Love From Tennessee

Your eyes have not deceived you.  Yes, that is a chair atop my "new" zinc farm table.  The table came from my favorite, Diane Passi.  I would be lost without her when it comes to finding the most wonderful and unique pieces!  She travels all across the Midwest doing antique shows from Michigan to Kentucky.  I had been looking everywhere for a zinc-topped table and she found one for me.  I love it!  Thanks so much, Diane!  

This delicious chippy, pink antique child's chair was found in a wonderful little antique shop near Knoxville, Tennessee.  We drove out to Tennessee a couple months ago to visit my little sister, Alexandra, who moved there for her job last year.  Just a little something about me, I can not travel without hitting up every antique shop along the way!  I love bringing home at least one (or two) treasures per trip!  It is my way of souvenir-shopping for those things that will help me remember my travels.

The question still remains, why is there a chair on my table?  This little chippy chair was just too cute to put on the floor, so up it went on my table.  I may have stretched too far with this one when it comes to the decorating rules, but I think it looks adorable up there for now.  

Along with the chair, I also picked up an aqua chippy bench at the antique shop in Tennessee for seating at our kitchen farmhouse table, but that's for another post.  

Alexandra is currently in India now for a month-long mission trip.  She is teaching Bible stories to children in the orphanage and ministering to women there.  I was able to talk to her yesterday on the phone all the way from India!  We couldn't talk for long, but I am very excited for her to come home next weekend to get filled in on all her adventures!

Perched next to the chair are a pair of vintage French porcelain-topped jars.  The shorter one was used for canning and the tall one is a milk jar.  I love French canning jars, I tuck them throughout our home for a pop of color here and there.

Under the table, I put my vintage French fruit rack from Tracey found at Dreamy Whites, so I have two lovely ladies to thank for this one!  It is filled with vintage European linen monogrammed sheets and a grainsack runner, also from Dreamy Whites.  I love decorating with these vintage monogrammed sheets, I stash them in baskets and shelves throughout our home.  I think they add so much to a space. 

Thank-you once again for stopping by and taking the time to read through my posts!  A huge thank-you out to Courtney at French Country Cottage as well, for featuring my French market lavender cart.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer!  I love it, I can't get enough of the warm weather and long days.  I was sitting out on my deck last night until every last bit of sunlight faded with my husband and our dog, Merle.  In our world of problems, I was content.


I will be back soon with an ironstone post and more decorating with collections.




Have a wonderful day,




Maria ~Rusty Hinge




I'm joining these parties:

Thank-you!

Summer sure has a way of keeping me from posting!  It has been over three weeks since I last posted, can you believe it?  I am terribly sorry to keep you all bored to fits, but thank-you for sticking it out and not giving up on me just yet!  I will try to be much better at posting in the weeks to come, I promise!  So how is your summer going?  Are you keeping busy?  What have you been up to?  Gardening?  Vacations?  Family get-to-gathers?  I would love to hear all about it!

In the meantime, while you ponder what summer story you want to fill me in on, I would like to thank a few special blog friends of mine.  If you haven't taken a visit to their blogs, be sure to head over!  I would be lost without their inspiration! 

I just received these dried lavender bunches from Maria at Dreamy Whites!  I thought they would look wonderful in my vintage French wicker cart.  Maria, they worked perfectly!  Thanks so much!

You could put them in any type of container for display.  I have a vintage olive bucket that might get this new makeover as well!  Oh and the lavender smells heavenly!  My whole living room is filled with it's scent!

These soap blocks came from French Larkspur.  Tracey, I love them!  Tracey show us on her blog how she likes to decorate with them all throughout her home.  I thought it was such a great idea, I followed suit!

Lastly, but not least by any means, I have to send a huge thank-you out to Sandy at My Shabby Streamside Studio.  I won this delightful and downright gorgeous book, Vintage By Nina, from one of her giveaways!  It sits on my nightstand for bed time reading and it is packed full of drool-worthy photos.  Details for ordering it can be found on Sandy's blog, so head on over and reserve your copy before they are all gone!  You won't want to miss this one!

For some of you, you might remember my nightstand as old stacked wooden crates for books.  I have since changed them out for this vintage medical cart.  I think it adds a chic look and cleans the area up abit.

I also want to thank, Mary Alice from Chateau Chic, for finding me a perfectly vintage mottled ironstone pitcher.  It fits in wonderfully with my ironstone collection and now sits on my kitchen table.  I will soon have photos to show you.



Have a very happy holiday today, celebrating all the freedoms that we hold because we are an independent country!  Thank-you to all who make that possible!


I will be back again soon, I promise!




Maria ~Rusty Hinge

I'm joining these parties:

Alfresco in the Garden

I love summer!  So many things symbolize summer for me, such as long days in the garden, campfires with toasted marshmallows, beach days and most of all lots of time spent with friends and family in the warm summer sun!  What better way to celebrate this season than with an alfresco picnic in the garden?    

   

I have been asked by the oh-so-talented, Heather of Post Road Vintage to be a contributor once again in her fabulous free quarterly e-zine, Homebound, and it's hot off the press just today!  It is packed full of summer delight, including my own version of an alfresco picnic in the garden, so run off to see it all for yourself!

So if you made it to the end of this post, and have not yet rushed over to take a look at the newest edition of Homebound  *Click Here* to sign up!  It's free and your own copy will get sent right to your email inbox!

Thank-you very much again, Heather!  It has been such a pleasure and an honor being a part of Homebound with so many incredible contributors!  

And thanks to all of you for continuing to visit!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Enjoy!

Maria ~Rusty Hinge 

The Color Green

Don't you just love this time of year?  The drab of winter falls away as leaf buds open and the forests explode with shades of green!  Here in northern Michigan, we are blessed to be surrounded by acres of forest.  Where the forest ends, farmland and fields take over.  I love to look out over my porch at all the rolling farmlands with the newly planted corn heads peeking up in perfectly dotted rows.  This seasonal transformation is true in my own yard and garden as well.  Our grass has rejuvenated from yellow clumps to a beautiful bright carpet.  We have had the pleasure of mowing several times already with all the thunderstorms and humidity encouraging new growth.  Oh, how I love the smell of freshly cut grass!  It is summer to me!  I will be putting in my vegetable garden today.  I am a bit late in doing so as the general rule is to plant on Memorial Day weekend, which is the first safe frost free weekend here (although we did have frost threats on June 1 and I tucked all of my hanging baskets and window boxes safely into the garage for the night!  Ah, the joys of Michigan!)

I love to walk through my garden so see what is growing, what has budded, what has sprouted!  Just yesterday, I noticed several Morning Glories coming up from the ground where I planted them from seed at my garden arch.  Soon they will completely cover it and the early morning blooms will beckon me from their green vines to come take a seat under the arch with coffee and a good book!  Isn't summer wonderful?

Let's take a stroll through the garden to see what is blooming now!  I would love to show you!  

Late flowering Maureen tulips open after other Spring bulbs fade.  I love their creamy white color on tall strong stems.

Pale purple Creeping Phlox spills over the rock borders.

The chives are just beginning to open!  I love them in the garden as well as the kitchen!

Clematis climbs up my old bicycle in the garden.  I have yet to plant annuals in the front metal basket, another fun project scheduled for today!

Like I said, isn't summer grand?  But it does tend to pass by much too quickly in a busy flurry of packed calendar dates, so make sure you take a moment to rest and enjoy it.  Let yourself be lazy for a long minute.  Doesn't a late afternoon nap on the hammock sound wonderful?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  




Have a beautiful week,



Maria ~Rusty Hinge