Frog Goes to Market

The Birth of a New Collection

2012-03-09T11:26:00.000-06:00

If you happen to follow my Pinterest boards, you may have noticed my recent fascination with antique pewter. (Or, if you're my husband and have seen the hours I've spent pouring over ebay and etsy in search of affordable pieces, you may be more inclined to call it an obsession. Which he has. Often.) Call it what you will, my collecting radar has zeroed in on pewter.

It started with the small, dark, pewter plate above. This one is actually a reproduction of an early style, and actually I bought it for my mom (and yes, mom, I am still planning to bring it for you next time we come home). But once I saw this little plate in my house, I knew that pewter would be a beautiful addition to my dining room.

This is the picture that I have been drooling over and using for inspiration. I LOVE this picture, not only because it is just plain beautiful, but because it is at least vaguely reminiscent of the style of my dining room. (I don't have the original source of this picture. Please help if you know it!) I mostly see pewter collections in a very primitive Early American style of decor, a style which I appreciate, but it's not quite how I've chosen to decorate my own home. But this picture shows a collection of pewter in a gorgeous European style kitchen, with French and Swedish influences, rustic wood painted in muted grays, blues, and whites, and a touch of glamour with the crystal chandelier. Perfect. And I love that plate rack. Love. So my quest for pewter turned into a quest for a plate rack...

And this is what I found. Granted, it's not quite as grand as my inspiration, but it fits my space perfectly, and it was all of $17.00 at a local antique mall. It was stained a dark, reddish color with a glossy finish, and while I considered keeping it dark, in the end it looked too traditional... as in, Grandma's china cabinet traditional. So a good sanding and a couple coats of Cobblestone gray paint (Olde Century Colors) later, it looks just right.

Until my pewter collection grows, I've filled the bottom shelf of my plate rack with antique butter paddles. Apparently I collect those, too... I didn't really realize that I did until I went around the house and gathered up enough to fill the shelf, with a few to spare. Funny how some collections sneak up on you like that!

This old pewter pitcher was the first piece I bought. I found it on etsy for $20, and snatched it up. It has such a wonderful patina and beautiful old details, like the bolted on handle. I've discovered that pewter is a little hard to come by where I am, so I am (trying) to be patient and build my collection slowly and inexpensively, which is not an easy task with pewter - the old stuff is fairly pricey. But with collecting, the thrill of the hunt is half the fun, and I have a feeling I have lots of fun ahead of me!

Do any of you collect pewter? Any tips for a newbie collector?

Kitchen Antiques

2012-02-29T21:07:00.000-06:00

Ok, I confess... I have a little bit of a "thing" for primitive kitchen collectibles. Wooden bowls, stoneware crocks full of rolling pins and wooden spoons, butter molds, butter paddles, antique yellow ware, bread boards, spice cabinets with little drawers... I love them all. They add so much warmth and history to a kitchen - a room which can easily become overpowered by microwaves, coffemakers, and sleek, shiny, professional-grade appliances (not that my kitchen is in any danger of that last one).

Here's a sampling of some of my favorite kitchen antiques from my own kitchen...

Want to see even more kitchen collectibles? Check out my "Collecting - Wood" and my "Collecting - Yellowware" boards on Pinterest!

Collecting Vintage Flower Frogs

2012-02-15T12:41:00.001-06:00

Vintage flower frogs are one of the very first things I began collecting. They are inexpensive, look great displayed en masse, and can be found in all sorts of different shapes, sizes, styles, colors, and materials. Designed to help shape floral arrangements, a flower frog would sit at the bottom of a vase and holds the flower stems in place, usually with short spikes, a glass disk with holes, or a wire grid. I collect metal frogs in every size and shape, from teeny tiny spiked frogs to giant cage styles.

I have my flower frog collection displayed in a painted wooden bowl in front of our television, flanked by two big white pineapple garden finials. Metal flower frogs are often found with various shades of green paint, to blend in with the flower stems, but lately I've honed my collection to focus on frogs mostly in neutral shades of greys, whites, browns, and blacks. They are a little harder to find, but I love the look of a monochromatic collection, and the patina on these bare metal frogs is beautiful.

This tiny little black spike frog is one of my favorites.

I even used my collection of flower frogs to inspire the name and logo for my Etsy shop and blog. The flower frog graphic that I use on all of my tags, business cards, and web branding is actually a photograph of the little grey frog on the top of the stack shown above. I manipulated the photograph in Photoshop to create a black and white image with a hand-drawn sketchbook feel rather than a literal photograph. See the resemblance?

I have developed a knack for spotting flower frogs wherever I go, be it a flea market, antique shop, or garage sale, so in order to keep my own collection modestly sized and cohesive, I sell many more than I keep. I can't say that about everything! Here's a few of the frogs that are up for sale right now...

If you're anything like me, once you buy your first flower frog you won't be able to stop with just one!

A Grain Sack Pillow for the Bedroom

2012-02-14T15:07:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! In honor of this day of romance, I thought I'd give you a peek into our bedroom, and show you the latest addition to my bed linens. I have our bedroom decorated in natural shades of linen, grey and white, with an accent of red in the pillows, blankets, and other textiles.

The newest piece of bedding I bought is actually not new at all... It's an antique European grain sack, with the wonderful nubby texture and neutral flax color that I love so much. Now, normally I go straight for the striped sacks, but this extra-long plain sack with a simple red embroidered monogram was just what I needed to complement all of the other patterns and textures I already have on my bed. I choose this particular grain sack because of the length - at 59" long, it is the perfect size for to use as a bolster pillow on a 60" wide queen size bed.

I stuffed it with a king size pillow plus a standard pillow to get a full, over-stuffed look. At this size, it is perfect for laying across the head of the bed. Before, when I would make the bed, I used to fold back the gray and red checked blanket, as well as the white blanket and top sheet underneath, and stand up four standard pillows in regular pillowcases, like this...

BEFORE

Nothing wrong with that... but it was a lot of pillows standing at attention, and it didn't have that simple, unfussy, antique look that I wanted.

AFTER

Now, it has a much more simple, primitive look. I cover our regular sleeping pillows with the grey checked blanket and lay the grain sack bolster across the top. A pair of vintage-inspired pillows (the striped one is from Pottery Barn, and the coverlet design is from Family Heirloom Weavers) add some additional pattern without going pillow crazy. I do have a tendency to go pillow crazy... but I was able to practice some restraint this time!

A close-up of the GE monogram. It's got my initial! I told my hubby we need to start calling him George or something so that it fits. He was not amused.

Since the end of the pillow I used to stuff the sack was visible, I covered it with a piece of french-inspired striped fabric, and used a safety pin to fasten the sack together in the center. A safety pin, you ask?

Yep, there it is! Luckily, the nubby hemp fabric is thick enough that the edges just naturally cover the pin, unless you're looking up from underneath. I'd like to find an antique button yet to stitch on top, so it looks like it's held together by the button. But that's a project for another day.

And, just so you don't think I've let good pillows go to waste, I made room for a couple more...

A quilted pillow from TJ Maxx covers up dirty laundry in a wicker basket under the window...

A small lumbar pillow sits on a windsor chair by the door...

And a striped pillow stands guard over my bench full of decorating magazines. See? No pillow left behind!

The Quilt

2012-02-13T00:11:00.002-06:00

After a rather discouraging first attempt at hand-quilting, I am happy to report that I am back in the saddle! For the last several months, my quilt has sat folded up in the basement, lonely and untouched, sporting only a few pitiful lines of too big, uneven stitches. I had even started machine quilting a second quilt, and decided that hand quilting just wasn't for me. The process was just too overwhelming. I had all but given up.

But, about a month ago, I brought my quilt back upstairs and got out my little sewing box again. I had read a book from the library about hand quilting ("The Perfect Stitch" by Dierdra A. McElroy), that broke down the quilting stitch into step-by-step instructions, along with copious pictures. I thought I'd give hand quilting one more shot. And, lo and behold... it worked! After the first few wobbly stitches, my fingers seemed to picked up the rhythm, and before long I was producing straight rows of small, evenly spaced quilting. A small miracle...

The stars are getting quilted with an outline at 1/4" both inside and outside the seam, and then the whole block is stitched diagonally from corner to corner, as well as a straight line through the middle from top to bottom, and left to right. It breaks the star into eight pointed segments, which I really like.

The linen colored sashing strips are getting outlined 1/4" inside the seam, and then quilted with two straight lines down the center, creating almost a striped effect.

The quilting in this dark blue star is some of my earliest stitching. See how much bigger the stitches are than the diagonal line of quilting on the white fabric on the right-hand side of the picture?

Another thing that really helped me is finding the right thimble. I started with one of the big inexpensive leather ones (the kind with an elasticized knit part at the bottom), but it started to fall apart almost immediately and didn't offer my finger much protection. So a few weeks ago I bought this little golden yellow leather thimble by Clover, and I love it. It has a dimpled metal piece at the finger tip, just like a traditional thimble, but it has a soft leather body so it's super comfortable and flexible. I found it at Joann's for $12.99. It is great.

See, my stitching is getting better! In the end, it's going to look like two different people quilted this quilt, but that's okay with me. It's a learning quilt.

