The Last Home Tour--Other Areas

Well..this is the final posting for the home tour over at Natalie's Extraordinary Love blog..I've had so much fun participating and don't know what I'm going to do for a tuesday post now!!  Anyways..since I didn't start participating until week 2 I believe it was..I missed out on the outdoor areas.  The one thing I am and have been VERY eager to show off is the homemade fountain my hubby made for me a couple weeks ago!!  I just LOVE it and its so pretty and looks just like it belongs..you know?  Here is a picture of it once we got everything pretty much the way we wanted..for now!

Also, like Natalie, an area in my house I didn't show off before was my small pantry area.  In our old house we rented, I pretty much had a whole, small room just for my pantry.  It was sooo cute..I had it decked out in gingerbread..painted the walls brown and had grapevine draped across the top of the walls for a "primitive" look.  Adorable!  In our new place..I have a small area where I put my pantry cabinet between the kitchen and dining rooms.  Since it sort of had its own little "space"..I decided to go ahead and keep my gingerbread theme and decorate as so!  Its a cute little "nook", imo! 

Hope you've enjoyed seeing the extra 'spaces' here at Country Roads!!  Ta-ta for now!

Home Tour--Laundry Room

Today we'll be touring the laundry area of everyone's home.  If you haven't participated in Natalie's home tour posts now is the time to join up!!  Its been alot of fun looking at pictures of everyone's homes the past several weeks and gaining some neat ideas on decorating!!  I don't know about everyone else..but I'm sure going to miss the home tour posts (what will we do on tuesdays?!?)!!

Ok..so let me explain a little about my laundry room first.  When we moved into our home..the gray tile looking paneling thats in our kitchen was continued into the laundry room (its located right off my kitchen).  Well..I'm not totally crazy about that paneling.  For the kitchen..its ok..for now I guess..so I left it alone when I went a-paintin' before we got our furniture and selves moved in.  The laundry room though..I just couldn't stand it in there.  The laundry room at our home is small..smaller than what I was used to with our rental house before..and there are no windows (unless you count the small window on the door..our back entrance door is located in here).  So..the gray paneling in a room with no windows..just made the room that much darker of an area.  And I don't know about yall..but I like a bright and cheery place where I do my laundry!  So..my solution?  I thought ok..since its such a small room and needs to be brightened up..I'm gonna go completely crazy and paint the room my favorite color.  ORANGE!  Yes folks you read right..I painted my laundry room orange.  It was hilarious when my dad was helping out with the painting we were doing and opened up the paint can.  He called out to me and was like "Mel..are..you......is THIS what you wanted?!".  He was rather puzzled by my color choice because well..its pretty bold..hehe!  And if your asking yourself if I like Rachael Ray since she also has a love of orange..the answer is a definte YES (I have her orange pots and pans currently)!  Anyways..enough rambling about my choice in color!  But before I show you my pictures..I do want to say I've been recently thinking of repainting the room since like I said before, it is so small and wouldn't take alot of paint or time to do.  My thinking?  Red perhaps..what do you guys think?  I love input!!  Onto some pictures!

                                                     (As you first walk in from the kitchen)

(The good ol' washer and dryer..nothing fancy here really)

(My laundry room "accessories"..old fashioned wash boards!)

Thats about it for my laundry room..I know its not much, but its my little corner of the house where I do spend ALOT of time!!  The one thing I can say about having my laundry room by the back door is that its very easy access when I go outside to hang clothes out to dry!!

Hope everyone has a great tuesday!

Home Tour--Bathroom Edition

This week we'll be touring our bathrooms!  I've been kinda looking forward to this post in particular because I ordered a new shower curtain, rug, and valance just recently and have been wanting to show it off!  In case you haven't stopped by Natalie's blog at Extraordinary Love, I recommend you head over..she's got a great blog and I enjoy reading her posts often!! 

I'll start with the master bathroom at our place.  I'm so happy to have 2 bathrooms in our home..in the rental house we lived in for about 8 years previously, we only had one bathroom and it was SO TINY!  Granted, ours here isn't a huge luxury suite, but it sure does feel like it compared to the old one!!  The one thing I'd like to change in this room is the flooring!  Its nice wood floors granted, but they are the lightest of the light..and well since I'm a gal with long brown hair and my furbaby has mostly black hair..you can imagine it never looks clean in there no matter how many times I mop and sweep!  Any ideas for an affordable alternative?  The bath set I purchased for the summer months was, you guessed it, americana!  I sure hope yall aren't getting tired of my love of americana..I promise any other time of the year I go with different themes (you should see my house for Christmas..hey Natalie..christmas home tours in the future, perhaps?).  But anyhow..this is my new shower curtain....

