Our Christmas in the Living Room!

I was thinking today that I had not shared the living room pictures as of yet. We have been so busy with Vyntage Barn that I almost forgot about my blog. The first picture is on my daughter took and I thought her caption was so cute that I left it on!

It is had to get a picture of the entire room so I will show you want I took today and then I need to turn around and get the other end.

The picture is a little dark because it was raining this morning.

And I did not organize the coffee table because I really was looking at the magazines and I wasn't done!

This is the only pic I took of the mantle so at least you get a little idea. This week is already too busy and I am fighting a cold. Hope you are all having a merry time of year!

Christmas in the Dining room!

While I have a few minutes I thought I would share a few pictures of my dining room. I have been so busy with my little business that I am slow at getting my decor done. I moved our white tree into the dining room this year and you can look through the house right to the front door!

I filled  my basket with white flowers with sparkles and we added a light to the cabinet.

Here is a view of the shelf, it has a few Christmas items added to it!

But just to keep it all real. This is my dining room table! It is covered with a puzzle that week work on each weekend.

On the heater you will find all my beautiful items for the table! So if you are struggling with all the Christmas tours with all the perfect houses...don't! Sometimes things are not what they seem.
   I have decided I am not going to look at the open houses tours on the blogs until after Christmas for inspiration for next year but not for comparison for this year! I will share more as I have time!

The Day After Thanksgiving, A Time of Joy

The day after Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite days! I love the celebration of Thanksgiving with family and food but the day after is quiet and calm. We do not Black Friday shop. Our girls are quietly sleeping, dh is quail hunting and I am sitting in my favorite chair watching Christmas movies.

One of the reasons I decorate early is for today...that day when you sit and just enjoy your festive home. When you know that all is well and you can just begin to enjoy the season without the pressure of decorating.

I will begin to share pictures of our festive home in a few days but for today, I am resting.

We will be going to a movie this afternoon and just enjoying a comedy, no stress, no pushing and shoving, just laughing and enjoying the moment. We don't do that often enough.

We need to enjoy the simple things.

Christmas is coming and all is well.

For today I am enjoying my family and my blessings.

Let freedom ring.

Fall Porch Tour...Here We Go!

Hello Friends, It has been such beautiful weather today. It is cool and breezy and just perfect for fall decorating. I have been thinking about what I was going to put on the front porch this year and then I decided with if I decorated with items that no one has purchased yet at my little store.
  So I went out back and collected items that were on those displays and thought I would give it a try. To be fair I did keep the wreath in the garage because I knew it was going on the front porch but the other one remains in the shop so it has not sole as of yet. It has beautiful indian corn all the way around it, I just love it.
   The old buckets have been for sale all summer so maybe they were meant for my porch as well. I love the metal signs, they go perfectly with my lockers and school desk as well.

The picnic basket was left from our summer sales and the large basket didn't sale but I love it for a front door and changing it for the season.

I will admit that the mail box I have been saving for my Christmas porch for Santa to pick up his letters! The red lantern just came in and probably will be a good item for our Christmas sale as well.

The garland was a little skimpy so I intertwined two different ones to make it look a little better for over the door.

I cut open a grape vine wreath to create the garland along the top of the lockers and around the basket. I am going to do that to some of the trees in the shop as well.

The porch was pretty easy to put together. I was thrilled that I has such a relaxing day to work on it. We have been so crazy busy I have been tired and wasn't sure where to begin so I took a week off and did do much in the shop since the last sale, even as the deliveries were happening I just kinda pushed them inside and thought I needed a break. I am so happy that I did. I have a new display that I am so happy with...it is more a white fall look and I hope that my shoppers like it as much as I do. I will have to share a few pictures of it.

I finished my dining room decorating and I love the outcome. My living room is a little more toned down this year as well. I will be working on my back porch this week and of course back to getting the shop ready for our night sale! I am excited to share all the details of that as well.

Hope you have enjoyed my little tour...why don't you share yours as well????

Another look...furniture and paint

Hello Dear Friends, I wanted to share my china cabinet now that we finished putting lights on the inside. I am still loving it so much but the only problem is I just want to switch out my table for a round one I have in the garage. It would be perfect with it. I just hate to ask my men to move more furniture. We just moved furniture about 2 weeks ago. I am trying to hold off for at least another week before I ask them.

I couldn't help but share another picture of our home as we decide on new paint colors. The top part of the house is the original the bottom is new....the red window to the right is what it would look like if I decide to leave some red. Our other option is to paint the entire house cream (just like it is now) and then remove all color and just have white trim. I might try that on the front porch.

Even though we are having a week of warmer weather, I just have to start my fall decorating...I have waited long enough. I am already burning fall candles and our bathrooms have bath and body fall scent soaps! Hope you are having a great weekend.

New Paint color????

