Snuggled in for Christmas

I hope everyone is all snuggled in with their families this Christmas Eve...

Enjoying some Christmas baking...

One Chandelier at a Time

As much as I am enjoying our new house, I vowed from the first day that I would change out a majority of the builder-grade light fixtures that most new construction houses come with.  I may not have an adorable farmhouse cottage or stately home with rich old character, but my intent is to slowly infuse as much vintage charm as I can into our suburbian home.  The first change out was in the dining room last month...

Rustic Stone Christmas Mantel

I feel lucky to have more than one mantel to decorate this year in the new house.  I completed my formal living room mantel several weeks ago, but wasn't sure if I was going to get around to the great room stone fireplace this year.  Out of all the rooms in the house, I feel that this one has the most potential for spectacular Christmas decorating, but it will have to wait until we are a bit more settled in next year.  Our great room (family room) has almost 20 ft ceilings and a curved wall of windows that made us fall in love with the house.

DIY Wrapping Paper

I promised last week when I shared our family Christmas tree that I would give a little tutorial on my DIY wrapping paper.  For years I've wrapped presents in brown and white Kraft paper and dressed them up with satin bows, raffia, burlap, tiny pinecones, and ornaments, but this year I was inspired to dress them up a bit more after purchasing several different stencils online. 

There are so many great stencils out there these days and the number of uses for them is endless, including making custom wrapping paper.  One of my favorite stencils I have is a brocade stencil that I purchased through Overstock for under $10.

Christmas Cabinet Vignette

I couldn't resist spreading my free greenery everywhere I could around the house for Christmas.  I love the way it drapes and softens the hard edges of cabinets and mantels.  I have a wonderful old cabinet that used to hold my clock collection that I've decided to swap out for my wedding china and it too was covered in greenery and topped with a little Christmas vignette...

I was so happy to see that my "perfect shade of blue" antique wine jug and the wedding china made the move across the country without breaking!

The Trick to a Larger-Looking Christmas Tree

Right now I have a very small artificial tree that you can practically see through after setting it up.  It may have fit in our old home, but it looks a little lost in the new house.  Since my husband's allergies prevent us from having one of those wonderful North Carolina Fraser Firs, my job is to use the one we have and give it a little presence...

Instead of placing the tree on the floor, I set it up on an old wooden trunk from the garage and draped a ruffled blanket and other linens over it to soften the look and cover the metal tree base. 

Nature-Inspired Holiday Dining

I'm crazy over birds.  I know they've been popular for a while now, but my love of them goes back to my childhood on the dairy farm when I'd rescue baby cliff swallows from the barn cats after their little mud nests had broke.  I spent most of my time in the summer hunting down food for the little guys to eat and eventually set them free when they were big enough.

My love of birds has continued over the years and my much of my decorating style revolves around nature-inspired elements like birds, nests, branches, and moss.  When it came to decide what my holiday table was going to include this year, I knew that it needed to be subtle, muted and coincide with my new dining room that I just finished furnishing.

Will This Tree Ever Stop Blowing Away?

I couldn't help myself...  I have been wanting to share my little front porch with all of you, but my darn tree literally keeps blowing away.  The fact that it's in a big bucket with a bunch of large rocks and water and it still blows away tells you that our street (or maybe it's North Carolina?) gets some gusty winds.  It seems like you have to keep things nailed down around here.  Anyway, my little front porch tree isn't looking too swell anymore and either is my cute little black lantern...because the tree fell on it and broke the glass out of one side. Live and learn, huh?  Note to next year self:  Do not buy cute little Fraser fir tabletop tree at Home Depot for the front porch! 

The front porch is still very much a work-in-progress for me.  I've been focusing most of my attention to the inside of our new house and if I hadn't found these $15 Ballard Design chairs on Craigslist, I probably wouldn't have anything out there yet.  They need a bit of cleaning up and some cute black and white damask outdoor pillows, don't they?  Wonder if they'll blow away too?

Christmas Stairs

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always wanted "Christmas Stairs".  I grew up in a one-level home and I thought houses with stairs were the best, especially those with banisters that could be decked out for the holidays.  Even our realtor would say when we went through houses last summer, "It has Christmas Stairs!"  Well...I got my Christmas stairs in the new house.  This is what we saw when we first walked in the door a few months back...

A Christmas Mantel

After showing you some sneak peeks of my Christmas decor, I wanted to share the finished mantel for my formal living room.  Even though it's a new house, I only purchased a few items for all my Christmas decorating, including the boxwood wreath.  I've always wanted one and I figure I can use it all year around in different places around the house. 

