Kitchen Sitting Area with a Cottage Feel

I've always loved the quaint tradition of tucking in photos and postcards around the edges of a mirror; like a little memo board of sorts. It reminds me of my childhood and the vanity and hall mirrors of my aunts and grandmothers.

Today we have less sentimental "paper" to keep and stash away. When I was in high school I remember saving movie stubs and movie ads from the paper, snapshots of friends, little notes and scraps of doodles. In the computer age a lot of that has been lost; and that's a little sad. During the late 1800's up to the 40's and 50's there was a little tradition of sending postcards to friends if you were on a trip or vacation. Same for Birthdays and Holidays. No telephones, so an easy way to keep in touch with friends and relatives. I have a small collection of antique postcards, and love these from the early 1900's of British Castles.

My last post I shared my vintage goodies on my Baker's Rack, in an attempt to be more "neutral" in my decorating. So here's the rest of the Kitchen Sitting Area during this month of January. A transition from Christmas to a fresh start for the New Year, with a little "English Cottage" mixed in.

If you look closely you can see that the mini-plaid fabric on the backing of the quilt is lavender, and that there's a small lavender flower in the fabric of the pillow. 

I love mixing and matching fabrics, pillows and quilts in here on the wicker settee. It seems like each month I have a reason to switch things up. It's my decor therapy. Since I'm in the kitchen most of the day I enjoy seeing something new and fresh. If you missed the post about my crate makeover and the Birch Candle on the coffeetable/bench you can catch it here.

My sis bought me the gray-washed basket for Christmas, so as soon as the garage has melted down to more than fridge temps, I'll find some sweet Springy blooms to put inside.

I love decorating the top of this cupboard. Even though most of the elements stay, it's always fun to fill the heavy ironstone tureen and change up the flowers in the old watering can, for a slightly different look.

After Christmas I removed all the faux greenery from the cupboard and left the birds and the teeny evergreen tree in the sugar bowl.

I wanted a cottage look and theme here on the Baker's Rack.

I made these pillows awhile back at the previous house. I don't like to sew and I'm not good at it, so these big pillows with cording were a major accomplishment. We just don't look very close.

A "Burberry-ish" umbrella blends right in.

I've used a little black in my decor as an accent for years,

how about you?

Sorry for all the glare from the blinds in here. This room faces south, so unless it's really cloudy I get all kinds of weird light patterns.

I'm hoping to round up a few of my Valentine things this weekend.

Do you "decorate" or "accentuate" for Valentine's?

Have a great weekend, friends,

joining in here:

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