Snowballed

Isn't it funny how one simple thing can snowball into a huge project? My husband built me this awesome thing with drawers out of reclaimed wood for Christmas. I absolutely love it, but as soon as I opened it on Christmas day I pictured it on a rustic table/workbench along one wall of my dining room. I have been wanting one of these for years and I have eyeballed many but have never been able to afford any I have seen for sale. I spent many hours looking for the perfect inspiration piece so that my husband could build me my very own. He loves a project and I wanted to take advantage of his week off so I put him to work! Needless to say I now have my very own long work table along one wall of my dining room. I am working on getting it all put together so that I can show you how it all turned out. I took some pictures to give you a sneak peek....

The beautiful ironstone pitcher was a Christmas gift from my mom, and I got the awesome rusty bottle carrier from Spring Hill Farm on Etsy.

My husband looked at my Pinterest boards to get the inspiration for the piece he built me for Christmas, I thought that was pretty sweet. We always try to make as many gifts as possible at Christmas time, our nieces and nephews get coat racks and stepping stools, but I never expected him to have made something for me. To me something handmade is always more special than something expensive and store bought.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, I can't believe it is all over already! I hope to have the pictures of my dining room posted by the end of the week....stay tuned!

Snow Day

The snow is falling heavily here and it really feels like Christmas! I snapped some pictures of my living room while my son was at Pre-K because if he is home there are toys on every surface.

Like I said in previous posts I wanted to keep our Christmas decorating simple this year and I definitely didn't want to spend much money to get the look I wanted.

I got the wreath on our stepback for less than $2 because all of it's pine cones had fallen off...I just reglued some of my own on. And I filled an old box I bought for $1 with some pine boughs from our yard.

I bought this antique frame at the flea market and then my husband cut a piece of wood to fit so that I could turn it into a chalkboard.

An Ikea "As Is" basket holds some of the ticking fabric that I can't get enough of, and an old enamelware bucket makes the perfect mini tree holder. These little trees were only $3 at Aldi, what a deal!

I made this stocking with a left over scrap of the painters drop cloth I used to make our sofa slipcover.

Ok well it's back to cookie baking for me, with the snow falling outside it's a great day to be inside making cookies with my son. Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Christmas Guest Bedroom

I finally have our guest room all decorated for Christmas, up until a couple of days ago the bed was stacked high with presents to be wrapped. I finally have them all wrapped and put them inside this antique basket.

Nothing too fancy and not too much color, that was my goal for all of my Christmas decorating this year.

I thought I would go with all white bedding this year, I love it with the red and green.

This old store box makes for the perfect present holder. I  made my own tags this year, I used a bird stamp but I really want a tiny pinecone stamp (definitely on my list of things to get).

It FINALLY snowed here today and really made it feel like Christmas time. We live in the snow belt and usually by this time of year we have quite a bit of snow! Hopefully it will be a white Christmas, can't believe it is a week from today already!

Ray Of Sunshine

The Sandy Hook tragedy has filled me with a deep sadness and in that I know I am not alone. I debated about even blogging but I feel like we all need a a little ray of sunshine right now.

Gift Wrapping

I started wrapping our Christmas presents because I am desperate to have something checked off my Christmas list. Every year I seem to think that I am on top of things and then all of the sudden it hits me how much I have to do still. Instead of sleeping I start obsessing as I lay in bed at night about all that I am going to do the next day. And then I spend the whole next day tired and in a daze. Yesterday it took me 3 hours to make a very simple stocking all because I felt like a zombie. Don't try to sew anything on 5 hours of sleep is my advice:) But I love making lists and checking them twice...and I love this time of year.

I have all of my gift wrapping essentials in this tool caddy, one of my favorite flea market finds.

 And I have been on a quest for very simple wrapping paper this year, I am not a fancy glittery wrapping paper fan, however that seems to be all the stores carry. Let me know if you know of any stores that carry tasteful very plain wrapping paper! I have lots of brown packaging paper but I wanted one other paper to mix with it. A roll of plain red was the best thing that I could find for now and I like it against the twine.

Ok well it is back to gift wrapping for me! Good day!

Christmas Dining Room

The sun is shining bright here today so I thought I would share some photos of my dining room all decorated for Christmas. Our farmhouse is very simple and very rustic and that is the way that I like my decorating to be also. I recently found some really great and inexpensive items that I just couldn't wait to use this Christmas.

This galvanized bucket that I bought for $2 is one of them. The tree is a hand me down and the homespun fabric was less than $3 at the thrift store.

This long box is a $2 estate sale find, it was built to be a tool box but with some pine boughs and mason jars holding candles inside of it it becomes the perfect centerpiece.

I love decorating but I also love the challenge of not spending very much and still achieving the look you want.

Almost everything on these shelves is from the flea market, the thrift store or an estate sale, except the fly screens (I just bought those at Moon River Chattel in Brooklyn, go there if you can!).

                        I was very excited to find the tiny cipres tree at Big Lots for $4.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Simple and Rustic Christmas

      Some more rustic Christmas inspiration....because it is the season of giving!

Have a great day!