Author: <span>Cynthia</span>

The Christmas Haus 2013

December 15, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Fresh Greens in an Enamel Pitcher

I make a promise to myself every year: I pick a weekend to do my decorating, inside and out and what doesn’t get done on that weekend, doesn’t get done. This was the first year I kept that promise and it is largely because I kept things simple: fresh greens tucked here and there, a smattering of twinkly lights, my favorite Trapp Holiday candles and a few groupings of my favorite vintage ornaments. I found it refreshingly stress free…and that really was the point of the plan. Now I can coast and focus on baking!

When the weather improves, I’ll share photos of the exterior. For now, here are some vignettes from inside my home.

I hope your find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

Winter quilts on the linen press are yummy!

The Christmas Mantle

Samantha’s toy Lamb Chop

Quilts with pillow covers from Ikea wrapped like presents with green velvet ribbon.

Plain cedar wreath with candle light.

Lovely Samantha

Guest room washstand ready for guests and ready for Christmas.

The Christmas Kitchen

Christmas Centerpiece

Antiques, ironstone, vintage glass and fresh greens

Lab beaker with thick glass that diffuses the candle flicker

A well used antique candle snuffer.

Evergreens in old urns.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, candle light, candles, christmas, cottage, fresh, holiday, house, lights, merry, tree, twinkle, white, wreath

A Scandinavian Christmas…

December 8, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Farmhouse Kitchen at Christmas

To those that know me, it’s no secret I am in love with Scandinavian style. In this post, I thought I would take you around the world to show you how the Scandinavians do Christmas.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

A simple tree and a chandelier of sorts.

A tree and a chandelier of sorts.

Simple red against white barn board.

A Wintery view from the Christmas Scandinavian table.

A Touch of Modern for the Scandinavian Home at Christmas.

Simple Fresh Holiday Greens agains a light pallete.

Fresh Holiday Greens against a light palette.

Scandinavian Christmas Market

Old textiles in the bedroom and cottage white bathroom – Nordic style.

Christmas Fireplace in Nordic style

The Christmas Banister

Holiday Welcome Wreath

Scandinavian tree with traditional red.

The Scandinavian Kitchen at Christmas

A simple statement of the Holiday.

Scandinavian Christmas Design Ideas with Minimalist and Cozy Style

Traditional barn colors with bright white trim.

A hearty Christmas welcome.

Just some greens against the white backdrop.

Nordic Bliss – a bed cozily tucked under the eaves.

Nordic Sweater Stockings over the mantel.

A simple welcome.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Uncategorized Tagged With: beadboard, christmas, cottage, cozy, greens, holiday, merry, ornaments, red, scandinavia, scandinavian, tree, white

The Christmas Bedroom

December 2, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Comfy and cozy and all snuggled in on a cold winter’s day.

I try to put a little Christmas in every room and my master bedroom is no exception. I also try to make Christmas decorating simple. That means less stress putting it up and less stress dismantling it when the holiday season is over.

Some fresh greens and a lovely Pottery Barn velvet quilt found online for next to nothing as well as PB’s flax colored solid quilt. Together, both are very subtle but still give you the feeling of the season.

My dear sweet Annie has fallen in love with the quilt and photo shoot or not, she wasn’t moving.

I’d like to give a nod to Annie’s foster mother, Silvana. Compassionate souls run deep and carry heavy hearts, sometimes. I am grateful you went to such great lengths to rescue Annie from the streets and became her caretaker along with the many other dogs you foster. Annie fills my heart and my soul and I simply couldn’t love her any more than I already do. Thank you for that, Silvana.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

Red, flax and with fresh greens in the background. Perfect holiday cheer and coziness.

Simple mini wreaths hung with a neutral velvet ribbon. White sheets with a flax colored quilt make the perfect pair.

Battery operated candles offer a great flicker from the outside looking in.

Very old antique cabinet with fresh greens. The green against the fresh white reminds me of evergreen trees and fresh snow.

