More excitement!

As you can see from the pictures of our home, we have a lot of windows - TALL windows.  Currently on the downstairs windows that can be seen from the front of the house, we have 96" panel curtains on them.  We get a lot of direct sunlight and although the curtains are not my favorite, they have served a purpose.  They help keep the rooms cool from the blaring sun and it keeps the furniture from fading also.  Thankfully, the previous home owner brought them back after closing and we were able to save ourselves a ton of money by putting them back up throughout the house.  Curtain panels are not cheap, especially the 96" ones!

However, I have never been in love with curtains.  I think they are pretty but I see them as dust magnets.  Thankfully my husband has a vacuum attachment that is safe for curtains and he tries to get rid of the weekly dust but if I had my way, we would have shutters on every window.  I grew up in a home that had shutters and I absolutely love them.  Not the big plantation shutters but the old style, colonial shutters that are double stacked and can open on the top and bottom as well as the individual shutters themselves.  You can let us much light in as you want, when you want with them.  You can also peep out one shutter without moving the entire panel in case you need to see who is knocking on your door on a lazy weekend morning.

Since we are sinking a ton of resources into our new furniture, we made the decision to go ahead and spend just a bit more to get what I have always wanted for the house - real.wood.colonial.shutters. YESSSSSSS!!!

If you aren't really sure what I mean when I say colonial shutters vs. plantation shutters, here is a picture from the company we are using:

I swear I just get giddy looking at this picture!  These too will take about six weeks to receive as they are custom made.  It will be well worth the wait, I can already tell!

Hammer and a nail

I did it! I put some holes in the wall and I wasn't even tearing down sheet rock!  The first set of tiny little holes went into my kitchen ceiling.  I collect friendship balls or witch balls as they are called in some areas of the country.  Mine come from a variety of locations - some are hand blown from artisans in Savannah, Georgia while others come from New England.  The witch ball is a hollow sphere of colored glass hung in the window of a house to protect it against witchcraft. The webs of blown glass inside the ball are there to catch the bad spirits. As best as I can tell, they originated in the 18th century.  Friendship balls do not have the webs and have been around since the 20th century.  I love them as they are each unique and are mesmerizing.

I was agonizing over where to put them and finally went with a corner of the kitchen eating area.  I was hoping for a place with more light but this is remotely familiar as it is about the same location I had them in our former home.  I still have a few more to put up and I am not sure where I'll put them but I must say it is nice to see them again.