What's In A Picture- Two For One

Keeping up with studying one picture at a time this week I picked a room out of house in Southern Living.
What I love:
*Not just the built-in banquette but also the nailhead and trim detail around the top.
*How pretty the wood is on the table and bench
*The wood floors, wide planks with natural imperfections
*The light fixture
*The frame hung right against the ledge with a collection of bottles below
*The beams in the ceiling

Since I missed yesterday I thought I would do one more from the same house.....
What I love:
*The casualness of the slipcovers with the fringe added along the bottom.
*EVERYTHING about the mantel- the shapes, carving, materials, it is perfect
*The mantel display, great use of the frames
*The iron and glass coffee table that adds to the feel of the room
*The light
*The wood in the fireplace for this picture, great styling

Did I miss anything?

Images Southern Living October 2009

A Little of This, A Little of That

I will be back on the single room photos soon but I had a few loose ends I wanted to share. Remember this? Be sure to stop by the Katillac Shack tomorrow for a pet parade! All animal lovers should definitely stop by!Since we moved in our home 2 years ago I have been thinking about what I wanted to do for our guest bathroom. I have looked at lots of wallpaper, brainstormed painting techniques, stencils, you name it, I have been thinking about it. Well, Saturday we were home without any cable (thanks to Charter the WORST company in the world-you know I never say bad things about companies but Charter is beyond bad). Anyhoo, randomly at Lowes I just picked a color and painted the bathroom. This is not normal for me, to just pick a color, not even bring a swatch home first and just go with it. Here are the results, I think I like it although wallpaper is still not out of the question. The frames I am still playing with (Emily, recognize the prints)....Color HERE-4009-5
You know I love a good funky animal head! Hello moose at Z-Gallerie! Stephanie S. what do you think? I know it is kind of weird but it would make me smile EVERY day.

When looking for the shoes below I came across these boots, yep I like them!
Okay, honest opinions please and I need them by the end of today. I am looking for good open-toe fall shoes, do you like these?
One more thing, I have been crazy lately (in a good way) so I am sorry if I have been absent on blog comments, etc. Thanks to a busy schedule and a slower internet connection (ehmm Charter again) I am way behind on blog reading but I promise to be back to normal soon!

Thank you so much for reading H&H, I really appreciate it!!!!!!

What's In A Picture-Guest Bedroom

One reason I love magazines is that I really study every picture. On blogs I find myself more grazing over the pictures, enjoying their loveliness, but not really digesting. So I thought this week I would just do one picture a day and point out everything in the picture I love. This picture has several elements I love:
+Amazing unique console used as a bedside table
+The post bed with the fabric around it, but I like how the panels are on rings and the finials on the top of the bed
+The use of a comfortable chair in the room with soft lines
+The custom headboard used inside a poster bed
+The display on the bedside table- giant shell, beautiful mirror, print leaned on the mirror instead of mounted on the wall, clean white lamp

For more details on this room go to Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles

Quiet Time- A Shining Example

"That is what it means that I do this for Jesus. HE loved me first. I love Him back. And sometimes it hurts. But even then it is pure joy to even be considered worthy to share in His suffering. That is the promise. Not that He is sorry that it hurts. But that He sees. That He knows. That He is here with us. " -Kisses From KatieTuesday we were at Bible study when my dear friend Brooke told us about a blog Kisses From Katie. She warned us to read it only we had time because we would be glued to it and she was right. I came home that night and started reading which I could have done all night if my battery had not died. Kisses From Katie is the journal of this AMAZING person who was called by God to go to Africa and care for the children there. Her faith, her actions, her words, her ability to use scripture to relate to what she is currently going through is beyond words. I highly recommend you take time to read this blog, your faith and heart will be moved.

Brooke wrote about this the other day and include two excepts that I really thought grabbed the essence of this blog so I wanted to share them here too......


"It is my 16th Birthday and I am eating sushi at my favorite restaurant with my parents when I tell them that I would like to explore the possibility of taking a year in between high school and college to do mission work. This is unheard of in my family and they say they are not sure and will think about it. I am nervous, but somehow I know it is right. He changes their hearts.
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I have just turned 18 and find an orphanage online. I beg my parents to let me visit over break, just three weeks. A month later I am on a plane. I am so excited. I am so scared of being, but I know He is going with me. I fall in love.I graduate high school having made the commitment to teach Kindergarten for a year at a school in The Middle of Nowhere, Uganda. In August I get on the plane. I’m apprehensive and I cry most of the way because I miss my Mommy and my boyfriend. I am eager, but so uncertain. I trust Him. I teach 138 children how to speak English and to love Jesus.
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It is October and I am just not sure I can do it anymore. I live in the smallest room I have ever seen in the back of a pastor’s house. I am more uncomfortable than I had bargained for. No one understands, not people here, not people at home. I am tired. But I am prideful and I am not going to quit. I don’t like this. But I know He has a plan. I learn, I grow, He is there.
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It is December and God has spoken very clearly about opening a ministry that sponsors 40 of the orphaned children in the village where I am working. This involves moving into a different house, ALONE. It is big and I cannot imagine how God will fill it up. I am lonely and I am anxious. But I am still trusting. He fills the house, and we now have 400 children sponsored.
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It is January and I am looking at a little girl, crushed under a brick wall with no one to care for her or her younger siblings. I offer to take the three home with me until we find them a better placement. I am not really sure what to do with them, but I know they are God’s children. They stay.It is three days later and the littlest looks at me and calls me mommy. My heart might break in two. Something clicks. I am even more scared than I was the day I stepped on that plane, but I KNOW. Today I have 13.I have to deliver a baby, give a boy stitches, pull a tooth, give and injection. I am petrified. But no one will do it if I do not. He is present, He holds my hand, they are all fine.
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It is August and I must get on a plane back to America to go to college, as I have promised my father. I do not remember how to be a teenager or what it is to be normal Brentwood, Tennessee. I will have to leave my babies. I will have to make new friends. I am sad and I am terrified. He wraps His arms around me. He puts just the right people in just the right places, and they help me and they make me feel at home.
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First semester is over and He speaks clearly to me that I cannot serve two masters. “Go HOME,” He says, “and stay.” I am uncertain, but I want to be obedient. He squeezes tighter. I am thankful.I have to look at my loving parents who have given me everything and tell them that I will not go to college right now, because I feel God wants me to be in Uganda. I know how disappointed and how angry they will be. I am more scared than I was when I got on the plane and more scared than I was when I took my first children. But I know that this IS the Plan. They love me anyway.

