Christmas Vintage Inspiration

I know it's late in the Christmas Season, but I'm still in "inspiration" mode since I haven't been able to do any decorating. I looked back in my posts and I realized I've only done one on Christmas decor and that was my Christmas Home Tour from last year. I've still been "pinning" pics of current posts from everyone; but hey, it will still be good for next year! So I thought I'd share a few pics and links from some of my fave inspiration... and I threw in a few pics from my past Christmas posts. You all know I'm anxious to get to the new place, even though it will be too late to decorate for Christmas.

Antique Rocking Horse at Christmas

New House Journal: New Hardwoods and Carpet

This post is probably way more exciting for me personally than for any of you readers, but it's part of my documenting the progress of our new house. When we first walked into the Entry, other than notice the shiny ceilings, was the fact that the formal living and dining rooms were covered in carpet. Now I have nothing against carpet as you will see, but I really wanted hardwood floors this next time around.

New House Journal: Painting the Antique Sideboard Buffet

We've been working weekends at the new house, and I've been spending at least one day a week there working on my own. We tend to work on bigger jobs on the weekends, then I do some things that I can get accomplished on my own without Hubby's help the rest of the week. OK ... some days are just spent doing laundry and resting up for the next round of fun.

Spirit of Christmas Past: Entry in White

Hi Friends, I'm really missing not being able to decorate for Christmas this year. I didn't get to decorate for Fall either, but I knew that wouldn't happen from the minute we signed papers on the new house. But... I had hopes that we'd maybe be moved in by the end of November. As we started working at the new place more and more projects that needed to be done came to our attention, so now it's December and we are still working. At this point I'm hoping to move at the first of the year. I'm not complaining because I want things accomplished before we get there. So I'm doing a little reminiscing. 

New House Journal: Slipcovered Sofa Set and Mantel Makeover

We're making a lot of headway at the new house, with several things coming to completion. The hardwood floors were installed before Thanksgiving and the finish of the carpet install was this afternoon. I'll share those once I get decent pics. Right now I have something hiding underneath plastic drop cloths that I'm anxious to share. One of my favorite things on my check list is the long awaited delivery of my new Slipcovered Sofa Set. Big Yay.

New House Journal: Timber Frame Front Porch

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We worked most of the weekend painting the laundry/bath and Hearth Room/Kitchen. One project we took on called for some study and investigation. Today,  I'm sharing a little Pinterest inspiration that I gathered, to help me find a solution for a front porch "mini makeover" on our new house. To say I was not a fan of the front porch is an understatement. The house is a long drawn out 60's brick "ranch" that has a lovely setting, but just left me lacking that home-y English Cottage feel that I love.

Pinterest

Favorite Vintage Thanksgiving Tablescape

Sharing some pics from my favorite Thanksgiving Tablescape from 2013. Just for fun. Have a wonderful day with friends and family.

New House Journal: Painting the Woodwork

These photos are really not blogworthy, because they were taken with my phone and the lighting is so poor in these rooms. The little chandelier is so pretty, but it's throwing shadows on the wall that look mottle-y and dirty. (the walls WERE dirty, I think they must have used a lot of candles or the fireplace soot built up over time) Anyway, it was either using these pics, or waiting until I could get my camera over there. The flooring will be installed next week, so I'll wait and get some better ones when they are in.

Dining Room

Go-to Thanksgiving Decor

I've always loved Thanksgiving, and enjoy bringing out the cozy wool blankets in Tartan Plaids of brown, dark green, and tans, vintage Turkeys, cornucopias filled with Harvest goods, and of course my favorite Brown Transferware. I'm usually in a hurry to start decorating for Christmas, yet I never want to totally bypass this wonderful Late Fall Holiday, dedicated to love of family, friends, and gratefulness for God's blessings.

"Hoo Said That?"

I have several little friends that haven't been able to make their appearance this Fall, since they're all packed away and waiting till next year. But once in a while I hear a little hoot, chirp, or baaaa, and know they are wondering what happened to October. They were the star of the Late October Show. Don't worry, we'll share a few pics from yesteryear.

