My Memorial Day....

As I sit here on the morning of Memorial Day , and watch TV commercials about Fantastic Memorial Day Sales events, for furniture or cars... I can’t help but wonder how many people don’t even know what Memorial Day is really about. They scurry about shopping, getting food for a BBQ or going on a 3 day mini-vacation somewhere and probably never think about the sacrifices that were made just so we could live the fantastically blessed lives we are able to lead in the United States.



Freedom isn’t free. It sounds trite, but it’s so very true. The liberty that we all enjoy in our great Nation is paid for with the lives of fallen soldiers. Look at the wonderful nation around you. We owe all of it to our veterans, and to our fallen heroes. It is they who preserve our Constitution and our way of life. Without them, the America we know and love would be very, very different. (and not in a good way!)


In November we will honor our Veterans.... the brave among us who have served and sacrificed for our beloved country. But this weekend, we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, those who have paid the highest price for our liberty. Their lives were cut short, their hopes and dreams never realized. Their families, though proud, would forever know the sorrow of loss. And they did it all for us, without knowing us, so that liberty (Liberty is a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has the right to act according to his or her own will.) would prevail in America and grow around the world.



God Bless the American Military. If you would like to show your appreciation for what they do, go to www.anysoldier.com and click on “where to send”... read some of their letters. Then pick a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine to support by sending them a letter or care package. They need to know we still care.

Have a safe and happy, and hopefully grateful Memorial Day!!!!!

Bedroom Reveal... FINALLY!!!!!!

 
I cannot believe it's been almost 5 months since I first shared you the beginnings of my bedroom re-do. I swear they speed up the clocks as we get older!!! Anyway, I couldn't wait any longer. There are still things to do like replace the old carpet, scrap the nasty popcorn ceilings off and put in a few more shelves, but for the most I am content.

The old room was just to dark and I have been slowly changing it over.

 
You can read about the pillows on the bed here. I brought the old window that was hanging outside on my porch and used it for a funky wall decoration. Old book pages were hung in the squares. The recliner was a garage sale find that I covered with a loose slipcover. It will work for now until I can have it reupholstered or replaced with something better. The panel hanging behind the shelves is an old lace tablecloth. If you want to read about how to make the music sheet wall plaques, you can find that tutorial here.



I am very lucky to have a fireplace in my bedroom, and although it doesn't get as cold in the winter here as it does in the rest of the country I sure enjoy a good book and a nice fire in the winter. I needed the fireplace to have a little more cottage-y detail so I took a couple of wooden posts and a wall shelf and fashioned a mini mantle.



Its kind of hard to see with the light coming through the window, but I hung the picture frames in front of the window and draped them with strands of pearls. I did a tutorial on the lampshade a while ago and you can find it here.



My furniture is a hand-me -down from a great Aunt. It could use a little refinishing but that is going to have to wait... I just don't have it in me right now!!! I like layer things in front of mirrors. Quite often it winds up being more mirrors!



Mr. D.C. and I finally finished painting the old stained doors this weekend. It is amazing to me what a difference it has made. The room feels so much lighter and cleaner. It was a lot of work because they were never sanded and just sprayed with stain. It took 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint to cover them properly!



The before shots don't even deserve the pretty border around the pic!!! I am so glad tose ugly doors are no more!



This is part of my office on the other side of the fireplace. I used the same drapery panels from The Great Indoors, only for this window I added shirring tape and hung them with clips. I'm saving the rest of this room for part of my Where Bloggers Create party post since it does seem to be where I spend most of my creative time these days!

Before... Once again, too dark!!!!

Well that's it! I'm sorry it took so long to post these. I know we lost all the fun momentum of the project but better late than never right????

Tutorial for sale!

Now that the Artist Class Garden party has wrapped up Mary has generously released our tutorials for us to sell on our own. It's a wonderful opportunity to purchase just the tutorials you want. If any one would like to purchase my Architectural Birdhouse Tutorial it is available here for only $5.00. You will also find the link on my left sidebar. Thank you so much!!!

I will be back soon with some more posts. I have been so busy adding all the party participants, emailing responses and trying to keep with with blog work that I feel like I'm really missing all my friends. It's temporary though and I'm sure I will be back visiting you all very soon. Have a great week!