COLOR TRENDS FOR SPRING

When I think of spring here at the farm, I think of opening the windows and letting in the fresh air. I want to evoke the feeling of a light, airy space. Since I've always been drawn to shades of blue to "refresh," I wanted to bring the blues to the farmhouse in a big way – the happy blues.

I also wanted to add other pops of color that would accentuate the blue color palette to create a soft, hospitable atmosphere that evokes the open doors of summer. I started in the farmhouse living room with my barn-wood wall. This project is a few months deep at this point – Mr. Maple Creek helped me hang up salvaged wood from the carriage barn last year. I kept the original whitewashed look for fall, transitioned to black for Christmas, and now, blue for spring. For those curious about the paint, I used Opal Silk Green from Glidden, which I found at Walmart but is also available at Home Depot.

The wall has been a great focal point over the seasons. It is easy to repaint or decorate around, while remaining true to the farmhouse feel. I paired it with a sign from Farmhouse Décor Art. (Shop it here.) You all know that when I love something, I LOVE it. I have absolutely loved my experience with the company. Shipping turnaround was so fast, and the sign I received was lightweight canvas, which was perfect for the project.

The last "blues" I added were the Cranston and True rugs from one of my favorite companies, Boutique Rugs. Layering rugs has been a hot trend this season. I find that it's a great way to add depth and texture to the space. The Cranston rug favors more warm, cozy browns, which I added some "spice" to with the blues.

For the finishing touches, I wanted to incorporate yellow. It – of course – reminds me of sunshine! We don't see that enough up here in NY! I found some daffodils, and a cute little birdhouse from Marshalls that I hung on a vintage shutter. I also re-purposed a chenille bedsheet into a chair cover, because why not? I'm all about making old things new and giving fresh life to items instead of tossing them. There is endless possibility in the reinvention process…

pillow

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daffodils

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…which makes me think of spring: the perfect season to refresh and reinvent. When I looked at definitions of the word renew, I found that it called back to resuming, reestablishing, or repeating habits that have been interrupted or lost. This spring, I hope to resume hosting more. One thing I love is hospitality. It's such a joy to me to be able to share my home and create a welcoming space for others. A small daily thing I want to reestablish is a window of time in the morning for reading the Word and prayer. On the health front, my repetitive goal is to walk three miles a day. Mr. Maple Creek and I have been working up our mileage, and focusing on celebrating the little milestones.

Followers, do you have any habits or routines for spring that you're looking to refresh or reestablish? It's easy to get caught in the busyness as the year accelerates forward, but the thing I love most about spring is the aspect of newness; all that has been dead in winter thawing and coming back to life. As the flowers bloom, so to do we emerge from the hiding and hibernation of winter, shake off the trappings of the past season and step into new life. But it doesn't happen by accident – it takes conscious decision on our behalf to step into this growth. I find that as I continue to embrace this process with each new year, I discover more about myself and what I am capable of.

Wishing you a beautiful spring!

Blessings,

Ginny

P.S. Stay tuned for some EXCITING GIVEAWAY NEWS…

Other Products Featured:

Pillows, Piper Classics

Lanterns, Rodworks

#vintagefarmhouse #vintagedecor #countryliving #diyproject #country #farmhouse #boutiquerugs #greenery #spring #springdecor #etsy #maplecreekmarket #maplecreekmarketdesigns

SWEET, SWEET SUMMERTIME ON THE FARM!

Welcome back, friends! I hope your summer nights have been bug-free and sunset-beautiful! Fun fact about our family…we LOVE ice cream…almost as much as being together. 😉 Kidding! But seriously, Sunday nights are tradition around here. It’s the perfect night for a good board game, a bonfire and homemade ice cream.

I blame my love of ice cream on my childhood. My grandfather worked for the Penn State Creamy, which, if you’ve never been, is the largest university creamy in the United States! He used to bring used five-gallon drums of ice cream as a treat when I was a kid. If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience PSU ice cream…you’ve missed a little piece of paradise. I found out recently that the creamery uses about 4.5 million pounds of milk annually, around half of which comes from a cow herd at the University’s Dairy Production Research Center. The rest of the milk comes from independent milk producers right in the area. Delicious AND local!