The lovely faux red berries pick up the color of the red velvet quilt and keep that holiday pop of color near.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home Tagged With: antique, barn, christmas, cottage, country, dog, fresh, greens, holiday, merry, pottery, pottery barn, quilt, rescue, velvet, white

The Stars Come Out at Christmas

November 29, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Distressed red is right at home for the holidays.

Stars are apparently my shape this year for Christmas. I found some furring strip stars at a local antique shop for my holiday kitchen. (see post here). I found some wood stars on my trip to the Round Top Antique show (see post here) that I will use to decorate. Lastly, I found some wood star shaped trays in graduated sizes that I thought would be great for a Christmas project.

My project for this week is a tiered, star shaped tray. I imagine using it for every day display of seasonal fruits in my holiday kitchen or holding sweet treats and cookies for entertaining or perhaps holding silverware and napkin roll ups for a Christmas buffet. At any rate, a number of uses for the holiday and incredibly easy to make. It took less than fifteen minutes to make and that included the time needed for the epoxy to cure.

What you need:

medium and large star shaped trays from Joann.com

red, wood candle stick from Joann.com

five vintage glass knobs (optional)

epoxy

From Joanns.com

The assembly is pretty straight forward. I attached the candlestick to the smaller tray first and once the epoxy set, I attached the other end of the candlestick to the bottom, (or larger) tray and the vintage knobs for legs. I found that weighting everything down with a brick helps created a strong seal with the adhesive.

A vintage glass container helps top of the display with cheery candy canes.

Sweets are a natural choice to fill the Christmas Star Tiered tray.

Although optional, the vintage glass knobs are a great way to finish and refine the project.

This easy project can be used a number of ways while entertaining for Christmas.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects Tagged With: antique, candies, candle, christmas, cookies, cottage, country, lights, project, red, snow, stars, stick, tray, tree, wood

Market Items for a Vintage Home at Christmas

November 18, 2013 by Cynthia 1 Comment

Not all of my inspiration comes from antiques and vintage items. My eye is always scanning the store aisles to see if something catches my eye. I have found a few market items that helped me create some vignettes for my holiday home. I don’t start the lion share of my holiday decorating until this weekend. But these little groupings are helping me get in the mood, along with a backdrop of the usual Christmas music.

Here are four projects that took less than five minutes to create using market items and some vintage.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

Easy Christmas Holiday Project #1 – Topiary with ornament embellishment.

A lovely Eugenia topiary from Walmart ($11.98) in an antique urn.

Against the worn surface of the urn, small acorn mercury glass ornaments from Targets ($4 for three). Simple rustic twine will do for hanging.

Easy Christmas Holiday Project #2 – Scandinavian Christmas Candles.

Zinc cache pots from Targets Smith and Hawken collection with a scalloped edge design and factory made patina.

Zinc cache pots ($12.99) from Targets Smith and Hawken collection with a scalloped edge design and factory made patina.

For a lower priced alternative zinc pot, click here.

The Scandinavian Christmas table. Simple and elegant.

Lovely cream antique china and mismatched silverware and napkin rings. The market item in this photo is an inexpensive kitchen towel used as a napkin from IKEA for .79 cents.

Easy Christmas Holiday Project #3 – Vintage vase cozy with market item embellishment.

A vintage paper vase cover for a holiday touch with a market item burlap flower embellishment from Michael’s ($2.50)

Simple Project #3, I found a holiday pick with this burlap flower. I just took the flower off the pick and pushed the stem in one of the holes in the vintage paper vase cozy. It stays in place via pressure fit.

I found a holiday pick with this burlap flower. I just took the flower off the pick and pushed the stem in one of the holes in the vintage paper vase cozy. It stays in place via pressure fit.

Pretty little table side touch of Christmas with little effort.

You can see the age and simple accordion pattern of the vintage vase cozy.

