summer heat and staying cool

Today is going to be a hot one! Finally! Last summer we didn't really have much heat, it rained a lot and stayed pretty cool. This summer I think is going to be different. And with this Iowa humidity, it usually feels hotter than the actual temp.

I finally turned on our air yesterday, the humidity got to me. Actually the melting of my Annie Sloan wax while I was trying to work on a piece of furniture inside my house got to me. That is a little uncomfortably warm if your wax melts inside your house, don't ya think?

So, today, I will be working comfortably with air conditioning. But while we have air in the house, our farm animals do not have that luxury.

These gals think they have the answer to staying cool. Yuck!

We will be outside several times a day in this heat, checking on our animals. The cows have automatic waters, and they have ample shade, but all of our birds (chickens and peacocks) will need fresh cool water brought to them throughout the day. Besides drinking it, they like to stand in it. That is the fastest way for the birds to cool their body temperature. 

And also, my pretty flowers will probably need a little extra attention in this heat. 

These are the days that I wish we had a pool here at the farm. But maybe if we go outside in our swimsuits and water down our 4H calves, we can pretend that we are laying poolside....that is what I'll tell my kiddos! 

Obsessed Much Mondays: Barn Sale Goodies

Welcome to another addition of Obsessed Much Mondays...where I tell a story and share pictures of what has me so obsessed at the moment. Because we all tend to get obsessed with things, and I love getting things off my chest and sharing it with all my friends. Haha!!

This past weekend, I focused mainly on the upcoming Barn Sale. Summer life is always mixed with a lot of projects, 4H things to accomplish (getting the cows to be "show-ready", kids' homemade projects, etc), activities, sports, Bible School, hopefully a family vaca squeezed in....the list goes on and on! And with our Bailey Barn Sale, we are even MORE crazy, I mean busy! 

So, Marci and I thought it would be fun to show some sneak peaks of what we have been working on....and because some of our friends and customers are chomping to see some goodies!! We can't show EVERYTHING, we want some things to be a surprise when you come shopping on JUNE 20th! 

So in no particular order, here are just a few handpicked goodies....

This is a future wine rack....seriously some beautiful wood, it is still in progess, but oh so cool! 

I have been working on these Vintage inspired Science Posters, if you haven't seen them in person, they are my new favorite design element....there are about 10-12 different ones available for this sale. 

Some junkin treasures..These items are STAPLES in our home. I love sap buckets. I use them as large vases and there is a hole on the back of each one,which are fun hanging on a wall. And of course, crates, they are perfect caddies, trays, or shelving on a wall! And these ones are beautiful. 

Marci will have several of her ever-so-popular wood-burned and painted treasures. Including this amazing lazy susan....

Handmade vintage-inspired food signs.... I actually want several of these for myself! 

There will be several of these reclaimed wood signs , and this one is MY FAVORITE, I'm sure you can guess why!?! 

Our talented husbands will again show their creativity with quite a few of their designs. This repurposed wire spool is an awesome coffee table. 

And what is a Barn Sale without several Barnwood Frames to choose from. These sold out quickly, so we will have more to choose from this time! Here are just a few.....

I have hunted down some amazing seed sacks which are being made into pillows. These are just samples of what they will look like. (These are mine!!) Someday, I hope to learn to sew, in the meantime my Mama is a great help in getting this accomplished! Thanks Mom! 

My daughter, Sierra, has started her own little crafty business called "Sierra's Dreams". This is a photo of her first dreamcatcher she had made as a 4H project last year. On another post I will highlight all the beautiful ones that she has created since this first one. She will have her own display at the Barn Sale, I am one proud Mama, and you all will LOVE what she has created!! 

Marci is a Junkin Queen, and has so much fun junkin goodness to show, that I could not get it all photographed....the photo below were some of my favorites that she has shown me. Ya'll, I want EVERYTHING....

There are a few other friends that will be selling their goodies also. I don't want to spoil all the fun and show you too much! 

But there you have a little peak to hopefully spark your interest! Having a summer sale is turning out to be so much fun. Hopefully the weather is nice that day so we can have a lot of our displays outside. But if not, the shop will be full and a nicely shaded place for you to do some shopping! There will be so much furniture, repurposed junk, vintage treasures, homemade items, candles, signage, frames, pillows, so many fun things for you to start (or finish) a gallery wall in your home!! 

Please make sure to follow the barn sale on Facebook, you can get to it by clicking HERE.

And I will be instagramming it all also, you can follow that by clicking HERE, or clicking on the hashtag #baileybarnsale. 

Now, I better get some more work done, we have less then 2 weeks left!! 

These logs are calling my name to make something beautiful out of them......

Because we are blessed to be homeowners

Do you love your home? I do....obviously! But do you thank God for your home and all that you have in it?

