Spring Farmhouse Kitchen Decor...

My inspiration for my 'Spring Kitchen Decor' this year started with the Old, Rusty, Bed Spring Wreath that I made at the end of January...

I had a few leftover rusty springs and a couple of chicken nests at our barn gave me ideas for homemade nests to go with my rusty spring decor.

I keep a 5 gallon bucket full of dried flowers and cannibalized thrift store floral's in one of the sheds.

It's full of old angel vine wreaths - moss - Spanish moss - dried flowers and all sorts of nest materials.

How do you make a nest? 

One might ask...

They are EASY~!

With a few natural items like moss and Spanish moss and twigs, you just play around with it until it meets your approval. 

I tore an angel vine wreath apart and used the bendable twigs to form the shell and then I simply filled the twig-nest-shells with some Spanish moss and dried flowers and some old green moss out of a flower pot outside.We have an old, cedar shake roof on the house that has been here many, many moons. It has these little moss circles growing on it that blow off in the wind. I walked around the place collecting the little moss cast offs and added them to my nest decor too.

You can make a nest out of anything natural, I would think...

Collecting the items is most of the fun.

To make the decor my own, instead of just Spring nest's for my Spring fever, I added the left over rusty Springs here and there to coordinate with the rusty bed spring wreath on the kitchen door.

Inspiration also came from a couple of new acquisitions last Friday at one of my favorite antique stores in Levan, UT. 

I think it's called, "The Old Country Store"? 

They have the word 'rustic' mastered. 

She usually has a great selection of white enamelware too, but she has been liquidated~!

Oh, the horror...

I was so depressed ~~~ =(

I was really in the mood for a new piece of enamelware... 

How could somebody have bought it all? 

Why would they do that to me???

I looked up at the ceiling in sure disgust and spied a beauty up on the top shelf - it was way up there calling to me ~
"Jen... Oh, Jen... Look up here... Ya, here I am, ready to go home with you..."

And I turned to walk away and another item started heckling me from the West...

Good Lord, what is a blonde woman to do except go find the 'Man-Child' and his wallet, as I had left mine in the truck~!

The piece I knew I had to have was this copper apothecary scale. It has brass and bronze upper pieces with brass chains and a hammered copper bowl. Rarely have I seen them with all their pieces. 

I didn't even have to ask and the 'Man-Child' had already scooped it up and had it on the counter for payment. We think alike and love the same rustic things...

The scale is hanging in a kitchen corner with a bundle of dried lavender and a homemade nest and eggs in the bowl. It completed an empty spot in the kitchen that I needed to fill with something unique.

But, there was that other item, way up high...

