hi everyone. i hope you all have had a wonderful holiday and are snug and warm. i spent the holiday on the east coast with my family and lots of childhood friends. it was so wonderful to be surrounded by so much love.

yesterday the east cost was hammered by a wild winter storm and a blizzard has blanketed most of it in feet of snow. my flight was the last flight out of boston before they closed the airport down. it was lucky to make it out and now im home safe and sound. its strange to fly out of a blizzard, but sf is beautiful and im going to bundle up and go for a walk on the beach today. SOS will be home from ireland soon too and we are going to head to tahoe where we will ring in the new year.

what did you all do for the holiday?? hope you had safe and easy travels too.

image courtesy of lisacohenphotography

somethings brewing

it may be cold and frightful outside - but tea makes it all better. nothing makes my morning more delightful than having a big pot of tea brewed on the stove -

ive been loving these vintage, and vintage inspired teapots. mine is looking a little well, loved at this point perhaps its time for a new one .....

vintage percolator retrokitchenstore

enamel hot water kettle barkingsands vintage

occupied japan teapot timberstoys

white enamel tea pot kettle foxandthomas

vintage white ceramic tea kettle kizzyrayan123

shungyo japanese stoneware teapot zoe28

DWR

neest is nice

ive seen neest advertised in the side margins of a few of my favorite blogs, a few days ago i finally clicked on it, much to my delight this little french shop is filled with the loveliest of thing.

lovely and very farmhouse chic, non?

trimmings and trappings, part 3

another installment of my trimmings and trappings series. today is all about the Dala horse

this is perhaps one of my most favorite holiday traditions. the dala horse (or dalecarlian horse) is from the province of dalarna in sweden. traditionally the dala is a small hand carved wooden horse with beautiful folk designs painted over a red or blue background.

my grandmother used to set hers out with a few evergreens around the holidays, thought they are not traditionally associated with christmas, in my mind they are synonymous.

originally carved out of scrap wood for children - a figure of a horse was the obvious choice given its place of value in the logging and farming communities where these figures were first made.

some also believe that the bright folk painting seen in the harness design on the dala horse originates from the elaborate wall paintings seen in the palaces and homes of the wealthy in historic sweden. the bright decoration in the kurbit, or flower patterned saddle, was regularly added to the horse beginning in the 1800s.

i particularly love this matte black horse from swedishness.

simple sundays

December...

image via greige

Sawkille Collective

im actually sorta at a loss for words - having just stumbled upon the beautiful work being made here at the Sawkille Collective.

tucked away in the catskill mountains a group of artists are working to create some of the most inspired american furniture i have ever seen. I love how it plays off the familiar shaker styles so indicative of this region - simple, functional,beautiful - but with an ultra modern twist.

bravo! i cant wait to visit and oh how honored i would be to have one of these extra lean stools in home

trimmings and trappings, part 2

like many of you i am so excited to decorate for the holidays. even in my teeny tiny apartment a few holiday baubles and such appear here and there.

I also love how most of us have some association with tradition or ritual practiced over and over again at this time of year and often handed down from generation to generation.

In my family one of those things is polishing all of the beautiful brass candlesticks. My mother has quite a collection - I love the way the brass looks mixed in among the greenery here at ACountryFarmhouse. so simple and pretty dont you agree?

start your own collection - these 4 brass candlesticks in the shop are a gorgeous grouping and would make a lovely gift for the tastemaker in your life.

trimmings and trappings

an unconventional christmas tree -

Indie Craft Fundraiser - Sneak Peek

tomorrow is the day! and im so excited to be participating in the Indie Craft Fundraiser with a group of very talented bay area artists and fellow etsiers.

here is a little sneak peak of my table for the event!! hope to see you all there tomorrow DEC 2 from 6-9 at the Hotel Rex

In bed

after 7 years i decided it was time for new bedding. I feel like recently my tastes have been moving in a different directions and i know they are different (though not drastically so) than they were 7 years ago.

since i live in a tiny studio the bed becomes a huge focal point. i decided to go with pretty neutral colors and load up on texture.

I went with this duvet in white from west elm and these shams.

for a bit of fun i recovered my big pillow with this ikea fabric -

what do you think? now im just on the search for a charcoal bed skirt - yes im a bed skirt person - but the tailored straight lined kind.

simple sundays

my week has been a crazy one. I worked so many 15hour days in a row that i can barely move - but the wedding looked so beautiful in the end it was worth it.

im also getting ready for the fabulous Indie Craft Fundraiser. my apartment has little grouping of things here and there that im considering bringing to the show.

Im headed back east to see my family for thanksgiving. Im so excited to visit with my gram.

And...im restless. I want to change many things all at the same time but i know i cant so im patiently working one step at a time.

i love this image, though im terrible and cant remember where i found it, the lines of the chair and the simply little conversion of the dresser. so pretty.

Happy Sunday everyone! and cheers for a great new week.

Past Present Future

I love vintage, like really really love it. I will wake up at ungodly hours excited to look for it, walk miles to get to it (anyone whos been to the alameda flea market knows what im talking about) and there is nothing more exciting that catching just a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye digging through a pile and finding its better than you could have imagined now matter how dusty, ratty or neglected it may look to others. And then there's the stories that the pieces are able to tell. might i be romanticizing this a tad, perhaps but then again....

while all this is wonderful and motivates me most days there is something else that i probably dont think about often enough until its right in front of me -

the other day i opened my email to this lovely little note from a customer who had purchased the above leather attache case

I love the folder. I googled the company (salz) and made an interesting discovery that the site where they had operated until 2001 underwent a soil and water remediation in 2006. It reminded me in vivid terms how buying vintage makes a lighter footprint on our little planet. Thanks for being part of that in such an elegant way.

i just wanted to take a minute to think about how truly important buying vintage is. It reduces many harmful pressures on our world and reintroduces beautiful parts of our past into our lives.

a quick history of the salz tannery, if your interested. its really very interesting. Ansel Adams was hired to document the company through photographs.

interlude

im off setting up a wedding today. so i though i would just post a few kitchen photos that ive been ogling on my desktop

hope you are enjoying your weekends. Im very excited for my madmen party tonight and to finally wear my outfit.

be back soon!

**my apologies but except for the last photo from sacramento street these images have been on my desktop a while and i dont remember where they are from~