Bye, Bye 70s! Painted Paneling

BEFORE

Our house was built in the 1970s.  Among its original features are yellow shag carpeting in the study, harvest gold tile in the master bath and the dark wood paneling pictured above in the living room.  When we first saw this house, we feel in love with the layout instantly.  Which is why the paneling didn't scare us away!  We figured we would replace it with drywall once we settled in.  But life got busy - having babies and raising babies.  And the financial aspect of replacing the paneling seemed so overwhelming.

From a decorating standpoint, the room never really came together.  I hesitated to put anything on the walls, because of the paneling.  I had a vision for the room but struggled to bring it to life.  Our thoughts then turned to painting the paneling.  But the 12 foot ceiling in this room was intimidating!  We had a local painter come out to give us an estimate.  His price for painting the room fit nicely within our budget.  And now we have a beautiful new room, that looks just as I had always imagined it would!

AFTER

I chose Sherwin Williams Comfort Gray (SW 6205) for the paneling, Sherwin Williams Dover White (SW 6385) for the trim, shelves and stair railing and the drywall above the paneling was color matched to a Valspar paint color (a beige color).

I commented to Dave not only does the room look better, it makes our "trashy" furnishing look better as well!  And when I say trashy, I mean basically everything in this room was either given to us, bought at a yard sale or was a curbside treasure!

The painters also made repairs to the exterior and the gave our saltbox a fresh coat of red paint.  The exterior color is Sherwin Williams Fireweed (SW 6328).  Which I've come to learn is the consumer version of the paint color used for the Golden Gate Bridge.

We're so in love with this room now!  It looks like an entirely different room.  What a great way to start Spring, with a completely refreshed space!

Sharing this before and after with:

Remodelaholic - Remodelaholic's Anonymous

Happy Birthday Clayton!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY CLAY BABY!

Happy Birthday Ashleigh!

Happy 8th Birthday Ashleigh!

Happy Birthday Reed!

Happy 4th Birthday to my

Baby Reedy Pooh!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Image(s) courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Our Mostly Local Thanksgiving Meal

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Herb Roasted Pastured Turkey with Pan Gravy

Rustic Mashed Red Potatoes

Cornbread Crockpot Stuffing

Steamed Green & Yellow Beans

Sweet Potato Casserole topped with Pecans (and homemade whipped cream!)

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Buscuits

from local sources:

Pastured turkey & red potatoes - Cane Creek Farm, Efland, NC

Fresh rosemary - backyard container garden

Green & yeallow beans - Cloverfields Farm, Timberlake, NC & Cedar Rock Farm, Castalia, NC (frozen from summer)

Sweet potatoes - R & V Farm

Pecans - S & L Farm, Louisburg, NC

Cream - Maple View, Hillsborough, NC

Wheat berries for flour - The Grain Mill of Wake Forest, Wake Forest, NC

A Birthday Simple Pleasure - Cafe Blue Cupcakes

Cafe Blue Cupcakes

from Cafe Carolina & Bakery

Think about the most delicious, moist cake from your Grandmother's kitchen.  Topped with sweet (but not too sweet!) buttery, turquoise blue frosting.  THAT is the Cafe Blue!

YUM!

10 Years Ago Today...

Dave & I with his Grandmother and Father on our wedding day

First Day of Second Grade

Ashleigh with her sparkly kitty lunch box

She had a great first day of 2nd grade!

Our New Dishwasher - Finally!

It has been well over a year since our old dishwasher died.  I remember the day because it happened just as we finished paying off our HELOC and started building our 3 - 6 months emergency fund per Dave Ramsey's babysteps.  Initially, we were going to have our LG repaired.  But learned NO ONE in our area even serviced LGs!  Bummer! 

Instead of replacing the dishwasher right away, we decided to wait until we reached our emergency fund goal.  While saving to reach our goal, Dave lost his job.  A new dishwasher quickly fell to the bottom of our list of priorities!  We continued to set money aside even during Dave's unemployment, eventually reaching and exceeding the initial savings goal we had set.  

We managed to get through most of Dave's unemployment and some scary moments (Dave's surgery) without touching our emergency fund.  That was until our heating unit died last November.  Replacing the heating unit pretty much drained our emergency fund.  So we've spent the past months rebuilding the fund. 

Thankfully Dave found a job back in January (and it's still the job of our prayers!).  Our emergency fund is back in place and FINALLY - we got a new Bosch dishwasher!  I know we're all yearning for the simple life, but I'm loving the convenience of having a dishwasher again :)  

     

Happy Father's Day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY HONEY!

Love you,

Mary Ellen

Ashleigh, Clayton & Reed

Memorial Day

Remembering the sacrifice

Image Credit

Happy Mother's Day!

