Just wanted to take a moment to wish a very merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate the holiday.
I’ll be making merry with family and friends this weekend and feeling grateful for all of the amazing people I have in my life, including all of you!
But I’m not gonna lie, I hope Santa brings some fun stuff to fill up my Christmas stocking too.
I have some great posts in store for you next week, so I hope you’ll check back.
But in the meantime, happy holidays to you!
When my friend Meggan, the master thrifter, mentioned that she was packaging all of her family Christmas gifts in vintage suitcases this year, I knew I had to share that with all of you here! So I asked her to pen another guest post for us (she has done a couple in the past as well). So with no further ado…
Happy December everyone! It’s definitely feeling like Christmas up here in the Minnesota tundra. Our thermometer reached 26 below last weekend. Ok, we get it, it’s winter. But, like Linda’s recent post on dreaming of a White Christmas, it does something to my psyche in readying for the holidays. Cozying up by the fire, making a hot toddy (my latest favorite is adding a splash of eggnog to my tea. FYI there is eggnog liqueur…you’re welcome) and enjoying the twinkly lights amidst the early darkness helps to create a festive ambiance. Over the past few years, I’ve made a concerted effort to lighten the load and simplify in all areas of life, but it has certainly applied to the holidays. My decorations have decreased by more than half, but I’m loving them twice as much because I’m only saving things that are sentimental or that which I truly love. Linda and I (and I’m guessing most of her readers) share a deep appreciation of vintage, so when she asked if I would contribute a post on how I incorporate it into my decor, I jumped at the chance.
In the spirit of simplifying and using what I have instead of purchasing packaging, I had the thought of putting my families gifts in vintage suitcases. Turns out, this may be my new “go to”. It’s so easy, I can’t believe I never thought of it before seeing how much I love them. Of course, this Christmas may go down as “that one year when all of our gifts smelled like old lady”, but I care not. I did my best by spraying them down with two different essential oils (lavender and purification for any fellow oil lovers) as well as placing baking soda inside to absorb scents.
Thrifty tip: If you buy a larger tree, you can cut the lower branches for urns. I just poured boiling water in my outdoor urns and we put our extra boughs there for a festive entrance.
I found the sled at Goodwill for a mere $7 after my 50% off coupon was applied. Alas, it’s not a true vintage Flexible Flyer, but I loved it nonetheless.
The turquoise suitcase was a curbside find and had a vintage clarinet inside. It came with the original luggage tag from American Trans Air, arriving in MSP.
Although I tend to favor older vintage cases, I liked the red and turquoise together. Plus, they were large enough to hold some of the items I will show later on in the post! Funny trivia, we have a metal roof which lends itself to avalanche-esque snow slides when it comes off. Only about 5 minutes after I finished taking photos, the entire front side of the house let go and everything was covered in about 6 inches of heavy snow. That was lucky!
As you walk in our front door, there is a hanger made from old tin ceilings. I just added some scrabble tiles and greens from the tree. For a more year-round idea, it’s fun to put your address numbers on in the same fashion and change the inserts with the seasons.
Whenever I see aged silver at garage sales or thrift stores, I pick it up. This small bowl was 50 cents and I use it all the time. I love the patina, so again with small greens, this sits on the barnwood mirror in our bathroom.
Continuing on with the silver, this beautiful vessel graces my office. I don’t do a lot of fussy decorating, a lot is just simple greens. I did put a small tree like this in our oldest boys’ room with the addition of the tiny LED fairy lights. They are battery powered and so easy to use. Target has them in their $3 section this year and I highly recommend them!
My Mom gave me this beautiful poinsettia tray as well as the milk glass shakers. She and I will often shop our local thrift stores for post Christmas sales. Last year, I found a set of 12 trays that are off-white with pinecones for a total of $4. They make beautiful gifts or if you’re like me, sometimes you just want to eat dinner in front of the TV and they work great for those lazy nights!
