Carolina Country Living

Giveaway Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Thank goodness it's Friday...and what better way to start the weekend early than with a GIVEAWAY!

Many of you are probably already familiar with Shabby Apple, the online women's boutique.

With its vintage flair, Shabby Apple offers beautiful women's dresses, skirts, little girl's dresses, and even maternity dresses.

But did you know Shabby Apple also offers vintage-style jewelry and accessories?

Yes, my friends, they do.

And for this giveaway, Shabby Apple is kindly offering up the gorgeous Key to Wonderland skeleton key necklace.

Key to Wonderland

You know I like my antiques and vintage pieces, and when I saw this necklace, I knew y'all would enjoy the chance to win it! The key is finished in antique brass and suspended on a matching 24" chain.

And see how pretty it looks on!

Only one lucky person will win the necklace, but through March 24th, everybody wins as Shabby Apple is offering a 10% discount on purchases with the coupon code carolinacountry10off.

Now, for the details of the giveaway:

You can put your name in the proverbial hat to win Shabby Apple's Key to Wonderland necklace up to 4 times by doing the following steps, leaving one comment for each.

1. Follow Carolina Country Living with Google Friend Connect or Linky Followers, or subscribe by email. (All of these can be found on the right sidebar.) If you're already a subscriber/follower, ~~you're awesome~~ just leave a comment saying so.

2. Like Shabby Apple on Facebook. (By liking Shabby Apple, you'll be notified of special promotions and exclusive discounts...)

3. Spread the word about the giveaway via Facebook, Twitter or on your blog; please leave a comment with a link to your post.

4. Visit Shabby Apple then come back here and tell us your favorite item in the store.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and runs through Thursday, March 1st at midnight Eastern Time. The winner will drawn via random.org and announced the morning of Friday, March 2nd.

Thanks again to Shabby Apple for making this giveaway possible and thank you for joining in the fun!

Good luck!
Erin

New Look at the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:10:00 +0000

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for your compliments and kind words from last week's post about my flannel pajama pants sewing endeavor.

I hope that post empowered some of you to dust off your sewing machines or at least consider trying your hand at sewing. It's a very gratifying feeling to start off with a piece of fabric and transform it into a beautiful, useful item. I have more sewing plans in the near future and am looking forward to sharing some fun projects with you!

So, the next part of this post is a kinda-sorta Etsy shop plug, so please bear with me. :) Some of you newer readers may not be aware, but I have a small soy candle business--Harmony Farm Candles. Several local shops--Nest in Burlington, and Fetch Antiques & Interiors and Vintage Revival in Hillsborough--carry these handmade soy candles, which are made right in my kitchen.

Back in the fall, I took the business one step further and opened an Etsy shop. At the time, I made a simple shop banner in Picasa, but I'm no designer, that's for sure! Now, I haven't done much to promote the shop since wholesale orders keep me steadily busy, but something exciting will be happening in relation to the shop in March. For that reason, I ~~wanted~~ needed a new look for the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop.

Here's what the old banner looked like:

It was fine enough, but I wanted a banner that invoked a more sophisticated, but vintagey vibe. Plus, a lot of the candles I make are floral fragrances, and I wanted the banner to hint at that.

So, I engaged the services of Sarah Ohme of Ohmeohmy Design to create a banner and business card design. Sarah was a complete sweetheart to work with, executed the design flawlessly, and whipped up the order in just a couple days. She's a design goddess!

With that build up, I'm going to be a total tease and not post the new banner here! Visit the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop to check it out and let me know what you think.

And to be a further tease, come back on Friday for an exciting giveaway! It's not candle-related (I'll do one of those in March...stay tuned), but I guarantee you're going to love it!

Hope you're having a wonderful week,
Erin

Mission Accomplished: Flannel Pajama Pants

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:27:00 +0000

One of my goals in 2012 is to branch out into sewing simple clothes for myself and my boys.

I was able to squeeze in some sewing time last week at my friend Kate's house to make this pair of pajama pants!

Kate is an accomplished sewer, even though she probably wouldn't cop to it. She makes clothes for her kids. Like so-meticulously-crafted-you'd-never-guess-they're-handmade outfits. She's really talented!

Kate was kind enough to walk me through the steps--particularly how to sew the crotch together, which I simply couldn't wrap my head around at first--and ignore my occasional whining. :)

In the end, we had a great afternoon hanging out in her "fortress of sewitude" while the kids played, and I emerged with the basic knowledge to make pajama pants.

Happy Erin

And O-M-G are they like heaven to wear. So soft. So comfy. A perfect fit. I don't want to put on real clothes in the mornings now because I could easily wear these pants all day and night long!

If you want to make your own pajama pants, visit this tutorial from DIY Fashion for some excellent diagrams on how to cut your fabric and piece it together. And if you're like me and need to actually see something being made to understand its construction, watch this YouTube video tutorial.

(Of course, it only occurred to me after taking up part of Kate's afternoon to check YouTube for pants-making video tutorials...story of how my brain works.)

Also, here's a tip (courtesy of Kate) for cleaning up hems and seams without having to double-over the fabric or using a serger: sew the seams/hems, then simply cut the excess fabric with pinking shears. I did that to the waistband after sewing the casing for the elastic, the crotch seam, and the hems on the legs. It really cleans up the pants on the inside and prevents the fabric from fraying excessively.

Sewing a tag onto the inside back of the waistband is also handy to know which way is front. (That's another tip from Kate, by the way.)

Anyway, I love having a pair of flannel pants that fit so comfortably and aren't high-water sweatpants --which is what my 5'8" self has been wearing so far this winter!

Plus, I have to say, I'm pretty stinking proud of myself for sewing an actual pair of pants. Shoot, if I can sew pants, there's nothing stopping me from a skirt! Or who knows what else? :P And let me assure you, if I can sew a pair of PJs, you can do it, too.

Have a lovely week,
Erin

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25 Things

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:07:00 +0000

Shaunna at Perfectly Imperfect is holding a 25 things link party this week. I love reading these lists of random facts and thoughts, and learning more about fellow bloggers.

Here's my 25:

1. I love riding roller coasters, especially ones that go upside-down and involve corkscrews.

2. I'm highly irritated by all the grey hairs that are suddenly sprouting from my head in the last few months.

3. Same goes for the brown hairs on my chin. Hello, tweezers...

4. I'm an inherently optimistic and resilient person.

5. I still miss my beloved Persian cat, Beezey, who went missing two years ago today. Sniff.

6. I'm learning how to crochet and I can't wait to make granny squares and dishcloths.

7. I wish I hadn't spent as much time out in the sun without sunblock as a teenager. It's showing now.

8. I love being in my 30s and feel like life keeps getting better as I get golder. You couldn't pay me to return to my teens or 20s...well, maybe unless I could take the knowledge I now have about myself and life with me.

