♥ Happy 4th of July ♥

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.

Psalm 33:12

God bless America!  And God bless our military families that serve our country!  Thank YOU for your sacrifices daily!

From our family to yours.....a Happy 4th of July (Independence Day)!   Next to Christmas, this is my favorite holiday!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥ 

♥ Giveaway Goodies in the Mail ♥

It's always a pleasant surprise when our mail lady actually pulls in our driveway and honks her horn.  That means there's something that she's got for us that won't fit in the mailbox!  And that's usually a good thing!

I recently was one of the lucky winners of my blogging friend, Allison's giveaway (Sew Many Girls).  Much of it was a surprise to me!  I was thrilled to get this package in the mail.  Thanks, Allison!  :)

I was so anxious to decorate with my giveaway goodies that I forgot to get a picture of them all grouped together before I had them placed around my house.  So I'm going to show you where their new home is now.......

These darling homespun tulips on a rustic twig are now in my dining room in the crock on my hutch.  Love these! 

The adorable pinwheels, also on a rustic twig, I placed in a crock on the wooden crates in the living room. 

The little Americana rag doll is tucked cozily inside an Americana basket on the side table beside the couch.

And last of all, Allison also included a pennies mat kit!  I'm excited to give this a try!

Thanks again, Allison!  :)

************************************************* 

 

I have another wonderful guest joining me tomorrow for a Sunporch Chat.  I hope you will stop by and join us in the morning!  I'll have cake and coffee waiting on you!  :)

 

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ For Sale ♥

I’ve never done this before on my blog, but I guess there’s always a first time for everything. I figure someone might be interested. :)

Since we just completed our new staircase right before time to decorate for Christmas, the “everyday” Americana decorations that graced the staircase, were put away in a Rubbermaid box during the Christmas season. Well, after we took down all the Christmas décor earlier this month, I realized that the staircase now just needs a different look. I still have the Americana in my living room, but I’d like to create more of a rustic cabin look with a touch of primitive in that area. That decision left me with a few Americana items that I have no room to store. So, I thought I’d show them here and see if anyone is interested.

I'm still without my camera, so these were taken with a phone camera....so not the best quality.  And please excuse the dust.  :)



SOLD

SOLD





All SOLD

SOLD



SOLD



SOLD

SOLD



SOLD

Still available....$6 plus shipping.

If you see something you’d like, just email me at countrygirlathome@att.net make me an offer.  Give me your address, and I’ll get a shipping price for you too.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Happy Tuesday!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥ 

A Small Change

Sometimes the simplest tweaking can make such a difference!

The flags on the bobbins and candlesticks came from my mom and dad for our anniversary.  I fell in love with those at the antique gallery and I could just picture those on the mantle. So I was really tickled to get these for our anniversary.  Isn't it funny how the anniversary gifts are usually geared more towards the wife than the husband.  :)  I'd love to see some gameboards up there, but this is a step in the right direction.

And I moved the geraniums in the picnic basket from my sunporch to the hearth on the little bench.

This splash of color was just enough to make me happy( for now).

Of course, fall is coming, so who knows what will come next.......  :)

************************************************************************************************************

I'd love for you to join me for Pinned it, Made it! Monday.  I should have that ready for link-up sometime Sunday night.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  :)

Linking with Sunny Simple Life.

♥ Tammy ♥

My New (Johnston Benchworks) Furniture!

I can’t believe after wishing for Johnston Benchworks furniture for so long that it’s finally sitting in my living room! The day after it was delivered, we left to go out of town for the funeral of my aunt and uncle. So I’m really just now soaking it in. It sure was nice to come home to though!

