Around My House

We love to add pieces to our home decor from all over the place - flea markets, yard sales, boutiques, online stores, family heirlooms - we enjoy the mix. One reader asked to see more of our home, so here are a few glimpses:

This beautiful piano was actually purchased at the KARM Thrift Store! Artie just happened to stroll in there one day when they had brought in some estate items, and this was one of them. I had always wanted a baby grand, and this one matches our living room decor beautifully. We had the ivories replaced and had it tuned a couple of times. It has a great sound. The only negative about the whole piano was how difficult it was to move. The thrift store does not deliver, so we hired a crew to come help Artie move it. It took six big grown men and they still almost didn't get it in the house!

Our master bedroom is done in very pale blue with white accents. We saw this handmade birdhouse at a yard sale and I had to have it! It weighs a ton. I love all the little nooks & crannies and the whitewash finish. The little elderly man who made it was so proud to sell it to us, and he said it had become so difficult for him to work with his hands that he no longer makes them. I'm glad we happened upon it when we did.

I love love love these big flowers from Bliss Home. I originally bought them to put in a very tall vase, because they had 5' stems. However, Artie, my very imaginative decorator, cut the stems off and made this horizontal arrangement and I love it. They are actually more gray than blue, but in the blue room they take on the cast of the wall. I love the size and the color of them.

Our guest bedroom is done in a bird theme. When I saw this adorable vase at Marshall's, I couldn't believe it. The right colors AND it had birds on it. I love finding little unique pieces like this to finish off a room. We have found some amazing items at Marshall's & Ross.

I love this comforter set with the embroidered birds, but probably my favorite piece in this room is the wooden picture with the metal birds. It is so fun to find unique items that we haven't seen anywhere else, and I knew the minute we found this that it would match the bedding perfectly! Sadly, our guest room has only been used twice in three years.

This cabinet is in the guest bedroom. I keep family things in here - a vase from my grandmother, her Bible from before she married, a toy I carried as a child, things that Artie & Logan have given me over the years. There is a set of ceramic birds in the cabinet that used to sit in my Mamaw & Papaw Dunsmore's living room window. There is a teddy bear I received in the hospital when I had Logan. A mug I picked up on a business trip to New York. An airplane made out of WWII bullet shells that my Papaw Valentine brought home from the war. So many trinkets ... I love to just stand and look at these items and remember special times & special people.

This candle from the screened porch has melted about an inch in this summer's heat!

I love this floral arrangement on the piano. It looks like one of Artie's creations, but we actually bought it at Marshall's. If you read my blog regularly, you'll see Marshall's mentioned quite often!

This beautiful table in the foyer came from the same estate as the piano. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. It fits so well in the foyer and adds a vintage quality. Mixed with the more modern painting on the wall, I think it's an HGTV-worthy look, don't you? lol (I keep trying to get Artie to audition for Design Star!)