Summer Holiday Cupboard with Patriotic Flair

When June comes around I gather my vintage dishes and a few elements that are red/white/blue and restyle my old pie safe cupboard. A few pieces of red transferware mix it up with my French faience pottery dishes. Then when I start decorating for July 4th holiday I just add in some small memorial flags. Presto, instant Patriotic décor.

A First Look at the Casual Dining Area

Next week is our final move of furniture, and officially we will "move in" and take up residence. We will still have things to go back and pack up at the old house, but our master bedroom furniture, big TV and the rest of the Living Room furniture will be at the new house. Unless we want to camp out on the floor, we'll make the leap to get there! 

Last post I shared how the Hearth Room is coming along and a glimpse of the eating area in the sunroom. All the chairs to this table set aren't here yet, since we're still using 3 of them at the old house. But as I said earlier, I think I have the main pieces out here. The extra little tables and smaller decor are subject to change, though. The corners are hard to decorate out here because of having to be able to reach the blind adjustments, so that's the reason for the larger cupboards having to be placed in front of the windows.

New House Journal: First Look at the Sunroom and Armoire

I know to some of you our "move" seems unconventional to put it mildly. Even my husband commented last night that the way we've handled this renovation and the moving process "has been weird". The reno part took far longer than we had ever considered, since we ended up having to do much more work to get things ready to move in.

(I'm laughing when I see in this photo that the little white decorative piece on top of the cupboard had fallen over. It was almost dark when I took this, and I didn't realize it until we'd already left the house, so no time to go back and redo this shot.) 

Warning: Phone Pics Ahead

Sunroom Ideas for the New House

We've been busy packing and cleaning and updating this last six months at our old house, but I've needed to allow myself some "dream" time to think and gather some inspiration for what I'd like in our next home. I loved my little sunporch; it was a place I expressed myself and had fun. It was a place I could play and decorate and change up for whatever holiday and when the mood would strike. Color and pattern and lots of vintage goodies made it my own special play room.

May 2013

(Following images can be found on my Pinterest boards,

Planked Walls and Potting Benches.)

I know that I'd love to have a bigger space in this next house, but it needs to be a sunroom. Not just a porch. It was often too cold in the winter months to fully enjoy it, so I really want this new space to be part of the house, and hopefully right off the kitchen like before.

These are inspiration pics of what I'd like to do with the shape of the room and the planked walls. I love the look of an old home, maybe added on to over time, and think that the "cathedral" or arched ceiling with planks and beams would be perfect for that vintage vibe. My first love has always been vintage garden goods, so I thought it would be fun to have the sunroom also have the look of a potting or garden shed. 

LOVE those beams! These pics are just to get an idea of the ceiling and walls. I want a white or neutral backdrop for all the vintage pieces and elements to show.

This sunroom space would serve as a sitting room,

 and a place to relax and watch tv or read.

But I want it to be rustic and garden-y, too.

And of course a chandelier or two would be perfect.

with a set of French Doors.

A cupboard for pots and vintage garden goodies...

I always love Kathleen's wonderful inspiration!

A place to display old garden tools...

  I'm the biggest fan of Mary's wonderful Potting Shed.

http://homeiswheretheboatis.net/2011/03/28/gardening-rules/

I love all the light in this wonderful greenhouse,

but wouldn't want glass roofing...

not with the hail we get in this part of the country.

and I'm hoping there's a way to include a brick or stone floor...

or maybe just a "look alike".

This may be where my big armoire in the kitchen ends up,

if so, I'd love to paint it a weathered gray.

My favorite wicker pieces from the old sunporch would be there, 

and I want to find a white slipcovered loveseat for more seating.

and make room for my potting table...

then put my little window conservatory on top.

OK, just sharing a few ideas that are rattling around in my head.

We haven't made any solid plans as yet, but it's not too soon to start dreaming.

Hope you all are having a great week...

We're making real progress at the home front.

We worked on the two decks last weekend, painting and repairs...

I only have one word for that...

YUCK!

I'll be joining in on these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life

From My Front Porch to Yours

Mrs. Olson's

French Country Cottage

Jennifer Rizzo

xoxo,

Honey, we're Home!

I'm so glad this last week is behind us. It's been non-stop packing and stressing since the middle of December when we decided it was time to take that big step with the move. Just in case you haven't been by here for awhile, we've moved to a smaller lease house so we could start updates on our big house. The move went smoothly, and our younger daughter and her hubby were here to give us some help over the weekend. Amazing what 30-somethings can accomplish when you hand them some cardboard boxes!

We only took less than half of our furniture and "stuff" with us, but we quickly filled up the new "little house". But I have to say I'm loving the coziness and convenience of this smaller place. I wish the rooms were a little bigger, 'cause it's a little tight, but all in all it's super comfortable and I'm having fun putting things together. 

One bonus that I hadn't planned on was having enough room in the eat-in kitchen area to make a small sitting area with some wicker and my baker's rack. It helps ease the withdrawal of leaving my sunporch behind. And once I had things in place, a few things that I hand carried over found their way to the baker's rack.