Sorry for the photo quality, but I wanted to share this vignette on my mantle. I love using old books throughout our home to add height, texture, or in this case color to a display. These faded red books added a charming vintage feel next to the mercury glass tree. The silver tree plays “White Christmas” which is my all time favorite holiday movie and is also a thrifty find.
More vintage french books to elevate this massive poinsettia. A dear friend of mine passed away last January. The last time I saw her, I admired her green lunchbox where she was storing her batteries. She insisted I take it (she knew my love of all things vintage and green). I declined, but really did want it :). She wouldn’t let me leave without it and I’m so glad she didn’t. I don’t physically have her with me anymore, but I will use this every year to hold my cards and have wonderful memories of our times together. She also insisted I take the plaid wool blanket that was in the photo with the tree in the silver bucket. It was in her trunk and I again complimented her quality choices for utilitarian pieces. It’s a good lesson. Use what you love and make your everyday beautiful. It really does make a difference. Also, share your gifts. Abundance comes back twofold with generosity.
I’m always using the vintage chalkboard in my kitchen. This time it was for a message from our elf named “Jack Smooth”. One boy wanted to name him “Jack” and his brother liked “Smooth”, so “Jack Smooth” it is 😉 Of course, if I had my act together, I would have a perfectly stenciled quote like Linda does. Hint hint Linda, your skills are welcome here anytime!
Since I showed you my suitcases, I thought you may like to see what made it inside of them. I often gift my family and friends vintage items. They are unique, one-of-a-kind gifts that are usually quite well made as well as economical. This vintage snowsuit was $2! We will be snowmobiling out to our cabin this winter and our oldest son is receiving this gift to help outfit him! He is 13 and all of a sudden had a huge growth spurt, so no shoes or skates fit him at all! These skates were a thrift score as well.
Our middle boy is the lucky one to get these extremely well-made snowshoes found on consignment. They are made in Wisconsin and came in at a small fraction of retail. But, my favorite is the vintage wool jacket from Bemidji Woolen Mills which for you non-residents, is in northern Minnesota. The business was created in 1920 and is still manufacturing quality products at http://www.bemidjiwoolenmills.com/ The “Paul Bunyan Jac” shirt I found for $10 can be purchased currently for $134.
This case holds hunting themed gifts for our oldest. He loves all things hunting/camo and rightfully so. He got his second deer this year, which is currently feeding our three boys in their lunch boxes. I can get behind a sport that contributes to the grocery budget! Again, since he grew out of all of his shoes, he gets a pair of hikers found at a thrift store for $6. The camo crocs I had to order online and I just know I will find some at Goodwill directly after Christmas (Murphy’s Law). Linda was with me when I found this camo thermos for $2. The other items are either thrift or clearance retail. I gather all year round when I see things I know they will like. It saves a ton in the long run. Sometimes I’m surprised at how little shopping I need to do around the holidays as it’s already in my cache 🙂
Our youngest son’s suitcase contains an adventure toy and a few clothing items. These toys with the open fronts have always been so difficult to wrap. A soft-sided suitcase was the perfect solution because it stretched to hold the awkward shape and no frustrating taping for me!
I would’ve loved to create vintage inspired luggage tags from scratch. However, simplicity. So, Michael’s craft store had some pre-made tags and although they aren’t necessarily travel themed, I added a three letter identifier like “MSP or LAX” for each boy. Henry: HRY, Sawyer: SWR, Sully: SLY. It’s really for me, isn’t it? 😉 Hahaha. I added their birth orders and birth weights in other sections to personalize.
They don’t quite fit under the tree, but I’m loving what they add in terms of style. More trivia: I placed these by the tree yesterday and as I sat with my hot toddy last night, the entire tree tipped over and came crashing down. Water and glass spilled everywhere so, thankfully, only the red case was under the tree and it’s hardsided!
