Farm to Table recipes and Homemade Natural Living
Last week I set up our Easter tablescape. I always look forward to setting up our table for every holiday and season. Sometimes it’s just a simple floral arrangement or change in placemats. I keep a small stash of linens and placements in the cupboard that I swap out every few weeks. These are just some of the very simple ways you can set up a tablescape without spending much money. Find some simple farmhouse easter table setting ideas in this post. Thanks for stopping by the homestead!
We refreshed our living room space (and spent almost no money doing it!) to welcome a new season and to freshen up the space. It’s funny, how sometimes living in one spot for a long time can start to look the same. And just doing the smallest adjustments like moving furniture or repainting something can make a huge difference. Come see our farmhouse living room and how we refreshed it for spring.
To kick off the spring season, we hosted a family brunch. So I got the table ready in the most simple form, like I normally do. Fresh flowers (tulips!), a beige and lavender table runner handmade by a local farm to us, and a sweet simple plate setting. I have this way of folding napkins that I really like. You basically take a square cloth napkin and fold it in half twice to form a triangle, and then tuck both corners inward (see tutorial below). Then you have the option of adding silverware, small flowers, or in this case I added some Easter straw “bedding” for spring. I couldn’t wait for my family to come over and see our spring brunch table!
There is nothing like the first warm sun on your face on a Sunday afternoon after weeks of a cold, dark winter. As soon as the kitchen is filled with all that natural light, I start organizing it and getting it ready for spring. Ah, what a refreshing time that is. I gathered fresh food from our local farm stand, hung some herbs for drying, and of course put some cut flowers in a vase. Join me for a tour of our farmhouse kitchen in the spring!
During the snow storm we had last week, I got to thinking that our front porch really needed some cleaning up. We still had the greenery up from Christmas. But with the wind and rain storms we’ve had, it kind of looked like a hurricane had been through. So I decided it was time to give the front porch new life for the winter months. And I’m so glad I did! I am a firm believer that no matter the weather or lack of sunlight, always spend time outside caring for your home. Here I’ll show you how I decorated our simple farmhouse winter front porch.
This year we went with a Scandinavian Christmas theme full of fresh greeneries, cloved oranges, rustic wood, and an antique farmhouse feel. Being from Sweden, Germany, and Italy, John and I have a lot of European culture in our families and home. So to bring some of that in this year for Christmas was the perfect combo. Come see what we did in our Scandinavian Farmhouse Christmas Home tour.
In years past we have always kept our Christmas decorating pretty simple. We cut down our own Christmas tree, buy fresh garland and use greeneries from our yard, and wrap presents with brown and white craft paper. I use firewood for decor and pull out all of our woven baskets for blanket storage. This year, I wanted to do the normal traditions, but I also wanted to bump it up and add some true Scandinavian touches.
In this tutorial I will show the farmhouse entryway, the family & living room, the dining room tablescape, our office, and the front porch. Make sure to check out the video tutorial for the full tour!
[Read more…] about Scandinavian Farmhouse Christmas Home TourThere is nothing better than a simple, natural homemade Christmas wreath! Stop by your local nursery, grocery store, or maybe even your backyard to pick up a variety of winter greens so you can make your own wreath for Christmas this year. For this wreath, you’ll need a wreath frame, cable ties, and greens of your choice. That’s it!
We decided to make homemade Christmas wreaths this year because they are easy, fragrant, and much less expensive than buying pre-made wreaths every season. If you buy a wreath frame and some cable ties, you can create beautiful wreaths every season by taking off the old greenery or decor and replacing it with new decor.
[Read more…] about How to Make a Homemade Natural Christmas WreathTime to pull out the Christmas greenery! Every year we take to our own backyard or the local nursery to find some fragrant, beautiful Christmas greenery to decorate our Homestead for Christmas. This year I found 5 different Christmas greeneries to get in the Christmas spirit and decorate our home. To us, bringing in natural elements from the outside into our home is the best way to get ready for the Christmas season. Christmas greeneries smell good, they are beautiful, and I think they are one of the easiest ways to decorate the Homestead for Christmas.
For Christmas every year we like to bring the outside in and pull in as much Christmas greenery as we can to decorate for Christmas. We live in the Pacific Northwest where we have a lot of greenery, forest, lakes, rivers, and mountains near us. John and I are definitely nature junkies! We love being out on hikes and taking the kayak out in the summertime. So, it is only fitting that one of our favorite ways to decorate around the holidays is with Christmas greenery.
Christmas greenery looks beautiful with the dark green, white, and red colors. It also smells great! Pine is one of the main scents from Christmas greenery and it is as natural way to smell your house like Christmas.
We went a few local nurseries in the area and found 5 Christmas Greenery Ideas to decorate the inside/outside of our Homestead. You can also pull some pine branches from your yard if you have them. Get creative and use whatever you have available to you – that is part of the fun!
[Read more…] about 5 Christmas Greenery Ideas