Simplicity

Over the weekend I found a couple of wonderful "whites",

 and wanted to share them,

 along with some other info.

Nothing earth shattering...

just something that I've needed to do for awhile,

but was chicken.

And that would be to stop relying on the automatic setting of my camera.

I'm still learning,

but at least I put my big toe in the water

of the proverbial pond of better picture taking.

Of all places, I chose a spot where the light isn't very good,

but I just wanted a "simple setting" for sharing my new white finds.

This old white tureen is my new favorite to add to my ironstone collection.

Just love that wonderful shape.

 Upon an Internet search, I found that this piece is French;

probably from the 1930's.

and a pristine set of four white European linen

 monogrammed towels from the same estate sale.

They are gorgeous and I knew they were a real find.

(Hubbs had his wallet, so I jumped on them!)

The silver cutlery set came from The Seed Box Open House last month.

(among many other things that I just haven't shown yet)

Then Saturday, I also found this precious little print from the twenties.

The night before, I had just visited Fishtail Cottage

with her post on visiting Farm Chicks,

and her local find of this same print and it's companion print.

I commented that I'd never seen one before.

And good grief, here it was in a local flea market so I grabbed it.

Oh how I love bluebirds!

This is just a haphazard stack of white china that I love to play with.

So, my new tureen is a test subject,

of playing with different camera settings.

and proof to myself

that I actually can "do" simple.

Hope you're off to a great start this week,

we had a little rain and a cool down for a few days.

Enough to water the grass,

and give me a break from the hose.

I'll see you Thursday,

if not before,

for my new toy...

a potting station!

I have a few photos from the sale at Pheona's Vintage Market

I'll share those soon!

Joining these parties:

(Links are on my sidebar)

Love you all,

          

Vintage Inspiration Friday #41 My Latest Find

I'm still working outside trying to get things "presentable".

The Spring was so rainy and yucky

and now it's in the 90's and hasn't rained for 2 weeks.

When it's this hot my body just rebels against weeding

and anything relating to outside work,

 it just wants to float in the pool with a glass of lemonade.

I wanted to share a fun outside find for my flowers,

that I located a few weeks ago.

This perfect size, red antique wheelbarrow.

Even though I might not have painted it red myself,

I have to admit it really looks cute with red and white flowers in it.

I winter all my geraniums in the John Deere room

(the majority of them are coral red)

So I thought I'd try to do white ones here in the wheelbarrow.

For some reason I couldn't locate many white ones,

so I just planted a variety of flowers

along with the few white geraniums that I did find;

petunias, million bells, lantana, and some vinca vine.

This gets most of the day's sun

and the lantana seems to do well in the heat.

petunias, not so much...

If you're wondering about the brick barrier around the pool

it's our chipmunk deterrent.

With all the chasing and fun that a chipmunk has when it falls in love,

once in the pool, they can't get out.

This has helped tremendously!

Here are a few other planted wheelbarrows from Pinterest

I'm working on putting together a little potting bench under the deck.

Hopefully, I'll have that to show soon.

How are your outdoor spaces shaping up?

Now, some great posts from last weeks VIF:

Lara from Air Kiss,

 Pretties up a rustic box with her gorgeous peonies.

If you haven't met Lara you will fall in love

with her gorgeous photos.

Lemon Lane Cottage

sets a table with her family heirloom

Rose Chintz china.

Debbie, from Confessions of a Plate Addict

shows us how to make Frenchy Anduze Pots

without the trip to France!

(love this!!)

And my good friend Donna,

of D. R'eyne's Everyday Elegance

shares her wonderful Tinker House.

(magazine material for sure)

I'm linking up with these great weekend parties:

Hope you'll join in for the party,

remember...

anything vintage or vintage inspired.

And pretty please, link back to this post.

Just grab the button on the sidebar.

It's a bummer coming to visit and there's no mention of

Vintage Inspiration Friday

anywhere... boo hoo!

it just takes a minute to let people know who you're linking to.

I'm trying my best to get to everyone who links up,

this blogger comment business is really slowing me down...

oh, and don't forget the

Summer Blog Party

the week of June 20-25.

I'll be showing some fun ways to enjoy summer

that have a vintage twist!

Have a great weekend everyone.

lots of love,

Wear Repair

I always like to show the "good" before I show the "bad" and the "ugly".

So if you have an aversion to rotten wood and peeling paint

well, then you better not continue...

I have a great space off of our lower level family room;

a large concrete patio of sorts.

The problem is that there are some shady spots that never see the sun...

a drainage problem that invites mosquitoes to eat you for lunch...

(which hopefully is now fixed)

and an issue with dirt runoff from our shake roof that causes

 the concrete to be stained.

Oh, and did I mention squirrels with giant gnawing teeth?

When my inlaws moved out of their house a few years ago,

we brought home this park bench which we had given them.

Layers of paint that weren't pretty.

It was screaming for help.

(help meeeeeeeeee....)

And then there is a great bench that my daddy made about 25 years ago,

but was slowly rotting due to the elements...

and said giant gnawing squirrel teeth.

I'd finally had enough of this unsightly stuff,

and decided I needed to actually DO something about it,

instead of just ignoring it.

So I bought an industrial size tub of spackling

and went to work.

Not perfect, but at least I think I bought it a couple more years,

before it would have to go to the woodpile.

Bench looking better.

Sorry, no distressing here.

In a few months it will be plenty "distressed".

A can of white Rustoleum and this little set was looking better, too.

Even the planters got a little Behr Ultra Exterior on them.

So here's the space.

I'm not sure what I want to do with it.

But at least it's not so scary, now.

I'm going to be using this area for some al fresco dining

during the Summer Blog Party.

Hope you're planning on joining in!

I'm joining in on these great parties,

find the links on my sidebar.

Hope to see you Thursday afternoon with some

 Vintage Inspiration

Staying busy,

hope you're having a great week!

love,