I keep the quilt in a vintage wicker basket in the living room, so it can be on display even before it's finished. I've discovered that I really like being able to just pick up and quilt whenever I want - usually on the couch in front of the TV in the evenings. It's quiet, takes no set up other than threading a needle, and I can hang out with my husband rather than being holed up in the cold, dark basement with my sewing machine. I still have a long way to go on this one, but I am finally enjoying the process. Another small miracle!

For the Love of Ironstone

2012-02-09T13:10:00.000-06:00

Because somedays your cupboard full of ironstone just begs to be photographed...

Living Room Shelf

2012-02-08T13:27:00.000-06:00

After moving my ironstone cupboard across the room to the dining area, I had a blank wall underneath this shelf to decorate. The pegs gave me a place to hang up some of my linens, both new and vintage, and a small chippy white bench underneath is a perfect height for display. This shelf combines so many of my favorite things... white, rustic wood, natural linen, ironstone, simple stripes, and primitive antiques.

It's also a pretty nice mix of old and new. An old grey weathered wood bucket sits next to a not-so-old recipe box painted in a grey-blue color. An antique linen jacket and wood hanger share peg space with a new linen apron and tea towel, and one of my hand-stitched kitchen towels with my own initials in blue. A shelf full of antique white ironstone gets a touch of garden green from a pair of (faux) topiaries. Even the shelf itself was a thrift store find that I painted and glazed to look nice and worn.

Love this wood bucket... It has such a great patina, with traces of black paint on the outside and a touch of rusty red on the interior.

The wood hanger is from an old dry cleaners shop, Sam Wexlers in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I found it, along with the child sized linen jacket at an estate sale in Pennsylvania, and brought it with me to Nebraska. Quite a travel history for this little hanger.

I like the touch of black that this dark tin antique candle mold adds to the predominately white and light grey vignette.

A mismatched pair of rustic wood cobbler's shoe forms (his and hers) hangs from twine on one of the pegs.

Ironstone plates and platters with embossed patterns mix with simple pitchers, a footed bowl, and an old pudding mold.

A tarnished silver spoon plate stand from Anthropologie holds a large ironstone platter in the center of the shelf.

An antique pudding mold with a corn design adds lots of texture to the ironstone display.

French Enamel Salt Box

2012-01-28T20:29:00.001-06:00

I love when I come across French antiques... It doesn't happen terribly often shopping mostly in Nebraska and Ohio, and my heart always pitter-pats when I see something like this - a white enamel wall-mount salt box with word "Sel" on the front. I found it at a little antique store in Ohio, and I loved the beautiful blue French writing and the worn spots where the dark metal was showing through underneath. And the best part about finding a treasure like this in a small, local, down-to-earth antique shop is that the price is usually down-to-earth as well. :) You may have to search a little harder, but it just makes the reward that much sweeter!

New Striped Ribbon

2012-01-23T17:21:00.000-06:00

I am officially obsessed with this ribbon... I was running out of the ribbon I used to use on my handmade soap gift boxes, and I wanted something better. And, boy, is this better... Luxurious, elegant 1.5" wide grosgrain ribbon with a beautiful hand, soft drape, and gorgeous rustic ivory and caramel brown stripes. It's the kind of ribbon people write poems about. Or at least they should...

I am in the process of tweaking my gift sets and switching them all over to this beautiful new ribbon, but I just photographed the first one this afternoon and I couldn't wait to show it off. This is my No. 2 Gift Box - the Hardworking Hands Kit. It has two bars of coarsly-textured handmade soap (the Gardener's Scrub has cornmeal plus oatmeal, and the Cinnamon Coffee has finely ground coffee beans in it) paired with a wooden nail brush for down and dirty scrubbing. But I'll just let all that gorgeous ribbon speak for itself...

And don't worry... I ordered enough of this ribbon to share. It comes in glorious 30 yards spools (30 yards!) which will retail for $26.00 each. I've seen it sold by the yard in a handful of online shops, but I'm going to offer it in my etsy shop by the roll instead. I don't have it photographed and listed just yet, but it's coming soon. The Hardworking Hands Kit is already available in both shops, here and here.

Saturday Morning Oatmeal

2012-01-21T20:10:00.000-06:00

My husband and I both love a good bowl of oatmeal. I grew up eating packets of instant oatmeal from the microwave, but as an adult I've discovered that nothing beats slow-cooked, made-from-scratch oatmeal. This paticular recipe has become our Saturday morning favorite. Old-fashioned oats are cooked in a mixture of milk, egg, and brown sugar for a rich and creamy oatmeal that is sweet and delicious straight from the pan, or doctored up with your favorite toppings. The recipe is slightly adapted from a recipe called "butterscotch oatmeal" that I found on allrecipes.com.

SATURDAY MORNING OATMEAL (serves 2 hungry people)

1 3/4 cup milk (I use skim, as it's what we keep on hand, but use something richer if you like!)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup old-fashioned oats

Cinnamon (to taste)

1 Tbsp butter to finish (optional)

Add the egg and milk to a shallow saucepan (mine is 2 1/2 quarts) and beat well so that the egg is thoroughly incorporated. Wisk in the brown sugar and pinch of salt. Stir in the oats, and top with a few heavy shakes of cinnamon.

Once all of the ingredients are combined, turn the heat on low and allow the oatmeal to s-l-o-w-l-y heat, stirring often. Be patient. I've done this different ways, and I've found it's best to add everything to the cold pan, and then heat it together slowly. When I've rushed the heat, I ended up with a grainy texture and small pieces of cooked egg instead of the thick, smooth, custard-like consistency you want. Good Saturday Morning Oatmeal takes time!

Heat and stir over low heat until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble - I'd say it usually takes at least 10 minutes or so before it begins to bubble. Continue to cook the bubbling mixture a few more minutes until it is thick and creamy.

The thick, almost-finished oatmeal makes some great deep gurgling, burbling sounds as it cooks.

When the oatmeal looks like this, turn off the heat and stir in up to a tablespoon of butter to finish. Honestly, sometimes I forget to add the butter (like this morning) and the oatmeal is still wonderful, so just leave it out if you're worried about the extra fat. But it does add a nice richness.

Dish into two bowls and eat up! This oatmeal is delicious just as it is, but feel free to make it extra special with your favorite toppings. We've done sliced bananas and chopped walnuts, dried cranberries, or even chopped apples and a little extra cinnamon. Yum!

Lavender Photo Shoot

2012-01-20T16:47:00.000-06:00

www.ellieshandmadesoap.com

Grain Sack and Ironstone

2012-01-17T12:55:00.003-06:00

I broke down and ordered a couple of antique grain sacks from Ebay. Out here in the middle of the prairie, I've discovered that you don't come across many antique European textiles... and I really wanted some! I've been mildy obsessed with checking Ebay and trying to decide which sacks I wanted to order (just ask my husband!), and I finally settled on two, both with blue stripes.

The first one has a nice cobalt blue triple stripe, and ended up as a pillow on my couch.

The second one, with three fabulous thick dark indigo blue stripes, is perfect as a table runner on our small dining room table. I considered opening up the side seams to make one extra long piece, and laying it all the way down the length of the table, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to do it. I know people chop up grain sacks all the time to make pillows, upholster chairs, and make long table runners... but I can't. At least not with this beautiful sack. So instead I laid it across the short side of the table, creating a nice intimate table setting, just right for two. And since I only keep two dining chairs at our table anyways, I think it works out just perfectly.

The new table runner also inspired a new centerpiece, using some of my favorite ironstone, stoneware crocks, and wooden kitchen utensils. I love the simplicity of white ironstone paired with old wood, and combined with the grain sack, the whole table has a rustic french farmhouse feel.

A small, primitive, stoneware salt crock with a wooden lid keeps coarse sea salt handy at the table.

An antique stoneware marmalade jar from England holds a handful of well-worn wooden spoons and a butter paddle. I love the way that the grayish stoneware and aged white ironstone look together.

I also did a little furniture rearranging and moved the antique shelves full of ironstone from the opposite side of the living room into the dining area so that it creates a nice backdrop to the table.

Let it be known, however, that while "a little furniture rearranging" sounds easy, it is in fact back-breaking work when it involves moving a pair of bookcases full of hundreds of books, and a super heavy antique cupboard filled with ironstone. Decorating is a hard job, but the payoff is so worth it...

I paired the "Meat Market" sign that I painted this fall with the cute old black and white wooden pig sign, and hung them both above the ironstone cupboard. A trio of antique baskets on top ties the whole display together, and finishes off my dining room make over.

Antique Butter Mold

2012-01-16T14:42:00.001-06:00

I've long admired antique butter molds like this, with their beautiful carvings and smooth worn patina. I've been looking for one to display on my new kitchen shelves, so I was thrilled to find this one at an antique show in town this past weekend. I just love the detailed strawberry vine carving - it's so cute! - and it was in great condition for just $30. These primitive butter molds are quite collectible, and I've most often see them priced at $50 - $80 or more, depending on the condition and design, so I was tickled pink with my find. It now has the perfect new home, nestled between two yellowware bowls above my kitchen sink.

