Living Room Vignettes

These are the vignettes in my living room

in the middle of the summer months.

Brass birds and oil paintings collected from thrift stores.

That's a real, live orchid that I've managed to keep living

and blooming for several months now.

I just purchased this orchid hoping to be able to keep it blooming too.

I love that it has twice the blooms.

The ceramic shell came from a Goodwill in Virginia,

the lotus flower from a thrift store in my hometown.

I love the reflective and airy look of the silver and glass

on the glass end table I found on clearance last summer.

I don't love having to clean kitty prints and dust off every week.

A little summer scene using a vintage lithograph of birds

and faux dollar store ferns.

A Take Home With A Story

Last week I posted about our day at Lucketts.
Today I'll show you what we took home.
You already saw the beautiful mirror that my daughter purchased. It's new green paint looks fabulous in her living room.
She also got a few old bullseyes. We hung the set above her kitchen window to give it a little architectural interest.What did I take home?

I fell in love with these
two good-sized pieces of vintage architecture.
An old corbel and what I think is the base or the top to a column. The nice thing was that they both fit inside my carry-on bag.

The not-so-nice thing was that when my bag went through the x-ray machine I heard the TSA agent call for a "bag check."
Then another TSA agent picked up my bag and tested it for explosive matter.
She asked if she would be hurt by anything when she opened my bag.
I explained that it was just filled with a couple of old architectural pieces.
When she opened it she told me she had to call her supervisor.
The supervisor came over to examine my bag.
After I told the two about the wonderful store where I purchased the pieces they decided that I appeared to be a reasonably sane woman and I likely wouldn't be using the blocks of wood to knock anyone over the head in order to hi-jack the plane.

Don't you just love it when the items in your home can lead to
a great story?!?!Don't forget to enter the HouseHold Words Giveaway

An Obsession

The other day as I looked around my home
I was reminded of a joke that my youngest son would tell when he was a preschooler. He would ask, "Mom, what's under there?"
to which I would reply, "Under where?"
and then he would begin to snicker as only a little boy can
who thinks he tricked his mother into saying a naughty word.Well it seems that I have
an "under where" obsession. Nearly every item in my home that has space under it I have managed to fill. Yes, I do seem to enjoy "what's under there."

Colorful Closets

Simple Joys...those glimpses of life that we should take time embrace, the reminders that it's the small and simple things that make life beautiful.

The closets of our home are full of color. . . . .
even when there are no clothes hanging in them. For nearly half of my mother's life she has been making these
yarn covered hangers. (A tutorial can be found HERE)

She has literally made hundreds of them for family and to give as gifts.
I remember taking a trip with a college friend when I was in my late teens. My mom put a bundle of these homemade hangers into my suitcase for me to give as a hostess gift for my friend's relative whose home we stayed. I was proud as well as a little embarrassed (the mixed emotions of a teenager) to present the made-by-hand gift.These colorful hangers have been a part of my life for most of my life. They remind me of my mother's creative and hardworking hands, and of her giving spirit.

They are a simple joy.
Do you have a made-by-hand simple joy?

Hydrangea Love

I think that one of my favorite flowers has to be

the hydrangea.Unfortunately I have a brown thumb
when it comes to growing them.
I've tried three times.
Three times I have failed. I am working up the courage to try again this summer.
But I haven't let my failure of growing the real thing
stop me from surrounding myself
with the much easier variety to care for. . .
the faux hydrangea---easy to care for, widely available.I've even bought them from the dollar store. Dollar store hydrangea's displayed en mass on my front door.

What flower draws your attention, be it real or faux?

If you haven't had a chance to vote for Joys of Home at
JDR 2010 Industry Blogger Awards
I would really appreciate it if you would
please take a moment to click on this link and vote.
Voting ends Thursday and JofH has slipped in the polls.
Thank you so much for your support!!!

Flaws and Imperfections

I started writing this post with the idea of talking about collections. I was going to write about the two different kind of collectors. There are those who collect only the finest and then there are those, like me, who can appreciate a few flaws in their mass of similar items. I was going to say how the fun of collecting should be in the hunt---the patience of waiting until that certain item comes along that makes you giddy and so thrilled to place it in a prominent spot along with the other items of it's kind. I wanted to explain how sometimes it's the blemishes in your loved collection that make it even more dear to your heart, like the suitcase with it's original handle at one time replaced with rope as a makeshift luggage hold. Or the handle so lovingly repaired by my hubby on the small luggage piece found at a New York flea market that had been carefully transported home just to have our sweet granddaughter tear the vintage leather of the grip into small bits.I planned on showing how even though a pretty piece of pottery has received a chip or two along the way it can still

bring beauty into our life. And how if we concentrate on the small chip we can forget to
see the attractiveness of the whole.Then it dawned on me, that I was not just talking about collections. I was talking about life. It's okay to live a life that isn't perfect. Why is it that we can sometimes get so overwhelmed with looking for perfection that we forget that it's the flaws and bumps that give character to our life . A good life is made when we repair the damage that has been done and still go on to serve and bless the lives of others. Life isn't about having everything perfect and in order. Life is about the search, the hunt, the journey. Because it's in the journey where happiness can be found.

Yes, a happy life is what you make of it. Turning bad things into good. Having patience with ourselves as well as with others. Appreciating all that life offers, the wonderful as well as the not so wonderful. And remembering that it's during both of those extremes in our life's journey that beautiful memories can be made,
growth can occur and love can flourish.Life is much like a collection.

It's made up of many things that when pulled together form
an accumulation of
wonderment and awe.
We just need to take the time to stand back and
embrace it!