WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY HOME PARTY

Hello and welcome this morning.....especially if you have arrived from Karla's "what I love about my home party". If you haven't come from Karla's blog, then you need to rush right over to see everyone's blogs and what they love about their home. It is a party all day long and everyone is invited!!

What I love about our home is that it is all rebuilt since the fire and the dining room is my favorite room. We didn't have one before so this is so wonderful. The house was all new and we had to pick paint colors etc.
It really bothered me that there was nothing of us in the newness of everything. So I made the wallpaper for this room. Of course red is my very very favorite color and it accents almost every room but our bedroom and laundry room.
I took two rolls of brown contractor's paper that was $3 a roll at the home improvement store. Then I bought a dark red, two shades lighter red, and a can of white---all latex, all one gallon.

We were residing in a duplex that had an island in the kitchen. So I rolled out lengths of paper ---about 6-8ft at a time and then spooned a glob of all three paints on paper and used a roller to spread it. For the red I just used both reds and the pink i used the dark red and a lot more white. I hung the sheets of paper over the banister and shower rod to dry.

when both rolls were done and it was time to do the dining room we brought it over here. John put all the even edges of the paper along the ceiling first then the bottom of the wall. We tore sections, tearing the paper away from us so the brown wouldn't show on the edges.

Then He papered the corners next. We used wallpaper paste and treated it just like wall paper. We would stand back and decide if we needed more pink or more red or white here or there. It took 28 hours to just paper. We then let it set for 24 hrs, came back and washed it all down.
Then we brushed on two coats of varathane. It is washable and we love it. People either really like it or really hate it.

this is our antique china closet. We bought it after the fire but all the china was salveageable.
the fireplace used to be red brick but would not come clean and was cracked. So we had the new stone added. This divides the kitchen from the dining room.

from the kitchen/hallway area looking into the room. I love the carpet. It is a large area rug over the original wood floors. The floors and the outside walls were the only part of the house they were able to keep.
French doors open to the front entry way and family room.
A beautiful new grandfather clock.
Our 35th anniversary gift to each other was this antique chandelier from the early 1800's. It was originally an oil lamp now electrified.
a close up of the wall and the variation in paint. It is so easy to do--just time consuming.
Just our immediate family numbers 15 now and our table has leaves enough for all of us to sit at one table. I also have a kitchen table that is a round oak table from John's grandparents. They had five round oak tables at one time!! This one has claw feet and three leaves so another 12 people can sit at it.

when we have one or the other side of the family here for dinner, we usually have about 30-35 people. We love entertaining, I love to cook and I love company. It gives me something to look forward to and everyone fits!!!

I would show you more rooms but am tired this morning and have had to do this post three times because the pictures wouldn't upload to blogger until the third time and 2 hours have passed!! Sheesh.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the 'tour' and please let me know what you think of the handmade wall paper treatment. If you want to stay longer hold on and I will brew up a fresh pot of coffee.