Farmhouse Autumn

It's time for some autumn decorating!

This old chicken crate is one of the things I took to the antique show to sell and we used it in the front of our booth to hang signs on. Well it didn't sell, but I am actually glad because I am going to use it to hang signs on here at home.

For more information on our porch visit this post.

 I move this little bistro set around our yard quite a bit but for now I have it by our back gate. It seems like a good place to sit and watch the deer and turkeys come through, not that I actually ever have the time to do something like that:/ It is more likely to be where I have a cold beer after I rake the leaves.

More autumn touches inside too! 

The little wooden caddy that I have for sale in my Etsy shop holds two mums perfectly, until it sells at least:)

We spent this past weekend taking the aluminum siding off of this side of our house. We weren't sure what we would find under it so we were nervous but turns out all of the original clapboard is still there! We couldn't be more excited!

Next on our list to do list this fall is put in new windows (small bathroom one is already in) and then paint this whole area.

Happy Autumn!!!

Selling And Buying At Springfield

We are back from the Springfield, Ohio Antique Show and though we are exhausted we had the time of our lives. Thanks to my husband, mom and sisters we had quite a successful experience!

This is us in a mad scramble Friday morning try to get the booth organized...

and it did eventually happen.

We had the best time meeting people and were continuously amazed by how nice the dealers were to us new comers. We had the absolute nicest person ever next us, Stacey George from BUNNY+CLYDE who sells the most beautiful vintage Moroccan wool blankets and rugs. She saved the day for us in about a million ways.

I also was overjoyed by how many of my followers came to my booth to say hi, meeting all of you was such a pleasure!

We had some beautiful weather and some quite scary weather due to high winds but overall we loved the experience so much that we signed up for the May Extravaganza so make your arrangements now.

Because I was so busy at our booth the only shopping that I was able to do was on my walk to and from the bathroom. Knowing there were so many antiques around me that I couldn't go look at was like torture to me! And if you have never been to the Springfield Antique Show let me just tell you, there is so much good stuff!  As we would drive through in the evenings I would say "look at that" and "look at that"! Despite not being able to shop much I did manage to come home with some amazing goodies though.

As we were setting up Thursday evening I spotted this small chest of drawers in the dealers space across from us. I couldn't help but run over and see how much it was, I needed to know! Turns out it was only $35 dollars and he gave it to me for $30! I had been there under 2 hours and I had already bought something!

It is such a beauty and I love things that keep other things organized. I also bought some very inexpensive ironstone pieces that called to me from different tables I passed on my run to the bathroom.

The wheat berry in the pitcher is also from the show, I knew it would be just perfect for autumn.

Everytime I would walk through the building with the bathrooms I would stop and look at this beautiful antique dress. I would pick it up and think about whether I should buy it or not. Each time I would set it down and tell myself that I shouldn't spend any money. Then the next time I would do the exact same thing. Finally I decided that I was being ridiculous (I mean it was $8 for heavens sake!) and that I should buy it. I am so glad I did.

Another thing I bought is this beautiful tan and white quilt. I had given my family instructions to look for a tan and white quilt for me while they were out walking around but sure enough I spotted one while on my way back from the bathroom!

I also purchased the basket it is sitting on there. And are you wondering about that amazing cupboard in the pictures?

It is also from the antique show, and yes you guessed it...I spotted it on my way back from the bathroom:) On the drive there I told Neal that I wanted to find two cupboards because both my dresser and Eli's broke the day we left for the show. Well I can't even begin to tell you how many amazing cupboards there are at this show and I LOVE cupboards. I saw so many that I would die for but were just not in our budget. Then on my walk back from the bathroom (I took a different route each time) I spotted this one for $35! I thought maybe I was seeing things because all of the other ones I was in love with were $350 but no it really said $35! It turns out he had another one I liked and he gave me both for $50!

They both need some work but I can't wait to show you guys what we do with them! I also bought a red and white quilt but you guys will have to be patient to see that:)

It is officially Fall now and although I am sad to see summer go I am so exhausted that evenings on the couch under a quilt sound pretty good to me right about now. I hope you are all doing well and I promise that this is the start of some more frequent blogging for me, lots of projects under way here.

Special thanks to my family for making last weekend such a success and for so many good laughs, I am so lucky to  have such a loving and supportive family. Many thanks especially to my dad for taking such good care of my kiddos!

Chicken Coop Cupboard

Hello and I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted anything! Hopefully you guys didn't give up on me:) We always have busy summers but this one was a whirlwind! We had many wonderful vacations and when we weren't traveling we were working on the house. Right now there is no where that you can look in our house that doesn't look like a bomb went off! We are hustling to get the bathroom reno done, we have half of the outside of our house ripped off and I am preparing all of the things that I am taking to sell at the Springfield Antique Show in Ohio this September. In the meantime I have so many things that I have been dying to share with you guys, like this little cupboard that we built...

