Lighting and a Hole in the Wall

Some of you might ask what one has to do with the other. Well, our little home is about 50 years old, and apparently has changed hands more than a couple of times over the past decade or so. It seems that each owner must have had their own ideas of what needed to be done to the little home. One of the owners thought that she needed a larger closet, therefore removed one of the two bathrooms to accommodate this. The owner before us added a corky little master bathroom and decided that the kitchen area need more light, so he decided to put a pass through (a hole) in the limestone wall that separates the formal living/dining room, and the kitchen/family room. It is the typical 50’s ranch style floor plan. Therefore I am left with this great big hole in the wall, and still very little light over the little table that is against the wall (that is another issue for another post).

I could do several different things:

1st, I could add a glass window or iron work:

2nd, I could leave it as it is and just hang a light over the table.

Or, I could just move….

Fall Cleaning

I’m not sure what it is, but about the time school starts, I start my fall cleaning. I guess most of you refer to it as spring cleaning, but most of mine is done right as the time school lets back in. I don’t know if it’s because of the summer heat, and we tend to stay inside most of the time, or because the children have been home for a large periods of time and they make huge messes, that can only be truly cleaned after they return to school. Whatever the reason, I tend to do most of my big cleaning once school starts back up.
This past week, I decided to clean and rearrange my bookcases, I know that you are thinking, “big deal, she cleaned some book cases,” Oh no, could it ever be that simple with me…
You see I have a tendency not to only take everything off the bookshelves and clean them, but I have to rearrange everything and redecorate them, I guess it comes from my retail days of contently changing the displays and making them look fresh. I am also affected by wanting to put my Christmas tree up in September, but my family would really think I’ve lost it.
Anyway, I have been working on these darn bookshelves all week. I normally just decorate the bookcases and not as much on the mantel, but this time I decorated the mantel first. I like the way that it turned out, but now I didn’t want the book shelve to be cluttered. So, now I’m at a standstill and have just left it the way it is.
-Cheers, Amy

Tuesday Night At The Auction

About 6 years ago I left a small West Texas town to move to the big city of San Antonio. My husband Adam had grown up here and decided right after I found out that I was pregnant with our daughter McKenzie, that he wanted to go to Law School. So, I was induced two weeks early so that she would be old enough to move to San Antonio, a week before he started school. Well, having two young children and starting school, you could only imagine that there was no money, so we had to live with Adam’s family until we were able to find a place of our own.
In the mean time, I began to learn more about my mother in law. She loves to collect things and has a verity of collections ranging from dishes, vintage table clothes, and rugs. She enjoys going to the local auction on Tuesday nights. She once told me that sometimes she just likes to watch the items sell. Sometimes they will go for a great deal, and other times they can get “bid up” by someone who just really wants the item.

The first time that I went was on a French themed night, this is how I fell in love with French Country Antiques. I found a beautiful bedroom set with a triple door armouire, two night stands and a dressing table. They split the items up so that I had to bid on them seperatly. I had won the nightstands for $50 and the large armoire for $300. Adam thought that we didn’t need the dressing table at the time, so I let that go to someone else, I had always regretted it. I must add that I’m not one for matchy matchy. But I will buy things and pull them apart, and use them in other places in my house.

Anyway, back to the auction, Diane said that she was going to go for a little while last night, and I asked her if she minded if I tagged along. She said sure. I went to the preview and found two different sets of nesting tables that I liked, one set was French, and the other Queen Ann style. I opted for the Queen Ann style so that it would blend with the other French pieces that I have in my living room, but once again not too matchy.

This is what I won: A set of Three Nesting Table, I am just using two of them in the living room, the height is perfect with my little French chair. Yes, that is the chair from the “Ugly Chair Parade.” I want to recover it before Oct. We have family coming in to town, I don’t want to scare them off.–Cheers, Amy

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality is having a party!