Welcome to our house.

Just farting around with the camera this morning.  Okay, part of the reason why is that I got the living room and dining room cleaned up enough to actually have people over (not dusted, yet, just tidy.  So don't look too closely.)

So other than a few doll pics, this is home.  I'm definitely not a decorator, I can't afford antiques, and (to fans of minimalism), my house is busy.  But it is home, and we like it.  Pardon the picture heavy post...it just worked out that way.

These are the Izzies I'm still working to dress, lined up by the hearth in the family room.  I like to keep them in "found" old clothes because when they're all sitting around naked, they whisper at me. (Dresssss usssss!!!) They're a motley crew, but it'll get better.

Remember after reading captions that you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

16" and 21" Izannah Walker repros...I love the red coat, but it doesn't fit her well.  I'll make a revised pattern from it, though.

21" Izannah, in a chair my Father-in-law made, with her lamb. 

16" and 21" Izannahs, one with only her petticoat and the other in a flannel nightgown.

These are tucked in behind the Christmas tree, under the living room window.  One is the Harry Coleman Walker Doll, the others are jan-made and up for adoption.

Waiting for Santa.

Here's a series of views from the chairs in the room.  I love chairs, and the hubs says I have a Chair Orphanage in our house, because I bring home strays.  But it makes for plenty of seating, right?

Our house defies a color scheme.  Blonde pine and dark Brazilian cherry?  No problem.

Stained concrete floors...easy to clean, tough and beautiful.  I carved the fish with a Dremmel out of a pc of 2 x 12.  Upper right is an antique calendar page/print of Dogs Playing Poker.  There's just no accounting for taste.

This coffee table has been with us since the kids were little...proud of its scars.  I painted it in (?) 2007.  The hubs created the leather insert for the mirror...his Triple Horse Celtic Knotwork pattern. 

The man I love is a skilled carpenter/cabinet maker with leather working talent.  Am I spoiled much?  :~D

View from the glider chair.  The Thoreau quotation tapestry is embroidery cotton on linen...I worked on it for years, but finished the border in 2010 while sitting with my Daddy in hospice.

View from the blonde pine chair toward the kitchen door.  Schult's purple pig goes well with the rug, don't you think?

View from the dining room.

Our simple Christmas table.  The big map on the wall is of San Antonio.  We love maps.

And of course, these rooms are full of dolls, tucked here and there.  I don't have an organized way of displaying them (although the hubs has offered to build a couple of glass-door cases next year for the more fragile ones...woohoo!)

Crazy Wax doll has found a friend, and so has the Martha doll, although she's still mad at me for leaving her in jammies with a people-size Santa Hat.  Humiliating.

Messy bookshelves, dear dolls. 

Martha-baby and friends.  She's still not talking to me.  I don't blame her.

Well, I have more photos, but this post is too full as it is.  I hope you all are enjoying the season, taking time to just breathe and enjoy the wonder of lights and music, and each other.
Be well.