9. I believe we have to seek out and choose happiness in our lives and that with enough therapy and self-work, people can move past damaging events/situations with grace and dignity.

10. Getting new pens and pencils makes me insanely happy.

11. I lack any career ambition. I'd like to eventually work at a public library, but as for having a "career?" No thanks, I think "just" having a job is perfectly okay. My ambitions lay elsewhere.

12. Every so often, I consider having another baby. But then I worry how my son's already 5 and wouldn't having another be like having two only children? I was also told by a palm reader in New Orleans when I was 21 that I'd only have one child, a son. All the other major life things she told me have come eerily true in the ensuing 10 years, and as completely batty as this sounds, I feel like by trying to have another baby, I'd be challenging the will of the universe. And that seems like a terribly dicey thing to do.

13. I love the Internet and my laptop, but despise most other current forms of technology like e-readers, GPS systems, and smart phones. I'll admit, I have a cell phone, but only because my husband insisted. I hardly use it because I'm spiteful like that.

14. I think it's important to volunteer in one's community in some capacity.

15. Besides riding a roller coaster or a galloping horse, there's nothing more exhilarating to me than being on the road and traveling. I love car trips and the best one I took was in 2004 with my friend Linnet. We drove across the country, camped in numerous national parks, visited friends and family, were on the road for two full months, and logged 12,000 miles.

16. I wish I could do one of these things really well: sing or play either the piano or violin.

17. Dollhouses and miniatures fascinate me. I would love to build a doll house like this one day.

18. I don't express it enough, but I'm very appreciative of my husband's ability to provide for me and our son. He's a man's man, and is resourceful, handy, dependable, and can kill, butcher and cook any kind of animal. That sounds so old-fashioned, but it comforts me nonetheless.

19. I secretly hope that time travel is possible and that parallel universes exist.

20. I can't handle having long finger nails. They're impractical and dirt gets under them too easily.

21. One of my lifelong dreams is to own a racehorse, be present when it wins a race, then lead the horse to the winner's circle for the photo.

22. I believe in equality for all people and can't wait to vote against the same-sex marriage ban amendment that will be put before North Carolina voters this spring.

23. I'm a homebody. I do leave the house nearly every day, but there are many times where I'd be completely content to simply putter around the house and property.

24. I think your gut instinct should never be ignored. I also think that people always tell you who they are through their actions whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

25. I can honestly say I'm happy right now with where I am in my life.

-Erin

Saturday Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:56:00 +0000

It's a chilly, dreary Saturday here, so let's lighten things up with some random but cheery photos.

*********************

First up is this vintage-style alarm clock, found on eBay late last year.

I had seen a very similar clock on the delightful blog, Tinkered Treasures, in a November 2010 post. It was from a completely adorable line called Green Gate and was only available from a UK shop called Berry Red. Needless to say that by the time I found out about it in 2011, it wasn't available. Plus, it retailed for something like $30. Which seemed a bit much for a bedside clock...but maybe I'm just cheap?

Tinkered Treasures

Anyway, I hopped on Etsy, then eBay, to see if I could find a reasonably priced vintage alarm clock. On eBay, I found a seller from Hong Kong who had a new clock that was very similar to the Green Gate clock.

Side-by-side, you can see these are pretty much the same clocks, just with different faces and hands.

However, the eBay clock was a much more reasonable $13-- including postage all the way from Hong Kong. Score!

This seller still has a few of these clocks, as well as some other vintages styles. Click here to view them.

I'll warn you, though, the double-hammer bell is REALLY loud. There's no way you'll sleep through that alarm!

********************

While we're on the topic of cute home goods, the Spring 2012 Cath Kidston line is now out!

Here are just a few of the many items that caught my eye...

Chicken Tea Towels

Bleached Flowers Photo Frame

Pinny Flowers Cotton Duck Fabric in Stone

Circle Ditsy Mini Clasp Purse

Provence Rose Set of 3 Tin Canisters

Set of 4 Tea Mugs

*******************

After making candles this week, volunteering with my local Friends of the Library group, working on a little project I'll sneak peek below, and generally playing catch up from being sick last week, I haven't yet started making those flannel pajama bottoms I mentioned in January.

However, this is the week and this is the fabric I'll be using:

It's from JoAnn and the line is Cottage Gardens. I happened to luck out and buy the last 4 yards on the bolt for just $4 a yard. P.S.--If anyone has any yardage of Cotton Gardens (which came in both flannel and quilter's cotton and in a couple of different colorways), email me if you'd like to sell it. I love this line so much and JoAnn no longer carries it. : (

*******************************

To continue with what has turned out to be a very flower-heavy post, here's a peek at a project I'm working on. I've begun contributing craft tutorials to a local magazine. This project--which is still underway in the photo below--will appear in full in the March issue of Alamance Magazine for you local readers.

Fabrics, from top to bottom:

Old New 30s in Purple Rose by Lecien

Old New 30s in White Calico by Lecien

Delilah TW42 in Pink by Tanya Whelan/Free Spirit Fabrics

************************

So, what have you been up to this weekend?

-Erin

House Tour: The Guest Room

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:44:00 +0000

Good evening, everyone!

I just finished watching the latest episode of Downton Abbey on PBS tonight...ah, SO GOOD. (Season One is available on Netflix and Season Two episodes are viewable on PBS's Web site.) I've been completely sucked in by this beautiful-looking and drama-filled series. I cannot recommend it enough!

Anyway, hope you've all been better than I was this past week. Monday night the flu descended on me and I spent the next 4 days in bed with chills, aches, and fever.

Blurgh.

Needless to say, I haven't been up to much! I'd had high hopes of making a pair of flannel pajama bottoms but perhaps I can give them a go this week.

Anyway, when wondering what to blog about after a week of doing nearly nothing, I realized I never posted photos of our guest room for the house tour I kicked off in the fall.

So, let me get back into the blogging groove with a few shots of the guest room, which is furnished in a simple farmhouse style.

So, have you been lucky enough to escape the flu, or other sick bugs so far this winter?

-Erin

Free Access to Picnik's Premium Features

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:44:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

Hope your weekend's off to a good start! It's raining here, so we're holed up in the house today, listening to music and poring through seed catalogs as we plan for our garden this year.

I took a moment to check my email earlier and received a note from my father-in-law that Picnik, the free (and paid, for certain features) photo editing Web site, will be closing on April 19th.

Since I don't have Photoshop, I've relied on Google's Picasa and Picnik to edit photos for Carolina Country Living from the beginning. So the news that Picnik will no longer exist in three months is a bit of a bummer to hear.

However, from now and until then, Picnik is offering all its premium photo-editing features for free!

I'll be taking advantage of this offer and I thought some of you might want to do the same! Visit Picnik here.

And now before I resume laying on the couch by the woodstove, I wanted to share these camellias I clipped yesterday at my parents' house. (Photos edited using Picnik!)

We're having a freakishly warm winter so far, and these camellias are in full bloom. I placed a few in a thrifted silverplated sugar bowl in my bathroom and they are a welcome touch of color in the middle of winter.

-Erin

A Dollhouse for Abby

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:46:00 +0000

This past weekend was spent with Linnet and Nora, two of my oldest girlfriends (oldest as in we've known each other forever...not that we're old...yet!), in Tennessee. Nora and I are both in NC, but Linnet lives with her husband and daughter in Nashville so we're lucky to see her a couple times a year.

We had a wonderful three days of lazing about, talking, going out to eat, getting pedicures, watching the entire first season of the very addictive Downton Abbey, and playing with Linnet's adorable daughter, Abby.

Abby turned two in November and I've been planning for awhile to make her a simple dollhouse.

This CD holder from Michael's served as the perfect little house.

With an assortment of craft paint, fabric, and various miniature wood pieces, I made Abby a cottage with a vintage feel.


The exterior is Vintage White and the roof and trim are Barnwood - all colors by FolkArt

Upstairs is the bedroom with walls in Buttercream - Downstairs is the eat-in kitchen with walls in Seamist

The completed house with furniture and Abby Doll

The bedroom features curtains made of scraps of a Simply Shabby Chic sheet thrifted from a local Goodwill. The same fabric faces the white bedside table, made of a 1" wood cube found in the woodworking section of Michael's.

The bed was made by my dear friend Sara who crafts wooden playsets. The bed was wrapped in a sweet floral fabric, topped with a scrap of vintage chenille for the bedspread, and completed with a pillow made from a bit of dotty Tanya Whelan fabric. The rug is cut from Cath Kidston's Provence Rose fabric.

The pictures on the bedroom wall are one of my favorite details and are Cath Kidston's Provence Rose pattern. I cut the paper from a CK notebook of stickers that I have and the circles were Mod Podged to painted wooden disks, then hot glued to the wall.

Downstairs, the kitchen accessories were simple and equally fun to make. The table is a wood disk glued to a wood spool and painted red.

The fridge, stove and sink are all 1-1/2" wood blocks, hot glued together and painted accordingly. The bit of fabric on the sink front is supposed to be a skirt. :) The black details were drawn in with a permanent marker.

And here is the full kitchen. The fabric found on the sink--a vintage rosebud pattern picked up at the Liberty Antiques Festival last year--was also used to create cafe curtains in the kitchen. The gingham fabric, from JoAnn, serves as a rug. The artwork is another bit of Cath Kidston paper Mod Podged to a wooden disk.

The Abby Doll is a girl peg painted to resemble her namesake. The dress is a floral fabric from Marie-Madeline Studio (a wonderful source for floral and vintage-inspired fabrics!) which was simply Mod Podged onto the peg doll and then coated with another layer of Mod Podge to seal it on.

All painted items were topcoated in Triple Thick, a glossy, acrylic paint-on sealer for extra durability.

Abby seemed quite taken with her dollhouse and I hope she has many, many happy hours playing with it!

-Erin

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Monday Morning Music: The Decemberists

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Another installment of Monday Morning Music to kick off the week and this time I'd like to introduce The Decemberists, a folk indie rock group from Portland, Oregon.

Now, they've been around for a decade and have quite a following, so they're hardly a new or obscure group. However, they're relatively new to me as my mom gave me their 2011 album, "The King Is Dead," for my birthday over the summer.

I immediately loved the album as the instrumentation in the songs is just lovely with its old-fashioned sound. And lead singer Colin Meloy's voice, with its hints of plaintiveness, is unique, and pairs perfectly with the stories told in The Decemberists's songs.

So, without further ado, here are The Decemberists:

January Hymn

This Is Why We Fight - Live

Don't Carry It All

And this song is just pure sunshine and makes look forward to summer.

June Hymn - Live

-Erin

Harmony Farm Candles Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:23:00 +0000

Just a quick note that the remaining Wintergreen and Mulled Cider candles in the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop have been reduced by 15%. Click on the SPECIALS shop section to be taken directly to the listings.

Even though the holidays are over, these candles are still wonderful to burn during the winter months!

{Harmony Farm Candles}

-Erin

Planning for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:06:00 +0000

As a big list-maker, I've been working this week on three lists of projects and goals I'd like to accomplish in 2012. The lists are centered around: crafting, the house, and homesteading.

Resolutions, what? I think I'll just stick to projects this year!

Crafting Projects
After painting a bunch of furniture last year, I'd like to switch gears this year and focus on sewing projects, both with the machine and by hand. I'm sure I'll still paint here and there, but I'd love to venture beyond making pillow covers and curtains, and try sewing clothes for a change of pace.

Perhaps a pair of pajama bottoms for the winter? This dress would be adorable to make for the summer! And based on the tutorial, a novice sewer (like moi) can make it...

{via}

And something I can't wait to get started on is embroidery. After discovering Cornflower Creations on Etsy this fall, I've become a wee bit obsessed with vintage-style embroidery. Jacklyn, of Cornflower Creations, has so many adorable embroidered tea towels ~~that I would love to buy all of them~~, but I just about died when I saw her redwork chicken towel. And so it had to go in the Etsy shopping cart and come home to live in my kitchen.

{Cornflower Creations}

There's something about sitting with a needle, thread, and hoop of fabric, stitching away serenely. And you can easily turn embroidery into art by placing it in a hoop and hanging it up!

The other area of sewing I'd like to try in 2012 is quilting. Now, there's no way I can possibly sew an entire quilt--or even a baby quilt. But a potholder seems very attainable. :) And I do need some more, so why not?

Some quilted potholder inspiration...

{via}

Other crafty projects I'd like to try in 2012:
-big bunting for my front and side porches this spring
-fabric-wrapped wreaths for the seasons
-clay tags

And of course, there will be many beautiful, creative projects online that I'll have to try, but this list at least gets me started and helps keep me focused. Or as focused as I can be...

Around-the-House Projects
Priority numero uno: landscape the exterior of the house!

It's been more than four years since we finished building and moved in. We have a nice yard, but between all the other house and homesteading projects, we've had no money, no energy, or a combination thereof, to tackle this.