Christmas at Mom & Dad's

2012-01-13T21:32:00.003-06:00

Living far away from my family, going home for Christmas is something I look forward to all year. This year we were able to spend over a week in Ohio, celebrating no less than five holiday family get-togethers between my family and my husband's family. Food, babies, gifts, and games abounded. I love going home for Christmas. However, as you will see, going home to visit Mom and Dad always inspires quite a case of "house envy".

My mom hosted the big extended family Christmas for her side of the family this year, and so as a live-in house guest for the week, I took on sous-host duties. Like a sous-chef, but instead of cooking, I was tasked with things like filling punch cups and figuring out a seating arrangement to fit all 24 of us in the beautiful sunny dining room (not easy, but we did it).

My dad built this house when I was in junior high. It's a traditional two-story Saltbox, with wide-plank wood floors, rustic beams, divided-light windows, shaker style cabinets, and a pair of wood-burning fireplaces. Designed and built by my mom and dad, it is a truly gorgeous house and I count myself blessed to come home for the holidays to not only a wonderfully loving and fun family, but a drool-worthy house as well. And seeing as I get my love of decorating, antiquing, and rearranging in large doses from my mom, it's always fun to see what the latest tweeks and additions have been since my last visit.

The dining room, set up to hold two dozen people on Christmas Day.

Chocolate mint rolled cookie sticks in a cellophane bag, tied with name tags and a sprig of greenery, marked everybody's seat.

One of the stars of the day... cheesecake! My sister has an "in" (an in-law, to be precise) with a little home bakery in town that makes the best cheesecakes I have ever tasted, and she brought three different kinds to Christmas - white chocolate raspberry, pumpkin pecan, and fresh strawberry (my personal favorite). I think we all gained several delicious, creamy, graham-crackery extra pounds, and I, at least, count them well worth it.

Baby Cayden was the other star of the show. It's been almost 8 years since there was a new baby on this side of the family, so this little cousin is happily the center of attention. Don't you just want to pinch his cute little cheeks?

Yeah, you do!

I think baby Cayden gives my sister and me (not to mention our thus-far-grandchildren-less parents) all a mild case of Baby Fever. Just don't tell our hubbies, yet... (he he he).

A small gift for mom... a kitchen towel with her initials.

A cupboard full of antique pewter.

Hubby was dressed to match the livingroom, so he got to stay for a picture.

I hope your Christmas was as beautiful as mine!

This post was brought to you by my Christmas present from my dear hubby... a fantastic new lens for my Nikon camera. It's a 50 mm f/1.4G, and it is lovely. I'm having loads of fun learning how to use it to it's full advantage. So is hubby... :)

Experimenting with the new lens as we drove off into the sunset!

Yellowware at Christmas

2011-12-19T15:20:00.001-06:00

On the premise that everything looks Christmas-y when you surround it with evergreens, the collection of antique yellowware bowls on my kitchen shelves got their own small dose of holiday cheer. I just love the smell of fresh-cut Christmas greenery... It reminds me of Christmases when I was a kid, and my mom would bring in armloads of fragrant trimmings from the pine trees that surrounded our house, and tuck them into every little nook and crannie of every shelf and mantle and chandelier around the house. Sadly, my greenery is artificial. And I only have four sprigs of it. Oh, well... At least the yellowware is festive.

I recently struck a deal with my mom and traded her for this wide-banded bowl (above) . I've admired it in her house for months, and last time we were home I had something along that I used to bribe her into parting with it. I had bought a primitive antique wood checkerboard on the road trip there, intending to sell it in my shop, but it looked perfect on her livingroom coffee table. So we made a deal!

Here is an (iphone) picture of the checker board in the shop. It is so charming and obviously handmade, with separate blocks of wood cut, carved, and painted just right so they all fit together to create the game board. I had to drag myself away from that fabulous green blanket chest, too. So many gorgeous things that don't fit in our little car... Sigh.

But, speaking of road trips to Ohio... it's time to get serious and finish up the laundry, pack up the last few orders that are going out tonight, and get ready for another loooooong drive home. But for Christmas, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Merry Christmas from my home to yours!

A Few New Ironstone Pieces

2011-12-15T14:56:00.004-06:00

My cousin got married this fall in Ohio, and since hubby couldn't make the trip, I flew in for the wedding and took the opportunity to spend a little extra time back home. I was home for a total of 9 days, and most of those were spent antiquing with my mom - she's one of the few people I know who has almost the same stamina for shopping as I do! I found dozens of new ironstone pieces for my collection, from stacks of little butter pats to big beautiful pitchers, tureens, and platters. Sadly, most of it had to stay in Ohio until we drove back for Thanksgiving. But it's all finally here...

One of my favorite finds was this tall ironstone pitcher. I've been keeping my eyes open for one that I could afford, and this one fit the ($20) bill perfectly.

I also found this covered tureen, which perfectly matches an under plate that I had bought earlier this year at a garage sale...

They have the same design, the same color and amount of crazing, and they fit together perfectly - a perfect match.

The view from the dining "room" into the living room. They are really the same room, so I like to keep the same blue, grey and white color scheme in both spaces.

A pair of towels and a linen apron hang on a pegboard behind the table.

My blue china cabinet got a fresh load of new ironstone finds too. I like when cupboards look layered and filled to the brim, and I'm finally getting there with this one. Of course, there's always room for a few more pieces - a couple more platters to add to the stack, another small plate or two propped up in the back, and a few more piles of butter pats should do the trick.

I've come to love white on white embroidery like this vintage monogrammed towel, which I picked up for a couple dollars. It adds a touch of softness to my white collection.

I have my eye on a couple of antique European grain sacks on Ebay right now... I'd like to open up a sack with dark blue stripes and use it as a long table runner on my table. That just might be my next project!

Winter Living Room

2011-12-09T22:25:00.003-06:00

For the last month or so, my blog has taken a serious backseat to the Christmas rush of online shopping. Not my own shopping, mind you, but I've been busy from morning to night wrapping soap, stitching towels, packing orders, and helping a host of my lovely customers get their Christmas shopping done early. 'Tis the season...

But in the midst of all the packing and shipping, there's still been a little time for decorating. With all the traveling my husband and I do over the holidays, I don't go all out with Christmas decorations at our little house. It just makes the beautiful trees and lights at our parents homes in Ohio that much more special next to our own undecked halls. But with a few wintery touches here and there and a couple of wonderful new finds from my last antiquing trip, our livingroom has a fresh winter look in blue, white, and grey that is perfect even long after the holidays are over.

One of my favorite new-to-me antiques is this blue and white coverlet. I've always admired woven coverlets like this, but authentic early ones in good condition are few and far between, not to mention expensive. But on our Thanksgiving road trip a couple weeks ago, we took a minor detour to stop at one of my favorite antique malls in Shipshewana, Indiana, and I spotted this beautiful blanket almost the moment I walked in the door. It was in excellent condition, and I flipped over the price tag without much hope. But at $80 it was literally hundreds less than I was expecting, so I bought myself an early Christmas present. (There, see, I have done a little shopping after all).

The color and texture that it adds to the white slipcovered couch are wonderful, and the bold pattern works so nicely with all of my french striped pillows.

The wooden bowl on the coffee table got a touch of the holidays with a handful of natural pinecones and a stack of antique books with dark blue covers. My husband loves reading old books and buys them regardless of what they look like - I pick out my favorites from his collection and decorate with them...

My absolute favorite is the tiny leather-bound hymnal from 1854 (on top of the stack). Not only does it have perfectly aged pages and a handsome pattern pressed into the old leather cover, but the hymns inside are some of the most beautifully penned words I have ever read, proclaiming the truths of scripture with a poetry and depth that is seldom heard today.

As I've told you before, I am in love with these mosaic mirror candle sconces, and I found this one for only $15 at an antique shop in Ohio this fall. It adds a festive touch of sparkle to the simple rustic room, even without a candle (don't worry, I'm working on it).

My TJ Maxx french chair gets a little primitive white stool to rest my feet on (which I am actually doing right this minute as I write).

The chippy white table in the corner holds a pair of antique crocks with pale grey glaze and a crinkled wire antique basket the I picked up recently here in Nebraska. It's one of the things I bought to sell in my Etsy shop, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Sorry...

Pillows... I love pillows.

A few sprigs of (fake) Christmas greenery nestle around another antique crock and my little gray duck.

Even the TV gets some holiday love, with a bowl of reproduction mercury glass ornaments and more greenery.

And the icing on the cake...?

We had our first snowfall on the day I took these pictures last week, and we've had a thick blanket of winter wonderland ever since. Merry Christmas from Nebraska!

DIY Open Kitchen Shelves

2011-11-13T22:58:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday, my husband and I tackled a small DIY construction project in our kitchen. As renters of a basic 1950's duplex, we don't often get to do projects that change the "bones" of the house (nor are we equipped to, either in power tools or hanyman skills). Luckily, these open shelves are about as basic a DIY project as we could ask for- all it took was a paint brush, a power screw gun, and a trip to Home Depot.

Below is the "Before" picture of our kitchen...

There was a large blank wall above the kitchen sink, almost as if the layout was designed to incorporate a window there. The only trouble is that a window above the sink would overlook our bed in the next room... Oops. So I hung up a mirror and pretended I had a window. But I grew tired of the heavy gilded frame in my farmhouse style kitchen (and tired of watching myself wash dishes), so a couple weeks ago I took the mirror down and started developing a plan to add some shelves.

