Create a Welcoming Garden Space

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I have been focusing heavily on my garden this year! Both due to quarantine, and also because I’ve been shaping a special garden space in our front yard. It’s always been my vision to have people stroll up to my front door while feeling welcomed, relaxed, and joyful, and so I’ve carefully created a romantic rose grove. David Austin roses are one of my favorite kinds, and so I’ve planted plenty in shades of pink and peach, and mixed in several other plants like Rosemary, Sage, and boxwoods. Here are a few ways that you can create a similar space:

-Cohesive themes: By choosing a similar palette for my roses, it instantly ties the look together. You can do something along these lines by going with a single color palette, or by choosing plants that have similar textures and sizes. If you have planters, consider planting a few of the same plants for a larger visual impact, rather than one small one.

-Use small spaces wisely: If you only have a small patch for a garden, raised garden beds can create a beautiful look with a much higher design payoff. You can obviously build your own garden beds, but if you’d rather purchase something ready-made, at a hardware store like Lowes (click here) for under $100. These are even suitable if you have a small landing area in an apartment or a townhome. 

-Tackle the weeds before they are too difficult to handle: Uprooting and dealing with the tiny weeds before they take over your gorgeous area is key to maintaining a beautiful garden. Mulch is another great option for ground cover, and there are now many more options than the plain brown wood-chips, including the more unique black mulch, and other more subtle tones that aren’t as “warm” as the reddish/brown hue of the plain chips.

-Remember the environment: When planning a garden space, don’t forget to brainstorm about ways you can conserve water, make the plants work for you, and design in such a way that you will minimize the need for pesticides. This starts with consulting with a more experienced gardener or a local nursery, and asking what things you can do to be environmentally responsible with your pretty yard!

Surviving the Winter Blues | Color and Inspiration

Are you feeling like the winter blues are setting in? In our little corner of Oregon, it’s been pretty rainy and snowy. The cold and dreary temperatures always make me feel ready to clean and organize everything with light and airy colors. I’ve found the bright and crisp tones help brighten my mood and my family’s space. Here are some of the colors that I love for giving any room a facelift…they are dependable and always fresh!

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Pretty blues and crisp whites are always a beautiful combination that brings a ton of light to any room, whether it’s a bathroom, kitchen or family room. You can weave bright blues and whites into throw blankets, pillows, and towels for even more impact. I also love bringing in clean and pretty storage solutions. There seems to be an influx of “stuff” after the holidays, and it’s so nice to find clever ways to organize and store things to make daily life a little more streamlined. The space below is a little more modern and minimalistic than my personal, typical style, but it’s sure pretty and relaxing!

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This chic, rustic farmhouse hutch is also very pretty and a little more charming. The bright white is tempered with some bright greens, and a little bit of grey. While it’s a little more grounded, it’s just as lovely and holds lots of inspiration for  break from the winter blues! It is also something that is extremely practical, and can hold items like dishes, decor, or extra seasonal florals that you don’t have space for in linen closets!

5 Distressed Furniture Pieces you Need in your Home

One of the hallmarks of the farmhouse aesthetic is a rustic, vintage look. If you’re at all familiar with my blog, then you know that I absolutely love this aesthetic, and have for quite some time. I love the challenge of turning a modern home into a vintage farmhouse paradise, and in the years that I’ve spent transforming 21st century styles into rustic wonderlands I’ve realized that one of the easiest ways to give your home a quick dose of farmhouse is in distressed furniture. It’s the perfect addition to your budding rustic decor, and they’re either easy to find, or to make (figure out how to do that here). Here’s five that you need in your home!

source: pinterest

Chest of Drawers

You can find one in every home. They’re the backbone to clothing management, and they’re often one of the biggest pieces of furniture in a room. What’s great about their popularity is that you can find them being sold (or given away) just about anywhere. This is great for those who are looking for a distressed set because you’ll often come across them that way, requiring little effort on your part to make it just the way you want. You’ll find them in thrift stores and craigslist, or if you’d like a professional take on the distressed look, on websites like Hayneedle and Wayfair. The cheapest option will always be finding a set that’s seen some better days, and applying a bit of elbow grease to finish them up to your specifications.

