Happy December, and welcome to TFT! This is now my EIGHTH year co-hosting this fabulous weekly link party for bloggers and blog readers with Katherine of Katherine’s Corner and a fantastic group of bloggers!
- Preserving your property value.
- Saving you money in major, and expensive, repairs.
- Improving your home’s energy efficiency.
- Keeping your home functional and comfortable.
- Extending the lifespan of your home’s major systems.
Welcome friends, to my “Cranberry Christmas Kitchen! It’s the heart of the home where vibrant, fresh and faux holiday fruits and Christmas plants inspired by old world, European or Colonial Christmases past mix and mingle with a bit of vintage Christmas treasures to create my beloved, timeless, vintage-traditional Christmas aesthetic.
Christmas, Home Tours, Uncategorized
Why the Ralph Lauren Christmas Trend and Little Women Christmas Trend are Actually Timeless
Happy first weekend of December! Are you busy decorating or are you already finished? I am still in the process of decorating and I have been busy working on creating a classic, cozy Christmas cottage which includes my signature vintage-traditional Christmas style. It is a mix of all kinds of vintage Christmas from various eras, and this year’s hottest two “trends” which are the Ralph Lauren Christmas trend and Little Women Christmas. While they may be trending, both of these are timeless, and I have always incorporated elements of these styles in my holiday decorating.
Fabulous Fall Decorating, Thursday Favorite Things
A Thanksgiving Feast for the Eyes at Thursday Favorite Things
Fabulous Fall Decorating, Vintage Style
Early November Around the House and a Little Christmas Planning
Late fall is the time of year when we focus on gratitude turn our attention to creating a cozy hearth and home for the holidays. For some of us this includes fully celebrating Thanksgiving before Christmas, while others combine the two holidays. Some of you may already be jumping straight into Christmas mode! Regardless of how you prefer to celebrate this time of year, you are sure to find some “Seasonal Saturday” inspiration here today!
Fabulous Fall Decorating, Thursday Favorite Things
Late Fall Decorating Ideas at Thursday Favorite Things
Fabulous Fall Decorating
Simple and Elegant Thanksgiving Centerpiece with French Pumpkins, Pears and Artichokes
Hello my friends! It’s time for another fun Pinterest Challenge! After missing out on all the creative challenges this summer due to my Scotland trip and also missing early fall with back-to-school obligations, I am super excited to be joining my friend Cindy of County Road 407 and several other talented bloggers for a Thanksgiving centerpiece themed challenge, especially since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!
Fabulous Fall Decorating, Interior Decor and Styling, Summer
Summer to Fall Sunflowers, Dahlias, and Thistle Flower Arrangement
Happy August, friends! With school starting back and the anticipation of fall’s official arrival in just a little over a month, I have started transitioning our home from late summer to fall with subtle touches. I really like to savor all that each season has to offer, (so no pumpkins around here yet) but sunny sunflowers and autumnal tones are giving some of those cozy in-between-season vibes that I actually enjoy. Today I am sharing how I started making seasonal changes in our foyer with my late summer/early fall flower arrangement inspired by our recent summer trip to Scotland.
Fall decorating doesn’t have to be stressful! See how to ease into fall with these simple and elegant fall decorating ideas for using just a few seasonal elements and items you may already have around your home.
Welcome friends, and welcome fall! Today I am excited to be joining my friend Marty of A Stroll Through Life and 30 talented bloggers for the annual Fall Home Tours! If you are coming over from Savvy Snowbirds or if you just happened to stop by, I am very pleased to have you here! *This post contains affiliate links.
Hello friends and happy holiday season! Yes, it’s true…with Thanksgiving just a little over a week away, the holidays are already upon us! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, so I am so glad to be joining some amazing blogging friends in sharing a Thanksgiving ideas today in the “Grateful Gatherings” blog hop hosted by my friend Laura of Decor to Adore. If you are coming over from Cindy’s beautiful home at County Road 407, or if you are just stopping by, I am so glad you are here! *This post contains affiliate links.
Happy fall my friends! Don’t y0u just love decorating for this beautiful and cozy season? It is certainly my favorite time to decorate although my “methods and materials” for fall decorating has changed over the years. Instead of using a lot of cutesy store bought fall items, I have been using more natural items or things I can find around the house with fall themes. Dried hydrangeas are one of my must-haves in fall decorating, although I love using them year round too.
