"New" Country Style

I do not like modern houses.

I am old school.

And I love old stuff.

My little house is actually a "contemporary" cape. But the contemporary stops there. When we looked at this house, we were attracted to the interior's open floor plan. My husband is tall, and every other house seemed somewhat claustrophic, while ours is airy and bright. Don't get me wrong -- our house is not large, it is definitely not fancy, and with our growing brood, it sometimes feels teensy-weensy. But it is affordable, which means I can be home with my kids. And we are comfortable and cozy here, and lucky to have a roof over our heads.

Filling up a house can be expensive, especially when it comes to furniture and furnishings. Luckily I am not someone who doesn't mind second-hand things. In fact, our little house is filled with second-hand things. And that is just my style. They used to call it "country," but somewhere along the way that got twisted. Country was dissected into different segments -- like primitive, shabby chic, French country, romantic country -- then the ecletic-vintage-shabby style was called cottage, and then the words "flea market" started appearing on magazine mastheads.

Now the buzz word is "prairie," as in "prairie style." (Which just sets me chuckling due to my obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder.).

Of course, I saw this magazine in Walmart recently and couldn't resist:

I am a total magazine junkie, but I have cut back on my magazine purchases in recent years. (Blogs, Pinterest and hand-me-downs of my mom's Country Living subscription have filled the need.) That said, I had to have this little treat. Happy Mother's Day to me. There is a lot of inspiration in its pages... Homey, cozy pictures.

My style is definitely a country style. I guess it's kind of farmhouse and '30s/'40s-style in my head, toss in a bit of prairie and shabbiness and you've got me. I still like a lot things at Ikea, my Keurig and the trappings of the modern world, but vintage goodies are treasured.

Source: sugarpiefarmhouse.com via Susan on Pinterest

I used to love that show "Country Style" on HGTV. It hasn't been on in years, but I actually have some episodes saved on my DVR. (I need to get a new cable box due to our hi-def TV upgrade, but I'm trying to watch everything on the DVR first. And it will kill me to give up my "Country Style" for good!) Here's the only video I could find online of this old show:

Big Girl even likes to watch these old shows with me, and enjoys the coziness of our version of country style. I hope I inspire her to like vintage things as much as I do.