Hello, February/Valentine's Day Decor

Hello, Friends,

How are you? 

We are on our fourth day hunkered down because of a typical Texas wintery mix. 

We had thunder sleet which is so strange. 

 Texas does not have the equipment to deal with this type of thing so we just have to be patient until it starts to melt. It started to melt today but it's still below freezing. Hopefully, we will be able to get to the grocery store this afternoon or we may get scurvy. 

Cabin fever set in yesterday and I got a little bored until I remembered a beautiful tablecloth that we purchased in the Alsace region of France. It was about 40€ and was made in France instead of being imported from somewhere else. The exchange rate was about 1 to 1 while we were in Europe which was nice. I put it on the dining room table and that led to some additional decorating. 

Roses from the grocery store and faux candles in sterling candle sticks round out the look. 

 

Since the first of November, we've had green as an accent color in the entryway and kitchen. 

Red and green evoke a Christmas feel, so the green had to go. 

"Starsky, The Hutch" got some bits of red transferware and a couple of vintage Valentines in a glass cloche.  

Stunning pages from one of my dad's books are perfect for the month of February. 

Metal flower frogs make perfect stands for bits of vintage ephemera. 

Most of my ruby glass collection came to me from my parents via my step mother but I've picked up pieces here and there from the thrift and antique stores. 

There is a lot of glare on Starsky but there is no way to keep the door open. 

I love stuff behind glass so it's not a problem. 

 I have a few pieces of Mason's Vista Pink. It is such a pretty pattern.

The gold rimmed chop plate was painted by my husband's grandmother. 

Of course the kitchen had to match and that started with the valances.  

A couple of years ago, I picked up the toile Waverly valances at the thrift store and stuck them in my stash of curtains because I knew I'd like to use them at some point. Toile was huge in the mid 2000s but fell out of favor although toile never really goes out of style. If memory serves, these were $6.00 for the pair.  

I mixed the paint myself but it is very close to the color Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams. It's a very neutral blue/green so I've used a lot of fun accent colors with these walls.  

The cabinets are Snowbound, also by Sherwin Williams. 

I picked up a darling little vintage clock at the antique mall. 

(This is my favorite thing from the day's decorating activities.) Clocks don't have to work to be wonderful accent pieces. It looks German which is why I bought it. It was made in the USA though. 

Initially, my vintage shutter turned screen hid the cords from a Christmas tree. 

Now, it's hiding the cellular booster so red gingham replaced green. 

Bill found the heart ornament in Germany when he went on an excursion without me. 

A nursery rhyme book provides a constant source of seasonal and holiday art for the bulletin board in the garden room. 

I had fun with the book and thought the Queen of Hearts page was perfect for February. 

I can't say that our credenza has replaced the "holiday cupboard" in terms of seasonal impact for me but there are a few things that I can do each month to keep it up for the holidays and seasons. Half the time it ended up being a catch all for garden stuff and it looked junky anyway. 

Bill likes it because it is much more minimal. 

It's been a long while since the Dept. 56 Hearts and Blooms Cottage has been on display. It is part of the Snow Village series. 

My flower book is open to the bleeding hearts page. 

Plant corner is alive and well. 

That's about it for me. Thanks for stopping by. 

Katie 

Romantic Decor For February

Hi, Friends,

I'm very late getting some Valentine's Day decor posted but I thought I'd share some of my sweet February images. 

Sweet cherubs are perfect for romantic February decor. 

I used to have cherubs and angels all over the place but I curated my collection and saved my favorite pieces. 

I brought a few of my concrete statues into the house because we are getting a deeper freeze this weekend. This one is not an antique but she's been in the garden long enough to look like it. 

Swans are sentimental and sweet for February. 

I stitched up the pansy motif heart out of an old piece of needlepoint. It is a new favorite. 

Some faux tin scrapes left over from our backsplash at the country house was easily cut into hearts. 

I love these too. 

Old keys are fun this time of year. 

Birds are a fun motif this month too. 

There you go. I hope it's not too late for a little Valentine's Day inspiration.  Stay warm and stay well. 

Katie 

Nearly Natural Floral Arrangement In Our Refreshed Bedroom

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are staying well and encouraged. 

If you have been following, you will know that we bought a new place out in the country. It was very brown/yellow/tan. Except for the guest room, I painted the whole house white and I love it more with each visit.  In fact, I love our room out there so much that our room at home looked dingy. It looked yellow. 

It seemed crazy to me that every shade of beige had to be eradicated from the new house but those colors were okay dokey here. It was taunting me. 

Confession time. On Christmas Eve in 2014, I scraped the popcorn from our ceiling. The ceiling needed to be painted after that but painting ceilings is not fun so it didn't happen. 

Our room was white when we bought the house. It's been blue, cream, linen and now it is white once again. 

When the painting urge strikes, there is really no stopping me. 

Walmart came through with an online order by 4:30 one afternoon. When it showed up at the door, Bill said, "I'll sleep in the guest room." He knew that a painting fest would begin and that it would last late into the night. He's a keeper. The color is Glidden High Endurance Plus Flat Interior Paint and Primer. It has great coverage. 

You may think that white is boring. Comments on YouTube videos seem indicate that white is out. 

 Not for me. 

I love pops of color in a white room. Most of my white rooms have a pop of an accent color. I let Bill know that he should be prepared for some pink this month because of Valentine's Day. 

Once the mantel was refreshed with Snowbound by Sherwin Williams, the room began to feel like a Paris apartment. Something with a modern shape needed to be added to the vignette on the mantel.  

Nearly Natural contacted me at just the right time. They asked if I'd like to review a faux floral in time for Valentine's Day. I jumped at the chance to order an arrangement of roses and hydrangeas in a soft pink. The square glass vase gives the arrangement a contemporary feel. You can see it here. The cream hydrangeas offer a pretty and muted contrast to the pink roses. They are having a special if you hurry. 

My order arrived within a few days. Nearly Natural knows how to package items so that they arrive in pristine condition. I found that true with the Christmas garland and wreath that they sent me last fall.

These stems are in resin so that the arrangement looks more realistic. The raffia tie around the bouquet is a darling touch. My florist does that. The roses and the hydrangeas have variation throughout the petals to simulate natural flowers. That's important to me when choosing faux florals. I love these. 

I love how they look with our vintage oil painting. Those apricot and pink tones jump off of the antique canvas.

These are beautiful. 

That is about all for now. Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Thank you, Nearly Natural, for the lovely flowers. 

I hope you stop by and see if they have something pretty for spring or for Valentine's Day .

 Katie