At Home in Winter

I so enjoy getting back into the kitchen in January after the craziness of the holidays is over and there is more time for the simple things - like cooking and spending time with my kids. It's refreshing not to have quite as much clutter around that all the holiday decor brings with it. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but I am also a bit relieved to pack it all away and begin with a blank slate. 

I'm always happy to see my pot rack return. I love the warmth the copper adds to my kitchen and how it works so well with the color of the island (Oval Room Blue by Farrow and Ball). I also miss how well it functions - I keep things like the colander and cheese grater right above where I use it. Maybe next Christmas I will leave the pot rack up for a change. It's always hard to imagine what next Christmas will bring or how I will ever find the energy to come up with new ideas and yet somehow Christmas rolls around again and I do. 

               

I usually keep our microwave on the white cart that you see in the bottom left corner of the photo above, but to change things up, I put it back on the counter and am using the cart for kitchen storage. I am forever moving the microwave around! There is no good place for it, except built in somewhere and that wasn't as common of a practice when we designed this kitchen close to 13 years ago. The microwave used to be over the range, then moved to a shelf and finally onto this cart. I did see Billy measuring and pondering a way to retro-fit it into the island so stay tuned. Fingers crossed he figures out a way - he almost always does when it comes to projects like these.

 

 

I found these adorable bird sponges on Amazon and they made me smile even on some of those devastating news days that we all experienced this month. They remind me of Emily Dickinson's poignant words - Hope is the thing with feather, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops, at all...

I am happy to live with a lot less color this time of year but I am already thinking about adding some red in soon for Valentine's Day. After after all, it's just about February.

I still have our Christmas wreath from Costco hanging on the front door. I will take it down as soon as it starts to dry out but it always seems to last much longer than the holiday season.

Finally, here's a look at the living room area that is open to our kitchen. I kept the southing blues in here for winter with a small pop of red from the winter barn picture and flowers.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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New Year & Winter Kitchen

Hello friends! I hope your new year is off to a great start. I put away all the holiday decor and, while I was at it, organized all of the storage areas in our basement. I purged a bunch of stuff and am feeling much more ready to begin the new year. We also packed away my mom's Christmas stuff AND at the cabin. Phew, I am SO glad the holidays are over!

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Winter Decor

Hello! I am emerging back into the world after a bout of the flu that passed through 3 out of 5 of us in the last couple of weeks. The shift in perspective always amazes me when illness strikes. It causes me to take pause and be thankful for my family's health in a new way, if only for a short time. I never want to take it for granted and, as horrible as it is being sick, I am grateful for the reminder.

I have been adding some cozy layers to our home for winter. I spent countless hours on the sectional in our family room. As soon as I was well enough, I took all the slipcovers off and gave them a good washing. I remain a huge fan of slipcovered furniture for that very reason.

I spent a lot of time with Netflix while I was sick. Have you seen "The Staircase"? I think it's been out for a while, but I watched the whole thing over the course of a couple of days and I am still left wondering if he did it. If you've seen it, what do you think? I also read a couple of books. I loved One Day in December and I am currently finishing Kitchen Yarns. There's nothing quite like a warm fire and a good book in January.

We are considering a new project for a long wall in our family room. I spend way too much time perusing home tours on Zillow of charming New England homes. One of the elements that many of those homes have is bookshelves, lots and lots of bookshelves. I always think that homes filled with shelves of books house the most interesting people, don't you? 

I tried a new arrangement for the furniture in our family room after the holidays and I dare say it is my favorite yet. The corner fireplace can be tricky, but I angled the sectional towards the fireplace with our Pottery Barn console behind, and it added instant coziness for the winter.

One more change I am considering is retiring the big wall unit that currently houses our tv. For now, it's separated from the bookshelf pieces, but I am on the hunt for a new piece to put the television on. I'm hoping to find some sort of interesting piece - maybe a card catalog or apothecary cabinet? - so I am not rushing into it.

Do you have any home projects planned for the new year?

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Late Winter Reading (& A Few Changes to Cozy Up Our Cozy Family Room)

Hello! Today I am finally sharing some pictures of our updated family room. Winter has definitely overstayed its welcome here in NJ and we are expecting even more snow this week despite the official start of Spring on the calendar. I have been trying to combat that by embracing the cozy and making use of this quieter season to read and slow down.

We did a complete a couple of small projects in the family room recently. The walls were in desperate need of an update so we painted them, using Behr paint in the color Sculpted Clay. It's a beautiful fresh and neutral color and makes the space feel cleaner and brighter.

We also added the new sectional that I talked about in this post. The seat is the perfect depth for nap taking, tv binging and reading. Speaking of television, I finally watched The Handmaid's Tale this winter and it was definitely worthy of all the hype. I am currently in the middle of an older TV series - Everwood - and enjoying it.

