grey cabinets...

kitchen of photographer helen norman

i saw this photo today and i'm in love. i have really decided i want to paint my cabinets grey (a little more of a true grey and less green grey than these). after only a year the white on the base cabinets looks so dingy and needs repainting. i like the idea of keeping the upper cabinets white though (i'm loving this creamy white). someday, of course, we would love to redo the kitchen and take it back to more of a farm house look. but i think updating the cabinet paint and hardware will go a long way. i recently bought one of these plate shelves from ikea to hang up as well.

i have it all put together, i just need to get some help hanging it. i was cleaning up my office this morning and looking at my growing pile of house projects, realizing i need to get to work. i have various things i have been collecting, just waiting to be hung or finished sewing, etc. sometimes i get so overwhelmed that i just do nothing at all. seriously, last week i broke a lamp in office and glass was everywhere! i just looked at it in despair and shut the door. i may have never returned if my husband hadn't discovered it and bravely cleaned it up for me. his little act of kindness inspired me to get in there and start organizing for a new year!

prairie seed...

my sister, katy, and i are back to business in our prairie seed shop and blog (well, to be honest, katy is so far). we have some great new items in both the shop and blog. we are also having having a very cool snow days sale in the shop... 15% off everything in the shop until the 21st! just enter in the code SNOWDAYS when you check out to receive the discount. so be sure check out our selection of vintage and handmade goods before the sale ends!

cabin retreat...

i have always wanted to stay in a cabin the week after christmas, and this year we finally did it! we went up to the mountains of asheville and had such a lovely time. we found a little cabin from the 1800's that had been lovingly renovated... it had lots of beautiful land, outbuildings and a creek. we also ventured often into asheville and the surrounding area, including the arboretum which was lovely even in winter. my husband and i actually were married in asheville nearly 10 years ago but haven't been back since then! we were able to take the kids to see the inn where we were married and it was amazing to be back there with them! we hope to visit asheville again sooner and not wait another ten years... hopefully in warmer months because we have only been there in the cold. it is only about 4 hours from us now, so i am sure we will be back again soon.

p.s. from the pictures of the kids half dressed it may not look that cold but it was, it even snowed while we were there! they are just crazy.

tree of life...

wow, how is it the 12th of january already? getting the kids back into the routine of school has been difficult. we even needed a day off yesterday! i guess we got use to being all together again and going back was hard. this weekend is a long one though, so that should be helpful. i am trying to get back into the swing of normal life myself. it ws nice to sort of take a break from heavy shop updates and orders this christmas. it is the first i have really been able to enjoy for a long time. i need to be better about filling my shop up early so i can always do that. i also got to make some of my presents this year, which i rarely have had time for in the past. i enjoyed making three of these tree of life embroidery pieces (i only got pictures of two, one was already mailed off). it was fun spending time making each one unique and i'm pleased how they came out. i would like to keep working on the idea in the future and see of i can improve on the design. i am in love with the symbolism of the shaker tree of life, and used that for my inspiration.

i will be back soon to share some photos of the beautiful mountain cabin we stayed in after chrsitmas as well!

happy new year...

xoxoxo cary