{Having a little fun with my editing website!} 

 The other day when I was mowing (and yes, I LOVE TO MOW), I had a little chit chat with the Lord. (Because when you have a couple hours to yourself on a mower, that is when the best conversations happen!) 

I thanked him for our 10 acres of beautiful land that he has blessed us with. And realized that when I am doing yard-work, I usually have a smile on my face. Weird, right? Why would a woman who is sweating in places that aren't ladylike and getting her hands, clothes, and feet dirty, have a smile on her face?? Well, let me tell you.....

This property of ours is a dream come true, each tree that is planted here.... 

.....each flower that is growing......

.....every building and garden.....we planted or built....

{Grainy cell phone pic, of the "builders"...Thanks guys!!}

{Herb and strawberry garden all filled in!}

 .....all but this cute little outhouse, this was an Auction purchase, Ha!

So why wouldn't I feel thankful and blessed?? Sure, it gets overwhelming being a homeowner....I would be lying if I said anything different. But God has put each of us where we are for a reason, I whole-heartedly believe that. We want this home, we want this farm, taking care of it and making it look it's best is not a job. If we looked at it as a burden, then we should leave and sell it to someone who sees it for the beauty that it is. 

I believe that a thankful heart is so much fuller. And life is way too short to not love and be thankful for your home. We wanted this home, why not be happy to take care of it? If you find yourself not happy in your home...do something about it. Start by being thankful for it.

 This is the place that is yours to be whatever you want to be.

 In the outside world, we have jobs or careers that tell us who were are. We have friends or acquaintances that may see us for who we are. We have meetings, errands to run, schedules to attend to, obligations.....all those things make up a little of who we are. But home, that is a place where we can be whatever we want. If you want to be a chef...go for it! If you want to be a singer to take on the next American Idol, you just GO and do that! At our home, we like to be farmers, cowboys, artists, designers. It's YOUR home, be who you WANT to be! 

 But you don't have to have the "DREAM" land or the million dollar mansion to be happy and thankful. Right where you are, this is the home you live in. It might be a cute little apartment, it might be a fixer-upper, it might be a rental while you save for a future home, or you might have a nice house that you plan to stay in. Whatever it is, thank the Lord for it. Choose to put a smile on your face while you do that yardwork, or sweep your floors.

 This is your home, taking care of it is a privilege.  

So, go pull those weeds, go put some pretty inexpensive flowers on your apartment  balcony, go mow with a smile on your face! Change the outlook on the chores of taking care of your home, because it's a privilege and a blessing to have one! 

A Summer-ized Coffee Room, take 1

Our coffee room was built long after we moved in. Realizing that we wanted a fireplace to sit around and be cozy with on cold mornings. That was 9 years ago !!?? Weird how time flies when you are an adult. Anyway, not until this past spring did we understand that we could actually use this room the other 6 months of the year! Who knew? I find myself sitting in here every morning....sipping my coffee....listening to the morning moo'ing and cock-a-doodle-dooing outside.....reading the day's Jesus Calling page....and catching up on my favorite blogs! There is no better way to wake up each day, in my opinion! 

What probably took me so long to use this in the warmer months was that the furniture placement was always wrong. This is a small room, and therefore I just had 2 big comfy chairs and an ottoman in here, along with some side tables. You can see the other ways that this room has looked HERE and HERE. But I longed for better seating, and since I am always rearranging my furniture to different rooms, why not try something new in here??

So in came the furniture that was a regular in the front room. It had a loveseat and matching chair and ottoman. Now normally, I don't go for matchy, matchy, but this works well together size-wise and are super comfy! They were hand-me-downs by my mom, so free is good, right?

Summertime is all about being outdoors, so I bring in a lot of plants to my rooms. Since doing the Cozy Minimalist class, I am trying to stay with what was taught to me, and tried to only use things that are beautiful and useful to us. 

A lot of pillows are always a must with our family, and not just because I'm a pillow hoarder! We actually gather in this tiny room most mornings, so the extra pillows are used as backrests for my kiddos. (That new "South Side" one is an ode to my upbringing, which makes me happy!)

And yes, I don't like the fact that you see a cord hanging down the wall, but this fountain is so amazing that I deal with the cord! Ha!

Now here is where I tell you that this room is about to get an overhaul. I actually LOVE how this room looks and feels, but you know how I told you that my mom gave us this furniture? Well, she wants it back....{Sigh}. 

But, with every cloud....there is a silver lining, right? I get to stretch my design wings, and see what I can come up with. It will probably end with me shopping for new furniture....but will start with me shopping our house and using some imagination. 

