my hand built chicken coop
About 9 years ago I built our chicken coop all by myself with the only power tools being a drill & jigsaw! The only experience I had in building anything large out of wood was when I was a teenager & I built my cat a tower. I wanted chickens so bad that I wasnโt willing to wait until we moved out in the country! I went a little overboard on the design, because I wanted it to look like an English/French cottage. I saved a whole bunch of designs I wanted it to look like then drew up my own design to create. It took me all winter building it indoors then we brought it home, I built an attached run, & we bought some chicks a few months after that. I created circular air vents in the top sides right next to where they roost at night so they could have plenty of airflow, a cedar shake roof, little framed roof on top of the vents, wooden shutters that open, & a rope pulley for the door that lets them out in the morning! It was so fun building this - it definitely inspired me to do more building projects. Now if we ever move weโre going to have a problem taking this with usโฆ
antique french medieval pottery
My obsession with antique French pottery started out after I bought one of my favorite vintage books; The French Country Table: Pottery & Faience of Provence by Bernard Duplessy. I have a massive collection of vintage decor books that show these beautiful pottery pieces being used in everyday life which I love so much. Faisselle molds for making French cheese, walnut oil jugs for storing the walnut oil harvest, cruches for collecting spring water, colanders for washing produce from the garden, confit pots buried halfway in the ground for preserving duck confit, and tian bowls for washing up dishes in. If I had to pick out one of my antiques that I would never sell it would be my huge 400 year old French pottery walnut oil jar (not pictured)!
fragrant isle lavender farm | washington island, wisconsin
Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm on Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin. It felt like we were in France! The smell was unbelievable & we even got to harvest our own bouquet of lavender!
ironstone sale
Itโs that time of year when I need to clear out my hoarded attic full of treasures! I have so many ironstone pieces! All of the ironstone & a few porcelain pieces in the shoppe are on sale. Theyโve been discounted a lot so get them before theyโre gone! I love decorating with white ironstone since it matches everything & you can just keep on stacking them up in different ways to give your room a new look. I personally love decorating with simple white ironstone without fancy designs on them, but love to sell both! Ironstone butter pats are definitely the most popular ironstone piece I sell & itโs hard for me to find them. I will leave them on sale for awhile until theyโre gone so I can make some room for more things to hide in our attic! ;)