Falling for Fall

I love blog parties with a theme so when I saw that Pamela at From My Front Porch To Yours was having a linky party for showcasing front porches, I was in! It's called Falling For Fall Porch Party.

Welcome to my home!

My husband and I recently painted the front section of our front porch and it came out great! I hadn't decorated it for Fall yet so this was good incentive to get started.

I love creating vignettes in my decorating so that is what I did all around my front porch.

Our local grocery store (Wegmans) had a pack of two mums for $4 and a local farm market has $4.99 mums every year in gorgeous colors, so I had to get them all! I put the largest ones into a few vintage orchard fruit baskets and the small yellow mums stand on their own just fine.

I love the mix of aqua and orange so when I found the orange gourd at a local craft store (it is real!) I had to have it for my porch. I found the aqua chair a few years ago at a barn sale for $2 and paid 10 times that for the aqua watering can. I had to have it!! The red watering can is from Wegmans too!

The enamelware pot is filled with sticks and twigs from my daughters' yard at her cottage in the country. I find many birds nests in my yard that have fallen from the tall, tall trees and use them all over to decorate with.

I had been wanting a vintage milk can forever and finally found one traveling home last summer at a garage sale we just happened on. I left it outside all winter to age it and it is finally getting a little chippy! The milk bottle carrier and bottles are from my earlier days of picking!

The old window is a wonderful back drop to decorate for each season so for Fall I decided to put this straw wreath on it. The chippy white bench is a recent find that I can't part with yet so I decided to use it as a side table.

I love my unique pumpkin birdhouse and the birds nest was found on the ground a little while after one of my son's birthday parties. It has streamers in it from the pinata we had that year!

Pink pumpkins are new to me so whenever I find them I use them in my Fall decorating. The one I found last year lasted till May until it started rotting. Really!

 I made this wreath years ago and I still love it. I just primp it and change out the faded flowers every so often. It is huge and the focal point of my porch.

The gray, chippy, wonderfully faded bench against the railing is one that I helped my husband find for the foyer of his house before we even talked about getting married, knowing that someday it would be mine too!

I use it to photograph a lot of my vintage items for my Etsy shop.

Happy Fall y'all!!

AnnMarie xoxo

P.S. did you see that dead looking stuff to the top right of my front door and on one of the pillars? We cut the roots to an ivy plant that was taking over and now cannot get the remains off of our house! The house is sided, so to scrape it makes a huge mess. I tried vinegar and water and it did not work either. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get that dead stuff off? Thanks if you do!

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

From My Front Porch to Yours
Amaze Me Monday
Masterpiece Monday
Treasure Box Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
The Scoop
Vintage Inspiration Party
What's It Wednesday
Showcase Your Talent Thursday
Every Room in The House Party
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Home and Garden Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
Freedom Fridays With All My Bloggy Friends
The Weekend Re-Treat Link Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Strut Your Stuff Saturday
Pink Saturday

Pumpkin Bread or Cake? 3 Ingredients!

Have you seen the recipe for this pumpkin cake/bread that's been going around the blog world and Pinterest since last Fall? I first heard of it from my daughter Jena who said it was only 3 ingredients and really, really good.

I am particular about anything pumpkin I make so I was a skeptic. A box cake mix? Not for this from scratch girl. After all, I had been making the same pumpkin bread for over 30 years and it is all I'd make....until I tried this!! It is more than really, really good. It is stupid good (what exactly does that mean?!?).

There's the 3 ingredients.....spice cake mix, 15 oz. can pumpkin and 1/2 bag chocolate chips. I bought the mini chocolate chips by mistake but it turns out I like them better in this cake.

Preheat the oven according to the box for the pan you will use. Mix just the powdered spice cake (without adding water, egg, oil), the whole can of pumpkin and about 1 cup chocolate chips in a mixer till all combined. Spray your pan, spread it out and bake it for about 25 minutes (according to the cake mix box). Done!

No need to frost.

The texture is cake-y but with a sweet bread consistency. It is a pumpkin cakey bread. It is so much easier and so delicious that I have retired my 30 year old pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe. So sad.

