My Little Princess Room!!

Here we are again with Kelly's Korner - "Show Us Where You Live" Friday!!! And this week is nursery or kids room. Well since I'm a Mammy and not a Mommy (well actually I am a Mommy but they are all married now!!) I am going to show you what I lovingly call " My Little Princess Room". I just felt so very blessed by God when He surprised us with this special room that He knew I wanted so very much! I looked very specifically for a home that actually had 2 separate play rooms. So that's exactly what God gave us!! This room is actually an oversized bedroom with huge closet and bathroom. It is right off our upstairs gameroom - which is the "other" playroom. I will show you my gameroom in a few weeks. Anyway...back to My Little Princess Room! I have dreamed of this room way before I had any female grandchildren. Now I have 5 granddaughers - all 5 yrs and under. And. They. Love. This. Room!!!! What little princess wouldn't!!! So let's go take a peek!!!

This is what you see as you enter The Little Princess Room!! All 5 of our granddaughters LOVE to perform for us - so of course we had to put their own little stage in there!! Pappy made a little corner stage and I painted it pink and purple. Pappy then cut out a "crown" top and I painted it silver and decorated it with many "jewels"!!! It's hard to see the jewels in the picture!! The two pink tie-back curtains are from Walmart! I bought them a microphone for when they are singing and they LOVE to stand up there and give personal preformances!!! The stand-up mirror came from Garden Ridge for around $40! The cute crystal and pink chandelier came from Lowes. The picture on the wall (right) is an old picture that used to hang in Ashley's bedroom when she was very young. It is titled, "Il Baccio" which means "The Kiss" in Italian.

'"The Kiss"

Now here is my 2nd most favorite part of the room! I only paid $85 for all 5 play kitchen pieces. I bought them at a garage sale for a preschool. They were the very light wood that many churches and preschools use for their "kitchen" equipment. I painted them all very whimsical in different bright colors. We have a fridge, stove/oven, hutch, sink cabinet, and ironing board and iron. They are all filled with dishes, pots and pans, play food, etc. I also got the white table with two chairs at a different garage sale. The run under the table is from Target!!

Robin's sister, Kelly, gave us this beautiful dresser with dressing mirror (that also has a bed and a tall chest. I just freshened up the white paint on it. I bought the little wicker rocker at an antique shop in Uvalde, TX.

In our wonderful new house - the one thing that I love so much is that ALL the closets are huge walk-in closets. The one attached to our Princess Room holds all the girls dress-up clothes. And to tell the truth - I have several boy costumes in there also - a Magician cape and a Cook's hat and jacket!! Some of the dress-up clothes came from garage sales - but I bought most of it online last Christmas. The girls LOVE dressing up! They all dress-up almost EVERY time they come to my house.

Well, that's about it for my Little Princess Room! Hope you liked it as much as I do! And my 5 sweet granddaughters!! If you are close by - I'm sure they would love to put on a little show for you - so come on by!!!
Mammy

P.S. Can't believe I wrote this whole blog post w/o saying Hobby Lobby one time!!!

I have really enjoyed Kelly's "Show Us Where You Live" Friday tours! Maybe I just like showing off my new house!!! My dining room is great - but just wait until we get to my Princess Room!!! Hmmm..not sure what "room" that will be included in. Guess you will need to just keep checking back each week!! My hubby is even getting into this tour!! I told him he needed to get his garage in order because "Garage" week was coming up! He was out painting his work bench the very next day!! Shhhh! Don't tell him it's not until July!

Anyway, back to my dining room. Not sure what "style" I would call my dining room. I think it's sort of a rustic, Tuscany Texas style! Can you have Tuscan and Texas in the same category! Oh yes you can! I had the privilege of going to Tuscany, Italy on our 35th wedding anniversary! I have lived in Texas for 25 yrs - and I think they are actually very similar! It's really a Hill Country Texas/Tuscan style - which is my favorite! Hope you enjoy!!