And why is it that when you see a picture of yourself, or a room that you think looks good, you can see ALL THE FLAWS?? Getting ready to load pictures and write this post, I suddenly can see that the stone wall is way too busy for the rug currently in here....which is sad, because it's my favorite and its super soft.... so when this room gets re-done in the next couple weeks, I will be sure to show you what I came up with as a temporary solution (until new furniture is in the budget). As of now, I have no idea!! 

Bailey Barn Sale in June

Good morning! How did I miss that it is June already? I have known for a while that we were going to host a sale in June, and now that it is here.....um, I'm not ready. Not. Even. Close. But it doesn't stop me from being so very excited for it. 

Our first Barn Sale was a huge dream come true, and was very successful. A lot of things happen in life that don't go as you had expected, and you just get busy too. We didn't plan to wait this long to have another one, and we hope to have more in the future! (Actually, we have even BIGGER plans for the future!!)

Here is the info that I have posted on my "Shop" tab on the top bar of this page......which I will update as soon as we know about each new sale date! 

________________________________________________________________________________

SATURDAY, JUNE 20th, 2015

9am- 3pm

10591 NE 82nd Ave.

Bondurant, IA  50035

Homemade, Vintage, Repurposed, Furniture, Gifts, and More!

Hosted by: Kim and Marci Bailey

Featuring: Irishman Acres, Old Country Candles, 91 Chickens, Reclaim on Main, and friends!! 

Visit our Facebook Page: Bailey Barn Sale

________________________________________________________________________________

My sister-in-law, Marci, and I (shown here at our first sale).......

......are so very excited to have a summer event. She has started a new venture called Reclaim on Main, and has really mastered the art of "reclaimed, repurposed" junk! She also is a beautiful artist who has sold countless pieces of her work! Wait until you see all that she is bringing to the sale, sorry, no peaking quite yet!! 

We, Irishman Acres, will be bringing items that we have repurposed, some vintage, some homemade items....all in our style. I only buy and sell items that I would love to have in my own home. So, IF you like our style (which I consider Vintage, Earthy, Tribal, Farmhouse), then you will love the items we are featuring. I may show some sneak peaks of our items in the couple weeks to come....in the meantime, follow along on Instagram and Facebook and I may show some peaks there!! :)

Obsessed Much Mondays: Form over Function

Now that summer is in full swing, and this is our official first Monday, I would like to bring back my little series.... 

This is a fun way that I can share what has been on my mind and what I've been obsessing about! 

You all know that I love everything about this little farm of ours, we take pride in this place and hope to never take for granted how lucky and blessed we are. Doing the yard work has always been my thing.......pulling weeds, landscaping, mowing, perennial gardening, potting flowers, and just generally keeping up with the daily tasks of making our place beautiful! 

Baileyhusband is a hard worker and Summertime is his BUSY season, he also takes care of our cows for the most part and does all the BIG jobs around here like building things, repairs, planting our vegetable garden, using the weed-eater (because I'm convinced I will lose a leg), etc. Even though most of the yard-work is happily left to me..one thing that I cannot touch is OUR BARN....or more accurately, our BARNYARD.....

See how beautiful it is in that photo? This is truly a magnificent building built so carefully by my talented husband. But folks, this is not how this looks as of today. That photo above was taken in our first fall after completing the Barn. So picture perfect....and if you look closely, you can see the top of Gunnar's head in the doorway! He's a little taller now! 

I have this constant battle with the husband about FORM over FUNCTION. You see, I want everything to just be pretty, especially this amazing structure on our property. I mean, it has been the backdrop for some amazing photos...

  

But in those photos, I hid a little secret, which I will (reluctantly) show now.....

You see, we show cattle at the County and State Fairs, and this IS an actual working barn. There needs to be a place for the cattle to get washed.....

And a place for them to get looked at safely by the vet.....

And the man in charge doesn't mind the grass (or weeds) growing in here a little so the cows can get a snack when waiting in line to get a bath.....

BUT I WANT IT TO BE PRETTY TO LOOK AT!! And so the argument goes....

I know that ultimately, I cannot and will not win this battle. Our cattle are a huge part of our farm, and we love them!

 And to take care of them, there needs to be all of this mess....

So there you have a little glimpse of the nuances of our marriage..haha! He thinks that our farm doesn't need to be pretty, just functional. And of course, I think EVERYTHING needs to be pretty! 

Please tell me that I am not alone in this?? But I will share something that I am proud of....this weekend we had a group of friends over that had never seen our home and farm. I brought them down to the barn for a full tour of our livestock...and later that evening I remembered that I didn't apologize once for overgrown weeds/grass or the way the barnyard looked in general! So, somehow I am either getting used to the fact that it won't be this showplace of a yard, or just hoping that the rest of our yard makes up for it! :)

Anyway, this is what I have been obsessing over lately....time for me to go tend to my pretty flowers and fluff the pillows on our porch! Thanks for stopping by friends!!