All Things House That Make A Home
God grant you lightness in your step,
A smile on every face you meet,
Loved ones gathered at your hearth,
And at your door, good friends to greet
A holy hymn upon your lips,
A window candle burning bright
And may the Good Lord bless your heart
And come to dwell here Christmas night.
—Irish Christmas Blessing
From our house and hearts to yours, Dave the Builder and I wish you a very Merry Christmas 2021 filled with everlasting joy, peace, splendor, and love.
Shall we never forget the fateful attacks against our nation on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 (9/11).
Has it really been 20 years?
I remember it like it was yesterday, and as time marches on my memories surrounding that day remain crystal clear.
Katie Couric relating to the viewers details too horrific to imagine, too grievous to ignore, too important to forget.
Shared phone calls of disbelief.
Telling Dave the Builder I knew the towers would collapse based on the knowledge of detonation practices learned from studying Las Vegas hotel implosions.
Discussions with other parents of how to explain the events of the day to our children in an honest yet measured manner as not to scare and upset their hearts and thoughts any further than the attacks in the name of pure evil this morning presented.
We revere 9/11 as a day of remembrance and reflection; a day Americans come together in reverent thought, solemn moments of silence, ringing of bells of remembrance and prayers for comfort and strength.
Life as Americans knew it up to that point forever changed on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 at 8:46 a.m. EST.
7:59 a.m. EST– American Airlines Flight 11 departs from Boston’s Logan International Airport bound for Los Angeles with 11 crew members and 76 passengers on board.
Five al-Qaeda terrorists hijackers on board are excluded from the total numbers.
8:15 a.m. EST– United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Logan International en route to LAX with 9 crew members and 51 passengers aboard.
Five al-Qaeda terrorists hijackers are excluded from the total numbers.
8:20 a.m. EST– American Airlines Flight 77, en route to Los Angeles, takes off from Dulles International in Washington, D.C. with a total of 59 innocents on board; 6 crew members and 53 passengers.
The 5 al-Qaeda terrorists hijackers are excluded from the total numbers.
8:42 a.m. EST– United Airlines Flight 93 departs Newark Liberty International with 7 crew members and 33 passengers on the flight.
Four al-Qaeda terrorists hijackers aboard this flight are excluded from the total numbers.
8:46 a.m. EST– American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into floors 93 through 99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
9:03 a.m. EST– United Flight 175 crashes into floors 77 through 85 of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
9:37 a.m. EST– American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. The crash and the fire as a result of it take the lives of 59 passengers and crew and 125 people on the ground.
9:42 a.m. EST– The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounds all flights.
9:59 a.m. EST– Fifty-six minutes after impact the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses in a mere 10 seconds. More than 800 people inside the South Tower and the surrounding area of the building perish.
10:03 a.m. EST– United Airlines Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing 40 people on board the aircraft.
The hijackers are not included in this number, and rightfully so.
Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial
10:15 a.m. EST– The outer ring of the Pentagon collapses.
10:28 a.m. EST– The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses killing more than 1,600 both in and around the tower.
Fear came to call not expecting bravery and resilience to answer back united we stand.
Our memories will forever be filled with the events of that horrific day in our history, and even though painful to remember we should choose to never forget the attacks on 9/11.
We are the United States of America.
We differ from one another on many points, views, and opinions, but when all is said and done we are one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Never forget.
Crisp air, nature’s bounty, and a hot glue gun is all the inspiration needed to get the DIY fall decor project ideas flowing.
The little apple candle wreath that could is falls into my PhD (Project half Done) studies.
Believe me, the faux apples are not as red as they appear in the images.
They’re red alright, but not quite as bright red as seen in some of the images.
If I could get the lighting right on both space and camera, I’d be dangerous.
DIY wreath projects need not be a complicated endeavor.
Where’s the fun in that?
For this particular project I chose a Styrofoam wreath form.
Remnants leftover from the umpteen burlap bags used for everything from placemats to gift bags came together to base wrap the wreath in order to cover the Styrofoam.
Hot glue gun used for this step.
Striving for a more polished look than that of the rustic burlap bags, I wrapped the entire form with burlap ribbon purchased from Dollar Tree, pinning the ribbon with a few straight pins to secure into place.
