Garden Tour Anyone?



Here are some pictures of my back deck.  This is truly my sanctuary where I soak up the sun and read and relax. 

I love to surround myself with flowers.  I truly am a summer girl.   Believe it or not it is very relaxing to me to water and fuss with the flowers.


This Garden is a work in progress.  I will change things up as the plants grow and I find new things to add.

I love to add vintage pieces with the flowers, like an old gate, chippy french doors, old porch posts, vintage suit cases.  Well you will see in the pictures.


Enjoy!
My flower garden deck.

I love my chaise lounge.  This is where I sit and read and soak up the sun.  It is pure heaven to me.

Vintage salvage, chippy and flowers just go together for me.


Old cabinet doors hung on the deck wall.  An old chippy bench and of course a working chandelier for romance.





Petunia's are very high maintenance with having to always be dead heading them but they bring such pretty color and they are sun loving so I have to have a few with my flowers.





Remember that birdcage I got last year from the flea market.  After I redid the living room I saved it knowing I could find a place for it in the garden for summer.


I added some flowers inside and also my garden angels.  The cottage retreat sign hangs on an old headboard.
Gotta love an old chippy beach chair and table.






This is one of my favorite garden angels.  It is hard to see in the picture but she is holding a small bird.  Love how sweet she is to have in the garden.



Where you see the basset hound statue that is a special place in my garden.  We had two basset hounds and we lost our Molly a couple of years ago at age 15.

This was her favorite place in the garden to lay so after she died we buried her ashes in this spot.  It is hard to see but there is also a memorial stone with her name on it next to the spot where she is buried.  A good friend gave me this special stone when Molly died.

  I still every summer think I will look over and see her laying there under that bush in her favorite spot.
We still have our Libby who is 10 years old and is in great health.  So we hope to have many more wonderful years with her.


Had these vintage suit cases in the shed so they found a place on the deck this summer.






This is an old drop leaf table I had that was falling apart so instead of throwing it out I had Terry hang an old salvage shelf on it and now have this sitting on the deck with flowers and my old gate.





I am so drawn to garden angels.  This is another of my faves.



There is the old garden gate that is attached to the back of the drop leaf table.  It makes for a great hanger for this bag of flowers.

Little vintage drawers with flowers in it and I put this old hand painted watering can on this old architectural post.




Well there you have it.  I worked yesterday on my deck.  Those old french doors did not fit anywhere in my house so I am using them out on the deck.  They make for a great plant hanger/headboard for the lounge chair.

My flowers are always a work in progress but I love the start to this season.  Being out on my deck with all the lovely blooms is a little bit of heaven for me.

Hope your summer gardens are starting.
 I Just Love Summer.
Have a great start to the new week.
Kris
:)

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Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger



Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.
There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 
Melanie from Sweet Melanie

Happy Saturday.  This week I am going to introduce you to Melanie from Sweet Melanie.  Melanie is one of the first blogs I followed before I started my blog.  I immediately bonded with Melanie and her blog.  We share the love of shabby chippy chic.
If you do not already know Melanie and her blog please hope over and check it out after getting to know her better here in Spotlight.






What a treat it is for me to be able to share a little about myself and my life thanks to Kris....thank you so much Kris!

First I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Melanie (~Sweet Melanie~).  So nice to meet you!

I live in the Capitol city of West Virginia which is Charleston.


We have a beautiful Capitol and a beautiful state!  I have traveled all over the United States but have "never" wanted to live any place but here.  



I grew up in a small town called Ansted.  It is close to Hawks Nest and the New River which is a major attraction for tourists for it's rapid waters and white water rafting.


We have a celebration day called "Bridge Day" that thousands travel to,  to participate in some unique festivities such as parachuting off of the New River Gorge Bridge.  It is the longest and highest steel arched bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  I was just a little girl when they started building it in 1977.  

Our state is absolutely stunning any time of year.
Can you tell I am proud of our little state?

As the song goes that John Denver sang, "Country roads take me home to a place I belong, West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country roads".


I also love the different seasons we have.  I am truly a Winter gal though, then Spring, Fall and last Summer.  I hate being hot, lol!


