HAPPY NEW YEAR!

FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS

I WISH YOU ALL 

A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

 

LIGHTING UP OUR HOMES

I don't know about you guys, but I just love lamps! I think I love them as much as I love pillows. Ha!

I think lamps bring so much more to a room than simply light. They provide such a feeling of warmth and, at the same time, they can also change the entire look of your room. 

I just love all the new designs and colors available now. We have come a long way!

I wish I had a picture of the first pair of lamps my husband and I owned back in the 80"s!
You want to talk about vintage! So ugly! LOL  But, we were so proud of them!
I will never forget those lamps!

Have you ever stop and really pay attention at how many lamps we have in our homes? 

Well, I am almost sure I am not the only one! LOL

Join me for a little tour

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In the formal living room, a more classic look

Master bedroom. Stacked crystal lamps.
I just bought these lamps a few months ago and I just love them!

A smaller one for a round accent table

 

I looked for this one for months.
Trying to find one small enough to fit under the cabinet was not so easy.
I love the warm look it gives that little corner of my kitchen and the damask design on the shade.
And the pull cord! So adorable!

A bigger one for the family room

One of my favorite corners in the whole house.
It almost makes doing laundry fun. I said almost! LOL

Love my red lamps!

On the entrance table

In the study

 Love the design on this lamp

In our spare room

A silver lamp on an accent table upstairs

And a little black and white and a simple silver lamp in my daughter's bedroom.
We are about to redecorate her whole room, so we will be looking for some new lamps soon.
More to come!

I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year.
I can not wait to see everybody's new decor ideas and DIY projects in the coming year and I also want to thank you ladies for all the help and support you guys have given me on leaning how to blog.
Thank you all for stopping by!

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

CHRISTMAS GIFT BASKET

This is my first time making a gift basket but I have to say, it was really fun putting one together.

This year, not only I wanted to give my brother and sister-in-law a gift for Christmas, I wanted it to be a gift that would bring them memories of our culture and traditions.

After weeks of trying to figure out what I could do, while shopping at Macy's, I run across a beautiful ceramic tapas set from a new collection of ceramics hand painted in Spain. I took that idea and I run with it!!! LOL

I bought a basket and set out to find everything I needed to make it special.

We have here a wonderful market full of gourmet food from all over the world and I was able to find many things from Spain to create a nice basket for them with the food we grew up with.

It is nothing fancy, but it is from the heart.

 I was able to find some Turron, which is one of the Christmas sweets that we grew up with.

Tapas ceramic set

Put some pretty red filler in the basket

Added a bottle of Spanish wine

Look at the little bull hanging from the wine bottle. I thought that was original.

Two wine glasses with some little bags of candy inside

Added a few more "goodies"

Olive oil and vinegar, also from Spain

I put two Christmas flowers on each side of the basket to make it more festive

Ready to wrap it up

After that, I just added a bow made of red and gold ribbon

All finished! What do you all think? I hope they like it!

Only two more days left for Christmas. Are you guys ready?
I pray for a happy and safe Holiday season for all of you.
Merry Christmas!

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Looking back at 2011

It is so hard to believe this year is almost over! We are five days away from Christmas and before we know it, we will be celebrating the New Year.

For our family, this has been a really busy year. My husband and I have been able to accomplish most of the home projects we set out to do through out the year and we are almost finished with the last project for 2011.
Hoping it will get done before Sunday! LOL
Here is a look back at what we have done.
We started January 1st, 2011 with a broken washer and dryer, yes! both on the same day!
Happy New Year to us! LOL We decided to just remodel the whole laundry room. We added new cabinets, counters, new sink and faucet, light fixture, shelving and a little bit of decor.

After that chaos was over, we finished building the molding around the front door.

I stenciled our dinning room walls. My first time doing this, so I am very proud of how it turned out.

We also put up molding on our stairwell and did a little painting.

We also finished building and staining our hall chest. This was a project and a half!

And now, we are trying to finish our last project before Christmas. We are enclosing our game room upstairs and adding double doors. Almost finished! Frame and drywall are up, doors are installed and we just need to finish the wall, add the texture and paint everything. Pictures are a little dark. Trying to take them while everybody is still sleep. LOL More to come on this project. Lots of changes happening upstairs soon!
Here is a little preview

What a disaster!
 I keep telling myself it will all be worth it!

And, while in the middle all all these projects, I finished decorating our family room and did a complete master bedroom makeover and decorated the house for Christmas.
Oh! And I made about a hundred pillows! LOL

           
I told you it was a busy year! LOL
But I am very much looking forward to a New Year full of new projects and I can't wait to get a lot of inspiration from all of you!
Thank you for stopping by!

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