thrifty style at 73

simple life, vintage & thrifted treasures...

Abigail Ahern on Kitchens

Finally layer, layer, layer. The thing I hate the most about kitchens is how sterile they often look and feel. Softening them up will help endlessly. I stack my recipe books out along the counter, and use runner rugs along the floor. My decorative console in front of the window displays fruit bowls, candles, lights, plants, herbs and sculptural accessories… you name it. Don’t forget art too!

...a super-sized picture thrifted years ago...

i also blog here...

SCENE IN OUR GARDEN

August 2023
8 months ago
Life and Godliness

Yes! It Could!
8 months ago
Power, Love, and Self-Control

the strength NOT to...
6 years ago
The GATES’ POST

Spelling Bee
8 years ago

things that I see and like...
things that I like and see

....in our dining area

Blogs I Visit

Ephemera

5 hours ago
Vintage Vixen

1 day ago
q is for quandie

1 day ago
Catherine Holman Folk Art

2 days ago
A Joyful Cottage

2 days ago
How to be Chic

5 days ago
As I See It Now

1 week ago
down---to---earth

1 week ago
Susan Branch Blog

2 weeks ago
Freunde von Freunden

2 weeks ago
The Socialite Family » Familles

4 weeks ago
My Shabbychic Vintage Frugal Life

4 weeks ago
4 the love of wood

4 months ago
Just Practicing Random Acts of Kindness

5 months ago
No Minimalist Here

7 months ago
Coffee Tea Books and Me

9 months ago
Just a little less

1 year ago
Advanced Style

1 year ago
At Rivercrest Cottage

1 year ago
decordemon

1 year ago
Moon to Moon

1 year ago
My Journey To Mindfulness

2 years ago
Lanier's Books

2 years ago
My Grama's Soul

2 years ago
ART ON THE FARM

2 years ago
FABBY'S LIVING

2 years ago
My Style-Thrifting, Fashion and Me

3 years ago
HOME & GARDEN

3 years ago
Janie Fox talks

3 years ago
vignette design

3 years ago
Jeannie Marie & Company

3 years ago
Divine Theatre

4 years ago
Mod Vintage Life

4 years ago
Better After

4 years ago
Little Farmstead

4 years ago
Home

4 years ago
Blog - Accidental Icon

5 years ago
the Grit and Polish

5 years ago
VILLA BETULA

5 years ago
The French Tangerine

5 years ago
Faded*Charm

5 years ago
GARAGE SALE GAL

6 years ago
Babylon Sisters

6 years ago
Chateau Chic

6 years ago
Precious Cottage

6 years ago
An Enchanted Cottage

6 years ago
Abigail Ahern

6 years ago
Scandinavian Fancy Windows /Scandinavian Fancy Windows/ Scandinavian Fancy Windows

6 years ago
La Maison Boheme

6 years ago
GYPSY YAYA

7 years ago
The Suburban Hermit

7 years ago
An Indian Summer

7 years ago
The Apothecary Shop...

7 years ago
Heaven's Walk

8 years ago
Get Campie: An online picture parade of vintage RV's

"Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude, and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful." ~Author Unknown

i ♥ chairs

friends

Let your boat of life be light Packed with only what you need --A homely home and simple pleasures, One or two friends worth the name, Someone to love and someone to love you, A cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, Enough to eat and enough to wear, And a little more than enough to drink...For thirst is a dangerous thing.
-- Jerome K Jerome from "Three Men in a Boat"

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wood (4)
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Style doesn't care about money.

Creativity often lies in the constraints

"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone." Coco Chanel

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."-Oscar Wilde

"It's not about how much you spend, but what you dig up." (Iris Apfe)

Want what you have,
do what you can,
be who you are.

Forrest Church

"A master in the ART OF LIVING draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”
~Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand

thrift shop treasures

"One should wear a longer hemline with a lower neckline and a higher neckline with a shorter hemline."

miscellany re. style

William Morris: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Save up and spend well!
"When I wear a red coat on a rainy day, I give a gift to all who look at me." (Paloma Picasso)
"I'm not a fashion person. I'm anti-fashion. I don't like to be part of that world. It's too transient. I have never been influenced by it. I'm interested in longevity, timelessness, style - not fashion." (Ralph Lauren)

"Parisiens do dress almost exclusively in greys and neutrals, so I'm not sure why they complain so much about the greyness," so says Paris Breakfasts.

I'd fit in quite well, I think!

I like this amber-glass bottle. It sits on one of our chest of drawers. Here it is encircled by a turquoise bracelet...

View the art-filled interior of Bland's home. Amazing!

Living well isn't hard and it doesn't have to cost a bundle. It's not your wallet; it's your mindset.

outdoor homestyle

Click on picture for more views around the outside our home

Congratulate yourselves if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

homestyle

My husband repaired a leg on this chair and upholstered the back of it for me. It is only one of many projects he has completed in time for my birthday. We found this chair for $3 at our favorite thrift store!

"...bargains are for the prepared" says Lisa, a guest writer here. While included in a holiday gift-shopping tip, it is SO true anytime!

Hand-created in 2009

'Economy is a poor man's revenue; extravagance a rich man's ruin.'

"The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." - Socrates

Don't worry about clothes...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:28 & 33)

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening." - Coco Chanel

REAL STYLE....
Do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing--but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. I Peter 3:3-4

"I’m really glad I went ahead and photographed it, because I don’t know of anything or anyone with a more honest opinion than the camera." (http://workwithwhatyouvegot.blogspot.com)

"my uniform"

"Stop thinking of it as boring and consider it your signature look."

With this advice/encouragement, I confidently wear well-fitting white or black shirts and tops with black, gray or denim skirts or slacks.

Gitte Lee is one of my fashion models. http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/2010/07/gitte-lee-art-of-personal-style.html

what i value in clothing

Classic style
Good fit
Simplicity
East in maintenance
Modesty
Quality
Appropriateness
Affordability
Comfort

...an important tool of the "trade"

"You will do foolish things. But do them with enthusiasm." Colette.

I sewed these skirts and purses out of fabric from a dress I was no longer wearing. The granddaughters were eager to pose!

Let Me Grow Lovely
Let me grow lovely, growing old-
So many fine things do.
Lace, ivory, and gold, and silks need not be new.
There is healing in old trees,
old streets a glamour hold.
Why may not I, as well as these,
Grow lovely, growing old.
Karle Baker - The Best Loved Poems of the American People 1939

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humble beginnings