Happy May Day!

Happy May Day to you! 

To celebrate the first day of May I'm sharing my favorite part of my spring garden. 

  

This corner of our garden is always the first to show signs that spring has arrived. My daughters gave me this Bleeding Heart, so of course it's my favorite flower in the garden.  

 

   

These are our very first blossoms from our new little Eastern Redbud Tree we planted last summer.

  

This corner has always been pink and white in the spring.

 

Next to the Redbud Tree and the Bleeding Heart is a lilac tree. 

 

For years this lilac has been struggling under the shade of our big locust tree. 

 

But since we had that tree cut down last year, it's happily basking in the sun it needs and putting out lots of new limbs. 

 

I never wanted to rob it of its few blooms in years past, but this year there's more than enough to cut and bring indoors.

 

As I sit here writing this post in my studio, I'm surrounded by the sweet scent of lilacs. 

 

Tucked into a mason jar high up on a shelf with the birds.

Nothing says May Day like lilacs!

I'm so happy to announce that my good friend Sharon is hosting her Elizabeth & Company Garden Parties again this year. I'm heading over there right now, and I sure hope you'll join me!

  
Happy May Day!

Don't stop partying! This week I'm also over at

 Common Ground

 French Country Cottage

Fishtail cottage 

 From My Front Porch To Yours

Rooted In Thyme

 

 

Vintage Farmhouse Tin Can Vases

I'm in love with all things farmhouse right now, and I'm always trying to think of inexpensive ways to add accessories to my decor that have that farmhouse feel.

I've also always loved the bright colors and bold artwork of vintage food can labels. When I purchased some recently online I wasn't sure what I'd do with them, but I knew they'd come in handy one day.

 

When I found myself looking around for a vase for some daffodils yesterday, I thought of my vintage labels.

 

I glued the labels onto some empty cans I had saved up for painting projects, filled them with water and dafodils, and grouped them on a cake stand on the dining room table.

I just love the way the bright colors of these vintage labels pop against the new neutral paint color on our dining room walls.

 

I think they'd look cute in the kitchen too, don't you? 

They're definitely saying "farmhouse" to me!

I'm so glad you popped in to see my vintage farmhouse tin can vases. 

Have a wonderful day! 

Don't you just love a good party? C'mon along with me to

French Country Cottage
Common Ground
The Charm of Home 
Rooted In Thyme 
Beyond The Picket Fence 
From My Front Porch To Yours 
Savvy Southern Style 
The Scoop 
Elizabeth & Co. 
My Repurposed Life 
Jennifer Rizzo 
The Cottage Market 
Between Naps On The Porch 
The Scoop
Cozy Little House
Mod Vintage Life




 


 

New Paint Before and After

It's very cloudy here today and hard to get a good photograph on my phone, but I thought you might like to see the before and after of my new living room and dining room paint colors.

Manchester Tan is a Benjamin Moore historic color, a warm neutral that shifts between gray and beige depending on the light, which I love. And even on this dark cloudy day the new color really brightens these rooms up. I originally picked white for the walls, but at the last minute I decided to go a little warmer and make the fresh White Dove painted woodwork pop.

Next up for me today is getting everything put back into these rooms in time for a family birthday dinner tonight.

Thanks for checking out my new paint. I hope you have a great day!

 

New Paint in the Living Room and Dining Room

The painters are here!

    My husband and I have been painting the interior of our homes forever, and I bet we've painted miles of ceilings, walls, and woodwork in our time. (You might remember I painted our craft room and guest room just last year.) But when it came time to paint our living and dining rooms this spring, we were able splurge and hire professional painters for the first time ever.

It's such a luxury! 

All I had to do was pick a color and pack up our stuff!

And as I sit here writing this blog post, the painters are on the other side of the plastic working their magic. They'll accomplish in two days what it would have taken us a couple of weeks to do.

 

No spackling and sanding. No climbing up and down ladders balancing a paint roller to reach ten foot tall ceilings. No tedious cutting-in of box beams, picture rails, wide moldings, and wainscoting. And my very favorite, no daily cleaning of paint supplies.

It's truly wonderful!