Ocher & Sepia

Outfit posts are back!  I know it's only been a couple of weeks since I've done an outfit post, but it's actually been two and a half months since I went to take outfit photos.  I just really, really hate the cold, and I have been on a No Buy, which included very limited social media from the end of December '25 to the beginning of February '26.  

As you can see from the ochre and sepia hues of the background, Spring has not yet sprung.  I planted daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths in the autumn, and they are just poking their heads through the soil, but it's not quite time for all the rest of nature to show their Spring colors yet.  I figure if nature is holding on to her autumn palette for a while, I can too.  The old rule was to change over from brown accessories to white at Memorial Day and back again at Labor day, and while I don't exactly stick to those rules religiously, I can admit they exist for a reason in this part of the country.  It doesn't exactly look like the time for pastels and floral prints out here, so for today's post, I thought I'd share a thrifted find from 2025 that has become one of my favorite casual/office looks.

Outfit Info:  Bag is Ecosusi, Shoes are B.A.I.T., Maeve Bird Dress is Thrifted Anthropologie, Sweater is YeMak

Calling All Collectors: Lady Head Vases

It sounds rather macabre when you say it out loud: it's a woman's head that you stick flowers in as a planter or vase, but this niche collectible was surely inspired by fashionable ladies in full floral hats of the 1880s.  According to Discover Vintage America, that's when this odd little concept first appeared in Europe.  Gaining a foothold in America in the 1930s, the Lady Head Vase really took off in the 1940s as Japan began making beautiful pottery in its progress toward rebuilding industry and its economy after WWII.   

By the early 1950s these vases had found a popular muse in Lucille Ball and the "Lucy" vase dominated market silhouettes until styles began to change.  Lucy was never officially named as the inspiration for this style but it was obvious that she was a reference, and others like Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe would follow.  Florists loved these little vases to jazz up an arrangement on the cheap and they remained popular and in production, albeit with styles ever upgrading to current trends, until the 1970s.

Personally, I began collecting a few vases about three to five years ago after seeing a flea market flyer that featured a set.  During my search, I have learned a few things that I thought I might share.  First of all, these vases are shockingly expensive, selling at upwards of $100 per vase when they originally could be purchased as a set of six for about $1.00 at a nickel and dime store according to LovetoKnow.com.  The larger the piece and the better the condition, the more you can expect to pay.  

Common flaws include broken eyelashes, broken ears, and missing or broken jewelry.  If you can live with the flaws or feel comfortable making repairs yourself, it can lower the cost to go for less than perfect pieces.  As always, I find that it's anyone's guess whether you'll find a better bargain in-store or online.  I purchased two vases at an online auction, one in-store, and one I found while cleaning out the home of a deceased relative.  Apart from that last one, they all cost about the same, though you can certainly see sets emerging as you search this genre and you can focus your collection on a certain silhouette in various colors or just collect the pieces you like, as I have.

True collectors will care about the manufacturer stamp on the bottom and knowing as much as possible.  I've just liked to buy the pieces I think are unique or pretty, and I think four is probably enough, but if you are interested in collecting in this field, I've included addition reading below to get you started.

References and further reading:

https://www.lovetoknow.com/home/antiques-collectibles/lady-head-vases

https://www.discovervintage.com/cover/a-head-above-the-rest-lady-head-vases-brought-touch-of-class-to-ones-home/

Homestyle: 3 Home Decor Inspirations From My Childhood.

They say that adulthood is just an attempt to fulfill childhood dreams; I agree.  Among the children I was closest to growing up, boys and girls alike, at some point all of them said something along the lines of "When I grow up, I'm going to have a house like that," or, "In my house, I'm going to have____."  We all had our tastes in style and decoration, even back then.  Personally, I wanted a Victorian home filled to the brim with knick-knacks, oddities, and wonder.  I wanted a home that was a feast for the eyes.  Perhaps that is why I was always drawn to books that featured homes like that.  

