Inspiration for Creating in Vintage Style

I am happy to be joining the Creating Vintage Charm magazine's launch party today.  Please click on the link and go see this new publication and enjoy the launch party by visiting other blogs like mine that get their inspiration to create or decorate with vintage style.  The blog party theme is:  "What inspires you to create or decorate with vintage style?"

The answer to that for me is easy.  I grew up with vintage style.

This chippy, white, old Victorian farmhouse was my playhouse!  Starting this blog on a dare by my husband, I began really fast to explore what made me seek to create and be creative?  I began to pick up quickly on what blogs were so appealing to me and what my style was.  I wondered where did I gain this love for the old Victorian chippy white style and the answer was as close as a CD of family photos.  I played in this house for the first 12 years of my life.  The architecture, the chippy white paint, and the gingerbread trim were my everyday surroundings.  But, that wasn't my only inspiration.  I also grew up knowing for many years of my life my great-grandfather and this was his house.

My great-grandfather was born in 1901.  He was an avid collector of antiques.  His house and his fabulous collections of all things old was a true living museum.  

I spent every single Christmas Eve in this house till I was a teen.  It reminded me of being in Clement C. Moore's  "Twas The Night Before Christmas."  I can remember being very small and sitting on a sofa in the front room of this house craning my neck up at the sky to see if I could see Santa flying overhead; because, in this house I always thought that poem came alive every Christmas Eve like magic.  

Another wonderful way I grew up with vintage style was; that from the influence of my great grandfather's collections, everyone in the family began to give antiques for gifts!  Yes, it's awesome isn't it!!  Here my grandmother is getting a vintage doll tea set in the original box for Christmas.  

So, now when I decorate or tablescape I am drawn to all things vintage and charming.

When I put flowers on the tables I am often drawn to those century old foundation plantings that I grew up seeing around that Victorian farmhouse or plants that have old-fashioned charm.

I love mixing the old with the new, like vintage dishes mixed with a sea star in shabby chic style.

Here I copied a Pottery Barn style tea light holder by using a vintage tobacco mold from my great-grandfather's collection.  You can view that post here.

Here is a vintage Mother's Day tea served on a repurposed tray.

Here is an impromptu picnic for Memorial Day with vintage vacation souvenir mugs.

I used a vintage style fabric for a pillow to complement my Adirondack chair.

An antique bed from my great-grandfather's house gets a little Victorian styling.

Classic children's literature inspires me too.  My Mad Tea Party you can view here.

Here again; influenced by children's literature, I created a tea inspired by Anne of Green Gables.

Vintage dishes are a favorite, especially Limoges.

My grandmother's tea pot set out to remember her by.

Vintage in collage.

Teas and tablescapes done in vintage styling.

 Influenced by Colonial Williamsburg, I created a gingerbread art wreath.

I am always on the lookout for a great vintage find like this chalkware Santa I found at a thrift store.
Days gone by have left treasures for us to discover and to inspire us to create and decorate.  Congratulations to Creating Vintage Charm on their launch.  May vintage treasures continue to inspire us in our decorating for years to come.  

Sherry

The Charm of Home