Grab a paper or download a Michaels coupon and let the DIY fall decor project ideas savings begin.
Let me let you all in on a little secret…
DIY projects can get expensive, so clip those coupons.
Place faux apples and pears around the form to get an idea of how you want the finished look to turn out.
Heat up the glue gun (use caution with these things), and once it gets hot glue the faux fruit in place.
Spanish moss is not only decorative, it covers a multitude of gaps and DIY mistakes.
There you have it.
I absolutely love this sweet sweet DIY potpourri wreath from Sweet Something Designs.
Simple elegance comes to a door or chair frame near you by way of a bag or two of potpourri, a grapevine wreath, your favorite color, texture, and pattern ribbon, and the usual wreath making tools and glue gun to hold fall fabulous all together.
Simple instructions of hot gluing potpourri pieces to wreath and topping off the look with a bow in your choice of ribbon.
Laura of Garden Answer posted another wonderful fall wreath how-to video giving us five different options to choose from.
How fall flipping cute is the owl wreath?
Grapevine wreath.
Hydrangea.
Pine cones.
An assortment of fall leaves.
Feathers.
Small craft gourds.
Dried and/or fresh floral stems.
Seasonal blooms.
Decorative owl figure.
Laura uses echinacea, rose hips, hydrangea, clematis, sedum, vines, pine cones, autumn leaves, and a most darling owl.
Owl cute is this!
Items sourced and found at Jo-Ann Fabrics on a free shipping Saturday afternoon signals the cart is full of DIY fall decor project ideas.
Purchased for this project list:
18″ Grapevine Wreath
Zucker Feather Products 12 pk Duck Gilded Feathers
Bloom Room Autumn 19” Millet Leaf Bush Yellow
Place & Time Fall Harvest Textured Ribbon 2.5″
Bloom Room Autumn Hanging Pinecone Acorn Natural
From nature:
Pinecones
Nandina
Hydrangea
Juniper
Fresh pine
Nandina berries fresh pine and juniper
Placement is ruled by where the bulk of the clippings and stems fit best without much effort in securing to wreath.
Why make things difficult?
Undone paper clips help to secure stems to the wreath.
I hot glued the pinecones and hanging pinecone acorn to the wreath with ease and great success.
Professional bow maker will never find its way onto my resume, but I can fake it till I make it with the best of them.
A trusty loop and twist method works, and pipe cleaners-stems looped around the center and twisted several times holds everything in place.
Once you decide where on the wreath the bow will go, feed the “ends” of the pipe cleaners-stems in an over and under method through a couple of the wreath twigs in that section.
Gentle pull up on the pipe cleaner-stem ends to pull the bow close to the wreath.
Secure the bow in place, twist the ends together, tuck the stems into the wreath twigs to hide, and fluff the bow.
Gold feathers tucked in visually strategic spots
As time marches on the nandina is turning a stunning golden crimson.
So fall fabulous!
DIY wreaths naturally mirror the beauty of the season.
What you hear about weather in the South is true- wait five minutes and it will change.
Turns out, the buckets of rain threatening the weekend held off making it possible to tackle a few curb appeal projects.
Repainting the rockers on the front porch has been a long time coming.
Dave the Builder made the call, I selected the paint, and here’s rocking proof of our current curb appeal project in progress AND that semigloss and gloss finishes do tend to dry darker.
Caution: Wet Paint
Behr Grassy Savannah is the current star of our curb appeal show.
The color is I see shades of gray-green-brown perfection.
Behr Grassy Savannah N340-5 Semi-Gloss Enamel Exterior Paint
Soffit, facia board, and box end repair is the project Dave the Builder loves to hate.
Rotting (from tornado damage) soffit and facia is not only an eyesore and curb appeal deal breaker, it can allow squirrels and goodness knows what other varmints to gain entry into the attic.
Dave won’t win any fashion awards, but what he does get is big time brownie points in the honey do division.
Now that we’ve got the boards replaced, it’s ready for paint time.
We are seriously contemplating a total exterior refresh beginning with painting the brick which will be a rather large project over many weekends.
I played with paint color wheels, charts, and swatches Friday night into Saturday morning.
