A Tour of Liz's Home

A lot of great things happened even though the trip to Texas was for a sad unfortunate event. The kids and I stayed at my BFF's house. Liz is an amazing woman. She is a true giver. She does so much for everyone and I am proud and lucky to call her my friend. She comes out to visit me twice a year since it is hard for me to visit with the kids. Though now that they are a bit older I hope to grace her doorstep at least once a year.

While there I told her I was taking pictures so I could give a tour of her house.

She is an amazing decorator and has an awesome talent for creating vignettes.

Lets visit shall we?

Here is the hall tree she has upon entering - see she is welcoming you.

This is her living room. You see this immediately upon entering. Actually right now it has crown molding as my hubby did it for her before he headed back to Afghanistan - it is the least we can do for her.

Notice all the wonderful items on her walls and her very cool lamps.

To the left of the living room is her dining room..my fave room. It is done so well. I adore that sideboard.

Here is her bathroom. Very nice. Though she is getting ready to gut it and redo the whole thing. She even displays the toilet paper in her cool way.

This is her very nice sink. I love the whole area. It was funny as I told her- wow I love that mirror and she laughed and said - well you should you gave it to me. WOW it has been a long time since I have been there.

Next we have her room. Her bedroom furniture is so nice and it is antique. The bed is so high she surely must take a flying leap to get up there. Don't you adore that mirror back there?

See that armoire- yeah you can do the ahhhhh with me. 

Now on to the least favorite room in the house to her - the kitchen. Not that she doesn't like to decorate it - she does. She does not like to cook. She loves big kitchens as they give you tons of room to display and she is a hoarder of dishes...so she loves to display them all.

This is the far wall in the kitchen..notice that nice hutch. She is going to get a new sink, faucet and counter tops. A mini makeover yeah...she deserves it. 

This is the back family room. She had way more in it but has put some away - basically due to dogs. :)

They rarely use this room now that her son has moved out and has his own place so I told her she should turn it into her craft studio..and she loves that ideal. By the way I didn't get a pic of her craft room as we stayed in there and I always had it too messy. Dang because it is one darling room.

Now we will head out to the back yard. It is a garden to die for. Liz has the most green thumb of anyone I know and her back yard is wonderful. As we enter the backyard we are greeted by this pergola that is covered in cross vine. She has it done so well.

Next we head behind the garage; where this secret garden is..I

love this area. 

This is the seating and cooking area..Don't you just want to lie down and take a nap?

Well that is a tour of Liz's house. We'll head in after one more look at those lady banks roses on the fence line- amazing aren't they? 

Thanks Liz for letting us crash your pad. We had a great time there- well except for the puppy pooping on the floor- gross. I'll have to come again when it is time to set up the craft studio so I can help you out.

My Home Town

I thought of showing off our little town in North Carolina.

Now first off I apologize for some of the pictures. My car window shows up in some. I did these with the two little kids in tow and they were not up to getting out at every place to take pictures. They were great troopers driving around do what we did though so thanks you two.

Our town is a small town - pretty much a bedroom community to a bigger town north and south of here so not alot of modern things to do but we do have a great deal of old stuff.

We have 4 historic home districts and a historic downtown. It is small but we like it that way. We have all the modern conveniences not to far away with out all the congestion and traffic.

We'll start at our house. It is a foursquare and we have it all decked out for the 4th of July. I love to decorate for all holidays and being military anything patriotic is always fun.

Next is our neighbor- funny thing we bought this house in 2003 and did lots of renovations and cleaning up to it. But in 2007 with the addition of a 4th child we needed more room. We tried to get an addition built but none of the contractors wanted to deal with our historic board and their lengthy processes. So, when the green foursquare came up for sale we bought it and then sold this one. This one is a french eclectic with some Mediterranean influences. I loved the the house and its layouts.

This next house is on our street. It was owned by one lady till she was about 90 something. In 2003 she sold it and a company came in and did all the new work you see on it. They then sold it for quite a hefty profit and it now adds to the flair of the street.

This next bungalow is at the top of our street. It is owned by friends of ours. They bought it after the only owner walked from it 15 years prior. He locked the doors and walked away. Did not clean anything out- not furniture or food - yuckie. They bought it after it had been boarded up for 15 or so years. I have never seen so much trash go to the curb when they started working on it. It went a long way from where it began with them and is now a eye catcher to behold. They did an awesome job and we loved watching the transformation.

This bungalow is huge and very deceiving from the front - it goes on and on forever.

