Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! This post comes a little late but today was the first chance I have had to share all of the pictures that I took over the holidays, it has been such a busy holiday season for us!

I kept my decorating simple this year as usual, both inside and out. We put a real tree on our front porch and I must say I love it so much I think it is going to have to become a yearly thing.

We did endless baking again this year...the kids and I just love it. 

 In the kitchen some new flea market finds like the French Butcher sign, the basket and the $5 spice drawers pair perfectly with some ironstone, my wooden spoon collection and some pine boughs.

I kept things simple in the dining room as well. Lots of candles and a fresh tree with just lights on it make it cozy but not cluttered looking and left room for when all of the presents started piling up.

Of course warm quilts with lots of texture and cozy places to sit are always a must this time of year too. 

A giant pickle jar has become my new favorite candle holder, get used to seeing it quite a lot.

Kept the gift wrapping simple too...what can I say that is just how I like things! 

Not to sound cliche but one of the things that I love most about Christmas is the "togetherness" of it. We bake together, we make together, we shop together.  And no matter how busy the day gets we always make time in the evenings to sit together and enjoy the tree or watch a Christmas movie. The togetherness is also why each year I seem to make things more and more simple at Christmas time. The less time I spend getting bins out of the attic and sorting through them is the more time I can spend with my kids doing the important things. Christmas can be simple and still be beautiful.


Speaking of the kids...they always decorate the tree below with handmade ornaments from over the years but the week after Christmas I like to take them off and just leave the lights on it. I love after the chaos of Christmas and the wrapping paper and bags and cookie tins everywhere to get all of that put away and make things around the house extra simple but still super cozy.

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you that supported our new small business in our first full year open and for helping make it so successful! Your love and support means the world to us. We were blown away by the amount of people that came to shop on our Christmas Open House and it was our most successful event yet! I will be sharing some plans we have for the new year and, show dates and our Spring Open House date soon!

In the meantime I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, we sure did but as always it just goes too fast!

I know that bloggers are supposed to be ahead of the game when it comes to sharing their seasonal decorating but I am finding it harder and harder to find the time to blog so thank you all for being so patient with me! I do love blogging and I will never tire of photography or sharing my decorating and our home so please just bear with me! May your new year be wonderful and until next time all my best to you!

P.S. I know I have said it a million times but please follow me on Instagram for daily FARMHOUSE5540 inspiration, all our current renovations  and for shop updates!

Thankful

Ahhh November...that transitional time of year when the golden and rusty colors of October have subsided but yet too early for the contrast of the dark greens and bright white of December. I feel like November and Thanksgiving have become underappreciated but I absolutely love this time of year. November is all about getting the house ready for winter, cooking big meals, sitting around the table with family and making things cozy...adding an extra down comforter to each bed, more lamps to each room, and of course more candles to each nook.

I love the glow these candles above our dining room table bring to our dining room. They also make me feel like I have stepped back in time so of course I love that. Some white pumpkins on an antique cutting board give the room a fall feel but are easy enough to move for big family meals or a board game or two. 

Sconces with dimmer switches are also key to getting a cozy feel in our dining room this time of year. 

Another thing I love about this time of year, all of the delicious food.  I love making big pots of soup or stew with skillet cornbread or biscuits that the kids help me make. I usually don't have the time to really eat at work so I always love coming home, lighting some candles and making some yummy comfort food.

And of course the place where you end your day should be cozy as well! Although I am usually asleep before my head hits the pillow these days I always make sure that our bedroom is cozy. Lamps with Edison bulbs, warm quilts and lots of pillows help to create a restful room. 

While I am on here I wanted to share with you guys some really exciting news....Country Home magazine chose me as one of their Style Makers in their current holiday issue out now! Country Home has been my favorite magazine for over 20 years now and I can't even begin to tell you what an honor this is to me! Opening up the magazine and seeing my photographs is an absolute dream come true. I have had so many people come to visit the shop all because they saw the magazine article.

We celebrated our one year anniversary of our grand opening in October and I couldn't be more pleased with how the past year has gone and the success of the shop. I have so many loyal customers that have supported our small business from the very beginning and I am truly thankful. I am also so thankful for you guys and for following along for so many years now!

I have been very busy getting things ready for the Christmas Open House that we are having at the shop on November 23rd! The shop will be completely stocked with ironstone, Christmas decor, furniture, candles and much more! Make sure to follow my Instagram @farmhouse5540 and my facebook @farmhousesupply for shop information and updates!


Thank you for taking the time to visit and I hope you all have a wonderful and cozy Thanksgiving with your loved ones!

Keeping It Simple and a Fall Market

Happy fall! I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record but I am so sorry it has been so long since my last post! Unfortunately my computer died a couple months ago so I have to borrow Neals when he isn't using it (which is all of the time) to do my work! I was able to bring it to work with me today so I thought it was the perfect chance to get a blog post done and share some of the fall decorating I have done around the house.

