'Coastal' Summer Mantel 2014

I wanted to thank all of you who left me sweet 'early' birthday wishes!  I'm turning 47 tomorrow and plan to spend part of the day at one of my favorite places, our local flea market!

Now that it's officially summer, my favorite time of year, I've switched our mantel to lighter summery look.

(To see my spring mantel go here.)

This summer one kind of took on a subtle beachy/coastal theme without my intention!

I kept the silver candelabra here and added an ironstone pitcher that was my grandma's...

You can never have too many ironstone pitchers, in my opinion (or ironstone anything, for that matter!)

I brought back the chippy door/board from my dear friend Kris (Junk Chic Cottage) as a backdrop, and hung on it a thick twig wreath...

...then placed under the wreath a couple pieces of weathered driftwood that I had stored in the basement.

I kept the silver monogrammed urn (which last time several of you said the 'P' should stand for 'pretty'!  I like that idea!)
I had filled it with 'moss' and eggs for Easter and I liked the look, so I just replaced the colorful eggs with neutral ones and left it.

Lastly I added a tall white lantern that I purchased at a home store/boutique with a gift card I got for Christmas.

Inside the lantern I placed a chippy wooden candleholder and candle.

I left my burlap banner up...and that completes my new summer mantel!

As always, I kept it simple.

But I like the sort of whitewashed, beachy vibe that it gives.

I think that it's calm and soothing. (And makes me wish that I was on a real beach! Sigh.)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hopefully next time I'll have some treasures from the flea market to show you! :)

Have a wonderful week :)

Saturday Spotlight: Lin from A {tiny} Cottage In The Woods

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

I'm so thrilled to have Lin from A {tiny} Cottage In The Woods as my guest today!  Lin is such a sweetie and I'm a huge fan of her gorgeous, French style!  Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Lin better.

Hi. I'm Lin from 'A {tiny} Cottage In The Woods'. I was delightfully surprised when Susan invited me to share my story on "Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind The Blogger" ~ thank you so much, Susan!

Today I'm sharing the story of how we came to live in a tiny cottage in the woods. A story of childhood dreams ~ and of a dark cloud with silver linings.

Dreams

When I was a little girl, my family spent weekends and vacations in the Colorado wilderness, and it was always a dream of mine to one day live in nature.
 

 ~ my twin brother and me in the Colorado wilderness ~

I also loved art, and was that happy kid with paint splatters on my clothes and little pieces of paper and glitter glued to my hair.

At 17, I received an offer to audition for a full scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, but instead chose to follow my heart and study Fine Arts. As the years passed, marriage and babies and responsibilities took priority, and my childhood dreams fell quietly aside.

A Dark Cloud

 ~ a dark cloud... the recession ~

Fast forward to 2001, my husband and I both worked in software development and we lived a comfortable life in the suburbs. Our two older children were grown and living on their own, and our youngest daughter was in private school, finishing her senior year of high school when the dotcom crash and recession hit. We saw software companies and jobs in our area evaporate into thin air, and for the first time in our lives we were unable to find work. We'd been through recessions before and thought we'd be able to weather this one out as well, but after two years of living on savings, we had to face the facts. We put our home up for sale, put our belongings into storage, and moved to our undeveloped mountain property to live in a small travel trailer.

Silver Linings

At first I was overwhelmed by fear. What would we do? But in time those feelings began to lift. I found comfort and balance living in nature's beauty,

 ~ surrounded by nature ~

and I came to see that my husband was absolutely right. We hadn't "lost everything" ~ instead, we'd gained so much more.

We became closer and we learned to live simply. We built business websites and sold artisan products that we'd made. And knowing that we couldn't live in a trailer forever, my husband suggested that we design and build an off-the-grid tiny house ourselves ~ learning how to build a home step-by-step, paying cash for materials while we built, and trusting that it would all come together in time. We started drawing up the floor plans and with help from family, two years later we received the certificate-of-occupancy and moved in.

~ building our tiny cottage in the woods with a whole lot of patience and love ~

On my blog I share DIY decorating projects, nature photos, and new work we're doing on our cottage. This year we plan on installing walkways and a patio, adding more plants to the cottage garden, doing some interior finishing work, and I'll be refinishing some furniture pieces. The years I spent studying art and classical music greatly influenced my decorating style, which is a mix of rustic and romantic French-Nordic farmhouse-cottage style.

  ~ flowers from my garden, my refinished DIY French basket, and crown embroidery ~

And I'm once again that happy "kid" with paint splatters on my clothes and little pieces of paper and glitter glued to my hair, so I share some art, crafts and tutorials as well.

 ~ Valentine rose wreath, paper butterflies, and a couple of my watercolors ~

Today, our eldest daughter works for a newspaper, co-owns and operates an outdoor cinema company, and writes freelance in her 'spare' time. Our son is a carpenter/landscaper, and he and his wife live in Japan with their one-year-old baby girl. Our youngest daughter lives in CA and has two little girls.

And my husband and I will be celebrating our 33rd Anniversary together this year ~ happy and so very grateful to be living in a tiny cottage in the woods.

Thanks again, Susan, for inviting me to share my story!
xo,


Lin, thank you so much for sharing with us!  You are such an inspiration, and I adore your 'tiny cottage' and your beautiful style!
Please visit Lin then head over to Kris's blog to read about Diane from Cottage Wishes.
Have a great day :)

Happy Birthday To Me!

 I was perusing Etsy the other day when I came across this fantastic basket on fellow blogger/friend Donna's (from Distressed Donna Down Home) Etsy shop.
I was instantly smitten, and decided to treat myself to it for my birthday (not that I ever need a reason-ha!) which is on Monday.

This afternoon, when I got home after a busy day, a package was waiting for me! (Don't you just love that?)

