Life is like an old cupboard...

(feeling a little Forrest Gump-ish today)

Inevitably, when you move and downsize many of the furniture pieces you love and have collected have to be sold. Or in order to make the cut, they have to be relegated to different purposes and function. I can't tell you how much was sold last year, but let's just say it was literally truckloads. A couple of pieces that I could justify keeping were for storing things. I bought this piece to use at my antique mall space before I started blogging, but once I finished it, I realized it would be perfect for quilt storage in the downstairs guestroom. Now, it's in the basement/lower level kitchen nook next to the bar, displaying some of my odds and ends "collections".

Here at the new house

A French Country Inspired Spring Brunch Buffet

Hello Everyone, 

we're all so excited to start off this special week of our

 Share Your Style Spring Blog Hop!

This week all eight of us will be sharing some fresh new Spring Inspiration and we hope you'll share what you've been doing to transform your spaces for this brand new Season.

Vintage Pottery Bowl with Pumpkins

I wanted to share what will be my last vignette on the coffee table/trunk that's here in the Living Room. We've been here at the lease house since the middle of January, and if all goes to plan, we'll start moving some things over to the new house this weekend. We're waiting on carpet for the upstairs bedrooms that has been delayed. That's thrown us back about 3 weeks, but at the same time gave me more time to finish up the kitchen cabinets. Last weekend I touched up woodwork throughout the house, while Aly  (our younger daughter and right hand helper) was on floor cleaning duty. So, all in all we're done, other than waiting for the carpet.

So I have to tell you about this amazing find from last Spring. It's the bowl to what I assume was a "bowl and pitcher" set. I found it for just a few dollars because it has a pretty big crack running along the center half of it. But I'm promising to be extra careful with it.  I thought I had a photo of the mark, but I didn't and now it's too late to turn it over and shoot it.

It's Doulton Pomegranate Burslem. I did a little research and Burslem is the name of one of the towns in the Staffordshire Pottery region of England. I couldn't date it exactly because I couldn't find an accurate image of the exact markings.

It's similar to this one but says Doulton Pomegranate Burslem on the banner instead of what's pictured. It has the letter A and then 1717, which dates it to the 1880's or 1890's. I fell in love with the Autumnal colors and designs.

I had packed all my velvet pumpkins in my wicker trunk that we're using in the entry, so I just scooped them up with some bittersweet to fill this wonderful bowl for a fresh Fall look for the Living Room.

My paper mache squirrel is still in the Pottery Barn lantern.

...chewing on an acorn from a couple of years ago. I heard horror stories of nasty little creatures in the acorns, but thankfully I didn't have that problem.

 Here's a few photos from a couple of years ago of my little squirrel

with a vintage muffin tin and some tea light candles.

I've been bummed because I couldn't decorate much for Fall, which is my favorite time of the year. I've had to get my inspiration and Fall Fix from you all and Pinterest. So, thanks for being there for me! 

And Hey, if you haven't entered 

the Pillow Give Away 

with Elliott-Heath Designs

then CLICK HERE!

Dining Room, Kitchen, and Family Room furniture will be heading to the house; wow, I've missed those pieces! Hopefully from now on my posts will be coming from the new place. YAY!

Joining in on these great parties:

Share Your Cup at Mrs. Olson's

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

xoxo,

Carrier filled for Spring

I mentioned last week, that each time I'm at the other house packing the endless number of "things", that a few of them inevitably end up in my tote bag to come over here and join the other decor tidbits. I'm careful not to be too blatant, otherwise hubbs will look at me like, "we're supposed to be packing this stuff, not playing with it." sorry, I have to play...

The pink vintage bunny planter, majolica rabbit plate, and Fitz and Floyd Berry Platter were my spoils from last weekend.

This platter has some cracks and chips,

 but I fell in love with the raised basket weave design.

so Springy.

This little guy has no markings, but I did a Google search and it appears that he's Shawnee Pottery from the 50's...old bunny, real old bunny. He's all cotton candyish sweet pink with lots of little crazing.

Last year none of my daffodils bloomed. I don't know why, but there weren't even any bloom pods, just greens... what a disappointment. And this year only a few, so I wanted to enjoy them while I could. Last year I planted a few hyacinth bulbs in the same area, that did come up. When I went to cut them, some bees were eagerly working on them, so I left a few behind for them. They make a petite bouquet in one of my small Staffordshire white Ironstone pitchers.

I've always loved the unique shape of this hexagonal soup tureen. I can't decide if it's ironstone or ceramic, but it's different. And it's small enough to decorate with. I've changed out this carrier several times since I've been at this house. I only  have a few places to "decorate", so this is doing double duty to help with my decorating addiction.

And if course, I've never met a white carrier that I didn't love.

This is a strawberry carrier, with slats in the bottom,

sitting on the small bench in front of the wicker settee. 

I didn't have enough room for my coffee table here,

 but this old tool caddy bench fit perfectly.

The weather is confused here; it thinks we're still in March. It's been so windy today and chilly. Hopefully it will be in the 70's again by the weekend; the Iris are starting to come up. Hope you're having a wonderful week!

joining in on these parties:

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
It's a Party at DIY by Design
Blissful Whites at Timewashed

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours
Creative Friday at Jen Rizzo
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home
Shabbilicious Friday at Shabby Art Boutique
Simple and Sweet Friday at Rooted in Thyme

xoxo,

Today's Sponsor

French Bleu Vintage

Be sure and check out the 50% off sale going on now!

