Inspiring ideas for the handmade home.
-- Download I am being framed...finally as PDF --
I went by this weekend and got some additional photos and took some measurements. As the various spaces are being framed in, it gives me a better sense of the size of the rooms once the renovation is completed.
It’s not much to look at…but it’s progress. The ugly way, way before the pretty.
I hope you find some inspiration.
xoxo
Cindy
Glittery little wreath ornaments on an old, mottled mirror.
Getting in the Christmas spirit has been a little hard this year. I am firmly ensconced in what I affectionately refer to as the size 7 shoe box apartment while the renovation is going on.
About the only thing I could think of to make me feel a little better about it was to do some nominal decorating for the holidays. Something that was enough to make me smile, but didn’t require a lot of effort and could be accomplished on a small budget.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
A pensive looking Samantha curls up on the bed for a nap.
Little Annie in her favorite spot.
Simple ironstone basin set on top of a fresh greenery wreath.
Vintage, hand blown ornaments in a wire basket, setting softly on a wreath on my coffee table.
A lovely mid century lamp on an antique textile with a lovely holiday candle for aroma and ambiance.
Keeping it simple with a wreath hung above the bed.
A little nook in my apartment with a simple wreath, some candles and a lovely quilt with lovely festive colors for some contrast.
-- Download The Prettiness of Ugly as PDF --
We are at a bit of a standstill with the renovation until we get our permits approved. So when I went by the house this weekend, I didn’t expect much would be different. And I was right. But what little had changed was choice indeed.
The six or seven layers on the kitchen floor were pulled up and to reveal original hard wood floors. They don’t look especially great right now, but everyone loves a Cinderella story and these little ugly ducklings have a shot at becoming pretty. What a sweet surprise!
My contractor believes we can salvage the floors in the kitchen. All the floors will be refinished in a honey pine tone. They will be a nice, warm contrast to the exposed ships lap on the walls which will be painted white as part of the renovation.
The top half of the picture shows the newly revealed kitchen floors, the bottom half of the pic are the floors that were already exposed which are in serious need of refinishing.
Here is a general sense of the feel I am going for:
A simple palette: white walls with pine flooring. This will make the house a canvas for my antique pieces.
-- Download A Lovely Mess as PDF --
The last few weeks have been stressful, to put it mildly. Closing on the loan, packing, moving and settling in to a tiny apartment. It’s fair to say that I am a nester and being in limbo is not my strong suit.
I needed to see progress on my house in order to feel like this is all for something. In this case, moving forward, or progress begins with stepping back and deconstructing.
Week #1 has begun with demolition. And it’s a lovely mess. I am beyond thrilled to see that under all the sheetrock was ships lap. Original to the house and of its time, it really needs to shine. We are keeping it exposed for the renovation and will eventually paint it. We’ll harvest, patch and repair where we need to and fill the whole house with it. Wood walls. Warm, comforting wood walls. What a simple path to happiness.
Here are the pictures from the first week. Please join me on this journey.
Always,
Cindy
The Look. Besides the natural light…the most striking thing about this picture is the extraordinary use of the batten board walls. I will be using the batten board sheeted material which is generally used for exterior siding.
White and Light. While this design shows white walls and ceilings, my walls will be white but the ceilings and the floor will be anchored with raw pine. Much to think about!
Folks, my posting has been pretty spotty lately. It’s mostly because I have packed up a lot of my DIY tools and supplies in anticipation of my upcoming renovation. To that end, we have a ta-dah moment. We have two things: The Look and The Plans.
The Plans are completed and embedded below. My wish list is about a page and a half long, but here is a condensed version:
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
Here are the drawings:
Main Living Floor Plan
Second Level Floor Plan
An old lab beaker with thick glass that diffuses the candle light.
Spring can’t get here soon enough. This weekend, Saturday was a lovely 78 degrees and the next day, Sunday it didn’t get above freezing. Since hunkering down and staying in was the best option, I refreshed some of my interior vignettes. If you look closely, you will see a number of antiques and vintage items that used for my holiday decorations. Change the context a bit and it looks more winter-into-spring than Home for the Holidays.
One more thing. My followers and regulars have probably noticed I haven’t posted a lot of blogs that feature crafting projects, which tend to be my more viewed postings. It’s because my crafting supplies have been packed away in anticipation of my renovation. Instead you’ll see a lot of features about cooking, antique finds and when my renovation gets started, I’ll copiously document the process and share it with you.
Speaking of which, I am waiting on drawings for the renovations as we speak. If I had to guess, the renovation will get started late next month or early May. While I am anxious to get started, it is more important when I finish. I want the work to be complete for the holidays, so there is time. Mostly, I want to enjoy the process and not be so anxious about it which is how I feel about most projects. I’ll keep you posted.
In the mean time, I hope you find some inspiration with the latest pictures from my home.
Always,
Cindy
xoxo
Textural elements with a tarnished tin vessel and a vintage paper accordion vase cozy
a variety of neutral toned items arranged on a shelf.
Starfish on a bed of moss that is the color of driftwood.
An old column base, alabaster lamp and a German glass glitter starfish
Mercury glass globes on a bed of packing hay in an old ironstone bowl with linen slipcovers in the background.
An old lab beaker with thick glass that diffuses the candle light.
Old tin forms in the form of circus clowns in pointy hat that are treasured items passed to me by my mother.
Fresh Greens in an Enamel Pitcher
I make a promise to myself every year: I pick a weekend to do my decorating, inside and out and what doesn’t get done on that weekend, doesn’t get done. This was the first year I kept that promise and it is largely because I kept things simple: fresh greens tucked here and there, a smattering of twinkly lights, my favorite Trapp Holiday candles and a few groupings of my favorite vintage ornaments. I found it refreshingly stress free…and that really was the point of the plan. Now I can coast and focus on baking!
