A Little Spring in My Life

 How is your spring going? 

All I can say is I wish I had more time to smell the roses or tulips for that matter.

That photo and the one at the bottom are from my Pinterest folder entitled "Spring"

Today I was off from work but went to a client's house to help 

her freshen up her french country home.

Something that is right up my alley.

We hit it off when we met last week and I knew we were on the same wave length

when I was greeted at the door by a very similar concrete statue 

to the one I have at my own door.
A large dog with a flower basket in his mouth.

truly a classic
 

The rest of the week I'll be busy coming up with a plan to freshen up her home.

That is the best part of my job as an interior designer...all the nice people I meet

and when I go to someone's home and discover I love the same sort of things they do and 

I can help them give it that little extra it needs.

That said I truly enjoy doing rooms that are totally not something I would live

in either. That is what is fun about the job...I get to live vicariously through others...at least

design wise.

 

We are having a big sale at the store right now - 60% off all floor models and 50% off all special orders. It's cause we are getting ready to redecorate the store and get lots of new things in.
Sale runs till the end of April.

Come in and see me! Or email if there is something you are looking for or if you 

need my help pulling together a room or your whole house!

So that little loveseat above? I designed it for the floor. But it sold super fast!
Can't wait to do something similar again. Of course if you need one like it...I can order
for you.

  I love that white china cabinet in this photo.
The table is already sold but the chairs are still available and so is the cabinet.
All can still be ordered too.
 
Here you can see that the loveseat was in the same room on display.
That's certainly enough about work...
I'm currently trying to get my yard in shape.
I hired a new yard guy who is someone I worked with who went out on his own
with his own landscaping company.
Need a great guy to do your lawn?...email me and I'll share his name.
He's very easy to work with and does a great job!

Last year when Franklin hurt his back...my back slider door fell off it's track and could not
be fixed.
I went without a door for about 2 months. Thankfully, the weather was mild the whole time.
But I never showed you the garden doors I got to replace the slider.
This photo was taken the day they were installed.
Mom snapped it. The deck is a mess...cause things were just pushed aside.
But it was an immediate improvement to the house.

I am loving them...but now really really want a matching pair on the back bedroom too.

The dogs are happy going in and out.
And speaking of dogs. Here is a current video taken last week of Franklin in the yard.

Very, very proud of this boy. He was totally paralyzed last August and now look at him!

He's a very happy boy again. 

I'm hushing Harvey in this video because my neighbors have complained about his barking.

Although this is about all he barks and it's for like two minutes a day.

I could go on and on about my interactions with these neighbors.

They think dogs should never bark. I asked my neighbors on the other side

if they had a problem with my dogs making too much noise and they said..

"What? We can't hear your's - our's bark all the time!"

Their dogs do bark but it doesn't bother me at all. 

It's not a mean bark...it's a saying hello to the world bark. 

Same as mine.

Anyway...we are on pins and needles here trying not to bother my neighbors on one side.

Closing with another pretty photo of spring tulips.
All I managed to plant this spring so far is some bright pink phlox.
I've always admired it when it comes out in spring around the neighborhood and this year...
I finally got a little in the ground.

Hopefully, next year it will look like this.

Happy Spring!

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Open House Sunday

French Ranch

 in Dallas

This little 1950's ranch has gone french cottage.

 This house is a great example of what can be done with just a simple little ranch home.

It's full of romance starting at the front gate. 

Notice the concrete urns and the french lanterns.

Just paint that brick and whalla...it's immediately more frenchy.

 This home has been published in Veranda Magazine, twice!

 Love the furniture in this room. Don't like the zebra pillows. 

Really love that french day bed. 

Notice the antique doors. 

 Very pretty dining room....collections of blue and white ginger jars make stunning focal points.

 I'm sure those framed documents on the wall must be in french.

Love the rustic table and chairs.

Now...I really love this island! And it would be very easy to duplicate for not much money.

Hello....DIYers! 

love that mirror above the sink.

 Only thing I really don't care for here is the range hood. It just seems too much.

Too faux.

All those doors out to the yard are grand. And there is a sweet little sitting area at one end of the room. 

 I like the feet on these cabinets. 

 The fridge looks like cabinets too. Personally, I think a fridge should look like a fridge.

 Very pretty but simple bedroom. More of those french doors. Isn't that fabulous?

Love all those french doors to the outside.

 sweet dressing area

 lots of marble. Love the way the skirt is done on the dressing table.

 More antique doors!

 An outdoor fireplace with mantel. 

This appears to be a very simple style brick outdoor fireplace.

They just added a nice mantel in front.

Huge back patio where all those french doors lead. 

What a wonderful space! I'd fill it up with lots of potted plants and flowers

See full listing here. 

It got cold here this week and last night I got my first pumpkin cappuccino and it was soooo good.

I helped my Mom pass out Halloween candy at her house.

It was a slow year...she thought only about 700 trick or treaters.

Is it bad that I enjoyed more the few dogs that trick or treated more than any of the kids?

My Mom had dog treats for the dogs.

And the highlight of the night was a sweet little beagle named Clara who ate her treat and then 

patiently waited for another.

Funniest moment of the night was a boy dressed as a zombie.

He had several ugly oozing wounds and walked up and asked if we might have a band aid.

Too funny. 

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More French Doors

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I wish the room that my french doors were going in would be large like this one.

But alas...they go in my little breakfast nook.

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If I put them in in place of the windows on the back bedroom...I'd have a 

situation like this. Perfection...isn't it?

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Love these great big steel ones.

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Yes, french doors out to a garden would be lovely.

So...Mom and I shopped on Wednesday for doors.

We looked at Lowe's and Home Depot and then went to

locally owned Forest Lumber where they said they could make me anything I wanted.

The ones at Lowe's and Home Depot were steel.

Someone here mentioned Masonite doors...I saw those and was totally considering.

The ones at Forest Lumber would be fiberglass which they said I could paint any color.

That appealed to me because  I want them painted blue/green on the outside to match the rest 

of my house.

No decision made. 

Anyone know anything about fiberglass doors?

Just realized with this post....I've begun my fourth year of blogging.
My how time flies. I can't believe it.
Three years documented.
A life in all it's beauty and pain.
I'm hoping it's heavy on beauty the next three years.

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French Doors

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Today, Mom and I are going shopping for french doors.

My sliders in the breakfast nook have been in bad shape for quite awhile.

The sliders are Pella brand which is suppose to be very good

but they haven't held up so well. 

It's actually a good thing...because I wanted french doors anyway.

But....I also want to turn the back bedroom window into another set of french doors

so that I'd have access to the backyard from two sets of french doors in the house.

Wouldn't that be grand? 

I'm wondering how expensive it would be to have someone rip out my window and brick 

and put french doors in.

Anyone know if this is an expensive job?

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