Happy New Year....

Wishing everyone a wonderful NEW YEAR!!

Here is to 2015

Thanks to those of you that stop by and see what we have been up to in the Country.

I appreciate your following along, your comments, and your interest.

Merry Christmas from the Country

Imagine a young girl named Mary looking at her son and thinking,

" Look at your hands so small, one day they will stretch out and save us all"

(From the song, "You're Here")

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

A modern renovation and some festive decorating

I am excited to share my son and daughter in laws house with you today!  and it is a step outside of my country/farmhouse style that you will see on my blog.  BUT it was so much fun to help this young couple renovate their home.  We all shared ideas on what to do and it really was a family affair,,,,,of course,,,,Darrell was the hard work behind it all!! ( and he is now working on son #2 house, which is just down the street from son #1!!  )


Unfortunately, I don't have alot of pictures of the before.  The house is only about 900 square feet per floor and I guess would be referred to as a three level split.  Built in the early 1980's .

This is the front of the house before

Some modern touches to really bring this house into 2015
Darker grey siding and the alcove done with pine slats

Kaleb and Jami were hosting a Christmas party and asked me to help them with
decorating.  They wanted it festive, but not {Christmasy}, so you can get in on the
modern take on decorating here as well.


The young 20 something homeowners...

Come on in...

Unfortunately, there were not very many "before" pictures taken of this reno.

So you will have to just imagine the changes!

The biggest one was taking out a tall pantry in the kitchen, you would not have

been able to see the back wall with the NOEL on it before.

Getting rid of that tall pantry really opened up the space.

The stairs goes up to the floor that has 2 bedrooms, one which was

turned into an office, a bathroom, and the dining room.

Taking off the drywall that was on this beam was what inspired more

of the wood feel in the house.  A decision that gives a nice

warm feel to the white and grey walls.

This is the view from the living room to the front door.

Matching flooring throughout the 2 levels make it

look larger and brings out the wood color in the beam.

And from the front door looking back to the living room,

a pretty small footprint but it works good for them.

Darrell had fun making a pallett Christmas tree and the 

NOEL letters that you will see in the kitchen.

The stairs leads down to the 3rd level.

They decided to move their master suite downstairs,

and it takes up the main area.  Ensuite bathroom and another spare room

houses a big walk in closet and dressing area.

Ikea kitchen cabinets,  range and stove open up the biggest 

change in the kitchen.  Where Kaleb is standing is where the

tall pantry used to be. It now is an open work space with drawers and the

microwave is built in on the other side keeping it out of sight.

The pantry area where the fridge is used to be a large window.

Closing it off and putting two narrow frosted windows flanking the range

gives more space and balances out the room.

Kaleb and Darrell came up with some industrial looking fixtures for the
kitchen, dining room and entrance.

 The dining room is clean and simple

A set of Elk antlers above Ikea cupboards complete the dining room

My touch of festive, but not Christmasy decorating....

Main floor bathroom

They just had someone re paint the tub surround in white

Goes well with the Ikea cabinet and square sink top

Sorry about the picture over load, but it was fun to share this reno with you.

Darrell has now moved down the street to Ben and Faith's house where they

are busy painting and doing some changes to their home!

{Merry Modern Christmas}

Sharing at these blog parties:

Its a Party

Your Turn to Shine

Simple n Sweet Fridays

Upcycle at Funky Junk

Frosty Day in the Country

When I drove home from work yesterday and the fog started to come in, I knew we would wake up to a nice frosty morning.  Mother Nature is the best at decorating for the holidays!  Have a sparkly kinda day everyone!

Simple Christmas Mantel

This year we have a finished fireplace and mantel !!  I love this feature wall in our home, it makes it cozy and is a wonderful spot to enjoy a cuppa tea, read a book, visit with friends and is a nice view from our big island.

My inspiration for the mantel started with a trip to Ikea, and purchasing the white baskets and the simple faux "Charlie Brown" like Christmas trees.  From there I just used white candles, some new snow flake lanterns purchased for $4.50 at Superstore, pinecones, boards from an old gate that Darrell refurbished with some stain and paint, and a wreath to finish it off.

The view from the kitchen area

I added this old washtub stand as a coffee table in this area.

It was headed to the dumpster and Darrell and a co worker flipped 

a coin for it!  Darrell was the lucky winner!

Had a piece of glass cut for the top... $45

I am liking the woodland and muted tones of this years mantel.

More around the house Christmas stuff {here} and {here}

Linking up to :

Amaze me Monday

Mosaic Monday

Simple and Sweet Fridays

Your Turn to Shine

Farmgirl Friday

Simple Christmas

Rustic Christmas

Every Room in the House

Dressing up the Book Shelves

I am slowly getting the finishing touches on the decorating department around here.  Then I am off to KnJ's house to help them get their place festive...but not too Christmasy as my son put it!  They have a great style of modern, clean lines goin on at their house and I love it as well!   It has been fun helping them with their reno ideas and decorating in a different style.  I will be sure to post some pictures of what we all came up with.

This small nook of our family room/kitchen area used to be a closet.  We decided to put shelves in it instead, allowing a good place for favorite items.

Here is how it turned out this year!

I like bringing out the Christmas items

Gifts from friends, special keepsakes, things from the past...

What are some of your favorite decorations you put up at your house?

Linking up to :

Simple n Sweet Fridays

Even the barn gets dressed up for Christmas!!

We love our little red barn that is on our property!  and I look forward to decorating it with just a simple wreath .

Thanks to Pam over at "Playing with My Camera" for

sharing the Barn Lovers link !

Sharing over at:

Barn Collective