My military family friend lives here and she enjoys decorating and gardening too.

This house is around the block from us. It is done to the nines. It is a very formal house and nice to look at.

This house is one of the oldest we have in our district. It is the Poe House and a new military family bought it and is fixing it up. Can't wait to see what they do with it. I absolutely am in love with the little oval window at the top. And when the older lady lived there her gardens were to die for. I hope they bring them back to their glory.

This next house is a storybook and is owned by our friends. It is so darling it has the windy staircase inside and lots of little hidey places and built in window seats..very cute. She is in the process of bringing back the rose gardens that the original owner was known for.

This bungalow just went on the market and the lady that owned it did a great deal of work on it. It was another one that sat empty forever. She painted it and did tons of gardening. It should sell fast.

This is another military family of friends. They used to live over in our district but moved to another one into a smaller bungalow. It is a darling place.

This is the home of our previous HPC chairman. It is huge and he takes care of it as one should. He has redone all the woodwork and it is a beauty.

This the the home of one of my friends. It has all the cutest windows I have ever seen. They are to die for. She has the coolest wisteria vine growing across the front and it has a very big front porch. They are known for their Friday evening parties on the porch.

This house was the built to be a motel back when Northerners were going south to Florida. Our hometown was a good middle stopping point for the travelers. It has a Mediterranean feel and look at those original clay tiles on the roof..amazing.

This is another cute cottage in another district in our town. I love the quaint simplicity of it.

This house is up the road from us. I love the dark green paint of it. And of course, a porch is to die for.

This one is down the road too. It is a brick bungalow and I have never seen one like it. I love how immaculate it is at all times. The older man who lives here is a stickler on his yard and it shows.

This is the theater where you go to watch the play. The tin ceilings are AMAZING. The Temple Theater hit some rough times this year financially as so many small town theaters did..but we think it is on track to another great year.

Next is the elementary school. Well it used to be our neighborhood elementary but when towns across America deemed it was better to build huge schools outside of neighborhoods requiring children to ride buses instead of walking and biking it was sold and now is home to many townhouses. They are really cool with 20 foot ceilings and such. A great use to something instead of tearing it down.

 This is another neighborhood icon. The Fairview Dairy Bar- it is know for great lunches and my kids swear by its ice cream. And as you can see from the cars - it is busy all the time all day long.

This is one of my fave old churches in town. I love it's Gothic window and who doesn't love a bright red door?

This is Depot Park - the train kinda gives it away. Our downtown does not have a courthouse to anchor it all so years ago the powers that be decided to create a courthouse square effect without a courthouse. It all centers on depot park. It has the original train house - one engine on display that the kids climb on to their delight. It has the fountain that in the summer months is the largest sprinkler around. You will always see kids in bathing suits running through it. It has a stage at one end that holds movies in the spring and fall and also Function in the Junction in the summer- concerts on the lawn. The farmers market is held here and so are many other events including the 4th of July celebration.

Here is another shot of Depot Park.

Now lets head back to the housing areas. This is a most darling yellow cottage on a street that is adorable. All of the homeowners have such pride in their houses.

This house is on that same block..isn't it adorable. You know in the South a porch is almost a requirement along with an accent. Gotta love that red front door.

This next bungalow is around the block from me. I love this house but more so I love her ability to make anything grow. She has the ultimate green thumb- it amazes me.

This bungalow is our former HPC staff members house. It just went through a paint overhaul and I love the colors they chose. They just go with the house perfectly. I adore the upper windows and their porch is so nice. They also have a great big backyard but I didn't take a picture of that. I kind of think backyards are private to the families.. You need that at times.

Look at the small concrete driveway with grass in between - I love those - not so much concrete. Looks good and adds to the house I think.

This is another house up the street from us. I love her porch columns how they are short on top of brick pillars. Very neat and it is grey and I love grey.

This huge bungalow was bought by a family from California. They have done tons of work to it inside and out. They chose these new colors as previously it was shades of unattractive pink. Yuckie. I was so glad when they got rid of the pink. It is huge and has a full basement with a built in bar. Their wraparound porch is so big you could have a bed out there to sleep in the fall and still have room for porch furniture.

This little yellow cottage is on a main street as the wires let you know..but I love it. As most of these pictures show- underground wiring is not a thing of historic districts. I wish they would put it underground as it just interferes with the view.

Well we are back to my house so the tour must be over. I hope you enjoyed it.

As they say down south..y'all come back now y'hear. We can drink Sweet tea on the porch.