obsessed: easy farmhouse favorites!

my pants would sooo be on fire if i said i wasn’t completely melting over the old timey farmhouse love that is going on in home decor these days!! i am. i really am. and i think i somewhat come by it honestly, having grown up in an actual house on a farm! but i also think our society is now craving simplicity. we got cray cray. goin’ on around here. constant bombardment, constant pressure, too many decisions, and always swimming upstream trying to make good ones… well, it’s no wonder people have lost their marbles! wouldn’t it be so nice for maybe just one little day to experience true simplicity? living off the land, literally working for what you eat and wear and use! i probably wouldn’t even last a whole day, but still!!

i have to note, too, that at the farm, we every now and again find relics from the civil war or from the depression era… spent bullets, mule shoes, a soldier’s clay marble, depression glass, pieces of pottery and ceramics… little bits that connect us to truly different times!! gosh, i get sooo excited about that sort of thing. history! i love history! i picture the layers of life that have gone on over the years… a soldier longing for home, a woman with her jars and bowls… and i wonder what all we’re walking on top of that we don’t even know about. we’re always “treasure hunting” out there, just hoping for something else to unearth!

anyway, i feel like i crave a connection with the past in my every day, and i don’t think i’m the only one!  so… while i typically do like a bit of shpronce in my decor [so i can pretend that i live in an old timey castle] with a side of mediterranean flare [so i can pretend i live in a tuscan villa]… i’ve definitely mixed some farmhouse vibes into our home that make me oh. so. happy! i like to define my house needs as rustic + elegant. like, i need chandeliers and flourishey scrollwork and varying metallics, and i also need soothing neutral tones and homey comfort and a level of practicality!

so! all that yammer to say… here are my favorite easiest-ever farmhousey touches!

1. mason jars – duh! so, i’ve been unearthing bits of an old, old ball jar for a couple of years now in the back yard at the farm! and how i wiiiiish i could find the whole darn thing! the super-old ones had these pretty zinc lids with porcelain inserts in them and i have found parts of the inserts, too… oh, it’s fascinating, really! i also have a few old ball jars from the antique shop, which i just adore. i also love love that they re-released the blue ones to in celebration of 100 years! so pretty! i mean, i’m really such a jar hoarder. and at this point, we use them most often as drinking glasses since most of the stuff we registered for at our wedding is long broken! and they serve as vases, storage, you know, jar stuff. i put coconut oil and salves and things in the little jelly jars for different rooms. guess i should be legit and start canning? but i am too afraid i’ll screw it up and make all sorts of gross jams. also, my inner italian jar hoarder is obsessed with the bormioli rocco jars, so don’t mind me over here working them into the equation… moving on!!

2. cotton stems!! – oooooh my love for preserved cotton stems! i want a whole cotton wreath so badly but i didn’t snag one last time i saw it up on decor steals, which was probably a mistake! but that is where i got my stems. 🙂 

3. berry baskets – i just got this set of berry baskets and it’s the cutest. i got some to give as gifts and kept one to put my own berries in!! 

4. whistling tea kettle – i did so much research before getting a kettle because i did notttt want to spend a fortune or get something super high maintenance, but wanted to make sure it was cute… and   most importantly, not non-stick coated on the inside!! this one is made of stainless steel and boy, does it whistle! and while there are so many beauuutiful handmade copper kettles to browse through… i need functionality! this one is a good compromise. 🙂

5. baskets!!! – oh man. baskets are THE ANSWER!!! like, the answer to life. right?! i have so many. probably more than i realize at this point. chicken wire baskets kind of melt me and they seem to hold up well! and ooooh, i need the round shape, too. i also have a huge weakness for that water hyacinth weave! [i got 3 sets of the placemats when they went on super sale at one point, ha!] they look so good painted, too. i paint most of mine ivory, but i painted some espresso for rocco’s room… and now they actually have gorgeous ones in espresso! basket swoooon.

6. trash bucket – okay, i’m normally somewhat opposed to having too many items that are decorated with just… a plain ole word. but! i decided to lighten up and get this for the kids’ bathroom, and it really is completely adorable!! i mean, their bathroom could use a pretty serious facelift, if i’m being honest… so, i just felt like something playful and casual was perfectly appropriate! maybe they’ll learn how to spell trash? haha.

7. ruffled towels – i have the fingertip towel in the kids’ bathroom and the hand towel in the powder room [yet another bathroom that could use a bit of a facelift!] and i loooove them! just an easy way to add some pretty to your practical, i say! 🙂