I know it’s the pictures you really want to see, so I’ll just oblige you with those right now. :)

It is all still a work in progress. Now I have the furniture and it’s time to change out some of the wall décor. It will definitely still have an Americana feel but I would like to add more gameboards. I already purchased a George Washington oil painting which needs to be stretched and framed.  I will be on the look-out for side tables.  And I'm not so sure about the cedar chest in the middle of the room now either.   But those things will just be icing on the cake.  :)

The sofa is the Chippendale long sofa. The legs on all the furniture are the Wheat Oak grooved.  Ever since we built this house (actually before that), I’ve wanted a red checked couch. I LOVE this couch! I can’t stop looking at it. The fabric is in the Steiger Check Red. Did I tell you that I love my red checked couch?  :)

The fireside chair definitely needs a throw pillow. I’m working on that too. This chair is the Miller’s Creek Wing Chair and I love the way it envelopes me when I sit in it. It is so comfortable! We purchased extra fabric with the intention of Jason building me a stool that we will have covered in the same fabric, which is Liberty Check.  Color is called Brazen.

These two recliner chairs are the Maple Springs Recliners.   They are comfortable too. I was a little worried about the comfort since we had never sat in one, but they are comfortable!  They only recline to one position but I'm already used to that.  Even Jason says they are comfortable.  I loved this fabric with the sofa!  It is called Colony Mustard.  This is one fabric that I was absolutely sure of and didn't waiver from when deciding on color choices with my red sofa.  I knew I wanted it in there somewhere somehow.  

I had to look around the house for something to use for a table in between the chairs.  The baskets I had there stacked just didn't look right with these chairs.  The outlet definitely needs to be covered too.  This will most likely be changing over time, but it works for now.

Our next project in the house will be to remove the wallpaper from the foyer/stair area, paint the walls, encase the windows above it in wood, and put wooden treads on the staircase. I think removing the old gray carpet and the dated wallpaper will make a big difference. The plan was to do this before the furniture arrived, but as you know, we’ve had unplanned circumstances these past few months.  So we will be covering furniture and digging into another home improvement project.  Nothing unusual for us, I suppose.  :)

And I'll let you in on a secret because we all know that Johnston Benchworks furniture doesn't come just real cheap......Or at least I didn't know it, but was thrilled to find out!  We purchased our furniture through American Heritage Crafters.  We stumbled upon their sale in March.  Because they are the largest dealers of Johnston Benchworks furniture, they are able to offer a huge sale every March and October.  They offer a buy one piece of JB at full price and get the next equal or lesser value piece for free.  In our case, we purchased the sofa, and got the fireside chair free.  We purchased one recliner and received the other free.  We had to pay to have it shipped (and wait for the truck to be in our area), but still saved over $2000.   This actually made it not that much more expensive than most furniture.....maybe just a little, but much more within our budget range anyway.  Ask for Kathy and tell her I sent you!  :)  And Kris (the designer there) was also wonderful in helping with color choices from a designer's point of view.  They were so pleasant to work with.  And the delivery company (Alpha and Omega) did a great job with their "white glove delivery" and were very careful and thorough in moving the furniture in.

And I also want to say that if you are ever anywhere near Clinton, Tennessee, check out The Speckled Hen.  Sharon, the owner, is wonderful too.  She was very helpful to me as I was deciding on furniture and we had the privilege of visiting her store.  She also sells Johnston Benchworks, as well as many other wonderful primitives there!  If you are ever near there, don't miss her store!  And if you aren't near there, you can still shop with her online.   I have a wish list from there now!

As you can probably guess, I’m kind of floating on clouds these days. I am SO thrilled and SO thankful for my Johnston Benchworks furniture!  Waiting (forever) was well worth it. :)

Thanks for stopping by......and for waiting so patiently on the pictures until I could get back home and get them posted!  Have a great day!  :)

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue....

Did you think someone was getting married? Sorry, I just had to use that title for today's post.....it somehow fit! :)

I've been eyeing this bench for awhile now thinking that it needs help! It is in my foyer. The way our house is designed, you walk right in the front door into the foyer which is all open and steps down into the living room, which you know is decorated prim Americana. The colors in there are beige, navy, red, and colonial blue. I've had this bench for a long, long time. I really like all of Rondell's blue (and the blue cupboard Jason made my mom that I had to give up), and was thinking that I just might give it a coat of colonial blue paint. There are quite a few hearts on there, so I'm not sure what I'll do with those. They may just have to stay. What do you think, should I paint it blue? And if you have any great ideas for the hearts, I'd love to hear it! That's "the old" for today's post.



