We Won't be Shaken!

• Today I am posting a link to a beautiful song 

  that I would like to dedicate to our men and women

  who serve our country.

  
  

  May we all continue to support and pray for our troops 

  and our Nation.

  
  

  Behind every uniform is a person with a family loving and waiting for them to return home.
  
  
  
  To hear the song, click on the link below.

  
  

  
  

  We Won't be Shaken

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Flippin' Awesome!

The other day I received the new Restoration Hardware book catalog.  Holy macaroni, I felt sorry for the mailman who had to carry it!  I live in a neighborhood where the mailman still walks house to house and delivers right to my door.  I love it.  I cant imagine what a hard job that must be. It's great exercise...I mean, you never see a fat mailman. They walk, walk, walk all day ... everyday. I'm tired just thinking about it, then add that massive catalog to the bag...I wonder if any of my neighbors had one delivered the same day. He might have had like 4 in his sack! Whew.

Ok, bringing it back, focus...  As I was saying, I got the magazine and while browsing through it for ideas, I noticed that the rooms I was drawn to had neutral rugs. Sisal or cotton or wool. But all in solid neutral.

We bought the living room rug about 4 years ago from Overstock.com. It's a wool rug, and wasn't cheapy, but wasn't expensive either.  I've been real happy with the purchases made from them. Including 4 mattresses. Yes, Four. We have a lot of beds. And shipping is only $2.95 on EVERYTHING!

Here is the rug in my living room. Please forgive the tired sofa, it gets a lot of love:)

Its a beautiful rug, but has more gold than I would like these days. 

Its a perfect rug for the winter. It's warm colors hide dirt really well. I thought about switching it with the sisal/cotton rug from my room. It has soft green cotton woven in with the sisal (also bought on overstock!)  Then, today as I was vacuuming,  the corner of the rug flipped up...and I got inspired!  I grabbed that corner, pulled her back farther and said "Heelllllo beautiful!".

See that texture!  And amazingly there are no stains on the entire thing. There is a little

hole...from when I staple gunned the rug to the floor...but I hid it under the couch along with the manufacture tag.  It took some blood, sweat, and tears to flip that sucker!  In the process, I unearthed another animals worth of hair from under the couch. It's a good idea to flip your rug, just to clean under your sofa.  The neutral color is a breath of fresh air. Hopefully it will stay clean. My husband may think I've lost my marbles, but that's nothing new.  I had him at the drawer hanging on the wall in 1988. It made a great shelf, what can I say.  You can pull the girl from the thrift store, but you cant get the thrift from the girl!

So, what do you think? 

The dark green walls seem to suck all the light out of the room. It was a gorgeous sunny day and much brighter than it appears. We plan to paint the living room a lighter color this Summer. My Pintrest board is full of lighter inspiration.  Don't you love discovering new creative blogs while searching Pintrest. A nice bonus!

Once I saw the change from the rug,  I became excited about bringing Spring inside.  Spring is just now showing its face in our corner of the world. And I love it. I opened the doors and let the sunshine in.  I tinkered around outside today, too, soaking up the rays.  My neighbor has several Camillia bushes, and they have been blooming in succession.  They are so beautiful. I have been cutting flowers (they hang over the fence) twice a week for a month now. 

When I emptied out my antique booth last month I kept several old wood doors to use around here.  My favorite is this one.

I brought it into the living room and set it against the wall by the piano. I don't know if I will keep it there, but its fun for now.  I'm making a folding screen out of the other doors to use on the back patio. I can't wait to show you when it's finished.

Well, tomorrow I am going to the Apple store to get my laptop fixed. YAY !! Hopefully it's a simple fix.  Have a happy SPRING weekend everyone.

xoxoxo

Jodi

Who determines your success??

Its been almost exactly one year since I decided to start this blog.  I named it "Fresh Vintage Home" with the intention of starting up another home staging and re-design business. Realizing it was more than I wanted to take on alone, I decided to just do what has come naturally my whole life....find "junk", make it cute, get creative and decorate with it.  With the help of my husband, we started the booth, and worked towards my "vision".

After several months of spending a few dollars here, a few there...on a lot of things... it started adding up to more money than I wanted to spend, to more stuff than I could find room to store in my little house, and not enough time or work space to get it done. The atmosphere of the antique mall wasn't as youthful and inviting as I'd envisioned, and business was slow.  Soon came the realization that something had to change.  I still have a creative desire, that will never change, but my path is shifting once again.

The end of this month marks the closing of the booth (so get over there and make an offer on whatever you like!!)  Honestly, I feel a little bit of relief.  Although, I have to admit I could hear the negative voices telling me I had failed.  That I'm not smart enough, young enough, good enough.  That, after 25 years,  why have I not found a career or made "something" of myself.  After all, I look at others who have had great success making a life of the same passions.

Then, I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror.  WHO decides what success looks like?  WHO knows my life and my heart and created the desires within?  Its not the world, its not family members, its not even me!  Its Jesus, my Creator, my Hope, my Joy...my God!  He showed me what success looks like for ME. A happy marriage (not perfect, thank goodness, because trials have made us grow stronger!), meaningful and deep friendships, wonderful children who love each other and are kind. The ability to be a stay home mom for years while my husband spent months at sea. A home to nurture and clean (yes, even cleaning is a blessing), pets, and the time and energy needed to help friends and family during difficult seasons.  I am successful! I am grateful for finally defining success as God intended. 

Every day is a new opportunity to grow and learn and experience life completely. Some of those days are not glamorous or even very productive.  God knows us deep within.  Our hurts, our passions, our sense of humor and our nature.  You ARE ALWAYS where you are supposed to be...because God knows what you need, and when you need it. He is teaching us to be humble, strong, smart, content, and trusting among so many other things. Breathe it in, soak it up, look in the mirror and remind yourself!!

