Using Vintage Chairs for Decorating in the Garden Room

Hi Friends! Today I'm part of a great group of vintage loving gals who get together every other month and share some fun themed vintage and antique items that we use in our decor. The Lifestyle of Love Blog Hop, is hosted by our wonderful friend, Cindy of County Road 407, so if you're coming from Cindy's, thanks so much for following the Hop. These gatherings showcase our vintage pieces that we often consider "out of the box" ways to use. This month our theme is Vintage Chairs and Stools. It just so happens that of all the junk that I do have, I'm short on old chairs... 

New House Journal: Living and Dining Rooms and a New Recliner

We had a busy last week with another partial move and then working over the weekend at the new house. This last trip we got my office furniture, most of the Living Room, more basement stuff, guest bedroom and the big room size rugs for the Living Room and Dining Room that I cleaned last weekend. Phone pics ahead; sorry for the less than perfect images.

Gathered #4

It's been a while since I shared one of these mishmashed posts, so

  Welcome to another edition of

Random Musings of a Wandering Mind...

Summer Seed Box

...and the Decorating Domino Effect

A few weeks ago, I brought in a small white antique desk/table to the kitchen sitting area. I knew it would be crowded, but I was needing a change up in here and thought that would do the trick. I had it right where this chair is now sitting and it was so fresh and cute, not to mention another flat surface to decorate. I had fun with it for about a week, but then I realized that it was way too crowded in here, and the door to the deck bumped it each time we went out.

Antique Armoire

The post I shared last week about the Kilim rug really started out to be about this armoire. You remember it? I had it in the kitchen sitting area at the lease house as a pantry/cupboard. Before that it was in the lower level family room as a quilt and pillow cupboard. Now it's morphed into a TV cabinet for the Master Bedroom. I added the little Kilim rug to give the space a little interest and "oomph".

A little more Christmas around the house...

I had promised myself that I wouldn't get out this week. I thought I had everything done, then I remembered my older daughter's favorite chicken salad at HoneyBaked Ham, and I was short one Christmas gift bag, and a present I had been waiting for, was back ordered so I ran to the mall to pick it up, instead. Never fails. I hate the traffic this time of year, it seems there are more crazies out and about, preoccupied and in a hurry. Not that I could put myself in that same category or anything...

So now that all that's done and the last present is wrapped and bagged, I still have a few more Christmas pics to share with you. This is "my" chair since moving out of the old house. It had always been in the master bedroom, a place where I stacked pillows and threw the occasional piece of clothing or laundry. Now it's getting a workout. I love the two kinds of fabric; I'm a nut for fruity fabrics and this happens to be in a yummy taupe-y brown. I'd love to find a stash for sale to make co-ordinating throw pillows, but it's over 10 years old. If you know what the design and fabric maker is, I'd love to hear from you.

This spot is hard to photograph because of the light through this window. It always throws everything else off to be too dark. And you can't see my sweet Robin pillow well because of it. This precious Christmas Wreath with Robin Pillow is from Elliott-Heath Designs. Heather has some of the most beautiful and fun designs. If you have a minute run by and check out her store. No matter what the occasion, she has a pillow just for it!

This is my little LED "Winter Tree", but I had it out last Fall, and I think it will get some flowering buds when it's close to Spring. I think I'll just leave it our all year.

I always have a Nativity set out at Christmas. That is the real meaning of Christmas, and I don't want to forget that...ever.

How about you... are you wrapped, bagged, and baked out?

I'm trying not too make too many goodies,

 even though I will certainly indulge on Christmas.

 If I bake it, I will eat it...plain and simple. 

Hope you're having a wonderful week, 

sending Christmas Blessings and a Hug

to each of you. 

joining in for these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Chairpads?...Check

There's a lot going on in my new little sitting area in the kitchen, so I'm going to share it in bitesize pieces. Most of the furniture in here you haven't seen before, and that goes for these counter height off-white chairs that match my kitchen table and china cupboard (at the other house) I didn't have a place for them upstairs at the other house, so they were at the bar downstairs, never used.

