Two Plus Two Equals Two

My Christmas decorations this year are minimal, quite nothing really! I did, however, place these feather trees (bought a couple of years ago) on the mantel. 

The vases below have been sitting on the hearth (just below the trees) for some time now. They got  left behind on purpose as we have been gradually moving our things to Texas because I am not very fond of them and wasn't sure I would keep them. 

I had an idea this morning while sitting on the couch, facing the fireplace, drinking my coffee and I will just tell you it took a lot of brain power to come up with this one! 

TWO feather cones PLUS TWO blue and white vases EQUALS TWO Christmas trees!!

And this all happened before 8:00 AM. Just imagine what else I can come up with today! 

PS. Happy Happy Birthday to my daughter!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I refuse to NOT put up a tree! But this, however, will be the extent of it...this year, anyway! My time here in Mississippi will be limited during and after the holidays so I don't want to spend it all on taking down decorations.  And since they are all going back to Texas with me it will be much easier to not have to rebox everything!  

No other trees, no outside lights, no wreaths, no garland...

What you see is pretty much what you get! 

Next Project

My next paint and reupholster project! 

Couch and two chairs.

Brass Wall Plate

 I love these plates! I'm not sure why because they are outdated, but I just do! I see them in antique stores everywhere but have always passed on buying one. This weekend I caved and bought one.  It was very reasonable and quite large. So glad I brought it home. I had the perfect place for it. Also, I found this particular one on eBay for $100.00. I paid a fourth of that! 

Christmas Overload

Here is where we spent Saturday morning. 

Christmas Warehouse Arlington Texas.  

Too much stuff, too many people, too high priced;  in my opinion anyway! I refuse to pay 800.00 for a tree or 50.00 for a single piece of garland, especially when it would take several pieces to decorate anything!!

It was, however, a beautifully decorated store and a great place to get ideas. 

 Colorful, cute and whimsical.

Trees galore! This is not all of them and I didn't take a pic of the room full of the undecorated ones for sale. 

I love this!

 And this:

Santa was around every corner

Oops, where did he go?

The overhead decor was stunning!

The Tea Room

Still a touch of fall

If I could have taken anything in the store home it would have been these.

Loved the angel.

And carolers

And the nativity 

The one single item in the entire store (that I saw, anyway) that indicated the reason for ALL of this!

Before and After

We bought five of these chairs at a flea market for $100.00, a bargain, right? Wrong! Not after the paint, fabric, trim, and labor to reupholster! I would be afraid to add up the true cost. But like a friend told me last night, you can't buy custom work! And she is right! It is worth it in the end to have what you really want. The other four chairs do not have arms. You can't see in this pic how dirty they were. The seats were so nasty we did not sit in them. Bad! Extremely bad! 

Here it is all spiffed up! I love them! I spy a poodle tail! 

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful!

And it's ONLY  November. 

Occasionally I have wondered why the previous owners would ever want to sell and leave this wonderful old house (they still live in this town, in a newer house) ! I may be getting closer to understanding why!!

We bought an old sled last week to decorate and use for Christmas, but we may be using it to get to HEB (grocery store) or work before this winter is over!

It looks like this one.

I have something like this in mind! Maybe without the skates. I DID buy some rusty jingle bells to place on it. 

Thankful for...

-BJ was curious enough to learn about an energy efficient electric company before we moved in and he signed us up.  This town is different from what we are use to at home as far as utility companies go. Instead of having only one available for the area you live in, you get to choose from several.  Ours is not the same one the previous homeowners used, so the winter electric bill they described to us may not be the case since we went with another company. 

-Electric, infrared heaters.

-Fireplaces.

-Winter lasts only a few  months.

-Electric blankets.

-Hot coffee. Hot chocolate.

It is going to take everything within me to not complain all winter about being cold. Hopefully when we get our first electric bill I will not be so afraid to crank up the heat. 

Stay warm!!

Office Space PERFECTION

I have never had a home office and never really wanted one until recently. Our new (old) house has a couple of rooms I could convert into an office if I wanted to and I want to!! Here is a pic from previous owners of the room off the master bedroom.  They used it as an exercise/ TV room. I think it will make a PERFECT office! 

We just happened on this PERCECT little desk for me to use in there last weekend and could not resist it. It may have had a leather inset on top at one time  but it's PERFECTLY fine the way it is now!  And I don't think I will paint it either. Or maybe I will?!?!?

Not too small. Not too large. PERFECT size. 

Details on legs: 

It is solid maple and we paid $125.00. From what we could find online, it appears that we got a deal! 

Just PERFECT!!