I have a stack of fiction waiting for me on my bedside table, but it seems I kept reaching for non-fiction this winter. I guess you could I say I am digging deeper for more meaning this season. Just a few months into 2018, we have witnessed close friends deal with death too soon and devastating illness. Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan, a sort of manual for maintaining meaningful relationships in our lives, was thought-provoking and funny. I can totally relate to her struggles and pure joy at raising teenagers. Have you seen this video of hers? Which lead me back to Glitter and Glue,  one of her previous works that I somehow missed. The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs was a more difficult read because of the subject matter - death and living. 38 years old and a mother of 2 young boys, Nina writes about the end of her life in such a relatable and profound way. It's a reminder to enjoy the everyday like no other. That this it - this is the great adventure. Can't we all use that? That book will certainly stay with me for a long time and I highly recommend it.

So now I hope you tell me more about how you are doing this season? I would love to hear what about what you are reading and watching. :)

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DIY Fire Starters for Valentine's Day

Hello! Today I am back with an idea for an easy Valentine's Day project. I'm excited to be participating in a Heartfelt and Handmade Valentine's Day blog hop hosted by Jennifer at Town and Country Living to bring you lots of great ideas for a thoughtful and creative day.

When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of a quiet night at home. A rushed dinner in a crowded restaurant is not our idea of fun so we will save dining out for a different night. A home cooked meal by the fire is our activity of choice at this time of year.

These little fire starters were a fun and quick activity that we have been using in our home this winter. When the weather outside is cold, there is nothing like a wood burning fire to cozy up a home. There is almost always a fire burning in our house in the winter. These little fire starters make starting a fire a breeze and they also add some great fragrance too!

So let's get started. To make these, you will need a few items that can easily be purchased at your nearest craft store. I used:

1. Soy Wax
2. Baking Cups (burnable)
3. Candle wick
4. Fragrance (I used pine scent)
5. Burnable Items that also smell good (I used pinecones from my yard, cinnamon sticks and rosemary)

I melted the soy wax in our microwave in a disposable container to save time on clean-up.

Then I simply poured the wax into the baking cups in an old cupcake pan. Once the wax begins to set up after a couple of minutes, I added the cut wicks (2 per cup) and the rest of the kindling items.

They look great and smell even better.  

The perfect item for a night in with my favorite guy to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Be sure to check out the other homemade ideas to make your Valentine's Day special!

MONDAY

Town and Country Living† |† Finding Silver Pennies† |† Duke Manor Farm† |† Maison de Pax† |† Shabbyfufu

Making It in the Mountains† |† Tidbits† |† Taryn Whitaker† |† House by Hoff† |† Clean and Scentsible

TUESDAY

So Much Better with Age† |† The Happy Housie† |† Shabby Art Boutique† |† Paint Me Pink† |† VinYet Etc.

Unskinny Boppy† |† Sincerely Marie Designs† |† A Burst of Beautiful† |† The Wicker House† |† Zevy Joy

WEDNESDAY

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia† |† In My Own Style† |† Golden Boys and Me† |† Seeking Lavender Lane

On Sutton Place† |† Happy Happy Nester† |† The Chronicles of Home† |††Craftberry Bush

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Winter Living Room & Kitchen

After all of the color and clutter of the holidays, I always find myself enjoying keeping things neutral for the winter months. Everything feels fresh and cozy for hibernating season.

I decided to flip flop our living and dining rooms. Again. I get bored with furniture arrangements and sometimes it isn't necessarily about what works better, but just changing things up! I also got out my wide angle lens for the photos in this post so I could share more of what the space looks like as a whole.

We installed the DIY pot rack shortly before decorating for the holidays, so it is fun having that new item to style. I have some gift cards from Christmas that I plan to use on copper pots to add to the pot rack.

I am considering a new location for our DIY baking company sign. The lantern chandelier in this location blocks it a bit here.

The pot rack started as a more decorative item, but I have to say it has proven to be very useful. I keep items like our colander, grater and measuring spoons just above the island and I don't have to dig through any drawers to find what I need.

Somehow, this fiddle leaf fig is still alive and growing. When I decorated for fall, I relegated it to my son's room because he was away at college. I *think* he may have watered it a time or two when he came home. And other than a few brown edges on the leaves, it is going strong. So if you're like me and don't gave much of a green thumb, you might want to try your hand at one of these.

Thanks for stopping by today! We have been enjoying some warmer temperatures and I am getting very excited for spring, even though it is still pretty far out. In the meantime, I will try to embrace the comforts of this quieter season.

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