Where Bloggers Create 6th Annual Blog Party on Creative Spaces.

I am joining the Party: Where Bloggers Create.  This is my first year and it is exciting to join in the fun and see all the other beautiful inspiration spaces out there.

Thank you Karen for hosting this fun event.

This is my creative space at Junk Chic Cottage.  I spent a lot of time in this small but wonderful space.

My office is at the back of my dining room.  This space use to be a closet and now it is my office space.  

We found old vintage french doors and porch posts to make this divider from the office and my dining room.

I have lots and lots of magazines that I do not part with.  This chest if filled and then I used these old wine bottle holders for more magazine storage.

This door actually is from an old Chicago Private I's office from the 1940's.  Love this old door behind my desk.

I find creative ways to store all my craft supplies.  These are wire baskets hung on an old curtain rod.

These old chippy cabinets came out of an old farmhouse tear down.  I love their chippiness and how much "out of site" storage I get from them.

Where ever I can get storage space in this small office I take advantage of.  This tiered lamp holds a lot of my ribbon and flowers.

Live Love Junk is my motto I live by :)

This is my creative space.  I love this little space I carved out for myself.  Thank you Karen for your fun party.  I was excited to join in.  Love all the inspiration and the creative fun places for this party.

Have a great start to the new week.
Kris
:)

Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself 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. 

July 12th

Deborah

From Green Willow Pond

Happy Saturday.  This week I am excited to introduce you to a very sweet blogger Deborah from Green Willow Pond.  Deborah and I share that we both were born and grew up in Michigan.  She unlike me has stayed a resident of the beautiful state of Michigan and has carved out a lovely life with a beautiful family there.  Please sit back and enjoying getting to know Deborah.

When Kris, at Junk Chic Cottage, asked me to share my story on Saturday Spotlight, I was excited and honored. I love Kris' style and the passion she shares on her blog, as well as her generosity in recognizing others. Thanks Kris for inviting me!

My name is Deborah from Green Willow Pond. I blog about my attempt to restore our old farmhouse little by little.  We have a long way to go, so I guess I'll be blogging about it for a long time!

I also love to craft and sew, paint and decorate, garden and whatever else I can figure out how to do.

I have lived in the same hometown  in northern Michigan, since third grade,where we get lots of this:

 I married my high school sweetheart almost 34 years ago.

We have three children, ages 24, 20 and 14.  This is the fam about 10 years ago.  

...and about two years ago.  I think it's time for an update!

My three children are the delight of my life.

 We also have two fur-babies, Tux (cat) and Lacey (dog).

I hold a degree in marketing, but chose to stay home and homeschool our children. That is a story in itself, but the short version is I felt led to do it, didn't want to at first, decided to try it anyway, and never looked back.

We love to camp and have adventures.  Here are the kids and I about six years ago while camping...

and the whole family getting ready to walk a rope bridge and slide a zip line in northern Michigan.

When I was a teenager, my dream was to open a store in an old barn, filled with beautiful home decor, with lots of little "rooms" within, full of vignettes and ideas for decorating.  That dream never happened, and now that I'm older I wouldn't want to be tied to store hours.

My decorating dreams took second fiddle to raising and schooling our three kids and all the activity that goes with it.  Most of the time my home looked like a library threw up in it...books and papers everywhere.  Kids sprawled on the couch, floor, or at the kitchen table doing their school work.

Science projects were right outside our door with 32 acres that includes a pond with large willow trees, hence the name Green Willow Pond.

I spent many years as co-cordinator of our local homeschool group, which met at our church for many years. I was a busy soccer mom, as well as driving to the kids to activities from dance classes, 4H, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts and many more. Besides that I was very involved in our church, serving in many roles from Sunday school teacher to Delegate and many more.  Currently I head up one of four refreshment teams that take turns setting up and cleaning up our weekly refreshments after church.  I also serve in the nursery once a month.