Picture of me by Ashleigh :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Featured at Coastal Charm!

A big thank you to Linda at Coastal Charm for featuring my Thrifty Community Yard Sales Buys in her Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Highlights!  Be sure to head over to Coastal Charm today to see all the lovely thrifty treasures and link up some of your own!

Praising the God of the Breakthrough!

Before this year began, I felt God challenging me to believe in Him for the big things.  To stop limiting Him based on my own doubts.  Not long after, I caught a program by Joel Osteen where he talked about living "breakthrough-minded".  Taking the limits off of God and believing He would show up not with a trickle or a stream, but like a flood.

I wrote a list in my journal of the big things I was going to dare myself to believe God for.  Top on the list was a job for my husband that paid well and gave him more time to be with our family.  Well today I'm praising God for the goodness He has just flooded us with!  After 6 months of being unemployed, my husband was offered (and accepted) a job with our State Controllers Office!  A Monday through Friday, 40 hour work-week, with State holidays, weekends off and great benefits.  After spending 10 years at his former job in a highly stressful environment, working 50 hour plus weeks and missing out on Saturdays with the family, this job is literally an answer to our prayers!

God is good!

Image

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rejoice & Give Thanks!

Thanksgiving blessings from our family to yours!

Thinking Victory At Home

Last night, I found myself in a mood. My tired body would have rather been in bed reading. Instead I was in the kitchen, making pizza dough for the next day's dinner, chopping onions and green peppers and shredding mozzarella cheese. A million "to-do's" filled my head. My husband's upcoming surgery, workshops, a school conference, what would I make for breakfast, when would I find time to make BBQ sauce and yogurt, to work on next year's calendar for work. The kids were also being rowdy and kept hopping out of bed. It was just all too much!

But then it came to me, just as I spoke victory at work, I can also speak victory in my home. I could turn this mood around by looking at the positive. I'm so blessed to be in my kitchen making dinner for tomorrow. Some do not know where their next meal will come from. Some other mother, some where in this world is staring at bare cabinets and an empty fridge wondering how she's going to feed her babies. I'm so blessed!

I'm so blessed that God chose me to be the mother of these three children. Some woman out there would give anything just to have one child, but I've been blessed with three. Three healthy, vibrant kids. I'm so blessed!

From the widow's perspective, I'm so blessed to have my husband. And from the perspective of the daughter whose mother has passed on, I'm so blessed to still have my mother with me and in good health. I'm blessed to have our home, to have means to provide for our family and to have the physical ability to do all those things on my to do list.

I'M SO BLESSED!

Market Day - September 5th

Local goodness - 2 dozen pastured eggs, okra, potatoes, green bell peppers, green beans, Liberty apples, 1lb pastured pork sausage, 1lb grass-fed beef & 1 bar handmade lavender, goat's milk & honey bar soap

The change in season is bringing changes to our wonderful farmer's market. Our local source for real, pastured eggs will only be coming out to the market every other week. At this time of year, the hens start to produce less eggs. Unfortunately, eggs aren't included in their fall/winter CSA either. These eggs are just so delicious - deep yellow yolks and full of flavor. Guess I'll have to start buying 4 dozen at a time to get us through the off weeks.

This weekend was also the last time our grass-fed beef farmer will be at the market. She's having surgery on her shoulder in the coming weeks. But she and her husband have extended an invitation for us to visit their farm in early October! Not only will we be able to spend a day at the farm but we'll also pick up a bulk order of beef at a discount.

Our farmer's market has blessed us greatly during this spring and summer with local, grass-fed and pastured meats & eggs and organically-grown fruits and vegetables. As the market changes with the season, so must we move with it's natural ebb and flow. Shopping grocery stores leads one to think eggs and strawberries are available year round. Shopping locally at the farmer's market has made us more aware of nature's timing and the distinctive gifts each new season brings.

From Two Incomes to One

Being a wife and mother in addition to working full-time is not always easy. There were many years of struggling with my situation before God showed me I needed to step into my roles as wife, mother and home keeper now instead of later when I could be at home full-time. But in this moment, I'm truly seeing how all things work according to God's plan and in His perfect time. On Saturday, my husband was let go from his job. In this time of great economic uncertainty, our income has been cut in half. However, we are choosing to see this as an opportunity instead of a setback. My husband's job was very demanding and stressful on him as well as our family. Now he has the opportunity to find something better - and pretty much anything would be better!

I'm thankful in this time that we at least have my income to fall back on as well as our emergency fund (thanks Dave Ramsey!). God knows the desires of my heart. How I would love to be home more, even if on a part-time basis during the day. But He also knows our needs before we do. And sees our situations from a much larger vantage point. Right now, I am where God needs me to be in this season in our life. And I'm thankful for His provisions.

Heavenly Homemaker - Gratituesday