Welcome friends! Glorious spring is upon us, and that means it’s time for refreshing our homes in anticipation of the season’s arrival. Today I am sharing how I have added some bright color and new decorative accents to our dining room to give the space a simple refresh with vintage-cottage spring vibes.

 

I am honored once again to be be joining in the annual Spring Home Tours hosted by my friend Marty of A Stroll Thru Life.  If you are coming over from Fox Hollow Cottage or if you are just stopping by again today, I am very happy to have you here! You will find links to each of the beautiful and inspirational tours at the end of this post.

 

 

 Vintage Cottage Spring Vibes in the Dining Room

Let’s start with this “new” view from the living room into the dining room. The whole room has changed drastically for spring with the simple addition a beautiful new rug from Birch Lane! The rug has completely enlivened the overall neutral room with bold color and fresh style. It also inspired me to add more color and to make some other changes around the room. The colors in the rug are a bit warm and “spicy,” so I did have to get creative to find ways to make it work for spring. 

 

 

Even with all the color in the rug I decided to stick with mostly neutral pillows on the antique church pew for early spring. A combination of ivory and green velvet pillows paired with cream-colored macrame pillows provides nice contrasting textures. When shopping my pillow stash I rediscovered a pretty French robin pillow that I had forgotten all about. It ties in with the rug colors and adds visual interest among the neutral pillows.

 

The robin pillow is perfect for early spring. Lately there have been many robins singing outside the windows to announce spring’s arrival!

 

 

Due to the pandemic and dealing with an extended personal illness, I haven’t had a chance to go shopping for new spring decor. That is fine with me, since I always enjoy shopping my junk stash hoards and reusing what I already have in new ways. I rummaged through my totes of florals to come up with the unique early spring flower arrangement on top of the vintage chest and I absolutely love how it turned out. The orangish-red of the “robin red breast” pillow and the spicy colors in the rug inspired the use of the faux orange ranunculus in the arrangement.

 

 

If you are a regular reader you might remember the beautiful  vintage art deco chalkware ladies lamp I scored at an antiques shop last fall. I think it looks so pretty in this spring vignette! The ladies’ blue dresses were the inspiration for the blue thistle in the arrangement. For filler, height, and interest I used some spring branches and trailing faux ivy.  

 

At first I had planned on making the arrangement fuller by adding adding some tulips or daffodils, but the more I looked at it, the more it’s simple elegance grew on me. It seems to harken to early spring when there is the very first explosion of color and growth of flowers and greenery among bare and sparse late winter branches. I also didn’t want to distract from the beautiful urn with it’s lovely rusty and green patina. I have big goals of filling the urn with lovely fresh arrangements from the cut flower garden I am planning to start this spring!

 

 

This beaded farmhouse tray from Michael’s is the only new item I have used in the vignette. I love the “antiqued” chippy claw feet which. 

 

I always incorporate antique postcards in my seasonal posts. I was looking through my collection for an Easter or spring postcard when I came across this gorgeous ivy postcard and decided to use it instead.  I have always associated ivy (and moss) with the greening of spring.

 

As so often happens, one simple vintage treasure will inspire a whole vignette “theme”. The postcard (along with the ivy in the flower arrangement) gave me the idea to carry the ivy theme a little further by incorporating a few more beautiful vintage treasures filled faux ivy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I felt that all the color in the rug, pillows, and in the vignette on top of the vintage chest meant that the farm table styling could be more neutral. (In my book, green is a must-have neutral!)

 

 

Cottage garden accents are abundant throughout our home. Our farm table is always styled with accents that reference my love of gardening and the color green! 

 

I have decided to keep the farm table styling fairly simple for early spring and I am loving the look. I will style up some kind of festive spring or Easter tablescape as we get closer to Easter. 

 

 

I also kept the faux mantel behind the farm table styled simply. The two mini faux herb topiaries in cast iron French urns flanking each side of the antique mantel clock mimic the tall topiaries on the table.

 

 

The two tall topiaries were inexpensive thrift store finds from early winter. As soon as I spotted them I knew they would be perfect on our farm table. I love the mossy pots! I will probably keep them out from now through summer. 

 

After ending February with a treacherous ice storm that wreaked havoc on our state (followed by a week of torrential rain resulting in widespread flooding,) the past week ‘s weather has been absolutely wonderful! The bright sunshine streaming through the windows has done much to lift our family’s spirits, and of course everything looks so pretty and springy in the sunlight!