Thanksgiving to Christmas Tree

We'll be inundated with "Christmas in Blogland" next week. (I AM excited to see what's coming for Christmas) There are still some of us that even though we are looking forward to Decking the Halls, still want to celebrate Thanksgiving. This causes us to look for ways to start the Christmas Decor process, but we're not ready to barrel head long into it, bypassing Thanksgiving.

Bountiful Fall Baskets Blog Hop

Using baskets has been a fun and creative way for me to decorate since I saw the first issues of Country Living Magazine back in 1978. One of the best things about them is that they can be found at any vintage market, flea, antique shop or garage sale, usually for a price that will fit anyone's budget. Baskets come in so many varieties; mostly wood products, wicker, willow, and even metals. Since I turn first to vintage finds, I have a good stash, big and small, that I can choose from. Today I'm joining in for a Fun Fall Blog Hop that's showcasing Baskets decorated for Autumn. If you're coming from Follow the Yellow Brick Home, so glad you're here. I think Amber loves this time of year just as much as I do.

A few misplaced things...

Even though we're working on the new house with it pretty much in disarray and a lot going on, I still have that need to scatter a little Fall Decor about. During August and September I was able to get a jump on some packing, especially some of my decor pieces like old dishes and vintage odds and ends. I found a few things that I don't think I'd shared on the blog for awhile so I thought I'd try to use a few of them for the season.

An Encore Autumn Outdoors Tablescape and Getting Started at the New House

It's so hard to believe that it's actually October now... and that it's my favorite time of the year, AND that I don't even have one real pumpkin on my porch. Really... no pumpkins on my porch, real or faux. I DO have some pretty rust colored mums and my orange pillows that I bought last year for the little iron bench. Here are a few pics from several years ago from an outside Fall Tablescape to keep me in a "happy place".

Out and About and a Fall Vignette with Concrete Pears

Since I can't do a whole house Fall Tour, I'm just concentrating on small vignettes with Fall decor. Recently I've found a few fun additions to my Fall goodies lineup. Yesterday we celebrated my sister's Birthday with a trip to Spring Creek Antiques and Tea Room in Ozark, MO. One of the best lunch spots in the area, that is in the middle of a wonderful vintage market. If you're ever in the Springfield area this is a must experience spot.

Fall Decor in the Middle of the Mess

Hi Friends, since this is my favorite time of the year, I'm going to try and share some small posts on Fall. It's a mild form of chaos over here at "Packing Central", but sharing here, and seeing what you all are doing for Fall decor will help me stay somewhat sane. 

Vintage Shopping and the Trunk Makeover

Last Friday my sister and I finally got around to heading out for a little vintage shopping. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed being out and about for some Vintage Fall Fun. "Fun" has been pretty much off the table this last Summer because I would just poop out after about an hour. But I was ready for some Fall Inspiration and the Shop Hops were in full swing. We headed to our favorite vintage market, "The Vintage Peddler" in Springfield and wandered the aisles for an hour or so, while sipping some bubbly cider.

Rustic French Fall Decor

I'm in the middle of messy packing mode, but I'm still looking for Fall Inspiration. Nothing over-the-top, but some subtle color changes and natural vignettes. I thought I'd share some classic French Country Autumn seasonal decor with you today from previous Septembers. I like to look back through the archives and see what I was doing "this time of year" from years ago. 

If a Lamp Falls in the Forest...

In my "real world" time I would be giddy that the calender has changed over to September, but I now seem to be living in the alternate universe of packing up my house for a move. The daytime temps are cooling down and the evenings are wonderful. Even the trees on my street are beginning to show some beautiful shades of Autumn color.

What will go where?

The last week in August is normally when I'm bringing out some Fall goodies, trying to subtly ease into the Fall scene. Creeping in would be just a few little dried leaves and grasses; I might even sneak in a nonchalant small pumpkin or two. Big BUT here, instead of decorating, I'm surrounded by packing boxes and my house looks like the inside of a U-Haul store.

