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
:)

Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind The Blogger

Kim from Camp and Cottage Living

Hello Blogging Friends!

I am Kim and my blog is Camp and Cottage Living.

This week Kris has invited me to be her Saturday Spotlight guest.

Thank you, Kris!

I'm inspired here at Junk Chic Cottage and appreciate your invitation to be featured this week.

I first began blogging four years ago and I recall what a scary venture it was to me then. Now I can't imagine life without it. I have been blessed by the friendships and the comradeship that I have with many of my blogging buddies. You are like jewels to me ladies!

If I were to pick a theme for my blog, I would have to say it is all about Home and Travels.

I love everything about home. I am a self-confessed decorating addict; who enjoys sewing, re-purposing, and perpetually re-making my home. I think this comes from having moved so much! Whenever there was a new home, there was always the necessity to redecorate to make it our home.

Having been raised in the farmlands of the Mid-West, I grew up in a family that had huge gardens. My Mother canned everything. I was the youngest of seven children. I must have been a bit spoiled, because when I married I didn't know the first thing about housekeeping. I'm glad to say that I did catch on real fast though!

Tim, my high school sweetheart, and I have been married for over forty one years. We are blessed with three sons, one daughter, and now nine grandchildren.

Tim and I were married in Missouri, but moved and raised our children in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Then when our youngest son graduated we bought a business in my husbands homeland (Canada).

After the business was sold we bought a log home on Lake Superior and split our time between living there and working seasonally in The Yukon Territories.

 It is an amazing and beautiful place to experience.

We have since moved to a house that is located north of Lake Superior, where we are often entertained with black bear passing through our yard and moose sitings.

I do thank the Lord for the blessings He's given me and the grace that He bestows to me, one of His slow learners!

I don't think Kris wanted me to write a book about myself, so I'll stop here!

If you would like, pop over to Camp and Cottage Living to visit. I love meeting new (to me) bloggers! My latest venture there is an Etsy shop that I am filling with French and Country style tea towels that I've created.

Thanks again, Kris,  for the invite.

Blessings to all-Kim

Happy Saturday Everyone.  Thank you Kim for sharing yourself with all of us in Spotlight this week.
Please take time to head over to Kim's blog Camp and Cottage Living and introduce yourself and also visit her new Etsy Shop.
Have a great Week End.
Kris
:)





Re Love of Table and Chairs and Deck

Happy Sunday.  Hope the week end is going great for all of you.

I decided to go out and re do my outdoor deck the other day.  I wanted Terry to paint my table and chair set and I took everything off the deck to power wash and re arrange things.

My poor plants have taken a real beating this summer.  I had a lot of hanging geraniums and they love sun and heat and like it on the dry side.  Well our whole month of June was cooler temps and it rained almost every day.   I thought I would move them around and try to nurse them back.

Well that just started a whole thing!  I decided to take everything off the deck and power wash it and start to rearrange things as I put them back including the hanging baskets.

Normally these hanging geraniums would be to the ground and so lush and full.  With all the rain they are very thinned out and not growing much.

I moved my lounger back onto the deck first.

I moved it from the corner of the deck to under the potting shed sign.  I also hung back up a chandelier for night time. 

Most of you that know me know I love to take the unusual and put them into my garden.  I had this white vintage birdcage holder so I hung one of the ivy geraniums in it for a little whimsy.

I love my lounger for reading on a nice summer day.  

Ok you got a sneak peak at the newly painted table and chairs.

This was the set I got at Walmart for $89 which included the umbrella.  I love that this is a small table that seats four.  Terry got out his handy paint sprayer...

Here is the set painted white.  I love the lighter fresh look it gives to the deck.  Now I need some cute cushions.

Great for dining El Fresco.

This really shows the hanging  ivy geraniums so thin and scraggly.  They normally are very full and lush.  They just had too many days of rain last month.  So now that we are getting heat and sun I am hoping with some TLC I can get them back on track.

I planted one of my baskets down into this vintage fire place log holder.

Just another unusual use of something for my plants in the garden.  Love the chippy legs on this cast iron log holder.

All my baskets with petunia's are holding up pretty good to all the rain we had.  They love it hot and sunshine too but they can take the rain.

So just moving the plants around and rearranging and painting the furniture makes the deck feel brighter.

Have a wonderful start to the new week ahead.
Kris
:)

Parties:

Wow
Summer Favorites Sweet and Simple
What's It Wednesday
Shabbilicious Friday Party
Show and Share Tuesday