Tag: <span>white</span>

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

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

The Cottage Bathroom

September 25, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

I love the idea of the curtain divider….very ethereal.

Forgive me. This week’s posting was to have been of my Halloween/Fall outdoor decorations. But I am feeling a bit under the weather and I wasn’t able to take pictures, so I thought I would share my cottage bathroom look book with you for my upcoming renovations.

The bathroom is not an existing bathroom, but rather an existing space. Upstairs, I have a large stair landing area. Not large enough to be a bedroom, but plenty large enough to fit a small bathroom with room leftover to serve as a pass through to the upstairs bedroom.

The bathroom will have a walk-in shower, a vanity and toilet. The vanity will be an antique table I acquired months ago and will be modified to fit a bowl sink. Simple white subway tiles for the shower, white octagonal tiles for the floor and wood planking every where else. The rule of thumb as throughout the rest of the house will be the same for the bathroom: simple, unpretentious and soft white tones and natural textures.

One finishing touch will be a pair of French, ornate cream and green wall sconces I found in an antique store years ago. I fell in love with them and bought them without a clue as to where I was going to put them. I think they will look perfect flanking an old, white painted mirror that I am sure I will find at some point in my weekly antiquing haunts.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always.

xoxo.

Cindy

Love these old photos.

A lovely footed bath.

Love the antique pine table with the crisp white bowl sinks.

I always thing being able to see the pitch in a roof makes a room feel tucked away and cozy.

I always think being able to see the pitch in a roof makes a room feel tucked away and cozy.

I won’t have room for this in my new cottage bathroom…but I love it anyway.

It’s doubtful I will have room for double vanities…but I love this look.

This bathroom probably best emulates the size, shape and space of my bathroom…down to the pitch in the roof.

Although doubtful, I will have room for a full sized armoire…but this is lovely.

More contemporary than is my style, but I think this room blends old and new very well.

I like the neutrality of this bathroom. The décor is probably more ornate than is my own style.

I love the old fixtures in an old home. Doors, floors and windows. Nothing opens like an old window with weights in the wall or swings like an old wood door. Just perfect!

Filed Under: My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, bathroom, beadboard, cottage, renovation, vintage, white

Things as they ought to be…

July 28, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

A vintage enamel bucket next to my garden hydrangeas in a milk glass vase. Classic combo.

I try to make life a little easier these days. Without time enough in the day to do all the things I want to do requires me to prioritize that which is most important.

As such, I try to find furnishings for my home that need not be changed in order for me to like it. I want things that I love in their “as found” condition. I’d be a happy girl if I never picked up a block sander and paintbrush again. I’d rather spend time admiring something’s prettiness than trying to cajole it into something else.

A couple of months ago, I found a rusty, vintage nine piece wrought iron patio set. My first order of business was to get it powder coated to pretty up the finish. But then I thought “no”…let’s not worry about perfection. Let’s just let it be.

A new outdoor rug, some custom cushions, a few market items from Pottery Barn and we are good to go.

So here you have it. A summer porch with rusty furniture. And frankly, I couldn’t be happier.

I hope you find some inspiration.

xoxo.

Always,

Cindy

Rusty and the refined. Linen pillows, custom cushion make these some very comfortable vintage rocking chairs.

Big blue striped pillows, a lantern filled with sand, shells and citronella and an antique pewter mailbox all feel very coastal.

The stripes in the rug play against the flag stripes, the blue in the pillows play against the blue in the flag.

An vintage camp chair covered with a vintage grain sack that can be used for extra seating and folded up when not in use.

Filed Under: Antique Finds, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: barn, blur, cottage, country, cushions, independence day, july 4th, patriotic, porch, pottery, pottery barn, red, seagrass, summer, vintage, white, woodward patio furniture, wrought iron

The Slow Days of Summer…

June 3, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Sun Setting. Breeze blowing. Sunlight dancing through the leaves on the big towering oak tree.

