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 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.

The Loft

As part of our home renovations, we've added on a bedroom and a loft so that our tiny home had a little more breathing room.  This is one of the only photos I took of the construction process.  It was grueling, but it really challenged us to use our heads and work together as a team and I'm grateful for the experience.  For example, we had to figure out how to haul plywood up to the second storey to install it with only a two person team.  The solution?  A simple deer hoist aided us and I think Archimedes would have been proud.

This photo shows the loft and the inside of what will one day be a guest bedroom.  Right now it is closed off for the winter because it lets too much cold air in for us to leave it open.  We also are working on a a different room in the meantime.

My idea for the loft was to create a very sunny, happy space for reading and tv watching.  I began collecting a few pieces that fit that theme and then put together an idea board to see how best to tie them all together.  This was my inspiration as we finished the construction and began the decorating:

Boasting the most windows of any room in the house, it is the coziest sunniest spot.  The yellow couch set from the idea photo is of the actual set that I own.  They're antique and a very unusual set as they have a strap that links them into a single couch or they can be split into two loveseats.  I found a very cheap vintage Aubusson rug at an auction and then had to figure out how to put these two pieces together.  That's where Spoonflower's Butterfly Damask wallpaper and Tea Biscuit paint came in very handy.  They really blend all the hues so nicely.  I had wanted to add a pink velvet accent chair to the mix, but there just isn't enough room up here, so that will have to stay on the idea board.

The lace curtains are vintage, and the shelving is filled with my knick-knacks and collections of vintage cameras, depression glass, and ceramics.  The room isn't quite finished yet, I haven't started putting things on the wall yet, or finished moving in all the accent pieces, but we're getting there.

Either Oar

As her junior year came to an end, my youngest daughter was debating leaving school early.  As she weighed the pros and cons, she often asked for advice.  As someone who actually did leave high school two years early in order to start university ahead of my peers, I can only give her the advice that my parents gave me when I was faced with this same decision. 1.  Every path you take will involve sacrifice.  This may be the wisest thing my folks ever said to me, because it gave me a sense of reality about the future.  Nothing will ever work out perfectly.  There is no such thing as a decision with only benefits.  Everything you choose means you will miss out on something else.  It's unfortunate and often creates difficulty, but the good news is...

2.  When it's time to leave, and you know it in your heart, nothing will stop you.  I have done my fair share of hemming and hawing when faced with tough choices, but when I left high school, I knew the things I would be missing out on, like prom, graduation, the senior trip, and I was a little bit sad about it, but I had outgrown my school and my friends and I felt like I was suffocating in that world.  Nothing I was giving up was enough to stop me from leaving.  The benefits outweighed the losses; I knew what I was giving up and I just didn't care.  When everyone else in my class was walking to get their diplomas, I was walking across campus taking night classes.  When they were on their senior trip, I was working 60 hours a week and taking classes on my lunch break.  When they were getting their first cars, I was moving out of my first apartment and across the world to another country.  It was lonely, it was difficult, it was exhilarating and challenging.  I didn't choose an easy path, but it was the only one I could live with.  Whether it's a job, a school, or a relationship, when you're ready to go, nothing will stop you.

In the end, my daughter has decided that she wanted to stay in school and graduate with her friends.  Given how much she was on the fence, this seemed to be the right decision for her.  As much as she wanted to do something new, she wasn't willing to give up all the milestones.  And what that tells me, is that leaving wasn't right for her.  If or when she's ready to walk away from the beaten path, nothing will stop her.

Somewhat along the lines of today's topic, I thought this Either Oar dress would be a fitting 'fit.  Plus, I love red for the chilly months.  This was a thrifted ModCloth piece with the lovely pun names we all miss so much from OG ModCloth.  The name reminds me of a personal mantra about the decisions we all must make.  I decided long ago that the choices between right and wrong aren't the difficult ones.  The decisions that are really tough are Right and Left.  Either this path Or that.  Both will have benefits and pitfalls.  Both come with sacrifices and opportunities.  Weigh out what matters most, what sacrifice you can accept.  Make your choice.  Live your life and try not to look back.