My dining room is not in a separate room with 4 walls. It is connected to my living room - separated by columns and arched walls. Here is my table. I've always wanted a round table so everyone of my guests (especially all my family!!) can actually see each other and all join in the conversation. I finally have a room big enough to accommodate a huge pedestal round table. It took me a while to make the decision to buy this table. It was out of our budget - but my sweet husband surprised me when he went and bought it one day without me. When I came home - it was sitting in my dining room!! I love that man!! We can seat 8 chairs comfortable around this table. I only keep 6 around it on a daily basis though - cause it tends to look like the "knights of the round table" with so many chairs.

Here's an upclose shot of my table pedestal. We bought this beautiful table at Laurie's Antiques in Tomball, TX. I mentioned Laurie's in the week of living rooms. I love a particular line of furniture that she carries from Sanfra Imports. They are new pieces but very rustic and very well built.

Here is a really upclose shot of the details on the table. I love the distressing and the plugs(*) in the table top! (*I know there is probably a better word than plugs - not sure what it is though!!)

I ordered my chairs from a wholesale company at Dallas Furniture Market. My friend, Sandy and I ordered the exact same chairs at the same time!! What a BARGAIN!! These sell for about $300 retail but were only $108 ea at Market!!! I love having friends that don't care if we have the same thing!! I love the twisted legs!! The seat is black leather and the back of the chair is that soft leather-look fabric. I have a chair in my living room out of the same fabric. All the chairs are large and have arms!! VERY comfy!!

The back of the chair.

Another view of my dining room

Another! And now I'll take you up close!

Here is an upclose of the tablescape! Yes, I really do keep it set like this all the time! You don't know how many years I waited to have a separate dining room so I could decorate it and let it stay "set"! I remember a lady's home years and years ago (I was a teenager) that did this - and I have always wanted to do it!!! I keep it like this year-round but add some specific appropriate decor at holiday times!! (see pic below for my Easter table!!) Hmmm.....better start looking for 4th of July decorations now....Hobby Lobby here I come!! ha!

This was my Easter table. Same everything that I decorate with on a daily basis - but I filled my goblets with Easter grass and put Easter eggs in the top of the goblet. I added other Easter bunnies, grass, and eggs around the centerpiece.

Here is my place setting up close. The placemat was the hardest to find! I needed a "brick" colored red and couldn't find it anywhere!! I finally found these online and ordered the placemats and matching napkins. The dinner place and salad plate both came from Hobby Lobby (1/2 price of course!) It's hard to tell in the picture but the dinner plate is brick red and the salad plate is a Tuscan brown. The goblet came from Walmart - bargain at only $1 each on the clearance aisle! The "fake" apple is also from Hobby Lobby. Believe or not, my 8 grandchildren NEVER bother all this stuff! Probably cause of they have their special places upstairs in their OWN space!! To be revealed on another tour!!!

This is the centerpiece. Guess where I got everything - Hobby Lobby 1/2 price - shocker I know!! The fabric is just that - a piece of fabric just swirled around and raw edges tucked under! The rectangle piece of pottery is hard to see - but is on this really unique iron stand. I then took a long garland of rustic looking berries around the bottom of the pottery. I then filled the pottery with candles and brick colored hydrangea flowers (all fake of course!) Then I added just a little greenery and even a feather sticking out from behind the tallest candle. Okay - now on to the wall decor.

This is the only "solid" wall in my dining room. You can tell in this picture that we have wainscoting around our room. The top wall color is Sherwin-Williams - Latte. The bottom is Sherwin-Williams - Hopsack. Once again - everything on that wall is from Hobby Lobby 1/2 price sale! The mirror has a really pretty metal rustic distressed frame around it. And yes, I did have a Christmas party with the sticker glue still on it. I totally forgot to get if off before the party!! Just keepin' it real folks!! The wall pedestals are out of that ceramic stuff that's so popular - also distressed. The pottery and dried florals - Hobby Lobby too!

Upclose of the wall pedestal.

This is one of my most favorite things in my dining room. It is an antique door from who-knows-where. It is very distressed and has rusty old hardware on it. We bought this at Canton (mentioned in last week's Guest Room tour) and yes, I paid too much for it. But I've wanted one forever. The back side is also just as cool.

When we moved in our brand new home - we replaced EVERY light fixture in the house!! Yeah, we're crazy like that! But we were sure to give all the old ones to a man that works for my husband and he was excited to put them in his home!! My dining room light fixture came from Lowe's. I love Lowe's lighting!! It is burnished wrought iron.