If we do this, I’m leaning towards Benjamin Moore Simply White for the bricks, Behr Grassy Savannah for the cedar shakes, and Sherwin-Williams Pure White for the soffit, facia, and columns.
Another change will be changing out the painted wood shutters for louvered vinyl exterior shutters.
Sanding, scraping, priming, and painting the existing louvered wood shutters every two to three years (Louisiana heat and humidity takes no prisoners) is becoming tiresome and expensive.
Vinyl exterior shutters can be cleaned with soap and water and can be painted when and if needed.
Nine years in and I’m still happy with the copper mailbox and address plaque.
The mix of metals with classic design and form creates curb appeal wow factor.
Classic curb appeal notables include wicker furniture and Boston or Kimberly Queen ferns displayed in decorative urns and/or hanging baskets.
The woven wonder that is wicker is one tough broad that gets better with age.
All Weather Wicker Capistrano Outdoor Armchair
The shutters.
The lanterns.
The hardware accents.
The landscaping.
This is how we curb appeal.
And how lovely is the Spanish artichoke finial?
Jay Blue from Sherwin-Williams
Monogram Letter H Door Knocker – Brass by Michael Healy Designs
I have it on good authority that a three day holiday weekend is upon us.
Three day weekends and captivating images come together to inspire curb appeal beautification projects.
Gorgeous!
First impressions make lasting impressions.
Curb appeal projects lead the way to big returns, impressive results, and beautifully welcome style home.
Ringing out the old year and ringing in Happy New Year 2019 in style with a performance of Auld Lang Syne by the legendary Rod Stewart.
Talk about classic style!
Robert Burns’ Scottish poem written in 1788 and set to a Scots folk melody, Auld Lang Syne is the traditional musical ode to New Year recollecting events over the year, thoughts of old friendships, nostalgia, old times, and days gone by.
As seen in the video, the long standing Scottish tradition is to sing Auld Lang Syne just before the stroke of midnight with everyone sitting or standing in a circle holding hands, arms crossed so their left hand is holding the hand of the person on their right, and their right hand that of the person to their left.
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians popularized Auld Lang Syne as it became the traditional song of New Year played immediately after the ball drop in Times Square.
My sister-in-law, a staunch New Year’s traditionalist, rings in the New Year with a Happy New Year phone call to us complete with Guy Lombardo’s version of Auld Lang Syne playing in the background.
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
Dave and I wish each of you a very Happy New Year 2019!
May New Year 2019 bring you joy, health, blessings, happiness, good fortune, inspired projects, and beautiful surroundings.
Fairs, exhibitions and festivals benefiting the preservation of historic sights, homes and buildings spring up this time of year.
One such local institution held its spring herb day sale-a-bration over the weekend.
The scent of fresh herbs gets the spring herb day let’s get growing excitement going.
Get Outside by Robert Palmer is the tune of the day and a dandy one indeed to spring herb day to.
My herb love grows where my rosemary, mint, and thyme grows.
I’m discovering the many uses of mint past its herb status of required greenery in the Southern garden color palette and glass of sweet tea.
From Better Homes & Gardens:
Type:
Herb, perennial
Light:
Part sun, sun
Height:
From 1 to 8 feet
Mint is easy to grow. The fragrance of mint will vary with variety as will the taste. Fresh or dried, mint is a broad range herb used to season beverages, desserts, soups, vegetables, and meats.
Chives ~ Serata Basil ~ Rosemary ~ Dolce Fresca Basil ~ Thyme ~ Parsley
Type:
Herb, perennial, shrub
Light:
Sun
Height:
From 1 to 8 feet
Rosemary is an aromatic evergreen of Mediterranean origin, an herb that pairs well with poultry, pork, lamb, fish, breads, vegetables, tomato based sauces, soups and infused oils. French and Italian dishes especially benefit from the robust seasoning. Rosemary plants thrive in hot and dry climates.
I am seriously entertaining the thought of using this carrot planter as the focal point of my indoor herb garden.
Carrot Flower Plastic Pot Planter
The smell of fresh herbs goes well with the ooh la la factor, and is stylishly accomplished with a rattan wall planter.
Better Homes & Gardens gift the gardener an array of free garden plans.
I’ve selected three herb garden plans to share.
Click on the link below each image to download the garden plan of choice for your spring herb day planting needs.