Thanks to Linda for sharing her space here at Q and thank you for reading along! I wish you all an inspiring holiday surrounded by all that you love.
Cheers,
Meggan
Thanks so much for sharing your amazing ideas for a vintage Christmas with us Meggan! And to those of you at home, if you enjoyed Meggan’s post (and really, how could you not?) I hope you’ll take the time to leave a comment for her in appreciation. I know she’ll read and enjoy every single one!
Dreaming is no longer necessary, we are definitely having a white Christmas here in the Twin Cities. We received a lovely 6″ or so of snow last weekend and we might get some more on Friday. Fingers crossed.
However, when I took the original photos for this post we had barely a dusting of snow.
I didn’t do too much with outside decorations this year, but I did take a few minutes to add some spruce tops and evergreen branches to the planter outside my door.
Then I added some lights and some twig star ornaments that I found at Target.
The real star of the show though is this adorable vintage kid sized snow shovel.
I purchased it some time ago at a vintage sale and then added the stencil myself.
Shortly after I put it outside we got that 6″ snowfall that I mentioned. Apparently someone was listening!
Now you can barely even see that stencil. Which is just as well since obviously I no longer have to dream of a white Christmas, it’s pretty much here!
My friend Meggan and I don’t often find the time to get together, but we’ve found that Thursdays sometimes work well for both of us. When we both have one free (about twice a year, and always on the coldest days) we head over to a local thrift store for a thrifty Thursday. I’ve officially given Meggan the designation of “master thrifter”. It’s sort of like being a master gardener, but without a test. Although I’m sure if there was a thrifting test of some kind, Meggan would ace it. So I’m always happy to follow her lead while thrifting.
Last Thursday we headed out in sub-zero weather. I expected the thrift store to be dead, after all only slightly crazy people and master thrifters are going to venture out in the ridiculous cold for some bargains, right? Wrong. The store was hopping.
The Christmas stuff was displayed front and center and I found some fun vintage holiday gear. The milk glass Tom & Jerry bowl is so festive!
I chose a couple of items just because their vintage packaging was so awesome, like the tree stand and the cranberry set.
I don’t often find good vintage tablecloths at the thrift store, so this Christmas one was a fun find.
I forgot to include these adorable little house ornaments in my original photos so I had to go back and get a photo of them. Aren’t they sweet?
In addition to the Christmas finds, I also came home with a few other small items.
I love the shape of that coffee pot. I am picturing it with a plant in it next summer.
The ironstone casserole dish was missing it’s lid, but for $3.49 I knew it would work perfectly to add to the stack I have in my Welsh cupboard …
I also added another vintage silver plated salt & pepper set to my non-collection.
I’m using that non-collection in a holiday centerpiece on my table this season.
You never know what you might find at the thrift shop, but you really have to take your time to look. Sometimes there’s a stash of knobs tucked in with a bunch of hardware. I almost missed these. I think they’ll work well on a future black dresser.
This little kid sized chair had a bad spray paint job, but I have already brought it into my workshop (a.k.a. on top of my grand piano) to give it a makeover.
Stayed tuned because you’ll be seeing it again soon.
Be sure to head over to the Reclaiming Beautiful blog today to check out the conclusion of our tour of Amy’s house!
The easy way to get there is to {click here}.
Enjoy!
Welcome back for part 2 of Amy’s home tour. Today I’m sharing the kitchen and just a quick peek into the bathroom. I’m saving my favorite room for tomorrow’s post on the Reclaiming Beautiful blog, so be sure to check back for that.
The kitchen is just through this archway.
If you look closely you can just see that Amy has an awesome vintage phone tucked into the little nook in the wall that I assume was always intended to house a phone.
If I’d been thinking with both brain cells, I would have moved the lamp in this next photo so you could see that amazing phone.
Here’s that quick peek into the bathroom that I promised you, which is just through that door in the photo above.
