Saturday Spotlight Feature: Life Behind the Blogger

Happy 2015
New Year and New Spotlight Features

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Brooke: Creative Country Mom
January 3rd

Happy New Year everyone.  The first Spotlight Feature for 2015 is Brooke from Creative Country Mom blog.  Get your favorite beverage and sit back and enjoying reading about Brooke and getting to know about her and her lovely blog.
Then hop over and visit her beautiful blog.
Happy Saturday
Kris

Hello dear readers of Junk Chic Cottage!

My name is Brooke Kroeger of Creative Country Mom's Vintage Home and Garden.  I am so honored to be asked by Kris to share my home with you today!  I had a hard time choosing what to share, I love to design and decorate and I hope you do as well.  My style is Farmhouse/Country with lots of Shabby and Vintage as well.

We built our home in 2006 on over six acres of land alongside a 50 acre private lake.  It is the quintessential Indiana farmhouse...  3000 square feet plus a walkout basement that is unfinished.  We have a very large 10 foot deep porch and back decks to enjoy the 270 degree views of the water.

The kitchen is the heart of our home.  Our previous one was tiny and I dreamed of this much room for years.

My colors are very warm and welcoming... pumpkin, sage, deep reds and lots of creams and taupes.

I am not afraid to decorate all the way up the the ceiling and love to do wall displays.

A few month ago we removed all the carpeting and put down new floors and changed the entire look of our home.

I love to use all different types of wood tones and as many vintage pieces as possible.  Lots of different fabrics and loads of handmade lace and pillows.

I am an avid yard sale queen and flea market gal....  I love to decorate on a very small budget.

I collect loads of handmade treasures and keepsakes and display with the seasons.

One of my favorite projects is our vintage door headboard upcycle in our master bedroom.

Summers are spent in the pastel country themed front porch.

We have five outdoor cats and they love to have their photos taken for the site.

This one is mine... my Gypsy Rose, and yes... she is as spoiled as she looks.

But my true love is my Boston mix Miley.... she is the very best little dog.  We love our animals.

She loves to be with me out in the garden... here is a view of our backyard and the water.

Summers are long in Indiana and I love loads of color in my borders.

One of my favorite areas is my rose garden filled with over 40 different varieties.

I have so much more to show you!

To see more photos of my garden, click here.

To have a tour of my home, click here.

To see it decorated for the holidays, click here.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus and Twitter

Thanks again to sweet Kris and I would love for you to follow me on my site.

http://www.creativecountrymom.blogspot.com

Happy New Year!

~Brooke~

Thank you Brooke for being the first Spotlight Feature for 2015.  This was great to get to know you and learn more about your beautiful home.  Your summer garden flowers make my heart smile.  Thank you for sharing a little of yourself with us.

                                  Kris

Happy New Year and Cabinet Re Love

I am happy to say the new dining room is coming together nicely.  I am getting my Nordic/French Cottage vibe in the room.

I want to show you the cabinet done.  Then I am taking a few days off.  I have my granddaughter tonight for New Years Eve and then on New Years Day it is Terry's birthday and we are celebrating as a family for this special day.

Friday and Saturday Terry and I are going to do some fun day trips so I am letting go of the dining room for a few days.

Hope to have a reveal at the beginning of the week.

Ok just to recap this was the old vintage cabinet from Terry's grandmother minus the door and drawer out before painting.

After several coats of paint this cabinet kept bleeding through yellow.  Suzan from Simply Vintageous to the rescue.  She told me that these old pieces with the old varnish need to have a coat of Zinzer oil base shellac before painting to keep the yellow from bleeding through.  So finally after adding the shellac no more yellow. Yeah!!! Love you Suzan.  I call her the paint whisper!!!
That girl can paint the ugly duckling's of furniture pieces and turn them into beautiful pieces.

I remembered I had this great gate window piece that was gray and white and chippy and guess what it fit perfectly in the open space where the door on the cabinet would normally go.  I did not like the cracked glass of the old door so this was a perfect fit.

Wooo Hooo love that this fit in the space.  Gives this old piece some pretty bling and character.

Yep love that this old window will work for a new cabinet door.

Gives the piece a little nordic feel.

So there you have it a nice inherited piece that is re loved into a new pretty for the dining room re do.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

See you soon with the with the whole dining room reveal.
Kris
:)


Parties:
DIY Show Case Sunday
Make it Pretty Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
Shabbilicious Friday Link Party

Dining Room Progress

Here are some sneak peaks at the dining room progress.

We have the ceilings, trim and walls all painted.  Yeah!!! I love the color of the walls.

It is called Stone White and is just a hint of light gray to the walls.

This was the wall color before we painted. the ceilings were the same color as the walls so we needed to paint the ceilings white.

Painted all the trim and crown molding to a white and then the walls in the stone white which is a light gray.

Got some new gray and white checked fabric from Ikea for the chair seats.  This is also the fabric for the new curtain panels.

I almost forgot to take a picture of this old vintage china cabinet we inherited from Terry's grandmother before painting it.  I took the door off and the drawer and shelves out and started to paint before I realized I did not have a before pic!  Sorry so this is what you get to see for a before shot.

