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French Country style is in architectural structure, large furniture, and small details added as accents to a room. 

Do you have a she shed? One designed with your personal style and personality? My garden shed is my she shed and has evolved over several years from a utilitarian unfinished plywood structure to a beautiful white limestone French Country garden house. 

Welcome to my garden shed/house in the country filled with French Country style beginning with the style of the building. Take a look at the details from earlier this spring that lend French Country design to this special space where I dream, create, and share with others. 

French Inspired Fall Window Box | Step By Step

Window boxes are possible at my house, but only for limited seasons of the year. Fall is one of those seasons, and this year I created a window box, with lots of help from my professional florist sister, for the front of my house. 

We love how it turned out! 

One of the things I enjoy about France, and all of Europe, is the abundance of gardens and flowers in every city, town, and small village. In Paris, it seems window boxes are everywhere, from large hotels to the tiniest apartment balconies. I come home with picture after picture and am always inspired to create my own window box at my house. 

This Fall is THE year I created a French inspired window box.   

In case you are inspired, too, and want ideas how to create a window box for your house, take a look at how we created my front entry window box. I took photos at almost every step of the process to share with you.  

New Backyard Retaining Wall With Old World Charm

Even though it has been over a 100° for several days, we still have yard work to do. The backyard stone retaining wall had been listing for a few years, but this winter totally collapsed in two places. 

No getting around it any longer. The wall had to be replaced with a new one. The purpose of the retaining wall and terraces is to direct water away from the house and to control the direction rain water flows. 

Part of the dilemma was how to replace the old weathered Austin limestone wall with a new wall that would also have some old world charm of its own. 

Something French-inspired, but within the budget. 

Magnolia Garden Ideas to Make Your Own | Part 2

In Part 1 of this series of garden ideas from Magnolia in Waco, Texas, PLAN and WALKWAYS were the two ideas from Magnolia Market's gardens you can study for ways to use them in your own garden. Those were just the beginning of so many garden ideas you can make your own. 

Once you have a plan to organize your designs, and walkways to define your garden areas, you are ready for the fun part ... adding plants. Part 2 looks at the different ways Magnolia Market created a beautiful garden filled with a variety of plants and containers. 

🌿 Garden Idea ❸ : PLANTS  

Flowers, vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees are all part of the Magnolia gardens with great design ideas anyone can copy in their own gardens at home. 

Kitchen Budget Wise Laminate Counter

Countertops Part 1 | Kitchen

Laminate 

The first in a series of three posts about budget wise countertops 

While homemakers dream of luxury marble, quartz, granite, and wood countertops, reality often calls for budget wise laminate kitchen counters. And, budgets are not the only reasons for choosing laminate countertops. 

Notes From The Country | No. 1

As January draws to a close I am slowly catching up on cleaning, organizing, planning, and dreaming. Notes to myself in a blue notebook about French-inspired country living keeps me from forgetting the plans in my mind. 

 D R E A M I N G  

Of indoor lavender plants, floral arrangements, and a potager to plant ... 

Vintage Old Chicago Brick with weeds sprouting in its holes 

Christmas Sleigh Bell Tablesetting

Christmas is the time to use all your beautiful things. No other time calls for your best and finest more than Christmas. No better time to polish the silver, to wash the crystal, and to create a special tablesetting. 

Create Unexpected Fall Decor

Muted Natural Fall Colors 

call for unexpected fall decor. 

As seasons change, we see a difference in Mother Nature's attire. As Fall arrives, colors in nature change. For some parts of the world, green leaves fade to yellow, orange, and red, and then drop to the ground creating a vivid palette.  In other areas, like Texas, color changes are more muted, without the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. Instead, deep green leaves fade to paler green as they lose their summer color, then change straight to brown. 

Fall comes in all shades, and home Fall decor can also come in all shades. Subdued Fall displays still celebrate the changing seasons and can give an unexpected fresh look to your home. 

If you are like me and shudder at decorating with orange and brown, RELAX, and create unexpected Fall decor by using muted colors instead. Plus, you do not have to use cornstalks, acorns, or pumpkins to create a little Fall magic in your home. 

French Chair for a Desk

...a versatile chair with French style can fit several places in a French-inspired garden and home... 

even as a desk chair 

Finding a French style chair for a desk may be easier than you think. You just have to know where to look... beyond antique French chairs in French flea markets. Instead of looking at flea markets for vintage chairs or at office furniture stores for new chairs, look at dining chairs.