(pic from last July at the other house,
after I painted the tabletop with ASCP)

The white table has a leaf and extra chairs, 6 in all, is really heavy, and takes up a bunch of space. Space that I wanted for my cupboard and some wicker. Anyway, these two chairs fit perfectly here at the little counter height bar area of the kitchen.

I hadn't bought chair pads since we had moved to the other house 11 years ago, and I needed something new and fresh with a little pizzazz. So when Ballard Designs started their site wide 15% off sale, I jumped at getting new ones. I had to buy a set of 8 in "Medium", but then bought 4 more in "Small", as these little chairs around the round table are more petite in size.

I could have played it safe with a solid color cushion, but I'd seen this adorable toffee check, so I fell in love. I have fun mixing patterns on my wicker settee, so I thought these would go with most of my decor options.

When we knew we were going to lease this little house, I was thrilled with the larger dining area and knew that I wanted to fill it with more than an oversize table. It will more than likely just be hubby and I who will be having breakfast and lunch here, so no need for a big table "eating" up all the space. I've had this little round antique table (it does have a leaf for seating 6) for probably twenty years, but it's been in the basement at the other house. I found these chairs about 15 years ago; just perfect for this smaller size table.

Loving these Ballard chair pads, but measure carefully, they are bigger than you'd think. The "Medium" size was way too big for these chairs. I like the tailored look with the piping. What's great about these, are that you can remove the foam insert pad for cleaning, and they have lots of other colors and patterns for a new look.

Yes, that's the rug I had in the living room. 

All this dark wood flooring needed a visual break.

When I found this set of chairs, 

they had just been refurbished with repairs and new caned seats.

I'm not sure of the wood, but I love the darker cherry stain.

You can see hints of the other furniture pieces.

I'm enjoying using some things that are different than my usual white.

Lack of storage and cabinet space has had me getting a little creative.

Like many of you all out there, it's snowing this week...

we have it scheduled for every day...

every. 

day.

I keep thinking I'll get an outside pic of the house, 

but each time I think of it, I'm inside with fuzzy socks,

so I don't want to get out.

...maybe by Spring.

But here are a couple of shots of the houses across the street, so you can at least see a little of what it's like here. Cute subdivision of houses, new, to about 6 years old. It's on the edge of town, with a lot of treed acreage around it so it's not too different from where we just came from. This one is from the front porch.

This is from the kitchen window. Sorry about the blinds, if you kinda squint you can see what I mean. The houses across the street are walk-out basement homes, this one is one level and just a two car garage, but for now it's great. Only problem, the cats and I might put on some pounds cause its' small. I may put them on the treadmill!

Don't start these videos unless you have an empty bladder.

just sayin'.

I'm joining in on these great parties this week:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Inspiration Exchange at City Farmhouse
Treasure Hunt From My Front Porch to Yours
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Inspiration Gallery at Craftberry Bush
Inspire Me Please at Liz Marie Blog

Oh, and I'm not affiliated with Ballard Designs,

 just love these chair pads.

stay warm,

xoxo,

New House Living Room Inspiration Board

Last night I needed a diversion from packing. Can I admit I'm already tired of it and I've only scratched the surface? I've spent most of this week in my office/studio trying to make some sense out of all the crap,  junk, supplies, treasures,  stuff that I have. I may not be at my all time "best" through this move. It's a good thing my husband is patient and longsuffering... 

So I hopped on Polyvore once he went to bed and thought I'd put together an inspiration board for the Living Room. Our "soon-to-be" house is small, folks, so nothing is going over there that isn't functional and doubles as storage. Let's just say that most of my furniture and fun stuff is destined for a very large storage unit.

The new little house has a lot of  "wood", in the form of cabinets, woodwork, trim, etc. not my favorite "white". So I'm having to go with a more masculine vibe. Maybe I can translate that into a little of my favorite, "English Country". I can't paint the walls or anything else, and frankly we'll probably only be there a year, so I'm not going to totally "decorate", but I have to feel like I have a "home". (we'll just be leasing until our house sells, then buy something permanent or build) So hubbs and I came up with a plan and we pooled our pocket change and bought a Chesterfield Sofa and Loveseat. Believe me, there is some great looking furniture out there that doesn't break the bank, and I was determined I'd find it.

