Saturday Spotlight Feature: Life Behind the Blogger

Happy 2015
New Year and New Spotlight Features

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Brooke: Creative Country Mom
January 3rd

Happy New Year everyone.  The first Spotlight Feature for 2015 is Brooke from Creative Country Mom blog.  Get your favorite beverage and sit back and enjoying reading about Brooke and getting to know about her and her lovely blog.
Then hop over and visit her beautiful blog.
Happy Saturday
Kris

Hello dear readers of Junk Chic Cottage!

My name is Brooke Kroeger of Creative Country Mom's Vintage Home and Garden.  I am so honored to be asked by Kris to share my home with you today!  I had a hard time choosing what to share, I love to design and decorate and I hope you do as well.  My style is Farmhouse/Country with lots of Shabby and Vintage as well.

We built our home in 2006 on over six acres of land alongside a 50 acre private lake.  It is the quintessential Indiana farmhouse...  3000 square feet plus a walkout basement that is unfinished.  We have a very large 10 foot deep porch and back decks to enjoy the 270 degree views of the water.

The kitchen is the heart of our home.  Our previous one was tiny and I dreamed of this much room for years.

My colors are very warm and welcoming... pumpkin, sage, deep reds and lots of creams and taupes.

I am not afraid to decorate all the way up the the ceiling and love to do wall displays.

A few month ago we removed all the carpeting and put down new floors and changed the entire look of our home.

I love to use all different types of wood tones and as many vintage pieces as possible.  Lots of different fabrics and loads of handmade lace and pillows.

I am an avid yard sale queen and flea market gal....  I love to decorate on a very small budget.

I collect loads of handmade treasures and keepsakes and display with the seasons.

One of my favorite projects is our vintage door headboard upcycle in our master bedroom.

Summers are spent in the pastel country themed front porch.

We have five outdoor cats and they love to have their photos taken for the site.

This one is mine... my Gypsy Rose, and yes... she is as spoiled as she looks.

But my true love is my Boston mix Miley.... she is the very best little dog.  We love our animals.

She loves to be with me out in the garden... here is a view of our backyard and the water.

Summers are long in Indiana and I love loads of color in my borders.

One of my favorite areas is my rose garden filled with over 40 different varieties.

I have so much more to show you!

To see more photos of my garden, click here.

To have a tour of my home, click here.

To see it decorated for the holidays, click here.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus and Twitter

Thanks again to sweet Kris and I would love for you to follow me on my site.

http://www.creativecountrymom.blogspot.com

Happy New Year!

~Brooke~

Thank you Brooke for being the first Spotlight Feature for 2015.  This was great to get to know you and learn more about your beautiful home.  Your summer garden flowers make my heart smile.  Thank you for sharing a little of yourself with us.

                                  Kris

Happy New Year and Cabinet Re Love

I am happy to say the new dining room is coming together nicely.  I am getting my Nordic/French Cottage vibe in the room.

I want to show you the cabinet done.  Then I am taking a few days off.  I have my granddaughter tonight for New Years Eve and then on New Years Day it is Terry's birthday and we are celebrating as a family for this special day.

Friday and Saturday Terry and I are going to do some fun day trips so I am letting go of the dining room for a few days.

Hope to have a reveal at the beginning of the week.

Ok just to recap this was the old vintage cabinet from Terry's grandmother minus the door and drawer out before painting.

After several coats of paint this cabinet kept bleeding through yellow.  Suzan from Simply Vintageous to the rescue.  She told me that these old pieces with the old varnish need to have a coat of Zinzer oil base shellac before painting to keep the yellow from bleeding through.  So finally after adding the shellac no more yellow. Yeah!!! Love you Suzan.  I call her the paint whisper!!!
That girl can paint the ugly duckling's of furniture pieces and turn them into beautiful pieces.

I remembered I had this great gate window piece that was gray and white and chippy and guess what it fit perfectly in the open space where the door on the cabinet would normally go.  I did not like the cracked glass of the old door so this was a perfect fit.

Wooo Hooo love that this fit in the space.  Gives this old piece some pretty bling and character.

Yep love that this old window will work for a new cabinet door.

Gives the piece a little nordic feel.

So there you have it a nice inherited piece that is re loved into a new pretty for the dining room re do.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

See you soon with the with the whole dining room reveal.
Kris
:)


Parties:
DIY Show Case Sunday
Make it Pretty Monday
Wow Us Wednesday
Shabbilicious Friday Link Party

Dining Room Progress

Here are some sneak peaks at the dining room progress.

We have the ceilings, trim and walls all painted.  Yeah!!! I love the color of the walls.

It is called Stone White and is just a hint of light gray to the walls.

This was the wall color before we painted. the ceilings were the same color as the walls so we needed to paint the ceilings white.

Painted all the trim and crown molding to a white and then the walls in the stone white which is a light gray.

Got some new gray and white checked fabric from Ikea for the chair seats.  This is also the fabric for the new curtain panels.

I almost forgot to take a picture of this old vintage china cabinet we inherited from Terry's grandmother before painting it.  I took the door off and the drawer and shelves out and started to paint before I realized I did not have a before pic!  Sorry so this is what you get to see for a before shot.

A little drama with this piece.  With it being so old furniture makers use a lacquer finish that was yellow oil base and it keeps bleeding through as the white paint dries.  I did two coats of Kilz primer and now two more coats of white and it still is slightly on the cream side.  So I am going to try one more coat of a bright white and see if that will work.

Libby my photo bomber assistant!

So hopefully after painting a few pieces and getting this cabinet to look less cream in color I will begin to start thinking about what to bring back into the room for decor.

I am going for a light nordic cottage look to blend with my kitchen.  Just sooooo tired of having stuff everywhere and my poor wood floors are a mess.  So it will be nice to get things hung and put up and then clean my floors and hopefully be done and ready to show you the reveal.

Plus Terry and I would like to have a few day trips for some fun while he is on vacation this week.  So hopefully I will get this room together in the next few days.


As we head on down to the New Year I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year.
I look forward to sharing lots of inspiration with all of you in the new year.
Kris
:)