Welcome to Our Home

I decided to link this to Mosaic Monday. I am not used to creating mosaics yet and it took me a while to create it. I hope you enjoy it. Mosaic Monday is hosted by Mary at http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/. Go visit her for more incredible mosaics. I know some of you might have already seen photos of our home in the past but today, you will have an opportunity to see almost all of it in a more organized fashion. Cheri of http://itssoverycheri.blogspot.com/ is kind enough to feature it today, Friday, on "It's so Very Cottagey". Please go and visit her. She has a lot of exciting news for us.

Our home is not very cottagey (perhaps the kitchen might pass), it's more of a plantation style. but Cheri assured me that it will be ok. It was very hard for me to cut down on the numbers of pictures so I decided to create mosaics. I know the pictures will be smaller but you can click to enlarge them for a more detailed view.

Here are some outdoor pictures. As you can see, the house is situated on a hill, more apparent from the right side. The 3 car garage is on the left side of the pebble driveway. My projects in the garden never ends, even with the help of 2 part time gardeners. We have added an arbor where I planted some climbing jasmines and an iron gazebo and I am still working on the terraced backyard on the hillside behind the pool.

We have a fountain on the back porch right behind the home office. The back porch with the fountain made it as one of HGTV.com's "7 Porches We Love on Rate My Space". You can read about it here if you want, http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/porches-we-love-from-rate-my-space/pictures/page-2.html

You will also see a wet deck here, which our grandkids really enjoy when they visit during summer vacation.

Won't you please follow me through the front door?

Welcome to our home, my blogging friends!!

The first 2 photos are of the foyer, the first one is what you see looking from the family room and the second one is the view as soon as you enter the front door. To the left will be the formal dining room. To the right is the formal living room. Straight ahead will lead you to the game room portion of our family room.

In the living room above the fireplace is a painting a friend of mine did of my childhood home in the Philippines. Above the sofa is a large oil painting I did myself. Ooops, I forgot to upload a picture. Sorry! I will show you my paintings on "Tam's 3 or More" someday.

If you enlarge the pictures, you will see a collection of Meissen and Sevres pieces, that we have either won in auctions or bought from antique shops. John and I both love collecting them. I think the living room is mostly done in French decor with a little Asian touch. Please notice the lion chair sitting in the corner, it is my favorite furniture. It was a gift to me from dh.

The last picture is a short hall with a niche connecting the family room to the kitchen. I use the niche to display my religious items. There is also a door from the dining room leading to the kitchen. Now, let's go to the kitchen. We have a round dining table next to the sliding door in front of a fireplace with a TV above it. We also have a breakfast nook near the windows. I thought I loaded a picture but I think I missed it. Sorry! But most of you have seen it since I use it for tablescaping sometimes. Our island is made out of Corian. Our stove is on it which I like because I can watch TV while cooking. The last picture on the first row is my coffee nook.

Off to the left end of the kitchen is the laundry room. It is so conveniently located that I use it for my kitchen extension. I have my microwave and rice cooker there. Our double oven in the kitchen wall serves as a microwave too but it is more complictaed to use so I use the one in the laundry room.

If you go past the breakfast nook, it will lead you to the garage on the left and a full bathroom on the right, which opens to the swimming pool.

In between the kitchen and family room is a little pass through wet bar equipped with an automatic ice maker and wine shelves.

Ok, now let's go back to the family room. We like to play Scrabble so we placed a game table in front of the fireplace. I like to use the game table tor tablescaping as well. We have 3 fireplaces, one in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in the family room.

The last picture is a hall leading to the office and master bed and bath, if you turn left. But if you keep going straight ahead, you will get to the guests wing.

We have a picturesque view of the swimming pool from the kitchen breakfast nook, kitchen dining, family room, home office and master bedroom. We can hear the fountain water gushing from the master bedroom, office and family room. I love how it is all set up. Ok, so we turned left through the tall Corinthian columns. Here you will pass through the home office first before you can get to our bedroom. It can be used as a receiving room but an office was more practical for us, especially with my blogging:-) We have a wall unit with a return desk in the center and 2 more desks on the wall unit. We have alligator covered chairs. We have a matching chinoserie shelves with filing drawers and a lateral file cabinet.

The door will take you to the bedroom and our bathroom. We have a steam shower and a jacuzzi tub and my favorite feature is the skylight above the tub. The bathroom is big enough to accomodate a settee, which John really enjoys cause he can sit when he is putting his shoes on.

Going back out into the hall, you will see our library. It was actually just a hallway but it is wider than usual ones so we placed bookshelves there. We found this bookshelf in an antique store downtown and we immediately fell in love with the ladder that hooks on the bar in front of the shelves. I just lean it on the side when not in use as you can see here.

At the end is a gun cabinet but I use it to display and keep my doll collection.

I almost forgot, to the left before getting to the doll cabinet, is a really tiny powder room which you will see at the bottom row of the mosaic.

To the right of the doll cabinet is the first guest room. I have designated this for my 91 year old mother who stays with us part of the year. She rotates among us 5 brothers and sisters in 4 states. The room is practical for her because it has its own full bathroom.
When you go out of my mother's room, turn right and you will get to another hallway leading to 2 more guest rooms with a full bath in between them. I decorated the one on the right with mermaids. We use it for grandkids when they visit. My granddaughter, AJ, loves mermaids, which inspired me to use that theme.


The bathroom has a beachy water theme also.


The colors of the other guest room are mostly robin blue and brown. Janie of http://blondiesjournals.blogspot.com/ asked where I placed my first estate auction winnings. Janie, the mirrors above the end tables were some of them. Also, the compote above the computer armoire is another. You will see some of them in the formal living and dining room also.

You wouldn't know that the Oriental computer armoire is a desk complete with a pull out chair unless you open it. I leave a laptop here for guests to use when they visit.

Thank you so much for visiting. I hope you enjoyed the home tour. Sorry for the small pictures but just as I said, you can enlarge them by clicking.

Thanks, Cheri for featuring our home today.