I used to have a friend who actually thought Ina Garten’s name was In the Garden.
In.
The.
Garden.
You can’t make this stuff up folks.
Ina does love her garden.
On a recent repeat episode of Barefoot Contessa Ina plans, prepares, plates and presents a surprise dinner for Jeffrey in the garden.
The principal of kiss, keep it stunningly simple, set the scene and the table.
The Bridgehampton Florist on Instagram
Nature Innovations Oak Log Planter
Clear glass hurricane lanterns, pillar candles, ferns from the garden, white garden roses, and planter made a simple yet elegant garden style show.
How keep it stunningly simple is that?
A search and source session for the hurricane lanterns Ina Garten uses came up empty handed, but look at what I did find.
Being born, raised and living the outdoor living life in Louisiana, the word hurricane typically is not equated with beauty, but this gorgeous hotel glass hurricane with rope and burned copper detail is a beauty!
Delicious dishes and stylish settings get the taste party started.
A sprinkle here, a dash of that, and a generous serving of it’s all in the details indisputably takes the look and the flavor from ordinary to distinctive.
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
With only five days until Christmas, it’s beginning to look, taste, sound and feel a lot like Christmas.
In the spirit and the groove of the season, visions of holiday food, fun and festivities dance in our heads to the tunes of classic, traditional, rock, jazz, country and instrumental Christmas music.
A moratorium on talk radio and smooth jazz is in place in favor of my Christmas Tunes playlist on Spotify.
The sounds of the season window is short at best, so we go all in December 1st through New Year’s Day.
Ho Ho Holly Jolly Santa sits holds court in the Places In The Home candy kitchen.
I wasn’t sure this particular holiday vignette would translate, but translate it does.
A wisp of whimsical paired with a spot of vintage in the spirit of bygone days fits perfectly into our Christmas motif.
Fresh, fragrant and fa la la la lovely – Christmas smells so good!
A tradition of sorts dating back to the days of Hopefully Classic, Dave the Builder picks up a fresh rosemary tree shaped in the form of a mini Christmas tree on his Black Friday run.
Fresh orange slices, ground cloves and bay leaves brought to a boil and left to a simmer.
Divine!
With only five days until Christmas, things are heating up in the Places In The Home kitchen.
Candies and cookies, and dishes, oh my waistline.
We’ll count calories in January, but for now we’ll feast upon traditional and regional holiday dishes in traditional tastes and colors of the season.
No respectable Southern cookie, candy and cake plate is without Kentucky bourbon balls, the quintessential southern Christmas goodie.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commandeered from Dave the Builders candy dish make a delicious addition to a cake mix sugar cookie.
Try, try as I may to deviate from a pastel palette of pink, French blue and winter white, the lifelong preference invariably wins out over traditional and new-traditional colors.
Walmart surprised and delighted the decorating and the savvy consumer side of my brain this holiday season.
I could not be more pleased with the presence and the price point of the tabletop pre-lit silver artificial tinsel Christmas tree and the Better Homes and Gardens holiday plate set.
We had a little “this never, ever happens here” excitement this week.
For a split second the Christmas Day forecast for Central Louisiana looked like we would need to break out the snow boots and snow booties.
Snow in Louisiana on Christmas Day?
Could it be that a miracle of snow on Places In The Home Street will take place?
Although it will not come to pass, the prospect of it could happen only adds to the excitement of a White Christmas.
I realize a gold picture frame with black and white zebras and a black and white photo of our son and his groomsmen does not necessarily qualify as a Christmas or holiday decoration, but leave it to me to find a way to incorporate it into an I’ll be home for Christmas theme.
With only five days until Christmas I suppose I should push back from the keyboard if for only a day or three to enjoy all the season has to offer.
May your holidays be merry and bright, safe and sound, healthy and happy and your heart always be Home for the Holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving my dear friends.
I count your friendship, loyal support and continued readership among the things I am grateful for.
Family will gather together here at Places In The Home to enjoy each other’s company, a Thanksgiving dinner with all the traditional trimmings guaranteed to please, and the Southern comforts of home we’ve come to love and appreciate.
May love of family and friends, health, the comforts of home, appreciation of beauty, and wealth in all of these richly touch and bless your life each and every day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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