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!

Twenty Five Dollar Cupboard ~ One of Two

Hello!! I hope you are all having an excellent new year so far! One of the things I want to try to do this year is blog more! It's so frustrating because I have hundreds of pictures on my camera that no one ever gets to see because I just can't ever seem to find the time to sit down and put them on my blog! Between the kids, my Etsy work, and renovating, finding the time to sit (well standing to be honest) at a computer is just almost impossible for me. On top of it my brand new computer is so frustrating and won't show any camera card images so things that should take 10 minutes end up taking hours. However, I am really going to try to find the time....somehow!

That being said I have been wanting to show you this cupboard for over a year now and finally am getting to it. I bought this beauty at the Springfield, Ohio Antique Extravaganza (where I am a vendor) for $25!!! Can you believe that?

I went there with it in my head that I wanted to find some big cupboards to bring back home, much to Neal's dismay. He always says why are we going there to sell stuff if we are just going to bring other stuff home...lol.

Anyways...I can't even begin to tell you how many amazing cupboards, well furniture in general, are at this show and every time I would head to the restrooms (that is usually the only chance I get to leave the booth) I would look for one. And then one day I spotted this beauty below (more about it in another post, can't wait to tell you about it)...

and then the one below right next to it! I thought for sure they were out of my budget but I've learned to always ask and the seller said they were $35 each. What...I couldn't believe my ears?! I kept my excitement to myself and calmly asked him if he would take $50 for both and he is said yes!!! Then I really couldn't believe it!!! I could hardly contain my excitement as I hurried back to our booth!! 

I mean it clearly was in need of some TLC and some paint but I could see that it still had its original handles and screen on the sides. It's actually an 1800's pie safe and I just love all of the detailing on the drawers and doors. Its upper doors were missing but that was fine with me because I wanted it for linens anyways. 

I painted it Glidden's Crisp Linen White and then we put it in the living room. It's become the perfect place to display my favorite vintage linens. An antique wooden crate, a thrift store find, fits perfectly on top and holds extra pillows. 

A $3 flea market basket holds some of my white quilts that I just can't seem to ever have enough of. 

So if I haven't convinced you that you need to go the Springfield, Ohio Antique Extravaganzas then I don't know what will!! The Spring show is May 19, 20, 21!! I for one can't wait, I love both selling and shopping there...you just never know what you may find!!

I am in the middle of a couple of projects/changes around the house, painting numerous things at once like usual, some of them are things for the dining room.  I plan to show you the whole room as soon as I wrap up those projects!! The picture below is a hint of another thing I just finished painting! Stay tuned!!