Vintage Chandelier

Switching out your kitchen lights for a vintage chandelier can add a wonderful touch of farmhouse to your home while staying well within even the lowest budget. Thrift and antique stores are some of the best places to look for these, and they usually don’t require much of a hunt to find a great one. They’ll often be distressed metal, which is the perfect style for a farmhouse look. If you’re looking for a specific style, Etsy has a great selection, ranging from sculpted metal to rustic wood chandeliers, with some even utilizing unique styles like mason jars, or funnels! They’re great light fixtures to add some rustic character to your home.

source: HGTV

Distressed Dining Table

Families are bonded around the dinner table. It’s one of the most important pieces of furniture in your home, and if you’re just starting to create your farmhouse, it’s a great place to start from. Finding one in a thrift store won’t be as easy, but sites like craigslist often have ones that are already distressed, or are ready for your handiwork. This is a wonderful place to show off your creativity: you can get a matching set of table and chairs, or you can add a pop of color with painted chairs with that same distressed style. It all comes down to how you’d like it, and in the end, that’s always the best way.

source: lizmarieblog

Rustic Hutch

What better way is there to display all of your vintage dishes and glasses? The hutch is one of the most popular pieces in homes of all styles, which means you’ll be able to find one that you fall in love with fairly simply. All of the above mentioned places - thrift stores, craigslist, etsy, etc. - will have numerous pieces with lots of character already in them. There are so many styles that really embody the farmhouse aesthetic, with wonderful carved wood and glass panes, which gives you full creative expression to choose one that fits the rest of your unique farmhouse decor.

Milk Paint

Alright, so this isn’t a furniture piece, but it’s key if you’re a DIY-minded creative who wants to make your own distressed and colorful style. This means you can transform any piece you find into a classic farmhouse staple, all from your own hands. If you’re new to milk paint, this is a great blog explaining what it is, how to get it, and some beautiful examples of what you can do with it. Milk paint really gives you the creative freedom to make your home your own.

Those are just a few of the many farmhouse pieces you can add to your home to make it warmer, and bring the whole family together. I hope it helps you make your farmhouse home truly yours!

5 Easy Ways to Add Farmhouse Style to Your Home

The farmhouse aesthetic is my favorite thing. I’ve had some of the most fun in my life just thinking of ways I can make my home more and more rustic and homey, and so far, I’ve haven’t run out of ways to add more farmhouse into my home. Transforming my home into a more rustic and warm place to live has taken a long time, though, and it could end up being quite a commitment. Thankfully, there are many easy ways to bring a farmhouse style into your home, if you want to explore it a bit at a time. Here’s five to get you started:

Farmhouse artwork

source: countryliving.com

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of ushering in that farmhouse feel is picking up some artwork that really encapsulates the rustic aesthetic - which is easier than it sounds. It’s as easy as perusing some art websites for prints, or going down to your local art store and picking out a couple farm-inspired paintings to bring home. Anything that will accent your decor, and give it more of a rustic feel. It’s up to your personal taste, so pick out something that you really love!

Display your decorative plates

source: pinterest

Chances are, you already have what you need for this one. Maybe you inherited some nice dinnerware from your grandmother, and they’ve been lying around collecting dust ever since. The farmhouse style is all about vintage decorations, and your antique plates might be just perfect to bring that rustic feel into your home. Spend some time thinking about where best to showcase them, and plan out a nice pattern before you hang them up. Often, it’s the kitchen or the dining area where they fit best, and it’s sure to add that rustic and sentimental atmosphere you’re looking for.

