Simple Spring Decorating

Hi friends!! First things first, I missed you!! Thank goodness for social media, because if I only wrote here at Fox Hollow Cottage… you’d think I was dead. I’m so glad I’ve been able to touch base on Instagram & Facebook so I can still feel connected to y’all! I’ll get into sharing my simple Spring decorating in a moment, but first I’d love to chat & catch-up a wee bit (if you want to just browse the photos, that is fine too).

I’ll give you the un-embellished, no jokes snuck in, short & boring version.  About 6 weeks ago, I got that real clingy-lingering stuff that is going around and I have had a heck of a time shaking it. Over the last several weeks, I’ve tackled some small projects and worked on cleaning & organizing, but I just didn’t have any big projects in me. I couldn’t focus long enough to write a blog post, even if I had done anything worth blogging about. Thankfully… (crossing my fingers) I’m finally turning the corner though and I’m positively itching to get back to work!! I have some fun stuff going on behind the scenes that I’ll be digging into in the coming months. Today though, I’d love to share the changes I’ve made in our home, to welcome Spring. 

First off, I did some furniture flipping.

What’s that you say… Shannon moved her furniture again? How is that news?

This is like TMZ drama folks! I broke up my sofa & chair set.  

Don’t worry, they are just “on a break”.

You know how I am always playing with the area in front of the fireplace? I tried something brand new! Oh, and could you please just ignore that damn door? Thanks. It’s what I’ve decided to do. We never use it! Okay, we carry the groceries through it once a week. Sometimes, we don’t even do that. With Austin gone, the grocery shopping requires a lot less bags, and I find myself pulling in my normal spot, and just carrying them up the stairs. So… door… S’more. Okay… that rhymes, but makes me want chocolate. Anyhow, I wanted everything light & airy and feeling fresh for Spring. This opens up the living room considerably, and in turn this whole area of the house.

The thing is, I had slowly accumulated far too much furniture for my little house. Has this ever happened to you?

You keep sliding and shimmying, and moving things around so you can squeeze in one more piece, until your house is ready to pop? 

Well, It most definitely happened to me over the Fall & Winter. I realized I had far exceeded my furniture housing capacity. I had stored up furniture fat. And it was high time to shed it. Here is what I cut out on my Spring diet:

• The farmhouse shelf. GONE.

Affordable Farmhouse Shelves [click here for details]

• The fabulous, but very dark & heavy trunk? GONE.

Spring Living Room Refresh [click here to tour]

• Even our beloved butterfly table, grew wings and flew into storage. 

Happy Spring Cottage Kitchen [click here for the tour]

Now, I feel like I can just float from one room to the other and it feels wonderful!

Granted, these are not my best photographs ever… but if I waited until everything was perfect, it could be another 6 weeks until you heard from me! I don’t even have anything on my living room shelves, because I haven’t found that just right thing yet, and I decided… so what? My house is never 100% finished. How about you? I know I always have something I want to change, fix or do. And instead of putting something I didn’t like there. I will instead wait for the ah-ha moment. It usually happens in the shower. Not sure why that is? Probably all the yummy smelling soaps & shower gels!! I got a new Peach one that is sublime. Mmm… Mmm!! 

Putting my favorite the chair in front of the fireplace allowed me to create a spot to read, away from the TV, that felt very calm and cozy, all while opening up the other part of the room. And moving furniture isn’t permanent, so it’s the perfect way to play with your spaces and change them up. 

One of the reasons the trunk I shared earlier had to go, is because it was displaced as a coffee table when my new white one took it’s place. 

Jim built this one, so I love it extra and it’s a great match in scale to our sofa. 

Plus it’s light & bright and really fun to decorate with all the space! It’s a super simple build (we’ll try so hard to share a tutorial on how to build one soon) that we made from fence boards. I even shared painting it live with French Lime Paint on Facebook, as well as what I did when a problem popped up.

You can find out: How To Fix Paint Bleed Through & Stains [right here]. 

Deleting the farmhouse shelf, means lots less home decor is on display. And that is fine.

Because I truly have a love/hate with lots of shelving. Every shelf needs something on it, and sometimes that is great fun, and other times… it feels like a chore to fill every shelf with something interesting and meaningful. Much like the sofa & chair, the farmhouse shelf and I are on a break. 