The mirror above the sink and tiny window w/new valance...

Other corner of the bathroom...

My removeable "wall art"..I just love this!!  Its above our bathtub...

And the bath rug in front of the sink..

Now onto the 2nd bathroom of the house..I must say I'm rather proud of this room because several months back, we sort of did a small remodel in here!  Painted the walls, the cabinets, and I (yes..ME!!) laid down some peel and stick tile over the exisiting dingy, white, gross linoleum that was in there.  The paint went over white floral bathroom paneling (YUCK!) and though I don't feel pictures does this room justice at all..I still smile each time I walk into this bathroom because I know how it used to look!  I just wished I had took "before" pictures..of course I think I would have been too embarrassed for anyone to have seen..it was terrible!  Couple things we've thought about doing sometime in the future (when money allows) would be to replace the sink top and toliet with newer ones that would match better with the new theme..and possibly rip out the HUGE corner shower unit that literally takes up half the bathroom..which its a pretty small bathroom to start with.  It would open up the room alot and would be neat to put one of those decorative ladders in there or something practical like a small storage cabinet for linens.  Anyways enough of me rambling!  Onto the bathroom..which btw..this is Damon's bathroom..and its themed in bears which is fitting since my nickname for him is Bear!!

As you walk in this is how it looks...

Cute little "tree-like" towel holder and bear picture...

Another cute bear picture...

Close up of the cabinet I painted...

The sink area...

Home Tour--Bedrooms

Its another week of sharing our homes over at the Home Tour series at Natalie's Extraordinary Love blog!  I have two rooms I'll be sharing with everyone this week and I'll be honest..they aren't much to brag about!  The first room is my husband's "hunting room"/guest room.  We bought a futon last summer while he was laid off from his job..it was about all we could afford at the time and though its functional for the room..its not how I would go about decorating it!  Then again..thats why its his room! 

The second room I'll be showing is my room/crafting room.  My sewing machine has its home in here..which I love having it by the window so I can look out into our backyard while sewing if I wish! 

Also my makeup vanity is in this room.  It makes getting ready so much easier since my husband works the night shift and I have to get ready in another room other than our master bedroom! 

Our cat, Thomas, is currently taking up residence in my little room.  When I went to feed him today outside (he's an outside boy) I discovered he was limping pretty badly.  We can't find a thing wrong with him and he doesn't seem to be in any pain whatsoever..so we're going to give it a few days and thought it would be a good idea if he rested indoors so as to not try to overdo it!  Lately he had gotten into the habit of getting up onto one of our smaller buildings that contains our well (think Snoopy).  So we're thinking he may have possibly sprained a muscle jumping off the building!  Please pray for our little guy!!

The one thing about my room I'm not crazy about is the use of 2 different types of paneling (can we say..YUCK! and 'what were the previous owners thinking?').  I'd love to paint this room but haven't been able to decide on a color for a couple reasons.  One..I don't want anything too dark b/c this room is the darkest room of the house (it gets the least amount of natural light)..and since I feel like I've used cream in enough rooms of the house already..I really don't want do paint this room that color!  The second reason..if we ever have a little "bundle of joy"..this room will probably be his/her room..so I have that to think about as well!  Any suggestions?

Hope you enjoyed the tour!  In case you've missed any of my previous posts of the home tour, you can still check out the Master Bedroom, Living Areas, and Kitchen/Dining Rooms!  Hope to see you next week!

Home Tour--Master Bedroom

Today we'll be visiting my master bedroom in the home tour over at the blog, Extraordinary Love.  Hope you'll join along in tour!!  The first picture is how our bedroom looks as you walk through the door from the living room.  I've got it decked out in, what else, americana! 

I made a couple of wall signs a few years back using the tea staining method I read about online.  So simple and so fun..though I can't remember step by step how I did it now..but it wasn't hard I promise!  Here is one of them.

This picture is beside our bed..I love the sign I bought in Amish Country a couple years ago hanging above our dresser chest.

Looking towards the master bath..you can see my jewelry armorie in the distance..

Overall I really like our master bedroom.  When we first got our house last year..I thought for sure I'd be wanting to paint over the wood paneling in here...but after I got my decor in place..I thought it actually went with everything pretty well!  Though its not exactly what I'd pick myself..its alright, imo!  The couple things I wish is that our bedroom was bigger (would be nice to fit a little loveseat and a blanket chest at the foot of the bed) and that we had another window!  I dont think I've ever seen a bedroom with just one window before..odd..but then again the previous owners were quite odd in how they did things with our place!

Hope you enjoyed the tour..see you again next week!!