~weathered wood and beachy inspiration~

Hello friends,

Today I’m missing summer and I thought I’d post some inspiration photos from last summer.

These were all taken while we were on vacation on the beautiful Oregon coast.

I hope you enjoy them, especially if you’re also longing for summer days again!

I got to play around with weathered wooden chairs and gorgeous hydrangeas.

Such a pretty colour…

A perfectly weathered fence by the beach.

I just love all the nautical elements down by the ocean.

weathered floats

rusty old crabbing baskets

canoe ride anyone?

Stairway dappled in the sunlight... 

don’t you love the driftwood stair rail?

Hope you enjoyed this little piece of summer!

Tracey

~raggy bunting love and how to~

Hello friends,

I have been busting to show you my raggy bunting, 

you might have seen a peek over on my fb page here or my instagram {raggygirlvintage}.

I have to warn you, it is highly addictive.

 And it will leave threads all over the sofa.

 And you!!

I have been in love with bunting forever, I showed you some mini white bunting here…

I also love to make it in ticking and vintage florals. 

Hanging bunting gives that yummy vintage, handmade feel.

I wanted to make a less formal raggy bunting, 

I’ve seen similar bunting inspiration floating around.

 Anthropologie even has a version too.

This bunting is hot right now at weddings and baby showers. 

It makes an awesome backdrop for photoshoots, across an arbour, or tied across the front of a table.

To start I pulled out my stash of aqua and white sheets. 

It’s super easy peeps.

 Just rip strips of varying lengths, mine were probably 1.5”-2” wide.

 Then tie them along a length of sturdy twine.

 Make sure you use tidy knots so the strips hang downwards.

I made mine 3 feet long plus extra twine for hanging, and it took me around 2 hours to make.

I have it draped over one of my doors here.

Can we say LURVE…..

I just couldn’t stop!!

Next up I knew I wanted ~all white, lacy, ethereal, romantic~

 So this time I ripped up white muslin and pulled out my stash of vintage lace.

My, did this ever use a ton of lace.

Lace is just soooo pretty.

This bunting has headed over to The Passionate Home ready for spring and summer weddings. 

It is so pretty but there is only so much bunting one can hang with 3 guys in the house!

Now I realise this may not be everyone’s taste, but it’s a fun and simple way to add a whimsical touch to your next special event, or to your home decor just because

Next up vintage linens…just gotta make that first rip, I find it really hard to rip up vintage linens, how silly is that!

A couple of my instagram gals have already been inspired to make their own version, why not give it a go??

Hugs,

Tracey

~Vintage bottles, jars and flowers ~ easy floral display~

Hello friends,

Don’t you just love all the inspiration we glean from each other?

I first saw this idea over on a beach cottage blog (awesome blog if you don’t already follow) and knew with my endless supply of glass bottles I just had to try it!

I used freesias, probably not the best choice for this project, but they sure smelled good! 

Any flowers will do really.

All I did was pick out a bunch of random glass jars and bottles in a variety of sizes and stick blooms in them, then dumped arranged them in my big wooden crate tray in the living room.

 I loved it so much I found myself slipping in there just to sit and stare for a few minutes.

 Yes, I am very visual!!

Of course I had to throw an aqua mason jar into the mix!

So if you’re looking for a

*simple

*inexpensive

*effective floral display or centrepiece

…give it a try!

So looking forward to doing this outside once it is warm enough.

Thank you for all your kind comments and emails about my previous post, I treasure each one of you and I have been touched by your kindness!

One thing I know peeps, for many of us our blog is our happy place, a place we come to forget the challenges of daily life, a place we protect. It is that for me too. But let's not forget that behind each smile is a circumstance, and let's continue to offer kindness to our fellow bloggers.

Hugs,

Tracey

PS. Next week I'll be sharing my raggy bunting how-to

~as promised, my simple beachy party post~

Hello friends,

Well here we are with fall nipping at our heels and I still want to show you a couple photos from that little beachy party we had in the summer, as promised!

 As we are having the most gorgeous dry and sunny fall up north I am going to go right ahead, and perhaps my southern hemisphere friends will appreciate it too as you head into summer!

So here goes, kept it super simple and mostly used what I had on hand:  wicker vases, white pitchers, mason jars, white sand and tealights.

Oh, and a bunch of baby's breath, one of my favourite flowers to decorate with, a bunch goes a long way.

Simple, that is, except for these jolly tissue pom-poms. Word of advice : don’t leave them until the night before. Like I did. I don’t generally consider myself a craft-challenged gal but these pom-poms got the better of me! Especially the big ones, which ended up piled in the corner of my farmhouse table and no one was any the wiser that they had big holes underneath!

Here’s a close up, aren’t the ruffley layers pretty!

Another word of advice : you can order them online and just fluff them out!

I also hung some up high from the gazebo outside with a couple paper lanterns, with a bit of fluffing they are quite forgiving:-)

The smaller ones turned out much better and I tossed a couple on the tables here and there.

So I used a white cotton tablecloth with a wide burlap runner down the middle, and an assortment of candles, starfish, blue mason jars, and accents. 

~Simple~

I laid a similar table outside with a few different accessories, and strung up twinkling fairy lights. So sorry I didn't get any photos of the other table!

Scattered starfish along the tables.

The white shells looked so pretty piled in a blue mason jar.

