Happy Fourth Of July! It’s been a busy week around the yellow brick home as we have been tackling some landscaping and exterior projects. I just had time TODAY to finish getting my patriotic porch all fixed up for the holiday. Even though it’s late I would love to share some of my fun holiday touches with you before the family heads out to watch some fireworks. Here’s a quick tour of my patriotic porch decor!
Summer is here and that means lots of DIY and craft projects around the yellow brick home! Today I will be sharing an easy mason jar makeover using chalk paint, which wasn’t even on “the list” originally but it was so quick and fun to do! Gardens are in full bloom and it’s time to fill those quaint, old mason jars with beautiful blossoms. I recently found this large Atlas jar at a rummage sale for only $1.00, but no matter how much I scrubbed it would not come clean. Since I really wanted to use the jar for displaying some fresh hydrangeas from my yard, I decided to just paint right over the cloudy glass.
Unpainted woodwork and stained trim is trending now! Says who? We the decorators! In the last year I have noticed that the popularity of original, unpainted woodwork seems to be on the rise, and the bloggers who are showcasing their homes with original or stained trim are just on the verge of this huge trend. I have also noticed more and more homes with light, neutral walls and unpainted woodwork turning up in decor magazines after at least a decade of all white rooms. As much as I love white, I find this stained woodwork trend very refreshing!
I consider myself a very lucky homeowner to have original woodwork. After years of living with all white decor and trim, it was a bit of a transition to decorate with stained trim and it took some getting used to. When we first put in an offer on our historic yellow brick home a few years ago, we loved many things about it— but the stained woodwork was not really one of them! We had originally planned to paint it once we moved in, but later decided that we just couldn’t erase 96 years of history with a few coats of paint. The darker woodwork was new decorating territory for me, so I headed to Pinterest for inspiration. It was there that I stumbled upon Finding Silver Pennies blog, and my passion for unpainted original woodwork (and a true love of our home) really began.
It’s early spring, and that means that gardening time is fast approaching! Already my oregano, thyme, and lemon balm are making appearances in the herb garden right outside my kitchen door. Herbs are one of my deep passions, and I use them in all their forms. Whether growing them, drying them for use in recipes or decor, or using them holistically in herbal medicines, diffusing oils, or organic beauty and homemade green cleaning products, herbs bring me so much joy! I have a green thumb, and the fragrance of fresh herbs is one of my favorite scents on earth. So why am I using faux herbs in my kitchen instead of growing my own?
Wait…did you realize those weren’t real???? Shhh….don’t tell…
For years I grew many varieties of herbs both indoors and out, but over time I developed lots of crazy allergies to all kinds of things, including mold spores on foliage and in soil. I also found that all sorts of critters like fruit flies and fungus gnats seemed to always find their way into my beautiful potted rosemary and oregano on my kitchen counter. Combined with the allergies, it just wasn’t worth it to me to keep them indoors anymore. Recently I made a trip to A.C. Moore to get some ideas for spring wreaths, and I was amazed when I happened upon these adorable little faux herbs in jars, terra cotta pots, and plants in burlap bags. I knew I could style them to fool the eye with the addition of some vintage gardening and farmhouse accessories.
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Easter weekend! Did you get a chance to do any junkin’ in between all the fun holiday activities? I got lucky on a couple of sales so I have a few junkin’ finds to share with you today.
Here’s my small loot haul. Still not too shabby for only hitting three sales and $8 spent!
Well, actually it is kind of a shabby loot haul, my kind of shabby!
As in shabby-chic, like this small vintage oil lamp, pretty gold mirror and tiny solid brass bunny with perfect patina!
Or this brass Eiffel tower…
Or these precious, tarnished silverplate and crystal salt and pepper shakers…
Or this beautiful footed urn, perfect for displaying my tulips from the Easter bunny. Very shabby indeed!
I also found two more bottles for my collection. So many cool finds, it’s hard to choose a favorite!
This old rusty, yellow golf basket, was only $1.00. It’s a pretty cool find because my youngest son just took up golf and he likes old sports related junk too. I couldn’t resist using it for an Easter basket, at least for the weekend! As you can see from the Nerf guns and swords in the background (keepin’ it real), it was a nice Easter weekend with lots of outdoor fun. Spring has sprung in full force and yard sale season is really here now. Can’t wait til next weekend! Are you ready to get junkin’ too?
Amber
Parties:
Happy Easter! I hope you have had a blessed holiday! This week in my personal Bible study I had planned to revisit the trial of Jesus, crucifixion and resurrection story in the gospels. Instead, God pointed me to Psalm 130.
Psalm 130: Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord,
2 Lord hear my voice: Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, Lord shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope.
6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say more than they that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Recently I had been feeling somewhat discouraged due to some stressful situations and unanswered prayer, and I had certainly not been trusting God fully. As a result I felt guilty and overwhelmed. I kept thinking I had failed and “disappointed” the Lord yet again! After all he has done for me, how can I possibly repeat this pattern of lacking faith? I had certainly asked for forgiveness and believed that he paid my sin debt in full on that Good Friday so long ago, but I was still holding on to despair over a few issues.
Vintage Easter postcards are so beautiful, wouldn’t you agree? I have been collecting old cards for many years but there’s just something about vintage Easter postcards that I love the most. The images of vibrant spring colors, sweet flowers, fluffy bunnies, tiny chicks, little birds, festive eggs and religious sentiments make the postcards perfect inspiration for creating festive Easter vignettes around the home.
Welcome to our neutral “cozy cottage” living room decorated for spring!
Come on in! The first thing you see when you walk through our front door is our staircase with painted stair runner and gallery wall.
I really love this little gallery wall. I used antique mirrors and vintage picture frames, two of my favorite things to collect! I am always on the lookout for more! When we removed the carpet the stairs were in really bad shape. There wasn’t time to redo the floors since we were moving in right before Christmas, so we decided to paint a grain stripe runner with colors inspired from some of my old vintage suitcases.
