You Asked for It

Due to request, I'm going to post pics of my home. Now, remember we moved in over the holidays. Seriously. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and up until New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. That's what ya get when you move yourself.

After moving, we did manage to buy a few pieces of furniture. Many of the pics below show the home before we moved in. Others show rooms as they were shortly after the move, so they, by no means, depict what the end result will be. But then, do they ever?

This is our entry. Our old home didn't have an entry, so I'm thrilled to have one now. This one is long enough and wide enough to furnish and accessorize in fun ways. The pic below shows a bench I bought on Craigslist. Isn't it neat? The cushion will be covered in ivory matelasse..

This is the kitchen before moving in. The counters are granite tile, and the backsplash is a tumbled marble with grayish-greenish, glass accent tiles. I don't know the name of the granite. It's not something I would choose, and I would prefer granite slab, but the tiles will do for now. The cabs are original. I don't mind the style, but I'm either going to do some sort of treatment to make them darker and richer, or I'm going to paint them white. The floor tiles are 16" square and new.


Below is the wonderful, pine hutch I bought off of Craigslist -- $125. I could barely contain myself when I found it at that price. I'm probably going to paint it white and accessorize it with creamy ironstone.

Sadly, the kitchen does not have a pantry. Thankfully, it's big enough for a free-standing pantry, so I bought a Thomasville armoire (Craigslist -- need you ask?) for just $199. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic -- sorry!

Below is the opposite end of the kitchen. There had been a wall between the kitchen and dining, and the previous owner (who bought the house to flip it), took out the wall and created a wonderfully large and open eat-in kitchen. This French country table and chair set was purchased at North Carolina Furniture Direct. It came with 6 armless chairs, 2 host/hostess chairs and two leaves. It's HUGE! The painting on the wall has been replaced with a much larger print. It adds a nice splash of color but will eventually go out on the sunporch when we find something permanent for the dining area. One of these days, we'll replace the chandelier.

Behind that wall in the eating area is the limestone fireplace. I'd never thought to paint out limestone to make it whiter, but it was one of the things we loved about the house. There is an alcove to the right of it, also backed in painted limestone. This view is from the living room, looking into the kitchen. The bar area needs some work, but we haven't quite decided what to do.

This shows the bar area with our stuff. The pedestal table was in our breakfast area in Amarillo. It fits perfectly here, and once the setting is complete, it'll be a wonderful place to sip a drink and serve appetizers while the bartender (hubby) tends bar.

The previous homeowners ran into some financial difficulty and finally could not keep up with repairs and upkeep. A year before we moved in, a home flipper purchased the house and redid just about everything. New fixtures, appliances, carpet, tile, and paint were all added in the year of the flip. One of the reasons the flip took so long was because the roof was replaced, and the foundation was repaired. The air conditioner is new, and even slate tile was installed on the large front porch. All the walls were painted the same pale gold color, which is easy to live with for now.

The living room pics are pretty inadequate, but you can get an idea of what's going on there. We never watch TV in that room and are inclined to turn the alcove next to the fireplace into a cozy reading nook.

Behind the floating sofa will be built-in bookcases, painted white. Though this house has a wonderful, open floor plan and is much larger than our house in Amarillo, it is severely short on storage. The bookcases will help address that issue.


I don't have good before pictures of the master bedroom. It is an awkward room that is long and narrow with ill-placed windows and doors to the closet and bathroom. In fact, this room was almost a deal-breaker for me. I'm not a big fan of placing beds in front of windows, yet the room offered no other solution.

It is a large room with dimensions of roughly 14"x22". While I love to see pics of luxurious bedrooms with beautiful seating areas, we just don't need that. Our closet, though a walk-in, is woefully inadequate. We miss our two, large, walk-in closets in Amarillo. One shared closet is fine in this warmer climate, but it needs to be thoroughly planned and organized. Eventually, we'll take the unused space at the end of our master and turn it into a great closet.

The master bedding is white. We bought the bed at World Market right when we moved; it has since been discontinued. Window treatments are simple, white sheets. I have continental rods to replace the current ones, and they'll be extended above the bed to frame it more effectively..

We have a new dresser on one side and will order a companion piece for the other. I bought the light wood version, which is currently painted chocolate brown. I'm inclined to inject a little surprise of color on the chest and its companion when it comes, but I won't spill the beans now.

This is just a small portion of Canyon Wren Cottage. There's so much to do to get it where we want it, but we'll get there. And you can watch the journey.