Southern Living Idea House Mantel: Welcome to the 149th Metamorphosis Monday!

Greetings!  How was your Thanksgiving?  I hope it was wonderful and you got to spend lots of time with family.  I drove 8 hours to Ohio to visit with my son and daughter-in-love-to-be.  I miss them and cherish the time we get to spend together.  I snapped this pic of a house near by.  I loved this particular photo because you can clearly see the American flag waving out front.

A little closer view...

For this Metamorphosis Monday, I'm sharing a few "small" Before and Afters--nothing earth shattering, just "stuff" I worked on today and a few random things I noticed while working outside.  My decks were covered in leaves.  I had already discarded one of my potted tomato plants and it was definitely time to pull out the other one.  The geraniums are still blooming.  It was so nice and warm here today...perfect weather for working on the deck.

The other end of my messy, leaf covered deck.

So here's my after...not too exciting but definitely looks better.  I also brought a lit tree out.  Do you see it there on the right inside the porch?

Mystery Solved:
A few months ago I blogged HERE about finding a squirrel INSIDE the screened-in porch, happily pigging out on the bird feeder I had brought in the night before.  Both screen doors was closed and latched so I couldn't figure out how he got in.  I looked at all the screens and couldn't find any holes.

Today, as I was blowing leaves off the decks and trying to clean out the leaves that get trapped between the screening and rails, I noticed some small punctures in a screen.

And just to the left of all the punctures I found this.  Now I know how Houdini Squirrel got in.  He chewed himself a door right through the screening.  :(

Fortunately, the screens are removal.  I remember my contractor/builder showing me how easy it would be to remove one to take it in to have it "re-screened" if one ever got damaged.  Time to put that to the test.

My Debutante camellia is blooming up a storm.  It normally blooms later than this, usually during the winter.   I think the warm weather we've been having has sped the process up and it's confused.  (View tablescapes with Debutante camellias HERE and HERE.)

I should cut some of the blooms and bring them in to float them in a bowl, like I did HERE.

We have a cold front headed our way and these beautiful blooms will unfortunately be toast in another day or two.

Besides my wee deck metamorphosis, I have another little "Before and After" to share today. Last year I had the pleasure of touring the Southern Living Idea House in Senoia, Georgia.   The Christmas decorations were amazing.  You may remember this beautiful mantel I shared HERE right after I took the tour.  Note the bee pillow on the sofa.  Does it look familiar?

Yep, it's the same one I have in my home office/studio.  I totally didn't remember that pillow being in the idea house until I searched back for a picture of the mantel for this post.  Too funny.

Here's a close up of the mantel when I visited the Idea House.  I could tell the mantel was a bit past its prime, but it was still beautiful.  Beth from Unskinny Boppy  recently alerted me to a photo at Southern Living online showing this mantel in its earlier days when it was still fresh.  So this is sort of a reverse Metamorphosis.  Here's the pic I shared of the mantel late in the holiday season.

And here's how it looked when it was newly finished and a bit more lush.  Gorgeous!   When I posted about it previously, HERE we all spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what plants/greenery had been used to complete it.   You can read more about what was used to create this beautiful mantel, and get tips on how to create it at Southern Living online.

Pssst:  Winner of the P.C. Fallon Co. Giveaway was announced HERE on the giveaway post.

Looking forward to all the "Before and Afters" for this Met Monday!

Links to past posts referenced above:
Houdini Squirrel
Floating Camellias
Tablescapes with Camellia Centerpiece HERE and HERE
My home office/studio with the bee pillow
Southern Living Idea House   (To view additional posts showing the Southern Living Idea House in Senoia Georgia, type "Southern Living Idea House" into the search box you'll find on the right sidebar.  I took pics throughout the home and you'll find several more posts showing the rooms in this beautiful home.)


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