Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger


Jane from Bluebird 1959



Hi Everyone!  I am beyond excited to have been asked by sweet Kris to be part of her Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger series over at Junk Chic Cottage.  It is such a fun series and I love learning more about bloggers that I have followed for years and others that are new to me.  Thank you Kris!

Hmm...about me?  The basics: My name is Jane, the blogger behind Bluebird 1959.  I live in a small town in southeastern Wisconsin, with my husband of 33 years.  We also have one daughter, 24, who just recently moved to Virginia to pursue her graduate degree at Virginia Tech. This past Sunday we adopted a new puppy named Palmer.  He will be guest posting on my blog from time to time. Check out the first installment of Pawsin' With Palmer.  


 I work part time in the reading department of the high school my husband, daughter and I attended (not simultaneously, ha ha!).


I am a home decor blogger and I like to share the different updates, projects and and things I have going on around my house.  I have tried many variations of home decor over the years, but always come back to vintage and farmhouse style.  It's just me. It's in my DNA.  You see, as a kid, my parents would sell "antiques" and other assorted junk to help supplement my dad's mail carrier salary. They would buy estates full of all sorts of treasures and sell them at the local flea market on Sunday. It was so fun to sort through the ever changing things they would find.

My dad was definitely an American Picker kind of guy and was forever finding deals and bringing home treasures. Our house decor and furniture was an ever changing kaleidoscope of finds. (At one point, my older brothers refused to move another bedroom set  up to my room because I had had so many!)  My dad had so much enthusiasm for his finds that it was hard not to get excited about them. 

Out of the five of us kids, I think I am the one who caught the biggest antique bug and I still enjoy hitting up flea markets, junk shops and thrift sales.  Looking through my blog archives, I do tend to haunt those places quite frequently.
 

Color wise, I love dark, jewel tones, which sometimes makes me feel a bit lonely in blog land! I've tried to go to "the other side" and I was miserable and uninspired in my own home.  I love the bloggers - like Kris - who have a neutral palette.  There is so much beauty to it and I get the simplicity and convenience of a neutral scheme.  For me - for my house - though,  I am a color craver!


However, I have started to embrace some toning down in my decor, especially in my wall colors.  I am really liking a fresher, cleaner and airier feel, and I have made some dramatic changes to our first floor that I will share in a reveal soon.


On a personal level, after a freak health scare last year (which I have shared on my blog), I have been on a weight loss journey and have lost nearly 110 pounds.  I feel so much better and continue to work at my progress. 

Before:


Early this summer:


I hope you have enjoyed reading a bit about my story and I hope you will pop over and pay me a visit at my blog....the door is always open!

Thanks, Kris, for the lovely invitation to be part of your awesome blogging series.

Jane is as sweet as ever and you will love taking a trip over to her blog Bluebird 1959.  Thank you Jane for doing Spotlight this week and sharing yourself and family and that sweet little Palmer.  Just adorable.
Happy Saturday Everyone.
Have a great week end.
Kris
:)

Re Love of Master Bath Cabinet

I showed you how I made this vintage dresser into a new sink vanity for my master bath.


Now I feel like with all my architectural pieces this bathroom has come together.


This was the old cabinet above my make up vanity in my master bath.  It was ok but I felt with all the other vintage pieces it needed an update.

I had an old window out in the shed and a  architectural header off another piece so Terry made it into a new cabinet for me.

Now I have a new bigger cabinet for storage made out of things I had.
Now I would like to ask for your help.  Should I get some glass glaze paint to fill in the window so it is not see through or should I leave it alone.  Just not sure I like seeing all my make up etc. through the glass.

Thanks for your help and visits.  Be sure to come back on Saturday for another wonderful blogger to meet in Spotlight. 
Kris
:)



Side Road Cabinet Re Loved

Here is my back road country drive find re loved into my kitchen.

Here is my $20 dollar cabinet find.


Here it is re loved with some white paint and some new door knobs I found in a drawer.  When I found them in the drawer I thought to myself yep they will work perfectly on this cabinet.

The light worked perfectly inside this found treasure.  Bonus no fixing or re wiring yeah!



I am having fun styling my new shelves. 




I have the worse time getting a great picture in my kitchen.  This use to be the back of the house and then the addition was put on so the light coming into the kitchen is block by the addition.  So these kitchen pics are not the greatest and it was a rainy cloudy day when I took the pictures.







I love my new $20 dollar cabinet.  It is amazing what a little white paint can do!


PS.  My little photo bomber wanted to be in the post!!!!
Have a great week ahead.
Kris
:)
Parties:
Share your Cup Thursday
Before and After Wednesday
Share your Style
Sweet and Simple Fridays
Shabbilicious Friday
Pretty Preppy Party
Your Inspired Design Party

RH Cottage Country Magazine, Road Side Treasure preview and Fun Gift

Happy Sunday.  Hope that the week end is going great.

Today I am going to post on my "tiny" feature in RH Cottage Country Special Magazine and a Road Side treasure preview along with a low maintenance fun gift.





This is a special edition Cottage Country magazine presented by Romantic Homes.
I know a lot of you know the beautiful Gay Van Beek from Canterbury Cottage Designs blog that writes for RH.  She did a special feature in this magazine on creating easy cottage style.

Remember my dishwasher cover up I did. Gay used it in her piece showing how I made my dishwasher look cottage with some old picture frames and salvage pieces.  If you want to see my post you can see the post here.






Gay wrote an inspirational feature on how to get the fresh cottage look in your home.

There is lots of soft serene whites for those of us that love the neutrals and softer white decor.

Love Poetic Cottage's lovely white serene home.


There is pastels for you sweet softly colored cottage decor lovers.



The magazine has pretty light aqua and blues that are so popular right now.  So if you want a nice RH special edition magazine look in your local grocery store for this one.  It is loaded with beautiful inspiration.

Terry and I decided to take a ride out on some country roads near our home and while out driving down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere (sounds like a country music song)  I saw this cabinet sitting out front of this little consignment shop.  I yelled to Terry to OMG "Stop the Car"!!!

We got out and saw this old secretary cabinet top and inquired the price.  $20 and I said to Terry "Start the Car"!!!

  So I will have a post this week on my re love of this piece and where she is now hanging in my home.  Her light inside the cabinet works too.  Bonus!!!  I know it will come as a shock "NOT" but she got some white paint!! Stay tuned to see her pretty new look.






The fun Gift.  I have a special friend that told me about this lavender scented toilet paper she got when she visited her daughter out in Ohio.   She brought me back some and OMG I loved it.  It makes your bathroom smell like sweet lavender.




She gifted me with this from her trip this past week to see her daughter.  We cannot get this scented tissue here in the Chicago land area.  I have looked!!!

I am a pretty low maintenance gal gift me with Lavender scented toilet paper and I am excited!  Isn't it amazing how the littlest fun things just make us smile.  Sandy I love my tissue and my bathrooms smell so sweet like Lavender.
 I hope they will get it in our area soon.  It is the best.  If you can find this by you I highly recommend this.  Your bathroom will smell so sweet.


Well my friends have a wonderful start to the new week ahead.
Kris
:)

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