Honey, we're Home!

I'm so glad this last week is behind us. It's been non-stop packing and stressing since the middle of December when we decided it was time to take that big step with the move. Just in case you haven't been by here for awhile, we've moved to a smaller lease house so we could start updates on our big house. The move went smoothly, and our younger daughter and her hubby were here to give us some help over the weekend. Amazing what 30-somethings can accomplish when you hand them some cardboard boxes!

We only took less than half of our furniture and "stuff" with us, but we quickly filled up the new "little house". But I have to say I'm loving the coziness and convenience of this smaller place. I wish the rooms were a little bigger, 'cause it's a little tight, but all in all it's super comfortable and I'm having fun putting things together. 

One bonus that I hadn't planned on was having enough room in the eat-in kitchen area to make a small sitting area with some wicker and my baker's rack. It helps ease the withdrawal of leaving my sunporch behind. And once I had things in place, a few things that I hand carried over found their way to the baker's rack.

My galvanized bucket full of paperwhites started blooming the day of the move, making it a sweet little "sign" of blessings to come.

I have a few things that stay on the baker's rack no matter the holiday or season; my wooden seed crate is one of them. Now it's filled with my old garden tools and some pots and seed packets. Hard to imagine, but it will soon be time to think about Spring...really hard, since it was about 5 degrees last night.

The move was a little harder on the kitties, as they cried all night the first few nights; they were ok during the daytime, but at night it was a turf war on the bed. Miss Wrigley kept trying to nudge us out from under the covers so we could go home, where she is queen of the bed. Her little sister is vying for the "top cat" position, although right now they are both hiding behind the headboard of the bed; their go-to spot when the garage door goes up or the door bell rings.

Next on the list to get unpacked is my studio/office. I think I'm going to leave a lot of my many boxes of vintage papers and ephemera, etc. boxed up. I just don't want to think about unpacking all of it to turn around and repack it again once we have permanent plans. I may change my mind later, when I'm feeling an urge to create something...

I can't wait to show you more of this room and how it's coming together. I still haven't tackled all the many boxes of ironstone or transferware, but I'm excited to get around to playing in the old pie safe. You won't recognize most of this furniture in here because it was downstairs out of "camera range", which is code for bad lighting and bad decorating.

I'll be back next week with The Marketplace and Be Inspired,

 hope to see you then.

joining in with:

French Country Cottage
Mod Vintage Life
Coastal Charm
Stone Gable
Dwellings

Stay warm, 

and may all your kitties be happy kitties...

xoxo,

p.s. I missed you all this last week!

Be Inspired# 173

I knew this week would be crazy and it has been. Last minute switcheroos on coffee table and accent tables have had me busy doing some painting instead of finishing packing. Amazing how furniture grows from the showroom floor by the time it gets to your home! But things are coming together. Some of you were amazed that I could get things packed in a few short weeks. The answer is that we are only taking a little of our furniture and "stuff" over to the new little house. The rest will go into storage or be part of a sale. I have several months of packing left to do once we move out. So no, I'm not super woman...

I've had white cupboards on the brain lately: they are always a favorite with all of us in the pottery, transferware, and ironstone crowd. One of my favorite bloggers, Kathleen, has a wonderful example from last week's link party. Here are the top visited links from last week:

Faded Charm
Adding to My Collection

Meg from Oliver and Rust shared some decorating tips from

The Gianetti book, Patina Style

And Rita from Panopoly gave us great side-by-side views
of how she took her sunroom from Christmas to "Winter".

Thanks so much, gals for always coming to the party!

Party Guidelines

Please have an individual link back to Common Ground within your post. I'd love to feature you. This is just part of the Party Etiquette.

Please remember to turn off word verification. I've tried leaving comments that didn't go through. I'm sure others have tried also.

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Link up to three of your current posts.

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Thank you to all of you who come over each week to link up to the party, I may not get to leave a comment, but I try to visit each of your posts. You are a never ending source of inspiration to me and others, so just know how much I appreciate each one of you!

This will be my last post until after the move. I'm not sure, but hopefully you'll hear from me by next weekend. If not, don't worry. We're working on a new Internet plan which is a little complicated. I'll have a few pics of the new place to share by then.

See you on the other side...

xoxo,

If you want a jump on Spring, 

be sure and visit Today's Sponsor, 

French Bleu Vintage.

Dee has a French Estate Sale in progress.  

Repurposing a Cupboard

We're down to the last few days of packing, and I've been trying to mentally place furniture at the new little house. I have a much larger eat-in kitchen area there than I have here, (but no Dining Room) so I'm going to use a few different pieces of furniture in there. I've had to rethink the furniture layout to use pieces that are good for storage. One piece that I want to use is this old pie safe that I had in my studio, that I used for craft supplies and storage. It will be holding my Ironstone and Transferware. I need a good cupboard that I can "play with".

The inside was dirty and stained so I gave it a few coats of off white paint to clean it up. It's hard to see but instead of glass it has what used to be gold grillwork. I just painted the metal white with a brush. In this photo my Brown Transferware tureen is auditioning for a spot.

Here are some examples of inspiration from my Pinterest Board, Cupboards.

You can find all the sources on that board.

I'm looking forward to having this to decorate seasonally. 

I already have ideas for Valentine's Day and Easter...

I'll be hosting Be Inspired this Thursday morning, hope to see you there. We'll be moving over the weekend, so I'll be out of Internet for a bit, but I'll hopefully be back by the end of next week. Say a prayer for us, we'll need lot's of help!

Joining in with wonderful parties:

Inspiration Exchange at City Farmhouse

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Blissful White Wednesday at Timewashed

Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters

xoxo,