Friday Faves...Dining Room Transformation

It's been gray and rainy and not ideal for taking indoor photos,

but I've been promising to show you the dining room in our new to us home.

When we moved in, off of the kitchen was a breakfast nook with the ugliest light fixture ever in it

 and a small family room with a fireplace.

Below are the photos from the real estate ad.

We decided to use the family room as a nice sized dining room.

We like having space for our family and friends to gather around for a good meal.

We turned the gas fireplace around to face the formal living room/dining room combination,

that we now use as one large living room.

You can see more of that room here.

Below is a photo of the wall in the dining room that the fireplace used to be on.

We made the breakfast nook into a cozy sitting area for my husband and I.

We put in a new light fixture in place of the gaudy chandelier, 

along with two new sconce type lights on the wall in the dining room that houses my breadboard gallery wall.

New birch hardwood floors were installed in place of the carpet and vinyl.

This has become one of our favorite spots in our home.

Well, it's almost Friday, friends.

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and 

a safe and BLESSED weekend!

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

             

Also sharing at the Share It One More Time Link Party

Bringing the promise of spring indoors...

(edited with Kim Klassen's rainy day texture, lighten, 20% opacity)

"You make me feel so young,

you make me feel so spring has sprung"-Frank Sinatra

Last week began with two beautiful spring-like days.

It's so true that sunny spring weather puts a spring in my step.

I feel invigorated and ready to put on my running shoes and head outside for some exercise.

(edited with Kim Klassen's flow texture, hard light, 30% opacity)

Then several gray rainy days followed those two spring-like ones.

I felt slower, more sluggish, and I had to force myself to exercise.

(edited with Kim Klassen's dream it texture, hard light, 20% opacity)

We're still a month away from spring's official beginning,

so I better practice some patience, endurance and self-discipline!

Meanwhile, I'm on my second round of forcing hyacinth bulbs to bloom.

I love bringing the promise of spring indoors in winter.

(desat 60%, Kim Klassen's waterfront texture, multiply mode)

texture-twist

songography at "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out"

image-in-ing:Variations

still following,

With grateful recognition of His blessing...

She was model beautiful, right there in that "bag your own" no frills grocery store.  She was straightening the items on the shelves, and she looked up from her humble job and smiled genuinely at me.  I saw contentment in her eyes and pride in a job well done.

She drove past me in the grocery store parking lot, driving her large SUV. I surmised she was older than me, but what I noticed most was the large waffle cone in her hand, sticky and drippy with a huge scoop of ice cream. She licked it up with joie de vivre and no regrets, shame, and apparently no calorie counting.

On the way home I drove by a ramshackle apartment complex and looked over just in time to see her.  She was maybe ten to twelve years old.  Her kinky, curly hair was pulled back into a pony tail.  She was blowing kisses towards an old gold mini-van that was pulling into the apartment parking lot.  She skipped along beside the van as it pulled in.  Who wouldn't want to be greeted with that kind of love?

I'm not always that observant, but on this ordinary Wednesday, God highlighted each one of these people to me and I couldn't forget them, or what I saw in them that I admired.  Joy, contentment, pride in a job well done, savoring the moment, unabashed love.  Each brief glimpse touched my heart, each one I gratefully recognized as being God sent.

************

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#8017-#8048

2-8-16-

-a cup of tea and a good visit with one of the young gals from church

-a hospital visit and prayer

-walking around Ft. Vancouver with my husband 

2-9-16-

-getting to an early morning appointment on time in spite of the traffic

-a medical procedure that went well

-a great afternoon with my granddaughter helping with her homeschool

2-10-16-

-praying with my sister on the phone for someone who's struggling

-the book Fervent and how it's blessed me

-this home God provided for us, more conveniently located to have people over

-God helping me to see, really see, people that came across my path today, and each one teaching me something

-a chorus of frogs

-funny texts from my daughter

-going to check on our youngest grandson who's been sick

-writing

-a yummy and healthy dinner

2-11-16-

-homemade bread, soup and salad shared with others

-a good run in spite of the rain

-oldest granddaughter coming over after school

-seeing her lift her hands in worship at prayer service

2-12-16-

-a slow, lazy start to our day off

-an early Valentine's date since our weekend is busy

-a sweet evening together

2-13-16-

-perfect love that casts out fear

-enjoying home

-Psalms 51, what it reveals about God's character

-hugs from our granddaughters

-dinner with our youngest daughter and son-in-law and his parents

2-14-16-

-40 years of Valentine cards from him

-celebrating the 5th anniversary of Hope City,

 the church our church planted with our son-in-law and oldest daughter as pastors

-water baptisms

-lunch out with our kids and grandkids afterwards

-the best kind of evening-just the two of us

still following,

God alone can satisfy...

It's Valentine's weekend.  The message that we are bombarded with is that somewhere out there is a romance that will fully satisfy every longing of your heart.  No wonder marriages fail at an alarming rate!  (Please join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, (Valentine's Day!), at Woman to Woman Ministries for some Sunday Soul Food!)

still following,

Also happily linking up with the lovely Lisha Epperson 

Friday Faves...Antique Mirror

Last Friday I showed you some of the updates we've done to the living room

 since moving into our new to us house in September.

You can see that post here.

I was going to show you some of the changes we've done to the dining room and kitchen this week,

but wanted to show you another change I've made in the living room first.

For quite some time I've imagined that an antique dark framed mirror would be perfect over the mantel,

 but couldn't find the right one that was within the budget I'd set.

Then,  a friend and I popped into a local antique mall on Super Bowl Sunday,

and I found this mirror.

I was sad to see it was over my budget, since it appeared to be the perfect one.

Then we noticed the 20% off sign for all items in that booth!

Score!

The price was $1 over the price limit I'd set,

which I thought was close enough.

I'm loving it!

Well, it's almost Friday, friends.

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and

a SAFE and BLESSED weekend!

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

             

Also sharing at the Share It One More Time Link Party

Ash Wednesday reflections...

Adam's image is readily seen in his offspring.  This man made from dust passed on to us his

Sin, selfishness and stubborn rebellion, and we all too readily slog along in his footsteps. Were it not for

His intervention on our behalf, this Radical Redeemer of the human race,

We would be lost forever, forced to pay the wages of our forefather's sin, saddled with a death sentence,

Eternally lost. If not for His intervention, the One Who paid our 

Debt so that we could have eternal life and an inheritance of hope that we 

Neither earned or deserved.  It boggles the mind and stretches our understanding to the limit that the

Everlasting, Eternal One would give it all just to

Save wretches like you and I, the sons and daughters of 

Disobedient Adam, who chose his own way instead of God's, just like you and I do all too often.  Now, we who are

Adopted as His own, long to bear His image, long for His beauty to be seen in us as as it was before that long ago

Yesterday in the garden when satan thought he'd doomed Adam's offspring forever.  Thank God he was wrong.

still following,

  

Also joining THOUGHT PROVOKING THURSDAYS