And I couldn't be happier with the result!

I wanted the shelves to look built in, so after a little advice from my dad (no use being a cabinet-maker's daughter if you can't get a free design consultation every now and then), I took some measurements and headed to Home Depot.

Here's what we bought:

- One 6' pine board, 1" x 10", which we had cut (for free) into two 34" pieces

- Four small wooden shelf brackets (which were conveniently stocked right next to the lumber. Hmmm, maybe we're not the first people who have done this...)

After sanding the edges of the boards and painting all the pieces, we screwed the brackets flat against the sides of the cabinets, laid the shelves into place, and secured them with screws. Instant open shelves!

Our small kitchen already had a surprising amount of storage, will lots of full-height cabinets, but it didn't have a lot of room for display. And I am all about display! These new shelves are perfect for showing off more of my antique yellowware.

After this quick and easy DIY project, it now looks as if the kitchen was designed with these open shelves from the very beginning. And the best part of the whole project? It only cost a total of about $16.00! The wood was $8.00, the brackets were less than $2 apiece, and I used the leftover paint from the kitchen cabinets.

Now that is kitchen renovation... renter's style!

Mustard Stripe Towels

2011-11-07T12:35:00.001-06:00

These new mustard colored striped towels came in the mail a few weeks ago, and I've been so ~~busy~~ preoccupied that I haven't found the time to do a proper photo shoot with them yet. Until this morning! I finally got my sample towel stitched, photographed, and they are up for sale in my Etsy shop.

The mustard color looks so nice in my country kitchen. It's not a super bright mustard yellow - the stripes are more of a dark caramel mustard - so it looks great with farmhouse kitchen accents like antique yellowware, wooden bowls, old rolling pins, and rustic cutting boards.

It's always fun deciding what letters to choose for my sample towels. I've already stitched a couple with my own initials, but I like to show a variety of letters on the towels I photograph for the shop. I knew I wanted to do an "H", because that has been a popular letter on recent orders. And what could be more cheerful than adding an "I", an initial that often shows up on antique european grain sacks.

What a friendly little towel!

These new mustard stripe towels can be ordered individually HERE or in a set of 2 HERE.

A Cozy Place to Sleep

2011-11-06T20:35:00.001-06:00

With the nights getting cooler and thoughts of a snowy season just around the corner, I've beefed up our bedding with new layers of patterned pillows and richly textured blankets for a cozy nights sleep and, just as importantly, a beautiful bedscape that adds a burst of inviting warmth and color to our tiny home.

The red and white quilt at the foot of the bed is an antique, but the rest of the bedding only looks vintage, with french-style stripes and classic woven patterns. The gray blanket with big red checks, along with the red coverlet pillow, are both new additions to my bedding from Family Heirloom Weavers, a small company in Pennsylvania that creates beautiful woven textiles patterned after early colonial antiques. Their stuff is gorgeous!

A tiny oval antique picture of a young girl hangs with a vintage mirror above the bed, creating a focal point in lieu of a headboard.

With a bedroom this bright and welcoming, I think we're ready for a cozy winter hibernation. Plus, I can't help thinking that in a few weeks a Christmas tree would fit perfectly in that back corner.... In the two and a half years since we've been married, we haven't had a place yet that was big enough (or that we weren't in the process of moving into or out of) to put up a full size Christmas tree. Maybe this will be the year!

My Antique Ironstone Collection

2011-10-20T14:01:00.000-05:00

I love antique white ironstone, and I know I'm not the only one - this simple heavy china flys off of the (virtual) shelves in my etsy shop. But have you noticed that I haven't had much for sale recently? Here's at least one reason why...

I've been busy filling my own (very real!) shelves at home. The antique farmhouse cupboard in my livingroom was looking a little bare, so I've been loading it up with ironstone pitchers, platters, butter pats, soup bowls, serving bowls, and stacks of small oval dishes.

I like the discolored patina of old ironstone, and this rustic cupboard holds the more humble aged pieces in my collection, all with thick rounded edges and simple silhouettes. But wait, there's more!

The blue china cupboard in my dining room holds my more pristine white pieces with more formal shapes. I don't discriminate against antique ironstone - stained or bright, humble or high end, I love it all!

A Second Quilt

2011-10-05T13:09:00.000-05:00

Quilting time again! Here is the second quilt top that I've finished. I've actually had it done for quite a while, as I literally did the entire thing in one weekend right on the heels of finishing my first quilt top. I told you, I can get a little obsessed :) But I found a golden yellow fabric with a simple small-scale print that I loved - it reminds me of the "cheddar" color often found in traditional antique quilts - and I was itching to try another block pattern.

Now, unlike most quilters, who end up with huge fabric stashes and swoon over all the newest prints and designs, I have found that when it actually comes down to making a quilt for myself, I am not motivated by fabric hardly at all. You won't see those eye-candy shots of my latest stack of fat quarters in modern prints and designer colors. I like solids, and I like traditional colors. I get very excited if I ever find a print that I love. And as you can see from this quilt, even the "prints" that I love are for all intents and purposes still solids. Instead, I am motivated by the overall pattern and layout of quilt blocks, most often old patterns from antique quilts. I could happily produce dozens of different quilts with nothing but a bolt of red or blue and a bolt of antique white (my favorite is "Bone" in Kona Cotton). But that's the great thing about making a quilt... you can do it exactly the way you like!

Which brings me to my second point. The actual quilting. I got so many positive and encouraging comments when I shared that I was going to be hand quilting my first quilt... About how glad I would be that I did it, how relaxing and addicting hand quilting was, how much I was going to enjoy it, and that it would be so worth the effort!!

Well, it's not. At least not for me.

All the fun and sense of accomplishment I had sewing the quilt top went right out the window as I started hand quilting. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I just flat-out hated it. I gave myself pep-talks and tried hard to convince myself that I was doing the "right thing". And then it hit me. Everything I liked about making the quilt top - the pattern design, the mathmatical precision, the systematic rotary cutting, the well-ordered almost assembly-line contruction, and the instant gratification of seeing the pieces come together - was missing in the hand quilting process. Rather than a defined step-by-step creative process, I had a big blobby perpetual never-ending project. I like quilt-making for the same reasons I like soapmaking (and baking). They are all precise, almost scientific techniques that combine all of the carefully planned and exactly measured components into one fantastically designed and immediately tangible final product. I guess I like right-brain activities that employ left-brain techniques. (Nothing like a little self-analysis with your crafting...)

So for me, it's machine quilting or nothing at all. And seeing as my new hobby is such a complete expression of the many aspects of my taste and personality, I think machine quilting is a perfect match. I can't wait to show you this one when it's finished! And now it can be sooner rather than later :)

Wedding Day

2011-09-28T13:00:00.001-05:00

I have weddings on the brain! Last week I booked my plane ticket to Ohio for my cousin's wedding in October, and just last night our good friend Sarah from Chicago called me and asked me if I would be willing to make 8 centerpieces for her wedding reception in November. My first foray into wedding design... Eek! I've already started pouring over wedding websites such as Once Wed, and I am drooling over all of those gorgeous inspiring photo spreads. I love the way the small details add up to tell the entire story. I can get seriously lost in all of the beautiful wedding details out there. No, seriously... Like "it's-1:00-and-I-haven't-done-a-stitch-of-work-yet-today" kind of lost. So in the spirit of love and obsessive wedding planning, I thought I'd share a photo spread of my own wedding, a little over two years ago. Enjoy!

And we lived happily ever after...

The ~~End~~ Beginning

A New Pig Cutting Board

2011-09-26T12:09:00.002-05:00

Growing up, my mom always had a pig cutting board in her Early American style kitchen. There is something charmingly innocent and idyllic to me about a rustic wood pig shaped board. For me, it is an icon of the country kitchen.

This is the newest addition to what is quietly becoming my newest collection. He's so sweet and chubby, just like a good pig should be.

The dark gray-brown wood tones perfectly matched the antique drop leaf table and french wicker basket that hides my trash can.

There's another pig, hanging at the other end of my little galley kitchen along with my newly completed "Meat Market" sign.

I originally intended to make this sign to hang in my diningroom, but I ended up liking it above the doorway in my kitchen instead.

And last but not least, there is this little piggy propped up behind some yellowware bowls beside my sink. I've heard that 3 or more of something qualifies as a "collection", so I guess it's official!

Wanna Win Something?

2011-09-22T08:42:00.000-05:00

Feeling lucky? Toni from the blog "A Bowl Full of Lemons" is hosting a giveaway right now featuring my Handmade Soap Samplers. Two lucky readers will each win one... Go! Go! Go! What are you hanging around here for?! She has all of the details for you...

Soap Sampler Giveaway at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

A big thanks to Toni for hosting this giveaway. She was the creative mind behind the Parade of Homes earlier this summer... Check that out too if you missed it.

Good luck!

One Little Gray Duck

2011-09-13T19:55:00.002-05:00

I bought this sweet vintage duck decoy at an antique mall recently, fully intending to sell it in my etsy shop. But when I got home, this one little gray duck ended up inspiring a mini-makeover in the corner of my livingroom, complete with painting, furniture rearranging, and everything.

