A Stool for Christmas

The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we've no place to go, let it snow!  Even if I planned to go anywhere, not today!  I am snuggled in at home while a huge storm passes by.  It brings with it a foot of snow (or more!) with 50 mile per hour winds.

Days like today are perfect for catching up on all sorts of indoor projects and that is exactly what I did all morning.  So why not squeeze in another post before Christmas and show you what I have been up to!

Previously, I found this perfectly weathered, chippy stool in red, green and white at one of my favorite antique shops called Changing Thymes in Grandville, Michigan.  Today, I picked out one of my used coffee sacks in matching green and red lettering to recover the seat top.  Perfect for Christmas, don't you think?

On another note, I am super excited to be featured in the Eclectically Vintage Festive Holiday Tour!  Thank-you very much, Kelly, for including our home!

You don't want to miss out on these gorgeous Christmas homes, so *Click Here* to take the tour! 

Lastly, before I leave you to go enjoy Christmas festivities, I want to send out a couple big THANK-YOUS to the following ladies for featuring my Christmas home tour (just click on their button to take a peek at it) on their wonderful blogs...

Thank you for all the very sweet compliments, Donna!

...and Debra at Common Ground!

... and Antonella from Pretty House Things!

 Finally, thank-you to Lucy at Craftberry Bush as well!  I just love your blog, Lucy, and am so glad to have found you!

I hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Maria ~Rusty Hinge

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

I love the Christmas season!  It is in all reality the most wonderful time of the year!  December has been a flurry of tree decorating, Christmas cookie frosting, present wrapping, and cozy nights spent tucked under blankets with hot chocolate!  I am finished decking the halls, so let's take a little tour, shall we?  Settle in and kick your feet up, because like last year's Christmas home tour, it's a loooong one!

A simple cedar sprig and scraps of antique grain sack from a previous project adorn a French bistro chair.

Grain sack stocking ornaments made by Maria at Dreamy Whites hanging on a wire store display atop a stack of vintage breadboards create the perfect table top tree.

A vintage wire apple picker gets a holiday makeover stuffed with greenery and Shiny Brite ornaments.  It rests on a stack of antique French linen sheets on a chair in the living room.

I love to stick fresh greenery here and there to add a festive touch!  Cedar works wonderfully indoors because it lasts throughout the season.

Give last year's Christmas tree new life by spray-painting it white and stringing with lights!

Vintage sleigh bells fill a mottled ironstone bowl on the kitchen island.

I love implementing vintage pieces, such as this old grain scoop.  It makes a great holiday table centerpiece displaying antique bottle brush trees resting on a French wooden dough board. 

Even the bath gets a touch of decor with faux greenery and berries.  Tiny mercury glass balls rest in my lavender topiary pot that is wrapped in vintage German "Kaffee" and "Salz" sacks.

You might remember my Advent calendar from last year.  This year, I propped it on a vintage wooden cubby in our entry room.  The "countdown" ornaments store perfectly in each of the holes until ready to be hung!

Well, I shall end the tour here!  I very much hope that you enjoyed yourself and that I didn't take too much of your holiday time!  It is precious!  I wasn't sure how often I would be able to post between now and Christmas so there is lots to hold you over until then!

Despite the whirlwind these last few weeks have been, I am trying to slow down and enjoy every moment, because these truly are the special times.  Let's remember the real Reason sent to us in a tiny manger on Christmas day.  And for that, we can all have a very merry Christmas!


"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6


"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
II Corinthians 5:21


Thank-you very much for your visit and taking my Christmas 2012 home tour!



Merry Christmas!



Maria ~Rusty Hinge






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