I Love, Love, LOVE Blogging!!

Hey ladies (and a few gentleman!)  Hope your weekend has been nothing short of great.  The other day I received 2 awards from Reid and A Day in the Life.  Thanks so much ladies!  I will pass them along in a minute.  But first,  here is another reason I love blogging... I won a giveaway from the fabulous Peanut Petunia.  A $50 giftcard from West Elm... want to see what I picked out?

Two of these babies!  They will be perfect in my living room on my relatively new bench in the living room.  Thanks so much Susan!

Okay, so there were different rules for the awards, so I am just going to make up my own and pass them on:

• A Country Farmhouse-  wonderfully designed home.  
• All a Flutter- such a sweetie
• Dreamy Whites-  Swoony home
• Faded Plains- Wonderful online Shop and Blog
• French Larkspur- so very inspiring
• Saltwater Dreams- a fabulous beauty blog
• Home and Harmony- another swoony home and some great ideas

There are so many more, but 7 is my favorite number so I am going to stop here.  Thank you ladies for my awards.  

And, another reason I love blogging... my one year bloggiversary is coming up this week!  I am pretty thrilled that I stuck with this for a whole year, and I am no where near tired of blogging.  I had a blog that I started that got neglected when I got pregnant.  It was also called Vintage Junky, just on a different host.

Soooo, this week, I will be doing my own giveaway.  It is something I really think you will like.  So make sure you stop by later this week to enter.  Bye for now!

Some bad news and some good news....

 

I will tell you the bad news first...my cane beds were gone when I got there.  I was seriously upset.  I was in a vintage depression funk!  I almost cried... almost.  But, I realized that I had my 18 month old on my hip and what kind of example would I be setting?  I thought about them all day... all weekend really.  I wondered if they went to a good home.  If someone would love them like I would.  Then, I realized at what they were for the pair, that I would probably see them in another booth for twice that one day.  So, I moped and griped and got on Craig's List.  Nothing.  Went to a few places.  Nothing that could replace that warm spot in my heart for them. (Keep in mind that I have no place to set these beds up... they are for the future.)  My husband was sick of hearing me talk about them.  So he sent me an email.  With a link to a Craig's List ad.  And, here is what was delivered while I was at work today.

 

(I have told you I have a messy, messy garage!) I can't wait to go home and kiss them (not sure if that will be before or after I kiss Mr. Hughes and baby hughes...) Aren't they just as lovely as the others?  Perhaps they would even be the winner of the Furniture  Beauty Pagent. They were a touch more expensive.  But, what really matters in all of this is that I have  closure.  I can move on.

In other Hughes wanderings, we took a small road trip to a hometown of fellow blogger Jennifer.  She has suggested that we visit Fayetteville when I posted about The Plan.  And it is a darling little town.

 

The downtown was so quaint and just what we like.... some antique shops and some resteraunts right on the square.  It seems that this town has kept up its downtown nicely.  Lots of people were out and about (didn't hurt that it was sunny and 60.)

 

We ate at a little sandwich shop... I think it may be the one that Jennifer said that she really likes.

 

 The inside had an old general store type of feel.

 

Lots of stuff to look at...

 

Check out that ceiling and those lights

Then we strolled around checking out old store fronts that had been converted into offices and the like.

 

There were quite a few with the old hexagon tile entrances.

 

I wanted to rip this off the building and take it home with me!!

 

There was an old Theatre too.

We of course went to some antique stores and this one had some really great pieces like this cast iron fireplace mantle.  I didn't get to take too many photos in here because it was pretty dark.  

  

Then, on the way out of town, we saw this fella all dressed up for Mardi Gras (I am guessing that is what they were going for anyhow.) 

All in all, a pretty nice small town.  I don't think we will end up there (we still would like to be a little closer to the coast and this town is only like 40 minutes from us now.) but it is still a really cool place.  Lots of cute stone cottages...

It was a fun little road trip and we will be going on a few more longer ones when it warms up a bit.

Have a great week and I hope to finish up that laundry room this week.  Seriously.

Latest Vintage Goodness

I haven't been doing a whole lot of antiquing.  It has been too cold and yucky snowy to get out of the house.  But, what little I have done has been wonderful!  First things first, here is part of the lovely giveaway that I won from Faded Plains.

I adore numbers and I have a gazillion places I want to put them, but until I narrow it down, they will stay on this little ironstone dish with my mercury glass birdy.

