MELLOW YELLOW!!!!

 When we purchased our farmhouse many years ago it was a typical old farmhouse that had not had much love in it's past few years.  We had a few months before we moved in so I picked out all of the paint and wallpaper for each room.  We had 3 bedrooms at the time and no kids so I used the bedroom that is now my office/closet as the spare bedroom where I put my beautiful brass bed I had had since I was a child.

I decided to do something bold with colour, since we had been in an apartment for 2 years.  I picked OOPSY DAISY YELLOW as the paint colour.  Now in the store it looked fab.  I should have known after what happened on the way home it may not have been the best choice.  A friend of mine came with me, I did not drive yet so we took the bus.  We sat at the back of the bus with two cans of paint on our laps.  Suddenly the bus jerked to a stop and the OOPSY DAISY PAINT fell off of my friends lap onto the floor and.....you guessed it, opened.  A river of OOPSY DAISY poured down the aisle of the bus and down the back door step.  Embarrassed is not the word.  The bus was evacutated, thank goodness we were close to home and did not have to board the new bus the not so happy passengers were waiting for.

Well, I painted the bedroom and I loved it.  It was actually brighter than the curtains in this picture.  The first time we had a guest, my husband's brother, I knew it was a little too bright for a bedroom that got the first sun in the mornings.  Oh yes, I forgot, I did not have curtains up yet.  The night before my husband and his brother had celebrated a bit, well more than a bit.  When my brother-in-law woke up I heard a loud moan.  All I can say is a night of partying and OOPSY DAISY YELLOW PAINT did not go well together.

I did not paint any other rooms yellow again but we did have our house painted a lovely, cheery Daffodil Yellow for a few years.

I do love yellow.  Not in clothing, it does not suit me but I love the look of a bowl of lemons or pears.  The golden yellow of sweet honey and of course yellow desserts.....heaven!

Who can deny the beauty of a luscious yellow sunrise or sunset .  Daffodils, the first sign of Spring and the happy Sunflower, well the name says it all.

And yellow birds, everytime I see a canary in the garden it still takes my breath away.  I cannot resist the soft down of the Spring Ducklings....adorable.

And last but not least there is of course the YELLOW BRICK ROAD.  Dorothy, The Time Man, The Scarecrow and The Lion followed it and had a happy ending.

I hope you have a little "YELLOW" in your life today.....and a happy ending!

THE SIMPLE TEA TOWEL.......

When my Grandmother passed away, and we were sorting through some of the cupboards and blanket boxes, we came across lots of vintage Tea Towels.

They were all very pretty and intricate and unused.  Some had embroidered pictures, some flowers, some birds.  Many were linen with lovely printed patterns on them.

The funny thing was, my Grandparents always, since I could remember, used the plain striped or checkered tea towels everyday.  I had never seen any of these pretty things out, even for the holidays or when they were having guests. 

My Grandmother was an Antiques Dealer but rarely did she buy linens.  She did like quilts and coverlets but they were ones she kept, which were sometimes displayed in the bedrooms, but she really never was into tea towels.  This could only mean that most of these were gifts to her problably from when she had gotten married.

After finding these beautiful old pieces I started to think about my own tea towels.  I realized that like my Grandmother, I had a stash put away myself.  I went home and took them out of one of the blanket boxes.  Lo and behold, I had quite a few from my wedding showers and birthday gifts.  What was I saving them for?

I am pretty sure my Grandmother and I are not the only Towel Hoarders out there.  Do you have some lovely linen tea towels that are just too nice to dry dishes with.  Why not take them out of their storage spaces and make something out of them.  Pillows are alway good.  I have made some of my nicest pillow covers from old and new tea towels.

Curtains are always a great thing to use vintage tea towels for.  I love the linen striped ones, so country looking.  If you have a lot of the same type, like floral or birds, stitch them all together and make one big curtain or use them as a tablecloth.

They make great bags too, just the right size.

I am not that old but I don't think many people use these anymore.  I remember in one of my first Home Economics classes ( do they have those now!) I sewed a clothespin bag out of a tea towel.  I love them and they really are very useful.

I absolutely adore this idea, I am going to do these for our grandbabies.  You can buy terrycloth tea towels very cheaply and if you go to OBSESSIVELY STITICHING BLOG you can get the step by step instructions for this cute little robe.

So why not get out those tea towels, what are you saving them for?  If you don't want to repurpose them then just use them.  I make sure I buy really pretty tea towels now, I have them for all of the seasons and holidays and I just love to use them and look at them hanging on the hook in the kitchen, they are so happy to be out of the blanket box.

THE LOVELY ORGANIZED CHAOS OF THE FARMHOUSE KITCHEN!!!

I live in a wonderful 238 year old farmhouse.  I am lucky enough to have 2 kitchens.  One is the original farmhouse kitchen and the other was the pantry but we extended it to be a "Cook's Kitchen".  It is just for cooking, no table or chairs just wonderful organized chaos.

The farmhouse kitchen is a wonderful thing.  Old blends with new and worn out pieces that have been loved by many over the years fit happily in the farmhouse kitchen.  Things used for putting other things into.  Anything goes in the farmhouse kitchen.  Shelves are a must, fill them up let it tumble out.  Old tables and grain bins can be used as islands.  An old kitchen cart, crates, old school tables anything fits in the farmhouse kitchen....there are no rules.

Eggs piled into an old crock bowl, a mountain of yellow ware mixing bowls and gorgoeous china, even chipped it does not matter, the cracked patina just enhances the warmth of the room.  I love the repurposed child's bed here,  that is the key to a true eclectic farmhouse kitchen...repurpose, use the unexpected, the quirkier the better.

Gorgeous old wooden floors always look fabulous.  I have maple floors in the original kitchen but I did tile the extended pantry.  New wooden floors can be easily made to look like they have been there over 100 years.

Cupboards of all shapes and sizes work well in the farmhouse kitchen.  And a chalkboard!  I love chalkboards not only are they very useful and look amazing but you can make them yourself out of any old frame or paint a whole wall.  Try it sometime.  You must have a battered frame you have been holding onto and don't know what to do with it.  Pop in a piece of painted pine, you can get spray paint or brush on chalkboard paint.  You will love it.

You can't have a true farmhouse kitchen without a fabulous old table and chairs.  Worn out beauties with mix and match chairs look amazing.  I have a thing for old chairs I never get rid of them it is embarrassing how many I actually have but I adore them.  I have found them in thrift shop for a couple of dollars, on the side of the road and I grabbed a pile that were going to be burned on my grandmother's farm, they proudly sit around her huge pine table in my studio now reborn for another 100 years.  And the tables, well they always look better  with the dents and scratches left from the previous families who loved them.

What can I say I love the look of things on top of other things, piles of old dishes, painted and worn wood.  They just say love to me in an old kitchen or a new kitchen that has some lovely old bits and pieces.

Now, I wish I was going out those beautiful French Doors to the garden but it is still freezing here so I think I am headed down to the kitchen for a nice hot cup of coffee and a ginger snap.

One last thing before I go.  I came across this picture today when I was searching for pics for this post.  My Great Grandmother Olive Booth looked just like this sweet lady but she had dark hair.  I will always remember her in her kitchen with one of those aprons ( I have one of hers) and wearing a dress ( a lady did not wear pants!) peeling, cutting and humming as she cooked.  These are the little memories that fill my heart and I am glad on this cold day I saw this picture and my heart has had it shot of love for the day.