It’s the time of year once again when we start thinking about cozying up our homes for fall, but it’s still 100 degrees and sunny outside! If you are unsure how to decorate during August and September, think “Simple Sunflowers!” They are the quintessential transitional flower that will brighten up any area indoors or out from now through Thanksgiving!
Cheerful Sunflowers are perfect for transitional Summer-to-Fall decorating!
Hello friends! I hope you are enjoying the beauty of late August wherever you are! Summer is winding down and fall is just around the corner. Sunflowers are putting on a lovely show right now in Kentucky, they and will be in bloom for a few more weeks as we slowly transition into autumn. I have always loved how these bright and cheerful flowers take us from summer-to-fall in the garden and home decor. With that in mind, today I am sharing some beautiful ideas for summer-to fall decorating with sunflowers. *This post contains affiliate links.
Welcome friends! Today I am excited to be joining my friend Marty of A Stroll Thru Life for the 2019 Fall Home Tours! This week thirty creative bloggers are sharing all kinds of beautiful fall decorating inspiration. You can find links to each of the tours via the links at the end of my post. This post contains affiliate links.
Fabulous Fall Decorating, Interior Decor and Styling, Vintage Style
Early Fall Decorating With Vintage & Thrifted Finds
Hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Labor Day has come and gone, so that means fall is here, right? Well, not exactly, but it’s certainly okay to start transitioning our home decor from summer to fall. If you struggle with decorating between summer and fall then you’ve come to the right place! *This post contains affiliate links.
Hello friends! I am pleased to have my special Instagram friend Laura of The Classic Cottage here to share another guest post with us! Laura has the most gorgeous Instagram feed full of photos of her beautiful cottage decorated with farmhouse and vintage cottage style decor. Today she is sharing tips for creating a simply beautiful farmhouse Thanksgiving tablescape. Welcome Laura!
It’s exciting to move into a new home, isn’t it? There’s this mix of joy, anticipation, and honestly, a little exhaustion that sneaks in. You expect to be ready to just walk in and live, but first, there are some things you’ll have to tackle, as the excitement can quickly turn into chaos. You’ve learned this the hard way, and here are a couple of tasks that really make that first week, or month, even a little less frantic. This post contains affiliate links.
Buying a home is often the largest investment you’ll ever make. You could even need to take out a significant loan to pay for it. It’s worth making sure you actually put the time and effort into protecting that investment as time goes on, which means looking after your home.
As obvious as this sounds, countless people feel overwhelmed by this, and it’s easy to see why so many people get stressed. But, more than a few home maintenance tips can help with this, with some of them having a lot more of an impact than others.
They’re more than worth using because of the impact they can have.
Why Do Home Maintenance?
If you don’t have many issues around your home, you could wonder why you should put too much time and effort into maintenance. Even if you don’t need to get many repairs done as it stands, it doesn’t mean home maintenance wouldn’t offer you any benefits.
One of the more notable of these is that you shouldn’t have to deal with too many repairs as time goes on. It’ll help you keep avoiding any potential issues. Then there are the multiple other benefits it could offer, like:
Some of these could have a whole lot more of an impact than others, making them more than worth focusing on. By doing so, you can ensure that make sure your house is in the best condition possible.
Home Maintenance Tips
1. Test Refrigerator Door Seals
Your refrigerator will get quite a bit of use every day, even if that just means opening and closing it anytime you need to get something out of it. What you mightn’t have realized is this can wear down the door seals more and more. These are responsible for keeping the cold air inside your fridge and the warm air out.
The more worn down the seals are, the less they can do their jobs. Test them regularly to make sure they’re actually working properly. If they’re not, it might be time to replace them. This isn’t too hard, and you can get replacement seals in most home improvement stores without needing to spend too much.
2. Check for Signs of Water Damage
Water damage doesn’t pop up a lot, but it can be vital to take action as soon as you notice it. It’s usually the sign of a leak or other plumbing issue somewhere in your home, and you’ll need to deal with it as quickly as possible. This starts by checking for signs of water damage regularly. Bathrooms, basements and roofs are the main areas of concern with water damage. Keeping gutters in good working order can also help prevent any water issues.
