This Year's Spring Mantelscape

We have been especially lucky here in the northeast over the past week as the outside temps have been soaring past the 70 degree mark! Now if that doesn't put you into spring mode I just don't know what would. So over the weekend I began some early spring cleaning and decorating, starting with our living room mantel!

I love the blink of mercury glass combined with some natural elements. The mossy little bunnies were a cute find from Hobby Lobby! Love that store!!!

A faux boxwood wreath layers on top is a grapevine wreath are at the center of the mantel display. 

In lieu of real tulips...of which I love...I have a couple bunches of faux white tulips placed in a mercury glass vase to balance out the mantel.

How about you? Have you started getting ready for spring?? It is just right around the corner you know. And if you are looking for what I like to call "Springspiration", make sure to mark you calendars for the week of March 20th. You won't want to miss 5 days of 30 bloggers home tours put together by my friend Marty of the beautiful blog A Stroll Thru Life. 
(Psst...Rosemary Lane's tour will open on Monday March 20th!)

Wishing you all a fabulous start to your week!

XO

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The Dedicated House

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Share Your Style Link Party #106

Hello everyone!

I hope that you're having a good week so far.  I'm so glad that you could join us again for another week of Share Your Style.  I'm Kelly from The Essence of Home and will be your host this week.

When you link up to this party, your post will show up on all six blogs at once!

Last week had so many great link-ups that it was hard to choose just a few to feature this week.  But here are some that stood out to me.

She Saved shared her secret to cooking scrambled eggs perfectly.  This appealed to me since I make scrambled eggs for my son almost every morning before school.  She suggested using half and half instead of milk and adding a little bit of sour cream to them too.  Sounds yummy!

Organic Garden Dreams shared pics of her roses in January.  I love roses but don't have good luck with them after Spring.  If you are a rose lover, you will enjoy this post!

A Thoughtful Place revealed her guestroom makeover.  It is so pretty with touches of soft pink and other feminine details.  

Savvy Apron shared a dresser makeover with shutters.  I love this idea!  I've never seen it done before.  She turned an ordinary looking dresser into something very stylish and rich looking.  

If you were featured, please copy this button and add it to your blog!

Now onto this weeks party!  Please make sure you add a link back to this party on your post.  

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Share Your Style Link Party #105

Welcome to the Share Your Style Party #105. 

Your host today is The Vintage Nest aka Lynn, me.  :)  First off, I would like to introduce a new host for our party. Welcome Carol of The Red Painted Cottage. That will bring our sponsors up to 6, so linking up to the SYS party will give your blog so much exposure each week.  Carol's blog is just chock full of inspirational ideas from decorating to cooking and we  are so happy to have her.  Another little announcement is,  I would like to announce the winner of my little give-away, pulling a link from our previous party.  JustJanBlog, you are the winner!  If you could share your address with me thru email, I will have your little goodie gift on its way to you.  :) 

It's always so much fun, but a very tough job, to go thru all this past week's party goers and pick a few to be featured.  But here goes:

Who doesn't love a grilled cheese sandwich?  On a cold winter's night, this version is sure to please.....along side a bowl of soup, it'll warm your bones. This Mama Loves shares this wonderful recipe with us and I am definitely copying the recipe.

Linda, of Crafts a la mode, gives us directions on making the prettiest Valentine's envelopes to hide a chocolate in.  I know Valentine is past but I would definitely put this one in the Save file.  Shoot!....hearts are good for any celebration. 

Debra, at the blog Debra, Peace, Home shows us how to make the cutest industrial style ottoman from a vintage crate.  This is darling.

And last but not least, Worthing Court transforms her living room into a farmhouse office and shares the process with us.  A must see!

I hope you enjoyed today's features and will link over to see many of the wonderful inspirations from our blogger friends.  Visit often and comment.

  Please be sure to add a SYS link in your post.  

Now let's see what's new for this week and if you were featured please add our button to your blog.

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Winter Decor with COLOR!!!!

Just because it is winter time doesn't necessarily mean there has to be an absence of color. Now I love winter white just as much as the next blogger, but for me color has always been such a mood elevator that it is really hard for me to omit it from my home's decor.

Color is added to our main living space in the way of teal, navy blue and pops of a marigold yellow.

In keeping the winter theme, on the mirror above the mantel is a pine cone evergreen inspired wreath. 

With more pine cones in a pasta bowl on the coffee table.

The kitchen's neutral gray palette is the perfect back drop for punches of red.

I simply kept a few of the Christmas/Winter items around the kitchen for interest and color.

The white wood tree was a Christmas clearance item I picked up for $11 and the little snowbird was a gift from a dear friend. 

