Friday morning, the sign went up for the Festival Home Tour, scheduled to begin at 1:00, after the Queen' s Coronation and Luncheon.
Tour Times:
1:00-4:00
5:00-7:00
To say I was nervous, is an understatement! Early that morning I was still tweaking, doing last minute sprucing, and stuffing stray dust bunnies in the pockets of my old sweat pants! At 11:30, I was "swiffering" the master bath floor one last time, after my shower, my hair still ringing wet!
But at 1:00 when the first guests began to arrive, my "stage fright" quickly evaporated and I had a ball! Every person that came through was very friendly, and it was a pleasure to chat with them! Our home is about 10 minutes from where my parents were raised, and I met several of their old classmates. That was really neat and interesting.
Below, is a picture of the "Pecan Belle" and Cadet assigned to our home. The Pecan Belles consisted of local eighth grade girls, chosen through an essay contest. The Cadets were young men from Camden Military Academy.
They were both sweet kids and made a very handsome couple! Isn't she beautiful in her lavender gown!
The Pecan Festival Queen visited our home as well, Dixie Light, from Atlanta, Georgia. Not only was she a beautiful young woman, she had a lovely personality. Dixie was escorted by Bill Thompson, local author/well traveled speaker, who is also a writer for OUR STATE Magazine.
My "Ode to the Pecan," a vignette of pecans and a vintage metal dog nutcracker, borrowed from my dad.
If you follow my blog, you have seen my home countless times. But I would like to share a few of the fresh flower arrangements I created for the tour. Whenever we entertain, I try to always incorporate live flowers. Even at Christmas, with all of the silks and faux greenery, I love to throw in a burst of the "real stuff," and enjoy the mood it creates.
These aren't elaborate, most were very simple. I didn't want them to compete with the settings, only compliment the areas. And no offense to any professional floral designers, ...I made six, (some rather large), arrangements for less than I could have purchased one arrangement from the florist. Bundles of bagged bouquets purchased from Sam's Club, were metamorphosed into beautiful arrangements.
Arrangement for Kevin's study, housed in a silver bucket found on eBay.
Arrangement placed on the surround of the master bath.
Monogrammed hankies, also found on eBay.
Below is an example of WHAT NOT TO DO! These beautiful orange roses disintegrated in just a few short hours, from what I assume was the heat off of the lamp light.
A few arrangements outside...
Arrangement for the Guest Register Table. The green vase was a yard sale find.
Isn't this little prince a real cutie....
And lastly, just a few shots from outside...
The faux pumpkins on the candlesticks were painted white last year, and then retransformed into orange again, this year. The candlesticks which were originally white-washed, were spray painted black.
Back Door....
Bailey enjoying the freshly strawed beds. I think for the next few days, I'll take it easy and bask in the beautiful fall days we are having, too! ~Rhonda :)
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Sorry the color of the pictures isn't too great. The weather and indoor lighting was not cooperating. You might remember this wood basket from previous post. I found it a yard sale in the spring of '08, for $1.50. It was a strawberry basket, made by the seller's grandmother out of scrap lumber and a tree branch, for the sole purpose of picking strawberries in the fields. Of course I didn't know her, or even her family, but it has certainly become a treasure to me...so full of character.
Psalm 107:1 
The little mice doorstop was a new find at Stein Mart. Hope they don't scare my guests! :) My son took a double-take when he saw them!
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