Decorating with Fall Naturals

I think we're seeing a trend in decor more and more each season, and that's decorating with nature's elements. I've found "mixing" faux and naturals goes a long way in making my home more inviting and giving it a more uncomplicated and spontaneous feel. There are so many beautiful, well made silks and faux elements that I'll never give them up, but finding that balance of combining the two has become a place where I'm enjoying the creative challenge.

If you read my post earlier in the week, you know that we've been literally neck deep in having a new roof put on our home. This was a more involved fix than just a composition roof, as after a really bad hail storm in June, we've decided to follow what everyone else in our 25-30 year old neighborhood has been doing, and that's replacing wood shake shingles with new super nice top of the line composition shingles. So, I've been under "house arrest" this week, as I didn't want my car out on the street for over a week. I opted to just stay home and not risk a flat tire or worse yet, vandalism.

So, I've had to play in the house this week, when all I want to do is get outside and do some puttering with plants and pumpkins. "Hedge Apples" are pretty common around this area; also called "Osage Oranges", I've been looking at them through different "decorating eyes" these last few years. What used to be a nuisance in the middle of the road, and half eaten messes, now I'm finding their wonderful color and texture to be something worth celebrating.

I bought two of these wonderful antique pottery flowerpots a few years ago,

after seeing them at Meloney and Brian's Seed Box Open House.

Anyone know the name for this type of flowerpot?

Somehow I got it in my head they were called "Vanilla" something or other?

You can see just part of Mel's great collection.

Sorry the photo is all blurry; that was 3 years and 3 cameras ago.

back to hedge apples...

I added some other natural elements on the coffeetable on the sunporch, so I at least could make a little vignette. Oh, and I added in a sunflower head that Julie sent me. love it!

Preserved leaves, hydrangeas, and bittersweet all join in.

And of course, anyplace you have sunflowers

 you will automatically have some birdies.

just a little nibble

Here's a really ugly photo of what I've been looking at all week.

30 years of tree debris, dirt, rotten shingles,

and torn off guttering looking out from the Living Room.

See the plywood against the house?

yep, that covered all the windows so it was like a cave downstairs.

I couldn't go down there it was so depressing.

what you can't tell is that this pile is at least 3 feet deep.

uh huh...

And this is what most of my prints and wall decor look like

after 5 days of pounding on the roof.

sort of like how my head feels...

But the good news is that most of the new roof is on and they're working today on the details, so the end is in sight. now for clean up... And making my hubby take me out for dinner!

Hope you're having a great weekend...

we're expecting rain, but I think we're covered.

joining in on these parties:

Blissful Whites at Timewashed
Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House
Knick of Time Tuesday
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Ranch
Savvy Southern Style
TTT at StoneGable

xoxo,

A Fall Mantel for when you don't know what else to do...

Things don't look much different this year than last year, here on the Living Room mantel. No matter what I've tried, I just like this look the best, so "that's my story, and I'm sticking with it". I did do a little tweaking though, and changed out one small thing. These are the "after photos", you'll see the "before photos" a little further down. Originally, I had tried a small white ironstone tureen, but things looked a little boring, so I replaced it with the old oval tray. It added a little more "Fall" to the mix, and was a little larger focal point.

I need to keep things symmetrical in here, otherwise things look off kilter. I've tried experimenting early on and it just didn't work. So these big Wolff Pottery vases are pretty much a fixture here, no matter what the season. I love their height, especially stacked on book bundles.

The Hydrangeas are a mix of dried and faux, 

with some real bittersweet and faux berry branches.

I always love to layer the mirrors...

Right now this is a faux pumpkin in the Pottery Barn urn. I'm behind on more real pumpkins due to the fact that my roof is being replaced this week, and it looks and sounds like a war zone outside.

 Prepare yourself, these next pics are scary...

this is just a small fraction of the chaos.

Yikes...it's just day one.

and the fur girls are traumatized already.

 Now back to something less crazy.

On the end tables I have these little bifold frames from the 40's and 50's.

This one has some Fall graphics from old postcards.

and on the other one...

Potpourri and a small glass accent dish from my bud, Julie.

And if you remember we found this big heavy iron relief in St. Louis earlier in the year. I think it must have come from an old parlor stove. I guess it will have to stay here, I can barely drag the sucker around.

OK, so here is the first attempt, I took these photos a couple of days ago. There are basically some of the same shots and angles of the room and coffee table, I just thought I'd include them anyway. Call me predictable, I can take it...

So much for the "Early Fall Mantel".

I'll bring back my snow owls in October.

They're antsy to make their appearance!

I'll be joining in on these great Fall Parties:

Blissful Whites at Timewashed

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

It's Fall Y'all Mantels at Thrifty Decor Chick

Inspiration Exchange at Yellow Bliss Road

HomeWork at Everydayhome

DIY by Design

Open House at No Minimalist Here

Treasure Hunt at From My Front Porch to Yours

Daily Cup at Mrs. Olson's

TTT at Stone Gable

French Country Cottage

Shabby Art Boutique

The Charm of Home

Jennifer Rizzo

xoxo,

If you see a crazy woman running down the street

it will be me trying to escape the construction noise.