The Gentrys: August 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Sewing!

I have been trying to be economical with my decorating...especially lately because the beautiful rug we bought used up most of the "pad" in our checking account! A few months ago, I bought some beautiful fabric (when Hancocks was having one of their big sales) to make curtains for the dining room. I've been hesitant to start them because I felt like I needed a little practice before I started cutting up this nice fabric so I borrowed my mother in laws sewing machine and made a table runner, hemmed some pants etc...just to get comfortable with sewing. When I told my sweet grandmother what I was doing, she decided I needed to have my own sewing machine! She found a man in Vicksburg (where she lives) that repairs old machines and bought a wonderful old Singer.

It sews better than any machine I've ever seen and I absolutely love it! My grandmother believes that the old machines are the best ones and after sewing on it for a week, I completely agree! I was still a little nervous about sewing on the nice material so I found some pretty fabric at Walmart the other day for $1 a yard and bought enough to make 6 panels for our kitchen bay window. I've been working on them as I've had time this week and finally finished last night. I don't have a window to hang them on at the apartment, but I'll post them once I hang them at the house...it may be a little while :( Now on to the next project!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

finally finished this project!

A few months back, we posted a picture of the chest that we salvaged from my great grandmothers basement. The doors were pretty warped from being down there so long and it was really in bad shape.

We stripped the veneer off and removed the doors and started staining. Some kind of oil had been spilled on the top that changed the color of the wood in several places. It took several coats of stain to try to even it out.

This is how it looked after we were finished staining (actually it looks a lot better in this picture than it actually did in person - we had to apply so many coats of the stain over the top to cover the bad wood that it looked more like we had painted it brown rather than stained it...that is why I felt like I needed to paint it) - we hadn't bought any knobs or pulls for it at this point, we just had these extra ones so we could get the drawer open. I still thought it was lacking something, so I decided to paint and distress it (go figure!)

This is how it turned out! I just put some random things I had lying around on the shelves - definitely not what will go on it when we move! I am looking for a tall square basket for the larger side, either in natural or painted white.

These oversized crystal knobs are really supposed to be for laundry closets or regular sized doors, but I liked the look! I think it will probably go in the guest room. It was a fun project!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Wedding Bells Ringing in Our Family Again!

Phil and I have been keeping this a secret for about a month now and were so excited yesterday when it was finally here...

...Mary Lindsey and Chris are engaged! We were blessed that Chris wanted to involve us in the whole process leading up to the engagement and it was so much fun. I have never known anyone to stress more over making things perfect for his bride - it was so sweet! He wanted the ring he gave her to be absolutely perfect and when he couldn't find exactly what he wanted for her, he had it made especially for her. How sweet is that! And it is absolutely beautiful!

Phil and I hid in the woods while he proposed and took pictures and video taped the whole thing.

This is when Chis told ML we were in the woods.

Here are some of my favorites...

By this point it was pouring down rain...but ML said it was "the best rainy day ever!"

They are planning to get married in Aliceville July 11, 2009.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Easy Project

Bulletin Board from Pottery Barn

I saw this linen bulletin board in the latest Pottery Barn magazine and thought it was such a cute idea, but I couldn't help thinking how easy this would be to make. You could just buy a cheap bulletin board and cover it with any fabric you wanted. I think I may do this in the sunroom (post below) over my desk. If I go with the red/orange scheme, I'm thinking I may just buy one pillow and then buy some of the fabric by the bolt and cover a bulletin board.

Sounds simple doesn't it?

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Branching Out...

As you can probably tell from most of my posts, my decorating taste has always been a mix of classic / cottage / rustic...but not modern at all! I was flipping through my new Pottery Barn magazine yesterday and fell in love with this new pattern they have out.

It is called "Ogee" and according to Pottery Barn it "reinvents a French damask design" but they call it "modern" so it surprised me that I love it so much.

I am trying to figure out where I can use it in our house and the only room I can think of is the sunroom. This is my favorite room in the house and will be used as my office / sewing room / spare room, but we haven't decided how we are going to decorate it yet. It has one entire wall of white shelves with a cut out in the middle that is meant for a piano to fit in, but since we don't have a piano, I am going to put my desk there. We will also put our old taupe loveseat there and a black table for my sewing area. I am trying to decide how to decorate it to pull it all together and make it a cute room (and we just painted the walls cream).

