~Decorating for Spring~

I've had my house decorated for the Spring season for several weeks now and figured it was about time I shared with you what I have done.  Better late than never, huh?  Plus, you get to see a little  more of my home...just a little. :)  Let's get started, shall we?

 This little area is in the main hall going into the living room.  I bought this piece at an open market antique sale in Iowa (my son and his family live about an hour or so away in Nebraska).  I was told that this is called a linen press.  Funny quick story here...went all the way to Iowa to buy this and the seller lives in a small town about 30 minutes or so from my home here in Oklahoma!!

 Anyway, I was wanting something to go into this little nook and this piece is perfect.  It's also the perfect place for the grandchildren to play.  The door on the right is where the heating/air unit is housed.

 I needed something to dress up this area as well along with some lighting as it gets kinda dark in this corner.  I created this vignette with the main pieces staying up all year long and change out the greenery and flowers with the seasons.  The ivy is stapled to the picket fence and stays up during the seasons.

A small string of Christmas lights is used for back lighting.  Much better, don't you think?  I connected the lights to a timer so that they are on late in the evening and all night long as it makes a great night light.

 I love my little birds who protect their nest of eggs.  I think I got these through The Country House (one my favorite online shops) along with the picket fence and bird house.

The flower urn is used during Spring and Summer.  I push it to the back during Fall and replace it with a large pumpkin and gourds.  At Christmas, I use a small decorated Christmas tree.  The bird cage once belonged to one of my daughters.

 This is the fireplace mantle in the living room.  The upper part is an antique that I bought years ago but had no idea what I was going to do with it...until we built our house.  The middle part is a new piece that the builder created to make it look like one large piece.

 Lots of greenery and flowers make everything look so lush just like Spring is supposed to be along with my small collection of birds and birdhouses.

 I like to call this my Birdhouse Village :) and looks perfect with the picture above it that stays up all year long.  

 Ivy can be used in so many ways and I love having it hang down or going up the wall.  I used my trusty little staple gun to keep it upright around the picture.

To create the idea that a flower garden is growing on the mantle, I used a small section of floral foam and inserted different flowers and greenery that I had cut apart from several clusters that I bought and was able to use all around the house.  Well, I guess I bought a LOT of clusters.

 It was kind of tricky getting the floral arrangement from falling over so I had to make sure it was leaning securely against the wall and filled it in with more ivy.  The birdhouse helped, too.

 I love the little birdhouse condo that I bought years ago at a craft fair.  I don't remember where I got the little bird eggs and painted them white as I originally used them in a vignette with some chicken figures that I have.  I need to speckle paint them so that they will be more realistic with the birds, don't I?

 I did the same floral arrangement on the opposite end of the mantle to balance it out.

 I wasn't sure what to do with the mantle shelf until I saw several decorating ideas using ironstone and vintage crochet doilies.  Both of which I have!  So I pulled several of my ironstone pieces out of my display cabinet from the dining room and went through my collection of doilies.

 I love collecting ironstone and especially look for pieces from the Homer Laughlin collection.  You can read more about my collection here.  Several months ago, I hit the jackpot when I had the winning bid on a collection of vintage doilies and lace pieces.  You can read more about that here.  I really like how this little vignette turned out.

 I can't decide whether or not to paint the candlesticks.  What do you think?

The softness of the doilies against the crackling patina on old ironstone makes my heart go pitter patter!
Goodness!  I'm in love.

Hi Banjo!  This is my baby.  He is a Havanese; a cross between Bichon Frise and Maltese.  He's supposed to have long, beautiful hair but he has more of the Bichon in him and I think he's adorable!  The breed was created in Cuba for the aristocrats there and came to the United States when the aristocrats fled during the Cuban Revolution.

 Okay, on to the dining room.  Just a little bit of Spring going on here but I wanted to give you a quick look of this room but I plan to show and tell you more about it at a later date when I do my house tour.  The highchair on the right is over 100 years old.  I bought it at an auction and, yes, I do use it.

Here's my touch of Spring in this room.

 I got this watering can from Michael's a few years ago.  Not quite the antique look but I thought it was a great contrast against everything else.

The TV and DVD player in the corner are for the grandchildren to use when we have our family get-togethers.  So, this is how I have decorated my home for Spring this year.  I hope that you like what you see.

Spring is in full bloom in my home and it won't be too long before it will be the same outside.  Temperatures are much warmer than normal here in Oklahoma.  What's it like where you live?

Have a glorious day!

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~Helloooo Spring!~

Lately, it's been so crazy around my house and with me personally.   I've been in and out reading posts and sending replies but haven't had the chance to do much of anything else it seems!!  I finally slowed down some to take pictures to share with you about how Spring is showing up here at the home place. 

