Kelly's Korner idea

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been lurking on the site of one neat girl, Kelly (http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/), and she had a post this week where she shared pictures of her favorite room and asked us to do the same so here goes......

In all reality, my favorite room is probably my bedroom but it's not clean today so I'm going with our Great Room.

I first want to pass along something that I learned from my sweet friend, LeAnn, about decorating. She has a saying that goes like this...."having NO-thing is better than having the WRONG thing". This might be the first house that I've lived in that I've followed this rule to a tee. In the past, I would put the wrong thing in a spot just to have something. Now, I leave areas empty until I have just the right thing and, in this room, I've slowly but surely filled it up with the right stuff. LeAnn also says not to buy something unless you "LOVE" it.

I love this piece. It's really supposed to be a buffet for a Dining Room but, here, I've used it to anchor this really large wall (20 foot ceilings) and the flat screen TV (another love).

Here's an end view of this piece from the foyer and a sneak preview peek at the mantle....coming up next.

I love this "gate" - it was a Yard Sale find ($20.00) and then there's the portrait of my boys at ages 5 and 10. They are now 10 and 15 but, in all honesty, this picture was done so classically (Griggs Photography) that it doesn't even look as if it was taken that long ago. However, I do have plans to redo them this year. The other thing that I love on my mantle are these floral arrangements. I can't even tell you how much grief I've gotten over the years regarding the "dead birds" in these arrangements. I love, love, love PHEASANTS! They are so beautiful. I bought a whole garbage bag of pheasant carcus' on Ebay once. I've used the tail feathers in some things, I've made wreaths out of others and then finally took two of the whole bird(s) to my favorite floral designer (Chris at Trees 'n Trends). He is awesome. I take him items that I have (in this case, my dead birds, my old candlesticks and some greenery) and sometimes choose items from his store, I tell him what I have in mind (usually I just say "something unique") and he whips it up for me. He never disappoints...never!

I love my round(ish) sofa (and my sweet dog, Baxter, who didn't bother to move). I actually fell in love with a sofa at Crescent Furniture before we moved into this house. I saved for it and finally bought it only for it to fall almost completely apart. They were so good to allow me to choose another one and, truth be known, I think that I like this one better. And...just so you know, when you have a round(ish) sofa, you need a round coffee table or, in this case, ottomon to fit just right. I had a great square one that was chock full of storage but it just didn't work with the curve of the sofa. Oh...I also LOVE my laptop which you see in the floor. And, that rug, I'm not kidding was $19.00 at Southeastern Salvage. I wish I'd bought more than one and just use them as "disposables".

I love this cluster of Yard Sale and hand-me-down mirrors. I had them at our last house and just kind of re-placed them on a similar wall when we moved.

Last but not least, I love this chair. I had seen it at American Signature Furniture but could not, would not pay the price they were asking. I'd just look at it, sit in it and leave. Then one day I went into their clearance room (at the back of the store) and there it was. Believe it or not, I left there that day and didn't buy it. Don't ask me why!!! The next morning I called to see if it was still there and went to get it right away. The little side table is an antique which I inherited from my Grandmother's cousin, Anne. On top of it, alongside the neat finials, are a picture of my NaNa as a baby and her 1920's lamp. Underneath are more treasured things (my Childrens Living bible, my NaNa's bible, a crystal bowl that belonged to her and two pictures of my father-in-law as a child).

I think that's it; however, I am thinking that I should've done some close-ups of the pheasant arrangements and/or of the mantle altogether. Maybe I'll add that later.

Hey Nester...if you're out there...these are the windows that the lady wanted to charge $3400.00 for panels. I'm trying to get up the nerve to try some "Mistreatments" here.