We have been having an Indian summer here in Pennsylvania but the leaves are starting to fall and cool temperatures are in the forecast so it seemed like time to cozy things up.

Pretty soon it will be time to sit by the fire in the evenings under a warm quilt with a cup of tea or a glass of wine. For our mantel this fall I tucked some rusty colored branches/leaves I bought at Walmart in between my ironstone pitchers and added some candles for warmth.

I wish that I had more fall decor to share with you guys but that was about the extent of what I did this year. It seems that every year that I get older the less clutter I want and we have been beyond busy lately with the shop, antique shows and trying to get work done on the house. So much or our poor farmhouse is need of attention and it is overwhelming to look at some days so I like having a couple calming, cozy and simple areas to rest in.

It is busy week here at the shop as we make final preparations for our Fall Country Road Market on October 12th. Our summer market was a great success and our customers demanded a fall one!

The market will be here at the shop (5750 West Center Road Linesville, PA) on October 12th from 10 to 4. There will be antique vendors, handmade items for sale, food, and wine tastings...my shop will also be fully stocked with fall goodies and lots of new finds. We will also be celebrating our one year anniversary of our grand opening...I can't believe it has been a year since we opened!

I hope that some of you will be able to make it to the market. Not only will there be awesome old stuff from many talented antique vendors but some handmade items as well. I have been working really hard to get as many local businesses and people that hand make items or do things like make their own jelly involved as possible but it hasn't been as easy as I had hoped. One of my goals for this market is to help get people buying locally again from people and families that make their own products in this area. Small businesses are doing well in the cities but out here in the country they are suffering. I think there needs to be more events like ours where people that hand make things can offer their goods. The more shoppers we get at our market the more the local businesses and people that hand make things will see that this is an event that they want to be a part of!

So many of you have made the trek to see the shop and it truly means the world to me. I know I say this every fall but I hope with the changing of the seasons that I will have time to blog more! I miss it! Plus we will be starting our master bath renovations soon so I definitely want to keep you guys involved in that messy process!

In the meantime enjoy this beautiful time of year! 

FARMHOUSE SUMMER 2019

Happy summer! As usual it is going to be a busy one for us! Between running the shop during the busy summer months (and finding stuff to fill it), antique shows, renovations on the house, events we have planned at the shop and some family trips I am willing to bet that the number of times I get to actually sit on this porch will be numbered! When I do get a chance to rest our front porch is the perfect spot to sit and listen to the birds in the morning with my cup of coffee or a glass of wine in the evenings...and it is just about the only part of our old farmhouses' exterior that looks pretty at this moment! I know it seems silly to focus on one little area when everything else is a mess but if I have certain areas that are nice and neat and pretty I feel better about the messy terrible looking areas that we are still in the process of renovating and it keeps me from going totally crazy. Ten years into renovating with more unfinished than finished just about everywhere can make you pretty crazy, even if you do love it! We still haven't finished restoring clapboard on the front of the house (the part that is to the left of what you see here) as we need to rent a cherry picker to reach the upper part and just haven't had the time. And we have started to take the aluminum off of the back of the house so that we can restore the original clapboard underneath it. It will eventually all look great but in the meantime the outside of the house is looking pretty rough! I'll do a blog post on all of that soon...but I wanted to keep this strictly pretty!

My viburnum put out more blooms than ever this year and I took full advantage. 

Since we are so busy this time of year I keep things really simple around here. For a super simple mantel I put together a display using an old window I bought from my friend Kristine at  Farmhouse Green for some dark contrast together with some of my white ironstone pitchers, fresh cut viburnum and a simple candle stick.

My peonies have just started to open up, about three weeks late for us this year, and boy do I love the way they smell.

I just wanted to take the time to thank all of you that have driven from far far away to come see the shop! In the last couple of months I have been blown away by how far some of you have driven just to come see my shop and I am truly humbled! It is a pleasure to meet each and every one of you and I it means the world to me.

I look forward to meeting many of you at our next big show Vintage Market Days Pittsburgh July 12 - 14th. I also wanted to let you guys know that my friend Kristen and I are hosting our very first outdoor event at the shop on July 27th!

We will have antiques, vintage goods, food and wine all in the field behind my shop! Visit my facebook page @farmhousesupply for more information closer to the event such as who the vendors will be! The event will  be from 10 to 4 and my shop will still be open its normal 11 to 5 hours! Address is 5750 West Center Rd. Linesville, PA   Email me your address if you want to be included in our mailing list and I will email you a postcard with the details!

Whether I see you at a show or here at the shop I truly enjoy meeting each and every one of you! For those of you that it's just too far for thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and for your sweet comments!

I hope to be back  on here before long with renovation updates for you and I am working on a new dining room blog post because I never really did one as promised years ago! In the meantime HAPPY SUMMER!