Autumn Transitions Home Tour

Hello Everyone, and welcome to our

 Autumn Transition Home Tour 

I'm so excited to be joining this wonderful group of creative and talented gals who love Fall and enjoy decorating for the Seasons. We're going to be sharing our ideas and inspiration on welcoming the beauty of Autumn into our homes and decor. If you're coming from Our Southern Home, then welcome and I hope you'll stay with the Tour by visiting Decor to Adore a bit later. You'll find the complete list at the end of the post. A big thankyou to Amber of Follow the Yellow Brick Home for putting this fun tour together.

This time of year blogland is filled with posts about transitioning our decor from Late Summer into Early Fall. Our individual methods may be similar, but each person has their own unique style and ideas to make this a fun and easy change-over. The fact that bringing out the Autumn decor is one of my favorite things to look forward to, makes this a special time to savor and enjoy for me. Since I'm in the beginning stages of packing for our move this Fall, I'm sharing several photos that show how I have taken Summer to Fall in easy steps.

New House Journal: Dining Room Chandy

We're making progress through the process of buying this house. This last week we've negotiated the inspection results; nothing major or deal breaking, just little things that need to be taken care of. This is an older home, built in the 60's, and even though it's been partially renovated there are still lots of updates we need to finish. Looks like it needs a small amount of roof repair, some tree limbs hanging on electrical lines... the things I never wanted to worry about again. We realized a while back that to get the usable space on one level we need, we have to go with an older home. We've researched the new custom home route and that's not something we want to go through now. We don't want to be further out of town, and that's what we'd be getting with a subdivision of new builds. I talked some about our decision making process in my last post. I'm excited about all that's ahead with this big project, but I still feel I need to explain our decision. Maybe I'm still trying to convince myself, haha. I know that sometimes our big life choices are not so easy to make. But then again, that IS life isn't it? Stepping out in Faith to do what we feel God is directing us to do.

Something New on the Home Front

Hi Guys, I'm going to preface this post by saying it probably needs to head up a blog category entitled ..."Say What?". Because some, if not most of you will be wondering if we've lost our ever lovin' marbles, so to speak. Let me explain.

All photos are from the online listing.

(newly renovated kitchen at the soon-to-be new house)
shucks, I gave the secret away!

French Country Styling on the Baker's Rack

As we head towards August the color scheme sees some subtle changes around here. I like to bring in the deeper colors of golds and greens; more neutral tones. Sort of "harvest-y" colors. In the Spring and Summer the kitchen sitting area is all about bright fresh color and a garden feel; now I'm ready for something different.

Small Summer Changes

Hard to imagine that Summer is at it's mid-point. It's been hot, hot, and hot here in the lower Midwest. I think we're all having abnormally warm temperatures. It's been record setting here since the beginning of June. At least we've been fortunate and had a few good rains; more than a lot of people in our area. 

Easy and Instant Patriotic Decor

Today I realized if I didn't make a little effort to put together some decor for the 4th, it would really be too late. I've been enjoying decorating with a Patriotic theme for my whole life, and I didn't want this to be the year to not continue. The 4th of July holiday epitomizes the feel for summer fun... trips to the lake, cookouts, family get-togethers. When I was a kid that meant that there were always family gatherings with fireworks, a grill, and several buckets of homemade ice cream. 

Life can change in an instant...

Sometimes life can change within a matter of minutes... that's what happened to me last Friday at 5:00 in the afternoon. I had just published a post here on the blog about the heart procedure that I had had earlier in the week. Things had gone pretty well and I was home and feeling better. I had a few minutes to reply to a few of you that had left a comment.  If you haven't read that post from Friday afternoon, you can find it here.

Summertime Views

(Sharing some photos from last Summer's Home Tour.)

Low Thyroid: Sharing a post on Hair Loss and Thinning

I'm working on my post about the breadcrumb trail with Autoimmune Disease linking to Heart Disease that I've been following this last few months, and I've been checking back on some web articles and research. Today, I was looking back through the Blog Links List I have in my blog Footer toward the end with links to Autoimmune Illness and Gluten-Free Recipes. You'll see it on the left-hand side after the post.