He has just the nicest weathered patina with so much wonderful texture. And the thing you'd never ever guess about my little gray duck? He looks just like a fine old wooden decoy... but he's made of plastic. What a clever little duck I have.

Above is what the corner of my livingroom looked like before. The dark table and iron chandelier didn't really stand out much, and it was a dark corner of the room to begin with so it needed a little brightness and color. Enter my little gray duck...

I started by swapping the dark stained desk for the white chippy table that was serving as my husbands computer desk on the other side of the room. I added a blue painted box, which was a plain wood box that I painted and antiqued in the same way I did my china cabinet.

I also painted a pair of my wooden lamps. I discovered these turned lamp bases a while ago at Target.com on clearance for under $20 and I ordered 4 of them! A couple coats of gray and off-white paint, dabbed and wiped off in just the right places, and Pottery Barn can eat it's pricey little heart out.

The result is a lighter and brighter corner with simple antique details and a perfect touch of color. And it all started with one little gray (plastic) duck!

Autumn Details

2011-09-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

First, a disclaimer: I have not decorated for fall. I got my first glimpse of this years pumpkin harvest at an antique show in Venice, Nebraska this weekend (a town so small it doesn't show up on the map), but I haven't brought any home yet. The nights, however, are starting to get crisp and fall is definitely in the air, so I sorted through some old pictures that I've never shared, and pulled out some autumn inspired details for you...

With it's warm golden color, antique yellowware is perfect for fall decorating.

I sold this antique bench (actually a seat for a cast iron tub) last fall. I love the curved iron legs and rustic wood top. It looked so charming with my little bright orange pie pumpkins.

I'm a sucker for the tiny little cream colored pumpkins...

A pile of them in a vintage wire basket or bottle carrier is a lovely yet subtle fall touch.

And although there's nothing especially "fall" about this vignette, I think a touch of black iron and dark rustic wood are essential to creating a cozy fall look.

A big old lumpy red-orange pumpkin in my mom's garden last year.

I spotted this life-size cast iron squirrel finial at a huge beautiful townhouse when we lived in the Gold Coast neighborhood of downtown Chicago. My husband and I used to spend sunny Saturday afternoons walking around the neighborhood, gawking at the gorgeous old homes and quasi-mansions with breathtaking architecture before heading back to our tiny high-rise studio apartment. I wasn't a huge fan of city life, but we lived in one of the most gorgeous neighborhoods in Chicago. I wish now that I would have taken more pictures!

Hopefully this whets your appetite for fall decorating... I know it does mine!

Happy Fall!

Off to Ohio

2011-08-31T20:59:00.001-05:00

We made the spontaneous decision today to jump in the car tomorrow and head for Ohio for the long weekend. Country road (or tollroad, as the case may be) take me home!

I thought I'd leave you with a few pictures I took last summer in Ohio, of a sheep farm just down the road from my Grandma's house. The baby lambs were too cute to resist, so we pulled over. They were more than eager to have their picture taken...

Oops... Maybe a little too eager! My husband started exclaiming, and I lowered my camera to see little sheep babies swarming around his ankles, with more popping through the open fence weave faster than he could scoop them up and drop them back in. Time to go!

Hope you all have a wonderful and refreshing Labor Day weekend!

This Just Listed...

2011-08-30T15:05:00.001-05:00

A few of my favorite new finds from this weekend, just listed in my etsy shop...

Vintage Collapsible Wire Laundry Basket on Wheels

One fabulous folding wire laundry cart. Be still my heart. This is one of those things that I won't mind if it has to sit in my house for a while!

3 Small Vintage Pillows with Redwork Embroidery

3 miniature hand-stitched old pillows, embroidered with red initials. I think they would make adorable pincushions.

Huge Antique Tea Leaf Ironstone 16" Platter

An oversized ironstone platter with a simple tea leaf design. This pattern reminds me of fall, and it would be beautiful forThanksgiving - you could fit a lot of turkey on this platter!

Vintage Wire Cloche

And finally, a quirky little wire cloche. It's incredibly crooked, but just as cute as can be.

Ta-Da!

2011-08-25T12:02:00.000-05:00

My quilt top is finished!

I have the quilt top "sandwiched" with the batting and backing fabric and secured with safety pins so that I can begin the daunting task of hand quilting. I considered machine quilting it, but I just can't bring my traditional, perfectionistic, antique-loving self to do it, at least on this quilt. So I am savoring this "ta-da" moment, because I have a feeling it's going to be a long while before I reach another one...

Here's a close-up of the beginning stages of the quilting. So far it has been a rather painful learning process. Literally painful. Quilting needles are sharp, and I am, well, clumsy. And S-L-O-W. After close to two hours of whiny quilting last night, I was seriously considering other options. Options like, "these safety pins don't look that bad, do they?" and "maybe I could pay my Grandma to do this for me."

But this morning, I'm feeling more positive. I am taking to heart the mantra of my dad, in those gentle yet oft-spoken words from my childhood: "Buck up, kid."

So my sewing box is out, and the couch will be out of commission for a while, pressed into duty as a quilting frame. I'll keep you updated, and sooner or later I'll have another "ta-da" for you. Probably later, rather than sooner. :)

Handmade Mirrored Sconce

2011-08-17T10:11:00.001-05:00

This mirrored candle sconce was sort of a make-do project (hint: there's duct tape involved). I've recently been eyeing those beautiful round antique mirror candle sconces, made up of a mosaic of little mirror pieces...

Like these from a House Beautiful magazine...

Or this one, currently for sale here on etsy...

But, avoiding all temptaion (at least for now), I made my own for around $11.00. Granted, it's not quite the same, but I still think it's simple, beautiful, and charming.

I found the vintage concave mirror at an antique mall for $5.00. It was an old handmade lamp reflector and it has a nice wavy, slightly darkened mirrored metal surface that reflects light (and a bit of my bookcases on the opposite wall) beautifully.

Then I picked up a simple tin candle holder that was meant to hang over a cupboard door (like a towel hook hangs over a bathroom door) for around $6.00 at a gift shop, and I was able to bend the hanger flat so I could attach it to the back of the reflector. And yes, when I say "attach" I mean "duct tape". The wonders never cease!

Another Market Find

2011-08-14T23:03:00.000-05:00

This old white spice drawer cabinet was my other great find at the Vintage and Artisan Market last weekend.

It was staring at me all day, sitting on a table directly across from my booth. I meandered over to look at it twice, but there was no price on it. Sad... that is not one of my favorite parts of shopping at an antique show or flea market. I don't like having to ask for prices. And nice antique spice cabinets are often over $100, so I told myself it was probably for the best. Oh well, back to my booth...

But it just kept staring at me, with those cute little drawers and old white paint...

So by my third trip over near the end of the day (anyone watching could tell that I was practically stalking this little cupboard), I finally asked the nice man how much it was. And then? I promptly ran back to my booth to get a $20 bill from my cash box to buy it... and I got change back. That's my kind of deal!

It's going to hang up on the wall there, between the windows in my kitchen. I've been looking for something to put there, and this little guy will be perfect.

And just to show you that I don't buy everything I want... there was this great little old trestle table that I could've bought for a song from the same man, but I had let it go, for lack of room. Oh well, maybe next time!

My Farmhouse Cupboard

2011-08-13T10:02:00.001-05:00

What is more quintessentially "country" than a rustic painted cupboard filled with simple white ironstone, blue and white quilts, and fresh sunflowers?

Until a few days ago, this antique open-shelf cupboard was in my bedroom, laden down with books and magazines.

It worked great, but the colorful jumble of reading material wasn't doing this gorgeous farmhouse antique any favors.

Ahhhh... much better!

I was thrilled when I realized that I could move it to the livingroom. In a small home with lots of furniture, I don't get to rearrange big pieces that often (things are where they are because that's where they fit!), so a full-fledged furniture switcheroo makes me giddy with excitement. This old cupboard nestled so perfectly underneath my wall shelf full of ironstone, and the blue interior works beautifully with the rest of the living and dining room color scheme.

As a side effect, there's now a bit of extra room to display more ironstone... Oh, darn!

The antique blue and white quilt was one of the things I bought at the Vintage and Artisan Market last Saturday. You'd think maybe since I am learning to make quilts myself that I would be less inclined to buy them... but nope, it's just the opposite!

I have a new appreciation for the work that goes into making one of these babies, and I notice them when I'm out antiquing now more than ever. I love the tattered edges, puckered stitching (all done by hand), and traditional patterns of these early quilts. And at just $35, I couldn't pass this one up.

The fresh sunflowers are locally grown by The Green Horse Co., and were an end-of-the-market-day gift from Annette, the lovely sunflower lady of Lincoln, who was just as sweet and sunny as her flowers.

They add the perfect cheerful summer touch to my farmhouse cupboard.

Have a happy weekend!

Vintage and Artisan Market Recap

2011-08-12T13:16:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Vintage and Artisan Market! It turned out to be a lovely event with a dozen antique and vintage vendors (including me!) set up outside in the tree-surrounded parking lot, with plenty of hot sun, dappled shade, and excited shoppers.