Should you notice any, get a plumber in to check your system and deal with any issues that come up. After that, it’s worth dealing with the water damage itself, which shouldn’t be too complicated. Look into water damage restoration specialists, and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
3. Caulk Your Windows
You mightn’t have paid too much attention to your windows since they were installed, other than to clean the glass. But, that doesn’t mean they don’t need a bit of attention. The caulk around them can get worse and worse as time goes on. This leads to a draft and more than a few other issues.
Be on the lookout for any missing or damaged caulk, especially in the lead-up to winter. If there is any, replacing this doesn’t have to take too long. Even if you’re taking your time with it, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to caulk around each window. You’ve no reason not to get it out of the way.
4. Inspect the Roof
Despite how important it can be, your roof is one of the more overlooked parts of the home. This often ends up in quite a few problems as time goes on. It’s easy to see why, as the roof goes through quite a bit of wear and tear during the year. While this starts small, it builds up over time.
Even something as minor as a damaged or missing shingle could be enough to lead to water damage in the attic and more than a few other issues. Avoid this by inspecting your roof regularly and getting any damage fixed as early as possible, no matter how minor it could seem.
5. Replace Your HVAC Filter
Your HVAC unit gets quite a bit of use throughout the year, and it’ll need a decent bit of TLC because of that. This doesn’t always mean getting a professional to give it a once-over, though. Instead, there are a few HVAC maintenance tasks you can do yourself, especially when it comes to the filter.
This gets more and more clogged up as time goes on, which leads to your HVAC unit being less effective and could be a bit of a fire hazard. Replacing the filter, however, doesn’t take too much time or effort, and it’s one of the main ways you can make sure your unit stays in great condition.
Summing it Up
Looking after your home and putting the time and effort into maintenance offers more than a few benefits. It preserves your property value, helps you avoid expensive repairs, and makes sure your house is as comfortable and functional to live in as possible.
This doesn’t even need to be too hard to do. More than a few home maintenance tips can help with this, and they could end up making looking after your home as easy and stress-free as possible. There’s no reason not to use them.
As we head towards the end of the year and the post-Thanksgiving pre-Christmas period is underway, it’s likely there’ll be a lot of things to juggle. Form finding and wrapping presents, making sure you get involved in the festivities, and simply ensuring life goes on amidst the chaos. This time of year can get busy fast.
And on top of all of the extra things you have to do, there’s that dreaded “Christmas clean” you know the one, where you tackle every inch of your home like your guests are going to be inspecting it with a magnifying glass, looking for the tiniest speck of dirt. Yes, that clean!
So, where do you start? What do you really need to focus on? And what exactly will people be looking for when they come to visit?
Let’s break it down.
Declutter
Hosting is hard enough without a lack of space. A great place to start is to tackle those areas of clutter you’ve been putting off (and the kids’ toy boxes, if applicable too). Focus on countertop clutter over that random cupboard in your bedroom first. The places you’ll need to use to serve from, ie, the sideboards collecting mail, and random school items. Find a place to give everything a home and then store it out of sight so that everywhere is clear that you’ll need to use.
Sanitizing The Kitchen and Bathrooms
Two rooms you don’t want to neglect for the holidays are the kitchen and bathroom. Check out this post for tips on using non-toxic cleaners.
Soft Furnishings
Cleaning your soft furnishings will always be a good idea. Whether you steam clean your curtains, wash throws or cushion covers, or get the baking soda on rugs and sofas to remove those stubborn odors, you need to pay attention to the materials that can harbor germs and smells and get them cleaned. You can use covers or protective equipment in the period between cleaning and your guests’ arrival if you wish, but it’s a job you’ll be glad you took care of when people arrive.
Deep Clean Floors
Floors are going to get dirty fast, and if you don’t have a clean base to work from, things will build and look grubby all too easily. Treat your home to a good, deep clean for things like hard flooring, tile, and carpets. Companies like Oxifresh can come in and get your chosen areas looking and smelling clean in no time, taking one more job off your hands.
Beds
If your guests will be staying over, pay attention to the beds they will be sleeping on, even if they’re pulled to options. Get them out, give the mattress a good clean and freshen up, and add fresh bedding just before they arrive. The cleaner things look and smell, the more comfortable everyone will be, and the less they’ll complain about, hopefully.
After your house has been cleaned you will feel a since of stress relief that is much needed during the holiday season. Enjoy the holidays!