I am so in love with vintage paper straws, they not only look cute they are sturdy and so versatile in decorating and they photograph so well.

I ordered them in a couple different colours, but just used the blue ones here.

So there you have it! It was simple to put together but looked so fresh and beachy! 

As beachy coastal was loosely the theme I went with this summer in my living room it was fun to extend that through the house for the party! 

You can read more about my beachy coastal living room here and here.

Hope you enjoyed a peek into the party!

Tracey

~as promised, raggygirlvintage beachy living room summer makeover~

Hello friends,

I am happy, SO happy to report that summer has finally arrived up north in British Columbia, and what a beautiful place this is to be in the summer! Just in time as we’ve had company in town the past two weeks and it sure is more fun to be out and about in the sunshine. If you’re following me on instagram you will have seen some of my shots out and about, you can find me @ raggygirlvintage.

Well after the peeks I gave you at my gorgeous chippy aqua door and beachy mantle raggygirlvintage style, it seems I left you wanting more. I felt like I was holding out on you, that was so not my intention! It’s just that really my living room is a very ordinary room that I just like to play around with, but today I will show you the whole room, as promised!

~You may want to grab a coffee at this point, you asked for photos and that’s what you’re gonna get, aplenty!!~

My home is very open plan, which I do generally love, but it does leave me with limited options for moving furniture around and utilising wall space, most of my spaces have windows, open walls or a fireplace. So in this room I really haven’t moved the main furniture pieces around much, but I do like to play around with the accessories in different seasons, especially now that my walls are a crisp, clean white

Okay, so let’s start with an overview shot from the entryway. The front door is to the left.

Here’s a before photo. As you can see the furniture placement is pretty much the same. At Christmas time the sofas have to get moved around to accommodate our tree!

I didn’t hate my living room before, but the colours were tired and our climate is wet so much of the year, I wanted lighter and brighter. The pictures on the wall were also tired and dated, and I wanted a change from the red accents in there.

Here are a couple shots through the living room into the dining room. I really, really would like to slipcover these chairs one day….

I love how much lighter the dining room is now that the walls are white, it is a small room and it just feels bigger and brighter now. I haven’t decided yet if I will paint the furniture in there or not. 

The chandy is making it look creamy in this photo, but it’s really not, it’s true white in natural light.

This is the window wall with my chippy door, the windows are super tall in here and let in lots of light. 

{you can read my chippy aqua door post here}

The drapes are from Pottery Barn, I picked them up instore some years ago as they were on sale, and I was thrilled to find drapes almost long enough for my oversize windows. 

Now I am looking for a sheer to hang with them, I have mixed sheers and drapes in our family room and I really like the look the different textures give, particularly on windows where you don’t close the drapes.

On the opposite wall I have a couple white suitcases stacked, one more and they will be side table height! You can see them in the next photo too.

The living room is on the front of the house and looks out onto the street, you can see a peek of my rocking chair through the window on my porch. The porch gets all the morning sun so it’s a great coffee spot in the early morning. 

This is to the right of the fireplace. The vignette on this little table changes all the time, I’ve already switched it up since taking this photo! {Did I mention I really would like to slipcover these chairs…}

Here’s a closer look. The trim you see to the right is the open entryway to the dining room.

The vintage “E” is again for our last name, and I love using vintage frames in my decor.

Always a little lavender going on.

This table has a smaller version underneath, where I’ve tucked some of my favourite decor reads. Which one do you think is my favourite??

Here it is again after I changed things up a little, I wasn’t loving the birdie so popped a boxwood tree there instead.

This chest sits in the centre of my living room, I believe it is called a Quaker chest and I had it custom made many years ago. It is honestly one of the most useful pieces of furniture in our home, it is so well built and both sides lift up so it is great for storage, I keep all my scrapbook albums and photos in there. Just don’t try and move it!

 I’m not crazy about the fireplace you can see in the background, one day I’d love to replace the tile.

So here are some of the goodies that are sitting on my chest currently. A sweet wooden tray painted white and a pretty summer bouquet in a white pitcher. 

You can see a bit of wicker in there too, that one is filled with white sand and a candle, ready to use for a beach themed wedding party, which I’ll post about soon.

I don’t usually buy yellow flowers but I found this bouquet at a roadside stand and it was too pretty to pass by! 

I know some people find it cheesy to use shells and starfish in beach decor, but personally they are not all that common around here and I happen to like them! I think it can be tastefully done. 

A little bit of white pitcher, a little galvanised metal, a little bling, it all can work together.

Around the fireplace I kept it simple, you’ve seen my beachy mantle already. You can read the full post here.

Down below I have more shells and starfish, baby’s breath and a giant white pitcher on the one side…

…and a vintage kiddies chair on the other side.

Finally, here’s a view from up top of the stairway.

Well I hope you enjoyed the little tour of my raggygirlvintage beachy summer living room.

I’ll leave you with the before...

...and after

linking up to Whatever Goes Wednesday 
Primp your stuff Wednesday
White Wednesday 
Feathered Nest Friday 
Potpourri Friday 
Vintage Inspiration Friday 
It's Inspiration Friday 
Friday's Unfolded

happy sunshine days!

Tracey

you can follow me on raggygirlvintage fb here

and raggygirl pinterest here 

and on instagram @raggygirlvintage