I spent hours pouring over all the details in beautifully illustrated books and imagining what it would be like to live there while also determining that I would live in a home like that one day.  I've recently been to the home of a childhood friend, one who had some very grand tastes, in fact was determined to live in a mansion complete with horse stables and in-ground pool when we were little.  Life happened, and her priorities shifted from material gain to financial freedom, but she has managed to perfectly blend her excellent style with a little cabin that she and her husband built themselves.  It's idyllic and I'm so happy for her that she is living out that dream.

As for myself, I too began to realize in my late 30s-early 40s that I would never be able to afford that Victorian mansion, and so purposed to make the home that I am in look as close to that dream as I possibly could without drowning in debt.  There were so many decisions to make about which direction to take our home as we were building and now decorating.  I based my kitchen on the kitchens of my grandmothers and those happy childhood memories as well as a certain cottage coziness that I couldn't put a name to.  As we are building our library, I'm going through old books and realizing how great an influence my childhood picture books had on my current style.  So, today I thought I'd share three of my favorite books that influenced my home's design.

1.  Martha's House. (1982).  By Edith Kunhardt.  Illustrated by Carolyn Bracken.

Not a single inch of of greige sadness or an open floor plan in sight.  Martha's house is really just a pretty picture book that explores each room.  Minimal wording, maximal style.  Each room is filled with colors and character.  There is a richness here that is lacking in every single modern home I've entered.  I truly believe that it's because back then, no one lived their lives in blandness out of the fear of lowering the dreaded resale value.  Homes are meant to be an intimate reflection of life and personal taste.

2. Hilary Knight's The Twelve Days of Christmas. (1981).

I received this book in elementary school as part of the Weekly Reader Book Club and it was an instant favorite that I kept and spent many hours pouring over in my childhood.  Eventually I began reading it to my own children every year at Christmastime.  Every page is filled with colors, prints, and oh so much activity.  Again, no sad beige minimalism or open floor plans here.  Each day of Christmas depicts a different room in the house and each room is its own little world.  My favorites were the bedroom with its floral quilt and rosy wallpaper, and the sewing room with an antique treadle machine and quilt on the wall.  This book always made me feel warm and cozy in the December chill, just as a home should.

3.  The Brambly Hedge.  (1980s).  Jill Barklem.

I hate to be that person, but children's books today are so basic and boring.  The 1980s truly brought us some illustrated works of art.  The Brambly Hedge is a series of books by Jill Barklem about a town of mice living in the countryside.  Every inch of these sweet little homes are covered in meaningful, purposeful items and Ms. Barklem illustrates them in such a way that they feel cozy and inviting rather than cluttered.  I particularly love the decorative use of dishes in so many unexpected rooms including the bathroom and the nursery (shown below).  This is maximalism at its finest.

 

Wild Rose & Sparrow

I spent years obsessing over this idea of a cream lace dress.  Years.  If there's one thing I have loved, it's obsessing, and this was a big one.  A cream lace dress, and cotton preferably; I could never turn one down.  At long last, I have found the perfect cream lace dress.  And it's cotton.  Corset back, plenty of details.  The search is over.  I waited for Black Friday before I finally bought it, but it was worth every penny and the (years long) wait.

 Outfit Info:  Fae Midi Dress from Wild Rose & Sparrow

9 Billion Names; 1 Pretty Dress

"[He] lifted his eyes to heaven.  (There is always a last time for everything.)  Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."  The Nine Billion Names of God.  Arthur C. Clark.

The first time I read a vintage Sci-Fi novel I was sixteen, working as the manager of the book department in a quirky little fandom shop, and the genre came at the recommendation of boy I was desperate to impress.  I began with Dandelion Wine and The Illustrated Man both by Ray Bradbury and followed those up with Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.  The boy was never impressed with me and that relationship went no where, but my love affair with classic science fiction endures to this day.  

I've just started watching a show called Pluribus (from the creator of Breaking Bad) and am truly enjoying this modern alien invasion show, but it has stirred up a hankering to return to some of my favorites from the past.  So, I have borrowed a quote from science-fiction legend, Arthur C. Clark for today's post.  It's a short story, like many of the sci-fi greats, but it conveys so much in its few words.  The outfit and the theme for the post don't really go together, but why do they have to anyway?

