Roses Inside & Out

New found quilt, applique roses started the theme.
 

                               Shabby rose waste basket.

      Hand painted tray for breakfast in bed.

  Found a pitcher to match the bowl I already had.

             Collection of vintage plates with roses, cherries and a fox.

I have been collecting crochet roses for quite sometime. A few of my favorites are below.

Then there are the roses outside.  It was a fantastic spring for roses.  Hoping for a second round, some are getting new buds. 

                                  Butterfly rose

                                               Pink fairy roses on the driveway get better every year.

                                                              Iceberg

                                      Easy on the Eyes which I got at the rose farm last year.

                                           Pink Eden

                             Vilchenblau on left which Bob bought as a gift last year, Mr. Lincoln on the right which I brought from Georgia.

               Bob took a day off and we went to the rose farm again this year, I bought this one and don't remember the name, I better check on that!

Deuztia in Bloom

  After only a few years of working on the deutizia bushes, they are rewarding me with thick full blooms.  It is so thick, it blocks walking up the path to the house unless we hold up the branches.  Once finished blooming I can cut them back and shape them. 
 

    Not only is it beautiful, it smells delicious!

   I have finally for the third time painted the living room and cleaned every square inch from the dust from putting in the fireplace so that my neighbors who have been wanting to see it can come for a spritzer and a walk in the bamboo forest.

    Even though I sold a lot of my large framed portraits, I still have a love of them and have taken it down a notch to small ones I can scatter around. These are my newest, I love the black detailed frames.

       Another recent find with color.

    Limoncello spritzers, mint from my garden and strawberries for the girls!

                             I really wanted to use my punch bowl, but didn't want to do a punch, so ice to keep the bottles cold worked!

                   I am planning on going back to the rose greenhouses this week if the rain ever stops. They had a pink deuztia that was not for sale, it was in the owner's collection, but I have plans on talking to her and seeing if maybe I can get one! 

Fireplace Cleanup & Finish

                        The chimney was up and paid for, then it came time to do the rock work and the estimate (which I thought was in the original price) was astronomical and I said thanks, but no thanks. The mason left and Jake got a local guy to only do rock for the mantle inside, so there will be no rock on the outside.  This rock I dug from a border up at the main house and will be used inside.
 

                        Placing rock for the hearth, then there will be rock behind and on the sides of the mantle to protect it from flames. Above I will have sheetrock.

                           I actually like the cleaner more minimal look leaving a big space to place a painting or television for when there are guests. 

     It's a dirty mess. Right now I'm sanding the mud they used for the sheetrock seams, will clean everything then paint.

     It will be nice to get everything back in place, decorate for spring and have my neighbors over for a drink and to see what we've been doing to the place. They have been trying to sneak a peek, but I want it in tip-top shape.

    It is a small, shallow fireplace so there won't be any raging fires. I bought two duraflame logs to do a test run, and that may be just the thing for guests to use so I don't have to worry about a fire taking the house down lol.  I do need a screen, then we should be good to go!

       It's nice to have rock that was from the original house, but I probably could have sheetrocked around the whole thing to really make the mantle stand out. The guys just don't get my primitive painted mantle.  Those of us into the country look will understand.

    Outside I will be painting the chimney, and I think I may like that more than rock anyway. I like it looking clean and simple. The mason said I needed to buy masonry paint which I could only find at Lowe's.

                           The chimney is much bigger than I pictured it would be.

                          The good thing is Valspar makes the masonry paint and you can have it in any one of their colors, so I brought home chips to match the house since that was Ben Moore. I was afraid masonry paint would only have a few colors to choose from. This made me happy.

                        Crisp Cotton is the winner!  First to finish up the inside, then to start on the outside. Once painted it will make such a difference!

Fireplace - Almost Finished!

                 Been a long couple of weeks with all the mess and trying to protect all my plants from the boards and bricks and workers. Seems I finally get the farmhouse looking really nice and then another project starts and we're back to square one. 
 

                       As you can see, a lot has been accomplished. Jake cut the hole through the roof yesterday and that portion of the chimney will be built and then all we need is the pretty part . . . the stone.

                            A lot going on inside, too.  Another mess. UGH

                               Almost there!  The stone and hearth are about all that is needed to finish inside. Just hope my andirons will fit inside this tiny fireplace.

                       Just for fun last night I placed the mantle and the portrait just to get a feel for how it will look.  Our mason is in his 70s and he is about the last of a dying trade, so I am glad we decided to bite the bullet and pay the money to get this done. It's going to make the place!