Master Bathroom

The area of the house which needed the least work, this bathroom just had the addition of some rugs and a splash of color with red towels and apothecary jars. Plus a Paris print, which ties in with the travel theme of my bedroom.



That's all of the house update for now, as I'm still working on the kitchen and master bedroom. Stay tuned for those - hopefully sooner rather than too much later!

Craft Room

Every scrapbooker/seamstress/crafty person's dream - I have a whole room dedicated to my random projects. And with the completely different color scheme of only black and white, this room was a lot of fun to put together.

Appropriately, almost everything in here was "remade" for this room; you could almost do a "redecorating on a budget" episode from this. I think the only new item purchased was the black chair from IKEA.

• Old college shelves were repainted
• Shoe shelf covered with oil cloth and set on its side for a knickknack display.
• Trunk recovered for a storage ottoman
• Table swap with my mom - same table, different finishes
• Wicker rocker from childhood was repainted with new cushions.

Sewing credit again goes to my mom on the curtains and chair cushions.

I used the color palette as an excuse to display lots of black and white pictures, mostly of my various travels with friends. In fact, I think the only picture included which is not out of town was taken at the Ballpark.

Not too surprising, I spend a considerable amount of time in here. The big table is perfect for sewing or working on crafts (the sewing machine is cleverly hidden under the box - great idea, Kathy!)
A great place to display a few souvenir type items - including the Coca-Cola bottle from the Atlanta tour, a Louisville slugger mini bat from the factory tour, and an autographed Chipper Jones baseball (last year's Christmas present from the best sister ever!)
And in case anyone is worried about my entertainment intake, the one TV in the house is also here, just not pictured. Complete with rabbit ears which are good enough for seeing the weather and the couple of shows I actually watch.

Sitting Room/Library

Without a need for a formal dining room, I have instead made the entry room into something I've always wanted: a library. Okay, maybe not really, but with most of my books in here it is as close as I will get for now.

Someone has commented about the formality of this room. Perhaps a bit, but these chairs are actually more comfortable than they look and this has become a great place to read.

While it's no Dewey decimal system, but there was quite a science behind the balance of form vs. function in the shelf organization. I won't bore you with the method of the shelving madness - just come over and borrow a book and I'll explain it then :)

Thanks to my Grandma Geneva for the beautiful floor lamp and matching decorative plate!

A Haunted Workplace

While it is no secret Halloween is a big deal at Southwest Headquarters, this year my co-workers and I got into the spooky spirit a little early with lots of decorations. For a couple of weeks, visitors to our corner of the building were ushered into a cobwebby graveyard, complete with larger than your head spiders - one of which rose and fell with the opening of the door.

For the area around my workspace, I decided to recreate The Haunted Mansion, from Disney's themeparks.

The Entry
The Inside
When I first started decorating, I was afraid all the black would be too gloomy, not to mention the huge cobweb "ceiling" - pictures really can't give full effect of having that overhead. But it made for a fun environment and always a conversation point.

Careful observers will recognize a couple of these "works of art" as reproductions from the stretching elevator.


Finding the right chandelier from which to suspend the cobweb ceiling was the pivotal task. This was the inspiration for the whole idea. Gotta love Goodwill stores!
The Graveyard
Just like the real Haunted Mansion, my outside wall is lined with tombstones. Unlike their witty epitaphs, these memorials read the names of former SWA auditors. One of my co-workers let me borrow from her collection of nameplates for all of the Employees who've left our department over the past few years. Thus the sign "Graveyard of Departed Auditors."


Alas, Halloween has passed and the spooks and spiders have gone back into hiding... at least until next Hallows' Eve!

House Catch-up 1: Living Room

The elusive camera cords have been located again, which means I can finally upload some pictures. I'll start with what has been most requested - updated house pictures. First, the Living Room.

Since most of this room's furniture I've had for quite a while, it was mostly a matter of arrangement and some details. These great valances are all Mom's work - don't they look professional?





The most substantial (a.k.a. time consuming) new addition to the room is this collage of family photos. Old family photos I should say; included are wedding photos of all of my great-grandparents and grandparents. Plus some of my parents and grandparents in their toddler to school age years.

I think my favorite is the Judah four generation one at the top middle - my dad when he was 3 or 4 with his dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather.