♥️

and the bathroom sink...

Got up early.

Coffee in hand.

Quiet time after so much Busy time.

Enjoying a moment to scroll thru Pinterest.

And, stop...

"That's my sink!"

💚

new

Rarely do I use or want to use the word "new" in this old

farmhouse.  As antique dealers, we adore vintage.

And, as homeowners, we adore cozy & durable...

often not always found in "new".

This August, we decided to tackle our ceilings & electrical in

our living room & adjoining tv room.

It seemed well beyond the time to usher out 

our 25-30 year old upholstered furniture and

welcome some new pieces.

We turned to our very own Ashley Furniture in Arcadia, WI.

Yesterday, they delivered two sable brown loveseats, an

accent chair, and a fog blue queen sleeper sofa.

Only this wing chair, that came home in the trunk of my 

car from a thrift sale in Plainview, MN made 

the keeper list in the living room.

🍂

getting there

we have officially begun our "touch every room" tour...

but not the fun kind of tour--this is the hard work kind

first comes the mess...ceilings & electrical 

in our living room & adjacent tv room

and the plaster dust

then we pick out paint colors...and EVERYTHING 

is painted

cannot believe we went with Daisy White!

of course, my beloved green will have some 

star treatment 💚

only the wing chair made the furniture cut, 

a full truck arrives from Ashley Furniture on Friday

The end!  Actually, that is when the fun starts...decorating!

2 rooms just about done, 10 to go!

getting there...

💚

🍂

door to my heart 🌻

We don't plant sunflowers.

The birds do.

Weekly our goats get sunflowers to keep their coats healthy.

Each winter the birds get sunflowers.

And our sweet bird friends plant them here & there.

Like at the entry to our potting shed.

💚🌻💚

the road home

💙

just because...

Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there

Artwork by Jamie Heiden

The birds left our cottonwood with such a "whoosh", it made me look up.

♥️

gathering

We took a long overdue antiquing trip into MN on Saturday.

Found some things to sell:

Found some things to keep:

Wooden child's shoes & Xmas book

#11 pie bird with box for my collection

Vintage tin train house

Handmade lace

Little box & juror pin

Bird print under whicker tray

♥️

forward

We now clearly see a finish line...one marked with a floral banner
announcing that "a wedding is about a year away!" and the other stating a
career end date for both Dave and I (that one a tad further out, but still less
than 4 years).

So, we are getting all our ducks 🦆 in a row, with a "touch each room", organize
that, get our life in the best order possible in these months ahead.  This has included
clearing out the barn, contracting for some inside work, making lists, and pulling
out the paint chips.

Our beloved 1857 home

all in a row

along our summer kitchen

lives a family of sunflowers 

they are a happy group

🌻

your home, your story

done

So, I learned a few lessons this July:

1.  Setting up a Barn Sale may be just too much for a semi-perfectionist.

2. Working the next day at the Hixton Antique Mall might not have been a good idea.

3.  Dave is a trooper.

Our July 2019 Barn Sale is in the books, our thanks to those able to attend.

We gave away a lot of stuff, took a load to Hixton, and will be listing a few items.

The hayloft is well on its way to cleared out.  

Dave & I are exhausted. 

💚

doing dishes

I have always followed this individual path...sometimes parallel to the road, sometimes right through the field.  So, when we were married almost 40 years ago, we wanted to invest in a set of china, but knew ours would be anything but typical. We purchased our dishes, one plate at a time and use them as our everyday dishes.  How fitting that we chose Noritake, "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady", with country sketches and prose to match by Edith Holden.

I also have this thing for vintage blue bird dishes, somewhat rare to find.  So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon the third creamer to the right for a couple bucks at a thrift sale this past week. 

Birds 🐦 and country charm on china.  Bliss. 

morning on the farm

sweet lily of the valley

Daisy in the window

north side of our 1857 home

💙