I'll Be Seeing You

 Family is Coming

 we're heading out to a cottage just a few feet from the ocean, rocking chairs on the deck, the magic of the summer sun playing tricks on the waves, ocean spray, sand, seagulls, fresh as fresh can be seafood, forbidden desserts, Duck do-nuts, birthday flip-flop party, ocean wind kite flying, blowing bubbles, sorbet margaritas, baby toes and little girl giggles 

I am always thrilled to have you visit my blog and would love to have you visit the shop to see what "new" vintage and antiques have been added to the website.  "Like" and follow our facebook page.  Until next time, have a sweet week. xoxo

 
~ Add Something Special To Your Home ~ your place for affordable vintage flair

Black & White & French Red All Over

The color red occupies a very important place in the French provencal tradition.  And I try to incorporate this timeless feature in my own kitchen.  Have I ever showed you my kitchen? Non?

 This post was inspired by Francie of the blog, The Scented Cottage.  Francie and I did Luckett's together and the surrounding countryside (along with getting lost and driving in circles...thanks to my awesome navigational skills   ha!....love ya.  Francie girl! ) What fun we had!  On our drive back to my home, we made a stop at a fun antique place, not willing to let the weekend go just yet.  They had a barn out back where I think they had just stored everything they had no place for in the shop.  Wandering around, I found this charming little red basket.  Loved the shape of it and decided it was a great piece for my website.  Sorry y'all....Francie said it belonged in my kitchen and she was so right. 

So today, you get a little tour of my black and white kitchen punctuated with hues of red.  A French country kitchen is warm and casual and may have beamed ceilings, rush seated chairs, wood floors, baskets. open shelving, iron, copper, earthenware, grays, farm life figurines, rustic pieces and open vessels of vegetables. 

  

the sweet little red basket now hangs with other gathering baskets

 an antique Victorian  carved fireplace mantle has a place of pride over the sink and displays some of my collected ironstone.  The piece had been painted at one time and someone had stripped most of it off, giving it a fabulous shabby patina.  The dish towel is a vintage French torchon.

open shelving displays our every day dishes and some charming country French red checked plates along with a farm scene toile platter

 who says you can't have a painting in the kitchen?  I found this gorgeous antique Victorian oil painting in a thrift store of all places.  Red strawberries spilling out of a farm basket and displayed in a wonderful ornate very worn gold gesso frame.

a display of antique buttermilk pitchers, old wood advertising box and tins, a tarnished champagne bucket, the quintessential French rooster and even a tin fleur-de-lis crown, make a curious and charming display

 another vintage oil painting features a still life of a basket of fruit, painted by my Mom.  The  alabaster fruit is still in a basket in her kitchen, sitting on her kitchen counter.  A French kitchen features free standing cabinetry.  This white washed corner pine cabinet showcases my collection of poor man's silver, also known as pewter, and the pig is actually a vintage papier mache piece, once used in a stage play. The EAT sign, fashioned with black and white toile and red polka dots, was made by a fellow blogger years ago.:)

the kitchen chairs are slip covered in black and white country farm scene toile, now very faded from the sun.  I love my sweet little red ticking valance, a buy from K-Mart.

I recently received a number of these vintage and antique French torchons sourced from the Paris brocantes and the village of Montfort sur Mel.  Some have the wonderful old monograms on them and some don't......all red and white and metis or cotton.  These cloths are prized possesions in the French kitchen, last forever, and only get better and softer with age.  Just listed on our website here

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thank you for visiting today.  If you don't already follow, I would love for you to and like my face book page also.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and sweet week.  Mine will be very busy, getting ready for family coming and a trip to the beach and a birthday to celebrate. :) xoxo 

Partying at:
Funky Junk Interiors
Ivy and Elephants 
No Minimalist Here 
Shabby Creek Cottage 

~ Add Something Special To Your Home ~ your place for affordable vintage flair

The Line Starts Here >>>>>> Luckett's Spring Market

Did we have fun or what? 

 Our long weekend away to the Luckett's Spring Market, Leesburg, Maryland,  and other points North and surrounding countryside was just so much fun.   Just look at the line in that photo and that's not even half of it plus there was another entrance.  But the wait wasn't too bad and then we were off!   We decided to hit the Design House first before it filled up with people and it was hard to see or get around.  Good idea!  Because we were practically the only ones there for like.........uh....ummmm....maybe 15 minutes.  :)  If you are ever up this way, you absolutely must come see the Design House at the Old Luckett's Store.  It's inspiration overload and just gorgeous.  Before it got packed with shoppers I was able to take some photos for you.

Design House is a fabulous old home.  This is looking out the front door to the garden and yard, across the street and beyond.  The countryside of Loundon county is so pretty.....rolling hills with horses, sheep and cows.  The kind of antique bucolic painting I am always on the hunt for. :)

 One end of the front porch.........how inviting is that?

The other end of the front porch.  That's my sister looking at that gorgeous aqua / turquoise vase.  Think she bought?  yep!  :)

 Using a soothing, soft and serene pallet for the summer, with some light greens and aquas, I was captivated with each and every room. This old fireplace with the painted scene and then the huge scalloped shell in front was one of my favorite scenes.

These pieces are new but so like our beloved white ironstone and whiteware.  This vignette is simple and elegant.

 Don't you love this bed?!!  And the fleur-de-lis chandelier adds a French touch to the room along with fun and whimsy.

Another bedroom I could live in.......a hide-away spot for sweet dreams and day time thoughts 

I saw inspiration in this vignette for a future project.  Any ideas what it might be?

This wasn't at the Design House but in the side yard of a shop in the quaint little town of Leesburg, Va.  But I had to photograph it for another future project and to show you......maybe for my beach house one day.  :)   A seashell covered birdbath.

And what did I buy there?   The very first thing I spotted!!!  I needed more dishes like a hole in the head and had decided not to buy but my sister talked me into it.  (wasn't very hard)   :)  And I am so glad I did.  I was captivated with the monogram on these old pieces.  "L"  for my name, "G" for my husband's, and my maiden name starts with a "M" and my married name starts with "W".  So I figured that monogram was close enough.  :) 

The gorgeous vintage flatware, knives and forks, with mother-of-pearl handles and ornate rose motif silver barrel handles have just been listed on the website and the French torchons or vintage tea towels, sourced from the Paris brocantes, will be listed in the next few days.

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Always delighted to have you stop by and visit.  Would love for you to join my facebook page and become a follower of the blog.

Until next time    xoxoxo 

Let's Party
at How Sweet the Sound ~ Pink Saturday 
at Funky Junk ~ Luckett's Linkup
No Minimalist Here ~ Open House 
Common Ground ~ Be Inspired 

~ Add Something Special To Your Home ~ your place for affordable vintage flair