Then, last weekend, I found this pillow cover.  And, I was going to list it in my etsy shop, but I can't.  I think one day it may end up on one of my beds.  No, I haven't gone back to get them yet, but I am hoping they will still be there.  I actually called on Monday to see if they could hold them until Mr. Hughes could get a better look at them.  And, the gentleman said that he could only hold them for 24 hours and with a check.  Well, if I could get there with a check, wouldn't I just buy them?  Apparently he doesn't understand that I have been obsessing over these beds.  Anyhow, this pillow is lovely, huh?

And, my newest obsession (a lesser one *wink) are these vintage Ovenex loaf pans.  I have two now.  I also have two plain ones, but the design on these is fabulous.  I found one in an antique store and one on eBay.  Look what Tara did with hers!!  I think I may put some small plants or plant some wheat grass... I know, many of you are over wheat grass, but I still like the look.  Or a mound of moss...hmmm....

A couple of weeks ago, I found these trays.  And, even though they don't really look like the stuff I usually bring home, I was really drawn to them... probably the color.  They are this Moire enamel with gold accents.  I am going to list one of these in my etsy shop though.  There were two, and I thought someone else might like one!  It will be great for drinks.  I just remembered a set of cute glassware that would look great here... and it is at the same place as my beds, two reasons to go....

And, here is what the wonderful Mr. Hughes got me for Valentine's Day.  It is a brass and enamel birdcage that I have been lusting over at Scarlett Scales.  I was so excited when I saw it.  Isn't is darling? I have it on my white suitcases for the time being.  Maybe I will add a little plant or some shells.

Okay, that is all I have for now.  I do have to ask you a favor.  Please say a little vintage prayer that my beds will still be there tomorrow and that the sun is shining this weekend in Tennessee... now don't say a real prayer.  God has much more to worry about than whether or not I am going to stuff to beds in my garage until I get a house that can hold them...  bye for now!

Decorating Imaginary Rooms

I hope you are all having a wonderful Valentines' Day.  I got some great gifts, but it is too dark to show them off by taking photos.  Instead, I have been decorating rooms that don't exist in my house while the paint dries on the laundry room project.  Now, I apologize for the quality of the above photo ( I took it with my camera phone while I was antiquing), but they are beautiful.  They are 2 twin size beds with a cane detail.

Look at that detail!

  Right now, we don't have a guest room because that is where the studio is. But, I am seriously tempted to go back and get these beauties.  So seriously, that I will not tell you where they are hiding.  They are that gorgeous!  So,  I am sitting here daydreaming about what I would do if I had a guest room that I could decorate around these lovelies.  

First things first, I would paint them... don't cringe... they truly are lovely the way they are and I am totally a green person, but imagine them a wonderful grey with silver leaf accents

Benjamin Moore Feather Grey from here.

So they will look similar to this:

Found here

And, since we are daydreaming and all that, let's cover them with this:

Pine Cone Hill Bedding

I adore Pine Cone Hill, we have it in our bedroom and it is swoony!

Here, I may go with the predominately white one... I am undecided on this.  Oh, and just so you know, in this imaginary room, there are 2 perfectly proportioned windows that the beds will sit right in front of... and there is the perfect spot for a vintage 3 drawer chest.

Found here

Metal that is.  And there will be a lamp on the chest

Found here

Mercury glass, of course... this is a dream room!

and a pretty vintage mirror hanging above

Found here

And the floors will either be refinished or painted white.  I do think that there needs to be something to warm their toes on, so let's do this:

Dash and Albert Swedish Stripe

Oh I almost forgot to mention that the walls will probably be this color

Porch Ceiling Blue from Martha Stewart found here

 above the beadboard, which is white.

And, what swoony dream room would be complete without a chandelier, (this one was original to my imaginary home, that makes it better!)

And to keep it from looking too pretty, I'll add this beat up vintage trunk.

Found here

Well, I am thinking about checking out those beds again next weekend and seeing if they happen to be in a booth with a sale.  And, they very well may be collecting dust in my garage in a week or so.

Well, back to working on my real life house, with real life projects, removing real life "original to the home" fluorescent lights.

baby hughes' Bathroom is finished!

Okay, here it is.... I kind of feel like I have built up this project like we ripped out an ugly bathroom and put in a mini day spa for our child.  Not the case.  It was a simple project that didn't take a lot of effort or dinero.

Now, here is the before.  A basic bathroom that had okay cabinets and vinyl flooring.  Blah except for the punch of color from the shower curtain.  Since we are going forward with The Plan, this needed to be an inexpensive project.  That meant no new flooring or anything major. So, I shopped the house.

Found this in the garage.

Found this in the studio.

So, after some paint and a new shower curtain and some towels, here is the After:

I painted the cabinets a creamy white that I had left over from the kitchen so no $$ there.