The best part is actually behind the door, and that’s this fabulous cupboard that she has filled with vintage first aid stuff.
Continuing down the hallway takes you to the kitchen, but just before you get there you pass this sign on the wall.
My in-laws would just love that sign! My father-in-law was a boat captain in New Orleans back in the day. I wonder if any fancy women signed up with him?
And now we come to the kitchen.
Like many of us, Amy is not exactly thrilled with her kitchen. She doesn’t like the old cabinets or the size of the room. She’d love to enlarge it or add a pantry and get rid of the old cabinets. But I think her kitchen is positively charming.
I love the corner sink with the big windows above it. It provides the perfect spot for the kitchen Christmas tree that is tucked into an enamelware basin.
This cupboard on the opposite wall above a radiator has such a farmhouse kitchen feel.
I know my friend Meggan is going to be drooling over that collection of vintage thermoses on top of that cupboard. Especially the “Holiday” thermos in front.
You’ll find another of Amy’s fabulous scales on top of the fridge.
And here is a great idea for filling a 3-tiered stand with little glittery houses, greens and pine cones.
There is an industrial metal shelving rack just inside the kitchen door and Amy has loaded it up with lots of adorable vintage kitchenware.
There’s another fabulous scale!
Tomorrow we’ll head over to the Reclaiming Beautiful blog to check out the last room on our tour of Amy’s amazing home. I’ll post a link here tomorrow morning as well so that you all can find your way over there easily. I hope you’ll check it out!
I think I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. One of the greatest benefits of having a blog is having an excuse to tour other people homes for the purpose of featuring them here.
There are so many people out there that have the most amazing homes, but they’ve never been in a magazine or featured on a home tour. They are just regular people like you and me and they just have a knack for decorating. I love being able to share them with you!
Amy is a fellow Reclaiming Beautiful vendor. Earlier this year she mentioned to me that she really does it up for Christmas, so I asked if she’d let me feature her home here on q is for quandie for the holidays and she agreed. I’m so glad she did! The Reclaiming Beautiful owners asked if I’d feature Amy’s home over on their blog as well, so I’m splitting the post between the two. The first two posts will be here today and tomorrow, and the final post over there on Friday. But I’ll be sure to include links between the two blogs so that you can be sure you see it all!
My sister Debbie came along as my ‘assistant’ again this time, and as we were approaching Amy’s house we were in a neighborhood full of new and very beautiful homes, but somehow I just hadn’t pictured Amy living in a newer home. As it turns out, I was right. Amy, much like myself I might add, lives in the original 1936 farmhouse for what was once the Amundsen dairy farm. The land around it has since been developed with newer homes.
As soon as we pulled up I knew I was in the right place! Christmas tree in an old wringer washing machine? Old sleds with vintage skates hanging from them. Yep, this had to be the right house.
The fact that last Sunday, when I took these photos, was the perfect snowy winter day just added to the overall ambiance.
And by the way, if you haven’t thought to put a small tree and some ice skates inside a bird cage outside your door, get on it. It’s fantastic.
As soon as I walked in Amy’s door I knew I was with a kindred spirit. I missed getting a photo of the vintage lockers in her mud room, but here’s what you see upon entering the home proper.
If you look closely at the photo above you can spy Amy’s adorable dog, Birdie. See him? Seriously, he’s so cute he almost looks like a stuffed animal (he’s on the sofa on the right in case you still can’t find him). Amy also shares her house with with her husband Zach and her four kids, Lucy, Gus, Alex and Greta.
Just beside me to the left of where I am standing for the above photo is Amy’s dining room.
I love her collection of ‘yard-long’ photos, don’t you? And I’m really not sure what the original purpose was of that thing she has sitting on top of her radiator filled with books, but I love the way she’s using it.
Amy purchased her pair of matching sofas for a rock bottom price off Craigslist and then had them reupholstered in drop cloth material.