I do miss having my jute rug in the living room, so we’ll see how long that switch lasts. I swear I could have this rug in every room. I love it so much. It was a great time to move it though, because the floor underneath got a good vacuuming and a light mopping. I decided to forego a rug pad with mine, and I’ve never been sorry. 

My floor was still perfect underneath without one. I think the jute rug, without a backing wasn’t a danger to my flooring finish, like another type of rug might be. 

We don’t have any blooming trees on our property, so these faux florals give me that Spring feeling and don’t require water. Or night raiding a local neighbor or park. Thus, keeping me out of jail. 

If you’d toured the house before, you know it’s very open. You can see from the front door, through the kitchen and down into the sun room. 

The kitchen got a deep-cleaning and few Springy updates, but pretty much looks much the same as usual. I added the April Cornell table runner I got at HomeGoods and a simple trough box of Daisies. In this location, you can see it from wherever you are up here. The textile print is so happy, and this particular shade of aqua has that vintage vibe I love. 

I finally got my green cart put together, and then I accidentally put it in the kitchen.

This little cutie has been boxed up for months, patiently waiting… because I bought it for The Little Cottage. I’m loving it here so much though, who knows if it’ll make it back down there? Fitting really. Since it’s sitting under the drying rack… that was also purchased for The Little Cottage. Whoops. I’m just not good at waiting. (months, & months, & months!) lol

I’d have flowers in every room, always, if I could afford it. Our last house had cutting gardens and those flowers were my babies! Here, with the Deer, it’s just not possible. So I splurge when I can, and to share with you. 

The sun room houses my apothecary cabinet… and one naughty bunny has snuck out of the home decor room… sneaky-sneaky bunny. Soon, I’ll let all the bunnies out for Easter, but I’m keeping them reigned in for a few more days.  

Another faux cutie. My boxwood has made a home in one of our vintage crocks. It adds a nice spot of green, especially on dreary, rainy days.

Spring can be very long and wet here in the Pacific Northwest, so I make to my own sunshine & Spring when and where I can. I know many of you are still getting snow, so I bet you are doing the same! 

I’m so happy to be back, and to have to opportunity to say hello & check-in with you all. I hope you are feeling the warmth of Spring and enjoying the longer, lighter days. xo Shannon 

PS: I was so happy to be back , I forgot to add a “source list” at the bottom of the post like I usually do, for folks who like to know where I got things. Adding that now for y’all. 

Some links below may be affiliate, which means if you happen to purchase something, I may earn a small fee, but your cost stays exactly the same. Thank you for your support in offsetting the costs for maintaining this site. And thank you to HomeGoods for their continued sponsorship. 

SOURCE LIST:

• Living Room Curtains By Front Door: HomeGoods (DKNY City Blossom)
• Plantation Shutters: Blinds.com (Norman Woodlore Shutter) and we adore them! 
• Aqua & Pink Floral Pillow: Boutique from my mom (the fabric is by)
• White Raw Edge Ruffled Throw: HomeGoods ( So soft! I bought them for my mom & sister too) 
• Wicker Arm Table: Thrift Store Find
• Living Room/Entryway Rug: RugsUSA Maui Chunky Loop in Bleached
• Living Room by Sofa Rug: RugsUSA Maui Chunky Loop Runner in Bleached
• Floors: Lumber Liquidators (I don’t recommend our choice)
• Sofa & Chair and Ottoman: These are several years old, the store has since closed, and I have no manufacturer information on any of the pieces. I’m so sorry!
• Euro Sized White Pillows: HomeGoods
• Living Room Picture Ledge Shelves: DIY  [tutorial here] 
• Living Room Lamps: Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart
• White Metal Rack: Junking Find
• Galvanized Wall Clock: [here]
• Galvanized Bins: [here]
• Farmhouse Wood & Green Cart: [here] surprisingly reasonable! 
• Marble & Wood Cake Stand: HomeGoods
• Vintage Aqua Table Runner: HomeGoods (April Cornell)
• Coordinating Napkins: HomeGoods as well 
• Metal X Farmhouse Chairs: [here] 

If there was something I missed feel free to message me, but chances are it was a thrift store, junking find or a DIY. 

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