 

I had started out the month with a simple trio of candles under the cloche, but earlier this week it dawned on me that Easter is less than a month away! I quickly brought out a favorite bunny and some adorable faux daffodils in a cracked egg to incorporate in my cloche display centerpiece.

 

 

 

 

 

I added a very realistic faux pothos plant in a small rustic olive bucket as a fun boho-farmhouse accent. I am also loving the olive green striped burlap table runner layered on a linen table runner for spring and summer too.

 

 

Let the spring sunshine in! Let the gardening season begin!

 

 

I recently restyled the corner china cabinet with some favorite vintage-traditional treasures and I am loving the less cluttered look. The cabinet was previously stuffed to overflowing with hoards of all white and ivory ironstone dishes. I did love the cabinet filled with ironstone, but after four years of looking at the same view and the inspiration sparked by the colors in the new rug, it was definitely time for a change. 

 

The cabinet is now filled with some colorful vintage dishes, vintage books, old brass candlesticks, a favorite vintage bust statue and some rustic  and natural accents for spring. For spring-to-summer I am also enjoying a lovely vintage landscape hanging on the doors of the cabinet. 

 

 

The basket on top of the cabinet (previously filled with ironstone platters) has also been changed up for spring. It now holds a vintage floral tole painted tray, wicker demi-johns, spring branches, and a large rustic antler for extra interest and texture. I love the refreshed look with the little pops of color it brings to the corner.

 

 

I really love this view from the kitchen into the dining room since adding the rug and making the other changes around the room. All the color and spring sunshine creates such an happy ambiance!

 

Additional Spring Decor

Before finishing up today’s post I thought I’d share a few other areas that are coming along for spring:

 I began my spring decorating by styling the Early Spring Vignettes on the Antique Sideboard in the living room with vintage-cottage garden style spring elements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see how the sideboard accents and colors are similar to those in the dining room, creating a cohesive look between the two adjacent rooms.

 

 

Vintage-Traditional and English Country Early Spring Entryway

I recently shared my ideas for incorporating even more vintage traditional, English country cottage, and Southern style within our home. I started by decorating our entryway with old English (and Kentucky!) equestrian elements. This is a non-seasonal “base” look that can easily be tweaked by changing some of the accents seasonally.

 

 

 

Green accents in the entry and living room are an ode to March and early spring (and my love of green!) I will be sharing more of my spring living room in a full spring home tour on March 26th.

 

So far I have just added some green plants to the kitchen for spring, but this weekend I plan to really start decorating it for spring and Easter! It is the first spring in our renovated kitchen, so it’s going to be fun coming up with new ways to style it for the season. We also hope to have our new island finished by the end of spring, which is the final part of our kitchen renovation. Be looking for that post too!

 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I am easing into spring and the Easter season with a bit of color and my beloved vintage cottage style! As a reminder, I will be sharing more about the rug and dining room refresh and a full spring home tour later this month.  Be sure to subscribe by email if you haven’t already so you don’t miss a post. For more spring inspo, don’t forget to check out all the tours below for stunning spring inspiration.

Thank you so much for visiting today, and have a very happy spring!

Amber

 

*Affiliate Disclosure: If you purchase a suggested item, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. See my full affiliate disclosure for details.

 

   

 
     

 

 

 

 

Monday, March 8th

A Stroll Thru Life – Worthing Court – Town and Country Living – Hymns and Verses – Decor to Adore – White Arrows Home

 

Tuesday, March 9th

Cassie Bustamante – Inspiration For Moms – Thrifty and Chic – Southern State of Mind – Clean and Scentsible – RemodelaCasa

Wednesday March 10th

Grace In My Space – Whispering Pines Homestead – The Wood Grain Cottage – StoneGable – It All Started With Paint – Monica Wants It

 

Thursday, March 11th

Southern Hospitality – Pink Peppermint Design – 11 Magnolia Lane – Modern Glam – CitrineLiving – Our Southern Home

 

Friday, March 12th 

This Is Our Bliss – Cuckoo4Design – A Pretty Life – Up To Date Interiors – Chalking Up Success – Fox Hollow Cottage – Follow The Yellow Brick Home

 

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