Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself (Kris) Junk Chic Cottage wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

Saturday November 2nd

Sherry from Thrift My House

It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to Sherry from Thrift My House.  I have gotten to know Sherry in blogland and just love her style and her creative talent.  Sherry makes some of the cutest crafts especially her latest venture of making cute ornaments.   Please enjoy your Saturday morning beverage and read and learn more about this sweet  and talented blogger.

I'd like to thank Kris for inviting me to share a little more about me and my family.   

My name is Sherry and I have a blog called Thrift My House. 
It's mostly about crafts and home decor. 

I had a blast looking through old photos preparing for this blog post.
I can't believe how fast time flies!

Whew, can we all say LOOK at that permed 80's hair! And, is that a mullet my hubby is sporting? This photo was taken soon after my husband and I were married 26 years ago.

Here we are, a little older...a few more wrinkles 

AND less hair.

My life behind the blog revolves around caring for my husband 
and 4 children.

 My oldest children are Matt and Katie, Matt's in his 4th year of college and Katie is a senior in high school.

My younger two are Jessica and Jacob. Jessica is in the 6th grade and Jacob is in the 3rd grade. 

We are a Homeschooling family. I've been schooling children for 16 years now. Here is just one of my many school rooms. I used to keep it changed up from year to year. 

Now, we school all over the house. My oldest has school in her room, my 6th grader has school in my room, and I school my 3rd grader at the dining room table. I absolutely LOVE homeschooling. It's been great for our family.

We also have a huge garden. It keeps us very busy.

Meet a few of our beloved pets.

 (We have many, but here are just a few) 

Clarabelle is our Queen Cat. No dogs allowed around here. She simply wouldn't stand for it. Snowflake is one of our rabbits. Red and Big Boy are 2 of our pet chickens. (We have 50 more and most of them have names)

Back in the day, we used to raise whitetail deer. They make good pets. We love anything to do with the outdoors. My guys love to hunt and fish and we always eat or freeze what they bring home.

Because we also raise birds, we needed a pond. What we ended up with was a huge mud puddle. The kids liked it but it wasn't what we envisioned, so my husband did some research and...

Problem solved. Did you know that you can line a hole with plastic and fill it up with water? TIP- poke holes in the plastic or you will have a huge black bubble dome in your backyard. How do I know? And why didn't I take a picture of that?

After a few adjustments (poking holes in the plastic so air could escape) It turned out to be a beautiful pond, and years later, it's still full of water, fish and turtles.

Having lots of critters to care for has been good for homeschooling. We have lots of chores, plenty to keep kids busy. 

Here are some of our prettier birds.

Doves are definitely one of my favorites. I love the soft cooing sounds that they make.

This Lady Amherst Pheasant is a major show off. Talk about some pretty feathers! This bird is fun to watch.

I've been blogging for 2 years now. I've learned a lot about many different things all thanks to the many talented bloggers I follow.

My most popular blog post is one I did about chalkpainting. I chalkpainted this stool that I picked up for cheap. And that led me to paint my entire bedroom suite. Funny how that happens :)

While the guys are out hunting or fishing, you'll find us girls out thrift store shopping. We love looking for bargains and spending girl time together. It's one of our favorite things to do.

Blogging has inspired me to craft. It's therapy for me. I love to take something and change it up or make something out of nothing. 

Last year I started selling my projects on Etsy. I couldn't believe someone would want to buy something that I made. These are a few projects I blogged about and eventually sold.

This past year I challenged myself to make 12 ornaments a month so that I'd have new ornaments this coming Christmas. Without my blog, this would not have happened. My readers have held me accountable and I'm on track with this commitment.

So there you have it. Life behind this blogger is mostly about my family, taking care of my home, creating, and decorating in my spare time while being thrifty. 

Thank you so much for taking time to find out a little more about me. 
I hope you will visit Thrift My Househttp://www.thriftmyhouse.blogspot.com/.

Thanks Sherry for sharing your personal side.  I loved learning about you and your wonderful family.  Love the last picture of all of you together so sweet.  Now that you have gotten to know Sherry please hop over to Susan's Blog and learn about Dani from Frugal Ain't Cheap another sweet and talented blogger.

Fireman Room Junk Chic Cottage!

I have a special surprise I did for my hubby to share with all of you.