Oh, could I really leave it behind?

~~~NO~~~

It was a huge copper boiler with a perfect lid. Most of the ones I see have no lid, or they're just completely beat up. This one was rustic and used, but in wonderful shape. I pointed to it and the 'Man-Child' carefully lifted it down and took it over the counter to pay for it too...

It's currently sitting on the antique steamer trunk with its lid tucked in behind it. It has spring flowers and bird nests and my old milk pitcher tucked inside.

So, aside from the new antiques, it cost me nothing to decorate my kitchen for Spring this year.

I had a basket full of wooden eggs in multiple farmhouse colors that I used in all of the nests. I switched some farmhouse decor items around and freshen'd colors up for Spring...

If you wait until you have enough money to decorate and make your home your own it will never happen.

If you wait until you can afford to buy everything new, you are missing the point.

It is the old, the new, the made, the hand-me-down, the collected, the worn (but loved) things in your home that make it your own.

But, please clean up the mess when you're done being creative~!

=\

And smile when you go to bed that you've made your house your home...

I think Spring has finally Sprung~!

~At least here in Central Utah...~

The Antique Mirror that came along for the ride...

Pssst....

If you look above that old, antique curio cabinet you will spy a beautiful, old, oval mirror. 

She's an antique...

She came along for the ride home with the Antique 1949 Wedgewood Cook Stove.

Her antique gold gilding matches my living room perfect. 

She looks beautiful above the antique curio cabinet.

The gentleman I bought the old cook stove from gave her to me right before we headed home.

It belonged to a friend of his -

She has a special place in my home because she had a special place in his heart.

She looks beautiful in here and she matches the other mirror on another wall...

Thank you Beau for the antique mirror. She will always be cherished.

Thank you for sending it home with me... 

It looks beautiful in here and it will always be well cared for.

We had a Beautiful Week~!

An old barrel and an old thermos...

I have been lost in my own world for so long this summer that it's finally time to come out and play

~with my blog~ 

Isn't it funny how busy we get in the few months of summer?

It has been 'crazy busy' around here and that's a 'Good Thing~!' 

We did manage to get the big fridge transferred to this old house and the water and ice maker hooked up - Yay, but... It is monstrous and swallowed my kitchen.. I didn't know what to do. This heaping, huge, refrigerator that I couldn't wait to get here, made me gag. 

So, I fixed it "Jen Style..." 

I covered the top of it in old and antique. At least, to try to soften it a bit and give me something pleasing to look at...

I mean, really... 

Doesn't everybody have an old wooden spout and an old vanilla keg and 5 vintage crates laying around? 

Doesn't everybody think about putting old barrels and crates on their refrigerators?

How does a person keep an old vanilla keg on a refrigerator, you might wonder? 

Well, you enlist the help of "The Man-Child"

And, consequently, it only take a couple of old, rusty, coil racks from a flatbed trailer to accomplish the mission. 

Doesn't everybody have old coil racks just laying around? 

*Ya, I'm sure you can see my sarcasm because I never would have thought of that either, without the "Man-Child" ... *

Anyway ~

You can understand what an eyesore my big, wonderful, refrigerator that doesn't have a place in my kitchen, because they forgot when they remodeled it years ago that kitchens have refrigerators...duh,

must have looked like before the old stuff got carefully placed on top...

~That was probably a record long run on sentence and the grammar in this blog post is unbelievably poor, so I apologize ahead of time because I have a lot to say right now in such a short amount of time and I'm trying to get it all out...~

(=

And, how in the world did I miss this vintage thermos for this long? 

It has been sitting on the back porch step for 'who knows how long?' 

It was in a box... There are a lot of boxes around here I still haven't looked in... 

One of the cats knocked it off the porch and when I picked it up, I smiled~!

And then, I walked into my bathroom and swapped out the old, enamelware milk pitcher for this old thermos. Yep, it still has the lid too - I just tucked it into the towel cabinet for safe keeping.

It fits in wonderful with the old metal walls and the beautiful cast iron towel hook.

It's a nice change ~~~

Our local antique store owners went to a few estate sales in Park City this month. 

They found me a few treasures, I'm proud to now own...

This handmade, old, egg basket, which is now, the tissue holder.

And, this gorgeous, old,  popcorn stitch, handmade, fringed coverlet. 

When she pulled it out of a Walmart sack I sighed.

*Sigh...*

I think the fringe made my heart skip a beat...

She sold them too me for a pittance of what they are worth.

Her husband says she enjoys finding me this kind of stuff. It gives her something to search for.

I'm glad she likes me~!

