Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Karen from Somewhat Quirky Design

 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.

This week it is my pleasure to introduce you to Karen from Somewhat Quirky Design blog.

Karen has a great sense of humor and tells it like it is.  That is what I love about her blog. What you see is what you get with Karen.  She keeps it real.  Now that I have asked her to do Spotlight I found out something I did not know about her.  She is from MIchigan right near where I grew up.  So see the fun things we learn about each other through this feature.

Grab your favorite beverage and enjoy reading and getting to know Karen.  Then hop over and introduce yourself to Karen if you do not already know her.  You will love her.

Hello!

I'm Karen and I blog at Somewhat Quirky Design.

Not that I'm quirky or anything.  And I'm not a designer.

But one or two people have said my home is quirky.

I can't attest to that, but it is a reflection of my love-hate relationship with my house and it's contents.

 


I live with a lot of things I love.

I love Mr. Quirky.

I love my cats.

I love a lot of my stuff.




 

I won't say that there are things I hate about my house, but there are a lot of things that I have to workaround and that I just try to make do about.

Like all of us do.

These are the things I blog about.

My house. The stuff I make. The places I visit. Things I think about. And cake. How's that for a niche?

 

But this little visit to Kris's Junk Chic Cottage is supposed to be about the life behind the blogger.  I'm supposed to tell you about the behind the scenes stuff.  The intriguing stuff.  Stuff that will make you love me. Hah!

 

So let's see . . .

I have 4 sisters.  Wonderful people. 

I have 2 adult children. Wonderful people. They were raised by a village and the village did good.

Mr. Quirky and I live in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. 

In my most recent life I developed and implemented health promotion programs for schools, companies, communities and hospitals.  I left all that glamor for the glamor of living a happy, quite frugal existence in my quaint little neighborhood, hanging out with women who either are stay at home moms, or are retired (you know, people who have a GOOD reason not to work).

I paint furniture and do custom painting for clients to make a little money here and there.

The turn-around time on most of my home projects is about 2 years. I have at least 4,571 projects going at once. Can you say project ADHD?

Some things I love: vintage juicers, architectural salvage, hydrangeas, making anything, pretty music, trees in bloom, walking outdoors, looking in peoples windows, barn sales, other peoples junk, puzzles, wine, Jimmy Fallon, John Stewart, Karen Carpenter, and CAKE.

Some things I don't like so much: the tile floor in my kitchen, the sink in my kitchen, the faucet in my kitchen, most new stuff, big stereo speakers, hard rock, toilets that don't flush, grey skies, my hip when it hurts, weeds in people's gardens, shopping for more than one hour, and insomnia.

A few other things that might fascinate you about me:

First job (after age 16) - TG&Y - remember that?
My favorite quote - When the world shakes you up and spills you out - what comes out is what you're full of.
Favorite place to travel in the US - San Fransisco with a swing up to Napa and Sonoma Valley (and anywhere else that makes wine)
I've never owned a new couch.
I've lived about 10 miles from Canada for 7 years now and yet I've never gone.
My winter mantle is still up - glaring at me as I write this.
I love to sing. But I'm not so good at it anymore.
I watch a little too much television.
Books are important to me.
I used to dress up a lot.
I wear ugly slippers.

And last but certainly not least . . .

Actually the most important thing of all . . .

I've chosen this platform to make this rather HUGE announcement . . .

I'm leaving town, Mr. Quirky, Sammy and Sidney (the cats) for one whole month . . . 

To do something that I've never done before . . . 

And I'm so excited . . . 




 

So blessed . . .

So very happy . . .

to be going to Oklahoma . . .

to be there, wait for it . . . . . . . . . for the BIRTH OF MY GRANDSON!

I'm a granny!

So there.

Whoo-hoo!

Thanks so much for listening, guys! It's been fun chatting.

I'm off to pack now.

Make some wonderful things while I'm gone and I hope you'll come visit me soon.

There will be cake. 

I'll show you that baby!


Karen

Thank you Karen for sharing yourself with all of us this week in Spotlight. We all will look froward to seeing that new bundle of grand love!!!!!

 I want to take a minute to say thank you for all the email hugs and prayers sent to me this week as I have been recovering from my surgery.  I am slowly but surely coming to a better place of health.

Hoping this week to start to getting back to visiting all of you and seeing what you are up too.

I just still cannot sit for long periods of time at my computer so slow but sure I will get to visiting you soon.  Have a great week.

Kris

:)

Spring Awaking Garden

Happy Sunday.  I am recovering from my surgery and doing great.  Hope to be back to my old self again soon.

Before I went into the Hospital last Wednesday I decided to take some pics of my spring garden waking up and  some Spring decor added to the porch.