Outfit Info:  Dress is thrifted Dear Creatures, Heels are from B.A.I.T.

Lampshade Creations

Temperatures have plummeted into the single digits and all our work on the house has ground to halt.  Our plan was to save all the inside work for the cold weather and the outside work for the warm weather.  It's a good plan, we just didn't count on how hard it is to get motivated when the house is chilly and the fire is warm.  I also didn't want to sacrifice being able to be generous and give freely during the holidays, so we stopped allocating funds to construction and focused on Christmas instead, so our construction fund depleted and we have to spend some time rebuilding it before we move on.  We've had a dusting of snow, nothing awe-inspiring, and definitely not enough to make me feel like going out for photos, so I'm all out of outfit pics for the time being.  To be perfectly honest, I'm not much interested in outfit photos in any weather at the moment.  I'm completely wrapped up in getting my house finished, but I know that construction = house; decoration = home.  The love and care you put into how you decorate your home is where the love and personality shine forth.  To that end, on days when we can't rally ourselves to be too far from the fireside, I have a special project that I began a few months ago and has been perfect for keeping me feeling accomplished during the worst of winter.

In the late spring, my 90-year-old great-aunt passed away.  Our family spent weeks going through her things and as it turns out the woman was an avid collector of lamps.  Walking into the house for the first time, I commented that I would take the green lamps because I thought they would match my decor.  I was duly given every. single. green. lamp.  I have at least a dozen now, plus several antique floor lamps that needed rewiring.  Many of them had shades that were crumbling to the touch; some had no shades at all.  I started researching options for buying Victorian style shades or simply recovering the ones that came with the lamps.  Somewhere in all that searching, I came across The Lampshade Lady.  Ms. Mary has been running this small business for decades.  She provides the lampshade frames which are reproductions of Victorian styles, and the supplies as well.  You can also buy kits and a tutorial video to get you started, which is exactly what I did.  There are plenty of tutorials out there, and Ace of Shades is a great source of inspiration, but Mary's seemed like the whole package, plus you get personal customer service from her if you need help.  

I finished the first shade and put it on this Art Nouveau style white floor lamp.  So pleased with the results, I contacted Ms. Mary and ordered three more frames and some replenishing supplies and have now covered all three of those plus an additional three that came with lamps.  I haven't started applying the fabric and trim yet.  I'm sort of waiting to see how the construction goes so that I can try to match the shades to the vibe of the rooms as they are completed, but I have enjoyed working at this task, keeping my hands busy on these long days indoors.

OxKnit Sweaters

Sooooo, I rarely do negative reviews, preferring instead to hit the highlights of a brand, but when I purchased some OxKnit sweaters, I had issues with them and decided to do a very honest review, still trying to be kind.  I got a multi-paragraph response from OxKnit in the comments section of my YouTube video in which they basically couldn't deny anything I said, but mostly just said, "we're working on it."  Fair enough.  As a sign of good faith, they recently commented that they have now added size XS to their line and that gives me even more reason to hope things improve.  In the meantime, I had to take this sweater in several inches at the sides to get a nice fit, but I do like the finished product well enough that I ended up keeping most of my purchase.  And of the pieces I kept, I have washed and worn them all once or twice and so far they look just as nice and have held up well.  Check out my video below for the full review.

Calling All Collectors: Meet Miss Priss

Today's post is a departure from our usual fare.  Reader, it's cold outside, down in the negative double digits, so I'm not even going to pretend that I want to go out for photos.  I'm currently wearing three layers and still a little chilly in my home.  So, let's talk about something different today: ceramic collectibles.  

I'm always on the lookout for interesting pieces to put in my home.  Nothing sad, greige or minimalist about my home.  Following in the footsteps of my two favorite design eras-the Victorians and the 1950s/60s, I want color, patterns, prints, textures, colliding into a feast for the eyes.  While designing my home during all these renovations, I often look back to the things I loved in other people's homes when I was a child.

