Our Springified Mantel!

Daylight savings is always such an exhilarating time of year when we get to turn the clocks ahead and see more sunlight in our day. When that happens I know that it's definitely time to make new changes around the house.

This is how I "springified" our mantel and fireplace.

  

A trio of wire trellises, decked out for spring, takes center stage above the mantel.  

A simple spring wreath in green is the focal point with a collection of vintage bottles holding  blossom sprigs.  

One bottle got an accent with heavy brown jute and a wee bit of moss.

Another got a single butterfly attached with hot glue.

Not too much going on...just enough.

An antique woven basket and a worn old green book added something simple for the seasonal look.

A few things antique and a vintage floral book.

 I wrapped the whole mantel with three strands of the heavy brown jute and a rag ribbon accent with a flower that hangs like a swag. I stole it from a pillow that I made for our sofa last spring and just added the white ribbon to tie it all in.

Then I added more interest by tying on some jute strands, too.

 

I've been dressing up this wooden pedestal for a while...it's been adorned with burlap and a rhinestone pin, rhinestone trim this past Christmas and now with more heavy jute cording just haphazardly wrapped for a casual, rustic look.

The child's brown suitcase made an interesting filler in between the pedestal and the metal florist container.    

   

Spring branches with dried moss filler and a bird fit inside.

My small vintage trunk creates the perfect balance with the birds on top.

 The same theme is continued all around the room. 

If you want to see more than you'll have to stay tuned!

The trellises held herbs in our bay window last year, if you didn't see that you can have a look back here.

 

Love, Hugs and Kisses,
JP

and Gucci, too!

  

 
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Centerpiece Change in the Kitchen and my Pig Takes Center Stage

It was time for a new look for our centerpiece in the kitchen, time for new trim and time to my let my country pig take center stage!

She was a "piggy pink" when my honey bought her for me almost twenty years ago. I painted her to make her fit in with our decor....I don't do pink!

The centerpiece started out like this. Then I made the little changes and swapped the rattan place mat for the pair of green ones to add more green to the vignette

Here I added some fresh cut basil, from our window, to fill the vase some more.

Same exact photo? NOT!

A little secret of mine, that I use a lot is the cloning tool in Pic Monkey. It's the photo editing program that I use for every single pic that I share. 

I hate imperfections and blemishes and since I had no more perfect flowers or basil on hand I just cloned them.

I use it to hide wires and dust and cracks....anything that I didn't notice when taking my shots!

 You can see that I added a checkerboard trim to the lazy susan, to change it up again, and match the stool that I painstakingly painted. I shared it's "how to" in this post.

I shared how I, recently, re-painted it white and added Italian and English words all the way around. It was very apropo for our Italian themed dinner party that we had a few weeks back.

Then came the 4th of July. An American flag band disguised the words and made the perfect patriotic accent.

It's so easy to add any trim...I just stick it on with some "poster putty" which makes it really easy to remove.

"Emma" almost always wears her pearls!

A chicken wire wrapped jar holds some fresh cut summer flowers.....note: petals not cloned...oops!

I think she's happy being center stage, so I'll keep her happy for a while!

And now I'm itching to re-do the bay window, again, with a summer theme. I'm just holding off because I'm still in love with the herb garden look. Nothing beats the handiness of having herbs right at hand in the kitchen!

 Love, Hugs and Kisses,
JP

and Gucci, too!

Can you see him? He's playing "peek-a-boo!"

 
 
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My Kitchen Window Herb Garden

It's been a while since I've had a chance to play around with decorating. We've been enjoying company, food and drinks for the past few weeks!

 First, my daughter Kristi and her three children came down to visit us. It was their first time seeing where we live since we moved down here two years ago. We had an absolute blast at the beach and pool every day!

 Then we had these two guys (my daughter's best friends) stay with us for a week. They cooked us some awesome dinners and even cleaned before they left...how awesome was that?

So, now, I can share my latest window re-do with you. It's my kitchen window herb garden...with my distressed sign and some flowers, too!

 It all started with the chicken wire panels that I found at Hobby Lobby a few months ago.

Clothespins with identifying names clip each bunch of  herbs to hang for display and dry. Faux sage is hanging there for now...my plantings aren't quite ready to harvest.

It makes quite an attractive display and drying rack.

My "herbs" sign started with a little scrap of wood that I gave a dry brush coat of white paint. Then I created the image and transferred it to the wood.
The easy, wax paper, transfer technique can be seen here!

My rustic, wooden sign has the perfect vintage look.

Honestly, I have so-o-o much fun decorating this window year 'round. I love looking back at all the posts of all the looks it has had over the past two years.

Now, here are lots of pics of all the little details!

Organic jasmine tea fills my vintage ironstone compote.

It's so convenient to have fresh herbs right in the kitchen and ready to snip.

Rag strips ready for tying bundles, card stock butterflies and a hanging votive, create a little somethin' cute, on a rusty, wire hanger.

Lavender and white roses fill a painted, vintage, florist container.

Burlap and jute accents are part of the window's dressing.

My, special, little magnet found a place to be displayed.

The window gets just the right amount of light for my indoor garden.

A rusty, vintage, hanging scale holds a little floral vignette.

In spring the window looked like this. Naturally, I loved that, too!
 If you'd like to see more you can see that post here.

Now, can you see just why I just LOVE our window?

I'm already dreaming about the look that I want to do for fall. Just dreaming! I'm in no hurry.....summer is my favorite time of year!

I think for my next post I'll share a bunch of wire baskets!

 Love, Hugs and Kisses,
JP

and Gucci, too!

Can you see him? He's playing "peek-a-boo!

A very special "thank you" to Tammy from onemoretimeevents 
and to Stacey @  staceyembracingchange  for choosing this post as one of the features on her blog!
 
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