Four Ways to Celebrate the Fourth of July

Being an almost-Fourth of July baby I have a real fondness for this holiday.  Of course, it's a great time to think about our great nation and be patriotic, but for me it's the beginning of a two-day celebratory extravaganza!

Here are my top four ways to celebrate the Fourth:

1) Sparklers!

The Fourth of July is just not complete without sparklers.  Yes, they are the baby toy of the fireworks stand, but they're minor enough that you can light them just about anywhere and not get into too much trouble.  (Not that I've ever been visited by the fire marshal or anything...)

2) Deck out the porch.

If you've followed this blog for the last year you've seen pictures of our Victorian-style house.  It has a wraparound porch that just begs to be decorated for the Fourth of July and Christmas.  I guessed how many swags to buy last year but it wasn't quite the right amount so I went back to the craft store after the holiday and bought a few more at a really good price.  Not pictured are big patriotic pinwheels lining the sidewalk, which I think add a nice, whimsical touch.

3) Go nuts with the red, white, and blue foods.

It's time to make kabobs of strawberries, bananas, and blueberries!  You could also make a flag cake using fruits or candies.  However, as pretty as a blue velvet cake looks and sounds, no human should ingest that much blue food dye.  Trust me on this one--my friends will never let me live that year down.

4) Scope out a good spot for the fireworks show.

Nowadays we party at a friend's house that overlooks a neighborhood pond and there's a great, unobstructed view of some nearby fireworks.  (My neighborhood is hilly with tons of trees--not so good for viewing fireworks.)  I'm the type who wants to get as close to the action as I can.  My earliest fireworks memories are of sitting and eating a snowcone on top of the family car in the parking lot where they were setting off the city fireworks and watching the remnants fall all around us.  As it should be.

How will you celebrate this year?

Adi

Victorian Home Tour: Around the "Garden"

We haven't really gotten to the yard yet.  We mow it (usually...most of it...okay, the important parts) but we're in the "tear it out" stage instead of the "plant stuff" stage.  I wanted a full year here to see what would pop up, and we've had some nice variety and color in the backyard!

Behind the garage are lots of rose bushes.  I'd heard that you need to cut them back so much it seems like you're killing them in order for them to grow and be healthy the next year.  I did, and it worked!

We also have several shades of irises coming up:  deep purple, yellow, white, lavender, and my favorite, purple and white striped!

Dingo's a big fan of the irises.  It's his hiding spot:  sitting in the middle of the flowers, under the pecan tree, waiting for hours on end for that bird or squirrel to fall out of the tree and into his mouth!

Adi

Victorian Home Tour: Laundry Room, Supply Closet, and Half Bath

Welcome to the laundry room!

It used to look like this

Not anymore!  We traded the old refrigerator that came with the house for painting this room and one other.

Then, we added our own spin on it:  my sweet husband added a drying rack for me (my parents had gotten me an expandable clothes hook for my tall closet, which works great for this!), and then we added the bubble decals around the room!

Since we have a full size fridge and freezer in the kitchen there is no need to put another one here, although it is a nice setup for one.  Instead, this became the dog area, where we store their leashes, toys, and food & water.

The supply closet is actually a water heater closet that was suddenly opened up when we switched out the old heater for a tankless one.  Now, we have room for our cleaning supplies, vacuum, ironing board, and a ladder!

 The half bath was already cool because it has a pocket door--you know, the kind that slides into the wall?  It just needed some help.

Before:

The dizzying print on the wallpaper needed to go, and we thought we could do better than the existing light fixture.  I also had other ideas for the mirror.  One thing that had to stay:  that pedestal sink!  This was the perfect place to go all-out Victorian.

The light blue is nice for a little bathroom.  We changed the light fixture to something really frilly and more Victorian.  I also repainted a brass mirror that belonged to my great-grandparents so I love it twice as much for that reason.

One of the things I loved about the house was the big swan on the master bathtub.  So, one time when I had to go out of town for work, my sweet husband surprised me by installing another swan fixture!  This one has little swan handles, too!

This house is coming together!