Outfit Info:  Myrtlewood Either Oar Dress from ModCloth is thrifted

 

The Beauty of Ordinary Days

In 2025 my posts have been confined to a single location: My home.  Different spots around the farm of course, but ultimately, all within walking distance of my front door.  The reason is two fold: 1.  I have become rather lazy about getting up early in the morning to take photos, much preferring to lounge in my robe until after sunrise when I change into my old work clothes to start my farm chores.  2.  We have spent every possible free moment in construction.  On the nice days we built with wood; on the not so nice days we built with concrete; on the bad days, well if it was too nasty out to work it was certainly too nasty to go out for photos. I tried at the end of summer to schedule a location session for some great new pieces I acquired for my birthday, but in the end we just had too much good weather and loads of work to do to spare a whole morning.

We intended all this work to give more space to our family in this tiny house, but before we could get it done, our oldest grew up and moved out. At the rate things are going, I'm afraid our youngest may be moved out too before we are all done, but we tried our best.

Almost every inch of this construction was done by my husband and myself.  Let me emphasize that:  Every. Single. Inch.  Squaring dirt walls by hand, hauling out fill, bringing back fill, pouring concrete, hefting cinder blocks, hoisting walls: we've done it all ourselves.  I grew up on a functioning farm, not the glorified petting zoos that most people call farms now, but an actual working farm, and I can safely say this has been the most labor intensive work of my life and yet the most rewarding as well.

There is an indescribable satisfaction that comes from making something new or restoring something old, especially something like this, which was in the home that dad grew up in and it has been rescued and moved to a home that, God willing, my grandchildren will one day spend many happy days in.

Autumn Impressions

I celebrated Autumn's arrival with a sweet group of ladies at a lovely tea party. Our hostess put so much thought and care into every detail, we felt truly special.  Amid laughter and the clinking of porcelain cups on saucers, we welcomed the changing season in style.  Those moments, those memories, are what keep us warm through the coldest winter days.

Outfit Info:  Impressionist Dress from Selkie, Shoes from B.A.I.T., Necklace is vintage Avon

Living Room Renovation

We spent the summer and autumn of 2023 making improvements to our house.  Feeling accomplished and enjoying the changes to our home, we wrapped it up just as the cold rainy season began.  Mr. Bleu was sitting in his chair on that first rainy day and I was at my desk when he suddenly turned to me and said, "I felt a drop." I looked over to see him rubbing the top of his head while looking at the ceiling.  Looking up we saw together our ceiling was sagging and dripping and a very sad realization set in that although moments before we thought we were almost done with our home repairs, but we were in fact just getting started.

Before we ever saw this house, a tree fell on the roof.  The real estate agent disclosed this (only after we asked about the obvious repair to the ceiling) and assured us that it was properly taken care of.  Once the rain subsided on this particular fateful day years after we had signed on the dotted line, we climbed up to the roof to discover that the opposite was true.  All the work done was purely cosmetic and the structure was beyond compromised; it was rotten.  With winter setting in, we tarped the roof and hoped for the best as we waited for spring.  This is what the room looked like when we moved in:

We painted the walls, put up a mantle, and eventually I did some work on the fireplace at the very onset of our renovations. In the end, we decided to move the fireplace to the opposite side of the house, but this is what it looked like at the various stages leading up to the renovation:

Spring rolled around bringing more rain, and we began construction in stages.  In between grueling days of work, I built some inspiration boards to help me begin.  I took a photo of our fireplace and began laying various design elements over it, trying to see if my ideas would mesh well together.  I was trying to create something reminiscent of the Victorian/Edwardian era.  This is what I came up with:

I felt pretty confident in my abilities to destroy things without any help, so on my days off I began tearing down the false wall surrounding the fireplace so that it could be moved to the center of the house instead of being situated at the far end where it did absolutely no good.

I after this was done I started tearing down the hideous paneling off the walls, and the equally hideous carpet off the floors so we could relocate the fireplace and build a new false wall.  At one point during the summer we had a massive rainstorm that, even though we had tarped over the holes in the roof, went ahead and poured through onto the floor and turned our woodstove into a rusted mess.  As I tore up the carpet I discovered that the rain had also soaked the floor and the carpet had been holding all that moisture in.  We had to do some damage control to save the subflooring, but it seems to have worked.