Enjoy!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these fun blog parties:

Make It Pretty Monday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
Treasure Box Tuesday
Coffee and Conversation
Tasty Tuesday
Wednesday's Adorned From Above Link Party
Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party
A Little R & R Wednesday's Link Party
Showcase Your Talent Thursday
Munching Mondays

Oh My, What a Difference a Coat of Paint Makes!

There is always painting to do around an older home, isn't there? My house dates to 1870 and it seems to be settling a little bit too. I add extra paint in those areas to cover it all up!!

Long overdue was the painting of the side porch steps. I could not do it over the past 3 years as I have had both total hip replacements done and my husband is not allowed to paint! With some of the wood starting to rot I had to get to it this year and cover it all up.

Wow, what a difference a coat of paint makes! A new pretty Victorian door and freshly painted trim helps a lot too! Still working on the trim as you can see by my  painters tape!

Even longer overdue than the side porch steps were the back door steps. They were down to the bare, bare wood. I never took a before but found this picture of them under the gorgeous blooms of my Orange Blossom tree.

Oh my, what a difference a coat of paint makes!

I also didn't take a before of the front porch floor but this little glimpse of it to the right of the stool pretty much sums up what the whole front walkway to the front door looked like. Faded, grungy and peeled with the primer showing through. Oh, there was bare wood too!

Oh my, what a difference a coat of paint makes!!

 I found this chair on the side of the road. Ugly color, unevenly painted, but I could not find anything wrong with it in the 15 seconds I contemplated taking it! It was clearly in the garbage but I thought, why not! I did find a break in the frame later, hidden by the woven seat but it doesn't affect the use of the chair. I decided to paint it and use it as decoration on my front porch.

I have been loving the color aqua so much lately that when I saw the aqua chalk paint at JoAnn's I grabbed it and started painting. The color name is Cascade and it is a new line of paint that JoAnn's carries called FolkArt Home Decor Chalk. With my 40% off coupon, it was quite inexpensive. It is an Ultra Matte acrylic paint. I love the way it went on, how easy it was to distress a little and then I finished it off with a brown stain and paste finishing wax.

Oh my, what a difference a coat of paint makes!

See that brown wooden shelf with the green chalkboard? It is also reflected in the mirror! That is the only before picture I have of it but I wanted to share it because I love the after.

I used the Oatmeal chalk paint from FolkArt Home Decor Chalk that I am loving from JoAnn's. I also distressed this a little bit and then finished it with a light wash of a brown stain and paste finishing wax. The flash from the camera does not show the distressing details but the coat of paint just made a huge difference. It now hangs as an information center at Impact Theatre, the community theatre my husband and I run.

Oh my, what a difference a coat of paint makes!

After I posted this picture on a recent blog post about my kitchen, I was horrified at how bad the color of the stool legs and the bottom of the island looked! I knew that I had chosen the absolute wrong color 15 years ago, but it looked right in the store! Very Violet? What was I thinking for a cobalt and white kitchen?

I went straight to the paint store in town and got the right color, called Glory, to finally redo them. Amazing how you can live with something for 15 years and then one day, it just doesn't work anymore!

Early morning light...my favorite time in the kitchen!

Oh my, what a difference a coat of paint makes!



The weather is getting too cold to be doing anymore outdoor painting....oh darn! Come next spring I will have some finishing up to do and probably re-touching to do after the inevitable harsh winter.

As a last reminder of summer, my lone sunflower bloomed today! Isn't she sweet?

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these fun blog parties:
Anything Blue Friday
Strut Your Stuff Saturday
Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Amaze Me Monday
Make It Monday
Make It Pretty Monday
Cottage Vintage Style
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
Treasure Box Tuesday
Coffee and Conversation
Before and After Wednesday
Showcase Your Talent Thursday

A Few Vintage Finds for My Kitchen Update

I just found this fun sounding blog link party and so I decided to do a kitchen update post so I can join in.

Nancy over at A Joyful Cottage has a month long link party called Every Room in The House Party. This month the room is your choice.

I have been putting off re-painting my kitchen (it was done 15 years ago....still looks pretty good!!) so I thought a few new vintage items would lift mine and it's spirits!  Little by little I have found things I just had to have for my cobalt blue and white theme.

