Office Changes

Hi, everyone!  I hope that you're having a great weekend!

I've been changing things around in our office, so I thought I'd give you a peek today.
(Disclaimer: It's really hard to get good pics in this room because of the funky light situation!)

The last time you saw our office was in this post where I had added some bluish green tones.
I enjoyed it for awhile, then decided to go back to a more neutral palette in here.
Since I spend a lot of time in here blogging and on Pinterest, etc., I wanted it to reflect my style a little more.  I'm going for a farmhouse vibe.

I started by switching up the top of the dresser that's in here.  This piece is great storage for a lot of my decor mags!

You may remember that I had this heavy lavabo (French sink) filled with dried lavender in our bedroom (here.)  I thought it would look pretty on this dresser in the office, so I brought it downstairs when Keith wasn't home...I could BARELY lift this thing-I think it weighs as much as I do-but I was impatient and wanted it moved NOW!
Lo and behold, a couple of days later I bent over to put my socks on and my back went out! I was in bed last weekend for 2 days.  The things that we do for our decor! (But that's a story for another post :)

I added some other fun things to create the vignette including a chippy shutter, a pile of grain sacks on an ornate metal tray, a little blingy pumpkin, an architectural candle holder, and a wooden 'disk' I was told was somehow used at a railroad crossing.

I have the leather chair on one side of the dresser...

 ...and I brought in the slipcovered chair from the sunroom (here) and put it on the other side...

I just rediscovered this vintage needlepoint rug that was 'forgotten' in our basement.  I actually put it in a garage sale that my parents had last weekend but when it didn't sell (and I only had $10 on it!) I thought about trying it in here.

Now I'm glad that it didn't sell! I like the soft color and texture that it adds.

Next the real fun began...styling all of the built-in shelves!

Today I'll just show you the shelves behind the slipcovered chair.

I collected lots of favorite things...

...and went to town!  What? You didn't actually expect books to be here, did you-lol!
(Actually, there are magazines in holders on the upper shelf ;)

I'll show you more of the office next time...

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Enjoy your day :)

I'm sharing this at: thoughts from alice

Saturday Spotlight: Jonni from Jasper's Cottage

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

I'd like to welcome Jonni from Jasper's Cottage today.

I find Jonni's writing style to be interesting and witty, and I always enjoy her posts!
Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Jonni better.

Thanks, Susan, for inviting me to participate in your Saturday Spotlight!

My name is Jonni (Johnny, like a boy) and I write a little blog called Jasper's Cottage. 

My blog was named in memory of my beloved golden boy, the light of my life for almost 16 years.

These days I share the cottage with my husband (we just celebrated 29 years together last weekend) and our little guy, Shifu.

I can't believe how quickly these 29 years have flown by. That's us on our wedding day. We're planning (and I will be blogging about) an amazing celebration for our upcoming 30th...we just haven't decided what it will be yet.

My style is a little country, a tad bit boho, a smidgen of cowgirl and a whole mess of vintage. Oh yeah, and I really like hats.

We met in Northern Virginia where we lived for several years but for the last 16 years we've lived along the central coast of California near the cozy village of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Living here provides constant inspiration for a couple of my favorite things - taking pictures of cottage style architecture and doing historical research on the village.

 

I like to read blogs about decorating and painting so I recently decided to change a few things in our cottage. Of course I started with the kitchen and painted all the cabinets white. Our kitchen is teeny tiny but oh, so cute. It has original pink tile counter tops, which I just love.

After brightening up the kitchen I decided to do a little something with the living room too - painted a bench, added a colorful rug and put up a gallery wall. The wicker furniture has been with us since the beginning and still makes me smile.

I love to travel and blog about it so it was only natural for that theme to appear in the master bedroom.

I can't seem to settle down to just one interest or style so that's why I write about a little of everything at Jasper's Cottage.

I think life is an adventure and I'd love to share it with all of you!

Jonni, thanks so much for sharing with us!
Please visit Jasper's Cottage then head over to Kris's blog to read about Courtney from Golden Boys & Me.
Have a fantastic day!

Our Chicago Trip and Finds: Part 2

Hi, everyone!

Last time I shared with you the first part of Keith and my vacay to Chicago, here.

The second part of our trip we stayed right downtown on Michigan Avenue.  We love the hustle and bustle of city life!

Our hotel overlooked this gorgeous park.

The city was all dressed up for fall.  Here we are in front of a really pretty display set up outside of a department store (I forget which one!)

One night we waited with thousands of others by the river to celebrate their Great Chicago Fire Festival.

The city is so beautiful at night!

The festival turned out to be a bust due to technical difficulties, and it was a wee bit chilly, but we had fun with our surrounding 'neighbors' anyway!

(The festival did have a choir singing on a boat floating down the river, and that was both haunting and beautiful.)

(Side note: can you believe this pic of us isn't a 'selfie'?  We had a lady take it and she got so close!! We tried to back up, but there was nowhere to go with all the people around. We laughed about it later :)

One day we hit the fun town of Andersonville.  They have lots of fun shops...

...and we had the BEST brunch at a tiny bakery that we found!  I had French toast where they use brioche bread and add a peach compote on top...oh, and a 'little' of their home made whipped cream, too...yum!

Now on to the good stuff...my finds!

I know this is gonna make all of you jealous, but I got to shop Kris's house when we stayed there!

These are some of the goodies that I got from her:  these 2 gorgeous pillows...

...and this charming banner!

Look at the beautiful detail!  I'm not sure where it's gonna end up yet, but it'll look fabulous anywhere!