Rustic cupboards/hutches

source: pinterest

This one might end up requiring a bit more effort from you, but the result is worth every minute. It’s so easy to find a nice, older cupboard or hutch on websites like craigslist or etsy, but it might need a bit of restoration to bring them back to life. Thankfully, the distressed look is what you’re wanting to get out of them, and you’ll get as much love out of them as you put into them. They can be the perfect piece to pull a room together, and set the mood for the whole floor. It might be the perfect project for you, and it’s one of the most useful ways to add farmhouse to your home.

Hang your pots and pans

Could it be as simple as this? It sure is! The farmhouse aesthetic is about your home looking lived in, and hanging up your cookware will not only accomplish this, but also serve to make your kitchen more efficient. Your cast-iron skillets will have never looked better, and it’ll help keep the that rustic flow consistent throughout your whole home, kitchen included.

Get a farm table

source: countryliving.com

This is one of my all-time favorite pieces of furniture in my home. Not only is it the epitome of what a farmhouse aesthetic is all about, but it’s a place where my family comes to share our lives over a meal. That’s what the rustic way of living is really trying to recapture, that lifestyle focused on slowing down to appreciate the things that really matter, like family and good food. Fortunately, it’s easy to track down a farm table, and as far as tables go, they’re durable and look fantastic. If you’re going to do one of the things on this list, do this.

The farmhouse style isn’t just about going back in time, it’s about bringing that olden time into today, and recapturing that lifestyle that we’ve seemed to have lost. It’s about slowing down and really appreciating what matters most, and for me, that’s family. I think you’ll see that once you start adding some of these rustic options in your home, you’ll start to appreciate what you love more and more.

Warming up your Decor

photo: timelesswroughtiron.com

Like clockwork, December’s rolled around again, and with it came the bitter cold. I don’t know about you, but I love the snow, and the whole season! One of my favorite things is a landscape covered in a perfect blanket of snow. But I can only handle the cold for so long, until I have to retreat back indoors to warm up by the fire. During the winter months, our homes become our heated safe havens, but heating them can be incredibly expensive. Instead of turning up the thermostat, I like to use some of these inexpensive but warming decor styles to help me deal with the cold.

Farmhouse decor has this style integrated very well. Every time I walk into a house boasting the style, I feel so warmed, surrounded by the woodsy interiors and the rustic color schemes. The style has been making a comeback for a while, but its roots are in the rustic cabins and lodges out in the woods, and those that built them knew just what they needed to shield themselves from the cold. Today, we’re not in a fight against the cold as much as a century or so ago, but we can take some cues from their decor and translate that into modern style. The most obvious one is wood itself! It has an insulating effect, keeping in the heat, and the woodsy look has an ambient effect that just warms you up from the inside out.

photo: havenly.com

One of my go-to’s when the snow starts to fall is an age old solution: a warm blanket. Turns out, just the sight of an afghan or a knit has a warming effect in the home, cozying up the whole room. Spread around a bunch of cozy blankets to warm up your decor instantly, and having a knit close by means you never have to be chilly again. Pair it with a nice reading lamp and a comfy chair in your favorite corner, and you have the coziest place to snuggle up with a good book. Work on the whole room by layering fuzzy or warming rugs, if you have a hardwood floor, and use pillows to lighten up the room and give it a very inviting, snuggly feel.

photo: havenly.com

Leather is another one of those farmhouse staples. Back in the day, it was entirely practical to furnish your home with natural leathers, as farms were often self-sufficient and used every part of an animal. Today, there’s many options for those who have qualms with leather, and you can still get that heart-warming look no matter what you go with. A leather furnishing inherently has a sense of character to it, and that brightens up any spot it’s put in. Pair the rich color of the leather with a cooler gray or neutral palette, and you get a great mix that’ll warm you to the core. It’s easy to use some pops of green to really pull it all together, if you like having plants around the house. If you like a more southern rustic theme, use some cactus or desert flora to really sell the mood.

