January Cupboard in Candlelight

For me, January is a month for settling in for Winter. Here in the lower Midwest we do have a few beautiful warmer days during Winter, but for the most part the days are gray and cold and spitting something wet. In January I'm all about staying warm and cozy indoors. To combat the short dreary days I like to have some spaces in the house that evoke a feeling of warmth and comfort.

Cozy Winter Home Tours

Hi Friends, glad you're stopping by today as I'm joining in with some wonderful ladies who are sharing our take on a "Cozy Winter Home". After all the Christmas decor is stashed away it can look a little bare around the house. In January I'm ready for a more neutral look with soft and warm textures and spaces. Give me a cozy chair, a warm quilt or throw, a couple of squishy pillows, candles, a hot drink of something yummy, and of course a fire (if you can get one.) Our hostess, Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home came up with the perfect idea to get us in the mood for winter. If you came over from Marty's lovely living room decorated for winter at A Stroll Thru Life, thanks so much. Glad you're here.

All About Home Link Party #22

Hi friends, we're into the middle of January and coming out of the holiday coma. After a week long fight with a viral infection, I'm finally making headway in getting the house back to "normal". Glad you're here and we hope you'll link up your current posts on decor and "All Things Home".

French Farmhouse Table in the Dining Room

My last post I was telling you all about my after Christmas need for a more neutral palette. I always love a lot of color at the Holidays and I sort of overdid it this year here at the new place. I'm kinda over red/green for now. I'll be ready for some red again next month for Valentine's Day, but for now, my eyeballs need a break.

French Country Elements in the Dining Room

My focus on getting back in the decor groove after the Holidays has been on my Dining Room table. At the beginning of the New Year I tend to want to go with more neutral elements since I'm usually oversaturated with color from Christmas. I've been gathering inspiration for a French Country Farmhouse feel that I could use in my Dining Room without going shopping.

All About Home Link Party #21

Hello Friends, so glad you're here  

to join in at the first party of the year at
All About Home!

I hope you all are having a great first week of 2020. I have to admit I'm running way behind on getting things put back to normal here. I had a viral thing (sore throat, swollen lymph nodes) going on this last week that's just derailed me. I'm better, but still not 100%. Not a fun way to start the new year. I'm still looking at a hodge podge of decor, somewhere between Christmas and winter. Hope you're making some headway getting back in the groove!

Making a House a Home: 2019 in Review

During the late Summer of 2018 we made a decision to purchase an older home here in our small Midwest city. It might have seemed like a spur of the moment event from the outside, but we had known since we moved into our previous home 5 years before, that we needed a place with more space on one level. We knew that it would need to be a home in an older subdivision close-in town so it would have a bigger yard to accommodate a house that was more square footage in the main living areas. We found a place, but it was not my dream home to say the least. It would require a lot of updating inside and out, but we made a plan to get to work. That takes me to the beginning of 2019.

All About Home #20

Hello Friends, so glad you're here 

to join in at All About Home!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas week, but hey, we're still in Holiday mode over here. We took a little break last week to focus on Christmas here at All About Home. Wow, there was so much wonderful Christmas Inspiration I hated to miss a week, but we're back and I still want to feature a few of the fun posts from our last party. Thanks so much for sharing all your amazing Christmas Inspiration this Season!

Welcome Home Christmas Home Tour 2019

This is the first year in our new-to-us cottage and we've had a long year of renovations, updating, moving, organizing, and lastly a major landscape redo. Most of our living space is on the main level and we love having the open spaces to spread out. I like to have a photo journal each year of our home decorated for Christmas. So even though this is a little late, it's my way of looking back on and remembering this wonderful time of year.

Vintage Christmas

Christmas Eve?

I can hardly believe it. 

Family will be here soon! 

There just wasn't enough time to get all the photos shared,

so I'm going to post pics and be light on words,

otherwise things won't get done!

Anyone else in my shoes house slippers?

Quick peek at the Dining Room

 and my favorite corner of the house.

Christmas in the Garden Room Part 2

Hi Friends, I hope you're having a great week before Christmas!

We're back in the Garden Room today and I'm sharing the rest of the room that includes the baker's rack and the church pew. Now that I have the Holiday Cupboard the baker's rack has sort of taken a back seat in decorating. But since I have plenty of junk, great vintage pieces, there's room for more of it now!

Christmas in the Garden Room part 1

I've had a reindeer "thing" going on this year. It actually started a couple of years ago, after seeing some mossy/twiggy type reindeer. I started looking but got waylaid by the house renovation and move. Then, when I started thinking about Christmas decor this year I got busy scouring around for one (or 2)

Christmas Holiday Cupboard and the Garden Room

Hi Friends, time for the Christmas Edition of the Holiday Cupboard. I've had so much fun decorating this old cabinet out here in the sunroom aka the Garden Room this last year. It's the first Christmas styling I've done with it, and I've found a lot of fun vintage goodies to decorate with in my stash. This cabinet was storage at the last house, but now it's been organized to allow me to have some more display space for holiday pieces.

