French Inspired

 

How do you all get inspired?  What are your best sources?  I wanted you to talk to me today about this.

Have some coffee with me.   Where do you get your inspiration for your decorating.

I live in a really rural area with very few magazine racks and very few resources in the library.  My best ideas have come from you.  The blogs are a wonderful way to see what is going on.

I joined Courtney last week for Feathered Nest Friday at The French Country Cottage and she had a post about her inspirations and the first book she featured was The French Inspired Home by Carolyn Westbrook.  Of course I had heard of this book before on blogs, but I have looked for it for awhile and not found it, so I ordered it.   I am now so inspired, this book was beautiful.  Some images from the book below, photography by Keith Scott Morton.

  

 This was very Shabby Chic, I get this look.

 

 How beautiful is this?

 

 Wouldn't you like to blog here?

 

All the photos above from the book: The French Inspired Room by Carolyn Westbrook.

 A few parting shots from me.  Thanks for stopping by for coffee, please leave a comment sharing your favorite inspirations. This is another re-post.  I am doing some housekeeping on the blog and sharing some favorite posts this week that fit the season.

Sherry

I will link to;

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style 
Strut Your Stuff Saturday at Six Sisters Stuff 

Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

The Scoop Party at Cedar Hill Ranch  

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
Rooted in Thyme Simple and Sweet Fridays
Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits at Stonegable 
Transformed Tuesdays at PJH Designs

Fabulously Rustic

Source: scanned  Romantic Prairie Style  Summer 2012

One of my favorite magazines to premiere this summer was Romantic Prairie Style by Fifi O'Neill.  The magazine delivered much inspiration and drool worthy interiors all with a vintage twist.

Source: scanned image from Romantic Prairie Style  Summer 2012

The vintage all mixed with the rustic was so up my alley.  I couldn't help but be intrigued by this one home photographed with the deer antlers mounted right on the wall!  I happened to have a set of antlers just like this!  What to do...what to do.   I thought about it awhile.  Should I just mount them right on the wall? 

Well bare antlers can look amazing in a lot of spaces.  I am not against mounting them as is.  But, I wanted to display them in my dining room so, I thought they needed a little more modesty.  Yes, that meant I was going to try taxidermy!  How hard could this project be right?  Here are my supplies:  wooden plaque, antlers, hot glue gun, leather square, and upholstery tacks.

I spray painted the wooden plaque first.  I then hot glued the antlers to the plaque.  Then I sketched out a pattern for my leather cover.

I then cut the leather out.

I then trimmed the leather even more and positioned the tacks.

I did a few tacks to anchor it first.

The bland spray paint just wasn't the look I was wanting so I sanded that up and applied a glaze to the whole plaque to make it look a little more aged.

So here is where I wanted to put them, right above my buffet in the dining room.  I was pleased with how they turned out.  It wasn't hard at all to do this.  A bit of a rustic touch for fall and winter.

That vine hanging in the side of the photo above is this.  I found a real bittersweet vine for fall!!!  Love this stuff, talk about fabulously rustic, bittersweet is it!

 Sherry

Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Cottage Style Link Party  at Lavender Garden Cottage

Sunday's Best Party  at My 1929 Charmer

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Sunny Simple Sundays  at Sunny Simple Life

Mod Mix Monday  at Mod Vintage Life

Share Your Cup Thursday  at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
My Monday Muse at Carter's Cottage 

Christmas in July

I found this Mary at a grocery store floral department and it inspired me to create this Jean d'Arc style Christmas vignette.  A little Christmas in July, it was only 106 here this weekend!

I found these great pale aqua shutters at an estate sale.  

The shutters were the perfect place to show off some vintage Christmas postcards.
 

I have always loved this postcard.  It looks very much like fall but it is a Christmas postcard.

Any inspirations going through your head for Christmas?

 And for those of us still enjoying our summer, here is the summer look for the before.

 Sherry 

  I will join:

Sunday's Best Party  at My 1929 Charmer

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Sunny Simple Sundays  at Sunny Simple Life

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick
Cottage Style Link Party  at Lavender Garden Cottage
Cowgirl Up Christmas in July Link Party at Confessions of a Plate Addict

Moooo

I have been stalking cows.   

 

Charlene by Cheri Wollenberg

I have been wanting a cow painting.  This one is Charlene by Cheri Wollenberg.   Isn't this lady talented?  I love her cow paintings! 

Cows are such curious animals.  They are really easy to pose they stare at you, naturally curious.

The one with the horns wasn't more than five feet away, he was the most curious.   I will post my cow picture soon.  I am still working on it.  I may stalk the cows at the county fair too....

Sherry

  I will join:

Sunday's Best Party  at My 1929 Charmer

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Mosaic Monday at Little Red House 

Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House 

Heart and Home Link Up  at Trisha' Heart & Home  

Sunny Simple Sundays  at Sunny Simple Life

The Joy of Gardening

source: scanned image from Victoria April 1995

In observance of Earth Day I am doing an ode to gardening.  I fondly remembered the old Victoria magazine's features on gardening and decided to dig them out and see what images I could come up with.  I have tore out these features and long since thrown the magazines away.  If I knew the the date of the feature I have posted it here as the source, otherwise I don't know the date.

 source: scanned image from Victoria magazine

This was from the magazine and it was also the cover of the magazine.  If ever I get to visit England I would love to see a cottage like this.  Isn't this rose bush magnificent!

source scanned image from Victoria magazine

Victoria magazine often took us to England.  Here we get a bird's eye view of a spectacular manor house walled garden.

source: scanned image Victoria magazine

This image is one of the inspirations for my own kitchen garden.  Here is a herb garden right out the kitchen door at another manor house.

source: scanned image Victoria magazine

Always enchanted by a path in a garden.

source: image scanned from Victoria magazine Jan. '91

Victoria did many features on white long before I ever remember anyone else showing it.  Here they featured an all white garden.

source: image scanned from Victoria magazine Jan. '91

 The white garden at night becomes a magical place as a moonlit garden.

 Now, here in my own yard the plants have been spilling over the walk and the flower border with abandon. 

 I just this year have a rose garden.  You don't have to spend a lot of money to have roses.  I picked these roses up at Walmart last year.  I would get a rose every week with the groceries.  They only cost around $4 and some change a piece.

I have four rose bushes and they have really been beautiful this week.

Right out the back door in a shrub a mother robin has taken up residence to raise her young.  Not wanting to disturb the nest, I stuck the camera above my head and aimed and caught a peak at the beautiful eggs.

Much to my 7 year-old's delight a tree frog has decided to live in the pipe of his swing set. 

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein 

Sherry

  I will join: 

Show off Your Cottage Monday  at The House in the Roses  

Seasonal Sundays  at The Tablescaper
Say G'Day Saturday  at Natasha in Oz

A Return to Loveliness  at A Delightsome Life

Your Cozy Home Party  at Cozy Home Scenes