Here's my booth! We had lots of room to set up, which was great. I would've loved to have brought a few more larger pieces to help with the display, but with our tiny little car we already had to make 2 trips to get everything there.

It was fun getting to talk to customers and other vendors, and I even met several women who told me they read my blog. Thanks so much for coming out! That's me, in the white t-shirt, talking to Barb from Thoughtful Images Ink, before the market opened. It's the only picture we got of me in my booth (which was fine by me because it was a hot and sweaty day!) but I got lots of great pictures of what you really want to see...

The goods!

I don't know about you, but I love looking at pictures of displays at antique shows and flea markets, and I can never find enough of them, so I was sure to take a lot. Enjoy!

There were rusty wire garden baskets, chippy yellow chairs, a cast iron chandelier, a shabby white wall shelf...

The chairs were the only furniture I was able to bring, and luckily they sold pretty early in the day so we didn't have to find a way to fit them back in the car.

There was a vintage time card rack...

Lots of wooden boxes and crates...

Old spools of thread and charming garden tools...

White ironstone in all shapes and sizes...

Beautiful blue and white china...

Vintage glass bottles and domes, seed packets, and garden accents...

Woven baskets, vintage books...

Wire baskets and silver-plated bowls...

Vintage muffin tins...

And, of course, a little bit of soap...

Thanks for joining me! Don't worry... I brought along LOADS of stuff, and a lot of the pictures here were taken towards the end of the day, so much of what you see above will be for sale in my etsy store soon!

I have been wanting to share these pictures with you sooner, but threatening storm clouds had begun to roll in as everyone was packing up their displays that evening, and my husband and I made it home and safely in the back door mere seconds before the sky let loose a thunderstorm that knocked out our internet service for the better part of 5 days... But we're back in business now, and I have lots of work to catch up on!

Next time I'll share a couple great finds that I bought for myself at the show :)

To Market, To Market

2011-08-05T14:58:00.002-05:00

My boxes are packed and I'm off to market! Tomorrow afternoon I will be one of the vendors at the "Vintage & Artisan Market" put on by Simply Bungalow right here in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'll be bringing items from my etsy shop, as well as lots of new finds! My dining room is currently piled high with rustic wood crates, wire baskets, ironstone, vintage textiles, and many more one-of-a-kind goodies. Tomorrow our tiny little car will be stuffed to the roof with the same - probably more than once. Good thing it's just two miles down the road!

This will be my first antique show as a vendor, and it looks like it's shaping up to be a sultry little shindig, with temperatures forcast to hit 90, with humidity to match. But a little heat just makes the finds that much sweeter, right? Or at least a little sweatier...

If you live near Lincoln, stop by from 2:00 pm - 8:00 pm for an afternoon and evening of shopping and antiquing. Visit Simply Bungalow's blog for more details.

I'll be sure to take some pictures of how my display turns out!

What's On My Coffee Table

2011-08-03T10:50:00.002-05:00

My coffee table is a big old wooden shipping crate, with wonderful texture and rustic details like...

The original wood lid, complete with rusty bolts in the corners...

Faded black stenciled lettering on the front and back...

Deep dovetail joints, chunky wood handles on the sides, and old metal strips around the bottom edge.

I found this handsome old box at a little primitive antique shop in town, out in the "clearance garage" with the marked down Christmas and Halloween decor. It wasn't priced, so I went back inside to ask about it, fully expecting it to be too expensive...

Nope. It was $20. The find of the century!

For a while, I had it tucked beside the little white desk that is tucked behind the leather couch, so that I could tuck the power strip and computer cords behind it. But for such a great piece, it was a little too "tucked away". So a few days ago, I moved my more traditional coffee table to the basement to give this box more room to shine, and I love the rustic, slightly industrial touch that it adds to the room.

On top of my coffee table, I have a deep wooden bowl filled with different kinds of twine. Actually, the bowl's not wood at all... it's one of those reproductions made of hard resin, but who can tell? I use twine all the time around the house, and this way it is right at my fingertips whenever I need it.

There's balls of jute craft twine, an antique wooden spool with bright blue paint loaded with my favorite brown and white bakers twine, and a pair of vintage metal herb snips so I never have to go rummaging through drawers for a pair of scissors.

Want your very own lifetime supply of bakery twine? Go here. Trust me. 3400 yards for around ten bucks. Maybe that is the find of the century! (I use the 4-ply brown and white.)

Of course, I like to keep what's on my coffee table to a minimum. Just a little something pretty that's also functional. It saves room for more important things...

...like hubby's feet!

What's on your coffee table?

A New Sign for my Kitchen

2011-07-30T22:18:00.002-05:00

I've been admiring antique signage lately, but the "real deal" usually carries quite a hefty price tag. So I made my own!

I liked the natural rough-sawn texture on the backside of some old salvaged beadboard that I had, so I glued two pieces together to make a perfectly aged canvas for my sign. I painted it a creamy buttermilk color, and then used a brush and a rag to age it with some watered down paint in a couple different shades of golden tan and greenish grey, before painting "Hallberg Nursery" in black, with some heavy sanding to scuff it up.

It looks right at home above the window in my small but sunny rustic kitchen.

Photo courtesy of Country Living

I used a picture from Country Living of designer Nancy Fishelson's kitchen to pattern my sign after. If you've never seen Nancy's work, you are missing out - the rooms she designs are absolutely gorgeous, with a subdued color palette and stunning primitive antiques, including many wonderful examples of antique signs that are used as art.

Photo courtesy of Country Living

The thing I love about antique signs is the personality they bring to a space. I love the worn patina and the wonderful old typography, but most of all I love that they are specific and one-of-a-kind; uniquely and utilitarianly inscribed with the names, dates, and advertisements of businesses from long ago. A sign that reads "Hallberg Nursery" with a hand-painted arrow pointing the way sparks the imagination in a way that a generic "potting shed" or "garden" sign never will.

Does your house need a little personality? Add a sign!

A Linen Shirt and Birthday Flowers

2011-07-29T12:06:00.002-05:00

I purchased this antique child-sized linen shirt and wooden hanger at an estate sale last summer when we were living in Pennsylvania. I had it for sale in my etsy shop for months and months, and nobody bought it. It's been hanging in a lonely corner or my office, forgotten and unloved.

Until now...

I was tweeking furniture placement in our bedroom this week, and I moved this dark wood side table that was tucked beside the bed to an open wall - where it would be more of a focal point - and I needed something to hang above it. I'm not a fan of framed artwork, and I tried an antique mirror, but nothing was working. And then I remembered this lonely little unwanted linen jacket. It was just right! I dug out this little black peg shelf from a closet, and the whole display was perfect.

Yesterday was my birthday (28!) and my sweet husband stopped and bought me a bouquet of flowers on his way home from work, and they were the perfect finishing touch to my bedroom vignette. The pinks look so pretty against the black wood and natural linen.

I must confess, though, that I am notorious for dismembering perfectly fine flower bouquets as soon as they enter my house...

These two yellow blooms didn't make the cut and were segregated to their own small ironstone pitcher in the kitchen. (Seriously, grocery-store flower-arranger lady - yellow flowers in a pink and white bouquet?!)

Luckily, my husband doesn't take it personally.

My Favorite Thing of the Day

2011-07-25T19:13:00.000-05:00

I was craving coffee ice cream tonight. Rich coffee ice cream with dark chocolate chunks...

$1.00 worth of deliciousness in a cute little single-serving cup (spoon included!) so I could start eating it before I even left the grocery store... Whoever came up with THAT is a genious.

Presented in a familiar cup, just like my favorite morning brew...

And so good it was gone before I got home.

Sorry, kids! No "before" pictures of this one. Wait, maybe this will help you out...

Sigh... A day of antiquing, dinner out with hubby, and java chip ice cream...

Hope your day turned out as good as mine did!

A Peak at My Quilting Progress

2011-07-24T18:12:00.001-05:00

Remember when I said that I was going to make a quilt? Here's proof that I am actually doing it! I officially have 12 blocks done, with 8 more to go before I can start adding sashing and assembling the quilt top.

I decided on a very traditional star pattern in a simple, solid color palette of dark navy on bone white, with warm grayish tan sashing between the blocks. With the THOUSANDS of colors and patterns of fabric available in quilting shops, and after what my husband would probably describe as THOUSANDS of hours of waiting in the car while I tried to make up my mind, I of course end up with 3 fairly neutral solid colors. But this quilt is going to be very "me", and that's what I like about it.

I wasn't sure about choosing a pattern with so many little triangles and points for my very first quilting attempt, but so far it is turning out really well - and the magic of opening up that finished block and revealing a perfect 8 pointed star is well worth the effort! Speaking of effort...

Each finished block is made up of 4 "flying geese" pieces, which each have 2 little navy squares sewn onto the corners...

...which are then folded back and pressed into place to make little triangles. One finished flying geese block.

With 20 blocks in the finished quilt, and 4 flying geese units per block, and 2 little squares sewn on each of those... I have now cut, sewn, and pressed 160 little navy squares! And that's just getting the pieces ready to start actually putting together blocks. Whew!

This Saturday I have another get-together with my quilting girls, so hopefully I can finish the rest of my blocks and start assembling!

