New Feature! Folk Art Friday

A house has a lot to say, if you will listen.

I've been listening to my fifty- year old Pennsylvania colonial house a lot this year, and it has had more than a few things to tell me.

For starters, it told me this:

"You don't live in an open floor plan house anymore. You live in a traditional house now, and we have a lot of walls. That means you will have a lot of walls to decorate."

"And speaking of decorations, you will have to be pretty particular about what you hang on these walls. If it doesn't fit the era and feeling of this house, it's going to stick out like a sore thumb."

"About those sore thumbs, these are plaster walls. Thick walls. You won't be able to pound a nail in willy nilly. So when you find something you like for this old house, make sure you are putting it in the right spot, too."

I have been collecting some pieces of folk art and a few antiques this year, and wow! Do they ever belong in this house! That is not to say that I am living in a museum. Far from it. I've learned to mix a lot of contemporary pieces with folk for a combination that speaks to our family and the era of this colonial.

I decided to make Folk Art Friday a regular feature here at This End Up so that I can share the decorating decisions that have worked, and the choices that didn't work and had to be remedied.

This Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign was actually purchased from an antique shop in Indiana just before we moved. I knew it had to come home with me!

Did you know that the Pennsylvania Dutch were not dutch at all, but Germans? As in "Sprechen zie deutsch?" Duetsch/Dutch. My family is German on my mother's side, so this period really speaks to me.

These hex signs can often be found on Pennsylvania homes and barns. The symbols featured on them all have meanings. This sign features a double distlefink (that is Pennsylvania Dutch speak for "thistle finch").

A little Pennsylvania Dutch sign to say "welcome"!