I started my blog a little over five years ago to record my journey of taking back our home after years of accumulation of stuff...kids stuff, homeschool stuff...and yes my stuff!  My decor was out of style and I wanted a fresh start.  I am still sputtering along with lots of starts and stops along the way, but it is slowly getting there.  One of these days I will feel like I can give a virtual tour of my home...but it's not ready for prime time yet!

Here are some of my favorite projects that I've shared at Green Willow Pond.

Now that my two oldest are in college, and doing very well, and my youngest is in high school (still at home), I have a little more free time, so I am working part time and also started an online Etsy store, which also goes by the name Green Willow Pond. So my dream of owning a store lives on, but in a different way.

Thank you again, Kris, for inviting me to share a little of my story here on your beautiful blog!

Now that you got to know Deborah a little bit better please hop over to Susan's blog and meet another wonderful blogger Kathleen from Charm Bracelet Diva.

Have a wonderful week end.

Kris

:)

Girlfriend Day

Hope the week is going good for all of you.

I am heading down to Indiana with a friend to the French Market at Horton's.  We went last year and it was a fabulous show.  Only about 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive.  Lot's of girlfriend time in the car to catch up.

My friend and I will leave Chicagoland bright and early tomorrow morning to get there when they open.

I am also hoping to see Susie from She Junks at this show.  Hoping to meet in person and say Hi.  Susie as most of you know lives in this sweet little town.
I am excited to have a girls junkin day tomorrow.

Hope to find lots of sweet treasures at the show and along the way.
Be sure to come back on Saturday for Spotlight.  Susan and I have two wonderful bloggers for you to get to know better.
Have a great Friday and great week end.
Kris
:)

Trial and Error Doors

Happy Wednesday!  Hope your week is starting out to be a great one.

These were my doors on my armoire.  I have glazed them, chalk painted them and stained them.  I just could not get the look I wanted with these stock doors that Mr. JCC used to make this beautiful armoire for me.

While I liked the stain over the chalk paint to give some warmth to this big piece.  I just did not like that the piece did not have much personality.

So I decided I would hunt the flea markets to see if I could find two old vintage doors with some personality to give this piece a wow factor.

I have not had any luck in finding two doors that would fit and do what I had envisioned.


I know shocker!!!! the door hoarder here could not find two doors to make this piece pretty LOL!

So plan B.  Always need a plan B.

I wanted the doors to be wood so I could get the antique feel of an old door and have the lines of the wood show through.

So back to the hardware store to look at doors that were solid wood.

So while strolling through the door aisle at Home Depot Terry and I found two solid pine doors that someone had custom ordered and never picked up.  They were then placed on clearance for $30.  SCORE!
Right size too.

So we brought them home and painted them with Annie Sloan pure white chalk paint and then took the mouse sander to them.

After painting the doors with white chalk paint and sanding them.  Mr. JCC then used a water base wood stain on them.

This was the look we got after he sanded the door when the stain dried.  The white came through but I still felt it was just a little too dark.

So then we tried putting a lighter stain over the door and it started to take on the lighter cream color I wanted.

Now we are getting somewhere.  After putting on the lighter stain colonial oak and sanding again we got the white and cream distressed look I was going for.

Now for some awesome knobs!

I had these old knobs so added them. I like that they are miss matched.  Gives a little bling and personality to the doors.

Terry added some trim pieces to the doors to frame them and give them some design.

I like that the trim gives some texture to the doors.

I like the new doors I am going for a soft distressed look.  Just waiting on my new slipcover to come for the sectional and then I will have the full reveal of the changes in the living room.
According to tracking it should be delivered today.

Hope your week is going good so far.
Kris
:)

Parties:
Before and After Wednesday

Summertime Funtime Relaxation Time

After a very busy week end of fun on the 4th and sharing a special day with Terry's Dad for his 80th birthday the week end was busy and fun.