This shelf was already in the bathroom.  And, I had all the accessories except for the little washcloth. The beach watercolor is one that we bought on our honeymoon in St. Martin. I painted the walls Pale Orchid by Ralph Lauren.

Here is a shot of the cute little hand towel.  And a pirate rubber ducky, because let's face it, no bathroom is complete without one.

This wheel is hanging over the bathtub and it was leftover from baby hughes' pirate party.  We left it outside and it is all weathered and worn now... perfect!

(I know, I need to iron the shower curtain!)

Here is what I decided to use for a rug.  This bathroom is awkward in that it seems to need 2 rugs... one in front of the tub and one in front of the sink.  But then it looks too cluttered.  Plus, I couldn't really find a cute one I liked.  Then, while showering away the massive amount of paint I had all over me ( I am a messy painter) I had a epiphany... most of my epiphanies are design related.  I had an extra grain sack that is the perfect size for the area.  So, I velcroed it to the blah vinyl.

Here is what became of the galvanized mop bucket.  I just stenciled on it... I think I need to distress it slightly...

And this is what I did with the piece of wood from something Mr. Hughes found. I took down the traditional towel bar and added this. Painted it, distressed it and added three hooks from Home Depot.  I used some little numbered tacks to cover up the screw holes.

And, here is what the towels look like hanging.  We had the green towels and I was going to replace them, but I really liked the way they looked with the green stitching on the pirate towels and the way the green looked with the ticking stripe.

So there you have it.  If you have been keeping track, I bought a can of paint, three hooks, a shower curtain and the set of pirate towels from Pottery Barn Kids.  Pretty good I think!  At least it has more personality than the boring builder's basic that we started with.

We are working on the laundry room and hopefully we will have that finished this weekend. Hopefully *wink*

Who Cares What the Groundhog Said?

As I am typing this, it is snowing outside.  Big, fluffy snow.  Snowball making snow.  But, I am ready for Spring.  To get out in the yard and mulch and plant flowers.  I love the smell of fresh mulch... strange, I know.  So in the spirit of Spring, I have added these these mini burlap bags to my etsy shop.

These little bags can be used for so many things: give a gift in them or a bottle of wine, cover a flower pot, use them to hold your bulbs until you plant them, stuff them... even use them as table numbers for your party or wedding reception.

Mr. Hughes is going to try to take some photos of the finished bathroom tomorrow while I am at work, so hopefully I will be able to post about it tomorrow.  Now, I am off to work on the laundry room...

Don't Hate Me

Because I won!  That is right, I won the Faded Plains $50 gift certificate.  And I am so excited!  Do you want to see what I picked out?  You do, you do...

I picked out 2 of these enamel numbers... aren't they awesome?

and then this little organic sandwich bag.  I take my lunch to work alot so this will be perfect.

So, thanks so much Andrea... stop by her blog and say hi.... her recent bathroom transformation is incredible.

Oh, and check out Gina's giveaway over at Shabby Chic Cottage.  She is giving away a whole bunch of great stuff from one of my favorite blogs/ etsy shops, Chester and Donkey.  

Jennifer is so sweet and has a great eye.  Like those ironstone butter pats?  Well, tough, because I ordered them tonight.  But, she has lots of other treasures for you.  

Well, Mr. Hughes put some finishing touches on baby hughes' bathroom, so with any luck I can show you the after this week.  

My favorite flower

 

Image found at Frolic

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that peonies were my 2nd favorite flower.  What?!?  How can they no t be my first favorite.  Many of you asked what my favorite one was.  Well,  that spot has belonged to the Anemone for years now.  Sometimes the color changes (it is white right now,) but my favorite will always be this lovely flower with the big black center.  I wanted them so badly at my wedding, but they weren't in season.  I had to "settle" for peonies, hydrangeas and gerber daisies.  Don't get me wrong, my bouquet was beautiful.... 

  

(I wish I had one in color, but I don't while I am here at work on my lunch... I stole this off of my facebook page.  But, the peonies were white and pink with green hydrangeas and a darker pink gerber.)

Check out these next 2 and see if your favorite flower doesn't change:

Photo found at ambiencefloral.com

 

 Photo found at Brides.Com

Oh, and I am loving that dress...

It makes me want to plan another wedding.  I keep offering to divorce Mr. Hughes just so we can get remarried to each other and I get another wedding...  He doesn't seem up for it.  It isn't "cost-effective" or in our "budget."  C'mon!  What is he thinking?  I would even get to have a ring bearer this time, baby hughes, of course.

So, what is your favorite flower?