More Bread Boards Coming

Wow!  I can't believe I already sold all my bread boards!  I'm still learning to use Etsy and didn't know how to alert shoppers of this but I wanted to let everyone know that I WILL have more bread boards up for sale at the end of the week!  Several people have emailed me asking when I would have more.  Thanks so much everyone!  I feel so blessed by all the love and support I have received here in blog land!

Have a great week!

Vintage Home Designs

Happy Saturday!  Hope you are all enjoying a fantastic weekend.  I wanted to let everyone know that I opened an Etsy shop called Vintage Home Designs.  The first item/items up for sale are my mini bread boards.  You can visit my shop by clicking on the Etsy Shop tab above.

I just love them and really enjoy using them and hope someone else will, too!  I will be selling them in sets of four.  I have 5 sets for sale right now, but if you would like to special order more, just contact me.

I had so much fun taking these photos in our backyard.  I used an old barn door for the tabletop.  I love the contrast between the barn door and the white dishes and bread board.  So pretty.

 I think these are also fun for crusty Italian bread and herb butters or dipping oil.

I will add more to my shop in the future.  Gotta start out slow.  :)  I would love any suggestions!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Linen Tablecloths

Hello there!  It's Friday!  I ordered some beautiful linen fabric to make a tablecloth for my dining room table at a fantastic price and can't wait for it to arrive.  You can see the fabric I ordered here.  I love the look and feel of linen, it's feminine and flowy and dresses a table sumptuously.  It's also expensive, unless you can find a good deal and don't need a ton.  Since I only needed three yards, this was a great price.

I love these inspiration pics as I'm still not certain what kind of tablecloth I will sew.  Something like this one below is gorgeous.  I love the trim added to the end. 

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Or this, it isn't linen, it's burlap, but I LOVE the number feature on the end, even though it was probably added to designate the table.  

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And, oh my word, this one is wonderful.  Though, I don't think I could sew something like that, it sure is lovely.

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So, I have a couple questions I'm curious about.  Do you use a tablecloth?  Do you keep it on your table at all times or do you only dress your table when you will be using it?  I'm kinda partial to keeping linens on the table so that I can enjoy and admire them all the time, but, I'm not a fan of keeping place settings on the table, as well, to get dusty, even though I think it looks beautiful, it isn't practical in our house.  How bout you?

Have a great weekend friends!

Covering up...

A scruffy old fence. An even scruffier old bench. Time to renovate and improve..?

Naaah, sometimes a quick fix is all there is time for...

... with my trusty, rusty bowl filled with blue and purple loveliness...

... flowers whispering summery tunes...

... layers of different shades of purple...

... just hanging around...

A "covered up" colourful corner to unwind in...

... and feel "tickled purple"..!

To all lovely readers out there, thank you so much for visiting! 

To those of you leaving kind words, a warm thank you. I am sorry I have not

 been around to see all your lovely blogs... time seems to be running away from me, 

but I read and appreciate every single word!

Wishing you colourful summer days,

Helena

Family Room/Den Ideas

Hey there!  Hope everyone is having a great week!  I finally finished up the den and I am so tickled with it.  I decorated the room for my hubby because it is where he likes to relax with our boys and so I thought it would be fun to fill the room with some of the things he loves most.  I started the redo by building this reclaimed wood shelving unit.  He had asked for a unique shelf to display some of his collections.  Then when he came home with this colorful minnow basket, I decided to use it for inspiration for the rest of the room.  Here's what I came up with.

Because of the cheerful bright colors on the minnow bucket, I chose red, white and black for the color scheme of the room.  I wanted the space to have a nautical/lake house/coastal vibe to it.  So, big bold stripes were perfect.  I ordered the fabrics for the pillows at fabric.com.  The rug I already had and purchased from Lowe's several years ago.  The roman shades I made from old cheap mini blinds and drop cloth that I painted grain sack stripes on in barn red.  Here is a fantastic tutorial on how to make them.

This coffee table is a storage chest that my dad built for me many years ago and it's super heavy.  So when hubby came home with another set of gorgeous vintage castors, I thought it would be pretty cool to attach them to the chest to make it more mobile.  Plus, I love the charm it adds to a very special piece.

Our den is at the base of the stairway, which is getting ready to receive a major overhaul, as well.  Can't wait for that one!

I painted the Boat Dock and Bait Shop sign on old barn wood and attached a fill it strip to the back.  The oar came from an old barn but I added the number with grey craft paint, and gave it a bit of distressing.

I was super excited about this project.  I'm sure some of you have seen this burlap board from Pottery Barn.

via

Well, I thought it would be kinda cool to make so I bought a tri-fold foam board, covered it in canvas, then covered it in burlap and stapled everything to the back of the foam board.  Then I built a frame with ripped pieces of barn wood because that is what I had, but you could also use 1 x 2's. Before I completely attached everything, I spray painted two small wood dowel rods with oil rubbed bronze spray paint, also because that is what I had on hand, drilled corresponding holes on each side of the frame and inserted the rods.  Then I completed the frame and framed the rest of the board. 

To keep the board inside the frame, I used heavy duty staples and a staple gun. Voila!  Because I had everything to make this except the foam board and dowel rods, this project only cost me 10 bucks!

He's totally happy with it and it's perfect for some of the small paper items that my husband collects, like old drive in movie calenders from 1962, vintage maps and post cards, old metal movie reels, and anything else he or the boys wants to stick up there.  Does anyone else think that metal movie reel looks like a steering wheel on a boat??  I also hung the vintage maps we found when we went out thrifting one weekend.

