fact that you can have your loved ones names on it.

**This giveaway has ended**

These beauties are from Lisa Leonard Designs.....and she wants to have a giveaway.

She was kind enough to offer 2 of my readers each a $50.00 gift card to her shop....is that cool or what!

To enter just sign up for Lisa's newsletter here then come back and leave me a comment to let me know you did...that's it. If you already subscribe to Lisa's newsletter....just leave me a comment saying so.

I'll announce the 2 winners here on Friday....Good Luck!

some lilacs for you

 I just came in from clipping some lilacs.....

and thought I'd share them with you.

Have a wonderful Monday!