Easy Christmas Holiday Project #4 – Hemp Twine Tassel with embellishment.

Simple Project #2. Twine Tassel for antique armoire. Done simply by wrapping twine over and over around a piece of cardboard, cut one end and tie off a third of the way down with another piece of twine. Add an embellishment if you choose. Extra thick twine to make a statement, found at Joann’s.

Old houses have many armoires for storage. Simple white adorned with wreaths and a hand-made twine tassel with holiday embellishment.

Filed Under: Antique Finds, Holiday and Seasonal, Projects Tagged With: antique, christmas, cottage, decoration, holiday, items, market, tree, vintage, white, winter

The Change of Seasons

November 11, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Garden evergreens, fresh red berries and a mirror star tree topper for the transitional vignette.

Not quite Christmas and not quite Thanksgiving. My fresh Christmas greens don’t ship for another two weeks, but the white pumpkins I bought for Halloween are still fresh so I put together a transitional mantle that includes the white pumpkins, fresh evergreens from the garden and bright red berries.

I hope you find some inspiration.

xoxo.

Cindy

Distressed mirror star tree topper offers a vintage touch.

Vibrant reds against fresh garden evergreens.

The white pumpkins signal fall and winter along with a distressed star shaped mirror and winter arrangment

The white pumpkins signal fall and winter along with a distressed star shaped mirror and winter arrangement

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Uncategorized Tagged With: berries, christmas, cottage, country, evergreens, fireplace, holiday, mantel, mantle, mirror, pumpkins, star, white

Horse & Carriage During the Holidays

November 4, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Vintage pieces round out the presentation and are quick to set up.

It isn’t unusual for me to answer the door with my old french apron on and dusted in flour during the Christmas Holidays. I am usually baking either for guests that sporadically drop by, preparing the food gifts I give to neighbors or if I time it just right, I bake for the throngs of visitors to our little town that ride by the house in the horse and carriage. I had to come up with a way to send people on their merry way with a pocket full of goodies on a chilly night.

Paper pouches using leftover Christmas wrapping paper seemed to be a good solution. You start with an 8″ by 8″ piece of paper. I mentioned that I am using leftover Christmas paper but it helps if it is a kraft paper base. It just seems to hold treats better than typical wrapping paper.

Horse & Carriage rides that pass the house enjoy this little hand out as do visiting friends.

A simple holiday punch as a sweet accompaniment to home made toll house cookies.

Vintage linens for the Christmas Holidays.

Nothing sets the mood for Christmas like tea lights flickering through mercury glass votive holders.

An antique candle holder adds to the ambiance.

This one-of-a-kind piece was a wonderful find at a local antique store.

Vintage glass punch bowl acquired at the Round Top Antique show comes in really handy.

Fresh squeezed fruit juice with floating slices is the key to Holiday punch.

In the kitchen, baking by candle light with Christmas music playing feels very old fashioned.

The kitchen gets the Christmas touch with a furring strip rustic star and Christmas stockings made from vintage grain sacks.

Vintage European towel with lovely embroidery.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, christmas, cookies, cottage, country, entertaining, holiday, kraft, paper, pouch, treats

Christmas Craft – Faux Vintage Paper and Pipe Cleaner Candlesticks

October 28, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

This is the very first one I ever made. Sweet little petite pipe cleaner candle stick.

Oh yes…it’s time (past time, probably) for us bloggers to start sharing Christmas ideas. The first down the pike is a faux vintage candle stick using vintage paper, pipe cleaners and hobby store embellishments. I came up with these a few years ago when I was looking for a hand made way to decorate my small, table top feather Christmas Tree. These are actually fairly simple and a great afternoon project that doesn’t require much in way of materials. Here is what is needed:

2 silver pipe cleaners per candle
glue
strips of paper approximately 2.5″ by 8″, preferably cut with scalloped scissors on the long edges
Christmas themed embellishments

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

Pipe cleaners, hobby store holiday embellishments, glue or glue dots and strips of vintage paper.