A little drama with this piece.  With it being so old furniture makers use a lacquer finish that was yellow oil base and it keeps bleeding through as the white paint dries.  I did two coats of Kilz primer and now two more coats of white and it still is slightly on the cream side.  So I am going to try one more coat of a bright white and see if that will work.

Libby my photo bomber assistant!

So hopefully after painting a few pieces and getting this cabinet to look less cream in color I will begin to start thinking about what to bring back into the room for decor.

I am going for a light nordic cottage look to blend with my kitchen.  Just sooooo tired of having stuff everywhere and my poor wood floors are a mess.  So it will be nice to get things hung and put up and then clean my floors and hopefully be done and ready to show you the reveal.

Plus Terry and I would like to have a few day trips for some fun while he is on vacation this week.  So hopefully I will get this room together in the next few days.


As we head on down to the New Year I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year.
I look forward to sharing lots of inspiration with all of you in the new year.
Kris
:)

New Year New Changes Sneak Peak

Well Christmas is over and since I decorate way before Thanksgiving I am ready to see some of my decor come down after Christmas.  Don't you just hate that dull feeling in the rooms after all the Christmas pretty comes down?!

It is motivating me to do some painting and change ups in the Dining Room.

This was my Christmas Dining room.  All has been taken down and packed away.

Everything and I mean everything came down in the dining room and is getting ready for  new paint and new look.

My dining room is entertainment central when we all gather together.  So this room is used a lot at holidays and everyday.  So after the Christmas came down it felt right to give this room a fresh coat of paint.

This was where the vintage mantel and windows hung.  They are down for the paint and not sure if they will go back up in this space.  I will have to see after we paint what will go back into this room.

The sun is shining and it is almost 60 degrees here so I am taking full advantage of getting the Christmas decor down and we don't have to trek through snow to get to the storage shed to put it all away.

We are having more of a Spring  time than Christmas.  So maybe that is where I am getting the "Spring Cleaning Bug" early and the energy to do some change ups.

Plus I have Terry home for a week so I am totally taking advantage of that man and his tools lol!

Stay tuned to see how my new dining room will look.  I am going for cottage gray and white to blend with my kitchen.  Hope it comes out like I have it visioned in my head!!!

I am enjoying these next few weeks of time off to do fun things with my family and start a few new "fresh ups" for the new year.

See you soon with some results of this dining room refresher.
Happy New Year
Kris
:)

New Year And New Inspiring Challenges

Whether you were looking at this the past few days:

source

 Or this........

source

Hope all your time spent with loved ones was rich and full of love and sharing.

This time of year comes and goes so quickly.

Hope you felt love, Joy and Blessings galore.

Now as we head on down the road to the New Year I wanted to wish each of you a Happy New Year.

Some new projects and changes coming to Junk Chic Cottage

in the new year.  Stay tuned.

I am going to be taking some time off from Blogland to be with family and enjoy our Christmas and New Year break.

Hope to see all you back in the new year to share friendship and inspiration.

Chicago New Year's Eve 2014

Happy New Year

2015

Kris

:)

bella's rose cottage source

Wishing you peace, love and blessings in the new year.

My Christmas Card to You.

Merry Christmas

As we approach Christmas Day I want to wish each and everyone of you a wonderful holiday filled with gathering, sharing and most of all loving.  

As we reflect and remember all the blessing in our lives please enjoy the best gift of all  the gift of family and friends.  

Thank you for your blogging friendships.  Each of you are near and dear to my heart and I appreciate your gifting me with your friendships. 

Merry Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas Songs is Mary Did You Know? 

I could have chose numerous celebrities that sing this song beautifully but the two I chose just touched my heart. 

There is nothing like the angelic voices of a child.  Enjoy the two 12 year old angels that perform this so beautifully.   I wanted to share this as part of my Christmas Card to each of you. 
 Hope this up lifts your heart as we move closer to this special day.

Enjoy.

Kris

Did I tell you they are 12 years old?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JOY!

How is your shopping, wrapping and baking and spreading good cheer going as we head to Santa's big day.

My shopping is done, my gifts are wrapped and my baking done.  I feel so ahead of the game this year.

So yesterday no Bears Game so Terry and I took a drive to Geneva for a little lunch and I stopped in one of my fave shops in Geneva.

I wanted to show you what I got.

This sweet little Joy pillow that is made of old vintage necklace and jewelry pieces.  Loved this when I saw it.  So I have it with some of my other pillows on my chippy bench in the entry way.  I think I will keep it out even after Christmas to spread joy through the winter months.  Too pretty to put away RIGHT?!!!

It was a nice day to have to ourselves.  No malls or crazy shoppers and peeps forgetting what the season is really all about.    Just the two of us having a nice day in Geneva and wonderful quiet lunch together.  We stopped in at a few little shops.  It was a nice peaceful day in the midst of all the hustle and bustle.

Hope as we slide on down to Santa's big day and all the millions of things left to do you will find some moments or hopefully hours of peace and quiet to enjoy.

Have a great week.

Kris

:)