I'd love to plant a variety of English rose bushes, lilac, hydrangea, wisteria, and jasmine. Anything that flowers and smells beautiful is what I'm going for. And also low-growing plants to go around the perimeter of the wrap-around porch. I should mention here that I have no experience with any of this, so I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time on the Internet doing research. :) Here are few photos I pinned for inspiration:

{via}

And the other big project: finish the office/craft room! Or as I currently call it, the crap room. This is the space where I pile (I can't honestly say 'store' because there is about zero organization happening) my crafting supplies, as well as keep the candles for the Etsy shop. I'd share a photo but it's difficult to walk into the room at the moment...it's that bad.

Anyway, I have a glorious vision in my head of making this a Cath Kidston/Tanya Whelan-themed, cheerful space. The room has great potential with lots of natural light, white beadboard walls, and cute furniture by way of this desk and this armoire. I just need to pull it all together by building a work table (I'm thinking planked farmhouse style) for the sewing machine and figuring out how the heck to organize all the crap. If I can just get a system in place, this room will be awesome, and I'll have a happy, inspiring place to craft. Wish me luck!

In between these two big projects, there are also the very unsexy tasks of:
-fixing the clothesline so I can actually hang laundry to dry this spring and summer
-re-doing the compost pile, which has been terribly neglected
-painting the porch floor of our new storage building
-coming up with a DIY recycling station for our laundry room

Homesteading Projects
After raising and slaughtering pigs this year--and yes, I realize I never wrote about this even though I'd planned on it (story of this blog...)--my husband and I have decided to forgo another porcine project for 2012 since we have enough pork in the freezer to last us well into 2013!

Instead, we're looking at adding a few more hens to the flock as some of the gals are getting older and not laying as frequently. And since we'll no doubt grow weary of eating pork at some point, we're hoping to raise meat chickens with friends who are also homesteading on a small scale.

I don't know if we'll have time to do this, but I'd love to establish a honeybee hive in 2012 on our property. One of the fellows who helped us slaughter the pigs in late December is a hobby apiarist and after talking to him, my interest in keeping a couple of hives was piqued. Because honey is delicious.

This final project is a definite because I've promised Jacob we'll do it, but we're going to plant a pumpkin patch this summer! This kid loves pumpkins and Halloween.

And out of the blue one night he said he wanted to sell pumpkins this fall. I thought that was such a cool idea--and the country version of having a lemonade stand? So we'll look for a variety of heirloom pumpkin seeds and get them in the ground in June and see what happens!

Whew! So, there are my lofty aspirations for 2012. What are yours?

-Erin

Reflections on 2011 and a New Year's Eve Drink

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:43:00 +0000

New Year's Eve is soon upon us!

I have to say, 2011 has been a very good year in many ways, and blogging has had a lot to do with that.

Twenty-eleven was my first full year of blogging and through this medium I've gotten to know several wonderful, talented ladies in a relatively short amount of time.

{Pinterest}

This blog started off on a whim in the fall of 2010 and it never entered my mind that I might make friends along the way. But trading emails and developing friendships with people like Ali, Cassie, Cindy, Dawn, Janet, Robin, Stacey, and others have made this hobby unbelievably fulfilling.

This past year has also been an excessively creative time thanks to the plethora of online inspiration via blogs and Pinterest. I managed to paint more than 25 pieces of furniture in 2011--even though I didn't necessarily have time to document all of them here!

{Pinterest}

Toss in the crafting, sewing, and making candles, and it's been wonderful to be able to be able to simply create, beautify my home, and learn new skills.

This year was also one of great serendipity. I have literally never won anything, but I was utterly thrilled to win a copy of Fifi O'Neill's Romantic Prairie Style in May through The Old Painted Cottage. That led to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of Fifi's next book (due out in Spring 2012) and have the house photographed by Mark Lohman for a future magazine article.

And since then, I've been further blessed to win The DIY Club's 31 Days of Paint Party, plus giveaways from Inspired by Charm, A Canadian Cottage, A Sort of Fairytale, and Twice Lovely. Still stunned by that run of luck...

And the cherry on top to all this blogging wonderfulness? YOU!

(Pinterest}

I'm still mildly baffled that people want to read the long-winded drivel and so-so photos I post here, so the fact you regularly leave positive, encouraging, and thoughtful comments, well...I don't have the words to fully articulate how appreciative I am. Thank you!

(Plus, it's nice to know that I'm not the only gal crazy for bunting, or that I am not alone in swooning over that perfect paint color, or that I have kindred spirits in the hunt for thrifty diamonds-in-the-rough!)

I've had some challenging times in the last few years, but I can say without a doubt, that I will remember 2011 with great fondness and that's due in no small part to blogging and the people who populate this blogging community.

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After all that sappiness, is anybody ready for a drink? :)

For those you who like to ring in the year with a libation, I tried a tasty, simple drink last week courtesy of Nigella Lawson that I want to share.

If you've ever watched any of Nigella's cooking shows, you'll quickly notice she's a big proponent of prosecco, a fizzy white Italian wine, somewhat similar to champagne.

Now, I've never been a fan of champagne because it's usually so, so dry. Then again, I've never had good quality champagne, so that may be part of the issue. :)

However, to my unsophisticated palette, prosecco is much less dry than champagne and has more fruitiness to it. It's honestly like a nice sauvignon blanc with carbonation.

Last week, when in need of a cocktail for a holiday get-together, I decided to give a version of Nigella's "Filthy Fizz" a go.

This cocktail has exactly two ingredients: prosecco and raspberry liquor. Nigella's original "Filthy Fizz" uses Campari, but she also recommended the French raspberry liquor, Chambord, as a sweeter alternative. Knowing what tasty raspberry margaritas Chambord makes, I went with the latter.

Pay no mind to the fact that both bottles are half empty...

Simply splash some Chambord into the bottom of your glass...

Then top with the prosecco and watch it fizz!

Isn't that a gorgeous color?

Not only is Filthy Fizz a pretty drink, it's tasty.

Imagine drinking a raspberry Italian soda...with a kick. That's this cocktail.

Hope you all ring in the New Year safely and in good company. See you in 2012!

Erin

Happy 5th Birthday, Jacob!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:29:00 +0000

At 12:05 p.m. today, my son, Jacob, officially turns 5.

It seems like only yesterday that I spent four, grueling hours pushing to deliver him on a grey December day. And how everyone was surprised that he was a 9 lb. baby with a Charlie Brown-sized head...which explained why the delivery took so long! :)

I can distinctly remember my friend, Brandee, taking this photo of me and Jacob in the spring of 2007 when she was visiting North Carolina from Chile. She recently sent it to me when she was going through her email and I'm glad she did. We don't often look at baby pictures as life is busy these days, but it was a sweet reminder of just how precious Jacob was as an infant.