This is my window treatment over the only window in the dining room. It's about the only thing that I'm not crazy about!! I got really tired of my swaggy, drapy, window treatments that I had all over my other home and just "settled" for these. I do love the fabric which you can't see very well. It is a brick colored brocade. These were on sale at JC Penny!

And I'll end this tour with one of my favorite finds for my dining room! We have handscraped hardwood floors throughout most of the downstairs. I found this rug which I LOVE at Lowe's too! I looked long and hard for my rugs because I needed a very unusual color to coordinate with my other furniture. The rug has a brick colored background with tan paisley type swirls on it. Love it! Oh yeah - they are not from their in-stock rugs - I had to custom order them but they only took about 1 week to come in.

Well, once again -- I hope you enjoyed this tour of my dining room!! Come back next week for another one!!!

Hope you all have a fun-filled Memorial Day Weekend. We are going with 5 grandchildren and my daughter and son-in-law to my SIL's family farm. LOTS of porches there to rock and swing on!! I plan on loving on all my babies and gettin' in lots of porch-sittin' time with them!!

Mammy

HAPPY 9TH ANNIVERSARY CONN & ASHLEY!

On this day 9 years ago...we almost "floated" to your wedding!  We had worked so hard all week long (and months before) getting ready for your special day!  Ashley - Dad had built the gazebo that you had wanted so badly and it was so romantic with the lights, tulle and ivy.  The gigantic tent had been set up and decorated with yards and yards of tulle, ivy, and 10,000 lights!!  The dance floor had been built and custom painted just for you and Conn!  The 650 white wedding guest chairs had been arranged.  The caterer was set, as was the DJ and valet parking.  Brandon had mowed a 10 acre field next to us for parking.  Archways were decorated and paths were lit for all our special guests.  But just as we started the rehearsal on Friday night - it started to sprinkle.  Then the sprinkling got a little heavier so we shortened the rehearsal and headed to Landry's for a wonderful seafood rehearsal dinner....a seafood dinner that I could not even enjoy!  By then it was pouring - and I mean POURING!  The kind that drenches you if you run just 10 ft in the rain.  The kind that floods streets within the hour. The kind that covers a beautiful outside wedding with  water - lots of water!  We prayed through the night.  Well, not Conn cause he said he was never worried because he was getting married no matter what the weather was like and that's truly all he cared about!!   It didn't stop pouring until 3 am.  I know - cause all I could do was watch out the window and pray!!  I think I may have slept from 4-6am.  Then the gray Saturday morning came - no sunrise - just gray!  The weather man said it had rained 7 inches thru the night and was calling it a "weather phenomenon"!  Dad and I were numb.  We had no idea what to do or how to do it.  Should we move everything under the tent and just forget about the gazebo??  Should we "chance" it and pray that our 650 guests would not get soaked if it started to rain again??  Ashley, you didn't care....you and all your bridesmaids were going for mani/pedi's!  Dad and I prayed.  Then people just started showing up to help.  I don't remember calling anyone.  We had so many precious friends that were there to help us do whatever we needed.  I remember telling them - don't ask us what to do - just do whatever you think needs to be done!  Then Dad realized the field for parking was all mush and mud and all the cars would get stuck.  We had to re-route the way our guests would enter.  Our very dear friend,  Keith Sherman immediately knew that we were incapable at that point of making another decision - and he just took charge!!  My forever friend, Kathy just stayed in my house taking charge of everything/everyone coming and going!  We had to make drainage trenches just to get all the water out from under the tent.  When you would sit in a chair - the chair would start sinking in the mud!  So many precious friends helped us to get all this done in time for the wedding.  In our numbness - they all came forward and literally saved the day.  Somehow, thru God's grace and mercy, we actually started the wedding on time.  I remember the sun was peeking out and it actually was a beautiful, unusual sky that night.  And it was hot and humid!!!  But I remember as Dad escorted me to my seat before he went  back to "give you away", I sat down as my seat cushion squished with water.  I remember hearing all the locusts singing in the trees behind the gazebo.  I was exhausted both mentally and physically, but I stopped to thank God for that moment.  I thanked him first for stopping the rain.  I thanked him especially for all our special friends that came to our rescue!  I thanked him for you.  For giving us such a very special daughter that we cherished and that on this day we were "giving away" to this man!!  How in the world do you GIVE AWAY your daughter???  Dad and I both knew that this was right and God had given us His peace.  And even though we gave you away, we got back so much more!  We have been blessed for the past 9 yrs with another wonderful son that has treated you as a Queen!  But maybe the best surprise we received....are the three precious grandbabies that you and Conn have given us!  Lily, Maggie, and Cash bring such joy to our lives!  We thank God that He allowed the sun to peek through on that rainy day 9 years ago and we thank Him for all the love, joy, and memories that He has given us!!  You really did have your "Father of the Bride" fairytale, princess wedding!!!  Happy Anniversary!!!  We love you both!