Sometimes when the hubby goes out of town the wife just has to try out something new!!! We have been talking about putting siding on our home but I am not sure I want it to be cream, which is the paint color now. Our buildings are green and cream so it has to go with them but it doesn't have to be the same color...right???
  This is how it looked this morning. I have grown tired of so much red.

So I purchased some paint as a trial. I have kept the cream and dark green but I have added a light green. I would like to keep a touch of red but I am not sure where.

This is what it looks like if I leave the windows red but honestly, I am not a fan of it.

This is the before...think hubby will be surprised???

August: A Month of Change

Hello Dear Friends,
   I have been busy dragging out all the new fall items for the shop. I have fallen in love with this wreath so I am going to hang one of them on my front porch! I am wondering why I didn't order more than two of them! I have had so many boxes to open and sort that some times it is just exhausting! I am resting today since I had such a big day yesterday because tonight is date night with hubby and I want to be rested for it!

This is not even half of the boxes that I have in the shed....Christmas is shipping!
 

  August is such a hard month. This is the month that I lost my Mother, the month she entered the gates of Heaven.  I know she was ready and happy to go but our lives are so changed forever. I do not believe the grieving ever leaves, it hasn't for me. But it changes who you are and how you look at things, how you listen to people, how you watch events happen. Everything changes. I believe I am a better person than I was, I want my parents to be proud of the the legacy they gave me and of my choices. I know that they are just in a different dimension but are ever present in my heart and thoughts. I work very hard at my business because I want it to represent who they raised me to be. I want my kids to be proud of me as their parent and of the changes I have made to my life!

   Grief is a tool of change, it is uncomfortable and difficult. If you haven't been through it you don't understand it. There are choices that you make that changes your life! I miss my Mom every day. I have tears when I think about calling her and remember that she is gone. This week I had that feeling that I was waiting for her so I could tell her something and later realized that I can no longer wait ...she is waiting on me...she will be there to greet me and I have tears of joy when I think of that...heartbreaking tears of loneliness...oh how I miss her. We will meet again, we will be together again...but the longing remains. Those days when I feel her so close. The dreams of have of her handing me something. The butterflies that remind me of her and her love for her beautiful gardens...the gardens she planted for me. Yes, her spirit is in Heaven but her love remains here. I will go on because that is what we do. We long for Heaven but we work to make each day the best it can be. 

  August is a hard month.

Thoughts from the Heart!

As I am sitting on my porch this morning I was looking at this beautiful tree in my front yard. It has grown into such a beauty! In the fall it is a brilliant gold and becomes so stunning that it is hard not to just gaze at it!

   August is a difficult month for me and as I looked at this tree this morning I was thinking how lonely it looks standing there until I noticed the corn field be hind it and the blue sky with the puffy sky and then I realized it wasn't alone at all! 

  One of the worst things about losing my parents is the loneliness. They were at my home almost every day and the adjustment to that loss has been slow and painful! So I realized today that I am not alone, they are there waiting for me. The celebration will begin once I meet them in Heaven. So today I sit on my porch swing before I begin my day and I gaze at our tree in wonder, the beauty, the enjoyment.... And this is nothing compared to what is to come! 

New Cabinet Make-Over

Wow, seems like it has been a long time since I updated my little blog. I have so much I could share about our business but today I want to share a make-over in my home. I found this china hutch at an estate sale and I fell in love with the curved glass and the glints of gold in the glass. But the dark wood would never work in my home so I set out to put a coat of paint on it.

It could not have turned out any better. After a couple of coats it was complete. I normally distress but so far I have not on this piece. I did use a satin finish so there is a small shine but I love that about it.

I quickly filled it with touches of gold and it suited it!

Yes, you do see a little pumpkin, I just couldn't resist.
  My sister loves it...she saw the cabinet before I painted it and she wondered if I was changing my style..lol no just needed a coat of paint and then it took on a new look.
   I have so many pieces of furniture to paint, some I have stared and some are waiting. Either way, time is growing short with autumn approaching! Good to be back.

Dreaming

Well Dear Friends,
   I have to say it has been a whirlwind here. I did get a change to decorate my porch. I am happy with it for now. I usually leave the flag out until after the 4th of July!

This is a wide view of the porch!

I am finding peace sitting on the porch looking across the fields and enjoying the view. This is where I dream of the next phase for Vyntage Barn. This is where I think about the changes we will make to the house, this is where I think about what is to be.

My Dad was in the Korean War so I am a very patriotic and this old flag was given to me by my Aunt. I sit on the swing and I think about how Dad climbed up and caulked the ceiling boards while Mom and I painted the spindles. It took up about all afternoon but we laughed and talked and the time pasted quickly.
  This old porch has many memories but it hold many dreams. I have plans swirling around in my head. Ideas that I would like to try at my business and A dream to have a Christmas Open House in my home this year. So much to plan yet so much to be thankful for! Today I was daydreaming...it was a good day.