All my greenery throughout the house was free from a local tree farm.  I stopped by to see if they had fresh garlands...which they didn't, but I got a truckload of free trimmings that they were about to haul away.  Score!

Aged to Perfection

Three and a half years ago, I came upon a set of furniture (dining chairs, buffet, and cabinet) that I fell in love with.  Even though they'd been stored away for many years and were covered in grime, I could see through the dirt to the wonderful shape and ornate detailing.  The woman that I purchased them from told me that they had belonged to her grandmother, then mother, and at last came to her.  They had even been moved across the country from Pennsylvania all the way to Spokane, WA  (hmm, sounds familiar).  Her mother had painted them many years ago and since she wasn't a fan of painted furniture, I was happy to take them off of her hands. 

A Few Christmas Peeks

A new home is always exciting and fun to decorate for Christmas and to be honest, I was pulling out my Christmas decor before Thanksgiving.  I really needed to take stock of what Christmas decor I still had after the big move, but I couldn't resist putting a few things out.  I was sad to see that all of my wreaths that I used on the outside of my previous home didn't make it.  I don't remember donating them, but when the moving truck was filling quickly, I had to be picky about what went in.  Darn, I had big plans for those... maybe next year.  I've feel like I've been knee-deep in pine needles, glitter, and Rubbermaid totes for the past few days, but I only have a few little areas to finish up and I'll be done!  Here's a bit of what I've been working on:

A Great Day with Miss Mustard Seed and Fellow Bloggers

I've always been so inspired by Miss Mustard Seed.  Not only is she amazingly talented, but her blog is so authentic and a joy to read, so when she put the call out to do some shopping and socializing in Raleigh this weekend, I was so excited to have the opportunity to meet her and some fellow creative women from the area. 

My Favorite Collection Ever

As I've slowly been settling into our new house by unpacking, painting, and moving furniture around, but there is one box that has remained unpacked though it's contents are my favorite collection ever.  I actually didn't trust putting the box in the big U-haul truck, so it rode with me all across the 3,000 miles it took to get here... Until this past week, these guys have just been waiting for me to unpack!  

Vintage Show Love

When my husband and I were deciding to take the plunge and move across the country for his new job, a big factor for me was that I would be missing so many incredible vintage and antique shows that are a part of the Pacific Northwest.  Since The Farm Chicks Show began several years ago, the Pacific Northwest has become a mecca for these incredible shows.  I knew that I would miss them.... a lot!   Sure enough, now that I'm mostly settled in the new house, I'm pining to be a part of the shows again and I certainly miss all my wonderful and talented friends that pour their hearts into these shows, like Jennifer and Kathy Walker of Unexpected Necessities.  This mother and daughter team have their annual show this weekend in Nine Mile Falls, WA.  Even though I won't be able to be there, I'm living a little vicariously through my oh-so-talented mom and step-dad of Angel's Attic right now.  As they've been getting ready for the first show in which we haven't shared a booth, they've shared some of their projects and I'm in love...

Raleigh Historic Home Walking Tour

Despite the fact that our new house in the Raleigh area is brand-new construction, I would have loved to have settled into an older home that is full of charm and character.  When my husband and I first visited Raleigh this past May, we drove around the city to explore a bit.  We'd heard that there was a pocket of beautiful, older homes from our realtor and it didn't take us long to find it...

This is my all-time favorite house...My mom and I call it "The Storybook House".  You can read more about it here

Happy Autumn!

 

The leaves are just beautiful in North Carolina right now and it's been one of the most beautiful October's that I've ever seen. I usually associate the colorful leaves with cold, chilly weather from the Inland Northwest, but it's been so warm and pleasant here this past month that I'm still wearing shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. I think I can get used to this!

The New House

If you've been following my blog you'll know two things:  1.  I haven't posted in a long time!  It's difficult to blog without having the Internet and I haven't had consistent Internet since last June and it took six weeks to get the cable company to come out to the new house to hook it up.  Yes, it's been torture :)  2.  We have finally, finally, FINALLY settled into a house!  I was going to go crazy there for a bit... I'm definitely a "put down roots" kind of a gal - a real nester.  I have a whole new appreciation for military families.  To cut to the chase, this is my last year of moving in review:  Last October - Spokane, WA to Sandpoint, ID, June - Sandpoint, ID to Fayetteville, NC, August - Fayetteville, NC to Raleigh, NC.  We had to live temporarily at a family member's house with the bare minimum while everything else was crammed in a storage unit in Raleigh until we could find and close on a house.  This was our summer....

Life's An Adventure, Right?...