While the hearth is still unfinished and yes, a bit messy in the photos because it's winter and we're actively using the fireplace, the rest of this space is done and I wanted to show it off a little, because I think it has come together quite well.  Incorporating vintage Delft tiles, creating a more florid mantle, and adding wallpaper and paneling, plus tiling the ceiling, and replacing the modern mirror with this antique, this is how it all turned out:

Mr. Bleu used a wire brush to remove much of the rust from the door and a $10 bottle of stove blacking made this 25 year old stove look brand new!  

This was my idea board for the rest of the living room, still incorporating Victorian ideas and working with pieces I already had.

In the end, you can see that I opted for blue wall panels instead of green, and the large green elephants I was promised never materialized, but other than that, I am extremely happy with how it turned out.  I even reupholstered an antique couch and chair in green velvet and am happy with how that turned out, but more on that project later.

A small but important detail here is that we replaced the ceiling fan with a fandelier.  The blades retract when not in use making it a much more tasteful light fixture than the previous, cheap florescent eye sore that came with the house.  This particular piece looked nicer in the photos; it's somewhat tacky in person and I don't love it.  Beyond that, it was defective.  We had assembled the entire thing, when the final (and heaviest) piece would not attach because it was improperly constructed, and several inches too small to fit the circumference of the top piece.  I wanted to return it, but after a lot of emails between myself and the Amazon seller, (they really wanted it to be our fault somehow, but we assured them we watched the videos and had assembled it correctly) they offered to send a new piece.  The replacement was the proper diameter and fit, so we kept the fandelier.  It's growing on me, but I still don't love it.  Although looking back at the ceiling fan, I at least like it better than that.

The teapot pillow was a craft fair purchase from a sweet little old couple that repurpose antique needlework into pillows.  The picture on the wall is something that I got from a departed relative.  Originally it had a lithograph of a ship on the ocean and I took it merely for the frame, but when I took the ship picture out I saw this perfect piece behind it!  Hard to see with the glare, but trust me it's perfect.  

I repainted the side table to match the walls and that is an authentic working 1923 phonograph at the side.  The ottoman was from Target about 10 years ago and I also reupholstered to match the couch and chair.

Below, I have framed the photos from our 20th anniversary in my Teuta Matoshi dress in antique frames.  The lamp is also an antique that I had to rewire and the shade is handmade and I've had it for over 30 years.  The box fan is just something that we use to disperse the heat from the woodstove on very cold days like today and I forgot to move it for the picture.

*update*  I just couldn't let that shot sit there, so I came back a week later and took this shot after hanging a garland over the window and adding another little end table.  This is also an antique, but missing the top drawer, so I got it for free and put some more books and trinkets in there.  Now I have a place to set my coffee cup in the mornings while I ignore the cat by reading a book.  I also replaced the gray pillow by taking two little purple pillows that my daughter made for me one Mother's Day when they were young, and covering them in green velvet so they match the room.  I want them to stay in use because I treasure them.  I'm currently working on making a ton of lampshades, so I might add another little table lamp here once the shade is done.

*update (last time, I promise)*  There.  Added a small table lamp, (I haven't changed the shade yet) and now it's perfect.  I can move on.  We can all move on.

I bought a number of these vintage brass bow candle holders and coat hooks to place around the room and although it was difficult to find matching pieces, I'm so glad I kept up the search because they look so lovely above the fireplace and over the sofa.

The details matter just as much the whole, in fact it's the details that make or break the whole.  Just as with the bathroom renovations, I decided to invest in vintage brass outlet and switch covers.  These are from the 1960s, but I think the Victorians would have approved.

The radio is an antique that sadly no longer works, but does have all its guts, so could be repaired should we ever decide to take on that task.  It sits on an antique piece that I suspect once also housed a radio.  Now it houses my collection of books.

So, after all this work, it's finally starting to feel like we're getting somewhere and most thankfully of all, it's looking just as I had hoped it would.