Welcome To On The Avenue Home Decor & Gifts. Years ago my husband and I bought our first home. It was a very old home and needed a lot of tender love and care. I had the vision of what I wanted and my husband was able to help me bring it to life. As we began building and creating items for our home, we had another idea..... What if we started our own business and offered our creations to others who share the same love and passion for decorating as we do. Here we are, 17 years later, sharing our creations and designs with friends everywhere.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Hello Everyone!
Welcome to ~Make Your House A Home~..... Our Saturday post where we share different ideas that make our house a home. Oh My Goodness, can you believe this heat???  Over 100 degrees and we are still in June.  YIKES!!!  I guess this is where we sit back, relax, sip an Ice Cold Lemonade and wait for Fall.... (Which is absolutely one of my favorite times of the year - WooHoo)

As most of you know we just moved into a new home.  It is actually a couple of years old, but is new to us and it is beautiful. Some dear friends of ours actually built this home a couple of years ago and did the most amazing job.  The longer we are here, the more we appreciate their attention to detail and how much love they put into their work.  We feel so blessed to have such an amazing HOME to raise our children in and to grow old together (even though that is many years down the road - LOL)

Decorating to me is a process.  When we first moved here, I quickly started adding all of my decor to the different areas of this house.  I have found myself moving things around until I get that "Just Right" feeling.  You all know that feeling...... when you look at something you have decorated and it just feels right!!!  I have been able to buy a few things here and there, but for the most part I have used everything I had in our old home.  Some of the decor may look a little familiar, but the home is totally different.  

Here are some fun pictures........
 I thought we could start with the Kitchen.  You may notice I didn't include any pictures of the kitchen sink..... That would be because it is full of dirty dishes and who wants to see our dirty dishes????  I don't!!
This is the first room we moved into.
My sweet niece Kasey helped me put all the kitchen trinkets away and it was the funnest afternoon visiting with her.  It is truly one of the first great memories I will always have of moving into this new home.  Thanks Miss Kasey!

We kept the same Kitchen Table that Eric built me (Which I Absolutely LOVE)  We only had three chairs (remember the ones I re-furbished?)  I decided to look around for some new chairs and Tadaaa!
I found these chairs at ShopKO.  Regular Price was $110.00, but I got them on clearance for $27.00.  Sweet Huh???
I added the small twig wreaths with burlap onto the back of each chair like I did in our other home.  LOVE This!!
I actually bought six chairs to go around my table and four more for the bar.  (Yes, I said Bar).  The bar is one of my favorite things in this house.  I grew up in a very small home and we have seven kids which made the home seem smaller at times......just ask my mom.  I have very fond memories of us kids sitting at the bar talking with my mom while she was making dinner or baking bread.  I remember her teaching me how to knead bread dough. I actually impressed Eric quite nicely the first time he saw me kneading bread dough like my mom did.  I have found myself already making many of those memories with my kiddos in the short time we have been here.  Today was our first cupcake baking/decorating event.  Chloee and I had a blast! 
I am so grateful for a wonderful Kitchen!
 We have lots of cabinets which has been really fun.  I actually have a couple drawers that are empty!!!!  
 I just had to bring my roosters along. 
I just Love them!!!
See this beautiful door?  There is actually a pantry behind it!!!  That is actually what allowed me to have a few extra empty drawers.  I hung a sunburst wreath with burlap on the front of the door and Tadaa!  Another fun project!
There are several spaces above the cabinets which I quickly filled up with all sorts of goodies.  Roosters, twig vines, twig balls, canisters, old milk jars, baskets, cookie jars and so much more.  
 These are the old milk jars my friend Amy sold on our blog - Super Cute Huh?

I have oodles of counter space, so why not put as many decorations on them as I can?  (As long as I leave plenty of space for baking during the holiday season)




One more fun thing I put in my Kitchen is this Bookcase!  This bookcase was built for my boys room, spent some time in Chloee's last bedroom and is now standing proudly in the corner of our kitchen.  I purchased the three baskets at Joann Fabric (for 60% Off - which makes me love them even more)  and added a few more roosters, berries, moss and twig balls.  The dark brown on the baskets matches the chairs around our table.  Perfect Match!!!


Well, that is going to be all for today!!  Dinner really needs to be made and laundry really needs to be folded.
I am so grateful for the home we have now and for the one we spent the last sixteen years in.  We have been sheltered from the winter cold, the summer heat, the crazy world and have been so blessed as a family.  We are so grateful for our dear friends who built this beautiful home we now call ours.  They are so dear to us and we are so grateful  for all of their sacrifice and hard work which our family is enjoying now.  Our Home truly is more than a house.  It is a place where love is shared, chores are done (with a little encouragement),  teaching and learning takes place and mealtimes are precious..... but most of all.... a place where our family can create memories that will last forever.  We so very grateful for our blessings!!

May each of you find joy in your homes.  Whether they be old or new, small or large, remember......it really is the feeling inside a house that makes it a home....
(Well and a cute rooster or two)

~Mandy~

No comments:

Post a Comment