Lisa's House - Step Inside

If you missed the first part of the tour of Lisa's house - the front garden and welcoming porch - you can read it here.

As I mentioned in my initial post about Lisa's house, she loves signs and has them tucked here and there throughout the house.

After looking back at the photos of Lisa's house in Fifi O'Neill's book, Romantic Prairie Style, I am a little intimidated about showing my photos.

I will remind you that I had no stylists, no special lighting equipment and the day I took photos, Lisa had just come home from volunteering at the hospital - in other words, life was going on as usual and we all know that real life and staged photo shoots are not the same thing.

Lisa's cozy living room holds many unique vintage pieces -

a triptych mirror aged to perfection . . . a fun clock . . . a rustic piece holding family photos. . .

I was not able to get any sweeping photos of the entire room, but this photo shows the wonderful bead board ceilings and the French doors leading to the garden.

A table beneath the window holds a romantic display of topiaries in a 4 foot tall birdcage.

Moving across to another side of the "great room" is the dining area where we find a wood table surrounded by crisp white chairs and a chandelier with a mix of rustic and bling.

This photo looking from the dining area into the kitchen shows the pickled cabinets Lisa had installed along with subway tile and a great farmhouse sink.

I love Lisa's color choice for the Big Chill refrigerator and dishwasher and the KitchenAid mixer.

What makes Lisa's home fun is the use of quirky pieces throughout the house.

Beautiful pickled wood floors lead down the hallway to the bedrooms.

Lisa replaced every door in the house with well loved and aged doors . . . my favorites are a screen door on the linen closet and the etched glass on the laundry room.

I love this vignette at the end of the hallway . . .

rustic ladder . . . old wicker . . . vintage linens . . . how can you go wrong?

The first bedroom holds an antique daybed with a wonderful old Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.

And, look at the patina on the closet doors.

Elphaba, a standard poodle, makes herself quite at home in the first bedroom,

but the second bedroom is the cat haven -  Elphaba and the other dogs are not welcome.

We're almost done - we just need to peek into Lisa's bedroom and bathroom.

The bedroom is a welcoming retreat . . .  comfy bed . . . plump pillows . . .  rustic bench . . . and Lisa's harp in the corner waiting to be played.

Primitive dolls are tucked around the room which is obviously one of Elphaba's favorite hangouts.

More doors . . . an arched door turned into a mirror . . . paned glass closet doors . . . a peek at the rich patina of the bedroom door.

The bedroom and bathroom were an addition just after Lisa moved into the house 6 years ago.

I love the stone floor, the vintage door and pedestal sink - I seemed to have forgotten to photograph the huge shower.

This tour has gone on long enough, so we won't go into the garden today, but I will leave you with a little teaser.

I am partying at My Desert Cottage and A Fanciful Twist later this week so drop by next Monday to see what this cute little structure is.

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Join me at

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Coastal Charm - Show and Share

Lavender Garden Cottage - Cottage Style Party

Divine Forgiveness

I don't usually get "deep" in my posts, but today I need to share what is in my heart.

Saturday I read an article that made me cry, made me smile and taught me an important lesson.

I feel I must share it with my blog friends so bear with me while I give you the lead up to the article.

On April 6th, an event occurred which affected the entire city in which I live.

Chris Prewitt, the 38 year old Assistant Principal at De Anza Academy of Technology and the Arts (DATA) was killed at 6 a.m. by a young woman under the influence of drugs.  The car she was driving jumped the guard rail and struck Chris while he was running in training for an upcoming marathon.

Chris was truly an Angel on Earth.

He was my boss for just one year before I retired from teaching.

He made everyone feel special with his signature wink.

He, along with a group of high school teachers and students, did fundraising and went to Africa during summer vacations to build schools.

He NEVER let anything get in his way- such as the fact that he was deaf - Chris won a Silver Medal on the 1997 US Deaflympics Water Polo team.

A favorite saying of his was, "Make It A Great Day".

Chris left a precious 7 year old daughter and his wife.  I went in to help out at school just after Chris died and I cried when I saw the familiar strip of paper across the bottom of his computer screen that read,

"I love my wife, she is the Queen of my world".

Chris loved Spirit Days at school.

It seems as if weekly, Steve and I are reminded of Chris and his legacy.

Recently, the Cross Country team at DATA joined together with adult friends/colleagues of Chris to complete the marathon he had been eager to run.  They ran stages of the marathon in relay form while carrying a shoe that Chris was wearing when he was killed.  The last mile was run by all 75 members of the "Do It For Prewitt" relay team along with his wife and their daughter.

Saturday, I was sitting on the deck of our tennis club - the last place I saw Chris, on the day before he died.  I was looking at facebook on my phone and saw a link to an article by Woody Woodburn.  I love reading Woody Woodburn and have written posts based on his articles in the past.

When I clicked on the link I had no idea that Woody Woodburn's article in our local paper, was about Chris and I began to cry once again about the loss of my friend.

Please take the time to read the incredibly touching story of Erin Prewitt's behavior in the sentencing of the young woman who took Erin's husband and Izzy's father.

If just one person benefits from reading Erin's story, then it was worth my sharing.

And, the tears I shed while writing this post needed to be shed.

Thank you for indulging me in my grief.

Lisa's House

A few weeks ago, Steve and I went to an old friend's house for a birthday party.

I immediately noticed the mailbox and took out my phone to snap a picture and then I looked into the yard . . .

 the line from Jerry Maguire, "you had me at hello" came to mind, but my thought was, "Lisa had me at that old truck door".

This week Lisa was so sweet and allowed me to photograph her lovely home for my blog - 540 photos to be exact.

It was a gorgeous sunny day in Southern California and Lisa's 1960's ranch style house made a wonderful backdrop for her vintage truck.

I am not the only person to fall in love with Lisa's home and style.

Fifi O'Neill featured the home

 in her book, Romantic Prairie Style, on pages 124-131.

When you step onto the porch you might be tempted to sit awhile,

but then your eye catches a fun old cabinet filled with birdhouses.

I love that container filled with succulents and the collection of floral frogs.

As you walk through the house, you will notice an abundance of fun signs.

But, you won't be getting in the house today.

As you see from the sign on the door,

 nobody gets in to see the Wizard.

The end of today's tour has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz.

All those 540 pictures will take time to edit and I need to finish blog posts for Where Bloggers Create and the Mad Tea Party.

I leave you with the view looking out the master bedroom window and hope you will come back to see the inside of the house early in the week.

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I am sharing with

The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday

Thoughts from Alice - Sundays at Home

Hooray for the Red White & Blue

Have a lovely 4th of July with family and friends.