We are planning to re-do the floors in brick pavers so I was initially thinking we may put our red buffet from Pottery Barn there and work with that color scheme (thus the red and orange Ogee pillows would be cute!) but the room also has large windows with views of the woods, so I had also thought about using greens (so maybe the green Ogee pillows would be better). One other thought: they sell the red/orange fabric by the yard so I could do something creative with it other than pillows...

We will probably also use this rug in that room that we bought at the PB Outlet and I am toying with using these curtains just to frame the sides of the windows...not cover any of the natural light.

I have always loved these pillows and have seen them in different colors at the outlets for like $10 each so I was thinking maybe just one of the patterned pillow and some solids...yes I know I tend to go for the solids.

Any thoughts? I know this is a totally random post of jumbled thoughts, but that is how my brain is working today!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Content...

A favorite quote (although I can't remember where it came from). I have it typed out on a piece of paper attached to my computer at work.

"I would be quiet Lord, and rest content,

By grace I would not pine, nor would I fret;

With you to guide and care, my joy be this:

Not one small need of mine will you forget."

I'm missing Phil! Lord, help me to be content where we are right now and not pine or fret!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Important - In God We Trust!

NBC is doing a poll to see if American's believe "In God We Trust" should be removed from our nation's currency. Please go to this link and vote so we can let the media know where we stand as Christians and how important it is to keep God first in our nation. This is so important as it seems that our nation is slipping further and further away from the Christian principles our country was founded upon. It is time for Christians to take a stand - even in small ways.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Meg and Colton's Wedding

This summer has been full of weddings and while they have all been fun, this one was by far the most fun for me because I got to spend time with my college girlfriends that I have missed so much! These girls are the ones I spent my four years of college with (and school years with Laura too), the ones who were in our wedding and ultimately, even though we have all moved to new places and are not as connected to each other's every day lives, the girls I know will be my lifelong friends.

My sweet Phil!

Megan and Colton's first dance as husband and wife! She looked so beautiful!

Phil and Ty breaking it down on the dance floor!

The end of such a fun night after a lot of dancing! I miss you girls! (Ty where were you in the earlier pictures before we got so sweaty dancing?)

Friends are such a blessing!

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Loving this mirror!

Check out this beautiful mirror I just found from Wisteria on "Newlywed Diaries" blog. That is just gorgeous! Wish I could add it to the wish list, but it's not quite in our price range :( Pretty to look at though!

Our Rug

I have to give a recommendation for anyone looking for Oriental rugs. The rug I found at Rugman.com that I mentioned in a previous post, was marked down again so Phil bought it for me as an early Christmas, birthday, valentines day etc... gift. We absolutely love it! They shipped it very quickly and it arrived in perfect condition. It is even more beautiful in person and the softest Oriental rug I have ever felt! Here are some pictures we took after we tried to spread it out at my in laws house.

I can't wait to see how it will look in our living room! It has all of the colors I am planning to use throughout the house and I feel like it will add so much color to the living room - for those of you who know me well - my decorating tends to have a lot of neutrals - so this is huge for me :) Love it! Thank you Phil!

Monday, August 11, 2008

One of my favorites

I was going through my day planner getting ready to switch into a new one when I found one of my favorite quotes I had copied down. It is by George MacDonald, CS Lewis's mentor.

"I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking."

Psalm 139:13-17a "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!"

Our first visit from a friend...

This weekend we took our friend Amy to see our house and experience a few firsts in the country. I remember my first trip to Phil's hometown. He taught me how to shoot all the guns, we (I use that very loosely as I was really standing back squealing) killed a large poisonous snake with an oar (and broke the oar) all while I was wearing camo that was about 5 sizes too large. It was so much fun for me to experience all these new things and we wanted Amy to have the full experience too!

We spent the morning picking up tree limbs from the yard. There was a strong storm last weekend and we had limbs down everywhere (thankfully no damage though). We made 5 or 6 large piles and then hauled them into the woods. Amy was a trooper and didn't complain about getting dirty at all!

Phil took Amy for a ride in the woods on the camo golf cart.

After we worked in the yard, the next thing on the agenda was to teach Amy how to shoot a rifle, pistol and shotgun.

I bet you've never seen anyone cross their legs while shooting a rifle!

She hit the can on her first shot!

Don't mess with Amy...she's pretty good with a rifle!

Me attempting to shoot the rifle while standing...not as successful.

Next Phil taught Amy to shoot the pistol

Sadly I can't seem to get the video of her shooting the shotgun to upload. Sorry Phil!