For any of you who know me well, it probably goes without saying that I thoroughly approve of Amy’s aqua blue walls. She’s added lots of red plaid for Christmas, as well as some snow shoes and skis.
And I love this adorable little red camper on her coffee table.
Amy had a really unique spot for her TV on these chippy old metal factory shelves. If I was a true professional I would have taken the time to hide all of those cords behind the TV, but I never think of that stuff in the moment. Plus, I’m so busy admiring all of the incredible stuff that I don’t even notice things like cords until I seem them in the photos. I hope you’re ignoring them too!
She says that thing weighs about 600 lbs and she and a friend lugged it into this spot themselves.
Look at the row of vintage radios under the TV …
Keeping a collection like this in one color family is a great idea!
And look what I spied tucked under one of the sofa’s end tables …
Do you recognize it? It’s my old Structo truck! Amy purchased it from me at my Carriage House sale. It’s really fun for me to see it in its new home.
Everywhere you look in her house there is something awesome to see, like this mid-century TV ornament. Check out the tiny Christmas scene inside.
I think I may have gotten a little drool on the this Christmas tree and the scale it is sitting on. I joked with Amy that I was going to have my sister distract her while I tucked that thing under my coat.
And just above that scale is this fabulous old cubby on the wall.
According to Amy this cubby started out at twice this height. It stood on the floor and she had it in this same spot, but it sat in front of the radiator. Her husband finally put his foot down and said they needed to cut it down and mount it on the wall and quit blocking the heat (here in Minnesota function pretty much has to take priority over form when it comes to heating). So Amy gave in and agreed, and now realizes she loves it even more mounted on the wall this way!
Before we conclude today’s portion of our tour we really need to talk about the elephant in the room. The gorgeous Christmas tree.
Amy is a firm proponent of placing your tree in a unique container and in this case she’s used an old metal crate.
So creative!
I hope you’ve enjoyed day no. 1 of our tour of Amy’s home. Be sure to check back tomorrow for part 2. And hey, if you have a minute, leave a comment about your favorite detail in Amy’s living room. I challenge you to pick just one!
Hey you local readers, have any of you been to the Gingerbread Wonderland at the Norway House? This is the second year that the Norway House in Minneapolis has invited bakers to contribute a gingerbread creation based on an actual structure in the Twin Cities to their pepperkakebyen (gingerbread city).
My sister read about this in a local community ‘stuff to do’ type magazine and she suggested we check it out. So last Saturday Debbie, Kris and I headed into the city in search of the Norway House.
Once there we paid our $5 admission fee and prepared to be amazed by gingerbread.
The structures ranged from relatively simple (and keep in mind that I say ‘relatively simple’ while realizing full well that I would not be able to achieve even this level) …
to this insanely elaborate model of our state capitol building …
I can’t even imagine the amount of time that must have gone into some of these.
Technically the bakers were supposed to copy a real building or structure in the Twin Cities, and there were some pretty amazing results.
One that really impressed me was the Mill City Museum.
If you aren’t familiar with the Mill City Museum, it was created out of the ruins of what was once the largest flour mill in the world (google it to see photos and read more about it). The building was destroyed by fire in 1991. The remaining walls were later fortified and the structure was developed as a museum. I don’t know about you, but I love a good ruin. And I think it’s pretty fantastic how this baker recreated that look complete with scorched gingerbread.
Are any of you non-locals familiar with the iconic Minneapolis landmark, the cherry on a spoon? It’s a giant sculpture of a cherry balanced on a spoon at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. And here it is recreated in gingerbread …
The Stone Arch Bridge …
Mickey’s Diner …
Minneapolis City Hall …
Although technically not in Minneapolis or St. Paul, I guess this year’s display would not have been complete without a gingerbread Paisley Park complete with purple snow instead of purple rain.
And of course, the new Vikings stadium had to be included as well, complete with the football field inside.
If you are going to attempt some gingerbread houses this year, but want to keep it a little more low key, there are still some fun details you can copy.