I think a lot of you that have been following me for this past year and a half in blogland and have gotten to know me, know I am married to a fantastic guy for 33 years.  He is a Fire Chief and lives in my white and chippy cottage world without any complaints.  He is always willing to jump in and help me achieve my decor changes.  I could not have Junk Chic Cottage without him.  I wanted to do something nice for this man that supports me and my love of white and chippy.  He needed a "man room" of his very own.  I needed to have a space in this house that says hey! "a great guy and fireman lives here".  So I changed up my small guest room into an office just for him.


I was able to go shopping at his work office for lot's of treasures to move home to the new place.

As you can see he has lot's to choose from in his work office.  He has been in the fire service for over 35 years and has collected so many treasures.

Sorry these pictures are not the best I took them from my cell phone while at his work office.

Ok I think you get the idea he has a lot of great things for me to pick and choose from in his office.

This is my old small guest room before picture.

This is the new "man room" made just for the hubby.
We painted the walls the same light grey as I did on the Master Bedroom and then used a darker grey for the crown molding in the room.

I left up one of the twin beds so I would have the extra sleeping for when I have guests at the holidays.  I used black and grey bedding with red fire department pillows.

I hung up one of his shadow boxes filled with fire items and hung his vintage fire department signs.  We still need to find a few more old vintage signs that he loves to collect for some of the open spaces on this wall.

Got him a new comfy leather office chair.  I had to laugh because we went together to Staples to pick out his  chair and desk and the chair and desk both were from the Martha Stewart Collection!!!! Shhhhh don't tell him but I think I am rubbing off on him.

On this wall I hung some book shelves and some of his collectibles.

This is an old vintage fire bucket that Terry got at a Fireman Flea Market.  Yep! they have a flea market once a year  just with fire department stuff!  So I hung the vintage fire bucket with his vintage fire extinguisher sign.

This antique Fire Alarm Call Box is one of his favorite possessions.  He got this old box at a flea market and then restored it  and mounted it on this old fire post and Terry made the base out of diamond plate.

He searched for a long time to find a collector selling the eagle top finial that always was on these old alarm boxes. This Alarm Box also had the original keys to the box.  It was a great score and I think he did a great job fixing this beauty up.

This is a shadow box made up of all his badges from the different ranks he has been in the fire service.

I made up this wall with all his leather shields that he has worn on his helmut throughout the years.  He started as a firefighter/paramedic and rose up through the ranks, Lt.,  Captain, Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief and now Chief.

I went to Hobby Lobby and got wooden letters to spell out the words and spray painted them black.

My Hero

There you have it the reveal of the new "fireman room" I made this past week end for the hubby.  He is not only an angel in my life but in the lives of others.  He has given his whole life to the fire service and saving and protecting others.  He it truly my hero and I was so excited to do this room for him.  Terry  jumped right in with painting etc. and the layout so it was fun working on this together.

Thanks for coming by
Kris
:)

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Repurposed Vintage Dresser

Just a quick post on a little dresser I had in a guest room that needed some updating and new purpose.

This dresser was blue and I used Annie Sloan Pure White to paint it.

This dresser did not have any knobs so I found some old door knobs in one of my storage bins and decided to bling this girl up.

She needed some character knobs to go along with her vintage body.

While digging in the storage closet for the knobs I came across these sweet little white ruffle drapes.  I forgot I had these.  So I only had two panels and thought hmmm where could I hang those.  Office window was perfect.

The way the light comes in this window it is hard to get a picture without glare but they are soft white and give some whimsy to my office.  They are definitely me.

There you have it.  This vintage dresser repurposed for storage in my office.
Have a great week.


Kris
:)

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Spotlight The Real Life Behind The Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself (Kris) Junk Chic Cottage wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

Saturday October 26

Marty: A Stroll Thru Life

I am so excited to introduce you to Marty from A Stroll Thru Life.  Marty did not think she was interesting enough for us to learn about her!!!! REALLY!!!!  Marty is one of the most interesting and talented bloggers out here in Blogland.  She is a DIY Queen, her styling is amazing and she hosts a beautiful linky party each week on her blog that I have to admit I am slightly addicted too!!!!
So sit back and enjoy learning more about Marty and her special family and life.