I had been holding onto this door, specifically for this reason, that we took off of the chicken coop when we tore it down. I knew it would make the perfect little cupboard door at some point down the road. I am currently making some changes to the upstairs guest room and as I was painting I thought this corner would be the perfect place for a corner cupboard. Not much else could fit in this space and I wanted a cupboard for the millions of books I have stacked up there anyways.

It is such an amazing door, with it's original pale blue milk paint and old hardware.

I had Neal make a very simple frame for the cupboard that way the door is what stands out. I want to keep this room simple and true to my style with lots of muted tones and this door adds just the right bit of color.

We were even able to use the original hinges.

I am painting this room Martha Stewart's Sandpiper (no worries her colors are still in the Home Depot computer system) and I found an amazing old iron bed frame on Craig's List that I am so excited about. I can't wait to have it all finished and share it with you guys.

I wish every corner of my house looked this calming and clean right now! You guys know how I feel about clutter! My dining room looks like a messy Home Depot/antique store right now. But it is worth it, we almost have the bathroom completed (can't wait to share it) and I am so excited about the antique show. It is such a great show and I have so many ideas swirling in my head. I hope some of you guys can come! It is Sept 18, 19, and 20th at the Clark County Fair Grounds in Springfield, Ohio.


I will be selling LOTS of things from around my house:)

Some of you may have noticed that I am not participating in the Farmhouse Friday Blog Hop anymore. I loved being in such a wonderful blog hop with such talented women but I just have not had the time lately that something like that takes and my house is hardly picture worthy. But I hope that I soon have the time to do some of my own themed posts or maybe even start doing a reader request post like I promised I would do so long ago.

As for now my kids and home are first priority. Eli is starting second grade and Millie is turning one this week and I can't believe it! Time goes too fast.

I noticed everyone is pinning pumpkins on Pinterest so I thought I would send you guys off with some autumn pictures! I hope it's not too long till my next post but in the meantime take care and thanks for being so patient!

FARMHOUSE FRIDAY - OUR FARMHOUSE PORCH

Hello and welcome to this month's edition of FARMHOUSE FRIDAY!!! This month we are showing our farmhouse porches.

Our farmhouse porch has been a work in progress up until about three days ago, when we finally put a check mark next to "Finish Porch" on our to do list. When we first bought our farmhouse this area was a big screened in porch which sounds wonderful right? Wrong. It was rotting and dirty with a drop ceiling and the concrete floor had about 10 layers of peeling paint (probably lead). On top of it the porch just didn't look right design wise, it looked like someone had stuck it on the side of the house haphazardly. The picture below is of our farmhouse before we owned it but it gives you an idea of what it looked like before we did anything.



Our driveway comes up to that set of steps on the side of the house where the screen porch was. Every time people come to our house that is the door they use and I was always so embarrassed by what they had to walk through to come in. So after living in the house for 3 years we finally got to tearing it off.

Oh happy day. To our excitement we found the original stone foundation after multiple days of jack hammering.

We couldn't get rid of all of the concrete however because when they added this back corner of the house (1960s or 1970s) making the mudroom and the screened porch they poured all of the concrete at once. It was not in our budget to redo all of that so we had to leave it. We wanted to add a porch here anyways so we just build over the concrete that had to be left. The below picture shows the rebuilding process. Don't be jealous of the cinder block chimney:)

 Neal filled the space underneath with rocks we collected from our property and then he mortared them in place. The goal was to tie the porch into the original part of the house and make it look like it had always been there.

We did the same at the bottom of the steps. 

I planted a climbing hydrangea on the one side and a bunch of hydrangeas that my mom didn't want anymore along the front.

We just finished the porch roof underside this past weekend. Once again we used cedar fence posts to do the job. I wanted something rustic looking because I was started to feel like the porch was looking too "new" but I also wanted to use something that wouldn't rot. At $100 for all of the cedar it fit right into our budget also.

Here is the before

During 

And after

Many hours of priming and painting later....

I was able to hang the awesome primitive candle chandelier (a hand me down from my mom) that has been patiently waiting in my garage for some time.

I thoroughly enjoyed being able to put pretty stuff out here finally. Since we just put the siding up last fall (see more about that here) this is the first summer that I don't feel like I am just putting lipstick on a pig.

The very old trunk is a recent antique shop find and it fits perfectly between the rocking chairs and is the perfect size to  hold our bird seed can and bug spray.

We still have to finish the sides of the porch roof and we plan to put up railings probably in the fall. In the next couple weeks we will be begin working on the area to left of the porch this summer so stay tuned! Thanks for visiting and make sure to check out the rest of the Farmhouse Friday blogs below!

***Door Color - Porch Gray by Better Homes and Gardens
***House Color - White on White by Glidden
***Benches - Sisal by Martha Stewart




TOWN AND COUNTRY LIVING



  STONEGABLE


  HOUSE OF HAWTHORNES


  FARMHOUSE 5540




  FADED CHARM