Besides finding inspiration in magazines and blogs I find lots of inspiration in decorating books,I wanted to share some of my favorite decorating books with you. Some of these books I have had for many years,and a few of them I bought recently. One thing they all have in common is vintage style. With vintage style it really never goes away,it may change slightly but as I said some of these I have had for many years and they are still very fresh. These are all filled with beautiful photos and they all inspire me. Lets start out with The Natural Home by Tricia Foley. Love this book,wonderful ideas of using bits of nature in your home. As you know I love using bits of nature whether it's a bouquet of flowers,a bunch of branches or a bee hive. The photos are beautiful isn't that ... View Post

Sanding is not  always required when you are distressing a piece of furniture,other easy distressing techniques can be done if you want a piece to look aged but you don't want to sand it. Yesterday I shared" The Truth About Chalk Paint",you can read it HERE. A few years ago I wanted to update my dated dining room set,it was bought in the 1990's,I loved the style but it really needed a fresh look. This was done when I first started blogging,I had little experience with chalk paint and decided to paint the table using   a latex paint and a primer. You can read about the reveal ,I share the paint color I used on this post  HERE. I did not sand the table or chairs to distress it,I wanted an aged look without doing that. Other reasons I did not sand this piece to distress it is because ... View Post

I love using chalk paint or plaster based paint,but I wanted to share with you the truth about chalk paint. I have been using chalk based paint for almost three years,the reason is is so wonderful is because it adheres to so many different surfaces. But there seems to be some misconceptions about expectations chalk based paint. The truth about chalk paint is yes it will adhere to most surfaces,but not all. (Painted with Vintage Market & Design paint in Dove and Sweet Pea) If a piece is not properly cleaned well before painting, chances are that it won't adhere. It's not a miracle paint,it won't make painting your kitchen cabinets any easier then priming and painting. But if you are looking for a paint that will sand easier then yes this paint is wonderful. I am sharing ... View Post

I know it may seem like I change things around here allot,but I don't always like to change everything constantly....really I don't. Okay so you don't believe me well you can see I made a simple change,but most of this has been kept the same.  I love my olive bucket and nothing is prettier than lavender tucked inside one of these buckets. I am really liking  the way my mantle looks in our dining room,but the crate and logs had to go during the summer months. About a year ago I bought this beautiful olive bucket from Decor Steals. I have moved it around my home but thought this would be the perfect spot for it,well at least for now. I also bought that lavender from Decor Steals,and it smells amazing! The lavender was purchased around the same time as my olive bucket,even after a ... View Post

 Sometimes I start a project and then months later I finally finish it and sometimes it takes a little longer to photograph it.I am sure you remember my master bathroom reveal I shared of my mini makeover. All was finished except for the mirror,it took a little longer because it was back in February and we had bitter cold temperatures. I was not ready to go out into the cold. But I recently shared my daughters bathroom reveal,you can view it HERE. When I did her bathroom I framed out her bathroom mirror,I mentioned that I as also going to do the same in my bathroom. Here is the before shot of my bathroom mirror. Pretty blah looking as one big boring mirror. This is a photo of the mirror after framing it out. Quite a difference! That very helpful Home Depot associate helped ... View Post

I am sure you have noticed by now that my favorite flowers are roses and they are my favorite choice when styling with flowers,especially pink roses. And since I am a vintage gal I don't use typical vases for styling my flowers. Yes I do  love ironstone but there are so many other options to choose from when you are styling flowers. I shared this ice cream bucket awhile back and it is actually one of my favorite pieces to use for my flowers. I just add  several small bottles inside the ice cream bucket then add my roses,if I don't want the hand crank on the bucket I just remove it and add a tall vase inside then add the flowers. A great choice for this (if using without my hand crank) is a tall vintage mason blue ball jar. It seems to be tall enough for my bucket and if you see it ... View Post