I forgot that I loved to write.  As a child and teenager, I LOVED to write.  Blogging has reminded me of this voice inside. We are still working hard on our little house, and I want to continue to share those changes with  you.  But there is so much more to me, as there is to each and every one of you.  A lifetime of stories and experiences that makes us who we are.   I truly don't know where this is going, but Im just going with it one step at a time.  I hope you will continue to visit, I would sure miss you if you didn't!

xoxoxo

Jodi

UPDATE:  As I tried to share this link on my Facebook page it gave me a message that I'd been reported as spam or something like that. Not nice, right?  I was able to link the post on my Fresh Vintage Home facebook page, however.  I apologize if this creates a problem if you try to share the blog.  Let me know if it works for you. Im working on it at this end:)

Faith & Joy Cottage

Although not an "official" name for my 

dear friends beautiful
HOME,

(located on Whidbey Island)

This cozy cottage is
a loving reflection of both
  Faith and Joy.

A few years ago,
after a season of heart breaking life events,

my dear friends started looking

for a new place to call home.

Knowing a house is just a building
 and not capable of filling

the loss they felt in their hearts,

they prayed for God to lead them to

a HOME. 

Somewhere to grow, live, love and heal as a family.

Shannon and I looked at many homes

together while her husband was at work.

Some houses were REALLY bad..
 and we found ourselves 

humming 'The Brady Bunch' theme song...

surrounded by total flashbacks of groovy decor.

We laughed hysterically and often
 during the process... So much so...

that her real estate agent started asking if I could come along 

for the entertainment. 

(Really! He DID!)

ANYHOW...

One day she invited me along to look at this house.

It took our breath away the moment we pulled into the long grassy/dirt

driveway.

Rear of house. Wood under tarp.

As we walked through the house

we squeezed hands and jumped up and down

like 4th grade girls at recess.

"Would God really give us THIS house"
 she asked.

"YES!!!"

of course He would,
I answered.

This was the dining room, but we switched the dining and living room
over the weekend. Pictures don't do justice
to the warmth in the room!

Dining Room with fireplace and HUGE mantel. 

The ceilings are at least 10 feet high!

This is a family home!

An old house that had been fully and lovingly restored

 by another family that

had to move due to a job change.

Looking down the center hallway from the living/dining area.
The office is on the right and kitchen to the left.
There is an adorable half bath on the left,
and the most charming phone station in the hallway!

Office sitting area behind french doors.  Tin ceiling, lovely bay window,
and space for 2 desks (not shown)!

Phone nook. See the phonebook storage under the phone?
The woodwork, and details all over make
my heart pitter patter!

This was hard to capture. But the original beaded board is
washed in a blue paint. The old door is fashionably
chippy with a glass doorknob!

The Kitchen is where we nearly
passed out with excitement.
See, my precious friend is an AMAZING baker.
She makes THE most moist, rich
chocolate cake from scratch.  AND her
filled cupcakes are Joyful
(heart)

Sorry about the glare! Do you see the old windows built into
the wall between the kitchen and breakfast nook?
This room is filled with sunshine all day long.
The door to the left goes into the dining room near the fireplace.

That amazing island is a table we found while out hitting garage
sales one day. It totally belongs in here!  She has a little
stool under it that is perfect for her daughter or son
to help in the kitchen.
I forgot to get a picture of the breakfast area.
Just to the left of the black table is a breakfast "station"
It has a coffee pot, beverages, instant hot faucet and sink.
All decked out with antique kitchen cabinets. LOVE!
I cant believe I forgot...its my favorite!

looking outside from the tv/family room

One of TWO staircases to the upstairs. Don't you love the
rope railing and the picture wall?

Lets head around the staircase into the Master Bedroom!

I am in love with the color in here!

The vanity is made from a antique sewing table!
She painted it the same as the bedroom walls...
But the real star is the TUB.

SEE for yourself!!!!!

This thing is like 8 ft long! One time I stayed at their house while
they were gone and I had the luxury of using
this baby.
I felt some jealousy while soaking here...
gotta admit it!!!

Let's head up those stairs, shall we?

The entire upstairs is dedicated to the kids!
Craft "bar" with stools looking over the fields and deer.
 (and a cozy guest room with my name on it)
ok, not literally, dang it

They are budding artists!

...and mommy's to sweet baby dolls....
(I totally missed her room!  It is very sweet with spots of
purple.  She is a ballerina, artist, and aspiring princess.

...and race car drivers...he was racing hotwheels...
but I missed the body??
Sorry buddy! This little guy has football on the
brain!  His daddy is a coach and teacher. They were throwing
passes down the loooong hallway while I was there.

More Art! The art is clipped on a wire that is strung on the wall.
The windows are actually old windows that "look out" into the stairwell.
this allows daylight in during the day, and
the lighted fixtures to glow in at night. Smart, huh?!!

Extra bed in the hallway wall!
This is where I got the idea for the one in my house.
So stinking cute, and great use of space!

This room is soooo cute, but my skills to capture it stink!
Her son has a bed in his wall too, and a window seat
that looks over the fields behind the house.

Well, lets head back downstairs...
the OTHER staircase.
It takes us back to the front of the house
by the kitchen/dining room.

See!
ya ya I know....its blurry:(

Perfect size, perfect location, perfect timing...

I hope you enjoyed the home tour.

My friends have felt much healing here.

 Faith and Joy

 and
love for Jesus

 overflow.

You feel Him when you enter,

and He is with you as you leave.

Without Jesus

this HOME would also be...
 just a house.

Blessings to you

xoxoxo

Jodi