I hate January…..
The holiday fun is over….and about the only thing to do is hunker down and get through the month!

It is hard to get excited about much….
The thermometer reads -11 today!!!
and
we are supposed to be thrilled when it warms up to 0!

The view out the window is pretty depressing!
COLD….GRAY…BLAH!

My biggest challenge is to find ways to brighten up the house!
January has NO obvious THEME…..
January is a time when spending money seems silly after all the Holiday shopping…..
After all the time spent on Holiday decor….it seems like a time to aim for simple…and of course CHEAP!!!

What to do……simply and cheaply???

Since January seems to be all about healthy eating….and we are needing our vitamin C to ward off the flu….this little vignette on the bakers rack makes sense….
I picked orange as the “color wave”….yeah I know orange was LAST year’s color of the year…but so be it!

 I had this photo of the oranges my brother sells at the Farmer’s Market in Florida….
Printed and framed…it makes a nice bright focal point in the display!

On to the lower level…..where we spend lots of evenings cozied up to the fire watching basketball…..

I left the white candle stands….maybe a splurge on some new candles is in order….but for now…
The heart shaped wreath with red berries was a hand made gift from my sister-in-law lots of years ago…..sitting in front of a framed flag….a nod to Valentine’s day and President’s day coming in February…
Would you believe that the flag is the one that used to hang in my very first classroom?  I rescued it from the dumpster…I love the aged look….water damage and tattered edges and all!

The bookshelf is more in keeping with the winter theme….
The antique skis were hand crafted by Mr. S’s great grandfather….yeah…maybe the pine cones and greenery are a little “Christmasy”…but I think it still looks OK…

The framed prints are two pages from another “school rescue”!
I have been saving the pages from a damaged book…..
A Farmer’s Alphabet by Mary Azarian….I looked it up on Amazon…you can buy it for only $49.00….glad I was smart enough keep it!!!

Ww Winter and Uu Underwear seemed to be a perfect fit!!!

I have all the other pages…..hmmmm….Gg is for Garden Mm is for Maple Syrup and Zz is for Zinnia!  They just might get framed for the summer!!!

I couldn’t bring myself to take this arrangement down….

The greens are still sort of OK…as long as you don’t bump into them!!!

The pine cones and birch will be “seasonable” for a couple more weeks!

Some of my collection of off-white pottery made it’s way to the mantle in the upstairs Family Room.

Would you believe that the greenery still looks that way after more than a month?!  A few pine cones and interesting “stuff” from a bag of potpourri finishes the look!

Now for my favorite…..”still life” centerpiece on the table in the kitchen
 ………TRULY unique!!!!

Stay Warm……

Link Parties
Alderberry Hill  From Dream to Reality  
Adorned From Above   Handyman Crafty Woman  Trendy Treehouse  Sugar and Dots