How I Found My Style Sundays- Fern Avenue (repost)

I am doing a repost of Fern Avenue's feature from this past Sunday. She was included in a special two home feature. I am not able to make a link for her beautiful home under "How I Found My Style Sundays" unless I separate it and make it its own post. You can see the original post here.

I am beyond thrilled to be hanging out at Pamela’s place today.   It is a pleasure and such an honor to be coming here to share my home and decorating style with you.

I am Lynn and I blog over at Fern Avenue Blog. You can generally find me either sharing my love of refreshing, recycling and re-purposing furniture, auction ventures and our ongoing projects around our home. 

So please sit back, relax and enjoy the ride as I share with you my style!

I enjoy the challenge of finding a good bargain.  I love hitting up auctions and estate sales to try and find that special treasure to add to my home.

My most recent estate sale treasure..this lovely butcher block island.

What's your decorating style?

I am not sure I could honestly tell you what my exact style is (you stumped me Pam), but I'd have to say a little farmhouse, cottage, and country with some nice vintage items in the mix.  I wanted to created a place where when you walked in the front door you immediately felt comfortable pulling up a chair and staying a while. 

My focus has been to create more of a place where you feel "home is where your story begins".  I have more of a "Lynn's style" than to follow what is in or trending at the moment.  

Our home is full of my auction, estate, & treasure hunting finds, with a bit of my diy creations. 

Whether it be to enjoy a nice cold beverage on a hot day or to sit around our gigantic farm style handcrafted table to playing a round of cards, I want our guests to feel right at home.

Custom Built Farm Table with my recent antique chair purchase from an auction

You will notice that I do change things around often.  As my girls always say 

"you made this room look different".  

Notice the different chairs at the dining room table :)

I enjoy bringing in items that can bring a bold focus point in our home such as our pantry door.

 

And,

Our Kitchen Island

Our kitchen, dining room and living room is one big open space.  

An inviting space for friends & family to visit often.  

How did you "find" your decorating style?

I grew up in a very small ranching community in Texas.  I spent much of time in the summers across the street at a families home swimming the hot summer days away.  The homeowners were a well-known wealthy ranch family. It was a beautiful house, but more importantly it was filled with love & happiness that made it into a home...  You always felt right at home.  The family focused on true quality family time.  It left a lasting impression on me.

As a little girl I instantly knew I wanted my home to be that home.  Reflecting back to that I believe that is "how" I found my decorating style.  Filling our home with a fun and happy place to create memories to last a lifetime.

When I am out hunting I keep a mental note of each room and what I am looking to create.

Refinished armoire for the girls dress-up clothes

Refinish bookcase

I wanted a playroom that was cheerful and colorful filled with my girls favorite things.  

They love to read, play with puzzles, and dress up to have tea parties with their animal friends.  I often find them playing school with their animals that have names of the kids in their class.

This is the exact feel I wanted to create for my girls, for them to have a special place to make memories with each other.  A place for them to talk about when they are married with their own children.

Wrapping paper dresser

Family & friends are important to us and so I've created a space for special 

memories 

with photos of our loved ones...

....adding more as more memories are created.  

I took old dressers and turned them into our vanities for the girls bathroom 

and the master bathroom to give it a stamp of us.

This is the girls bathroom.  

And, I posted here on how I turned an old white dresser into this vanity.

Master Bathroom Vanity

Our master bedroom is our place of calm.

A space created for us to relax and unwind at the end of the day.   

A place to gather before going to bed, or a spot to write blogs, check emails 

and browse the world wide web.

Or for cousins to hang out, play games & watch movies.

This is our upstairs common area....

Our home houses a collection of things that I've been hunting for a long time 

and have come across in my journey to refill our lives.  And, to 

hopefully pass down to my girls to fill their homes with love & memories.

The memory of me & my Papa and below the bench he made so many years ago...

 

Old sewing machine table found at Habitat for Humanity Restore

                   

                         A secretary desk I found at one of my favorite auctions..

A beautiful picture found at a tag sale last summer for $5

I’ve learned what I like and what makes our house feel like a home.  If I place things in an area and I am just not feeling it, I move it around.  I don’t mind styling and restyling until it feels right.

What tips do you have for creating a beautiful home?

I truly believe a home is built from the heart. So follow your heart. Don't be afraid to take that leap of faith, if you love it and it makes you happy, I say go for it. Try not to get caught up in what everyone else has and is doing, as it can run you in circles.  When you see a home that is decorated the way you love, create inspirations from there.

What has been your most treasured find for your home?

My very most treasured find!!  This has a bittersweet story…   When we were doing renovations on our house prior to the fire, my husband and I had hit up an estate sale looking for a couple pieces of furniture for me to redo.  We had pulled up and immediately spotted 2 pieces and tagged them.  It was a multi-family estate sale and one lady was an old antique dealer.  I walked behind the tables with the small finds and I immediately spotted this rocking horse.  In pristine condition.

I had been out at many different antique shops and had seen this rocking horse for lots of money (some from anywhere between $600 - $1000)!  I remember specifically because this sweet horse was embedded in my mind…I love horses!  He was made of wood with a leather seat and English stir-ups..he was absolutely gorgeous.

I walked up and tried so hard to contain my excitement.  The sweet lady said she’d really like to see it go to a nice home that it held sentimental value but she needed to see it move on.  The price $90!!  I cried!  I won’t lie. 

Once we were ready to move into the house, all of our stuff had been moved in.  The next morning when we got the call of the fire…my mind was numb.  Once I gathered myself and walked around to the back of the house, I noticed that the downstairs bedroom mainly had water damage…  And, there he sat... I saw him through a busted out window. I cried!  

He has water damage, but he will be restored!!   He is my most treasured item…

and I feel so fortunate to have him make it .....I believe it was meant for us to be together

Thank you Pamela for having me here at From My Front Porch To Yours!! It was a true pleasure!