It didn't end there though...

The "Man-Child" went antiquing too, at an antique store in Billings, MT.

He bought me some awesome trinkets. 

He knows what I love ~~~

He got me this set of cute, little, reproduction enamelware canisters and the stack of antique enamelware mugs...

And, this wonderful little teapot for the kitchen stove.
I have been searching for one around here to much avail. I'm glad he brought this one home, but there was an even greater one he brought with it...

This absolutely marvelous pitcher. 

To add to my collection of old, enamelware pitchers.

It is tall and heavy and has a wonderful old glaze. 

It is the queen of my collection ~ !

He knew I would love it... 

And, of course he brought me home some old lace.

An old shawl, a pretty old curtain panel and a "Quaker Lace" table cloth.

I'm so happy he is an "enabler" of a lace hoarder. This obsession of mine might be hard to explain to a random male, but the "Man-Child" gets it. No explanation needed. It must be the smile on my face when I hold it in my hands that makes him bring it home?

The "Man-Child" has AMAZING taste~! 

(After all, he chose me...)

A vintage European inspired, antique, French looking, Victorian mirror...

I had a surprise show up on the porch today.

Don't you just love surprises???

This surprise was a Vintage European Inspired ~ Antique French looking Victorian Mirror. 

And, I hung it in the bedroom...

It is 42" tall and it is quite heavy. Much heavier than I was expecting, which is a good thing...

It has beautiful details and a beautiful old patina.

I love the way it hangs from the hook. 

It gives it such an 'old world' antique'y look...

It's quite a stunning mirror. 

And, while I was at my other house picking the mirror up, I found a silk, matelasse quilt, I forgot I had.

The quilt is quite stunning too~!

That's what happens when you're a "Bedding Hoarder"... 

You forget what quilts and bedding you have.

Someday, I'll get this bedroom finished. But, for right now, I'm loving every second of this redo.

Now, if I could just find some 20'ish, strong men, to help me move the other furniture out of the way to paint the other wall... 

<sigh>

An Antique Steamer Trunk...

Have you ever seen a picture of something and you just had to have it?

It doesn't happen to me often, I'm usually a thinker and ponder'er - I'll give things a few days to sink in,  to see if it's really something I want. Once in a while however, I just can't restrain myself...

Case in point, this Antique Steamer Trunk...

I don't know if it was the details, or the color... 

I don't know if it was the patina, or the real wood showing through that reeled me in & made me want...

I'm not sure what it was about the picture, but I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my wallet and rushed to town to buy this great big beauty. 

And she is 'BIG'~!

I do know, it wasn't the pink wallpaper with blue fish that attracted me ~

It's just crazy what happens on the 'inside' of things sometimes...

The shop owner & I slid it into my truck and well, on the way home, no matter how slow I drove, that rotted canvas top decided to really start peeling. I already planned on removing it anyway, so Mother Nature gave me a helping hand in that respect.

I used a small razor knife and carefully severed the canvas from the leather, around the top and merely peeled it off. Even the underlying glue layer was so deteriorated that it just scraped off with a plastic putty knife and a good soaking of water.

When the top was clean and dry, I waxed it with a good quality furniture wax and buffed it to a semi-gloss shine. You can't even tell that there has been any alteration. Although, anybody familiar with canvas covered steamer trunks would know the top had been removed.

I used a ratio of 3:1 water to downy fabric softener and really soaked the interior of the trunk to get the old pink and blue fish wallpaper to release, so I could remove it. It was in decrepit shape and didn't add anything to the trunks charm.

The underlying cloth, plaid, original layer of fabric pulled off with the wallpaper which was no worry to me. There was beautiful cedar underneath all the ruckus and once the old fabric came off, the smell of cedar filled the kitchen. Well, and downy fabric softener, of course...

Ignore the yellow pic - I was working on it late in the evening under fluorescent light...

Honestly, I didn't do anything with the main body of the trunk but sweep it off. 

I was scared if I played too much, the canvas would start to peel. The patina on this old trunk is what made me fall in love. Doing anything to disturb it, would have made me cry...

I hope to use this old beauty in the large upstairs bedroom, at the foot of my other carved bed, when the staircase renovation gets completed.

But, until we have stairs, she's residing in the kitchen - next to the kitchen entry door, while the 'Shredded Wheat Crate Table" takes a vacation.

She's great storage and she's just beautiful to look at...

She just adds a nice, old, touch to the kitchen entryway.

Really... 

Who "hasn't" thought of adding an old steamer trunk to their kitchen decor???

Have a 'Beautiful Day Today'~!