Hi everyone, my name is Marty from A Stroll Thru Life.  When Kris asked me to be part of her Behind The Blogger series, I wasn't sure I had anything interesting to tell you about me.  I mean, really, I love to talk and I hardly ever am quiet, but public speaking and talking about myself is not something I am very comfortable doing.  I started my blog after meeting and joining a wonderful group of ladies that were sharing some of their home decor ideas.  It was so fun to see their pictures and hear how they were changing and decorating their homes.  I finally decided to push that scary "publish" button and join the fun, and I am having a ball.

My blog shares my love of diy projects, crafts, sewing and thrift shopping. I love changing my vignettes and am constantly making new pillows and creating a new color scheme.  My husband (Jim) says the only way he's sure he's in the right house is that his key opened the door. lol  He's such a fun and supportive person, and truly the love of my life.  We were married on June 9th, l984.

I had been a single mom for many years and he had been a single dad, both of us had raised our children and really hadn't thought about remarrying.  Isn't it funny how God has other plans.  I lived in Bend, Oregon for 18 years and that is where I raised my children, he lived in Los Angeles his entire life, so the chance of us meeting was slim.  After my children were out of college, moved away and on their on, I needed to reinvent myself, seems like no one needed a mom on a day to day basis.  So I sold everything, put all my stuff in storage and headed south, I wound up in Los Angeles and went to work for a major Home Improvement chain. I didn't know anyone so this was really an adventure.

Most people find it interesting that I was a buyer for Lumber and Building Materials.  This was a fun and interesting job.  I was able to travel and tour many major companies seeing how they milled their lumber, manufactured their products and meet so many intersting people.  All of these companies were hoping I would buy their products to put in our company's stores.  It was fun to be wined and dined and treated to the best as they were trying to impress me with their products.  It wasn't all play, there were many, many hours of constantly comparing products, their specs, guarantees, brand acceptance and price.  This is where I met Jim, he had the office next to mine and as they say the rest is history.  Three years later we were married.  He was 42 and I was 44 and a brand new grandmother.

This is part of our clan.  I have a daughter and two sons and he has two sons and between us we have 12 grandchildren and 1 great-grandson and another expected in November.  We have been truly blessed.

We love to travel and enjoy seeing the world.  We sold our motorhome a few years ago, however we really enjoyed our many trips all over the US and had a ball taking some of the grandchildren with us.  Fun times and memories.

Last year for our 28th Anniversary, we went to Hawaii.  We stayed at a fabulous resort and had a wonderful view of the ocean.

Of course I headed for the beach before we even unpacked.

We loved exploring every nook and cranny of Maui and enjoyed the old plantations and gardens.

The luau was especially fun too.

  After 29 years we still have tons to talk and laugh about and love spending time together and with our children.  He keeps busy as a Master Gardener giving talks and classes all over the area.  He also had a local TV program for a few years.  I do some volunteer work for a few seniors in our area.  I shop, clean or cook as needed to help them with their daily routines.  They have become good friends and I look forward to our visits.

As you well know if you follow my blog, most of my spare time I am busy changing or creating something new for our home.  One day a room might look like  this - - -

and the next day this.  Making new pillows and swapping out accessories is my favorite pass time, or ----

I might be totally redoing a room from top to bottom like my latest project, the guest bathroom.  You can see that entire post here.

I love to visit all of you on your blogs and get inspiration from all of the links on my weekly party Inspire Me Tuesday.  I hope you will follow along with me and join all the fun.  Thanks for letting me share a little about myself.  I would love for you to follow me on A Stroll Thru Life.  Hugs, Marty.

Thank you Marty for sharing your beautiful life, beautiful family pictures and your gorgeous home with us.  I loved learning more about you.

Now you can jump over to Susan's blog and read about Sherry from No Minimalist Here.
Have a Wonderful Saturday
Kris :)

A Chair with My Name on It!

Happy Thursday.  I wanted to share with you the chair I scored yesterday while out junkin with a friend.  We went to this cute little shop and I found a cute chair that had my name on it!!!!!!

This was the white slipcovered chair I found at Ikea.  She was sweet but while my friend and I were shopping at this cute shop I saw this beauty below.

Look at her lovely light grey fabric and her beautiful curves.  I am a nurse so the cross on this chair spoke to me too.

Look at her beautiful curved back and those wonderful vintage rivets.

Love her cute chippy legs.  They had so much character.

Well there she is.  I was not planning on finding a chair for the room but so happy she and I met yesterday at the cute little shop.  It was love at first sight.  The Ikea chair that I had in here is going back.  I just love this one so much better.
Kris
:)