I just had to get on board with the whole chalkboard in the kitchen thing but I don't have a lot of wall space in there! I bought an ornate gold frame at Goodwill, some stick-on chalkboard paper and made my own to fit on top of my cupboard. I painted it two tones of sage green glaze and gave it a brown wash. It compliments the grape leaf wallpaper on the top half of the walls. I use it for my weekly menu so that my son and husband don't have to ask me "what's for dinner?"! The footprint picture is an enlargement of my sons feet when he was born a preemie at 1 pound 10 ounces.

Last summer I started collecting vintage, rusty kitchen items like the colander, grater and strainer. I hung them above the window and besides all my trinkets and collectibles on the small shelves, I decided it needed more. The metal chicken basket has been mine since the 80's and the cobalt blue enamelware teapot is a new find that hangs on the soffit until it sells in my Etsy shop!

This small little space of wall between the stove and my "office" door is the magic spot of the kitchen. Anything I hang on the lower nail that is for sale in my shop, seems to sell from there. I include a picture of the item hanging there in the listing so maybe it just looks so good that someone has to have it! The white colander with cobalt trim is a new find that I am keeping. I paid too much for it from a hard bargaining elderly lady that knew it's history and worth. She won and I had to have it!

I got this red Cosco stool at Goodwill, fully intending to sell it. I put it in this corner till I could find a box big enough for it. The next time my 3 year old granddaughter Chloe came over to visit she climbed right up on it and it became her chair. It works perfect pushed up to the island so she can eat her lunch. I found the toile cushion at a garage sale. The only other red item in the kitchen is on the other side of the room and it is my Kitchen Aid Cinnamon Stand Mixer. I felt they balanced each other out!

I have a thing for stars (my front hall is full of them) so when I saw this rusty washed out blue metal star on our vacation, I had to have it. It's not vintage, just made to look that way.

I have had a really nice white wood and glass curio cupboard on this tiny wall between two doors (yeah, there are 5 doors in my little kitchen and small strips of wall in between each!) for a long time and it was filled with my keepsakes and trinkets. When I saw this old kitchen cupboard drawer at a sale recently I bought it to sell and started to list it. It already had a hanger on the back (the brilliant idea to hang it was not mine!) so I had to try and see how it looked here. As you can see it fits perfectly in the small space, as my cobalt blue collectibles do in the openings.

This rug is my newest find. A sweet lady at a yard sale crochets these rugs out of a really soft, cushy fabric. It was the right color and the right price so I had to have it for in front of my stove. With some thick padding underneath it fits perfect and feels good too!

At the same yard sale I spotted this scale on the table as I was checking out. She gave me a great price for it, worried that it was too high. I grabbed it and debated whether or not to keep it for myself. The turquoise enamelware pan is listed in my shop but sits on my kitchen island for now. I put the scale in there and then put the aqua colander I had to have from Goodwill (not vintage!) on top with some veggies in it. I love the whimsical look of it stacked together and there it will stay till something sells! I did list the scale in my shop.....reluctantly!

Those are my updates and I am happy with them enough to like my "new" kitchen for a while! Still want to paint again but luckily I used oil-based paint the first time and it has stood up to 15 years of wear!

Here is the full kitchen from two views!

Those are granddaughter pictures on the door!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these great parties:

Every Room in the House Party
A Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Make It Pretty Monday
Masterpiece Monday
Treasure Box Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
The Scoop
Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party
Adorned from Above
A Return to Lovliness
Vintage Inspiration Party
Thursday Favorite Things
Share Your Cup Thursday
Treasure Hunt Thursday

How to Make My Day

A fellow New Yorker and blogger has so honored me by featuring my blog and Etsy shop on her lovely blog today. She is Diana and her blog is Adirondack Girl @ Heart.

Doesn't this banner just make you want to click away?! Please click on the link to check out my feature and also to have a look around Diana's blog. She features a different vintage blogger each week, which I think is just so nice! She does a wonderful job of it too. I am thrilled with mine!

Thank you Diana, for making my day!!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

Treasure Box Tuesday
Adorned from Above
A Little R & R Wednesdays
What's It Wednesday
Freedom Fridays with All My Bloggy Friends
Weekend re-treat Link Party