So we purchased the sofa and loveseat and a couple of new lamps in a bronze tone with linen shades. I have to decide what I'm going to sell, but for now I'm justifying this purchase because all the downstairs furniture will likely be sold. (And it was our anniversary present to ourselves.) I was secretly wanting to do something different downstairs anyway, so please... be careful what you wish for.

These examples of furniture from Polyvore are just representative of what we're using. I have an old cedar chest that had a horrible finish that I painted a Country Gray, which I'm going to use as a coffee table. It's pretty rustic and not at all what you'd find in my current living room, but hey, I'm making the most of this and using or repurposing what I have. 

I have a beautiful black area rug that hopefully will work

 under the coffee table/trunk. If not I have my taupe-y one.

Then, I'm hoping to use some stacked suitcases and a few decorative tole trays and wooden boxes for end tables. I also have a really wonderful very old school desk from Atlanta that's like a tea table. It's been hidden downstairs the whole time we've lived here; I think that will work with a lamp for an end table.

Hubbs has a great leather recliner that we'll use 

and I have another chair that hopefully will fit.

I love me some leopard/cheetah print so I'm going to try to find some throw pillows, cause the pillows that came with the loveseat and sofa are not what I'm going for. 

Love that chair above, but like I said, just "representative" of what I'll be using, something that I already have. How many of you bought the "required" massive entertainment center when big screen tvs first came out? Oh yeah, we bought a doozy, but it's still pretty, and we have one large wall that needs to be filled, plus we need the storage, so we'll be using that puppy.

Every time I feel overwhelmed I take a few deep breaths and try to remember why we're doing this. Let's see...do I remember why? Oh yeah, we're downsizing so we'll be ready for retirement and whatever else that might bring. Actually, this house is adorable, and I'm super grateful that we found it. It will be perfect for us, I just need to get used to this downsizing business. 

you get the idea?

Hope you're having a great weekend, 

more snow in the forecast...brrrrrrr.

Joining in these parties this week:

 Dwellings
Mod Vintage Life
Cozy Little House
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
City Farmhouse
Savvy Southern Style
Craftberry Bush
Jennifer Rizzo

xoxo,

Today's Sponsors

Nostalgic Artifacts 

and 

Nostalgic Summer

Making a Statement

Sometimes all it takes is a focal point. 

One piece of furniture that sets the stage for the rest of the room.

 A piece that says "this is me; this is my style".

I've shown my favorite chair many times, and this month it's in the spotlight several times. It's not old, my husband bought it for me as a surprise about 15 years ago for our anniversary. That chair has been dubbed "The Christmas Chair", because when we all gather at Christmas to open gifts, that's always the chair I choose. Funny how little traditions come about. 

As you can see, it didn't start out as a neutral slipcovered piece. When I went to a more subdued "white" decorating palette I opted to try my hand at a quick slipcover. It was hit and miss, and certainly something I wouldn't want any professional to scrutinize, but it has served it's purpose well, and gave me a fast option in transforming my space.

covered arms with antique linens

I love it's lines and curves and I wanted to keep it's original dark wood frame to balance out all the white that was coming in to the room.

When asked earlier this week, I was thrilled to help One King's Lane let you all know about their new Home Decor Resource that is filled with ideas, historical information, and examples of furniture design. Not only chairs, but sofas, settees, chaise lounges, benches, and ottomans. Do you have a favorite style? They can help you locate pieces that will definitely "make a statement"!

Run by One King's Lane Design Resource and do a little browsing, then do a search for your favorite style. I just typed in "French Chair" and these were just a few of the options that came up in their wonderful inventory. Not only do they have current manufactured items, but also vintage and antique pieces to choose from. Have fun, then stay to shop throughout their website. One King's Lane also has a blog you'll really enjoy to keep you up to date on all that they have going on for the Holidays!

If you haven't joined in on Be Inspired this week, the party is in full swing. I couldn't get blogger to update my posts for two weeks, now it's publishing when I didn't ask them to. So just a break from our regularly scheduled party... just scroll down to the previous post! thanks everyone!

xoxo,