Trash to Treasure

I found these babies at Goodwill not too long ago for two dollars.

A grungy, old set of candlesticks that didn't have much life in them.  Here's a close-up of the ugliness:

They looked rusty, but it wasn't rust.  I'm not sure what kind of look they were going for.  P.S. Note that my fingernails are painted.  This is a once in a million years event.  It came off like a week later.  Possibly sooner.

I thought silver candlesticks would be nice, but I didn't want to pay for actual silver, but I didn't mind paying for this:

Put them together and what do you get?

Look at that sheen!  Look at that shine!  Beautiful, silver candlesticks!  Now I just need to figure out what else is going to go on the mantle with them.



Everything's Comin' Up Roses

Except not roses.  We have some planted in the yard, but they might be dead.  Or maybe it's just not time for them to bloom.  Who knows?

It's Spring Time in Georgia and that means yard work.  We have about 2.4 million hours worth of work on our yard and I would say we're about 5% of the way there.  Literally, every weekend for at least the past month (probably longer) has been dedicated to pulling weeds, trimming bushes, mowing, edging, mulching, etc.  Except last weekend when we ran off to D.C. (I'll post more on that later when I'm not doing outdoor chores).  But we're finally seeing the fruits of our labor.  Look what we've got growing!  P.S. Please excuse the line in some of the pictures.  I have no idea what caused it nor do I know how to fix it.  I think our camera is on its last leg.

Don't know what this is called, but I refer to it as the "Hawaiian Flowers".  They look very tropical.

Tulips at the front of the house.

Our willow tree next to the drive way.

Not much to see here, but it's our Crate Myrtle tree starting to bud.

Our awesome neighbors came over and helped us the other day and identified this as a rare Japanese Maple.  Apparently, they are usually red, but there are rare green ones that are super expensive.  We own two.  No pressure to keep them alive or anything.

I believe Celine called these Azalea bushes.  I can't remember.

Some sort of white flowery bush.

Wisteria

Some kind of white flowering trees on the left and one of three hydrangea bushes.  We have hydrangeas out the wa-zoo.  Not a bad problem to have in my book.  And seriously, all of the bushes are that big.  We have millions.  Come pick ya some.

Check it out.  LOOOOOOOOVE!



But not everything is up and going yet.  Most of the flowers have bloomed or are budding, but we still have 4 fruit trees/bushes/vines that we're hoping will pull through.  We have an apple tree, pear tree, grape vine and kiwi tree starting to take shape.  I'm not sure if they'll make it since the house was empty for so long they might have croaked in the meantime. 

Enjoy the pictures... it's time to trim more bushes!

The North Invades the South

A couple weekends ago, Mom, Dad, Maam and Grandma came down for a visit.  We immediately put them to work.  We're that kind of hosts.  Don't worry, we had fun, too, but I don't photograph fun, just work.  Check out these curtains we were able to hang... and Maam made matching valances for the breakfast nook.  Maam - you rock!  I seriously love these things!

Here's a close-up of the fabric since far away it's hard to see the print (which is a feature I actually like since it doesn't make the curtains feel super busy):



Love!  Even Matt likes it.  I thought I was going to have to sell him on these, but nope, he was game from the get-go. 

Here's my in-house seamstress making valances out of curtains.  So here's the deal - I wanted these curtains come h-e-double hockey sticks or high water.  The problem was that I only had four panels and I needed six.  And they were on clearance when I bought them so we couldn't find them anywhere.  Sounds like Jenn wasn't going to get her way.  But have no fear! - Maam was here!   And she got to work making valances out of the panels we did have.  See how blank the kitchen looked without them?



But with a little bit of work, it turned into this!



Why, yes, those are the flowers Matt gave me.  And, yes, three to almost four weeks later they are still alive and beautiful as ever.  There must be some 'roids in those suckers. 

Some other projects that were tackled included hanging this fan on the screened-in porch.  Can't wait to get some furniture out there to put that baby to good use.

And also setting up Matt's grill.  Hot dogs will be my first meal on this baby.  On a related note, I ate a really awesome hot dog for dinner tonight.  FYI - I don't know why there's a squiggle in the picture.



Matt and Dad also did a bunch of yardwork, but I didn't photograph that.  Too busy shopping with Mom and Maam :)