My galvanized bucket full of paperwhites started blooming the day of the move, making it a sweet little "sign" of blessings to come.

I have a few things that stay on the baker's rack no matter the holiday or season; my wooden seed crate is one of them. Now it's filled with my old garden tools and some pots and seed packets. Hard to imagine, but it will soon be time to think about Spring...really hard, since it was about 5 degrees last night.

The move was a little harder on the kitties, as they cried all night the first few nights; they were ok during the daytime, but at night it was a turf war on the bed. Miss Wrigley kept trying to nudge us out from under the covers so we could go home, where she is queen of the bed. Her little sister is vying for the "top cat" position, although right now they are both hiding behind the headboard of the bed; their go-to spot when the garage door goes up or the door bell rings.

Next on the list to get unpacked is my studio/office. I think I'm going to leave a lot of my many boxes of vintage papers and ephemera, etc. boxed up. I just don't want to think about unpacking all of it to turn around and repack it again once we have permanent plans. I may change my mind later, when I'm feeling an urge to create something...

I can't wait to show you more of this room and how it's coming together. I still haven't tackled all the many boxes of ironstone or transferware, but I'm excited to get around to playing in the old pie safe. You won't recognize most of this furniture in here because it was downstairs out of "camera range", which is code for bad lighting and bad decorating.

I'll be back next week with The Marketplace and Be Inspired,

 hope to see you then.

joining in with:

French Country Cottage
Mod Vintage Life
Coastal Charm
Stone Gable
Dwellings

Stay warm, 

and may all your kitties be happy kitties...

xoxo,

p.s. I missed you all this last week!

Patriotic Sunporch and a little Serendipity...

Happy Weekend Everyone!

This was a big week for the little sunporch, as Kim from Savvy Southern Style asked me to share "My Favorite Room" with her readers. (Thankyou, each and every one of you who left such sweet comments, they made my week!) I've mentioned before, that I use this blog as a sort of "photo diary" of what I've been doing, and decor around the house. Since I didn't post the sunporch photos here on my own blog, that's what this post is about...and a couple of funny "serendipitous" findings.

You all know that I love to keep things changed up out here on the porch, and most of that change comes from trading out quilts and pillows for the base of my color scheme. I get excited for each new Holiday and Season and the sunporch reflects those seasonal changes.

For this July 4th Holiday and the Summer Season, I knew I wanted to use different pillows for the little white wicker settee. I had it in my head that they needed to be a red floral. (are you like me, and get a mental picture in your noggin about what it needs to be, and then it's hard to do anything else?)

So my hunt for red floral pillows began; I spent hours on Etsy looking for red. floral. pillows. I finally found two that were wonderful, pretty much what I had been looking for, but with shipping they were going to cost over $80. OK, it's worth it to get the ones that will be "just right". I was about to hit the purchase button when I realized...good grief...they were almost identical to the red fruit and floral pillows I have in storage from "Big Red", the sofa downstairs. duh...so I hunted down the extra set and saved myself some money. I love mixing patterns, and my black ticking pillows match almost everything that I pair them with. Love the red floral and fruit with the ticking stripe. OK...done.

Last week I put a few of my blue transferware cups and saucers out as a little grouping in one of my strawberry totes. I just grabbed anything with blue on it. Around here, blue is in short supply. The 4th of July is the only time I use blue, so I don't have a lot. Anyhoo, I have stacks of mismatched dishes and I just went through them to pull out the ones for a little patriotic display here on the porch.

This set is "Mason's Fruit Basket" from England.

But look what else I found...

a little set of dessert dishes that I've never used.

and of all things...

They are "Martha Washington" from E.C. Company.

I bought them for the little dove design.

Patriotic indeed!

I recently brought out the old hooked floral rug from my studio. It has seen many better days and has a permanent crease/wrinkle problem that I may or may not have tripped over numerous times...so now it's out here and not a health hazard to anyone that might be slightly accident prone...just sayin'.

An old linen lunch hamper filled with my little French Girl lamp,

 an ivy, old gardening tools, a wire basket and a white tole tray.

...and the baker's rack with some summer goodies.

This Sunshine Biscuit Tin depicting "the first note of the Liberty Bell". 

and this old blue lunch box with some red transferware on top.

and an old birdhouse...

and in the other corner...

an old wicker rocker with my conservatory on top of a dresser

 that had been my Dad's as a little boy.

I've always loved this canvas piece. It's not old, and I think from Guild Masters about 13 years ago. It reminds me of toile and red transferware, and is entitled "The Aviary".

So that's a wrap on the Patriotic Sunporch for July 2013.

I'm already thinking about what's coming next...

The Patriotic Party is still going strong,

and I'll be picking some faves, so don't hesitate to add your links.

I'm known for choosing at least one of the features

 from the last few entries...

joining in for these parties:

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

The Scoop at Confessions of a Plate Addict

Met Monday on Between Naps on the Porch

Knick of Time Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style

DIY By Design

Hope you're having a sunny and warm weekend,

xoxo,