Now for the new. When I went to the antique gallery and bought the little bench that I ended up putting on the hearth of the fireplace, I also picked up this picture. I kept walking by it and being drawn to it. When I looked on the descriptive tag, it said, "Colonial Picture". No wonder it caught my eye. I just loved the people in it and the colors and I could just imagine all sorts of history when I looked at it. Well the last time I walked by and looked at it, the owner of that booth happened to be in there and she said if I wanted that picture, I could have it at 20% off, so I had to bring it home. I got it for $9.40. I ended up hanging it on the little wall between my staircase and hallway. I decided to just let it stand alone (for now anyway). I'm trying to decide whether to paint the frame or not....what do you think.....the same dark navy that my long shelf is behind the couch....colonial blue....or leave it alone? That's "the new". Well it's new to me!



Now for "the borrowed". The borrowed started off as borrowed from my mom's house and ended up in a trade. I traded her a bunny decked out in a blue and yellow dress for this crock. I added it to the foyer. It is straight ahead as you walk through the front door.



And finally, my "something blue" doesn't have anything to do with decorating (well I guess contemplating painting the bench blue could fit that bill), this one is about Joy. Monday night she tested for her blue belt in taekwondo. Testing had been scheduled for the day we had Super Saturday VBS, so they arranged a special testing for her and this was it. Here she is during testing (with her green belt still). It's so hot these days inside the building, that they are allowing them to just wear a T-shirt instead of the entire uniform.



And Ms. Jane presenting Joy with her blue belt. They always put the old belt around their neck. Can you tell by that smile how happy she was to move on to blue?



She's been white, yellow, orange, green, and now blue. The hardest (and longest to achieve) are still yet to come.....purple, brown, red, and black.

**********************************************************************************

I hope you're all staying cool! It is super hot here today! I'm so thankful for air conditioning! Have a great Thursday, everyone! :)

~ Tammy ~

More Americana....

The other day my friend, Lori, and I had a fun outing to an antique gallery. She was looking for a chest, which she found....and more! Wish I had gotten a picture of that! She got a great deal on it too!

I was looking for a little something to go on the floor of my bathroom that would hold towels. I found a little bench that I just fell in love with! I also found a wire basket that I intended to sit on top of it to hold the towels rolled up. Well I got it home, and the color of the bench that I thought to have more green tones looked very blue gray in my bathroom. I don't know if it was the lights or if it just depended on what was sitting next to it. Anyway, next to my shower curtain, I really wasn't pleased with it there in the bathroom, so I found another home for it.

For now, it's on the hearth of my fireplace. Sitting on it is a stitchery given to me by a friend I met through blogging (Janet) and an Americana birdhouse.



The wire basket found a home on the chest-turned-coffee table. I gathered some things around the house to come up with an arrangement.





And being the lover of books that I am (and homeschooling mom), I love to just slip books out on the coffee table for the season. They make great decorations AND everyone just picks them up and reads them because they catch their eye and then curiosity kicks in! It's great for the parents of piano students to pass the time while they wait too. The books you'll find on our cedar chest coffee table right now are:

By the Dawn's Early Light (The Story of the Star Spangled Banner),



America A Patriotic Primer written by Lynne Cheney (the former Vice President's wife),



In God We Trust (Stories of Faith in American History),



Lives of the Presidents (Fame, Shame, and What the Neighbors Thought),



And It Happened in America (True Stories from the Fifty States).



And although I don't have it hung yet, I couldn't wait to show this to you. This was sent to me by Mary of Gettysburg Homestead. I admired this dress from the first time I ever saw her list it on her website. I received a package in the mail from Mary and this wonderful Americana dress was inside! I was so excited!



See that shelf up there in the living room behind the couch?



Jason is going to add beadboard backing under it with pegs for hanging prim goodies. This dress will have a place of honor on one of those pegs when it's finished. I'll show it to when it's hung in it's place of honor, but I just couldn't wait until then to show you the dress! Thank you, Mary!