Many of you know how generous Kris is.  When we arrived at her house she had some special gifts waiting for us!  One is this amazing pillow...

She said she wanted something for us to remember our trip by...I LOVE how meaningful this is!

The other thing that she got me is this embellished stack of books.  I didn't get a good picture of it, but you can kind of see the tag on top with my favorite no. 3 on it!

She had another gift for me which was from Carol at Art and Sand! (Carol was sending something to Kris, and she knew I was going to be at Kris's so she just sent my gift there, too.)
What a nice surprise!

This banner is SO cute!

Carol knew that I've always wanted something with 'nest' on it, so she made this for me!  This will look perfect in my sunroom where there are touches of blue!

She had it wrapped in this adorable little bag, with my initial on the drawstring.  Love these sweet bloggers!

Some of the other things that I found with Kris while we were out junkin: this huge nest...

...this cool tall architectural column (which Kris found for me)...

(got this pumpkin last year)

...this shabby lunch box and wooden tote (which Kris also found for me)...

...notice a theme here? Ha!

And I'm always drawn to vintage signs, so I bought this cool one...

 Most of these pics were taken in our office, where I'm changing things up. I'll show you a full reveal at some point, hopefully soon!

Well, that's all my finds I'll show you for now.  I bought a few other things, but I'll share them later.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a wonderful day :)

Saturday Spotlight: Jan from Curtains in my Tree

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

Today please help me welcome Janice from Curtains in my Tree.  Jan is a pro at collecting and displaying lots of wonderful vintage finds! And it touched my heart how she rescued a homeless cat!
Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know her better.


It's hard to write a post about yourself don't you think so ? Try it.

Anyway I have collected something since I was 21 years old. My first old item was an iron full size bed I found at a junk store in Paducah Kentucky in 1971 I paid $10 for it and had it for years and a friend bought it at a auction I had 20 years ago she still has it and uses it.
I am a  grown up lady with 3 grown up children. I love dogs and now have a cat who was cold and hungry and I took him  in 2 winters ago.
My little pugs have gone on to doggy heaven and I miss them .

Another thing I have always collected is blue and white dishes and crock bowls. My first set of dishes I ever had my Grandmother gave them to me age of 14 the was the pattern of Blue Willow  like the tea set in the above picture.These ended up in a grave at the bottom of a canon  in New Mexico or Southern California I can't remember which one since it was 50 years ago. I was newly married moving across country we had a flat on our luggage  trailer out in the middle of a desert  someplace where you see another car maybe once a day (this was in the 1960's)  and my husband said put everything you want in the car I'm pushing the trailer over the mountain side OMG !!!!!!!!! I didn't make smart choices Grandma, forgive me the dishes went over the mountain !!!!!!!!!!!! We had a new 1964  Red Chevrolet Corvair convertible and I made sure I got all my clothes and shoes in the car and a few linens. It was Drama and I was very upset. I married very young.

Didn't mean to make such a long story about my drama and blue and white dishes LOL
Needless to say through all my years I have bought more blue and white dishes . My main pattern is Staffordshire Blue Calico. I seen them for the first time in a bridal magazine in 1971. I knew I wanted them just didn't know where to find them. We lived in Kentucky at this time and had 2 small kids and I didn't visit bridal shops and didn't even know where one was really LOL
Years passed and I move to Missouri , kids in high school I got the fever of  looking for antiques every day off work and went to a little town Moberly Missouri one Saturday and seen a sign Antiques  slammed on the brakes did a u turn in the street. Anyway as I walked in my heart was beating so hard !!!!! There was my dishes I had dreamed about that I had seen in the bridal magazine  years ago.
They were very expensive ,since I had rent, car payment and 3 kids now.  However the lady who owned the shop offered to put them on lay a way for me (bless her heart) . This was the old antique set from England I also have the new set made by Burleigh from England also and lots serving pieces.

                                                             

I have sold and bought at flea markets through out the years and did very well till I hurt my back lifting heavy objects. It is so much fun to set up at an open air market and visit with people who love your junk LOL. I miss it.

I am a senior lady now and selling small items on etsy to clean out some of my boxes and drawers in my studio and have done very well. I  still think young LOL I can't believe all the years I have enjoyed vintage items. I don't feel old till I look in the mirrors LOL
                   

I have some furniture pieces I am working on. I have a chair in my bedroom I am recovering with Country Life wedgwood toile material to match my bed comforter and valances in my bedroom . The chair above will be painted white with the blue & white toile material.
Then I have an old secretary I have always wanted to use chalk paint on and use in my kitchen.

I have painted furniture since 1971 back when oak furniture was gold and people I knew died when they seen a piece I had painted, I remember I bought an old oak wash stand and painted it antique green with a gold glaze and some friends came over who lived in a very high end home all new furniture they were speechless, probably thinking I was crazy LOL

I love buttons
antique lace
dogs
blogging
estate sales and auctions
toile material
and of course my babies


I live in Columbia Missouri now and work part time for University of Missouri , have  an etsy shop and I am a catholic convert.

I started blogging in 2010 to entertain myself. I am a widow however divorced previously and was at the time lonesome not now.
I travel when I can love Savannah Georgia and New York City.

I LOVE BLOG WORLD and love you all who leave comments.

Thanks to Must Love Junk for asking me over to her wonderful blog world.


                                                                   

         
                                                                    Janice Dauksch

Jan, thanks for sharing with us-I love your spunky attitude! :)
Please visit Curtains in my Tree then head over to Kris's blog to get to know another wonderful blogger, Gigi from Old World Patina.
Have a wonderful day!