The True South

Well, after several weeks of sick kids, family vacation, end of the school year activities, and life itself, I am back to reality. We had an amazing trip to Arkansas for Joe's cousin Tyler's wedding. I have to admit, Arkansas wasn't a place I thought I would vacation, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really the people I fell in love with there. We experienced true southern hospitality everywhere we went. Joe's cousin Kevin, his wife Leigh Ann and their sweet little Georgia Rae welcomed us into their traditional southern style home. I wish I had taken pictures of what Leigh Ann had done with this beautiful brick home. When she referred to herself as a "junker" (spoken in a southern accent), I loved it! Every inch was layered with some sort of treasure like a fun piece of furniture with funky fabric, a gallery wall of  random pieces art, or a happy little brass animal propped on a stack of books. I loved it all! I felt like I had found my southern self.

Here is a little picture of Georgia Rae showing some southern hospitality by taking her long lost Washington cousins for a stroll through her neighborhood dressed in a gown, purse, plastic heels and all. A southern bell in training.

From there Joe, Lila, Olen and I took a little family road trip through the deep south all the way back to my home, Florida. It was so much fun seeing and experiencing the true south. Yes, I am from Florida, which is located in the southern part of the country, but it isn't the true south. I am from Clearwater, FL which in west of Tampa and southwest of Orlando. As most of my fellow Floridians know, the true south stops at about the Orlando area. Everything north of Orlando is the true south. Everything south of Orlando is pretty much the northeast transplanted south. Basically when ever they stop serving sweet tea, you know you are out of the true south.

 

Traveling through the true south and being back home feeling warm sand between my toes, made me want to bottle it up and bring it all back to the, still cool and rainy, northwest. (Yes, it is the end of May and still cool and raining) So I decided I would try and bring more of that southern charm into our future home. Especially the guest bedroom, seeing that most our guest are from the south, it will make their stay with us feel more like home. I always try to make our home feel inviting and comfortable. I want people to feel like they can put their feet up on our coffee table, help themselves to a drink or cover up with a blanket.

Now that we are back home and back to reality, I need to get going on making selections for our home. Feeling very inspired again, I browsed through my old Pins on Pinterest and Ideabooks on Houzz and found some pictures to get the creative juices flowing again.

This room is a little more formal than Joe and I are, but if we were, this is what my formal living space would look like. I am loving the boxed beamed ceiling and built in shelving.

Contemporary Living Room by New York Interior Designer MuseInteriors

I LOVE everything about this warm and casual great room. In our real life, those beautiful white couches would not be so white. The pretty candles stick sitting within arms reach of small people would be quickly used as swords.

Traditional Living Room by Barrie Interior Designer Staples Design Group

 

This rustic, yet clean room screams out, "get comfy and cozy up."

 

From Better Homes and Garden www.bhg.com

 

Now that I have my creativity back up and running, maybe I can get some of my projects completed on my very long list. If we could only find our tools that are somewhere tucked way in the back of our storage unit.

 

Until next time!

Carrie