My new favorite item in the kitchen is my "Rodney the Pig" lamp from Pier One Imports. Rodney is sitting on top of the cabinet I found last winter and refinished for our back patio as a beverage cabinet. However with the cold winter weather I didn't want to leave it out there so in it came and found a new home in the kitchen. The opening above the cabinet doors makes for a great space to store our kitchen table place mats. 

I think Rodney with his checked shade and curly-Q tails finial adds a bit of whimsy to the kitchen.

How about you...do you use color in your winter decorating or are you a true white purist?

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

XO

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Share Your Style Link Party #104

Hi, everyone and welcome to our 104th Share Your Style Party. My name is Lisa from Feathering My Empty Nest, and I will be your host for this evening's party. I am new to the team, but I am ready and so delighted to have the opportunity to share all of your creative and fascinating ideas.

Remember that when you link up to our party, your post will be seen on all five blogs below!

Looking over the many fantastic and diverse posts of last week's party-goers, I am beginning to feel like a bit of a slacker. Y'all are so awesome. People say "less is more" but I have always been a "more is more" kind of gal, so it was hard to choose just a few posts to feature. Nevertheless, here are four of my favorites:

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, these mouth-watering heart-shaped Chocolate Cherry Poptarts from Marie at Tinselbox really called to my sense of nostalgia. Not only are they pretty and different from the usual Valentine's treat, but Marie swears they are easy to prepare. I'll definitely be making them for my sweetheart. Yum!

I was amazed by the built-in loft bed that Ashley from Simply Designing created in her Girl's Shared Bedroom And Baby Nursery. It is such a clever use of space. And the attention to detail in the moldings and shiplap is just stunning. It reminds me of the iconic loft beds that are so typical in Scandinavian homes.

I've always thought homemade valentines are the best and the list of 10 Easy Valentine's Day DIY Ideas from Dagmar's Home are all winners. So charming and simple you can combine a few of them to really make your kid's V-Day special. I particularly love Dagmar's suggestion to string up a heart garland over your child's headboard while they are sleeping. Then serve them heart-shaped toast with an egg in the middle for breakfast. And finally send them off to school decked out with little felt heart button decorations that remind them how much you love them all day. 

As a long time hobbyist cake decorator, I couldn't help being captivated by the adorable raccoon cupcakes presented by Carrie from Kenarry. In written and video tutorials, Carrie provides easy to follow instructions on how to create these little bandits that are guaranteed to steal any kid's heart.

Thank you to everyone who posted and visited last week and

if you have been featured, please be sure to grab our feature button to proudly display on your blog.

We would greatly appreciate if you could include a link back to this week's Share Your Style Party somewhere in the post you link up. Also, be sure to check out the other party-goers posts. I know you will be as inspired by them as I am.

Party On!

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The Perfect Space ~ Grace's Teen Bedroom Reveal

Right before Christmas we began work on bringing Grace's "little girl" room up to date and giving it a look more appropriate for a teen aged young lady. 

Grace selected the comforter set which is one of those "Bed in a Bag" deals we found at Macy's. From there Grace chose a paint color called Crystal Blue from Benjamin Moore and her once distressed shabby chic furniture was painted a crisp white. 

 

A fun faux fur ottoman from Home Goods provides a good place for Grace to strum on her guitar or simply put on a pair of shoes.

On the wall above her guitar are two framed faux magazine covers I created using my favorite editing site PicMonkey!

Just above the mirror hangs a picture from an old calendar with a saying I think perfectly describes adolescence.

We decided to forego curtains and instead installed these pretty white faux wood shutters from Home Depot. They let in the perfect amount of light for any time of the day while also providing the privacy a growing girl needs.

A cute picture holder I found in a thrift shop in Bucks County Pennsylvania called Good Stuff Thrift, is hung next to her window along with a much needed hook rack just below for Grace's book bag, handbags, et cetera.

The previously painted hot pink yard sale vanity now has a cool blue color to coordinate with her room. It's paired with a darling faux fur desk chair, another great buy from Home Goods.

Finally the polka dots on the fun new lamp shade from Home Goods is mimicked on the wall opposite Grace's bed. The wall dots are actually decals I purchased online from a company call WNL (Walls Need Love). Grace plans to eventually hang some of her artwork on the big empty wall. 

I can't tell you how excited Gracie is about her new room. She is so thrilled in fact that I have yet to have to ask her if her room is clean and if the bed is made, and that is an amazing thing for my daughter!

Have a great day and don't forget to stop back tomorrow evening for our 104th Share Your Style Link Party!

XO

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