We've been experiencing the warmer than normal temps like so many places around the country but have been holding our breaths when things started blooming because we've been known to get late, hard freezes as late as the first week in April.  So far, so good.
'

Last year, I planted four Carolina Jessamine plants (from the jasmine family) at the base of the four beams of my pergola.  All but three are thriving fairly well after the horrendous heat  we had last summer.  Hubby got one when he was spraying for weeds last year...drat it!!  But I think I can get another one at Lowes, where I got the other plants.

The flowers are supposed to be fragrant, but the scent is so subtle that you have to stick your nose right into them.  I am hoping that as there are more blossoms, the scent will be more noticeable.  I am so pleased with how they are turning out.

While you enjoy these beautiful pictures, which by the way, I was taking while it was pretty darn windy outside so I am amazed that any of my photos turned out. :).  Anyway, while you enjoy the photos, I'll ramble on a bit about why I've been missing in action for a while.  Or you can ignore the rambling and just enjoy the photos.  You're here and that all that really matters in my book.  :)

I have mentioned before that I suffer from fibromyalgia; best described as flu-like symptoms, without the fever, or feeling like I've been run over by a steam roller on a daily basis.  It's not life threatening but it sure is life debilitating.  And then I suffer from chronic fatigue, too.  Some days, I don't get much of anything accomplished because of the pain and, lately, I have been battling insomnia; one of the side effects of this disorder.  Some nights I get only four or five hours of sleep...not good either.  This is just an FYI.  I am definitely not looking for sympathy as I know there are many of you out there, or know of someone, who suffer from much worse health issues than I do!

My house suffers terribly because of it but I had to get some major housecleaning done recently as my daughter was having a jewelry party and her home is not big enough for large groups of people, so I always allow her to have events like these, even birthday parties and family gatherings, in our home.   What normally takes one person a day or so to do a good cleaning, took me about a week!

 So the other night, the jewelry party took place.  Thankfully, I remembered to grab my camera and take some pics of some of the happenings.  Snacks on the island and jewelry galore on the breakfast table.  Who could ask for anything more?

 Tater Tot was so excited that she got to come to a party with her Mama.  Darn cups....should have moved them out of the way!

 While we were in the living room for the demonstrations, Tater Tot got to play dress up with everything and that girl loves her some bling!  When things started winding down, she decided that Mama needed some dressing up and proceeded to make her look her best.

Several necklaces, bracelets, rings and even two watches!!  Mom is all decked out and has no place to go. :( Yes, she is the daughter who is pregnant and expecting in September.

She even dressed herself up with all the pieces that seemed to be her favorites.  I told you that girl loved her some bling.  She's very good about knowing when things don't belong to her and doesn't whine or cry about keeping things that need to be given back.  She sure had some fun though.

Back to the flowers for a bit.  This is a bush on the north side of my house.  I'm not good at remembering the names of my plants, but I do remember this one.  It is called a Pink Flowering Almond Bush.

I love this bush!  There are so many blossoms on this little baby that it almost makes you dizzy!  Unfortunately, there is no fragrance with this beautiful plant.

I ordered it online and it was so small that I almost pulled it up a time or two as I thought it was a stray weed!!  Thankfully, I didn't.  It has grown leaps and bounds.  Look at all those small, delicate blossoms!!  Too bad they don't stay around all summer long.  Even so, I think I will order another one another side of the house.  I don't have to do anything other than enjoy the short flowering season and the ease of care.

Okay, where was I?  Oh yes, why I've been missing in action.  Anyway, I had to take it easy for a day or so to recover from all the work I did to get the house ready.  My house is clean... for now.  And the party was alot of fun.

Then there was my monthly doctor's appointment and then shopping all in the big city, which takes a good chunk out of my day.  Then the following day, I had the joy of watching my grandbabies.  Unfortunately, events like these take their toll on me and I have to rest up and get basically nothing accomplished. :/  Shopping I can "almost" do without but the grandbabies...never!!

I've also been working on the Easter swap that I decided to take part in.  It is being hosted It's A Very Cherry World.  I got my package from Erica, my swap partner, the other day and I am beyond ecstatic with what she sent me.  Thank you, Erica!  Obviously, I'm a bit behind with my project but I'll share that with you and all the wonderful little pretties that Erica sent me.

I've also been working on a new business venture that is keeping me fairly busy as I learn about it and getting things off the ground floor.  I am excited about being able to do this and will be sharing that with you next week.

I've also got some Spring dresses to make that I promised my granddaughters.  And then there's the fabric-covered notebooks that I need to get finished for my giveaway!  Oh, and I guess I'd better get busy and change my banner...Winter is officially over now, isn't it?  Can you say B.U.S.Y.???  Whew!!

So, that's what's been going on in my little world as I enjoy this beautiful Spring weather and all that it brings.  What's going on in your world these days?

Take a deep breath and smell the freshness that Spring brings~