decor: vintage vases

I planted a variety pack of sunflowers in the spring, and they've all grown to a nice mix of sizes. I picked some of the smallest ones and put them in three white vintage bud vases. It's always nice to have fresh flowers in the house, especially ones you grew yourself.

I adore these vases. Before my wedding, my mom and grandma spent months looking around thrift stores and flea markets for these vases. They found hundreds of them, and my mom only spent a quarter or 50 cents on each of them. We ordered cream-colored roses from Sam's Club to put in the vases, and we put groupings of the vases, along with candles, on each of the tables.

The guests took most of the vases home, but I kept a few of them for myself. I have three of them on my mantle, and it's nice to incorporate a piece of our wedding into our decor.

And how's this for crazy. Tony and I were at an antique store in Maryland a few weeks ago, and I saw one of these vases -- for $13!

decor: vintage postcards

Tony doesn't usually take the lead on home decor projects, but he got the ball rolling on this one. We framed vintage postcards from the cities we've lived in and hung them at the entry to our house: 

Tony picked up the first three postcards at an antique store in Ohio: his hometown, my hometown, and where we went to college. I liked the postcards, but we didn't have a plan for them at the time. We kept our eyes open and eventually found postcards at antique stores for the other three cities we've lived in: Augusta, Ga., Phoenix, and Washington.

It's a good reminder of where we're from. Plus, they're pretty darn cool. The Washington postcard may be my favorite:

I picked up the frame a couple of years ago on clearance at Michael's, and I bought the glass this weekend at the Lowe's in New Carrollton for about $6. As a side note, I found out the Home Depot in Northeast that I usually go to doesn't cut glass for you, but the Lowe's will do it.