Photo by Something Original at English Wikipedia

Here’s another fun fact for ya: they sell 750,00 hand dipped ice cream cones per year and have over 100 flavors…can we say yum? It’s beyond amazing and YES, I’m a little Penn State proud. It’s my alma mater and part of my heritage! Don’t tell anyone, but my sister and I were once known to eat ice cream for breakfast when we were growing up…

Image by Susanne Jutzeler, suju fotografie from Pixabay

Summer on the farm is so beautiful. One of the reasons my husband and I bought a farm is because we wanted to teach our kids the value of hard work and lending a helping hand. There’s something magical that happens when you begin to work with your children on a project. Oh, sure, there might be a little (!) complaining at first, because the jobs aren’t always their favorite, but working together forces you to work on communicating. Sometimes the only way to successfully finish a job with another person is to communicate about the best way to get the job done.

Image by Free-Photos, from Pixabay

As a family we’ve tried really hard to turn off the devices and interact with each other! These days screens seem to take up so much of our lives, and I fear so many kids and even adults are losing the art of interaction and the sheer simplicity of finding enjoyment in life, living. Summer is the perfect time to set limits for your children and even yourselves. We as a family have set some screen time boundaries this summer, and it feels so good. We all should listen more, talk to each other, and share what we’re learning on a regular basis. The art of face-to-face communication is so important in this virtual world. 😊

Okay, stepping off my soap box…thanks for listening folks! LOL. Back to the ICE CREAM…

So many of you asked for my recipe for the ice cream and homemade peanut butter fudge topping, so here it is:

Background photo by Brenda Godinez on Unsplash

We have a White Mountain freezer and absolutely love it!

After you’ve put the ice cream down in the bucket, put ice all around the sides of the freezer and then add rock salt to the top. After that then you plug it in and check periodically according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Background photo by Brenda Godinez on Unsplash

For the fudge, depending on how strong of a peanut butter taste you want you can add more or less of the creamy goodness. It can also be reheated for another night of indulgence...

Thanks for reading! What are YOUR summer night traditions? Or summer resolutions? Anyone else trying to limit screen time, and get outside & move a little more? If you tried this recipe, let me know in the comments or on Instagram, @MapleCreekMarket. Have a blessed day!

#recipes #summerdecor #summer #summerrecipes #country #countryliving #vintage #vintagefarmhouse #farmhouse #creamery #icecream #whitemountain #summerfun

FARMHOUSE BATH GETS A MAKEOVER

This blog post is way overdue, but life has been happening at lightening speed! Whew! I know there are no excuses...but things have seriously been so busy. In between the craziness, The Mister and I did find time to remodel our 1970 master bathroom (it came with blue carpet) this past spring. I’ve waited eleven years to do this project and it finally happened! I couldn't be more excited to share it with you guys...

The main inspiration for the bathroom came from our collaboration with @sinkology and their stunning copper sinks & faucets. I really wanted something that would still maintain the feel of our 1820’s farmhouse, but update it and give it some character. Hunting to two vintage dressers to convert into vanities was A TRIP, let me tell you. I searched long and hard for the pieces that would be just right in the space. One day I stumbled across not one, but two, identical (!) dressers that I instantly fell in love with.

The beauty in the mess! LOL!

I convinced my amazing dad, one of the most talented woodworkers on the planet, to help convert the each of the drawers to allow a new drop-in sink to fit into the dresser while maintaining the storage in the three drawers below. We ended up with a nice bit of space for toiletries and storage.

While my dad was working on the dressers, Mr. Maple Creek was patching the walls and laying a new floor from @Lowes. We decided to go with a laminate floor that blended with the rest of the wood floors in the farmhouse. For the paint color on the walls, I chose a bright white paint from @sherwinwilliams to give the space fresh, clean feel. It was so nice to see the previously-tan walls transform!

When the vanities finally arrived I gave them a fresh coat of white chalk paint from Kilz with a dark wax coat over top, and then it was installation time. We had finally reached the point in the makeover where we could install the vanities and put everything in place! To say I was doing a happy dance is an understatement.

For the finishing touches to the space I worked with @1stoplighting to give the lights a new look. It was hard to decide what would look good with the space, since they have so many to choose from. I reached out to their amazing customer service team for help and advice, and they pointed me in the right direction. The mirrors also needed an update, so I went with two that I found from @kirklands.

Overall, I'm so glad I decided to stick with the plan of reinventing vintage dressers into vanities. It ended up being such a fun project and a great way to recycle old furniture for a new purpose! Let me know in the comments, or on Instagram: what's your latest DIY project? Have you ever tried to rework an old piece of furniture for a new purpose? Any ideas for what I should tackle next?

If you’ve followed along with me on this journey thank you so much for all of the love and encouragement during the whole process. Y’all made us keep on keeping on!

#betterhomesandgardens #table #bathroom #countryliving #country #vintagefarmhouse #farmhouse #rustic #summerdecor #sinkology #DIY #1stoplighting #remodel