Ashley having fun taking pictures on "her" day - totally oblivious to the rain and water issues we were all dealing with!!

Brandon snapped this picture right before Robin walked his "girlie-girl" down the aisle!!  This has always been one of my most favorite photos from Ashley's wedding day.  I call it "Sad Dad".  

Ashley and her bridesmaids and flower girl on her "custom" painted dance floor!!  Thank you Rhonda!!!

Our beautiful "princess" bride!!

Can't tell how many times Conn and Ashley acting silly - stood here months before the wedding "pretending" to get married!!  Now the seriousness of the "moment" is showing on their faces!!

All their very special friends in their wedding!!!

Their 1st dance as Mr. and Mrs. Conn McWhorter!!

And then the party began!!!  Ashley cheering Conn on as he "tries" to get her garter!!

Yep, he finally got it!

Ashley dancing with Cooper Smith!!  He's in high school now!!!!

Happy 9th Anniversary Conn & Ashley!! 

We love you!!!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - My Guest Room

Well, like Kelly - my guest room is not my most exciting room in my house. But that's just a shame - cause we really should do our best for our guest!! (Gee, I think that's a rhyme!!) In fact, it's the only room in our new home that's not really finished. But it will welcome sweet guests if you want to come visit!! My grandchildren all love spending the night with Mammy & Pappy and sleeping in this big bed!!

The bed is an iron bed that we bought right after we moved to the Houston area in 1984. We bought it on our very 1st trip to Canton which for those of you that don't live in Texas - is a HUGE outdoor flea market east of Dallas that takes place every month on the weekend that precedes the First Monday of the month. In fact, that's why it's called - - First Monday. If you EVER get the chance to go - DO IT! It has been going on forever - I think since the early 1900's. Seriously....people used to take their horses, cows, and chickens to the courthouse lawn and trade, buy, sell their animals on the 1st Monday of the month....so thru the years people eventually started adding antiques, etc and now it's on 100's of acres and you literally can't see it in one day! Anyway....back to my iron bed. We bought that bed 25 yrs ago and have been sleeping on it every night - up until a few months ago. This was only a double bed for the 1st 15 yrs or so that we slept on it. Then we finally bought a queen mattress and Robin took the side rails to an iron welding shop and had them cut and added 6" to the length to accommodate the queen mattress. We added some boards under the box springs because the mattress hung over 3" on each side. You put on big pillow shams and you can't even tell the mattress hangs over!! But in November we bought our very 1st (in 36+ yrs) king mattress set and king bed!! I love it. Robin hates it. We are big snugglers and he says he can't find me in that bed! But I do love to "sprawl" out and a king bed allows that!!! ha! Well, as I was sayin', about the bed.....it was an off-white for it's 1st 24 years. But about a year ago I painted it an oiled bronze color. Just plain old spray paint girls! Very easy to do! I got the comforter online - can't even remember the name of the website. The throw pillows all came from Hobby Lobby. The iron piece above the bed came from Garden Ridge and the curtains which are almost sheer came from Wal-Mart!! My husband, Robin built the end tables for us 25 yrs ago when we got the bed! There is a very special dresser on another wall that goes with the end table. Robin also built that for me for our 15th wedding anniversary!!

This was our bed for over 25 years!