It is February and my daughter’s biological father comes to take her away. My heart breaks in half, and I am not sure I will ever be able to get out of my bed again, let alone foster another child. I am more than devastated, but I want what is best for her, what He wants for her. She comes back and her biological father learns about Jesus.

It is March and a lame little girl is brought to my gate. She is undoubtedly mine, but I am still anxious. What if I can’t do it? I don’t know what to do with a special needs child, especially as my 13th child. I am criticized and ridiculed. I wonder. I trust and praise God for her sweet little life. She starts to walk.

I find myself in a village full of starving people that for some reason seem to want to kill me. God says to serve them anyway. I am not sure how it is going to work, or if it is safe. I can’t figure it out, but I know He can. 1,200 Karamajongs, the poorest of Uganda’s poor, are now served hot meals daily.We keep taking in more children until there are 400 in our program. There is no way we will raise enough funds, but by now I have stopped worrying. He has always provided. Blessings rain from the sky, and all 400 children go to school.
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I am 20 years old and have 13 children and 400 more who all depend on me for their care. Who are all learning to love Jesus and be responsible adults and looking up to me. The reality of it all can be a bit overwhelming at times. However, it is always pure joy. There is a common misconception that I am courageous. I will be the first to tell you that this is not actually true. Most of the time, I am not brave. I just believe in a God who will use me even though I am not. Most mornings, before I even get out of bed I am overwhelmed with His goodness, with His plan for my life; I stand in awe of the fact that He could entrust me with so much. Most days, I don’t have much of a plan. I don’t always know where this is going. I can’t see the end of the road, but here is the great part: Courage is not about knowing the path. It is about taking the first step. It is about Peter, getting out of the boat. I do not know my five year plan; even tomorrow will probably not go as I have planned. I am thrilled and I am terrified, in a good way. So some call it courage, some call it foolish, I call it Faith. I choose to get out of the boat. To take the next step. Sometimes I walk straight into His arms. More often, I get scared and look down and stumble. Sometimes I almost completely drown. And through it all, He never lets go of my hand.

This one really speaks to me. We are all looking for happiness, to be content in our hearts. We look to things on this earth to make us happy but really it is not this earth that will bring us true peace.
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"... at first glance, it would be easy to feel sorry for these little boys. their clothes are tattered, they sleep on old, dirty mattresses, they walk to school barefoot in the rain. they have no electricity, no running water, and it is raining so hard that the whole compound has become a muddy swamp. but you should not pity these children, in fact, you should envy them. i know i do. at six years old, these children know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. these children know the Greatness, the Wonder of our God.when was the last time you prayed out loud for 30 minutes? when was the last time you spent as little as half an hour listing to the Lord all the reasons that you love Him, thanked Him for all He has done for you, or even simply marveled at his awesome grace? i've had people ask me why africa is so impoverished, even had people tell me that it is a cursed nation. africa is not impoverished. these children are not poor. we are. we put value in things. these children, having no things, put value in God. we put our trust in relationships, these children, having already seen relationships fail, put their trust in the Lord. this nation is blessed beyond any place, any people i have ever encountered. God has not forgotten these people, in fact, i believe He has loved them just a little bit extra."

We are all called to serve in different ways and I just hope I can serve God like Katie is doing. Her example of selflessness is one we can all follow.

What Do You Mean I Don't Need Another Coat?

The Hubby thinks I have an obsession with coats, perhaps he is right. But if I were to buy some more, you know-hypothetically speaking, I would like one of each of these....

All under $100 HERE.

Dear Barbara, You Can Come Over Any Time

I mentioned earlier this week on Paloma's blog that Barbara Westbrook can come over and design my house any time. That may sound weird coming from someone who decorates for a living, but to me that would be a luxury. What's that saying about the cobbler's kids being the last ones to have shoes? Anyhoo, I thought we could end the week with some loveliness from Mrs. Westbrook.


All Images Westbrook Interiors.

Have a wonderful weekend!

More For Your Wall

While wall decals are nothing new these days, it has been a while since I was on Blik's website, the first company I saw with decals. Some of theses are new to me, some are old favorites.


I really want to use this clock in an "adult" room as a sort of tongue-in-cheek piece. Actually I really want it in my home right when you walk in...
Love Love Love the life sized architectural decal.

I see these in a guest bedroom or in a smaller size they would be great in a dorm room.

Great idea, how cute would this be in a little boutique?
If you are like me and struggle to keep plants alive, then maybe this is the way to go.
I am using this is a little boys room somewhere, I just don't know where yet.
More for the children. Mario makes me nostalgic. What about those birds above a crib?

Only appropriate since the committee has been meeting all week.....
For more visit BLIK.

A Place To Rest Your Head

Is Wednesday to early to be thinking about sleeping in this weekend? If you are planning on catching up on your sleep (or even if that is a dream itself) your should be doing it in style. Comfortable style? Even better.





Image VerandaImage Veranda

All images House Beautiful unless otherwise noted.

Sweet dreams!!!!