patriotic decor in april? if you are like eric my husband you may be thinking, holy cow the 4th of july is so far away why is her house already red, white & blue? it may only be april, but think about it, it’s almost may! in may there is memorial day! then a couple weeks later is flag day, then of course the 4th! & here in utah we also get to celebrate the 24th of july which is called pioneer day & we celebrate the people who helped settled utah. then of course labor day in the beginning of september! haha.
so maybe I have gotten way too ahead of myself but I love having red, white & blue up all summer! don’t worry there are other areas of my home that are just decorated in bright summer colors. but I love america so why not?! our house right now makes me feel like listening to the country patriotic station on pandora… which makes me cry without fail!
also with our little babe coming any day I knew that digging through the decor totes and switching everything in our house when he is tiny & my arms are full might not happen. so getting all the summer decor out and setting it up was on my long nesting list of things to get done before he was born!
when eric & I got married we lived in an old historic home in provo that I loved! it was old but had so much character, yummy light, charming nooks & huge old tress! both eric & I have a dream to redo one of those old beauties one day but after seeing how much work remodeling our canned ham trailer has been.. we will see haha. anyway this home had an old wood mantel built in above the fireplace & I was obsessed!
the home we are living in now is newer & sadly no fireplace. I quickly realized that I was going to have to come up with a solution. this pottery barn shelf does the trick & I love decorating it & pretending it is a mantel!
most of this mantel decor is thrifted which I love! the old books, coke crate, coke bottles, vases & that fun star that is just an old stacking ruler that I shaped into a star. all of this stuff was pretty dang cheap!
the flag banner was bought from hobby lobby. but it was stark white when I bought it… not cute & then I had the idea to tea dye it. then added some burlap & twine & kind of just whipped it up but I bought it for only a few bucks so I am happy with how it turned out! the pallet sign is hobby lobby as well. I personally don’t like coke but I sure think it is cute! I love mixing in old bottles that I have saved, or putting stems into them. eric loves coke so I do love having it displayed in our home even though I totally hate it! I also made the felt ball garland a couple years ago. when they first became popular I was obsessed and bought the wool to make them & holy cow it is such a pain & expensive & impossible to make big round balls. there are a bunch of small shops that sell these felt balls & they are my favorite to make a garland out of or just throw into a jar etc. I have heard people at craft markets when they see them for sale saying oh you can just make those but no no it is not worth it! buy the perfect ones people sell from nepal!
this little table was used on the food table at our wedding & I love decorating it each season. once again old books are the key here as well as an old milk glass vase. that print is a card I got somewhere a few years ago to frame. I have said it before but seriously framing cards is the way to go! so much cheaper than prints! I bought this book at a vintage show, knowing it wasn’t actually vintage but I love it.
I have a scrabble set that I use just for putting the wood sayings throughout my home. I painted one of the holders red since red can be used for many of the holidays. that little drink pouch is from an antique store in provo called block 100 antiques. if you buy jewelry there it comes packaged in an old startup’s candy company drink pouch. the startup company is a historic candy company in provo that has been around since 1874! so I love that it matches the colors but is also a local company with lots of history!
I might get sick of all this red, white & blue before labor day rolls around.. but for now I am loving it! & let’s be honest I am going to be more into squeezing my little one than switching my mantel decor. god bless america!