I brought out my wren bird house for a little decor on the porch and added a nest and some faux flowers with the vintage garden sign.  That clever Terry took some pieces of chalk board and put it behind the wholes in the house so the birds could not get in there.  Otherwise I would have birds dive bombing everyone that comes and goes.  Just wanted this house this year for decor on the porch.

This is the nice faux spring flower arrangement my good friend gave me back before Easter.  Love it on my yellow front door.

The daffodils are finally popping open and the perennials are beginning to come to the surface of the garden beds.  It is good to see the brown flower beds start to show green life popping up.
  Love the
 pops of bright yellow the daffodils give to the front yard.

My cherub bird bath I use as a feeder in the winter and spring.  Birds look for food more than water in these seasons.  I will fill it with water when I do my May planting of flowers in the garden.  The Robin's love to play in the water.

Daffodils are signs of hope and renewal  so I am so happy to see so many pop up in the yard.

I planted some pansy's I got from the garden center in this old drawer made into a flower box on my cottage nest door.  They are good for the spring weather until it is time to plant summer annuals. 

My little design assistant wanted to photo bomb.  She is squinty eyed with the sun.  I am on the hunt for a cute new rug for in front of the door.

This is a "true basset hound face" right here.  The I really don't care look unless of course someone says TREAT!!!!
Here in Chicago land we are starting to hold onto Spring and get some good temps.  The trees and plants are beginning to spring up from their long winter sleep.
Hope you are seeing Spring where you are.
Love these 70 and sunny days.
Kris
:)

Spotlight ???????????

Good Saturday Morning.

With being out of commission this week I will not have a Spotlight this week.  Spotlight will resume next Saturday.

I will leave you with this........

 Sooooo true for this week....

  Thanks for all your sweet wishes and prayers for my recovery.

Kris 

Taking a Time Out

Good Morning.  Happy Sunday.

I will be taking a short time out this week.  I am having some surgery and will be out of commission for a few weeks.  Nothing serious just necessary.  I appreciate prayers and healing wishes for the next few weeks.

I will be back to blogging again when I am feeling better.  

Kris

:)

Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Diana from Adirondack Girl @ Heart 

 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.

This week I am excited to introduce you to a very talented blogger Diana from Adirondack Girl @ Heart.  Diana has a wonderful way with vintage finds.  You will love her posts on her weekly vintage finds and she also introduces us to wonderful vintage bloggers each week too.  Enjoy getting to know Diana a little better.

Hi everyone! What a special treat to be asked by Kris to tell you a little bit about myself and my blog, Adirondack Girl @ Heart. Shall I start at the beginning?

I'm the eldest of five children, and we grew up in the town of Peru, on the edge of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York. My grandmother and cousins lived in a tiny town called North Creek, at the center of the mountains, and I spent a lot of time there, hiking, bottle digging, skiing, picking wild flowers, and camping. The bottle digging is probably where my addiction to the "thrill of the hunt" first developed. The name of my blog is a tribute to my love for these mountains.

My last year of high school, a special teacher introduced me to a life of faith. She set me on a course that would guide and strengthen me through the years ahead. Knowing God and receiving his forgiveness have meant everything to me.

After college, I moved to Albany, New York to attend Law School, and then I worked for the Legislature on environmental issues for eight years. During my tenure, I had the opportunity to work on some important and innovative legislation, but my favorite was the Hudson River Valley Greenway. I "retired" in 1995 to marry my sweet husband, Bob, and shortly thereafter my son Dan (now 18) arrived, followed by my daughter Gracie (now 16). Interesting fact: we married on October 7th, Dan arrived March 7th, Grace on April 7th, and our house number is 7!

Shortly after we married, my girlfriend Robin encouraged me to get into the antiques business, as a way to make a few extra bucks. I'd grown up surrounded by antiques, so the love for old things was pretty deep in my bones. She took me under her wing, and before long I was selling at antique shows and in a nearby dealer shop. 

When we moved to England in 2009, I took a break from selling, but not from buying! In 2011, we came home and I had boxes and boxes of treasures in tow. During those two years, I shopped at antique shows, antique shops, auctions, open-air markets, and my very favorite, car-boot sales. The best thing about car boot sales, besides their incredibly low prices, is they are held in an open field or car park--it's one stop shopping. In fact, there's no such thing as a [private] garage or tag sale, only car boot sales. Above is the amazing c.1648 half-timbered home we lived in. We had a wonderfully blessed two years in England, making special life-long friends and travelling all over Europe.

A vintage market in the town of Chesterfield, England.

8th grade art class project--slave jugs

Upon arriving back in the States, we settled back home and I began teaching art one day a week at my daughter's middle-school and I slowed down on my antique/vintage buying.