Now, that little baby is a spirited, bright, outgoing boy who runs full-tilt boogie to do most things, loves building with Legos, and has already lost his first tooth. Oy!

There's an adage about motherhood that says, "the days are long but the years are short." As Jacob gets older, I feel the years ticking right along. And now it seems the days are getting shorter, too. I won't worry about that (too much) today--instead we'll celebrate our big boy's milestone birthday with family and a homemade cake.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Jacob Cole!

Love,
Mommy

Christmas Eve Eve House Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Come on in and have a look at the decorations around the cabin...

Simple clippings of berries and fraser fir branches adorn the hallway mirror. (You can see a tinsel garland hanging on a door in the mirror's reflection, too.)

Making our way into the living and dining rooms...

Here's a close-up of the arrangement on top of the living room armoire.

It was inspired by Dawn's mantel at Creative Cain Cabin. She had the most adorable red gingham bunting in her vignette and when I saw it, I knew I had to make one. The glass candle holders were picked up this week on major clearance at Michaels (the red one was $1.99 and the silver mercury glass was $4.99--it sometimes pay to proscrastinate!) and currently contain Wintergreen candles. The wooden bowl was carved by my now-deceased uncle and everything else I already had on hand.

My friend, Sara, made this sweet little wooden Santa, reindeer and sled for my son last year.

And nearby is our Elf on the Shelf, "Frigsby." I have no idea where my son got that name from...

More greenery and berries in a zinc pitcher picked up earlier in the year at Nest in Burlington, NC.

Check out this fabulous pillow made from a vintage table cloth! Not to sound like a commercial, but I found it and its mate at Fetch Antiques and Interiors in Hillsborough, NC. Karan had another similar pair the last time I was at the shop.

And though I already shared these photos in a previous post, I'll show them again since I love these glitter houses so hard.

On the dining room table is another wood bowl carved by my uncle. It holds pinecones and some great vintage glass ornaments my mom brought over earlier in the week. She hit the cheap-vintage-glass-ball-mother-lode at an antique shop in Winston-Salem when she found at least 8 boxes of ornaments for only a $1 per box!

The corner cabinet is looking festive, too.

Family members, avert your eyes from this upcoming photo and skip on down to the next picture, please...

Everyone else, here's one of about a dozen ornament-sized glitter houses I made last week. I'll take photos before they're given as gifts and share them with you in my next post. I just had to sneak one in here because I was so happy with the way they turned out. :) (P.S.--The delightful paper JOY tag came with the goodies from Stacey's giveaway and I thought it was just perfect to incorporate into the decorations.)

The dining room plate rack sports a glittered paper birdhouse from Uniquitiques, another great shop in Hillsborough.

In the kitchen, I added some pine clippings from the woods around our house to the bunting-bedecked shelf over the sink.

Sitting on a thrifted silverplate cake stand is a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer craft that my son and I completed over the weekend. We will never tire of the cuteness of these characters!

The decorations in the kitchen are very simple. Another glittered birdhouse here...

...and some red berries in a milk bottle found at a yard sale this summer.

So, that's it for the decorating this year. Now, there is baking to be done, presents to be wrapped, Christmas movies to watch and time to simply enjoy these next few days.

This will likely be my last post of 2011, so in the words of the Peanuts gang, I wish you a safe, joyous and...

Vintage Peanuts puzzle my in-laws put together and framed for our family this year.

Happy Holidays!

Erin

Christmas Came Early

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:56:00 +0000

A package arrived in the mail yesterday and when I saw {A Sort of Fairytale } on the return address line, I hightailed it inside...

I was the unbelievably lucky winner of Stacey's holiday giveaway last week and the goodies arrived!

Stacey and I have eerily similar taste in our loves for all things vintage (she even has an Etsy shop called Maggie Jane's Vintage), Cath Kidston, Cabbages & Roses fabrics, buntings, and books published by Ryland Peters & Small.

So I was beyond excited to win the giveaway, which featured several of the above items.

Let's a take peek at all the lovelies, many of which were made by Stacey herself...

First, these sweet, very English-feeling heart ornaments made from Cabbages & Roses's new Moda line called Northcote Range. They were hung on the tree pronto, but I foresee them remaining out long after Christmas.

The hand-sewn details are charming and those frayed edges...love 'em!

Next up is this fabulous vintage hankie bunting featuring poinsettias. Stacey and I both have hankie buntings in our bathrooms. See hers here and mine here. We may or may not be obsessed.

My kitchen is probably the least decorated of the main areas in the house this year, so this bunting couldn't have been more perfect to amp up the festiveness in here. The glass hens approve heartily.

Stacey also slipped an unexpected extra something in the package that had me squealing when I realized what it was...

Check out that pillow cover! Here's a close-up:

Thankfully I had a spare pillow form handy. :) Isn't that fabric yummy? ~~Very Cath Kidston-esque.~~ (Edited Sunday evening: Stacey informed me this is actual Cath Kidston fabric and the cover came from CK in London! OMG, OMG, OMG.)

And finally, to round out the package of goodness? A Ryland Peters & Small book to add to the growing collection. Funnily enough, I had this book--Cheap Chic by Emily Chalmers--on my wishlist this year! Can't wait to sit down and give this a good read-through by the woodstove.

Thank you, Stacey, for such a delightful assortment of early Christmas presents!

-Erin

Monday Morning Music: Mumford and Sons

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:48:00 +0000

An aptly named song for this cold, overcast, and windy day:

Winter Winds by Mumford & Sons

If you enjoyed that song, here are a few more of my favorites from this British folk rock group:

The Cave

Dustbowl Dance

The Banjolin Song

After the Storm

-Erin

The Start of the Christmas Decorating

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:05:00 +0000

Well, we got the tree up last night. And it wasn't horrible for once! (I exaggerate only slightly.)

The last few years, it's been a total ordeal to get the tree in the house and in the stand fairly straight. And then there have been annoying, unanticipated light issues. (I was lucky to find two strands of white lights two weeks before Christmas last year when we discovered the lights we'd previously been using were kaput.)

And while the decorated trees have ultimately been gorgeous, the process leading up? Not so much...

But not this year...thank goodness. It was fun and done in one evening and we even listened to Celtic Christmas music.

I still need to get candy canes to hang on the tree, trim the top so the star isn't lop-sided, and take close-ups of some of my favorite ornaments, but our Fraser Fir is looking pretty good!