Our home sits on little over one acre all by itself up against a mountain.  I absolutely love living here.  Our home was built in the late 90's and we have done so many updates to make it to our liking and to function for us.  If you all know me, I truly love flowers!  Especially Peonies or any that are pink!

I married my high school sweetheart at the age of 21 and we've been married for 23 years which is such a blessing to me! We dated 3 and a half years so all together, we've been together for 26 and a half years. We have two beautiful daughters which are the apple of my eye!  I have dedicated my life to them, stayed home to raise them while my sweetheart brings home the bacon.  lol 


We've shared good and bad times throughout our marriage with health problems and family issues.  But as the Good Book says, God always works to the good for those that love the Lord....and that is what He has always done.  I couldn't imagine my life without Him in it!  He is my rock and I thank Him daily for blessing me with my little family!

My mom is who I share everything with on a daily basis.  We live an hour apart which kills the both of us!  But we call each other everyday numerous times and we share photos of things we've done, online.  It definitely helps fill in those miles.  I love her dearly!  We've had our share of ups and downs but God definitely has done a work with the both of us!


I have always had a knack for decorating, creating ect. since I can remember.  I always made my own Barbie furniture from blocks of wood and magazines along with dishtowels for bedspreads.  I used silk flowers for trees and even made a swimming pool.  I even had Christmas trees and lights.  Mom still talks about how beautiful my little house was one Christmas.  Creativity definitely flows in my family.  My daughters are truly artists but without the confidence.  Maybe one day they'll realize just how talented they truly are.  I know I sure do!


Thankfully my sweetheart has been wonderful with not being fussy when it comes to our home.  His motto is a happy wife, a happy life.  And as long as he has a full belly, a comfy place to watch TV and relax, he is A-OK!  The girls are the same way but they do enjoy their rooms being pretty and getting makeovers from time to time.
Our dog, Gabe and our cat, Oliver even enjoy it! 



So that's a little about my life...thanks so much for letting me share it with you.


I love our home, my life and my family.  God has been so good to us!





Thank you Melanie for sharing the personal side of you with all of us.  Now that you have met and gotten to know Melanie please hop over to Susan's blog and meet another talented blogger near and dear to me Cindy Cloches and Lavender.
Have a wonderful Weekend.
Kris
:)
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Garden Tour Soon

Happy Friday.  Finally most of the rain has moved out and it is a bright and sun shiny day.  I have been working on my back gardens and deck and hope to finish up this week end and have a post for you soon.

We had such a harsh winter here in the midwest and no Spring to really speak of so having summer slowly start to come back has been great.  I have been excited to get out and create and see the flower garden coming to life.







This year I am adding a lot of old salvage pieces to the flowers like these old porch posts for hanging baskets and old chippy
beach chair.


Old Vintage night stand with plants.



Join me back here soon for the whole garden reveal.

Please come back tomorrow for Spotlight.  Susan and I have two wonderful bloggers for you to meet.

Have a great week end.
Kris
:)
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Happy Memorial Day

We will be traveling home from our wonderful family vacation tomorrow.  It has been so much fun this past 10 days in Florida.

The weather has been sunny and gorgeous every day.

I will not bore you with a lot of my vacation pictures but I do need to share one  special occasion we did with our granddaughter Abby for her 4th birthday.

We treated her to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Bowtique .
Abby had her appointment at the Princess Bowtique where they turn the little girls into their favorite princess.
Abby's Favorite Princess is Cinderella.
You enter the Bowtique and they have a special changing room set up just for you.
They have your special princess dress laid out for you.

Getting Dressed




The Fairy Godmother's begin to turn you into a pretty princess.  Make up, hair and nails.

Abby all done and transformed into a beautiful Cinderella.  I think Mommy was pretty excited for Abby too.

After you are all done and transformed into your fave princess they take you into a special photograph studio and take pictures of your special time.

They even let Mommy and Daddy pose with the little princess.
Here is our Grand Abby all dressed as Cinderella.  This was  a fun and special time with her in Disney for her birthday.



This was us in the park with another favorite princess Belle.  We had such a fun week.  I will be sad to get on the plane tomorrow to come home.

source

 Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day.
Kris
:)
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