For example, this fence detail is adorable.
Or how about adding some candy cane toboggans for your gingerbread people to ride down the hill on.
The detailed frosting on some of the houses was gorgeous.
Have you considered frosting the entire gingerbread house in classic white?
Or blue …
Yellow is pretty too.
I used google translator to learn that ‘strikkelykke’ means ‘knitting happiness’. So maybe that pile of stuff on the ground in front of the people is yarn? And I can see mittens, and a scarf draped over the bench.
I hope you enjoyed seeing the pepperkakebyen! Did you have a favorite building?
If you are local, I highly recommend checking it out in person. I only shared some of the buildings, there are quite a few more that I didn’t include here (there are 71 structures in the display). The exhibit is open through January 6. You can find more info on Norway House’s website {here}.
This year I’m having a blue Christmas, aqua blue that is. It’s one of my favorite colors, so why not use it for Christmas too?
My friend/co-worker/Carriage House sale partner Sue gave me this rusty aqua blue truck for my birthday last month.
It didn’t start out in my favorite color, it was originally green. But Sue painted it and added that adorable Christmas Tree Farm sign on the door. Keep this in mind if you ever happen to find a vintage toy truck that isn’t quite the color you want. Just paint it.
The truck looks adorable filled with vintage aqua and white Christmas light bulbs.
My friend/co-worker Jodie gave me this authentically aqua rusty toolbox …
It’s the perfect color to house my vintage aqua ornaments.
My friend/co-worker Cathy gave me this charming trio of tiny glasses.
Aren’t they sweet filled with tiny Christmas ornaments?
I put together this ombre box of shiny brites myself …
As far as I know, Shiny Brite didn’t make an ombre box of ornaments, but maybe they should have!
I couldn’t leave out my other rusty aqua truck, so I added some seasonal cargo to the truck bed.
The sprinkling of snow adds the perfect touch.
We’ve had some very gloomy days this past couple of weeks, but I’m hoping to see just a little hint of sunshine this weekend so that I can get some photos of my house decked out for the season.
I’ve also got another house tour planned for the coming weeks. My fellow Reclaiming Beautiful vendor, Amy, is graciously welcoming me into her home this Sunday for a photo tour. I hear that she really does it up for Christmas, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing her place and then sharing it with you here on the blog. So be sure to stay tuned next week!
Remember I said I had a plan for that pile of silver pieces from the winter garage sale?
With the addition of some greens and some ribbon …
I used the tray on the bottom of the pile and the creamer and sugar to create this …
I used hot glue to attach the lid to the sugar bowl so that it stays on. I can always pick the hot glue back off if I ever decide to turn it back into a functioning sugar bowl.
I saw this idea on pinterest and it immediately popped into my head when I saw the silver pieces for sale so I decided to make one myself. I get most of my best ideas from pinterest!
I hung this tray between the two windows in my dining room.
I turned the second silver tray into a chalkboard.
Fair warning, I had a little trouble with the sharp chalk pencil that I used for my design scratching through the paint. Although you wouldn’t notice it unless you look really closely. If I had stuck with regular chalk I think I would have been OK.
I hung it over the Belgian bench in my dining room with some fresh evergreen branches tucked in the top.
And the last tray I bought because I couldn’t resist how pretty it is.
It’s the perfect size for catching water draining from a geranium that I am over-wintering in the house.
Do you ever bring geraniums in for the winter? I love having just a few around because they remind me that summer is never really that far away. The trick is to trim them way back when you bring them in to keep them from getting too leggy in the weak winter sun. Place them in a bright and sunny window. Mine sometimes even bloom over the winter.
I see a lot of silver pieces like these at garage sales and thrift stores. No one seems to want them for their traditional purpose, but if you think outside the box you can still make use of them. Do you have any great ideas for using vintage silver in an unexpected way?
q is for quandie 