***************

The other main decorating accomplished so far revolves around my latest obsession: glitter houses.

Robin at Happy at Home has a fabulous collection of glitter houses she's made herself, which I saw last year at Christmastime and immediately wanted. Look at all this wonderful inspiration!

via Happy at Home

On her site, she also has this tutorial and this tutorial. Between the two of these, all the bases are covered for making your own glitter houses. Highly recommend them!

Now, I haven't actually constructed any houses...yet...but instead started off with the chipboard/paper mache houses available at Hobby Lobby to get my glitter house village going.

Here's a shot of the burgeoning collection in the living room. (The house second from the left was a gift from my mom.) I'll be making this house next from LittleGlitterHouses.com to fill in the bare spot on the far right.

The last house is my favorite with its sweet vintage color scheme. The sparkle is just perfection. The insides of the windows of all the houses I made are lined with crinkled wax paper (to give the feel of frosted glass) and have battery-operated tea lights inside so they can glow at night.

Making glitter houses is addictive and now I'm trying to figure out the color scheme for the next one. Anybody have any ideas? I have an 18-pack of Martha Stewart glitter so there are plenty of color choices!

************

Since there is no shortage of mason jars in this household, I also a jumped on the Anthro snow globe knock-off wagon. They are very simple to make and are cute as pie. Here's just one of several I made last weekend.

And after much struggle, I managed to get a little bottle brush tree into a glass ornament. It's cute but gawd was it a pain! I won't share a photo of the other one I did--that poor little tree looks like it has scoliosis after all the unceremonious jamming it took to get it in there. And don't even get me started on the process of finally getting it to stand up straight!

Is there any technique to these kinds of ornaments or am I just clueless about how to assemble them with ease? Because I couldn't find a single tutorial anywhere on Pinterest or in blog land.

***********

I still need to go clip some cedar branches and red berries from outside to add more natural elements to the house. And for some artificial elements, I'm dying to get the spray snow/frost to spray on some of the windows.

Hey, it's slow going around here but the decorating will get done eventually. :)

Happy Decorating,
Erin

A Blog Award (and I Tell You Some Random Things About Me)

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

In all the hubbub right before Thanksgiving, Melissa over at Shabby Love showed me some blog love by passing along The Versatile Blogger award.

How nice, right? Thank you, Melissa! :)

I just learned about her blog in October when I ran across her ingenious pallet cabinet at a blog party:

Made out of salvaged pallets. then whitewashed - beautiful, rustic perfection!

She has since drawn me in with her love of burlap, industrial elements, and vintage items like blue mason jars, ironstone, and anything with a farmhouse feel.

And girlfriend is, like, seriously crafty, too. But her crafts all have a rustic, country feel to them, which of course appeals to someone who writes a blog with the word 'country' in the title and lives in a log house.

Nature-Inspired Christmas Wreath

Rustic Tree Topper Tutorial

Bi-Fold Doors Turned Shutters - with a delicious chippy paint job!

Kindly pay Melissa a visit at the lovely Shabby Loveif you haven't already!

So, now I have to share seven things about myself. Let's see if I can make this good:

1. My most graceful moment ever: senior year in college, my roommates and I are living in an apartment in Chapel Hill. My roommate, Claire, has friends visiting from out of town. They're a married couple, a little bit older than us, and super cool. Like she talked them up so much I must have been nervous about their cool factor. Anyway, we're sitting around eating Mrs. Smith's Blackberry Cobbler (best non-homemade dessert EVER), having a perfectly normal conversation, and I go to put a bite of cobbler in my mouth. But I miss and stab myself in the nose with the fork. In my embarrassment, I quickly stand up to go to the kitchen ~~to hide my mortification~~ under the pretense of needing to wipe my face, and instead proceed to run smack dab into the kitchen door frame. Thank God I didn't give myself a bloody nose or a black eye--that would have topped it all. But my friends still like to remind me of that incident a decade after the fact. I blame my mother for my clumsiness--it's definitely genetic.

2. My favorite color is green and instead of wearing a traditional wedding band set, I wear a green amethyst ring on my left hand.

3. I love to visit cities and travel whenever the opportunity arises, but something inside of me would be very depressed if I actually had to live in a city for any length of time. My soul requires grass underfoot, open spaces and not many people around me. Remember that Dixie Chicks song Wide Open Spaces? Yeah, that sums up how I feel.

4. I'm a Cancer through-and-through: hard shell, soft interior; intuitive; creative; ruled by my emotions; not always wanting to let go of the past, a lover of old things, etc., etc. One of the main aspects I identify with as a Cancerian, though, is the desire for one's own home. After years of living in dorms, then apartments, a missing piece in me was found when my husband and I moved into our house in 2007. It was my first ~~house~~ home and I've loved decorating it and knowing it is mine. I feel grounded in this abode and it gives me peace and security.

5. I struggled through a decade of disordered eating in my 20s, specifically emotional eating. With therapy and much practiced awareness (and relapses, plenty of those, too), I believe I've made it to the other side. I highly recommend the writings of Geneen Roth for anyone battling emotional eating and overeating. She is brilliant and writes about the truths behind why so many women share in this despair about their bodies and their relationship with food. Her Women, Food and God was a revelation in my path to healing.

6. One of my top five favorite moments in life? Standing on the rail at the finish line at Santa Anita Park in California, watching Zenyatta win the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic in 2009. For non-racing horse racing fans, let me just say it's a rare thing to see true greatness any more in this sport. Zenyatta was the queen of the sport of kings. I will never forget the sight of her running by in deep stretch, or the electricity of the crowd as it erupted when she prevailed. I won't lie, I cried.

7. My guilty pleasure is reading gossip blogs and my hands-down favorite is Lainey Gossip.

Whew! The final step in this award, share ~~an eclectic list of~~ 10 blogs I've particularly enjoyed of late:

A Nourishing Home
A Sort of Fairytale
Cindy's Fractured Fairytale
Cottage (Tinkered Treasures)
Derfwad Manor
Happy At Home
HenHouse
Inspired By Charm
Jason Good 365
Tales From the Coop Keeper

Thanks, again, Melissa!

Give me a few more days and I'll be back in the regular swing of blogging again. I had a bunch of other commitments to attend to since Thanksgiving, but now they're done and I can cruise 'til Christmas.

And speaking of Christmas, I have most of the Christmas stuff out, and tomorrow we're getting our tree, so stay tuned for the obligatory Christmas decorating posts!

-Erin

Cyber Monday Coupon Code

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:17:00 +0000

I'm holding a Cyber Monday sale over at the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop starting tonight!