Hope all of you are recouping after your fun activities this holiday week end. 

source/pinterest


I hope to have my living room reveal this
 week.  I have just a few little things to finish up.

Have a great start to the new week.
Kris
:)

Saturday Spotlight: LIfe Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself 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. 

July 4th

Bonnie from White Lace and Promises

aka Vintage girl 901

I would love to introduce you to Bonnie from White Lace And Promises.  Please enjoy reading about Bonnie and her beautiful family and life.  Enjoy.

I have been a follower of Junk Chic Cottage

since I started blogging. 

When Kris asked if she could Spotlight me, 

I was like, "Oh my!  Me??? You have got to be kidding."

I'm really just a simple girl who grew up

in a small railroad town in Georgia.

The train always stopped us on the way to school.

And the water tower was an eye-sore.

I was the daughter of a preacher man.

The oldest daughter

the second born,

 with a personality to match.

The biggest heartache was when our baby brother

was killed at the age of  five 

I married my childhood sweetheart

when I was 17 and he was 18.

In the 70's, you either went to college or got married.

I laughingly admit, 

We were too young to fall in love, 

as Dr. Hook sang, 

and I was too young to know.

This too-young relationship 

has lasted for 35 years and I'd it all again. 

We live in a small 1960's ranch style home

where we raised our children 

in the neighboring small town 

from where I grew up.

My front porch is simple a slab of concrete 

that gives me a reason to create.

I love all things vintage, rusty, crusty, shabby, or chiccy.
I love crates and wooden boxes, 

small, large or medium.

I like galvanized anything.  

Putting a pot in a bucket is about as close 

to a garden as I will ever get.

A couple of years ago, 

we remodeled our kitchen.

After 32 years of washing dishes by hand, 

I think I deserved a dishwasher, don't you?

Our home is a eclectic mix of 

Shabby Chic, Cottage, and Traditional styles.

The pink room

in the Shabby Chic style
is my favorite place to be. 

It is filled with all the things I love

and it makes me happy.

I try to make my space home.

I like to pretend that I have a mantle 

so I create vignettes atop the cabinet in my dining room.

Mr. H never knows when he comes home
what he's walking into.  

Autumn

A different look for every season 

Winter

and my sweet man never complains.

Spring

Easter

And sometimes just a little of this and that.

Seasons change, so why not, huh?

The large homes in our small town

are truly magnificent.

 This is what a walk around my neighborhood looks like.

While I truly enjoy the luxury of others,

Sherman's March to the Sea made us "historical."

I prefer my 1000 sq. ft. house.

It is home.

If you ask me who I am...
I am a simple, small town girl
who's in love with Jesus

and adores my family.

Before the Grands, they were GRAND!

These truly capture my heart.

I love to laugh,

I live on either one end of the spectrum-
ecstatically happy or down-in-the dumps sad.

I write openly about my depression in hopes
that it will help someone else.

I am most HAPPY, ALWAYS HAPPY,
when I am with my family.

My daughter is my best friend.

And my son is "my baby."
My daughter agrees.

I have a daughter-in-love
and a son-in-love
for which I prayed.

A couple of years ago,
we added one who has been the joy and delight of our heart.

He makes my heart sing

with laughter and joy.

My heart is full to overflowing as God has
added a precious little angel who has stolen our hearts.

Our Big Boy is a great BIG Brother
to his sissy.

The greatest desire and prayer of my heart right now
is for God to give my daughter and her sweet man
a baby.  The IVF process continues.

This is the place I call home for now.

The is the courthouse on the city square.

This is my church.

This is what I believe in-
Every day is White Lace and filled with Promise.

Thank you Bonnie for sharing the personal side of you and sharing your beautiful family with all of us.  If you do not know Bonnie then please hop over to visit her beautiful blog and then please hop over today  to Susan's blog and meet another really wonderful and talented blogger  Alaina from Arbor House Lane.

Have a great Saturday.

Kris

:)