Lemons or Lemonade

A few months ago our sons reported that "something strange" was happening to the wall behind their toilet. I sent hubby downstairs to investigate. He discovered what can only be described as "blisters" on the walls, and being the manly man that he is, he popped one and found that it was full of water. Blistered, sagging walls meant only one thing, we had a leaky pipe somewhere above or behind that wall. Fortunately we found the leak without having to tear out the entire bathroom. The leak was repaired and we treated the ceiling and walls with a mold blaster and then we waited and waited and waited. Would the repair hold? Would we find another leak? How were we going to repair the ceiling to match the existing texture? Would we have to tear the walls off down to the studs? Would we let our misfortune drag us down to the depths of depression or would we rise to the challenge and meet it with a truckload of creativity?We choose the latter.

We covered the hole in the ceiling with inexpensive tongue and groove paneling.The original plan was to cover the damaged walls with strips of plywood, but when we found subflooring for two dollars a sheet we went with plan B.Sure it resembles a sauna right now, but wait until you see it with a few coats of paint.

A Rocky Before

I came across a photo of what our fireplace looked like when we moved into our home. How's this for a "before" photo.Yes, we had our own rock climbing wall. Our boys loved climbing those rocks! However, they weren't too fond of having to pull the rocks off the wall and haul them into our yard when I decided to remodel the fireplace. But thanks to my hubby and sons hard work, we have an "after" to be proud of.Joy @ JOYSOFHOME

Garden Architecture

Ever since we moved into our home, we've been adding architectural elements to give it more style and character. We've been doing the same with our yard and garden. We've bought and built simple structures to add character and height. They look beautiful from spring to fall surrounded by blooming vines and bushes. During the winter months when the yard and gardens are so gray and barren the structures give a charming visual interest and stand as a monuments to natures life and beauty.
A few years back we built this rose arbor using doors.Then we added this trellis and door that leads into our vegetable garden.Recently we used scrap wood, found next to a dumpster, to build two seven foot tall obelisks. Once we figured out how to cut those pointed tops (thank you internet), they were a fairly easy build.
Son #3 painted them with a mis-tint exterior paint.We placed them in our vegetable garden. They serve as tall, fancy tomato cages. There's only one problem---I want at least three more of these beauties!
Joy @ JOYSOFHOME

Linked to ASPTL DIY Day

Does It Make You Smile

I recently changed out the accessories in my bathroom. A while back I had placed a weathered blue lantern on the counter with a candle and a pencil starfish inside. It was simpe, beautiful and beachy.But I found myself looking at it and thinking, "Blaaaahh." Maybe it was because, with the kids going back to school, I'm not in a beachy mood. Maybe it was that it had been sitting there long enough that I had begun to look at it as clutter instead of beauty. Or maybe it just didn't have enough layers as I find myself being drawn to in my accessorizing these days. Whatever the reason, it no longer made me smile. So it was time for a little change.
I pulled together a collection of white soap dishes, added in some wonderfully smelling decorative soaps, fake pearls, faucet knobs and a delightfully fragrent candle. Then I placed them a top an old china platter, layered on a tarnished silver tray.

Now that makes me smile.What about you? Do you have accessories that you feel Blah about? If so it's time to make a change. Rearrange items, pull things from other rooms, give them a new coat of paint, or live without any accessories in that spot for a while. Whatever it takes,
give yourself another opportunity to
smile about your home.

Unfortunately Fortunate

We had a busy weekend, unfortunately it did not include working on our current home improvement project. But fortunately, I did manage to get a little thrift shopping in (I can always manage to squeeze thrifting into a busy schedule).
Here are some of my finds from last week:
Two framed botanicals for two dollars each. The frames need a little care but I love how large and beautiful they are.A four dollar, perfectly primed and ready to paint, plant stand. Isn't it gorgeous? Can't you just see it topped with a luscious fern, or for fall, a large pumpkin with autumn leaves draping down.And last the best of all the game, this Honey-I'm-not-sure-where-we'll-put-it-but-how-could-I-pass-up-this-gorgeous-Ralph-Lauren-twenty-five-dollar-sofa.Actually I'm thinking of cleaning out an area of our unfinished basement for a "reading room". Being the only female in a house with a hubby who likes talk tv and three sons who love guitar hero, I need

a pretty, little quiet place of my own.

Linked to Southern Hospitality

A Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek

at what's been keeping us busy.And this is how those
two dollar a sheet pieces are being used.

Corbel Love Two

After living with these little cuties for a few days, I decide to give my giant corbels a makeover.I treated them to a few coats of white spray paint and a little hand scraping with the paint scraper.
I think I'm going to give this whole wall a bit of a makeover. I'll be gathering up the supplies----right after I finish a few of the other projects I'm working on.

Corbel Love

I have already declared my love of corbels, so you won't be surprised to know that when I saw these cuties on the bottom shelf at the thrift store I had to restrain myself from running full speed to swoop them up.
Once home, I searched until I found the perfect place for them. Don't they look right at home nestled up in the corners of the ingress between our family room and kitchen?Joy

It Makes Me Giddy

Okay, I already know that you're going to laugh at this one. Last Friday hubby and I went out on our date. We had to run an errand to his business. Because of my inquisitive mind and my always burning desire to find treasures, within minutes we found ourselves trolling dumpsters in the area. Oh there were some goodies to be found. Yep, I truly get giddy when I discover a good dumpster find!
The night actually got even better! We ran to the home improvement store to pick up some wood for a project. We walked by the cull bin and found all the wood we needed, and more, and it was marked down to $2.01 a piece. We ended up with a truck full of supplies for just over thirty dollars! It wasn't the type of wood I initially had in mind but who can pass up a bargain like that?!?

Oh what fun we had! Look at what we came home with.A truck full of all sorts of wood.