The house I grew up was very much a product of the late 70s.  Everything was olive green or burnt orange and all the walls and ceilings were bare and white for the longest time.  It had a very tiny rectangular kitchen with rows of orange cabinets running parallel down the walls.  On top of these cabinets was just enough space for my mom to showcase all the ceramics she had inherited from family members over the years.  I wasn't allowed to touch anything, under the premise that these were valuable things.  As an adult I have run across many of those same pieces in flea markets and antique stores and I can tell you with all certainty that much of the value was sentimental, but I get it.  

Among the pieces displayed there, I spent a lot of time admiring a set of blue smiling cats.  They were lovely and I wanted more than anything to take them down and play with them.  But, I was not allowed.  Last year while wandering through a flea market, I saw an entire collection of these same blue cats and got a little curious what happened to those proudly displayed pieces which had disappeared years ago from my mom's collection when my parents moved to a new house and mom wanted a new look.

Originally, I believe there was this tray/ salt shaker and a sugar bowl or could have been a grease bowl.  After some digging through boxes and bags at the back of her closet, we managed to locate the two remaining pieces of this collection.

You can probably tell at a glance that these pieces have been well used.  the tray has been broken in half and glued together and both have chips and staining in the cracks, but that really only makes me feel like it's ok to go ahead and use them rather than trying to keep them in pristine condition.

A born researcher, I decided to find out the history of this peculiar little set of dishes.  The general consensus is that this is the Miss Priss set released by Lefton China in the 1950s, but really gaining momentum around 1964 becoming one of Lefton's most popular lines.  No wonder these dishes appeal to me, they're from my favorite style era!  If you'd like a history of the Lefton Co and its founder, click here to read an article by Vintage Virtue.

It's quirky, kitschy, and quite lovely, not to mention just a bit odd when you think of drinking and dining off cat heads; it's kind of perfect for me.  Sadly, I am not currently looking to complete a collection based around just these two pieces, Lord knows I have enough dishes to feed a posh army Sunday tea, but if I were starting out all over again, I would definitely put this set at the top of my list.  And if you're interested, there was another set released at nearly the same time by rival company Enesco, with a winking yellow cat.

Not a cat person? Not to worry, they made a line of pink poodle dishes too!  What happened to the design world that everything is so boring now?  I can't believe people are worried about the resale value of their dishes.

If you're a vintage lover who's bored with everything blocky and beige about modern life and looking for a unique way to spruce up your dining experience, check out vintage Lefton and Enesco. Set your table and bring some color back to your home and to the world.

Snow Day Picnic

Winter is officially here.   Like most of the US, my family and I watched this massive storm work its way across the country with some trepidation.  We're always prepared for bad weather at this time of year, so we're never among the panicked hoards throwing elbows over the last few loaves of bread and gallons of milk, but ever since we've lived here, we've been snowed in for at least 3-7 days at a time each year. 

It is well below freezing outside, so outfit photos will just have to wait.  I thought in today's post I'd share a few tips for turning these days into a pleasure instead of a pain.  Last year I shared my tips for keeping cabin fever at bay, (you can read that post by clicking here) so this time around, I thought I'd just post one really lovely way to pass a winter day.

While I definitely have a few projects on my list, I also wanted to have a fireside picnic with Mr. Bleu.  I spread a cozy blanket near the hearth, and whipped up a yummy charcuterie board of Brie with honey and pecans, toasted rolls for dipping, as well as some nuts, fruits, and meats.  I also brought out a couple of slices of a warm apple walnut cake and Mr. Bleu enjoyed a post meal hot toddy while I sipped hard cider.  We listened to some Artie Shaw while we played games like if you were moving to a desert island which 5 albums would you take.  Just fun ways of connecting .

Sounds simple, doesn't it.  That's because it is.  Spending a few hours this way on a snow day seems like such an easy thing to do.  And yet, I feel that most people never turn off their screens long enough to enjoy simple pleasures such as this, even when there is literally no where to go and nothing else to do.  I'm not saying we didn't have our screens on at times (we decided to watch all the Tremors movies but only made it through 1, 2, and 7--yeah, there are 7!), but turning them off for just a few hours to enjoy this time together did my soul a world of good and turned a bleak snow day into a romantic little vacation together.