Christmas arrives!

Finally! We found some time to put up the Christmas decorations. I took a picture of our ornaments. I'm a little ornament crazy, and the only requirement---they can't be usual or normal. Of course, there are a few traditional pieces and some sentimental ones, but on the whole---they must be a bit interesting!
Tree decorated---at night, in the dark. This isn't the best picture, but you get the idea!
Here's the piece in our living room with the nativity.
And, a more up close shot of the nativity. My wonderful friends (Leslie, Keri, and Rachel) gave me the creche and Holy family as a wedding gift. Since, Grandmother and Mom have helped to add the wisemen, shepherds, and quite a few animals.

The nature outside

It's very difficult to tell, but this pile ended up being almost 5 feet tall and it ran the length of our front yard. Talk about a dream when I was a kid---jumping in a pile this big! We have a truck that comes by about once a week and sucks up all of the leaves in people's yards. You just have to get them to the street. Nice service. Brooke spent the ENTIRE day doing this!
I came home from work last week and this big bird was perched on a tree in our backyard. I believe it's a hawk. He was huge.

Accessories

Most people that know me know if I could be anything in the world, I would be a decorator/party planner/entertaining specialist. But, for now, I need a salaried job! So, because I'm obsessed with accesories, I thought I'd show some of my latest finds on the blog. Above is a clock that I bought months ago before we dreamed up the idea for the kitchen. Got it at my new favorite Chattanooga shop, Sophie's. Sophie's hasn't yet replaced Isabel's, but it's a Chattanooga version of Isabel's and definitely has some great items. Now I must say that I'm pretty proud of the find because it matches the kitchen perfectly---warm with the wood tone background, cool with the stainless frame and hands. I think we'll find a place in the kitchen that it'll fit perfectly.
LOVE this! Feathered placemats/chargers. I actually did find this at Isabel's (my favortite Macon shop) last year. But, I haven't had the chance to use them, so they're still "new" to me. Great colors, great look. Will be perfect each fall, Thanksgiving, and even into winter.
I found this at the Galleries at Southside in Chattanooga. Modern, yet traditional. It'll probably end up in our dining room with the black and white theme. It was only $20. I think that's a find!
This table runner came from the Signal Mountain Nursery. For those that have never been---when you come visit Brooke and I---we must go. The nursery has amazing plants, but also a fabulous gifts and accessories section. The trim on this is actually tree bark and then the inner section is dried leaves. Again, I love mixing the "natural" look in with the upscale and formal look. This will be great wherever it decides to land.

Crown moulding and Grout!

Brooke worked hard yesterday to get the baseboards and crown moulding down.
Just needs to be painted now. But, I think it looks pretty darn good!
Finally---the framed out doorway between the kitchen and living room. Love Boone's addition to the picture! You can see we still have to put up wall on the left side to finish off that "nook." Kitchen is getting VERY close to completetion...minus the accessories...I've got some work to do on that.
Here's an up close pic of the finished grout. The tiles turned out like we'd hoped!
Brooke bought some unfinished oak board to do the transition between the living room and kitchen. It fits perfectly and I think it'll be hard to tell there was ever a big wall between the two rooms once we're done!

Time to Tile...

Brooke fits the first few pieces of tile...
And moving along...
Over the sink. It's white subway tile (if you couldn't see by the pictures!). We debated about the grout color. But, in the end, I think we're going to grout it in white. Brooke says the un-grouted version (or probably what it would like like if we grouted it in grey) looks like it might if we lived in an asylum. Of course, he quickly followed that up by saying he sometimes feels like we do! :)
We bought under-counter lighting. Brooke found a way to somehow get this up through the cabinets.
Here's a pic with all of the undercounter lighting on. The cords still have to be tacked up, but otherwise you get the picture. Starting to look a bit more together!

New Fabric choices...

Alright, here are some new fabric choices. I'm thinking of doing the striped on a cornice on the window over the sink, then doing some scalloping in one of the floral prints below that and the checked fabric as the edging. I'll also probably do our monogram in red and chocolate brown on the cornice to tie in with my red accessories (since everything I own in kitchen accessories is red!). Something similar on the window in the breakfast nook, but with longer drapes in there in one of the florals. We'll see when and if those ideas come to fruition!

Better Blue

A view with the oven now in and knobs and pulls on the cabinets. I can cook!!
Larger view---the dishwasher isn't yet hooked up---waiting for the cabinet guy to install the clips, otherwise, all major appliances are working! I have a few necessities out on the countertops, but not near all. Coffee maker being necessity #1! We still have to tile the blacksplash. We'll probably get going on that this weekend. We're going to do white subway tile.
And, another view---the flash was a bit too bright to show the new blue walls, but they are much better than the green. I'll have to post the new fabrics I'm thinking of...
Palladian blue. I like it!