A few people have asked me about the month’s that have no holiday, what do I do?  June is one of those.  And this one was hard for me, as I mentioned in January.  Early on I decided that I wanted to use yellow and green, because those are the colors that come to mind when I think of the beginning of summer, the sun shinning, the grass being mown.  And then…?  I struggled.  I finally came to the decision that I wanted to capture the essence of Hobbiton.  Nerdy I know.  But Hobbiton feels like perpetual summer to me.  So with that in mind I decided on a sort of rustic farmhouse style.  Maybe a little bit of French farmhouse thrown in there.  Because you know, France.  It’s my obsession.  I must admit though that I am terrible about classifying styles.  So maybe I missed the mark on that, I can’t tell.  But either way the June décor feels like summer to me, soooo I am happy.

After I had everything out, minus the fresh flowers, succulents (pictured below) and the paper flowers for the chicken wire wreath, I took a step back and looked at everything.  And was a bit disappointed.  I didn’t love it.  I stared at it for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out why I didn’t love it.  And then I realized.  The way I had it all placed it was all perfectly symmetrical.  So I removed some things, moved others around and it made the hugest difference.  Even Vu could see how much better it looked.  And he does love his symmetry.  Also goes to show how much fresh flowers add to a space.

The day that I changed out everything was a really warm sunny day, the first one in this string of warm sunny days we had (which ended today).  So all the neighborhood kids were out riding their bikes and having water fights in their kiddie pools, the crew of guys that mows a bunch of the neighborhood’s lawns was out that day mowing everyone’s lawn, and all the neighbors were out chatting.  The only thing it was missing was an ice cream truck driving around and someone grilling up some meat.  So it really felt like the beginning of summer.  Bring on the frozen lemonade’s!

I know flowers in pitcher’s say farmhouse style, Pinterest says so!

The very first thing I decided I wanted was a window picture frame with pictures of yellow flowers in it.  When I went to the salvage yard looking for a window for the shelves for March, I also was looking for one for June.  But like I mentioned, they were all moldy and gross.  Shortly after that I was in Michael’s and happened to see this one, and I had a 50% off coupon.  Which made this frame only $5 more than the dirty gross ones from the salvage yard.  For $5 more I didn’t have to do a single thing to it, and since it is actually meant to be a picture frame instead of you know, a window…, each section is double paned and has little holders in the back to make inserting and removing pictures super easy.  I say that is a win, win for me.

Milk crate and milk can(?) from Hobby Lobby.  Note the metal pail on the left with the French writing…

The large mason jar was actually an idea I saw at Hobby Lobby.  They had something really similar to this, but I thought I could make if for cheaper.  I am not sure if it actually was though.

For the rag garland I used a few fat quarters, and a few other cuts of fabric that I liked, some ribbon lace and burlap.  I cut a bunch of pieces 2″ wide and the length of the short side of the fat quarter, 20″ I think.  Then I tied them onto some twine and hung it up.

I made the “wreath” from an oval frame, chicken wire and wood.  I really wanted to find a circular wood picture frame, and I looked everywhere but couldn’t find anything.  This one is plastic.  I cut the wood to the same shape and size as the frame, then stained and painted the wood and frame, had a friend use his staple gun to attach the chicken wire to the wood and then glued a few small popsicle sticks to the edges in between the wire and glued the frame to the popsicle sticks.  I used the same Vaseline trick before painting to get the aged cracked look that I used on the shelves for March.  Then I made some little paper flowers and attached them to the wire with some small cloths pins.

See another pitcher with fresh flowers?    I started making these napkins back in December.  I cut squares out of linen and crocheted the edges onto them.  And since French farmhouse equals French linens, I decided they were perfect.  (Vu bought us the Sonos sound system this week and it is awesome!  I can listen to anything I want and control it from my phone and turn it off in certain rooms and I can walk all around the house and never lose the sound.  I am definitely going to use this to force Vu to listen to all 7 Harry Potter books.  Because it is about time that he “read” them seeing as I love them so much!)

And more linen napkins, chicken wire and moss balls.  Plus some old school measuring spoons and silver spoons that I got from my grandmother.  The silver utensils have a fancy little engraved P on the handle, and I am currently the only one in the family whose last name starts with a P.  🙂

Although obviously at some point in my family tree someone else’s did too.  And a random selection of correctly colored books.  See that one on top?  Guy de Maupassant…a French author. 🙂

The coffee table centerpiece is my very favorite thing for June.  I saw something similar on Pinterest but it linked to a website that sold a number of décor items including a bunch of succulent planter boxes, but no where could I find the one that I had seen in the pin.  Of course I wanted to make some changes to it anyway… so I made one instead.

I have a bunch of 2″ clear glass square vases from my wedding so I decided to use them to hold the succulents.  Then I made some boxes out of 1/2″ thick boards and 1/4″ thick plywood, and made them to fit around the vases.  Also.  The long skinny planter box that I made that I used in February and April I made with the intention of being able to put some 4″ square vases in and cut it so the inside of the box was exactly 4″ when apparently my 4″ vases are actually about 4 1/8″.  So you know, they don’t actually fit inside of it.  I made sure to measure every single length on the vase this time before I cut the wood.  And before I glued it I made sure they would fit.  After I constructed the box I stained the whole thing, then painted it all white.  With multiple coats of white paint.  The “Life of Pi” audio book got me through that one (which by the way is way sadder than I thought it would be).  And then I distressed them all, so some parts the stain shows through and other parts the plain wood.  Then I bought these super adorable little succulents to put inside.  They are way tinier than the picture makes them look, which of course makes them that much more adorable.  Even the cashier that checked me out at the store couldn’t contain a little squeal over their utter adorableness.

I didn’t get around to making any pillows cases this month either… but I did buy the yellow pillow.  So I do have one.

This tray I found on clearance about 6 years ago.  It’s bamboo, and I didn’t love the color.  But I really liked the shape and weight of the tray.  And it was super cheap.  So I bought it with the intention of painting it.  And ended up moving it around with me for the last 4 moves and storing it in the closet each time.  So I FINALLY got around to painting it.  And to be honest I am actually kind of glad I waited.  Because over those 6 years I have had many different intentions for this tray.  But this current design is my favorite one of all the ideas that I have had.  But at the time all the past ideas were also my favorite too.  So maybe in a year I will have another idea that will be my even more favorite and I will wish I had waited another year.  Only time will tell.

It had a varnish on it, so I sanded it to death.  Seriously.  So much sanding.  My least favorite part of working with wood.  After the first round I did a test run of stain on the bottom of the tray.  Definitely wasn’t sanded evenly.  Super obvious what areas still had some varnish on it.  So there was a necessary round 2 of stupid sanding.  But it was worth it to have a nice even coat of stain.  The sides aren’t so even, because they were super hard to sand, but I kind of didn’t care and also like that they are uneven.  More rustic that way.  Or I think so.  Maybe that would drive you crazy.  Then I spent way too long cutting little pieces of painter’s tape to create the little Celtic knot design on it before painting it white.  But I really love it.  Also.  Happy flowers!  The table runner I found at Home Goods.

And there you have it.  Half way through the year.  Yay!

January, February, March, April and May!