Still here...

Hi Friends...
still here.
still waiting.

This afternoon I was updating my Series on "Regaining Your Health". I've had a lot of moving parts to rearrange and add, but unbeknownst to me, one part updated on today's date. Sorry for the confusion, BUT that does give me a chance to let you know what I'm doing and where I am in all the latest.

Happy Mother's Day and a note

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to everyone, and I hope you're having a beautiful day. April was a record cold month, but now all of a sudden when May got here it's turned into a heavy muggy 85, seemingly over night. 

a little personal update...

Hi Friends, just wanted to do a quick "hello" and let you know I'm taking a few days or so off, to have some heart tests. My health has been fairly unpredictable for awhile with the Gluten Ataxia and the Autoimmune revelations. 

(photos from 2014)

Birds and Branches

This has been such a cold Spring... very few warm days with a lot of cold and dreary ones. The flowering trees and growing things got a late start. Then just when they thought it was safe, we had nights of temps in the 20's. So the peach tree, plum tree, and cherry tree have had their bloom time disturbed and cut short. 

Spring Market and Vintage Ivy Dishes

Spring Open Houses seem to be a little late this year, but since our weather has been on the cold side, I think we're all running a little behind schedule. We (my sis and I) only made it a couple of places, but we got our fix for all things Spring.

What Everyone Needs to Know about Autoimmune Disease

What I knew about Autoimmune Disease up till about 18 months ago was basically very little. I knew that Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, and what I deal with, Hashimoto's Disease of the Thyroid, (low or hypothyroid) were autoimmune, but that was about it. My information and opinions were ambiguous and uninformed at best. I'm writing this post to share with you my experiences and the information I've gathered in hopes that you or someone you know might be made more aware of the subject of Autoimmune Disease.

www.sjogrens.org

Seed Box Vignette on the China Cupboard

Since Easter, I've been puttering around here bringing in some vintage pieces that are seasonally "Spring". I just removed the "bunnies" on top of the china cupboard, and replaced them with a  vignette using an old wooden box decoupaged with seed graphics. It was a "make-do" attempt, but with that wonderful original green paint, it makes a perfect display piece for Spring.

Easy Repairs to a Vintage Oil Painting

I'm always on the hunt for vintage or antique watercolor and oil paintings when I'm out at the vintage markets or fleas. Pastorals or landscapes are my favorites, but are getting hard to find. Not to mention, the prices can be pretty steep. So when I happened to spot this canvas a few weeks ago, I grabbed it up.

Easter Inspiration with a few of our Friends

Happy Easter, Friends

I hope you're having a wonderful Easter Weekend, full of friends and family. Somehow our weather didn't get the memo for a Beautiful Spring Day. Oh well, we have joy and sunshine on the inside! Have you had a chance to visit and link up your Spring and Easter posts at the Spring and Easter Joy Link Party? well, come on over and share your Spring Inspiration with the rest of us. Here are a few fun links from our friends... take a peek and enjoy!

Easter Table Inspiration at 

Hyacinths For the Soul

Spring and Easter Joys Blogger Link Party

Happy Good Friday, Friends. I hope you've been able to "Hop" through our Vintage Easter Joys Blog Hop this week. If you haven't had a chance, I have the list of bloggers sharing their wonderful inspiration for Easter at the end of this post. Today we're inviting you all to share your Spring and Easter posts with all of us. Each of the twelve bloggers participating in the Hop are also hosting the Linky Party, so your linked posts will be seen on 12 different blogs!

Vintage Easter Joys Blog Hop

Hello Everyone, Happy Easter Week! We've gathered 12 Vintage Lovin' Bloggers together to Celebrate Easter and Spring this week. No matter what the weather, we're all decorated and ready to share the fun of Easter, with a vintage twist.