Adi

Victorian Home Tour: Kitchen and Breakfast Nook

The kitchen may just be my favorite part of the house.  It makes me smile every time I walk into the room.  You know, it IS my favorite part of the house.

We put in a giant fridge and freezer (my husband was inspired by the one in the X Men movie) that actually turned out to be more affordable than we thought!

Custom recessed lighting:

Moroccan tile backsplash:

Painted cabinets:

My husband designed the transition for tiles (I liked that it it mimicked the diagonal layout of the tiles).

It wasn't always this pretty, though.

It was rather cave-like.

The tile was cracked in places and, well, just not pretty.

Is that wallpaper on the light fixture?  And what is this, grocery store florescent lighting?

Oh goody, wallpaper with coordinating border.

THEY PUT A MASSIVE FAKE-GRANITE STICKER OVER ALL OF THE COUNTERTOPS?!

It. Had. To. Go.  All of it.
(except the cabinets--the beadboard fronts were so neat!)

After I took down the wallpaper the contractor came in and primed and textured the walls.  It looks a little ghostly but it's all part of the process.

You can see the cabinets over the fridge area were removed?  We ripped out the built in desk area that was there so we could make room for the full size fridge and freezer set.  Our contractor rebuilt the cabinets there so they wouldn't come down into a desk area anymore--they would now go straight across the tops of the fridge and freezer.

Accidents happen, especially when you stand on the island.  Not to worry--they rebuilt it better and stronger than ever!

Instead of coming down and using florescent bulbs, the light fixture would now feature four LED recessed can lights bordered with crown molding.

The black and white checkered floor that I'd wanted since I was a kid!  I wanted the kind I remembered in my great-grandmother's house.  (It turns out hers was brown and white, but in my memory it was black and white!)  It was tough to find true black and white and was a bit of a splurge, but it completes my dream kitchen!

The attached breakfast nook needed an overhaul, too.

Here are my before and after pictures from when I attacked the wallpaper!

The contractor prepped the walls...

And this is the end result!  Eventually I'll add mint green accents throughout the kitchen and dining room but I'm in no hurry--I want them to be things I find as I travel or score in antique stores.  The Sputnik light came from Lowe's (so much more affordable than the designer ones and it has just as much impact!).  The diner set came from Craigslist and fits the room perfectly.

 I hope you enjoyed the tour of my favorite part of the house!  It's the fifties kitchen of my dreams!

Adi

Fried Chicken on China: our Easter tradition

My family's Easter tradition involves fried chicken and Easter egg hunts.  When I was younger we had big family get-togethers at my great-aunt's house, but later this turned into a picnic in the park.  We'd all bring our favorite sides and desserts and, of course, fried chicken!  (There was a Chicken Express conveniently located just outside the park.)  When all of the kids had grown too old for egg hunts this kind of fell apart, so now we usually host our side of the family at our house.  This year my grandmother wanted to have fried chicken from the place we used to get it and she also asked (jokingly) if we were going to have an egg hunt.  Well, we had both.

We have a six person formal dining table and a four person breakfast table...and eight people coming to lunch.  At 11:40am, 20 minutes before our lunch was supposed to start, my husband decided to move all of the furniture in our great room and bring in the tables and chairs from the two eating areas.  While I admit it worked in the end, the timing was not what I had in mind!

After a lunch of chicken, casseroles, and carrot-raisin salad, we had the indoor egg hunt:  22 eggs plus one prize egg!  

Everyone got in on the hunt.

Dingo's always ready to help, especially if there's food involved.

My grandmother spotted a whole bowl of eggs (the chocolate kind).

Is there something down there?

She's on a roll!

I guess she found so many she needed something to hold them all!

The definition of "egg" quickly became expanded.

The winning team (I think it's because he was the tallest so he could reach the high stuff!):

Mom played the Easter bunny:

Here are a few other Easter decor pics from around the house:

DIY egg garland (string cheap plastic eggs on some yarn)

Easter mantle:

More egg garland:

Pretty spring flowers:

Happy Easter!

Adi