A couple of years later, I was looking for an emotional and creative outlet. We were going through some difficult times in our family and I needed a healthy distraction. Believe it or not, that's what "drove" me to blogging, and I've not regretted it one day since. I wrote my first post in August 2013, and then opened my Etsy shop a few months later. I've met so many kind and encouraging people along the way, and have experienced tremendous personal growth in many areas of my life. I love blogging!

Adirondack Girl @ Heart has a distinctively vintage focus. My regular features include weekly "Vintage Finds" and a "Vintage Blog of the Week." Like many other bloggers, I also love crafting and decorating, but again, I try to put a vintage twist on my projects. Because I've a bit of a teacher inside me, I also love to write posts that provide good information about evaluating and caring for antiques. And sometimes I write "FaiTHoughts" about spiritual matters dear to my heart.

I just recently moved into a real "live" antique shop and so I write about my space every now again, too (photo above). I expect I'll be writing about my vintage adventures for a while to come. Thanks for listening to my story; I hope you'll pop over to Adirondack Girl @ Heart and introduce yourself  to me some time soon--

Thank you Diana for letting us get to know you a little better.  Love the 7's being so lucky for you.

Have a wonderful week end everyone.  Please hop over to Diana wonderful blog and say Hi.

Kris

:)

Pottery Barn Meets Chippy Cottage

Here is my long awaited change ups to my living room.

This is still a work in progress but I finally felt like I could take a few pics to show you how I made the leather sectional blend more with all my cottage and salvage pieces.

I am calling this room my Pottery Barn mingles with Chippy Cottage.

A few weeks back I was in a shop I love called Janeen's Home Decor in Geneva and I have always admired this beautiful oak display piece when I would come in the shop.  The day I was in the shop the girl that owns this piece was there and I asked if she would ever think of selling the piece.  To my surprise she said yes and after she told me this was an old church alter I fell even deeper in love.  I knew this beautiful piece of history would be a great way to display our TV and have it warm up the room with its lovely oak and beautiful carved features.

I
  The color of the oak alter helps the sectional blend better in the room too.

Terry was able to make two of my distressed wood bird cages into pendant lights on each side of the TV.  Bird cages by day and pretty pendant lighting at night.  I also have my old chippy half door back up and put my old framed out mirror for the top of the door and to reflect the chandelier.

This is the other chippy bird cage pendant light on the other side of the TV.

I am still looking for some fun decor for under the pendant lights on the  oak alter.  I also am thinking about getting some kind of salvage barn doors and putting them on a track from the ceiling for in front of the TV screen to cover it from site.  A work in progress.  I saw someone do that with an old headboard and it looked cool to cover up the TV while not watching it.  So I am hunting for something cool for this TV exposure!  Stay tuned!!

The pendant lights are on a dimmer so they are very nice at night to give us a soft light while watching TV.

My reading chair and an old chippy bench for a stool along with my old vintage window and another of my old bird houses hangs on the wall in this corner.

I left on the barn board planks on the leather sectional. I felt they tied the sectional in with the chippy cottage salvage pieces in the room.

I left up my old cottage shutters and arched window.  I hung an old vintage iron mail box on the window with some faux flowers.

My little distressed coffee table/ blanket chest.  I store all my throws in this little chest.  Brought in this chipped yellow watering can that had been left out in the garden all winter.  It was chipped to perfection!

Terry's comfy worn leather recliner next to a chippy ladder with all his remotes!  Every fireman needs a ladder Right?!!! He stores all his remotes on the ladder.  What is it about guys and having so many remotes!!!

Since my new entry re do was more on the line of pottery barn and my living room opens to the entry I think this decor gives a better flow to both areas.

My little design assistant likes the pottery barn chic for her bed too!!!!!  Funny how ever since I got rid of my white slipcovered sectional and got the leather one she does not like to go on the sectional anymore.  Likes her bed now!! I can't win.  I guess it was more fun to lounge when I had the white slipcovers for Libby than the leather.

I am still looking for a wonderful rug to anchor this room and pull it all together.  I am on the hunt!  Everything in this room redo I had except for the new Church Alter piece.  So it was fun to re hang and make the pendant bird cage lights for this room out of the salvage I had.

Now the room has some pottery barn and some chippy cottage.  I think I got the leather sectional to mingle finally with all my cottage decor. 

We lounge, snack and watch TV in this room.  My granddaughter loves her juice boxes and snacks on this sectional while watching her shows and Libby on occasion will hop up on this sectional too.  So it is all good the leather is easy maintenance.    I was happy to marry the very practical pottery barn sectional to some wonderful salvage that I love so much in my decor. 

Have a great week.
Kris
:)

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