This is the dresser that Robin built for me for our 15th wedding anniversary! When we moved he took the mirror out of the frame so it wouldn't get broken. But the mirror frame got broken instead!! He still needs to fix the frame and put the mirror back in. Oh yeah, the reason this picture is so bad is because I had to take it with my phone!!! My daughter, Ashley borrowed one of our lenses to use on her camera (her's broke). Ashley - I need my lens back so I don't have to put really bad pictures on my blog!!

I almost forgot about one of my most favorite things that I own that is also in our guest room!!! Many years ago, a very dear friend, Tis, bought this picture for me. Tis and I had seen it at an antique show and knew I could not afford to buy it on my budget. But I loved it so much and so Tis went all the way back to the show and bought it for me! That even makes it more special for me! But it is a sweet picture of titled, "The Ages of Love". It is a progression of one's life through the Ages Of Love. Below are some close-ups of each picture.


This is the 1st picture. This Age of Love is the love a child has for his/her mother. The little boy about age 3 is unashamedly giving his mother - his 1st love -a kiss!

This is the 2nd Age of Love. The little boy is now about about 12 or 13 and is giving his sweetheart flowers. The little girl is smelling one of the flowers. This is the little boy/young man's 2nd love.

The little boy and little girl grew up and this is the 3rd Age of Love - their wedding day!!!

Now the husband and wife have added another love to their love! They have a baby and this is the 4th Act of Love!

And this is the final Act of Love. Loving each other til the end! Old and gray - but still so in love!!


Well, thank you for touring my guest room! Don't feel bad if you don't have a guest room. I didn't have one either til all my kids got married and left us some spare bedrooms! But this little tour has made me reminisce over some much loved possessions of mine! The bed, the dresser and the picture have all been part of my marriage for many many years. Even though none are part of my bedroom any longer - they are still cherished and not forgotten! Hope you enjoyed this little tour!
~Mammy~

HAPPY 32nd BIRTHDAY DUSTIN!!

On my 23rd birthday I went into labor.  I knew it was about "that time" since my due date was 3 days away.  But my 1st baby had been 8 days late (yes, the drs let you go waaaayy overdue back then!).  Robin was working the night shift - actually he worked 2 jobs at that time.  Morning shift at one at night shift at the other!  I called him to tell him I thought I was in labor and he said to call him back if it was the "real" thing!!  You could sure tell this was our 2nd baby!  He wasn't in any hurry to come home!  So I finally called him several hours later and told him it was the "real deal"!  He reluctantly came home around 11pm.  We drove to the hospital and Dustin Philip Marler was born at 12:47am on May 12 weighing almost 9lbs.  My dad always said if it wasn't for daylight savings time - Dustin would have been born on my birthday - the day before.  But I was glad he had his own birthday!  

Dustin was our "happy" child.  He was so fun as a baby and as he grew he was a bundle of energy!  All of his teachers loved him!  All the kids loved him!  He was a CHARMER!  He learned very young how to work the ladies!!  All the little girls wanted to be his girlfriend!!  He loved high school - but mainly because of sports, his friends and ....the girls!  But he finally found the girl of his dreams when he met Kelly!  They quickly fell in love and were engaged within 2 months and married in 5 months!   Cade and Cole eventually made their family complete!  Dustin loves his family and spends every minute he can either playing with or coaching the boys or enjoying his time with Kelly! He is a great dad and a wonderful husband!  When he was in kindergarten his teacher wrote on his report card, "Hats off to you for raising such a happy child!"  We have joked for years repeating that phrase when talking about Dustin.  So now we can pass that compliment down to Dustin.  Hats of to you Dustin, for raising two wonderful sons and being a great dad and for being the best husband we have ever seen!!  You deserve to have a HUGE birthday today!! 

We love you!  

Mom and Dad

Dustin and Kelly on a cruise

Dustin & Kelly in Cozumel

Our fun cruise!

Kelly, Cade, Cole and Dustin 

Christmas 2008

Dustin & Kelly's wedding day 

December 31, 1998

Dustin and his boys - Cole & Cade

Dustin and his family!

Christmas 2008

Coach Dustin!

Happy Birthday Dustin  

We love you and are so very proud of you!!  

Mom & Dad