Vintage Easter Inspiration on Palm Sunday

Hello Friends, I hope this Palm Sunday is a beautiful day for you all. I'm sharing some pics from a Vintage Easter Vignette I put together a few years ago, inspired by the book "Fairytale Easter" from Jeanne d'Arc Living. I also want to let you know that a group of us who love Vintage, will be sharing our Vintage Easter items and decor this week, Tuesday March 27 and Wednesday March 28. Then on Friday we will all be hosting a Link Party for you all, Spring and Easter Joys Bloggers Link Party, Starting at 8 AM Central. We're hoping you will all join us to share your Spring and Easter Vignettes and Decor.

(This is not a sponsored post)

Spring Home Tour 2018

Hi Everyone, and welcome to the 2018 Spring Home Tours hosted by our friend Marty from A Stroll Thru Life. Marty herself is putting the finishing touches on her lovely home and has taken us on her remodeling and decorating journey this last year. Thanks so much for including me in the tour, Marty. If you're here from Far Above Rubies, I know you enjoyed Anita's amazing one-of-a-kind vintage eclectic home filled with wonderful color and pattern. If you've missed part of the Home Tour, I have a list of participants at the end of the post.

Easter Mantel with a Vintage Touch

Since changing up my fireplace mantel is like climbing Mt. Everest, I try to keep things a little easier to decorate. If I find a piece that works well up here, it tends to stick around for awhile. The mirror, wreath and Monogram are staples here, keeping those in place, I can more easily find elements that fit the season or holiday.

Sharin' O' the Green

Happy St. Patty's Day to all of you! I imagine that many of us here in the U.S. have a smidge of Irish in us. I like to think so, maybe for just today. I have always enjoyed pulling a few green things together to celebrate the Holiday. So I thought I'd share these images with you for a wee bit of Irish fun and hopefully a proper Irish Blessing!

Hop Into Spring Blog Hop

Hi Everyone, I'm so glad you're here today to celebrate Spring and join us with our "Hop Into Spring" Home Tour. My good friend Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home has brought together a group of Bloggers who love to decorate their homes with the colors and warmth of the Spring Season. If you've come from Stacey at Poofing the Pillows, Hello and Welcome to Common Ground. I'm so glad you are here and following the Hop.

Moss Covered Cross for Easter

This last week I've been bringing out "Spring" around the house. There still aren't many signs outside except for some Daffodils and the buds growing on the trees. It's been fairly bleak around here weather wise. Typical March weather, windy and on the cool side. Did I mention "windy"? Enough to blow you away.  

How to know when it's almost Spring...

Of course the weather will be on a gradual warming curve; more days of 60 than of 30. I can see little bits of green popping up, previously hidden in the "monkey grass" along the courtyard sidewalk. The buds on the Peach tree are swelling up, just waiting to explode in a gorgeous pink bloom. But there's one sure way to tell Spring is almost here...

Weathered Gray Finish for the Spring Cart Refresh

Last post I shared my inspiration pics on giving my black goat cart a freshen-up for Spring. I had a plan to use Chalk Paint as I had a few colors on hand from previous paint projects. There are a few go-to colors that I have used in combo for most all my furniture painting. What is that old saying about plans?

Spring Paint Refresh for the Goat Cart

After Valentine's Day is here and gone, we can legitimately begin to think about Spring. Around here in the southern Mid-West, February is still considered Winter. Cold temps, freezing rain and snow are the norm. Once and awhile we'll have a surprise day or two of 65. There may be a few little Daffodils pushing up through the snow, and we know the worst of Winter is usually over. We can now start dreaming about gardens, flowers, and all things "green", without judgement. (insert happy face and a wink)

source

A Little Cottage Romance

Hi Friends, I challenged my decorating "self" this month to do some Valentine's Day vignettes with pinks and soft pastels instead of a lot of red. No sooner do I put away the reds from Christmas than they're back again for February and Valentine's Day. I wanted to keep the Baker's Rack romantic and feminine, so I used my antique china teapots and some of my English Cottages to keep things sweet and homey.