House Numbers

Numbering Your House in Style

Attic mag did a really interesting post today about numbering your house in a creative way. 

Please go there and see the great ideas for displaying your home's address. 

Attic mag

I thought I'd share my own house numbers. I created this from a plaque I found in the garden stuff at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago. I have no idea what it was intended for originally, but when I saw it...I knew I could somehow add house numbers to it. I bought metal numbers at Ace Hardware and glued them on with all weather adhesive. 

See how it accents the pole just perfectly? 

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Phone Nooks

Vintage Style

This is my house phone. Not that I ever use it. I always use my cell but I still don't feel like a real person without a house phone. I coveted this phone at Pottery Barn for ages before I bought it. And I do love it. It's very ModVintage. 

Which you know I like.

But I wish I had a phone nook to put it in. Most houses of the age of mine (1931) have phone nooks. A very modern convenience back in time.  A little shelf in the wall to hold the phone and the phone book. (phone book...who uses those any more?)

I have been thinking of making a phone nook for my house so I gathered these examples for reference. My house never had one because it actually had a full desk in the hall. But that desk was taken out long ago to make room for a closet that holds a hot water heater and the heat and air unit. 

Aren't these cute? My neighbors on both sides have them...I'm so jealous.

Till I can get a phone nook, this little table will have to do.

This is in the hall outside the bedroom.

How good would this phone look in a little nook? It would be perfection.

Not as good as a phone nook.

sharing at

The Brambleberry Cottage

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Violet in the Morning

Pretty Violet Olivia...enjoying the Sunday morning sunshine.

If only I could roll out of bed looking like this. She's just pretty all the time. 

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Decisions...Decisions...

I just can't decide on a Roof Color...help a girl out.

This is my house as it appears now or actually...last year.

Over a month ago...a hail storm came along and totaled my roof.

So that means I am getting a new roof very soon.

But I can't decide on the color.

Currently it is green with red and yellow shadings. It pretty much looks green over all.

It is greener than it appears in this photo.

So I went to the GAF/ELK website (the brand of roofing I am getting) where you can pick a house style similiar to your own and try on different paint colors and roof colors. 

It's pretty fun to play there and I recommend it for anyone thinking of doing a little color changing on the  outside of their home.

GAF/ELK Virtual Home Remodeler

Once there, you can try different trim colors as well as brick, stone, siding, etc...

Color wise, my roofing guy pushed me towards weathered wood.

So I logged onto the GAF/ELK remodeler and picked the house most similar to mine and tried it with the weathered wood colored shingles.

weathered wood

This was bland...and  I knew I wanted color....maybe not green like I had but something similar but greyer.

This is slate.

It's greyish/greenish.

I did a little research on historic roof colors and learned that our passion for drab roofs is a new thing. Historically, roofs were usually colored....green, blue, yellow, red,

Red!

That got me to thinking...

Red

I like it.

When I drive around town and see a 1920's or 1930's building in blonde brick with a red tile roof, it makes me happy. I started thinking....do I need a red roof?

My plan has been for awhile to paint the trim on my house a greyish/aquaish/tealish color and I thought slate was the perfect choice. But then I found this picture on line and saw that the red works very well with this color.

I've already told the roofer to order slate...but I still have a couple of weeks in which I could change my mind. Please let me know what you think.

I did a little photoshop magic tonight to test the colors with the trim painted like I want it. I think both options will be great. 

I know I'll love the slate...but the artist in me wants to do a roof color that no one on the block is expecting.

My house with a slate roof - doesn't look that much different than what is on it now.

or red

I have to say....I am normally not a red person. I don't have any red in my house at all. I don't wear red. I don't plant red flowers. I lean toward cool colors rather than warm ones.

What do you think? I know I'll be happy with the slate color...but will I be proud of myself for pushing the envelope and going for something unexpected....or will I then be forced to decorate with red geraniums when I am a pink rose kind of girl?

Please let me know what you think.

Show and Tell Friday at
My Romantic Home

Show Off Your Cottage Monday
at 
The House in the Roses

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June's Yard of the Month

Sherry's Home in Edgemere Park

This lovely yard belongs to one of my neighbors, Sherry. As far as I am concerned, she could win Yard of the Month every month of the year.

A small flagstone patio welcomes you just outside the front door.

The front patio is a lovely place to sit a spell and enjoy the sounds of this small fountain.

This was Sherry's house at Easter....I shared it back in April.

Sherry's dog, little Lilly Pulitzer joined us on the garden tour.

