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...~

DIY - Rustic Vegetable / Fruit Bin...

I needed a 'Veggie / Fruit' bin for the counter...

The 'Man-Child' built me the potato and onion bins out of old apple crates prior, but I also needed a big one for the bar / counter to store the rest of my fresh veggies / fruits that are always just piled around in bowls and such. We consume a lot of fresh produce and it was going to be nice to have it all in one place.

We were sitting in the kitchen talking this morning and I was looking at the ones he built that are harbored by the fridge, when an ingenious thought hit me.

I had 2 old, steel, industrial drawers tucked away in the hole where the dishwasher used to reside.

I seen them stacked there, pulled them out and we started discussing making a custom veggie / fruit bin and how we would do it.

The 'Man-Child' got some old pallet material, some clamps, a few pieces of cardboard and he started to piece together a prototype...

I fell in love with it from the inception. 

It was PERFECT for the counter and matched the other potato / Onion bin in the kitchen perfect~!

And, it would hold a ton of veggies and fruit...

He was attempting to piece it all together, measure, assess, think on things...

When help arrived...

Even the 'Lone Ranger' had 'Tonto'...

Although, I think Tonto was probably more helpful than Oliver was to the 'Man-Child' today...

Have I ever admitted just how awesome it is to come up with an idea, an item and say what I'm thinking and the 'Man-Child' can build it for me? 

It's the advantage to living with a contractor...

<Of course, it's nice to live with a contractor that loves to build you're crazy ideas ~ too!>

And, a contractor that's great at developing his own pattern and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty...

And, a contractor that loves Arizona brand sweet tea as much as me...

(=

Who can take an idea.

Go outside.

Gather some tools.

And, create something fantastic...

He even included a custom made top for me to attach my green vintage chopper to the top...

The green vintage chopper that matches my green Wayrite scale that sits on the other produce bins...

The 'Man-Child' never disappoints when he makes me something. 

This one turned out Fantastic for this Farmhouse Kitchen~!

He even took the time to build little dividers to go in the drawers...

He's an Awesome Guy~!

Sharing At:

Share Your Cup Thursdays 

Treasure Hunt Thursday

Knick of Time 

Homemade Cushions for the Corner Kitchen Nook Benches...

Have you ever had an uncontrollable urge to make some country cushions for a 'Corner Nook Table' for your kitchen?

Well, I have and because of the 'urge,' some really cute cushions were created~!

You know...

You're just sitting around waiting for somebody to call you back for some work and "BAM" ~~~

The idea hits you~!

You run in and grab some of the hotel pillows you picked up at the thrift store (for the stuffing...)

You grab that yardage that was suppose to be used for a quilt back that you got from the clearance rack for a pittance, but when you 'pre' washed it, it shrunk and now it looks like thermal yardage for long-johns. 

(=

Hey, it frays on the edges awesomely and I love frayed, fringy, foofoo, stuff ~ remember...?

Why not use long john material for corner nook cushions.

It makes perfect sense in my head...

~I'm clueless how thermal yardage ended up in this, but it turned out CUUUUTTTEEE!~

And, you grab that feed sack yardage you picked up at that yardsale for $2.

Last of the big spenders here...

We're looking at maybe, $10 worth of materials for this project.

~Ahhh.... We might break the bank on this one~

And, you lay the fabric out on the bench seats and start cutting with sharp scissors, giving yourself a bit of a hair cut in the process. You hear that sound, that sound of hair cutting and when you realize it was hair cutting, you admire how strait of a cut you made...

Waist long hair. 

Bent over a bench seat. 

Scissors in hand, cutting material. 

Hair in a braid, hanging over my shoulder.

Holy Hell - 

I needed a trim anyway. 

At least it's kind of trimmed straight this time

(=

Who has time to worry about where your hair is at, when you're creating some kind of a "Cute" pattern that's floating in your head from a picture you pinned on Pinterest anyway...

My "Idea picture" below is from "Faded Charm" 

I fell in love with her cushions on her iron bench ages ago and they were my "Pin-Spiration" 

(Not to be confused for "perspiration" although, it is humid today)

For this "Pin-Tastic" project~!

~Would someone please point me in the direction of "Pinners Anonymous" ?~ 

Source

I don't use patterns. I "Wing It"~ 

And, I'm always just as surprised as everybody else at how my projects usually turn out...

Actually, it kind of amazes me that anybody lets me play with scissors to begin with.

~He, he~

I sewed a seam around everything (including the ties), but I left everything rough cut, so it will fray about 1/4" when it's washed and dried because,
"I Love Fringe~!"

 I made cushions the size of the benches out of the grain sack material and stuffed them with the stuffing from the hotel pillows from the thrift store. I thought they were feather pillows, but when I cut one open it was this strange stuffing that looked like strips of paper, only it was some kind of polyester. 

It was MESSY to mess with, but it has a feather pillow feel, so what the hey.

Then, I used the thermal type material to cut out covers that are held on by ties made out of the feed sack material. 

And, I found 3 crochet covered buttons I cut off an old crocheted sweater ages ago.

Have I ever told you that sometimes, when I need buttons, I go to the thrift shop in search of the perfect item of clothing with the perfect buttons. I pay for the item, snip the buttons off and donate the clothing back to the thrift store. It's WAY CHEAPER than buying new buttons. And, well, where do you find buttons in the hinterland when you need them right now?

"The Thrift Store, of course~!"

This was the perfect project for my 3, hoarded buttons.

It would have been cute if I would have had a couple more buttons, but hoarder's can't be choosers, most the time...

And, the buttons help hold everything together.

These are pillows with covers, but I cheated and sewed everything together at the corners. 

With the addition of the buttons, it makes them all one piece anyway and it keeps my corner ties 

"in the corners"

They turned out awesome, even though they were so expensive at about $3 a piece...

(=

They finish off the benches on the "Nook Table" set.

And, they hide the damage on one of the benches from when the house was vacant and the roof leaked and warped the bench.

Maybe someday, I'll talk the "Man-Child" into making me one of the many, many, Restoration Hardware knockoff tables I dream about???

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And, maybe later, I'll find some kind of eclectic seating to go with the farmhouse table in my future?

But, until then - - -

I'm going to be thankful and grateful and enjoy the old nook table set, with my newly created,  expensive cushions.

And, do my best to remember to remove them should any "Little People" drink red koolaid 

from the 'Corner Nook'...

Have a Wonderful Day~!

Galvanized Trough's...

I went wandering the other day and look what I found...

At first, I had no idea what I was going to do with them.

I just knew, I had to bring them home~!

They're large, but they are shallow, so using them as planters to hold flowers was doubtful. They do match my kitchen and I wasn't sure whether to leave them kind of shiny, or use some toilet cleaner to make them look old?

I say "them," because there are two...

Two, cute, galvanized troughs, in the kitchen.

One was a perfect solution to an ongoing issue... 

When the canisters were just sitting on the counter, sometimes when I would get sugar out and spill a little and then sometimes when somebody would miss the putting all of the water in the coffee pot, it would glue the sugar jar to the counter. 

Now, that problem is solved~!
(=

And, it does look really cute holding my canisters...

The re-bar handles and legs are my favorite part.

They are so cute~!

Perhaps when the tulips are done, I'll fill the trough on the table with herbs and some seedlings for Spring?

I still can't decide whether to leave them as is, 

or make them look older...

What do you think?