Farmhouse Winter 2019

Hello friends! I hope the new year finds you well! We have been thoroughly enjoying the winter months here in Edinboro, PA. Up until these past couple of weeks we have actually had a super mild winter compared to usual. However we just had a big snow storm come through (as I know many of you did) and now we are braving some very low temperatures. It was zero degrees when Eli got on the bus this morning!

With the snow storm and it being a holiday weekend we were able to have a couple wonderful and cozy days in the house with the kids. Since we opened the shop we haven't really had much time home with kids doing relaxing family stuff so it felt good to have a couple days snowed in. We played lots of board games, watched lots of movies and ate more popcorn than one really should but hey that is what snow storms are for right? I love winter for multiple reasons, but one of them is definitely because you get days like these.

Winter is absolutely beautiful here and I love the sense of peace it creates. Don't get me wrong, I don't love that most days I can't feel my fingers or my toes by the time I get all of the inventory carried into the shop. And the daily cleaning of the snow off of the car gets old but I really do love our winters, frozen fingers and all.

Another reason I love winter so much are the dark browns and grays outside against all of the bright white snow. The landscape here leaves me feeling so inspired. I know I mentioned it on here numerous times but I truly enjoy bringing those colors inside over the winter months. You guys know how much I love white mixed with browns, creams and wood and winter seems like the perfect time to really embrace that palette even more so than usual with things like pine cones, neutral stems and dark accent pieces.

Some of my favorite things to use for dark accent pieces are baskets, iron candle holders, and wooden trunks.

One of my favorite dark accent pieces in our dining room right now is this giant fly screen that Neal bought me at Vintage Market Days Nashville. Well I am calling it a fly screen anyways, we aren't sure if it is fly screen or a fire pit cover but I am using it as fly screen regardless!

I found the round whiskey barrel lid at VMD Nashville as well, it was quite expensive for piece of wood but I thought it was worth the splurge being that it fit perfectly under the fly screen and I just love the coloring of the wood.

Five degree days are for making yummy comfort foods, snuggling on the couch and lighting lots of candles and that is just what we have been doing.

Just to keep you guys posted about the shop I still feel like I am dreaming! I love being a shopkeeper even more than I would have ever imagined and I am so very thankful.

The shop will be closed for the month of February so that we can make some cosmetic changes (like lighting and such) and because we are going to be doing some traveling. We will reopen March 1st ready for Spring!

I hope that you are warm and cozy no matter what part of the world you happen to be in and that you continue to find inspiration from my blog! I truly love blogging and sharing our home and shop with you! Until next time!

Farmhouse Inspiration ~ Winter Sunlight

Time for some FARMHOUSE INSPIRATION!!! It is the heart of winter here and I've been enjoying all of the bright sunlight that streams into our farmhouse this time of year. The sitting area of our dining room gets so much sunlight it is almost like a sun room on most days.

Winter time calls for warm and cozy areas to curl up with a good book or magazine. My mom loves to sit in here and drink her tea when she visits and Millie loves laying on the crib daybed to read her books.

I really can't believe that it is the end of January already...we have been spending just about every free second trying to get our master bedroom finished so this month has really flown by! I am working on a blog post about our master bedroom and now that most of the furniture can finally go into it we have most of our downstairs (which was acting a storage area for all of the bedroom furniture) back. I am still working on the dining room blog post but now that we aren't using it as a storage area I should be able to get the post finished soon! Here is a little sneak peek at our bedroom...we are almost to the decorating phase so I am getting sooo excited!
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Farmhouse Winter ~ 2017

It is the dead of winter here in the Pennsylvania snow belt region and I must say I am enjoying every minute of it. Seems like every one is eager for Spring but not me, I love being snowed in with a fire going and the candles lit. I love all of the seasons equally for different reasons, but I love how much I can get done inside the house in the winter. All of the other seasons involve inside and outside work but other than stacking the wood pile there isn't much you can (or want) do outside here in the winter.

Winter means getting the house scrubbed clean, the closets organized and just overall decluttering...some of my favorite things to do. 

You have probably noticed that I painted the fireplace brick, more on that in another post, bottom line the red brick wasn't working for us. This room is so small and it was just making the room look smaller and overall too busy for our liking. One thing we are loving though is having a fireplace and being able to have a warm and crackling fire every night.

I love keeping things really minimal this time of year, all of the white snow outside is just so beautiful and I like the inside to be calm and white just like the outside is.

Winter also means sitting by the fire in the evenings under a warm quilt and not feeling guilty about it. The rocking chair is a family hand me down and has become Neal's favorite place to sit, I told him he just needs a cigar now (not really, ew). 

This giant antique wooden bowl is a recent find from one of my favorite local antique shops, Yesterday's Best Antiques , and I just love it.

Neal built us this long bench for behind the couch, it is perfect for stacking extra quilts and pillows. He actually surprised me with it, I came home one evening and it was sitting there, my kind of surprise all right:) I am going to have him build a bunch for us to sell at the spring Springfield, Ohio Antique Extravaganza (May 19, 20, 21).

Winter also means lots of time spent in the kitchen, making comfort foods and baking lots of goodies. 

I was so excited to find another one of my very favorite things to collect, scalloped ironstone bowls, on ebay recently. This ones a true beauty with all of her discoloration and I think my favorite so far. And I found another old wooden spoon, another thing I love collecting, while shopping with my mom last weekend. 

I also just got the most beautiful items in the mail from PCB Home.  Simple and creamy white this beautiful egg holder and small crock are just perfect for our farmhouse kitchen. 

I hope you are all doing well and until next time...stay cozy! If you ever have any questions please email me directly for a faster response versus using the comments section! And make sure to follow me on Instagram for daily pictures!