Flowing flower boxes grace the windows.

Step out the sun room's french doors to another large flagstone patio complete with a massive stone fireplace.

Just off the patio...a serene fountain.

This little fountain is just around the corner.

Sherry's yard has been the inspiration for my own yard since I moved to the neighborhood. I have made great strides since buying my house....but I still have an awfully long way to go to achieve the beauty of Sherry's yard.

theinspiredroom.net

Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Day Dreamer

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This Bitter Earth...

Have you heard this?

"This Bitter Earth" sung by Dinah Washington and combined with Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight"? This song plays over the closing credits of "Shutter Island". Have you seen this movie? I missed it at the theater because I was working so much at the time. But I have watched it three times this week on "On Demand" through the ever powerful Cox Cable. 

I loved this movie. It nows goes in to my list of favorite movies. This song at the end is so hauntingly beautiful. I could listen to it over and over again. 

Amazing....truly.

If you haven't seen Shutter Island - rent it immediately.

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What's My Style in One Picture

Challenge III

Ally at "From the Right Bank" asked readers to post one photo that illustrated their style in her third annual "What's Your Style in One Picture" link party.

I chose this one...

(source unkown)

I've had this photo on my computer for quite awhile and I don't know from where I copied it. If I did...I'd certainly give credit. I love the color of the chest and the venetian mirror above it. I also adore the combination of the unusual color of the wall with the shimmery curtain and dark floors. Making it even more scrumptious - a little mercury glass and the pink in the orchid. I'm not sure what is going on in the next room and I don't want to know....but this little corner of the house is perfection.

Go over to "From the Right Bank" to view others' pictures that show their style.

*UPDATE*

Kelly over at Design Ties let me know that this photo came from her site. The room and the whole house is in New Orleans. It is the work of designer Hal Williamson. Go to Design-Ties to read all about this pretty home. Each and every room is lovely. Except, see that room off to the left? That is the kitchen! With big bold banana leaf wallpaper. I am not a fan of that but the rest of the house is to die for! I now remember seeing all of the house and thinking how awful that wallpaper was.

Be sure to go by Design-Ties to read more about the design of this home in New Orleans.

Design-Ties

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I got off my backside

and fixed up the planters on my back deck.

I've needed to do something with the large built in planters in the corners of my back deck for years. They didn't have anything planted in them when I bought the house and they've come to be filled with whatever the birds planted. One had some sort of bush...that wasn't suppose to be there and the other was full of mint that spread over from some pots I'd planted. Random vines grew up over the trellises I'd put in a few years ago.

The before pictures...

the left side

the right side

awful...hideous

A couple of week's ago Donna at Funky Junk Interiors urged her readers to get some pesky projects that they'd been putting off, done around the house. Well, I'd been putting this one off for years because I just didn't know what I wanted to do in those planters.

Finally, after deciding to take on this challenge

FunkyJunk's "Gitter Done!"

It came to me....I'd pull out all existing plants (weeds)...and line the planters with weed resistant fabric. The planters were only about half way full of dirt....so I covered the existing dirt with the landscaping fabric and stapled it to the inside of the planters. 

I fully intended on using the trellises again....but when I pulled them out I discovered the bottoms were all rusted and they broke...so I'll have to use something else. 

After filling both planters with potting soil. I planted sweet potato vines and coleus. I also sprinkled in morning glory seeds...so soon I'll have morning glories that will want to grow up a trellis. This coming weekend, I'm going to figure out what I want to do for new trellises.

But here is what it looks like so far...

left planter

right planter

Next on the "Gitter Done" list is spray painting the lights on the posts on the deck.

I was going to do for this post but it was a very busy last week and we've had intense rain today...so it didn't happen.

Soon...I'll show the complete deck...but because of the huge hail storm a month ago... I will be getting a new roof soon so I'm hesitant to do much more outside for fear that anything I do will get ruined by all the roofing materials that will soon be all over my yard. I have three layers of shingles that have to come off before I get the new roof. 

Good news is....I get to pick whatever color I want for the new roof and my horrible carport will by yanked out....something I've wanted gone forever. Now, I'm glad I had put it off because the roofers are going to do it for me. I'll feel like I have a whole new area of the back yard...because right now it feels like a scary cave under that carport.

Thanks Donna....for getting me moving...I probably wouldn't have done this project without your push to do something I'd been putting off. 

See more "Gitter Done" projects at

Gitter Done

sharing too at 

Green Weekend Link Party at Frippery

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