I'm a big kid with a potty mouth, but I just so happen to have the home decor preferences of a 75-year-old. Especially when it comes to textiles. I like chenille bedspreads and funky patterned sheets, and most of all: quilts. Last week I gave the granny inside of me the thrill of her lifetime and bid on and won two quilts on eBay, one a Dresden Plate pattern and one with appliqué butterflies. Both are purportedly from the 1930s or '40s and seem meant for snuggles and picnics and photo backdrops for years to come. I was crossing my fingers that they were as lovely as they looked in the pictures, and they so are. They arrived in the mail this week, all perfectly faded and well-cared-for, pieced together by hand with scraps of fabric that have my heart. My imagination goes bananas when I look at these quilts. Who made them and for whom? Was it a wedding present or a personal project, and were the fabrics sourced from outgrown baby pinafores and handkerchiefs or from painstakingly collected feed sacks?
I laundered the quilts immediately with lavender soap and my trusty Bounce Bar and then showed them their new home. I knew that I wouldn't be able to find a vintage quilt big enough to fit our king-sized bed, as the king-sized bed wasn't introduced until the mid-1950s. (I had to go look that up.) So it's just draped over the top of our bed. Today the sun is spilling across it, and baby Livvy looks especially pretty napping against the old-fashioned Dresden plates.
I swear I've slept better the last two nights under this beautiful old quilt. Good nights make my days better. That and the sunshine, which has elbowed its way into every corner of the house. Today I made the beds and wandered around taking photos of some of my favorite spots here. I am so grateful for this old bungalow and for a husband who lets me granny up the place.
I put the butterfly quilt on the back of our couch. Even though Tessa is mad about that. She wants it on her bed.
I also found this adorable old Dresden plate pillowcase on eBay for 10 bucks.
And then there was this quilt top that I got for $30! I cut it in in half and turned it into a curtain to cover up the ever-present mess in our little laundry room. I am so happy with it.
A lot of what I've been working toward with the house is better flow and more color consistency. I've blogged about this before, but our house was previously all over the map in terms of color and even decor styles. I like eclectic homes, but I also like direction. I'm trying to hone in on certain colors for our house, colors that can be found again and again--like mint and ocean blue. Really, I'm trying to hone in on what colors make me happiest, and I'm drifting toward pastels. Not sure if it's just because spring is almost here. (Hurry, hurry!) Here a couple more of my favorite new spots in our house:
This lampshade is from this darling little shop in East Nashville called Eclectic. The shade was made by a local company called Sisters of Nature. I literally couldn't live without it.