This TV console is an old record player cabinet that hubby found on a picking adventure.  The record player didn't work so we pulled it out and decided to use it for our TV console and game system for the kiddos.  I love it, it's solid wood and didn't need anything done to it at all.  I even liked the hardware.

Picked this basket up at a yard sale and love it!  Love the cool texture it adds to the room.

Here's hubby's shelf.  He filled it with his collection of minnow buckets (I love that chippy green one, thinking about sticking some fresh flowers in it, if he'll let me, lol), a vintage fishing reel, an old pump gauge from a fire truck (my hubby is a fireman) and he's got several other things going on it when he makes up his mind. :)

He's pretty excited about the possibilities.  I love that.  :)

The white chair is my favorite part.  It used to be an everyday suede arm chair that was starting to show it's wear, so, thanks to a good friend, I got an Ektorp chair cover for only 29 bucks at Ikea.  I was determined to make it fit, and I did, by golly. It fit perfectly and I was so excited!  Like the kind of excited you get when you're a kid waiting for Christmas morning. :)  I couldn't sleep!!  For only $29, it's like we got a completely new chair!  And I've heard that you just throw them in the wash and bleach them when they get dirty.

We're both super happy about the room and he finally has a place to display the things he loves.  Oh, I switched couches with the living room and den simply because this couch is so much more comfortable and he likes it better.  So the newly upholstered couch is in the living room where decorating changes for fall will start soon.  I'm ready, so tired of this intense heat, even though summer is our favorite time of the year.  Anyone else ready for fall?

Have a great day friends!

Clothes optional...

Have you always dreamt of a horticultural outing wearing nothing but your "birthday suit"...?

Perhaps longed to come close to...not little green men, but one LARGE green head...?

Would you like somewhere to explore an abundance of floral "fabulousness"...

...and finally find a cauldron large enough for your secret potions...?

Well I, or rather Ian and Barbara Pollard, have got just the place for you!

Just 25 minutes up the road from us, in Malmesbury, is Abbey House and Gardens, a k a "The Home of the Naked Gardeners". It has a five-acre garden so full of interesting "rooms", beautiful flowers and playful elements, that it makes you want to explore every corner and every path. Oh, and did I mention the waterfall, the small island in the water, the stepping stones, the oversized chess game, the stricter park character mixed with the wild and untamed - a perfect marriage of styles, if you ask me!

...and one or two roses too... or 2200 different varieties, to be precise!

Should you feel that you are not quite ready to explore nature "au naturel"...

... you are welcome in clothes too!

Which, if you feel like sitting down to rest your feet on an inviting wooden bench, 

might turn out to be a jolly good idea...! ☺

More images from this garden in previous posts here, here, here, and here. 

Or visit their website.

Garden love to you all, and especially to our friends in Norway, 

whose lives have been shaken in such unimaginable ways.

Helena 

Kära vänner i Norge,

Idag är mina tankar hos er och familjerna som drabbats. Ofattbara tragedier!

Dear friends in Norway,

Today my thoughts are with you and with the affected families. Unbelievable tragedies!

Helena

Auction Find

My husband went to an auction at the beginning of the week and picked up a few things that he loved.  Here's one of them.

It's an old minnow bucket!  Fishing isn't one of my favorite things, but it's one of his, so, when he walked in with this, I LOVED it.  I loved seeing how excited he was about finding something for him.  My husband is a very thoughtful person and is always coming home with things for the kids or me, or the neighbors or our friends.  So this was pretty special.  And you can't help but love the bright happy colors and graphics.

I like it so much that I'm using it for my starting point for the rest of the space.  He also picked up a chippy green one, which is so cute, and believe me, I never thought I'd put the word cute and minnow bucket in the same sentence.  Here's the other side of the bucket.

How neat is that bright little red and white measuring guide across the bottom?!  I've only got one more thing to pick up for the room, so, hopefully, I will get to put everything together for him this weekend and blog about it next week!  I know he can't wait!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Special days...

All days are special in their own way, but...

 

...some days are simply a little more special than others. Especially when...

 

... embellished by a visit from a very dear friend, LOVELY Charlotte with the stunning blog "Garden Flow", and her gorgeous family. A day spent chatting, laughing, exploring the local scenery. A day that passed much too quickly and I wish I could have stretched out to last just a little bit longer. A very special day indeed!

   

The images I show today are of a scene I wish I could have greeted the guests with: snacks and bubbly in the garden... But alas, the weather gods had other plans, offering surprise showers throughout the day, making indoor dining a more appealing alternative.

***

Last week offered more special days. A surprise parcel arrived from a dear blog friend in Holland, Ria (It's me), with - among other things - the gorgeous linen tea towel above, with a Focaccia recipe printed on it. Thank you, lovely Ria, for my special gifts!

Oh, and then there was of course another special day last week...

... in fact, it was my special day...

In the past few years, the man in the house has really caught on to a winning concept for birthday presents for yours truly... Or in his own words: "If it is old and rusty, she'll like it." Oh yes! So, the old butter churn and garden scissors (on the chair) above made this birthday girl a very happy bunny...! I am beginning to wonder if my fondness for surrounding myself with old and scruffy things is a subconscious move to - in comparison - not feel so old and scruffy myself...☺

Thank you so much for all your kind words and a special hello to new readers and followers.

I hope your summer is filled with many very special days!

Helena

(Most items flea market finds, except the crown, which was made by my father a few years ago.)