Cherries In The Kitchen

School is out for summer!
Bill was out of town fishing this weekend so I pulled out my summer totes to do some decorating. I love decorating for the different seasons.

My brothers and I would spend a few weeks every summer at my grandparent's house. They had a home in Milwaukee but a trip to the lake house was always on the agenda.
Even after 40 years, I still feel the pull of the lake each summer.

I love to evoke a cottage feel with my summer decorating reminiscent of all those lazy summer days.

I opened each tote revealing various themes. 
I have a collection of shells, sailboats and nautical stuff.  
I wasn't feeling that though.
 I looked through my strawberry stuff which is always cute. 
This summer the cherries really captivated my attention.  
My grandmother had a cherry tree at the lake. I remember her working in her precious garden in her huge sun hat. I distinctly remember her worrying that the birds would eat her fruit.
Granny would can her bounty for pies and sauces. 
She made the best pies!
As my daughter and I sat and chatted over coffee, I sprinkled cherries and fruit around the kitchen. 

I found a set of beaded fruit at the thrift store for only $8.00. The matching cherries came from an antique shop in Tulsa. 

 One of the strawberries is a little beaded thing made out of velvet. 

One of Bill's aunts made it. 

It is darling. 

This type of fruit was a popular craft kit in the 50s & 60s. 
I can visualize ladies in their pearls and dresses creating these cuties.
I bet you could do something like this today with plastic or foam fruit.

                

The little cup was a Christmas ornament years ago.
I "canned" my own cherries with some artificial ones I found at the craft store.

I pulled out white dishes and all of my milk glass vases. 
Do you know how to test if something is authentic milk glass? 
Touch it. 
Real milk glass is cool to the touch. The milk glass is accented with a few red transferware pieces. The iron trivets were my grandmothers. 

The teapot is Old Britain Castles by Johnson Brothers. 

I love transferware so I have started collecting it in several colors. The berry basket came from one of our antiquing adventures out by the lake. 
Read about it here. 

The sampler was $1.99 from Goodwill.

The wall color is Kilim Beige by Sherwin Williams.

Bill loves cherry pie so I thought it was perfect. I found it at the thrift store. I think it was only $1.99.

Last summer when I painted the kitchen I put up these battenburg lace valences. I found them for $10.00 a piece at Walmart. Having survived the battenburg craze of the 90s, I wasn't sure how long they would stay but I just love them. 

Imagine them fluttering in the breeze... if this wasn't Texas and we actually had a breeze! Instead imagine them fluttering in the air conditioning. :)

The vintage rolling pin was $5.00.

  I'm still loving my Tuesday Morning and Walmart dish towels. I rolled them up and put them in this thing. I am still not sure exactly what it is, but it was only $4.00 at the junk store. It adds a pop of red to that corner.

I am wild about this cute cherry plate. Since Bill was out of town I had to make a little stop at the antique mall. It was relaxing and fun. Antique malls are my favorite way to decompress.

I am totally feeling the love for my vintage salesman's sample stove. It was in the laundry room for a while. I played with this as a child. 

Barbie didn't have a groovy stove in my mansion.

The stove print came from Goodwill. 

Vintage cookbooks are the best source for those church potluck type of dishes.

Can you believe I had recipe cards with cherries in my file? These are as old as my marriage.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Bill's birthday is coming up and his favorite is cherry pie.

The rolling pin belonged to one of the aunts or grannies. I love it because it is heavy and gets the job done.

The pie pan is Southern Living At Home.

Happy Summer!

I hope you will take time to relax as the summer season approaches.

I think I will make a pie!

Katie

Linking with,

Debbie Doos Newbie Party 

& Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style 

&Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch 

& Time Travel Thursday @ The Brambleberry Cottage

Hello Spring!

So a couple of weeks ago I decided that it was time for a new spring look for my bed. 

I have a compulsion to change bedding for the season. I promise, I don't know why. 
I have different looks for different seasons.

When we got our new bed two years ago, I thought it too regal to go with my favorite Ralph Lauren, collected over time, layered look. 

I am sure you are wondering why I thought it regal. Because it really is a casual collection called Grand Junction from Lane Furniture. You have to understand this is the first brand new bed we bought as a couple.

The first one was a hand me down.

The second we got from our neighbor's garage sale.

Pickled blond. I was always afraid to paint it. But it clearly has wonderful potential.

This was the comforter set we had when we got the bed.
(Miss Bek photoshopped the stock image with our comforter set at the time.) 
This comforter was so heavy and hot. It is by Waterford from Tuesday Morning.) Fabulous quality but not practical for Texas. 

I made an assortment of fun pillows to go with it.
Next I bought an  off-white collection seen in the photos.

I had to layer in more than just a solid. This is how I had it a few weeks ago. I thought the brown and gold was fun for winter.

Here it was at Christmas. I love the vintage wool blanket with Christmas trees stitched on.  

Well, of course over the course of the past two years I have layered in my favorite R.L. type elements each befitting the season. Because that is what I love and feel most comfortable with. Most of the time I have a Matlesse quilt or the off white comforter.  I usually throw a quilt (or two) on the end of the bed. 
The off white collection is two years old and it's getting a little pilly. I spent about $80.00 on the whole thing, so I am pleased it lasted this long. I may even get another season out of it. 

When I went to Tuesday Morning,

(two blocks down from my school)

I had intended to go for a complete white look similar to these that I pinned on pinterest.

You know what happened? I could not veer from the path that I love when I saw the Garden Floral collection from Ralph Lauren's Chaps line. 
It was even on sale. Since it came with 4 pieces I spent  less than if I had bought it all separately.
It was $94.00

I have been working on my master bedroom reveal for a few weeks. 

You have seen my bringing the outside in:

and my screen project already.

Now you can see it all put together.

I love the shade of green in this bedding. 
I used a Matlesse quilt we already had for summer.

Find similar here.

I folded the comforter on the end of the bed.

 

The secret to this stiff pillow look is a massive number of pillows. It drives Mr. Bill nuts. 
He says that if anything ever happens to me he will not put the pillows on the bed like this. I totally get his point but...
There are 14 pillows on this bed. icks! I love to layer 
store bought or homemade pillowcases with 
antique lace edged ones. 
The green ones here came from Walmart. I pulled them over some lacey wonderful cases that I inherited or got at estate sales.

I bought the pink gingham also at Walmart. 
It was a bargain at $1.50 a yard.
The white sham I've had forever. I've moved it around from room to room. 

I have collected needlepoint pillows for decades. I switch them out for the seasons. These two were made by either family aunts or grannies.


 I am totally feeling green for this space. I was excited to pull out this old green depression glass. 

 My side of the bed gets my Royal Doulton Figurine and mini boxes.  

 It took me years and years to finally find a secretary. I am so glad I waited because this one was a steal at $135.00. I love the leaded glass on it. 

Isn't there something charming about a drop front desk?

The other wall holds the armoir where I store the other linens. (Our linen closet is tiny.)

It was an auction find. They said it was Argentinean. ?.

It was $200.00 or so.

I am smitten by the carving.

The chaise lounge. I think every southern lady had a chaise lounge. 

One of the best things I ever did 15 years ago was 
slipcover this piece. It has gotten a lot of life and has had many looks. 
So there you have it. 
I hope some of you out there will understand my decorating through the seasons mentality. It give me a chance to rotate things that I have tired of so that it feels like a fresh space.

Sprinkled with gingham,

Katie

Linking with Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

&Tuesday's Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
&Show Off Your Cottage Monday @ House in Roses &
Time Travel Thursday @ The Brambleberry Cottage &
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage