Come on in!

I have a little saying that goes, "If you're coming over to see me, come ahead. If you're coming to see my house, call first." I NEVER ask for tours of someones home when we visit. What a weird assumption to make, that just because they're inviting you over means you get to see every nook and cranny of their house. I don't know about you but when I'm entertaining, stuff gets stashed and hidden until I can deal with it later so the last thing I need are people peeking behind closed doors! And, yes, I'm the type that has to resist the urge to pull back shower curtains or "accidentally" wander into the wrong room in my search for the bathroom. I'm always curious about how other people live--but I'm not that bad. And when they offer a tour, I'm thrilled!

So, yes, this is our home's "So glad you called before you came over! Would you like the tour??" version. No, it doesn't always look like this. My kitchen is picture-perfect (which still leave much to be desired), oh...maybe three days out of the year?? The rest of the house looks about 10% worse most of the time and about 50% worse on weekends!!

ANYway, this is our home. Many of you have never come for a visit (and if you live locally, there's no excuse for that so get on over here!) so this is as close as it gets to "the big tour." Enjoy.

Here's our home--TODAY!! Yes, it's later afternoon so the sun glares. It felt like that, too. Yes, it's in a master planned community where every house looks the same. BUT, our elevation boasts a bigger and higher porch. So, HA!



This is our front porch, decorated for spring. The door bucket is secured to the door now so the flowers just change seasonally.



The front room is a "sitting room" or "living room" but we love it because it has a pass-through to the dining area, so it's not as useless as many. I call it the "Morning Room" because the sun comes up in the front window and I love sitting in there having my devotional time with a cup of coffee in the morning. Here's my favorite chair for doing just that, except in an evening glow. The lamp was a clearance find at Home Depot. I discovered the chair in Globe, AZ (where Drew and I met) and it became my birthday gift several years ago.



Here's the main wall. When we toured this house, I imagined a green wall with a black desk and discovered the desk in a little shop not long afterward. My dad painted and hung the shelf. This area is always evolving but this is a pretty good representation. That's eight of my tea cup collection on the white rack, which is now some 30 strong. I love it when a friend comes over and chooses a cup for her tea! I found that in Prescott, AZ Oct. '06 and finally got it a year later when we went back! The curio holds my favorite figurines and collectibles, many from mine and Drew's courtship and wedding, plus from my short teaching career.



This is the room now. My new "Live well, laugh often, love much" artwork above the desk.



This is the other side of the room, looking toward the front door. The red chaise is Sarah's. We enjoy coming in from the heat and fainting on it occasionally. The hope chest was my great-grandmother's. My grandfather refinished it and presented it to me for my 18th birthday. It holds more of my tea cups and other seldom-used, fragile items.



The bookcase holds my often-referred-to books and my home-based business supplies, among other things.



I added these kitchen shots much later, but here ya go. Here's from the hall.



And from the dining area entrance.



The side view. That's the new artwork I made there on the wall by the office doors!



And my little tea shelf. I got the shelf--already "shabby chic black"--for maybe $10?? Awesome! I keep my fancy-shmancy sugar and creamer set that matches my wedding china, plus my most special tea paraphernalia and my favorite tea towels. And my Willow Tree collection! I love it.



I did take pics of above my cabinets recently. They're always changing. This is my favorite right now, my new coffee vignette above the pantry.



This is my dining room table the day it was delivered. There's even still Styrofoam on the floor!! I can't believe I don't have any good pictures of it set and prettified! But this gives you an idea. YES, the table is dark wood (that matches the kitchen cabinets) and GREEN! My sister-in-law found it and my hubby surprised me with it for Valentine's Day this year! It's "counter-top height" or also called a "gathering table." It came with EIGHT chairs!! I adore it.



I love the lazy Susan that came with it, and my goodies to make meals easier.

Here's the sideboard in the dining area. This is probably my all-time favorite piece of furniture. Our home was all sage and paprika--and Drew brought THIS home. I fell in love with it quickly and figured out ways to incorporate the color in other places. Now I adore it and it really comes in handy for buffet meals. That's why it's sporting the tiered plate stand (holding our wedding china, "Sarah's Garden") and the silverware caddy.



Here's the family room in back. Notice the toys next to the TV cabinet?? Mine is a kid-friendly home where kids can come be comfortable and always find a toy to play with.



Alongside the family room sits the den (a.k.a. "Drew's office"). This is my desk in the den . We often work at our desks back to back, just keeping each other company while we work.



Here's our master bedroom. Drew surprised me with the blue "canopy" last week. Our walls are "silver sage" from Restoration Hardware. The bathroom is a slightly bluer version, which creates a serene feel. The blues and greens remind me of the beach.



Here's another angle. The canopy is quite romantic, don'tcha think?? Fit for a princess!



Here's our dresser, topped with all of my goodies. It's the only place I have for my fancy-shmancy stuff like crystal, gold framed photos and fragile collectibles. I like looking at them.



And here's the other side, next to the door leading onto the back patio. The table used to be my nightstand. I loooove it. Usually, there's ironing paraphanalia on it, too.



This is the sunken tub in the master bath. My Friday night treat. This is the only part of the bathroom worth seeing. It's a very "practical" space!



On to Andrew's room. I re-did it, with the help of my grandmother's good shopp
ing karma, back in February '07. We re-painted it to what I consider the perfect shade of "big boy blue" then found the transportation decals at Target and totally lucked out with the bedding there, too, for $15 in the end-of-aisle super-duper clearance section. The rug and the red bins and curtains came from Wal-Mart. I love how it came together.







This is the laundry room at the end of the hall, connecting to the garage. See the washboard hanging on the wall in the background? That's about as exciting as it gets in there.


Guest bathroom. I wanted it to be soothing and spa-like. The only colors are aqua and green. It was inspired by the Amy Butler "blue temple garland" fabric on the hand towels. I fell in love with it and had the towels made, then accessorized accordingly. A lot of it, I already had--I really love aqua and green!!







And this is outside of our house, at the park one house down. Our house backs up to the canal you see straight ahead. We're the second one down. Those are the Estrella Mountains you see (and Andrew).



Here's the other side.



And that concludes the tour--I hope you enjoyed it!! Come again soon!