China Cabinet Makeover

2011-07-22T21:29:00.003-05:00

I painted my white china cabinet blue - and I love it!

I've been debating about whether I should do this for a while now. Just a few posts ago, I redecorated my dining room with my beautiful new french chairs from TJ Maxx, and the room had a really sophisticated, neutral palette. And I liked it. But I couldn't help thinking... I wonder what it would look like if I painted that cupboard blue?

The answer? Even more lovely than before!

I started with a can of "French Gray" paint from Glidden that I had picked out for FREE from their website a couple months ago during their paint giveaway promotion. I love free paint! By itself, the color was a little brighter blue than I wanted. But I watered down a bit of black acrylic paint (the kind you buy in little squeeze bottles from a craft store), brushed it on, and then wiped off the extra with a damp rag. It ended up being even better than I expected.

And my white ironstone has never looked better...

I've been wanting to repaint my dining room table for a while, too, and the new blue cabinet gave me the motivation I needed to finally do it. I used a nice warm grey called "Cobblestone" from Olde Century Colors, with just a touch of distressing. It's a cooler tone than before, and the finish is a little less "faux" looking...

Before.... and after!

Not to mention that the last time I got the urge to paint my table, I didn't really have the right paint on hand, so... being the impatient decorator that I am... I used leftover wall paint from my kitchen. Flat wall paint. Not the best finish for a dining room table - take my word for it!

The finishing touch was a grey and blue chippy wood bench from the basement, and the antique grainsack pillow from my couch. Now, I am on the lookout for a matching 4 gallon crock to go next to the 3 gallon on top of the cupboard... I saw the perfect one at an antique shop in Ohio when we were home for Christmas and I was THIS CLOSE to buying it. But I didn't, and now I want to kick myself. Oh well, just keep looking!

This Little Piggy Went To Market...

2011-07-02T09:39:00.001-05:00

Here is another antique sign that I am thinking of reproducing for my house.

I spotted it in a Country Living magazine, in the kitchen of Dan Thibeault. LOVE the style of his home.

I like his decorating philosophy, too - mixing a few splurges in with the bargains in a way that makes everything look rich. I am a bargain-hunter by nature (also known as cheap) and the thrill of a good deal gets me every time. But I also have a feeling that I'd be hard pressed to find a fabulous french chandelier like THAT at a garage sale, and somewhere down the road a splurge like that will be well worth it!

But back to the "Meat Market"... Remember the little black and white wooden pig that's hanging all alone on my dining room wall right now?

How cute would that be?! I needed something else to go on that wall, and a sign like this would be perfect.

My apologies to the pig, of course... His role in my dining room is about to take a tragic turn.

Lunch

2011-07-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

Pasta + fresh veggies + mozzerella cheese + italian dressing = YUM. And so pretty I had to photograph it before digging in!

This is a recipe we eat ALL THE TIME in my house, especially in the summer. It's so easy, you can barely call it a recipe. Those are my favorite kind. :)

My usual veggie combo is broccoli, carrots, green peppers, and cherry tomatoes, but you can add whatever you like, and leave out what you don't (like black olives - bleh). I use a bottled italian dressing - Kraft Italian Vinigarette made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil is my favorite - and finish it off with a generous shake of Greek Seasoning mix from Penseys Spices, which is a blend of salt, garlic, lemon, black pepper, oregano, and marjoram.

Quick, easy, and delicious. Pair it with grilled swiss cheese and ham sandwiches on rye bread and supper is done!

Dining Room Makeover

2011-06-30T12:24:00.002-05:00

Ta da! I picked up some beautiful (and affordable) new french style dining chairs from Marshalls and TJ Maxx over the last few months, and I am loving my dining room's new look!

It all started with this chair. Technically, I have owned it for about 4 months, but I didn't get to bring it home until a couple weeks ago. No, it wasn't at the hospital in intensive care... it was in Ohio. I may live 1000 miles away, but I still go shopping with mom and sister in Ohio almost every week - via camera phone! After sending me a picture, my sister bought the chair for me a few months ago at Marshalls (one of our regular stops) and in the meantime I've been scouring stores out here trying to find some coordinating ones.

I found two matching Louis chairs in a straighter, cleaner style with darker linen and upholstered backs instead of caning, and I ended up really liking the collected look that the different chairs create.

Of course, as you can see, I'm not quite finished "collecting" yet... One green "before" chair still lurks at my table :)

This is was the dining room before. Not too bad, but the green chairs and blue floral china were giving it a cottage vibe that seemed a little disconnected from the rest of the house.

I found two oversized white-washed terra cotta pineapple finials, also from Marshalls, to replace the centerpiece. I love the scale and height of these - everything else I tried was too short and looked silly, but these really make a grand centerpiece.

Some great new antique white ironstone finds replace the blue in my china cabinet. (If you like blue patterned china, stay tuned... I think a few of my blue pieces will be showing up in my etsy shop in the near future!)

A collection of old ironstone platters, along with an oval frame from the 1800's, create a wall display behind the table. This is my first foray into hanging plates on the wall and I wasn't sure I would like it... but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the room.

And I found this primitive black and white wooden pig at an antique mall in Ohio. I bought it to sell, but I just couldn't part with him :) He's now hangs on the wall between the dining room and kitchen.

This picture makes me laugh and reminds me of the Biblical reference to "casting your pearls before swine..." But I like the juxtaposition of rustic country farmhouse decor with a touch of glamour, and I think this picture sums that up perfectly!

Fabulous Folding Wire

2011-06-20T16:18:00.000-05:00

Antique Folding Wire Basket with Looped Petal Edges

I love wire baskets, especially when they have these fabulous folding "petal" edges

This antique german example is a basket and a tray in one. The petals fold up for a basket, or lay flat to create a serving tray or trivet. I think it would even make a great cooling rack for muffins or a pie!

Vintage Folding Wire Light Bulb Cage

And then there's this... A little antique wire light bulb cage, with those same folding petal edges that you see on old wire egg baskets, like this one...

Just imagine how cute this would be on a bare ceiling bulb or a desk lamp! I've never seen one quite like this before - so industrial chic, yet with a feminine touch.

I just listed both of these items in my etsy shop, so be sure to take a look!

Maple Syrup, Fresh Buttermilk

2011-06-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

I love this old farm-stand sign from Ohio. The back panel is a sheet of tin, with wooden slats separating the stenciled words.

I love the charming little mistakes that show it was handmade, like the "S" in Sweet Corn that was stenciled upside down.

I spotted it for sale at a wonderful primitive antique shop in Seville, Ohio. Unfortunately the sign wasn't in the budget to come home with me (around $950 if I remember correctly). But I am filing it away for inspiration... I would love to try my hand at reproducing this sign to hang in my dining room. I've been looking for something to fill some blank wall space, and I don't think anything could be more perfect for a dining room. It's making me hungry already!

A Love for Old Labels

2011-06-16T10:42:00.000-05:00

Antique Glass Apothocary Bottle for sale HERE

I love old paper labels. No matter what the item is, if it has an original label - no matter how tattered or torn - there is something about it that I gravitate towards. I love the all the different examples of typography, the beautiful graphics, and the perfectly aged color of the paper.

Vintage spools of thread found in Iowa

Unused cones of crochet thread, still wrapped up in their original brown paper packaging! Found in Ohio.

I especially love old bottles with their original labels.

Early french olive oil bottle, found in Nebraska (of all places!).

National Starch Company shipping box with tattered label on one end, found in Nebraska.

It amazes me that you can find these antique shipping crates with their original labels still intact. Imagine if cardboard boxes today were this beautiful!

Sapolio box, found in Pennsylvania

Procter & Gamble Ivory Soap box, found in Nebraska

The boxes above are long gone, but I have a few new ones with great old labels that I brought back from my trip to Ohio. I'll be photographing and listing those soon, along with TONS of great ironstone, so keep your eyes peeled!

Vintage Garden Seed Packets

2011-06-15T20:16:00.001-05:00

I love the beautiful shades of green and the hand-drawn illustrations of these vintage garden seed packets from Card Seed Co.

They are perfect for displaying in a vintage metal pin flower frog, especially a long rectangular one, like these copper colored ones available in my etsy shop.

Who knew cabbage could be so stylish!

My Favorite Part of Traveling

2011-05-24T20:14:00.001-05:00

I love road trips. My husband and I are leaving on a monster road trip on Thursday, so we did a little snack shopping yesterday!

I actually think that the travel snacks are most of the reason that I like road trips in the first place. I have fond childhood memories of driving from Ohio to Sarasota, Florida for huge extended family vacations, with enough snacks in the minivan to feed an army. I also have fond memories of playing on the CB radios that my dad and uncles would hook up in all of the cars so that we could all travel together, caravan style, across the country in the days before anyone had cell phones. My dads CB handle, chosen by yours truly, was "The Big Stinky Cheese". At 8 years old, I thought that was hilarious. Almost 20 years later, I still do. :)

So, on Thursday we'll be heading from Nebraska to Ohio for a week with the family, and then down to the Outer Banks, North Carolina for a week on the beach with my husband's family. And as we hit the road, you can be sure that the snack bag will be well stocked!

See you in two weeks!

A Chair with Potential... Part 2

2011-05-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

I spent the last few days painting my antique cane-back chair. I chose a creamy off-white color with an antique glaze over it. Here's how I did it...