The inside of the box was filled with tulle...

and the basket was wrapped up so pretty!

She also had another little goody wrapped up for me!

This sweet little tag with fabric 'ribbon' and small clock face...adorable!

I've always loved these fishing creel baskets, but surprisingly have never owned one!

This one is very shabby, which adds to its character, but I love how Donna lightly whitewashed it, then lovingly 'repaired' parts of it with bits of ticking, a fabric flower, some buttons, etc.!

That makes it so unique and special!

I've been playing around with where to put it.

Do I want it hanging on my vintage lockers in the sunroom?

Or sitting on a barn wood table?

Perhaps on a chippy blue stool that I just got?

Wherever it ends up, I'll enjoy my one-of-a-kind birthday treasure!

Have a great night!

(Please check back on Saturday as Kris and I will be spotlighting two wonderful bloggers! :)

A Door, an Armoire, and a Mishmash

This post is kind of a 'mishmash' of things, so please bear with me!

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my wonderful dad!  I'm blessed to have an amazing dad who has always been supportive, generous, and loving (and sometimes ornery, too!) And Happy Birthday to him, too, as he'll be turning a feisty 78 years old (unbelievable!) on Monday!  Love you, 'Bubs'!

Next I want to thank everyone who entered my 2 Year Blogiversary giveaway!!  Keith picked a name out of a jar, and it was Sandy A. from Texas.  Congrats to Sandy! :)

Now the rest is kind of a 2-part post.

Part 1:  I was at a garage sale last weekend and when I spotted this fantastic door leaning against the garage, my heart started beating faster!

Another girl was looking at it, and I held my breath then rushed over to claim it as soon as she walked away!

My mom and I come across doors fairly often and we buy them for the shop, but I've never seen one with a cool arched top like this, and at a reasonable price no less!

I had this pale green cart upstairs for awhile then took it to the shop.  I'm surprised it didn't sell!  But since I'm adding these pale greens and blues here and there, back home with me it came!  I placed it in front of the door and added some goodies to it.

On top, a vase of dried hydrangeas, a metal and glass birdhouse, and a chippy corbel...

...on the middle shelf, a white metal tray topped with a couple of grain sacks and dried lavender...

...and on the bottom a large white-washed crate to hold magazines...

Now this door is bigger than I realized.  When we got home I quickly discovered that we don't have a lot of available wall space to lean this on, and I had an 'Oh, crap, where am I going to put this?!' moment.  I just had to find a spot for this amazing door!

It ended up in our living room, on a somewhat small slice of wall between our tv armoire and the fireplace/mantel. I do really like the look of the cart in front of the door, but it all looks a little crammed in this space and I'm not sure that I can live with it here...we'll see.  I may have to figure out a plan B.

Ok, now onto the elephant armoire in the room...

I never show this because I don't like it anymore.  We bought it off Craig's List a few years ago.  It was originally purchased from Arhaus and still new in the plastic!  We were getting a larger tv, and I wanted something to hide it, and this was a good deal.
The panels on the doors are a botanical print, kind of colorful, which I loved at the time, but my taste has changed (maybe a few thousand times since then-lol!) and getting a new one isn't really an option.
(I don't even think I have a picture of the doors.)

Here's my dilemma...I don't paint. Please don't judge!  I know that every single person in blogland paints and I admire you all, but it's just not my forte.  So I've been too chicken to take a paint brush to this monster, which I know has the potential to be gorgeous.

So I came up with a way to make this armoire more neutral until I have the guts to paint it.

I attached old sheet music to it!

I tore sheets and taped (yes, there's a million small pieces of tape) them randomly to the doors.

I didn't want to do anything permanent, and had this old sheet music on hand, so I tore and taped my little heart out!

And it's (somewhat) done the trick for a little while...

...but I think it's time to go for it and put a pretty coat of white or cream paint on this baby!

Unless any of you want to be a doll and come over and paint it for me...???  ;)

No takers?  Oh, well...a girl can dream...

As for the door, maybe it will grow on me here...you never know!

Thanks for sticking with me through this mishmash of a post!
Have a wonderful week ahead :)

Saturday Spotlight: Cindy from Cynthia lee Designs

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

Today I'm so pleased that my guest is Cindy from Cynthia lee Designs!  Cindy is not only kind, but talented too, and on her blog you might find her sewing, making jewelry, or showing off her latest junkin' finds!
Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Cindy better.


Hi everyone... My name is Cindy and I blog over at Cynthia lee Designs...where I write about my decorating projects, jewelry making, and crafting projects. Now for a little bit about me that you might not know... I am the youngest of three... this is my brother, my sister...who is the oldest, and me. I'm married to my high school sweetheart and we will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary this coming September. And this is me now. We have 2 girls that are 6 years apart in age. Our son-in-law is a fireman/paramedic. We have 2 grandkids and my granddaughter will be a freshman in high school next year. Seems like just yesterday that she was born...how quickly the years go by. We have 2 little Yorkies...Zoey and Chloe. Our favorite place to travel is to the Mountains of Tennessee. Love going to the flea market, thriftin', and junkin'. Several years ago...we lived in a small tourist town that had antique and craft shops. I had a shop there for 4 years back in the 80's. And I've been doing shows for 29 years...and loving it!! My favorite thinks to create are my vintage style jewelry... ...and my machine embroidered towels with ruffles. I hope you all got to know me a little better...and that you will stop over at my blog to visit me there. Thank you, Susan...for inviting me to be part of your Saturday Spotlight series.

Cindy, thanks so much for sharing with us!  (Your little Yorkies are adorable!)
Please visit her blog Cynthia lee Designs, then head over to Kris's blog and read about Ana from A Petite Cottage.
Have a fantastic day! :)