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How to Dress “French Country” for Fashion
You know about French Country decor. That laid back beauty of expensive toile curtains combined with rustic dirty wood floors that look great together. A little rustic and a little polish. Fashion is no different. You can combine the practical and comfortable with the pretty. I like pairing my dusty cowgirl boots with my flowy floral dresses. I need that foot protection and I love the shape of my boots but they are a bit clonky compared to delicate dresses but I love the combination. This is a previously maxi length dress that I hemmed to mid calf to wear easily outdoors. The French use nice things daily. They do…
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Shopping for Your Homestead 10 Tips to Buying Land
This article will cover the most vital ten items to question about potential properties. If you are purchasing an existing house check out Top 10 Tips for buying a Country House here. 1. Road access. You drove up to the property listing. Is the road to access to the property maintained by the buyer, the county, a neighbor? Is it level or steep? Is it narrow or wide? Will this road be dangerous in the winter? Consider the vehicles and the size of any loads you will need to drive down the road to the property and make sure it suits those needs. I caution to not get involved with…
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Top 10 Tips for buying a House in the Country
These are the ten most important questions to ask when buying a house in the country. To see the Top 10 Tips for Buying Land click here. 1. Water. Is it well or city water? What is the age and condition of the well equipment? What is the well water pressure like? 2. Test your water. Test for bacteria, chemicals, minerals, etc. 3. Septic system. Where is the drain field on the property? This would be an area that you cannot plant or build anything. Or park on. How close to the water well is the drain field? What type of plumbing pipes were used? Ceramic, metal, pvc? 4. Zoning.…
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Country Mornings & Classic Style for Fall Cold Weather
In the morning, I get dressed on my way out of bed and I head outdoors with a hot coffee. The scenery is full of the news of my surroundings and the headlines are joyful: “Sunlight peers through the trees”, “Fog blankets dew kissed pasture”, While the world rushes by distracted…. “The birds sing”. The moments of the morning suspend in the very air I inhale. Droplets of mist and pollen glisten as they ballet dance in the sun rays. Out here the land seems to exist with no time, it just is. The pastel soft colors awaken slowly into day light. Every morning a gift, each morning unique. There…
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Country Outfits: The Pioneer Style to Not Wear
Living in the country is beautiful. We often see photographs of romantic and dramatic garments being worn in fields sweeping behind a model and blowing in the wind. That may even seem realistic knowing that pioneer women forged rough unknown territory wearing long garments. While we have good documentation of what they lived, we forget that many things were left to the men to do outdoors. Many difficulties may have gone unrecorded because of their sense of what was just normal to endure. Since moving to the country and wearing my long dresses I have learned what works in less manicured nature. I have altered ankle grazing length to a…
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Fall Fashion in the Country
Since there is little on the subject of fashion for country women, here is another fashion post to help you ladies. One of my favorite fall wardrobe staples is a long knit sweater to wear with thick leggings and boots. I found this gem on https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0991Y25MG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details for a good price and it was the exact length I needed. The pockets are useful and the button down front makes it have a nice cardigan look rather than a sweater dress look. I like that the cardigan style requires a top underneath for an added layer of warmth or a way to style it differently depending what you pair underneath. When it’s…
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Homestead Fashion Essentials
Function without sacrificing femininity PocketsIf you put something on, make sure it has pockets because you will need them. You can even enjoy your dresses out on your property because more are now being made with pockets due to customer demand. Finding blouses with pockets is almost non existent, so my fashion secret is buying short dresses with pockets and wearing them as my long blouse! Sometimes I hem them if they’re just a bit too long to be a blouse length. I even started only buying leggings that have side pockets to use for my cell phone because it can’t fall out easily. This is also a helpful feature…
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Classy Country Woman Fashion
Country living requires different fashion essentials than city life. And how freeing it is. Goodbye uncomfortable high heels. Country women need fashion comfortable for working outdoors, climbing fences, riding horses, gardening and frolicking through the pasture. A flowy blouse, a standard pair of black leggings and boots is one of the best classy but comfortable outfits for rural life. This is not a look that is on the fashion radar. But this outfit formula looks flattering no matter what is in fashion. Modeling my outfit in the woods. The white has even been doused in my spilled coffee and left for a week in a hamper and it still came…
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How Often Should You __? Housekeeping Schedule (it really is this simple)
How often do you change your sheets? Bleach your toilet? Wash the shower curtain liner? There are some house keeping duties that do not belong to the daily cleaning routine. Newlyweds and new mothers, whether full time homemakers or not, often find themselves clueless about the technicalities of running a household due to the lack of training for it. If you learn these principles, you will schedule cleaning like a pro. 1) If you use it daily but it’s not the dishes, floors, or trash, it is a once a week item. 2) Examples: sheets, shower, toilet, sinks. Just clean them once a week on any day that works for…
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The High Impact Daily Cleaning Routine
DishesFloorsTrash I learned this routine from a seasoned homemaker who diligently kept this cleaning routine every. single. day. She had her entire family involved in this routine after dinner. It was a frenzied whirlwind family event of each person spearheading their task until all was done. Everyone had a sense of accomplishment and the children were learning the part they play in creating and cleaning mess. This woman had one of the most pristinely kept houses I have ever experienced. I use to think she must spend a lot of time and effort cleaning until I learned it was simply a daily dedication to these three areas of house keeping.…