She also helped us paint another room, kill around 100 wasps that had decided to make their home on our porch and make decisions on flooring. We are realizing that our list of projects to turn our house into our home is growing longer and longer and it will never really be finished. Since we love projects, this is pretty exciting! We feel so blessed that the Lord has allowed us to buy our home that we plan to stay in forever so we can really put our heart into it and know that it will continue to change and grow with us.

We had a great weekend and loved having our first friend come to visit and see our house. Once we move in we hope all of our friends will want to make the trip to the country - don't worry, we won't make you work in the yard after we've moved in!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

More Dining Chair Options

Here are a few more dining chair options from brambleco.com. What do you think?

Thanks Ty for sending me the website to this company...I love them!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Ottoman Finished

I forgot to post this yesterday - here is the ottoman we had recovered to go with our club chair...they finished it this week and i love it! The fabric looks like it is dark in some places and light in others, but it really isn't...just the flash or something.

Painting with Mary Lindsey

My sweet sister-in-law has stayed with me the last few nights since Phil has been away and last night we decided to paint! Now I am no artist, by any means, but since we have no art for our house, attempting to paint half way decent pictures that we could hang up has been fun.

Here is how mine ended up when I finally decided to quit and go to bed. Phil, I need you to be here to help me touch it up!

Hope everyone has a great Thursday! The weekend is almost here!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Thankful

Phil left for his Birmingham rotation today and I am trying not to be sad! While he'll be back off an on for the next 5 weeks, it is still hard. I am so thankful for the opportunity for him to go through this rotation because it will help him learn more about independent pharmacies and the business side of running a pharmacy which will be so beneficial for his future. So this morning when I was having my prayer time, I tried to dwell on the things we are thankful for instead of being sad about him leaving.

I realized that the majority of my posts have to do with decorating / renovating our house which makes sense because that is a big part of our life right now, but it's not the most important part. While I find things for our house that I think are beautiful and would love to have, those things are not what is important. I am so thankful for all the blessings the Lord has given us. I was thinking about all these things this morning during my prayer time. Here is a short list of the things I am most thankful for:

~ That we are saved by grace through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we are assured of our salvation.

~ My wonderful husband who you all know I am pretty much obsessed with!

~ Both of our amazing families. We were both so blessed to be raised in strong Christian homes with the same values. I could not ask for a better family to have grown up with or to have married into - We love ya'll!

~ Faithful friends

~ Our home - both in Auburn and the one we hope to raise our family in

~ First Baptist Opelika - our church - where we have gone for the last 6 years and have grown so much in our faith and the friends we have made there

~ Our jobs - while I'm sure most people would prefer to be doing other things than going to work each day, I have to admit that our jobs are a blessing and the ability to work is a blessing

While there is so much more to be thankful for, I'll leave it at that for today. What are you most thankful for in your life?

Oh one more...that fall is on the way - hence the picture - it is way too hot!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Add to the Wish List...

I'm not so sure it was a good idea for us to get a house 1 1/2 years before we move...I've got the whole house pretty much decorated in my head (and sketch book) and when I see something from my wish list that is on sale or whatever, I have this urge to go ahead and get it because it's on sale now and probably won't be there 9 months from now when we move in...but Phil reminds me that that is not good logic because we don't need these things right now and have no where to put them...plus we really don't have the funds to support my decorating obsession and Phil continues to remind me that the house will not be perfect when we move in - it will be a lifetime of projects and that is fun! It's fun to dream too though :)

Here is the lamp that I am loving for our bedroom - one for each side of the bed. It is from Overstock.com and it is brushed nickle and crystal. I love the shade on this one too because it will go well with the curtains and the brushed gold mirror we found for really cheap at Ross (sorry, don't have a picture right now).

I've also seen a cheaper version of this lamp, but instead of being crystal, it is acrylic. I wonder how well that will hold up? This one below is acrylic from LampsPlus.com. It is about half the price of the first one, but the shipping is ridiculously high so once you pay that, they aren't too much cheaper than the crystal one (overstock.com's shipping is only $2.95 for your entire order!). There is also a similar acrylic one at Target, but it is only the base (no shade etc...)

Once again, here is the bedding and curtains that I love from The Chandler Collection. A friend of mine had this bedding and curtains when we were in college and I've always loved it!

So that is our bedroom! I have two side tables that are close to the same size that I am thinking I will paint white to use for the two bedside tables and we may use our red buffet

to put our TV on, but the room really isn't big enough for any more furniture - our drawers are going to go in our closets.

Any thoughts on the lamps? Is it worth a little more to get the crystal instead of acrylic?

The Gentrys