Souvenirs [Search results for shelves] 

Hello!! I hope you all had a very blessed day with your family and friends

A special thank you for everyone who takes the time to stop here and say hello, leave comments, and read... thank you

We were unexpectedly blessed with having our Christmas here at the farm... alone... so peaceful and quiet

it was wonderful

here's an inside look all around the house... and a bit outdoors too

the mudroom...

the kitchen...

the three oldest when they were little in front of our old barn as "the nativity" scene... a treasure for us

can you tell I love the shelves Jason made for that wall?

my little snowman that our 11 yr. old son hand carved and made for me... i love him so so much! he even made the little mittens out of felt!
the tree...

the living room...

I set up a little wine bar on the bookshelves in the living room

we added shutters in the bathroom, and i hung a jar my younger sister made with some lavender and spruce

upstairs in the kids rooms...

the boys' tree and decorations (they love to do it themselves)

and the girls' room... much different than the boys:)

and in the master...

a very special birthday gift from some good friends:)

my dresser was temporarily a wrapping station

made in Germany... these little angels lull me to sleep with their beauty

a view out the master... the first snow...

little Daniel's blue woolen coat hanging in his room

going back indoors, we are baking and feasting and loving this wonderful life...

Hope you are all celebrating all 12 days of Christmas...

with love and blessings,

Jason, Anne Marie, and all of the children

I'm so thrilled to tell you that I am expanding on this conceptual journey of 'beauty'

putting together a room, with all it's rearranging of furniture and the play of light on a certain chair, or the way the bookcase it now highlighted by your side lamp all invokes a story of how you visual your space

yes, I am rearranging again

this room is awesome with the archway... and I keep trying to incorporate that space into the living room space (as you see, it's the living room again:) however, the coziness keeps telling me to embrace that beauty of coziness!!

it's high time that the blue floral couch from 1940 gets moved out... it just doesn't fit my decor anymore

and the hutch... it has housed crafts, silver, everyday dishes, bowls, and now is in the living room waiting...
poor thing

baby Daniel is thoroughly confused and delighted to have a plethora of crawling space (notice the 'moving men' under the couch)
my current (material) desires are to achieve an earthy easy elegance into this farmhouse with softness

here's some of my inspiration:

I've always been a great 'lover' of things black and white, and would love to add some more of that into the house... 

designtoinspire.net 

this photo has it (almost) all of what I'm thinking: natural wood, black, white, texture, a bit of industrial, clean + simple (what it is lacking is more color) 

skema this entry has the red I really like, the antique piece, the natural wood around doorway, the pops of color... and though paisley might be "out" I still think this looks great 

Canadian house to home

as soon as I saw this, I instantly wanted to put up some more of my oil paintings... good thing I didn't put them out to sell them at the barn sale!

country living
the open shelving idea is really striking a chord with me, there's talk of using remaining wood from the sunroom remodel (douglas fir) for the shelves 

countryliving

beautifullife


~have a great rest of the day~
peace + blessings,

within your home... do you feel comfortable? or a little dry on the decorating??

i feel it all around blogland lately
I think some more thought needs to go into you
your style
your decorating
(I'm totally joining you by the way)
this room, for example, looks comfortable... lived in...
a little white... a little color... not fancy/expensive... but "that person's style"
(click on any image to go to source)

now, this shouldn't be complicating...
... using OVERKILL on vignettes (my hand is up and I'm totally guilty of this one... can anyone say eggs under cloche??)
the only way to find out your 'style' is to sometimes imitate that other person's style... and there certainly is NOTHING wrong with that!!
it always leads to something gorgeous like this:

or taking a "normal" bookshelf and doing this

image: tracy porter
the wonderful thing about this above photo from Tracy Porter is that it looks lived in... that's because it IS lived in...
most of Tracy's styling for her photographs are taken right within her home... that's why they are so great!
SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS DRYNESS??
we are going to take a non-hard edged approach to design... by dusting off the shelves and combine old with new...
take a look at this picture again:

here's what I notice...
what's old in this picture? * rustic barnwood table *blue bottle on bookshelf *vintage mirror over mantle *the fireplace itself
what's new in this picture? *new upholstered chairs *chandelier possibly (could be old, but is neutral that way) *blue candles which pop the chairs *family photographs *fresh flowers and *bold new pattern on white end chair *new sisal rug
there's nothing... and I repeat NOTHING in this picture that you couldn't do to achieve this look
did you notice not a single vignette in that picture? only bright colors, a bit of boldness with the table and the pattern on the chair but sophisticated textures
the best part of this is:
there is NO book or NO person that decides what YOU surround yourself with
you want those goose eggs under the cloche?... go for it
you want that gorgeous Golden Bamboo side table from Tracy Porter?... totally! 

and wallpaper your room in antique paper!
Most of us have children right? or grandchildren visiting?? well, at least I do, so that's what I know best
and letting fragile things sit out sometimes is a good thing — it teaches the children to behave and "please don't touch sweetie" is said a lot, but I'm not doing that so much anymore
I have gotten rid of that pretty look and am going more "me"...
my style...
instead I have been using sumptuous fabrics for that "elegant" feel I like... but ALWAYS with the contrast of "rustic prairie"... (like the original dark wood on the bed)



our sunroom... bed draped in coverlet I made out of pink taffeta... it's like slipping into a ball gown! Wednesday is the start of a new journey for me into a time of reflection and inner personal growth... and I will be in the desert... but certainly not dead! I feel so alive during Lent... it's a very empowering time for me
(but let's just hope I'm totally exhausted because I have a new baby)
apparently: ~patience is a virtue~
xo+blessings,

After Jason was well enough after back surgery, and the February issue of Country Living Magazine came in the mail we decided to put up some shelves made from reclaimed barn wood in the kitchen for our every day dishes -

as you can see, I only have a few plates left... they are getting used and abused since we switched to hand washing our dishes... and I would love to find some ironstone ones now... (though I would really like to become a potter and make them myself...)

they are so much more functional than what was there — and a cinch to put away! (and display)

we left the barnwood on the sides all beautifully raw and rustic...

I like keeping some of the items on there corralled — especially my silver pieces — I use those everyday (those forks I just got at my local antiques store... and baby Daniel thinks they are pretty great!)



Jason made this cutting board... by hand... I believe it is black walnut

we sealed the 'counter top' area with our bees' beeswax — it is made from Douglas Fir (like our flooring) thank you CLiving for such a great feature... you can see where my inspiration came from here
peace + blessings,