Wow, what a whirlwind it's been the last few months!  My family had just moved to Sandpoint, ID for my husband's new job and I had even went back to work full-time when our lives were once again turned upside down when husband received an incredible opportunity to be part of a brand new tax division in Raleigh, NC for the CPA firm that we had both worked for in Spokane.  Before I knew it, I was scurrying like crazy trying to find housing in Raleigh, wrapping up the last projects at work, packing our house, and get all my projects done for my favorite show ever, The Farm Chicks Show.  
As soon as the show was over, everything went into boxes and was loaded into the biggest U-haul truck we could get and an additional trailer and off we went...almost 3,000 miles away from everything we've ever known. 
It's been quite an adventure to say the least...  There are stories of our "travels" that I'm sure our kids will tell their kids like attempting to drive across South Dakota during tornado weather, a 5 year-old with the stomach flu, and me driving a large trailer for the first time and trying to keep it on the road in the wind.  Needless to say, we got stuck in a rundown hotel in the middle of nowhere for two days.  It rained so hard that the walls in the room were leaking!  Slowly, but surely, we finally made it to North Carolina and we all cheered when we finally made it across that stateline.  My undramatic husband even wanted to kiss the ground when we got here and declared that we were never doing that again!   

Now that we're here, I'm so excited to explore the South! There is such history and a unique beauty here!  True to form, I've already buying been buying up some fabulous antiques that I can't wait to share with you. I hope you'll join me on my new "Southern Junkin' Journey"!

 

Baby Boy Shower

I recently returned to the workforce as a financial analyst and one of the things that I've missed so much the last few years staying home with the kids is the kind of adult interaction that you get working together in teams with really great people.  I'm fortunate enough to be in great department with a couple of gals that are fun to be around.  One of them is due to have a little baby boy in June and I had the pleasure to help plan and throw a "work" baby shower.  We had so much fun coming up with ideas and setting up that I wanted to share some of the fun with you...

 

Funky Junk Show Highlights

Funky Junk Show - Spokane

Two weeks away to the first big show of the season!  Mark your calendars - you won't want to miss this!

Can't wait to see you there...

Things That Make Me Smile

When our yard is still deeply covered in snow and there are giant mountains of dirty, gravel-filled snow all over or when it still snows 2-3 times a week here in Sandpoint, ID and I am now in a gray, lifeless cubicle 40+ hours a week, I need things that can make me smile.  Although we are in a transition stage of renting until we permanently settle (which means no painting walls, drywall anchors, etc), I found that it's important to surround yourself with the little things that brighten your day and make you smile...

 Coffee always cheers me up, but drinking it in a favorite cup is even better.

 This old cabinet filled with my collection of clocks will always remind me how precious time is.

 Birds, birds, birds... I've loved them for as long as I know. 

 Doesn't everyone need more than one set of bird salt and pepper shakers?

 Favorite china is a must...

 mixed with vintage suitcases and...

old trophy cups.

 That favorite piece of furniture in all its distressed glory

 And everyone needs a light-filled window and a big, squishy sofa to soak in some quiet time.

But most of all...it's the important things in life that make you smile!

I hope some of the things that make me smile put a smile on your face too!

Kristen

XOXO To You!

Happy Valentine's Day!  May your day be filled with xoxo's!

Your Friend,

Kristen

Taking Some Time

I've been taking some time the last few months...

Spending some serious time with these guys...

Visiting the happiest place on earth....

Curling up with a good book or two...

And, I can tell you what we haven't been doing...no gutting our house, no hauling furniture everywhere, and no going days and weeks without having my husband home for dinner.  The weekend after last fall's Angel's Attic Show, our family moved up to Sandpoint, ID for my husband's new job and some serious downtime for all of us.  We are happy to report that we've enjoyed weekends playing Wii games, reading books, and bumming around the house for the first time EVER!  We also took our first family vacation to Disneyworld in Orlando a couple weeks ago and had the time of our lives!  It's been so good for us to recharge after so many years of constant stress.  We tease now that we all feel almost "normal"!

After the whirlwind of selling our home, being part of several shows, going through a housing emotional roller coaster of trying to find a place to live in Sandpoint, and packing and moving two giant U-haul trucks (one unloaded in the middle of a very rainy night), I didn't want to look at another piece of furniture for a while and to be honest, I wasn't sure when I would... Family before furniture, right?!  In the last few weeks, I've been pulling out my decorating books and magazines, dreaming of projects, and I even think the furniture in the garage has been calling my name :)  Clearly, I've been cured from the "I just want to relax a while" phase. 

I'm very excited to be planning out projects and setting some show dates for this upcoming spring which I'll keep posted here.  I've also been creating some new jewelry that I can't wait to share with you!