Step 1: Sand

The chair had a thick coat of old yellowed varnish on it, which I didn't fully realize until I began sanding and unleashed a cloud of fine varnish dust. Fortunately, I had taken it outside before I started. Unfortunately, I was sanding it by hand on a 90 degree day. It was a sweaty, dirty, job. But it was well worth it!

Before:

After:

Step 2: Paint

With the nasty old varnish sanded into oblivion, I had a nice smooth wood base to start painting. I covered my coffee table with cardboard and set the chair up on the coffee table to paint it. Raising it off the floor was a huge help!

I didn't use a primer, but 2 coats of paint did a fair job of covering the leftover reddish stain that I didn't completely sand off. I ended up adding a third coat to the arms and a few spot on the back where a pinkish tint was still showing through.

The color I used is called "Buttermilk" from Olde Century Colors.

Step 3: Distress

Next, I used my 100 grit sandpaper again and sanded through just a few of the edges around the legs and arms and back, places where the finish would naturally wear. I don't like to go overboard with distressing, but I wanted a nice antique look.

Step 4: Glaze
To glaze my chair, I choose a Martha Stewart Living color called "Crevecoeur". FYI: I looked it up - apparently "Crevecoeur" is a rare breed of chicken from France. How very Martha. :)

I picked this color because at Home Depot it was one of "Martha's Picks" which meant it was premixed in these handy little 8 oz. sample cans for only $3.00. Easy!

I mixed a little of my French Chicken paint with enough water to get a nice runny mix. The color was a little greener than I was expecting, but it actually worked really well as an antiquing glaze. So often, watered down browns end up looking too orange for my taste, and this one definitely did not.

I brushed the watery glaze onto one section of the chair...

And then wiped off the excess with a damp rag, leaving just a hint of color.

The glaze settles into all the little scratches, so the more you rough up the painted surface before you start, the darker your glaze will end up.

I decided not to replace the old caning with the hole in it. It doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, and since I'll be using it up against the wall in the bedroom, a pillow covering the front will be good enough for me. Imperfections just add to the charm!

Now on to choosing fabric for the seat and uphostering!

A Chair with Potential

2011-05-09T10:31:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, my husband and I took a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Walnut, Iowa for a day of antiquing. What a cool little town! About 1 hour and 45 minutes away from us, we heard that this tiny town has been dubbed the antique capitol of Iowa, and they sure weren't kidding. We drove home with a car-load of treasures, both the keep and to sell, but my favorite find of the day was this cane-back arm chair, scooped up for just $10.

I spied it in one of the many antique malls in Walnut, this one an old barn that has been converted to a multi-level antique shop. What was once the hay loft, high above the ground level and accessible by the original narrow open-tread stairway "bridge" across the main room of the barn, could now be called the "chair loft". Filled with row after row of antique wood chairs, in many different styles and various stages of disrepair, this cane-back beauty caught my eye. I held my breath as my husband skillfully maneuvered it down the treacherous stairs and even more skillfully managed to fit it into the backseat of our tiny car!

I love the 3 panel wing-back style, with the beautiful high curve at the top.

The original caning has one tear in it, but is otherwise nice and sturdy. The tear is fairly close to the bottom, so I think a small pillow nestled against the back will cover the tear perfectly.

A little bigger obstacle is the missing seat. The seat was originally also caned, as you can tell from the groove around the frame and the small round pattern that has been weathered into the wood along the front edge. What I'm going to do is cut a cardboard template to fit inside the seat, and then take it along on our road-trip to Ohio at the end of the month and have my dad cut a board to fit it. Then I'll add some foam and batting and upholster the seat in a natural linen fabric.

I like the dark wood, but it's not in great condition, so I think I'm going to paint the chair with the same creamy Buttermilk paint color that I've used on the trim and doors throughout the house.

I'll share pictures of the transformation as it happens! When it's finished, it will be the perfect chair for our bedroom, tucked along the wall between an east-facing window and my bookshelf of decorating magazines. It will be the perfect place to enjoy the morning sun as I drink coffee and read my Bible in the mornings, or to snuggle up and flip through a few magazines before bed.

I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Welcome to the Parade of Homes - House #4

2011-04-30T23:01:00.002-05:00

Hello! My name is Ellie, and I live with my husband in a small rented duplex in Lincoln, Nebraska. This month will mark just our second year of marriage - and even though we are many years away from owning a house of our own, I'm so thankful for the cozy little home that we have. Please come in!

The livingroom is my favorite spot in the house. I love rustic french country style, and that's the look I went for in the livingroom, with lots of drapey linen curtains, antique textiles, a casual white slipcover on the sofa, and worn, rustic wood.

The livingroom has a mostly neutral palette, but gets a touch of color from vintage blue ticking feather pillows and antique european grain sacks... a few of my favorite things!

With the huge west-facing picture window, the livingroom turns into a bright, warm sunroom in the afternoon.

A television is not usually something you see featured on design blogs, but let's face it - if you watch TV and don't have a nice big cabinet to hide it in, it becomes part of the decor. I hung a big antique mirror directly behind the TV to reflect light from the opposite window, and help take the focus off of the big black screen, and draw your eye to the rest of the wall.

The chunky antique wood TV table also offers an unexpected place to display one of my many vintage collections - metal flower frogs.

I know it's not a room, but my white ironstone collection deserves it's own stop on the tour!

I started with one small chipped platter that I found at an antique mall for $1.50, and I've been collecting ever since. I love the simple lines and the warm, rustic patina that old ironstone gets.

I love pieces with lots of crazing and discoloration... the darker and more beat up the better (and usually cheaper). Most pieces I've found have been under $10.

My favorite pitcher... just 50 cents at a flea market. Needless to say, the collection is constantly growing!

Old mirrors are another of my favorite things to decorate with. I don't usually like a lot of artwork or framed photos on my walls, but I love mirrors. This shabby white full-length mirror in my entryway is one of my favorites.

Without a designated room to use as a home office, I tucked a chippy white desk behind the couch in the livingroom, and used a stack of rustic wooden boxes to hide mail, cords, computer accessories, and other clutter. Instant home office!

The office is conveniently right next to the library. Ok, ok, we don't actually have a library, either :) But with sooooo many books, there will always be at least a library wall in our home.

The dining nook also shares space with the main living space, and is just off of the kitchen.

We switched out a dated light fixture for a small, sparkly chandelier from Ikea when we moved in. It was a quick and inexpensive change that made SUCH a difference - and we get to take it with us when we leave!

I'm a sucker for pretty dishes!

The small galley-style kitchen is certainly not high tech, but it's full of character and reminds me of an old farmhouse kitchen.

I love the simple painted cabinets. While there's nothing all that special about them, I like that they are rustic and primitive - nothing too fancy or modern. The landlord let me repaint them when we moved in, so I used a rich greenish golden paint from Olde Century Colors called "Thistle", which is a great complement to my collection of antique yellowware.

A small antique drop leaf table and a tall free-standing cupboard provide extra prep space and pantry storage, and make the kitchen feel lived in and comfortable.

Yellowware is another collection where I love to find imperfect pieces. Most of my bowls have chips and cracks, which means they were all affordable - so I can have a whole mass of them, rather than one perfect, valuable example.

A huge antique lidded wicker basket neatly hides the kitchen trash can, while keeping it right out where I need it.

A fancy antique mirror above the sink adds a touch of elegance to the rustic room... and makes me feel like I have a window to look out of while I'm doing dishes.

The bedroom is the only room with hardwood floors, which I absolutely love. They are so pretty that it makes resisting the urge to wildly rip up the carpet in the living and dining room nearly impossible. But I've been good so far :)

The rustic wood bedside table was a $10 flea market find. I love the curvy shape of the top and the dark primitive touch that it brings to the soft and bright bedroom.

Just like the livingroom, the bedroom gets almost all of its color from fabrics. A few pillows and a graphic red and white antique quilt at the foot of the bed is the perfect amount of red for me.

Remember what I said earlier about having a lot of books? The same goes for magazines! I love picking up past issues of decorating magazines at antique malls, garage sales, and thrift shops.

A collection of baskets, including this antique basket from Maine that I bought on our honeymoon, sits on top of the short primitive antique magazine rack.

The chippy white dresser in the corner also serves as my make-up vanity.

The bathroom is tucked in the hallway between the living area and the bedroom. There are a total of 4 doors in this itty-bitty space, so painting the doors and trim all a soft buttermilk color (instead of the original strawberry-blond stain) makes the busy hallway look pretty and peaceful.

That's it! The house is small, but it's just perfect for the two of us. I work from home, running my handmade soap business and online antique shop, so I have my workspace set up in the basement where I can make as much of a "creative mess" as I need to, and then close the door on it at the end of the day. My work space is still a work in progress... I'll share pictures of it in the future!

Thanks so much for visiting! It's been a pleasure to share my home with you. The next stop on the "Parade of Homes" is Organizing Made Fun. Enjoy!

The Parade of Homes continues throughout the week, so keep following the links at the end of each blog post to lead you to the next house. Want to start at the beginning? Click the button below to head to A Bowl Full of Lemons and start the tour from House #1.