And here's an Americana spot outside. You saw this last year and it really hasn't changed much since last summer, but I pass by this every time I walk in to my house from the carport and I can see it out my kitchen window.



The roses have bloomed off and on all summer, and don't look quite as well now as they have in the past few weeks, but I sure have enjoyed my knock out roses.



Now, if I can just win that giveaway of Kim's over at Palmer Falls Primitives...I'll have it made........with even MORE AMERICANA! :)

A Wonderful Americana Giveaway

If you haven't seen it yet, you simply must check out this wonderful giveaway! Americana decor rates right up there with Christmas decor for me! Included in the giveaway are all handmades by Palmer Falls Primitives! Kim has a wonderful blog! I can tell that Americana is close to her heart too! I like that!



Okay, I'm telling you about her giveaway, but I really think it should come home with me.....but go on over and sign up anyway! :)

Have a great Monday!

Americana & a Little Crafting Too

Okay, I know it's ALWAYS decorated prim Americana, but I really never tire of it! It's my fireplace and entire living room. I do want to make some changes in here, however. I'd like to add a picture of George and Abe near my Declaration of Independence that I hung. (Sorry no pictures of that until I actually get George and Abe there). So although I'll be tweaking with things on the mantel and entire living room from time to time, I have no plans of changing it from prim Americana. I love my Americana! I just loved the house featured in the last Country Sampler issue (Cheryl's home, I believe). Loved it!



I did stick this little quilted flag (another GW find that I had tucked away) in the crock on my crates beside the fireplace too. Again, I haven't tea dyed the flag. I still don't know how I feel about it...it's really hard to resist though! :)



I would love to add some Americana type gameboards somewhere either in my living room or on the staircase wall in the foyer.

Speaking of the foyer, this is the decor on the staircase landing. You've seen it before, and the only thing that's probably changed is what's on the floor. I'm forever moving things there around!



My kitchen table has been covered for the last two days with crafting stuff! It kind of makes it hard to eat. We have to push things around, or eat in the dining room. It would be nice to have a crafting room downstairs. I find that I just won't haul everything upstairs to work on it (where I have a table), so it ends up here at my kitchen table, where I can be near everyone else!

I spray painted this candle holder black. I forget what type of candle holder it's called. Someone help me out here! It used to be brass. I have plans for some rose hips to go in the little tray part and a grubby candle. It will probably go in my bathroom (on my new prim cabinet that Jason built me)...Yay! :)



It seems like I'm always painting frames that I find at GW. My kids' friends are used to seeing frames being painted on my kitchen table! Joy's friend, Molly Grace, asked her why her mom was always painting frames! Now, she always comments on them! :)



I have several wooden spoons from GW also, so I was playing around here. One of them I stained and the other has a mixture of black paint and stain.



Does anyone else actually use their kitchen table or do you all have nice little craft rooms where you work? One of these days, I might, but for now, this will have to do!

I love this pantry sign that Becca made me awhile back! I kept passing by and thinking I might add a little stain to it to tone down the off white a little. I did and I love the look even more, especially against the red door. I don't even think Jason has noticed it yet! :)



Oh, and yesterday I picked up this at Gordman's on their clearance rack. I don't know yet where it will go, but for $3, I couldn't pass it up!



I love to pop in there and browse their clearance section. It looks like they're fading out alot of their primitive decor! Sigh! I love buying handmades for the most part, but I can't always afford to buy that way, and so shopping Gordman's clearance section has helped me add to my prim decor!

Some blogging friends have asked about my bathroom. It's coming along! Kindra is making me a couple of goodies for it and I'm adding some finds and makeovers. Jason added a toilet paper holder to the side of the vanity cabinet. I really promise to show it to you soon! Be patient with me as I put all the finishing touches on!

Okay...here's one more little sneak peek. It's the shower curtain. I really really love the pattern of my kitchen curtains, so this was the winner for my bathroom...it's Park Design's Cinnamon.




Well that's about it around here for today! I hope you all stay cool, and have a great Wednesday! :) I'm stopping by GW today so wish me luck!

~ Tammy ~