All About Home Link Party #19

Hello Friends, so glad you're here 

to join in at All About Home!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here, not only on the inside, but on the outside. We're having our first winter "event". A little snow but mostly an icy winter mix, that's cancelled school and made driving pretty hazardous. So it's definitely time to stay inside by the fire and think about wrapping presents and planning for our Christmas Eve gathering.

Decorating the Sideboard for Christmas

This week I've been sharing Christmas in the Hearth Room, so next I wanted to show you the rest of the room and the antique sideboard. I've always loved the little curved shelf above the mirror, but this is my first time actually decorating it for the Christmas Holiday. A few little British crocks, some white reindeer, and bottle brush trees keep it light, bright and lots of fun.

Christmas Mantel in the Hearth Room

It's my first Christmas here at our new-to-us cottage, and I finally have the fireplace and mantel I have hoped for. I had a few criteria that were on my wish list in a new home: an actual hearth room that had either a wood burning fireplace or a gas fireplace that didn't make me nauseous from gas fumes, a lower mantel that I could actually reach to decorate, and that it would be white. Is that too much to ask for? I didn't think so.

All About Home Link Party #18

Hello Friends, thanks so much for coming by 
to visit at All About Home!

Are you all decorated for Christmas? If you're like me you'll be tweaking and adding bits and pieces of Christmas until Christmas Eve. I know you have tons of great ideas, projects and decor going on, so let's get to the party and share all the fun stuff!

Christmas in the Cookbook Nook

Say Hello to my newest Christmas friend, courtesy of my sister as an early Christmas present. He's so adorable and woodsy I just needed to show him off. I'd been looking for a reindeer for awhile, thinking twiggy or mossy, but this guy is perfect. His grassy covering looks like real reindeer fur. He's a cutie.

Christmas Door Decor and Porch Peek

Hi Friends, do you have your Christmas decorating finished up? I hope you've had some good weather to get you in the Holiday mood. I had to get busy this weekend and put together a few things for the front porch and a change up for my door basket so I could join in with Amber's Christmas Door Decor Blog Hop. If you're coming from Amber at Follow the Yellow Brick Home, I'm so glad you're here!

All About Home Link Party #17

Hello Friends, thanks so much for coming by 
to visit at All About Home!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful Day, and then Friday it turned into "All About Christmas"!
It's probably the same for you all too. I know you have tons of great ideas and decor going on,
so let's get to the party and share all the fun stuff!

Snapshots of Coming Christmas

Are you busy decorating for Christmas?
I imagine most of us are since we're getting a late start.
I'm just sharing a few pics of what I'm up to this
weekend. 

These are just a few snaps of what's happening over here.
It's no surprise that it's vintage and plaid

Hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend!

An Attitude of Thanksgiving

Once in a while I feel compelled to share a more personal thought; this has been on my mind for the last few weeks. I've been reminded that there's more to "Thanksgiving" than gathering with our family and loved ones for a celebration. Thanksgiving is an all encompassing lifestyle. We can choose to be grateful or not. It's easy to be "thankful" when things are going our way, but a little more difficult when life isn't where we'd like it to be. Health, finances, situations and relationships can all be challenging and strained, and we seem to notice it more through the Holidays.

There have been many times I've wanted to ignore this scripture from 1 Thessalonians that says: "Be joyful always, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Not that our circumstances are something that is "God's will" or that we need to be happy about, but that whatever we are going through we can count on God being with us and leading us. Philippians 4:6 reminds us, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God." That's what I'm trying to focus on this week. Not to be anxious and under stress with my circumstances, but to be thankful that my Father God has a good plan and is in control.

I'm thankful for all of you... thank you for your care and friendship. I'm praying you have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

All About Home Link Party #16

Hello Friends, thanks so much for coming by 
to visit at All About Home,
Wishing you all a very 
Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekend Inspiration: Baker's Rack and Transitioning from Fall to Christmas

With Thanksgiving being so late this year I've found myself more antsy than usual to start thinking about decorating for Christmas. (you too, huh?) One thing I know for sure is that I need to make it easy this year. I tend to say that each year then push myself to decorate "everything" in sight. But before I start sharing on the blog how I've gotten started with Christmas and still celebrate Thanksgiving, I have a few pics of the Baker's Rack in the Garden Room that I wanted to post.

We Gather Together Blog Hop

Hi Friends, Welcome to We Gather Together Blog Hop hosted by our friend Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home. Amber and I both really love Thanksgiving and I'm so excited to be able to join in with all these other talented ladies to share our ideas and decor in this wonderful Holiday time.

If you're coming from Marty's at A Stroll Thru Life, so glad you're here and hope you'll come back to visit again. I thought I'd just put together a late Fall/Thanksgiving Home Tour, which is a grouping of pics from posts this November.

All About Home Link Party #15

Hello Friends, thanks so much for coming by 
to visit at All About Home!