Foyer decorating

I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I've been determined to get some decorating done around this house.  4 1/2 years with blank walls has really been getting on my nerves.  However, there have been a few reasons why several of my walls aren't decorated:

1. Money.  This is the BIGGEST reason things don't get done around here.  Home ownership is expensive.  I don't know about you, but I would much rather stay in my home, enjoying my air conditioning, looking at my blank walls, than having all the things to go on my walls, but having no house to put them in.  I would love to just go out and buy new furniture and tons of things to decorate with, but we just can't afford to do that.  I'm OK with that, too!  It's going to take time, but it will eventually be semi-done. (Because really, are you ever actually finished decorating?)
2. I'm a slacker.  I may actually have all the things to finish a project, I just don't take the time or make the effort to finish it.  I seriously envy all the people out there who can just "get it done" in a matter of hours.  My brain isn't wired that way.  Things will {probably} get finished, but on a much slower timeline.
3. I'm not great with coming up with ideas on my own.  Whenever somebody says something about a craft or something I've made, I always tell them "I just copy really, really well."  And that's the truth.  Once I see something I love, I know that's what I want to do, and I do it.  But I usually don't come up with it on my own.  For instance, I knew I wanted a cute and colorful wreath for my front door, but didn't know what kind of wreath I wanted.  Then I saw this photo:

From She's {Kinda} Crafty

I KNEW I had to either buy or make this wreath!  I recognized the ribbon was from Hobby Lobby, so I decided to try making it on my own:

I did manage to make it, and every single dime she charges is TOTALLY worth it!  It took a ton more ribbon than I expected, and it took a lot of time to finish it, but I did it and I LOVE it!

So that's a little (OK, a LOT) view of how things work around here.

Friday, I showed y'all the monogrammed ceiling tile I made:

I saw it on Pinterest, and two hours later, it was done and on the wall.  I just knew I wanted it, and happened to have all the materials available to finish it.

My next weekend project hasn't been completed as quickly.

Several months ago, I saw this picture and literally flipped out:

From Here

The home in this blog, Down to Earth Style, has INCREDIBLE decor.  I seriously love every, single room!

My foyer and my door are different than her's, but I still loved the look and wanted to try to "copy" it.  I've spent months looking for similar hangers at affordable prices.  I'm sure her's are antiques, but I had to settle for what I could find around here.  After a lot of trial and error, here's what I came up with:

The door will be painted black once it's not a bajillion degrees outside.  I want to try my hand at the board and batton, but just don't want to start yet another time consuming project until other things are finished.  I also want to add something above the door, but haven't found the perfect thing, yet.  It's not perfect, or exact, but I really do love it!

I have many other projects I'm dying to finish (like the kitchen), so hopefully while I'm staying inside during this heat, I will be able to get some of it done!

I hope you all have a wonderful, COOL Fourth of July week!

I just HAD to open my BIG, FAT mouth!

Well, as I told you on Monday, our rock for our fireplace/vent hood/foundation was delivered on Monday.  Because of various reasons (waiting on keystone, work, rain), we (Hubby) just starting playing around with the rock today.

He laid out several pieces so we could get a feel of how everything would look.

It looked good, but for some reason, we were having a hard time getting it to look like my "inspiration photo".

Well, then I had to go and open my big mouth and say, "Well, the reason we don't have as much room as in the inspiration photo is because the rock on that fireplace goes all the way down to the edges of the fireplace opening. We've got all this black metal that we are trying to work around."

Well, hubby comes up with an idea to fix it.

He first decides to try to just take the face off the firebox.....

After about an hour, unscrewing about 1000 screws, and jerking the thing to pieces, it didn't work.

 

The face is somehow permanently attached to the firebox.

PERFECT....GRRRRRR!

Then he makes the decision to just slide the entire box back by 1/2", so the concrete backer board will just sit flush over the face of the firebox.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Well, to do that entails removing ALL of the surrounding concrete backerboard, AND cutting away the studs that are holding the firebox in place.

So as of right now, this is what our fireplace wall looks like....

All I wanted was some rock on my wall......

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If you want to keep up with all the drama as it's happening....look over at the right-hand side of this page and read my Tweets....or better yet, click the link over there to follow me on Twitter!

It's sure to be an interesting few months weeks!

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Is it wrong for a grown woman to be THIS excited about ROCK?

No, I don't me "Rock" as in "Rock and Roll", I mean "Rock" as in the kind of hard thing you find outside in the yard.

Three-and-a-half years ago, when we were planning this house, our plans ALWAYS centered on the use of rock.  Specifically, we wanted a stacked stone fireplace, foundation, and as an element above the vent hood in the kitchen.

We poured over photos, magazines, websites, and brochures; drove around new neighborhoods, and visited numerous vendors just looking for the "perfect" rock.

No matter how much we looked, we always came back to one type of stone....

El Dorado Bodega Bluffstone

We centered all of our color and design decisions around this particular stone.

There was one problem, however....

The price.

El Dorado is expensive.....very expensive....

And as we got to the end of the building process, and the end of our budget....

We just couldn't afford it.

There were other, less expensive brands out there, but Hubby was adamant that if we couldn't get exactly what we wanted, we would wait.

So here it is, two years later.....still no rock.

I've gotten pretty used to looking at my concrete backer board wall that holds our television and fireplace...

And gotten used to my concrete block foundation and steps....

And I've attempted to get used to the open frame above the vent hood....but it's just so darn UGLY!

(Hubby didn't want to put the concrete backer board up yet because he didn't want to risk getting grease residue on it.)

But after two years, I am ready to live in a FINISHED house!

(Actually after 22 years, I'm ready to live in a finished house..... Remember, "slacker mama" married a "slacker daddy"....)

I am also ready to have a mantel to decorate!

Well, this weekend, part of our dreams came true....

We were able to FINALLY order our rock!

Not only were we able to order rock, we were able to order El Dorado Bodega Bluffstone!

And the BEST part....it was ON SALE for CHEAPER than the "other" brands!

WOOO HOOO!

They delivered it this morning, and hubby and I are about to bust a gut because we are so excited!

 

 

We are also very fortunate that one of our friends just finished building a house and had eleven boxes of another brand of rock left over, and sold it to us for a really great price. 

THANKS MORGAN AND ADAM!

When we put the two brands side-by-side, they match perfectly!

 

We may have enough rock between the two, to finish the inside AND the outside of the house!

Marty is so raring to get started putting it up, he almost took a week of vacation....

But the keystone isn't in yet, so we were going to have to wait a few more days anyway.

However, it looks like hubby will be starting on Friday!

We know it's going to take a LONG time to get it finished, but any progress is better than no progress!

Hopefully, I will have some great finished pictures soon!

Santa left a little something else....

Well, I don't guess this gift is "technically" from Santa.....we've had it for years and years, but Hubby decided that he just HAD to be hung on Christmas Eve.

Never mind that he's just been laying around, on top of an amoire, for the past TWO years.

We were having company over on Christmas Eve, one of which was a guy who liked to hunt too, so of course, the trophy buck had to be on display.

**ahem**

After much fussing and banging, he was finally up. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind a big, ugly deer head being on my wall. I am just pretending that I am going for the whole "Ralph Lauren" look.

BUT, is it just me, or does something look OFF?

Like maybe a foot or two off?

Yeah, that's what I thought...