Yes, those are shutters under there---two small and one tall one (not pictured).

The top to an air condition unit.

I think that it will make a great wall hanging in one of my son's rooms (the label will be peeled off and replaced with a monogram).

I'm sure this is not everyone's idea of a
great date night,
but it was a highlight for us!

Suggestions, Inspiration and Motivation

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions and comments of empathy yesterday. You are all so sweet and wonderful! I appreciate you! You are the reason that I continue to blog. I am constantly humbled by the fact that you take the time to visit me. Thank you for your kindness! Hopefully we'll have the situation resolved soon. If you are interested in protecting your blogs, go to yesterday's comments and read the important info that "Parkwood Cottage" and "The Swords" shared.
Well, on to other things. This week I've been busying myself with things that aren't all that fun to post about---laundry, cleaning, weeding, sorting through my inventory/storage room and sending things to the thrift store. I think I even broke a personal record by not even spray painting a single item this week. Shocking, I know. I do have a few projects in the works though. But in the meantime, I didn't want to leave you for the weekend without something fun. So I pulled photos of my mantle and shelf decorations---just in case you're planning a mantle or shelf make-over and need a little inspiration &/or motivation.

Moss balls in milk glass vasesBotanicals, topiaries, and a cut-glass windowBirdhouse, books, flowers and finials
Mirrors, mercury glass, nests, candles and
apothecary jars filled with flowers and ferns Old ceiling tin, ferns, and botanical prints And since our weather is supposed to drop
down to the 70's, I thought I'd tease you
with a little Fall decor.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Joy @ Joys of Home

THEFT WARNING

Rhoda from Southern Hospitality emailed me to tell me that another "blog" has been using my posts. They are posting each post in it's entirety. I am not the only blogger that is having their posts hi-jacked.
At first I wanted to believe that it may be someone's inspiration blog. But every one of my posts have been posted there which leads me to believe that it's not just for inspiration. I have left several comments on this "blog" asking them to contact me but I have not heard a word. Needless to say, I feel frustrated and violated. I notified one of the other bloggers whose work I recognize. We are trying to stop this blatant attempt at stealing our work. It is simply not ethical! We are both posting warnings. Interestingly enough, her warning post has even been stolen and put on this "blog."
We are working to correct whatever it is that is going on, but in the meantime, as my fellow blogger said we "want to warn fellow bloggers to make sure that you follow up on blogs that are linking to you, and where your traffic is coming from. And if you happen upon a post that looks suspiciously familiar, please let that blogger know. We need to watch out for one another! We pour our hearts into our blogs, and for heavens sake, we need to give credit where credit is due."

In an effort to stop this blog theft, I'm signing this post and linking to my blog.
JOY at
Joys of Home

Change Is Constant

I love my living room couch. It's long and deep and comfy. A perfect couch for napping on. It originally came with a lot of pillows that looked like this: Because it's such a deep couch the pillows actually stay in place and don't end up on the floor. Because it's such a pretty shade of chocolate brown almost any color looks great with it. Perhaps that's why I enjoy changing out the pillows so often. It's a small change that can transform the feel of the entire room. Pillows can be very pricey, that's why I'm constantly on the look out at thrift stores and on clearance racks. I also use pillow covers to change my existing pillows. I've purchased covers at the thrift store and the dollar store.
Look here for a great tutorial on how to make pillow covers.When decorating with pillows I like to combine similar colors or tones and I find that I really like it when I can mix in a lot of pattern and texture. Do you like to change out your pillows too?

The Perfect Day

In almost a year and a half of blogging I have shared several DIY projects, lots of thrift store goodies, and numerous photos of the decor in my home. So that might lead you to believe that a perfect day for me would be when I've made something wonderful, or purchased an awesome thrift store find, or have my home or yard decorated to perfection.

But that's not the case.

An example of my idea of a perfect day happened last weekend. Son #2 got a wild idea to jump on a motorcycle and ride it in our backyard. Within seconds son #3 was on another motorcycle and both were circling the yard making a large figure eight track while #4 son ran around shooting them both with a nerf gun. Of course, I grabbed the movie camera to document the fun. No, I wasn't concerned that their antics would ruin my beautiful yard. As my hubby has said for years, "We're raising sons, not grass."
So you see, although I post a lot of pretty things on this blog, those really aren't the things that matter most to me. I make my home and yard pretty for one purpose only, so that my family will have beautiful places to make wonderful lifetime memories.

Thrifty Family Room Finds

I picked up a couple of goodies at the thrift store that look great in my family room. The first is this clock that I paid one whole dollar for. I placed it in a thrifted tray on the door sofa table. Now hubby knows the time and where to find the remote.
I also found this wool rug for ten dollars. It's in great shape and the colors and bold pattern are perfect in the family room. And yes, I put a rug, on top of a rug, on top of my painted floor. I'm sure that some people would cringe, but hey, it's my home and I can choose to not listen to "some people."

To see other blogger's great finds,
go to Southern Hospitality

Change Is Good

Last year I bought this darling birdhouse---at a real store, not the thrift store.
Yes, I occasionally do that.

It looked wonderful on my mantle decorated like this:When the holidays came, I put it into my "inventory room" (hubby's term for our messy storage room).
I recently pulled it out of storage and once again placed it on my mantle. It's the same birdhouse, I didn't alter it a bit, but I did alter how I decorated around it.Do you change the way you decorate or does everything stay the same? If you're a "stay the same" decorator, why not pick one little area of your home to change up this weekend. I'm not telling you to go out and buy a bunch of things. No, not at all. Everything on my mantle was pulled from what I already had.

Come on, try it!

Take things from one room and put them in another. Pull together a whole new vignette using your same old stuff in a new way.

It's fun! It's challenging! It's rewarding!

Change is good
for you and your home!