Busy Weekend

Its taken me a while, but I finally feel settled on what kind of style I want for the interior of the house.  It never seemed to have a theme that suited our lifestyle.  Fancy would never do, after all we track in mud and dirt from the land at an alarming rate.  Our floors are practical, wood or vinyl planks that look like wood.  Not a carpet to be found except a small scatter rug near our bed to save our feet from the cold floor in winter.  I am a Yankee, die hard one at that, despite living in Texas.  My family came on the Mayflower and I was the first one in my family to move away and stay away.   With all this Yankee blood coursing through my veins it is impossible to run from my love of colonial things.  I grew up in a house that was decorated that way.  My mother and grandmother both had a deep love of history and that was manifested in the things they loved and collected.  Plus, we held on to our history.  A cast iron pot from many generations, a dough bowl that had made loaves of bread for many generations sat on top of the counter, in winter it was full of oranges stuck with cloves and put on the radiator, filling the house with the most amazing scent.  The furniture was maple and black.  The dishes, beautiful brown pottery, and white Ironstone for the holidays.   So now, my house too is taking on that sort of look, throughout.  Emery is a generous man and filled my wallet for some antique shopping this weekend.  What fun I have had.  Primitive portraits for the dinning room, a nice brown jug to sit next to some pewter.  A cherry wood dresser, stained maple, to hold my wool and doll making supplies.  New paint for the kitchen cabinets and red check curtains for the kitchen windows.  An old wall cupboard and a small shelf to be painted a warm mulberry red.  I found a picture of a kitchen on A Primitive Place Blog that I fell in love with, its just what I want, with some slight variations of course.  Anyway, I went out and bought a very similar color for my kitchen cabinets and started right away transforming that room into a room that I love and into a room that suits our homestead, simple life.   I would love to have all wood kitchen counters, yet am not a fan of the prices I have seen, so am now on the lookout for old maple dining tables that the tops can cut into the right size for counter tops.  Seems like a workable idea since I often see wobbly tables at reasonable prices at thrift stores or yard sales.   Its been good being settled on a design after all these years of wishy washy plans.  Been taking lots of bags and boxes to Goodwill of all the things that have been collected for the many decorating ideas I have tried in the past but never quite felt at home with.  I like this idea of simple, comfortable and that uses so many of the treasures from generations past.  It lets me live in surroundings that so well match where my heart is.  I have always felt I was born about 150 years too late anyway !


The first picture shows the top of the new dresser that is holding all my wool !  One of the drawers is even made of cedar !  The candles are some of the Bayberry candles I made last week.
The second picture shows a bit better the painting that has been passed on down through the family of my great uncles wife's family in their cabin, Swedish immigrants.
Next is the cabinet color with the new curtains draped over it to show how well they go together 
and finally the portraits that now hang in the dining room.   The Pearces, Mr and Mrs.