When the weather improves, I’ll share photos of the exterior. For now, here are some vignettes from inside my home.
I hope your find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
xoxo
Winter quilts on the linen press are yummy!
The Christmas Mantle
Samantha’s toy Lamb Chop
Quilts with pillow covers from Ikea wrapped like presents with green velvet ribbon.
Plain cedar wreath with candle light.
Lovely Samantha
Guest room washstand ready for guests and ready for Christmas.
The Christmas Kitchen
Christmas Centerpiece
Antiques, ironstone, vintage glass and fresh greens
Lab beaker with thick glass that diffuses the candle flicker
A well used antique candle snuffer.
Evergreens in old urns.
Comfy and cozy and all snuggled in on a cold winter’s day.
I try to put a little Christmas in every room and my master bedroom is no exception. I also try to make Christmas decorating simple. That means less stress putting it up and less stress dismantling it when the holiday season is over.
Some fresh greens and a lovely Pottery Barn velvet quilt found online for next to nothing as well as PB’s flax colored solid quilt. Together, both are very subtle but still give you the feeling of the season.
My dear sweet Annie has fallen in love with the quilt and photo shoot or not, she wasn’t moving.
I’d like to give a nod to Annie’s foster mother, Silvana. Compassionate souls run deep and carry heavy hearts, sometimes. I am grateful you went to such great lengths to rescue Annie from the streets and became her caretaker along with the many other dogs you foster. Annie fills my heart and my soul and I simply couldn’t love her any more than I already do. Thank you for that, Silvana.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always,
Cindy
xoxo
Red, flax and with fresh greens in the background. Perfect holiday cheer and coziness.
Simple mini wreaths hung with a neutral velvet ribbon. White sheets with a flax colored quilt make the perfect pair.
Battery operated candles offer a great flicker from the outside looking in.
Very old antique cabinet with fresh greens. The green against the fresh white reminds me of evergreen trees and fresh snow.
The lovely faux red berries pick up the color of the red velvet quilt and keep that holiday pop of color near.
The white linen pillows from summer still work with a slight change. This fall throw from Home Goods is a simple change with a lot of impact.
Finally. It feels like Fall this weekend. Halloween decorations have been up for a couple of weeks…but it is kinda hard to get excited about it when we were still pushing in the upper 90’s temperature wise.
I wanted my fall décor to be a bit more refined this year. I am not sure I achieved that…but maybe next year. My favorite element are the brown, black and grey paisley pillows with the ivory throw blanket with grey, black and brown accents. Not a set, they contrast beautifully to reflect the change of the season without being too obvious.
My second favorite element are the vintage enamel buckets with the twig arrangements. Naturals such as twigs and cotton branches against glittered black bats and black feathers with a flickering candle in the center flank the porch nicely. My old fall back favorite of pairing the rustic with the refined.
I hope you see something that inspires you. Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
Cindy
The perfect place for holiday candy on the spookiest of nights!
Old vines from summer still there.
A comfortable corner to sit and read a book or watch the world go by as Summer transitions to Fall.
The white linen pillows from summer still work with a slight change. This fall throw from Home Goods is a simple change with a lot of impact.
The other crow sits atop the sea grass pouf and keeps another creepy light company.
More tolerable weather brings people out after the August hibernation. So comfortable seating with seasonal colors is still a must.
He keeps an eye on us….
Sitting atop an old cast iron urn with some gauze and purple holiday lights.
Just a little something to get everyone in the mood.
An old vintage, enamel bucket with window clings topped off with a flickering candle in the middle of this holiday centerpiece.
Natural and artificial embellishments feature in this outdoor centerpiece.
Some small white pumpkins act as filler to hide power cords and white gauze mutes the bright orange holiday string lights.
I love the idea of the curtain divider….very ethereal.
Forgive me. This week’s posting was to have been of my Halloween/Fall outdoor decorations. But I am feeling a bit under the weather and I wasn’t able to take pictures, so I thought I would share my cottage bathroom look book with you for my upcoming renovations.
The bathroom is not an existing bathroom, but rather an existing space. Upstairs, I have a large stair landing area. Not large enough to be a bedroom, but plenty large enough to fit a small bathroom with room leftover to serve as a pass through to the upstairs bedroom.
The bathroom will have a walk-in shower, a vanity and toilet. The vanity will be an antique table I acquired months ago and will be modified to fit a bowl sink. Simple white subway tiles for the shower, white octagonal tiles for the floor and wood planking every where else. The rule of thumb as throughout the rest of the house will be the same for the bathroom: simple, unpretentious and soft white tones and natural textures.
One finishing touch will be a pair of French, ornate cream and green wall sconces I found in an antique store years ago. I fell in love with them and bought them without a clue as to where I was going to put them. I think they will look perfect flanking an old, white painted mirror that I am sure I will find at some point in my weekly antiquing haunts.
I hope you find some inspiration.
Always.
xoxo.
Cindy
Love these old photos.
A lovely footed bath.
Love the antique pine table with the crisp white bowl sinks.
I always think being able to see the pitch in a roof makes a room feel tucked away and cozy.
I won’t have room for this in my new cottage bathroom…but I love it anyway.
It’s doubtful I will have room for double vanities…but I love this look.
This bathroom probably best emulates the size, shape and space of my bathroom…down to the pitch in the roof.
Although doubtful, I will have room for a full sized armoire…but this is lovely.
More contemporary than is my style, but I think this room blends old and new very well.
I like the neutrality of this bathroom. The décor is probably more ornate than is my own style.
I love the old fixtures in an old home. Doors, floors and windows. Nothing opens like an old window with weights in the wall or swings like an old wood door. Just perfect!