Simply enter the code

MONDAY20

at checkout and receive 20% off your entire order!

....................................................

This offer runs through 12 noon EST on Tuesday, November 29

::buy handmade or local this holiday season::

Happy shopping!

Erin

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:51:00 +0000

Good morning...

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

We actually celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday this year since it was easier for a few family members who were working or already had one or more Thanksgiving dinners to attend on Thursday. And honestly, I really liked doing it on Friday. It gave us an extra day to prepare and since we're not Black Friday shoppers, we didn't have anything else to do that day. :)

Between my side of the family, my husband's family, and some friends, there were more than 15 people ~~squashed~~ gathered in our house. An additional table and seating were very necessary since the dining room table only comfortably handles 6! And this is what I came up with in the living room...

The picnic table and bench were Craigslist finds from earlier in the fall that I painted Navajo White with my paint sprayer. (A second bench came with the set, but I didn't use it here.) They're meant to be used on the screened-in porch in warmer weather but they sure came in handy for this gathering.

The tabletop decorations were kept ultra-simple with a linen table runner sprinkled with fake leaves, then topped with a small fall centerpiece.

The three bistro chairs are from IKEA. And the two blue chairs at the ends of the table were $5 yard sale finds painted in ASCP Duck Egg, lightly distressed, then waxed.

I really {heart} these blue chairs.

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I can really begin to think about Christmas. Yay! I'm one of the few that doesn't put up the Christmas tree until December is actually here. Does anyone else still do that? :)

And speaking of Christmas, many of you have already begun your Christmas shopping. If you're considering giving the gift of handmade candles, check back here later tonight...I'll be posting a Cyber Monday coupon code for my Etsy shop!

Enjoy your Sunday,
Erin

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:01:00 +0000

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
-W.T. Purkiser

Harmony Farm Candles Giveaway Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:19:00 +0000

Thank you, everyone, who entered the Harmony Farm Candles giveaway this past week to celebrate the grand opening of my Etsy shop!

I wish I could send each of you candle for all your sweet and encouraging comments.

Now, without further ado, the winner of the giveaway is...

Kirstin Joy @ Burlap and Buttons

Congratulations, Kirstin Joy! I'm emailing you right now...

-Erin

House Tour: The Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 02:50:00 +0000

Don't forget about the Harmony Farms Candle giveaway now through Sunday, November 20th! Click here for your chance to win three holiday soy candles, handmade by yours truly.

Everybody ready for the weekend?

Mine started early with a midnight showing of the latest Twilight Saga movie, Breaking Dawn, last night. I'm by no means a Twi-hard, but I read and enjoyed the books well enough. It was my middle sister's 30th birthday, so she wanted to see it, plus it's become a thing for me, my sisters, and my friend Sara to watch the Twilight movies to laugh at the bad dialogue and at how constipated Robert Pattinson, an otherwise very handsome man, looks when playing Edward Cullen. Anybody else know what I'm talking about? :)

As far as the Twilight movies go (and mind you, they have fairly low production value with the bad wigs, white pancake make-up, and cheesy CGI, so this comparison is very relative), Breaking Dawn wasn't half bad. Probably my favorite of the series so far, particularly due the advancements in the storyline and lack of teenage emo-ness. Kristen Stewart (Bella) showed genuine emotion in this installment and didn't mumble too much. (And she is stunningly gorgeous in the wedding scenes!) And Taylor Lautner (Jacob) wore his shirt for most of the movie, which is a departure from the previous movies. Now I'm ready for the final movie next summer where (SPOILER ALERT!) Bella kicks booty and takes names as a vampire. I think that'll be the best Twilight movie yet!

Okay, I know you're not here to read about teenage vampires and werewolves--I blame the above rambling on the major lack of sleep last night--so let's get on with the next room in the house tour: the kitchen.

Our house has a galley kitchen, not my first preference in kitchen layouts, but it is--as gallery kitchens are--a very efficient space. Since we do a lot of cooking and baking around here, that's a good thing from an ergonomic perspective. But I do dream of having a spacious country kitchen one day, where a farm table sits in the middle of an L- or U-shaped space. 'Til then, I'll make the best of what I have.

A local cabinet maker built all the cabinets for an exceedingly reasonable price. He delivered them to the house while we were building, I painted them, then he installed them.

Now, these cabinets have been painted twice. The first time, I painted them in Sherwin Williams Alabaster, freaked out at the starkness of the white, then glazed them to tone down the brightness. That worked for awhile but then the glazed finish just looked dingy.

When we installed beadboard in a few places in 2010, and painted it a barn red, that ultimately exacerbated the dinginess.

Icky, yellowy cabinets right before getting a new coat of paint

The barn red beadboard before the update--oh so dark.

So, this summer, I repainted the beadboard a light gray and the cabinets in Benjamin Moore White Cloud.

Laying on the first of two coats of white paint to hide my glazing mistake--the glazing in the grooves of the beadboard made the doors look particularly dirty...bleck!

The change in cabinet color is subtle but it truly did brighten up this space--which has a tendency towards being dark as the only two windows open to a screened-in porch...which backs into woods. Yeah, not a lot of natural light happening in this space much of the time. White cabinets and light-colored walls were definitely needed.

The countertop is soapstone--not something you see very often in homes in the South. We liked the farmhouse feel of it and the fact you can sit hot pots and pans directly on the counter surface. It's what chemistry lab counter tops were/are made of (it's been awhile since I was last in a chemistry lab!) Soapstone does require routine wipe-downs with mineral oil to maintain the even, dark color you see here.

To further the farmhouse look, we mixed in open shelving...

These shelves are between the wall oven and refrigerator

Curtains in lieu of cabinet doors in some places...

Beige and cream ticking fabric skirts the farmhouse sink while drop cloth curtains disguise the contents of the peninsula

And bins and baskets provide more texture and storage...

This cabinet, which we use to store spice jars, is one of my favorite pieces in the kitchen. We bought it at the Liberty Antiques Festival while building the house in 2007. The panel in the door is a reproduction but the cabinet is made of salvaged beadboard.

Karan at Spruce Antiques and Interiors in Hillsborough, NC, gave me this idea to use rusted vintage wire baskets mounted on the wall above the cooktop for storage. I like the juxtaposition of the logs next to the lines of the metal.

So, there you have it...my narrow but functional farmhouse kitchen. :)

Have a great weekend!
Erin

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Announcement and Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

I've briefly mentioned a few times on this blog that I make candles.

Beautiful aromas--particularly florals and clean fragrances--elevate my mood, help me relax and simply make me happy. And that's why I started making candles, first for myself, then ultimately friends and family.