It’s here…almost. Where I live, save for the occasional cool morning, warm days are upon us and they will quickly speed up and become hot days. Not quite yet, though. For now, the weather is forgiving enough where we can sit on our front porch and watch the world go by. Children out of school playing in the distance, weather still quite tolerable outside, cold beverages that quench my thirst, American flags blowing in the breeze and altogether, some time to breath.

Summer is here and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Safe travels for the season.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, breeze, cottage, country, flag, hydrangeas, memorial day, outside, summer, vintage, white

The Days Ahead…

May 12, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Christmas Pepperberries, now dried juxtopposed against the shiny mercury glass.

Christmas Pepperberries, now dried juxtaposed against the shiny mercury glass.

Please forgive me, I haven’t posted in a while. Simple explanation…I had company for about three weeks and I started a new job. Roll both of those together and it leaves nary a moment to do any kind of blogging. But here I am, in the first weekend when I can breath a little bit. It is such a lovely day, all I can think about is green grass, hydrangeas getting ready to bloom and in general, looking ahead.

Last weekend I spent cleaning from top to bottom. This weekend I can take some time to pay attention to the details like changing out my Winter vignettes for something that says Spring. The dried pepper berries with mercury glass arrangement is just such a thing. Pepper berries have gone by the wayside, mercury ornaments are placed in a wire bowl someplace else and both are replaced with lovely, white blooms.

Something simple makes me very happy.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Until next time,

Cindy

Pepperberries and Mercury glass…the bridge between Winter and Spring

Replaced with simple white blooms. An easy change with great impact that welcomes Spring.

Filed Under: Before 'n After, Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, blooms, cottage, fireplace, fresh, mantel, mantle, spring, white

Apothecary Four Ways

March 18, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Tarnished German glitter glass is a lovely foil for the beautiful vintage jars.

My inspiration for this article was a monogrammed handkerchief from my grandmother, Mary Keifer. I have had it for years, but it sits in a drawer and that seems not to honor her. And in a moment, I had this thought that I could tie it around one of my many apothecary jars, kind of like a vintage label with the “K” monogram on the front. I really couldn’t think of a better vessel to display her lovely little gift to me. Vintage with vintage. And it is in a spot in my house that I see every day and in doing so, smile at her life and her memory.

As I was arranging the handkerchief around the bottle, it reminded me of all the other ways I use vintage apothecary jars, so I thought I would share them with you.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

A wide mouth apothecary jar holds lovely scented votive candles.

#1: A wide mouth (for filling and grabbing) apothecary jar holds lovely scented votive candles.

#2: Elevate a vintage jar by setting it in a vintage matte white pottery piece.

#3: Vintage Handkerchief as a label of sorts.

An homage to Grandma Kiefer

A variety of vintage jars collected from all over next to a vintage reproduction clock.

#4: A lovely little apothecary jar found for $2 now holds make up remover in the most lovely way.

Vintage lamp, a variety of jars used in a number of ways, old bathroom mirror agains a crisp white back drop make for a lovely vignette.

This blog article is in honor of my Grandma Kiefer, who I miss dearly.

My dad’s mother, Grandma Kiefer.

Filed Under: Antique Finds, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: apothecary, bead, beadboard, board, cottage, country, grandma, grandmother, handkerchief, jars, monogram, vintage, white

At the Corner of White and Pine.

March 3, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Home is where the heart is.

White. Pine. Or Chippy White and Patina Pine. Both of those finishes are the finishes that I am transitioning the antiques in my cottage to. Yesterday while strolling through downtown McKinney on a beautiful crisp winter day, I found this little market item: a little white heart. Painted white it is made of stone or something and has some weight to it. A heavy heart, you could say.

So I brought it home and found a special place for it. So it goes that home is where the Heart is.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

The Corner of White & Pine

Filed Under: Antique Finds, Discoveries, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, chippy, cottage, country, heart, patina, pine, soul, white

the little cottage

become a friend…

Notification

Previous Posts in Random Order

Blogroll

Grab a Button

Archives