These looks so pretty in a vintage container.

Here is the general progression. You will end up winding the coil up the corkscrew portion of the pipe cleaner. It acts as the bobeche.

The vintage paper adds a nice mellow touch.

Many different ways to decorate the finished product.

Vibrant reds against the greens looks lovely.

Make each one a little different. That is the fun part!

A pretty little Christmas poinsettia as a holiday flourish.

A tableside vignette that includes holiday blooms in a vintage ironstone pot.

Found at Round Top several years ago, each one of the hand blown ornaments is shaped differently. Kind of like these little pipe cleaner candle sticks!

Another great use for a vintage candy dish.

Strewn about effortlessly makes decorating easy instead of stressful

Hand blown vintage Christmas ornaments.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects Tagged With: antique, candle, candlestick, christmas, cleaner, cottage, county, feather, old, pipe, stick, tree, vintage

Finds from the Prairie

October 14, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Two pieces, one a towel and the other a table runner. I see feather filled pillows in their future.

I just can’t restrain my enthusiasm for the Round Top Antique Show held twice a year in the Hill Country of Texas.

The sights and sounds give me true joy. Endless tents of treasures. The seasons transitioning from one to the next. Walking through fields softened with a layer of hay.

I would trade ten exotic vacations for just one trip to Round Top. My Shangri-La indeed.

My treasure hunt started out with one list, but I came home with an entirely different set of finds: vintage glass, ironstone, vintage textiles, Christmas Stockings, European Sinks and wall fountains.

It was a happy trip indeed.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

Found these from a lovely dealer who hailed from Bucks County Pennsylvania. Since that is where I grew up…it was only right that I buy them.

Again…not sure what I am going to do with this, but at $15…I’ll figure out something.

Right now, holding my candles…but they will be filled with guest soaps and sea sponges in the new cottage bathroom as part of my renovation.

Maybe a home for my vintage ornaments?

Not sure what I will use this for, but I will figure out something. Most likely a table centerpiece.

A lovely footed bowl, it has a great profile.

A rare find a few months ago was an ironstone punch bowl. I was in the market for a companion ladle and found a lovely one at Marburger Farms.

A full twelve came with the set which only cost 32.50.

I am on the hunt for another plastic ladle (this came from another vintage punch bowl that I have) but the hunt is half the fun!

At just over 6 inches tall, the diminutive size of this gem is what I was attracted to.

Another vintage kitchen helper, I am using it to hold my vintage spreaders.

One of my surprise finds, love the vintage pattern.

Lovely for the upcoming Holiday.

One is cast iron, the other is porcelain. Not sure what I am going to do with them…but the price was so good, I couldn’t pass them up.

Wash stand with an ironstone bowl for my new cottage bathroom

Wooden Christmas Stars from Leftovers in Brenham.

Filed Under: Antique Finds, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, basin, cottage, fountain, glass, Ironsont, ironstone, round, Round Top, round top antique show, show, textiles, top, vintage, wall

Boo-ti-ful Fall

October 7, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

The white linen pillows from summer still work with a slight change. This fall throw from Home Goods is a simple change with a lot of impact.

Finally. It feels like Fall this weekend. Halloween decorations have been up for a couple of weeks…but it is kinda hard to get excited about it when we were still pushing in the upper 90’s temperature wise.

I wanted my fall décor to be a bit more refined this year. I am not sure I achieved that…but maybe next year. My favorite element are the brown, black and grey paisley pillows with the ivory throw blanket with grey, black and brown accents. Not a set, they contrast beautifully to reflect the change of the season without being too obvious.

My second favorite element are the vintage enamel buckets with the twig arrangements. Naturals such as twigs and cotton branches against glittered black bats and black feathers with a flickering candle in the center flank the porch nicely. My old fall back favorite of pairing the rustic with the refined.

I hope you see something that inspires you. Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Cindy