Lastly, take a look at how your home is lit. If you have access to a lot of natural light, either through your windows or through a skylight, utilize it! Light, of course, is naturally warming, so keep those curtains open during the day to heat up your house for free. Also, take a close look at your windows to make sure no air is escaping through them. You want to be able to retain as much heat as possible, and it’s no good if all of it is being sucked out from cracks in your window frame or a door draft. You wouldn’t expect it, but you can really feel the difference when you make sure your home is leak-proof. If you don’t have a lot of natural light, use some warming, brighter light fixtures, and make use of candles. Not only will your home smell great if you use them, but you’ll feel cozier just gazing at the flicker from across the room.

The winter season is one of my favorites. Snuggling up with my family around the fire is one of my favorite pastimes, it makes my heart so warm. Coming in from the snow when your whole home is full of cozying decor makes life so much easier, and adventuring out in a frozen wonderland much more enjoyable. Here’s to snow outside and warmth inside!

How to Choose the Perfect Farmhouse Paint

If you know me, you know that I keep moving all day long. From planning our meals, to taking my girls to and from activities, work, or date-night with my husband, I so often seem to come home exhausted. Don’t get me wrong, I love to stay active! But some days I need to just come home and relax. That’s why I love the farmhouse aesthetic. When I walk into my living room, it’s like walking through a time machine to a simpler time. It’s a calming nostalgia that instantly relaxes me.

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It takes a beautiful pairing of muted, natural colors and rustic furniture style to achieve this restful, cozy feel, but with some planning it’s becomes an easy process! The pros use paint that costs upwards of sixty dollars a gallon, but you don’t need an expensive hue to look professional!

Here are a few colors that will transform your home without breaking your bank.

Off-white: I love the dining room above! The modern furniture perfectly compliments the rustic architecture, and the off-white tone pulls the room together beautifully. Just look out for the undertones, otherwise you can end up with a white that has a darker hue than you’d like. There are many variants of whites - like Cottage White or Simply White - that won’t run up the bill, and each have that unmistakable farmhouse charm. I can just imagine the delicious smell of a homemade apple pie fresh from the oven on that table!

Comfort Grey: Above is a beautiful example of a farmhouse grey. This grey goes perfectly with the brilliant white furniture, a staple of the modern rustic style. While more expensive than a gallon of off-white, it immediately creates a soft, cozy atmosphere where you can snuggle up on the couch to enjoy some herbal tea and a good book.

Svelte Sage: If you need a pop of color, this fantastic green will look wonderful paired with a white trim, as in this photo, and black or brown accents against the wall tie it together neatly - and professionally - and makes you feel as if you’ve just come in from tending your peach orchard. This cool, calming green instantly soothes me when I see it.

Source: Magnolia Home

If you need a bit more of a relaxing atmosphere in your home, natural farmhouse colors are your best bet! Not only does it have that fixer-upper feel to it, it has that down-to-earth quality that always seems to slow down life, even if it is just relaxed at home. But that’s where we need that most, isn’t it?

Cottage Remodel for Life at the FARM

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We recently freshened up this cute little cottage, and I wanted to share it to inspire you, especially if you have a space you don’t absolutely love! We started by installing elegant, clean lines with batten boards to give character to the walls. It now is reminiscent of an old caretaker’s cottage. Then, we moved onto new flooring that felt like washed, aged oak, and began the journey to change the layout of the kitchen. 

Of course, you know my love for lighting fixtures, and we changed the one out above the table and throughout the little house for a brand-new look. It made a world of difference!

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The dated bathroom had three mirrors, so we streamlined with two beautiful oval ones instead. we added vessel sinks, beautiful faucets, and new hardware. We also painted the cabinets a creamy white, and added dark hardware for a cottage look. And of course, you’ll see a touch of shiplap!

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Above, you can see the dark, dated, and closed off space that was here before! What a big difference!

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We added fresh dark lighting fixtures to get some nice contrast, more shiplap, some elegant marble counters, hardware, and newly painted cabinets! We framed into the mirrors and also re-did the floors in here. It’s hard to believe it’s the same space, but these changes made a big difference and now, it’s ready and filled with light!