What started as a hobby became a small business--Harmony Farm Candles--earlier this year as several lovely shops in my area (and even a boutique in Colorado) began carrying the soy wax candles I make right in my kitchen.

And now, I'm pleased to take another step in my cottage industry by opening an Etsy shop!

Harmony Farm Candles

Made from all-natural, American-made soy wax, the dye-free candles are hand-poured into 8 oz. glass jelly jars. Topped with zinc-colored lids, they have a simple, vintage aesthetic that fits seamlessly into many styles of decor. Fragrances range from florals, to clean and citrusy scents, and several seasonal offerings. And most importantly, they smell wonderful!

With the holidays coming up, these candles make wonderful presents, hostess and teacher gifts, and even stocking stuffers!

To celebrate the grand opening of
the Harmony Farm Candles Etsy shop,
I'm excited to hold a candle giveaway!

The giveaway features three candles befitting the fast-approaching holiday season: Pumpkin Pie, Mulled Cider and Wintergreen.

This giveaway runs through Sunday, November 20th at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

The winner will be announced that night, contacted by email, and the candles will be ready to ship on Monday so they can arrive (hopefully) in time for Thanksgiving! I'm sad to say this, but due to shipping limitations, I can only ship candles at this time to U.S. addresses. I'm sorry, all you lovely readers, who live outside the U.S. :(

Now, the nitty-gritty of how to enter:

1. Though this isn't required to enter, I would love for you to become a follower of Carolina Country Living or subscribe by email. If you already do this, leave a comment saying so for one entry. If you become a new follower or subscriber, please also leave a comment for one chance to win.
2. For an additional entry, visit Harmony Farm Candles on Etsy, check out all there is in the shop, and heart your favorite candle. Leave a comment here letting me know which candle in the shop most strikes your fancy!
3. For a third entry, blog about the giveaway and leave the link to your post in the comments section.
4. For a fourth entry, spread the word on your Facebook page and link back to this post. Then leave a comment letting me know you've done this.
5. Finally, for a fifth entry, Tweet about the giveaway, then leave a comment here.

Please make sure that if your email address is not attached to your profile, you leave it in your comment(s) so I have a way of reaching you should you be the lucky winner.

Good luck, friends!

-Erin

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Back Home Again...and the Next Stop on the Home Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Erin) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:40:00 +0000

Handmade soy candle GIVEAWAY
now through November 20th!
Click here to read about my new Etsy shop and enter for up to five chances to win a set of holiday soy candles!

.................................................

Well, hello there! I slipped out of town last week for a trip to Kentucky with a couple friends to attend the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and to spend some time in the Lexington area visiting horse farms.

When I returned home earlier this week, I was greeted by two surprises...

My husband and brother-in-law bought this tom turkey while I was away...and, yes...he's going to be Thanksgiving dinner. :(

The second surprise came later when I checked my blog email account: I was stunned to learn that I won The DIY Club's 31 Days of Painting Contest! With nearly 100 seriously outstanding entries, I figured there was no chance I'd make it to the top 10, much less win the grand prize of two free gallons of paint from Dutch Boy. Thank you DIY Club and Dutch Boy!

My winning entry was the cane back living room set I painted and then had reupholstered in drop cloths for my English-inspired reading nook. I shared with you guys the before and after photos earlier this year, but here's a quick refresher.

And with fresh paint:

However, when I posted the after pics, I still had many more plans for this space. Since this room is now finished, it's the next stop on the Carolina Country Living home tour!

This loft is just 8 feet wide and runs 15 feet long, and it overlooks the living room and dining room below.

I imagine when my son gets older, this will be his space as it's adjacent to his bedroom. But for now, I've co-opted it and have tried to inject a bit of vintage English country flair, inspired mostly by Cath Kidston fabrics.

Since finishing the furniture set, which was an auction find, I polished the room by white-washing the horizontal tongue-and-groove boards on the back wall with Minwax's Pickling Stain.

Envelope-style pillow covers made with Cath Kidston fabrics found on Etsy adorn the sofa and side chairs. The larger pillow is covered in Provence Rose in Light Blue. The smaller pillow is covered in Summer Blossom in Light Blue.

For an easy-peasy tutorial on how to make the pillow covers, visit Restoration House.

This tutorial changed my sewing life!

This darling little pillow is a new arrival courtesy of Etsy shop Cornflower Creations. The aqua ticking, hint of red gingham and the ditsy floral spiced up with the polka dots made me melt! After seeing this pillow, I think I need to work more polka-dotted fabrics into this space. :)

In addition to all the floral pillows, there are three linen pillows on the sofa. Two round ones with a button detail hide behind the blue floral Cath Kidston pillows below. And a bolster that was recovered in linen by my upholsterer sits in between.

A pair of gorgeous yellow French Provincial tables from Spruce Antiques are a fun, colorful counterpart to the subtle hues of the cream and grey-painted furniture and drop cloth cushions. They pick up the hints of yellow in the Cath Kidston pillows and further brighten the space. The vintage hooked rug is a neutral backdrop to this sassy table.

Simple curtains sewn from fabric found at Hancock Fabrics dress the four windows. I have no idea the manufacturer of this semi-sheer, quilting fabric, but it reminded me a little bit of the linen and faded floral fabrics made famous by Cabbages & Roses, another iconic English company.

For a romantic but frugal touch, the fabric panels were hung on $2 tension rods, then gathered, balloon style, and tied up with ivory grosgrain ribbon.

In between the windows, over the sofa, hangs a scrap of Cath Kidston stationery in an IKEA frame repainted with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Duck Egg.

The floor lamp was a purchase made by my husband in his bachelor days. A quick coat of white spray paint on the base, and white pom-pom fringe hot glued to the beige shade, spiffed it up in a whimsical kind of way.

Milk glass adds to the vintage feel of the room. Here I cut a circle of fabric from Lecien's Flower Sugar line to provide a little more contrast between the white glass and the tinned candle, while adding another dose of this happy shade of yellow.

This wood tray was a thrift store find that I spray painted in Krylon's Cornflower. I like to keep my British home magazines here, since it only seems fitting!

The non-matching chair in the room is a slipper chair that came from my childhood bedroom. Reupholstered in Waverly's Rose Sonata in Robin's Egg, and a coat of paint added to it's turned wooden legs (capped in casters!), I think it adds an element of older English style.

Bright flowers--in this case, dried strawflowers--look sharp on a yellow table.

The only thing missing from this picture is me, stretched out on the sofa with a book in hand! :)

Thanks for coming along for the latest stop of the house tour. We'll continue with the kitchen next week!

Hope you're having a great weekend,
Erin

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