Not quite the count down to Round Top…yet

 

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I’m not quite ready to start the countdown clock for the Round Top Antiques Show; it’s too soon.  But I supposed there is no harm in posting pictures from my last trip there.

Round Top is a small (very small, population 93 on a normal day) town in the Hill Country of Texas.  A coveted place to live, acreage is quite pricey.  I am told by my sister that Governor Perry is building a home in Round Top.

In the spring, the fields along the highways and byways are saturated with the color from the wild flowers, the blue of the bluebonnet or the poppy color from indian paint.  Long Horn’s gracefully graze as if it’s summer and the architecture of the old farm houses remind you of the German influence that settled in much of the Hill Country.

Twice a year, this sleepy little town  completely transforms into an antique mecca.  Dealers from all over the world, with price points that range from reasonable to ridiculous attract over 3 million people.  My sister and I go and make a weekend of it.  We stay in Belleville which is about 20 minutes away.  All the more coveted B & B’s have legacy bookings, with the same people booking every show, so it’s difficult to get something closer to Round Top unless blind luck steps in.

Here are a few shots.  Trust me when I tell you it doesn’t even begin to capture the sheer volume one can expect to see at each show, in the spring and fall.

I’ll be posting some updates for the renovation next week.  We’ll have some major framing completed this week, so the pictures can show the progress.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

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I needed a little Christmas…

 

Glittery little wreath ornaments on an old, mottled mirror.

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.

A pensive looking Samantha curls up on the bed for a nap.

Little Annie in her favorite spot.

Little Annie in her favorite spot.

Simple ironstone basin set on top of a fresh greenery wreath.

Simple ironstone basin set on top of a fresh greenery wreath.

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Vintage, hand blown ornaments in a wire basket, setting softly on  a wreath on my coffee table.

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.

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.

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.

A little nook in my apartment with a simple wreath, some candles and a lovely quilt with lovely festive colors for some contrast.

 

The Prettiness of Ugly


-- 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 have of the pic are the floors that were already exposed.

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.

A simple palette: white walls with pine flooring. This will make the house a canvas for my antique pieces.

Ah…Finally. The Plans & The Look.

The Look.

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.

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:

  1. Add a fireplace
  2. Change the front door from two French style doors to a single door
  3. Deck the back yard
  4. Gut the kitchen
  5. Insulate all the exterior walls
  6. Update electrical
  7. Add a bathroom upstairs
  8. Add a dormer to the upstairs bedroom bringing it to code and allowing it to be counted as square footage
  9. Build out the garage
  10. Replace all sheetrock with horizontal wood planking
  11. Update bathroom fixtures in current bathroom
  12. Interior/Exterior Paint
  13. Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Here are the drawings:

Main Living Floor Plan

Main Living Floor Plan

 

Second Level Floor Plan

Second Level Floor Plan

It’s All About the Front Door

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My renovation has got me thinking I want to change the entrance to my home.  Right now, I have two French doors for my front entrance and I think I would like to have a single door point of entry.  I intend to set the tone with the curb view of my house.  My dream cottage would be on Nantucket, so it seems that would be a good place to start.  Looking at these pictures, there is definitely a theme emerging.  I am leaning toward removing the planking just on the front porch and replacing it with cedar shingling.  Coupled with the bright white trim and some old lanterns flanking the door.  I would love to find a really old plank door that originated on a house in the North East.  It all depends on budget and availability.  To that end, here are some of the options I have found:

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo.

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Horse & Carriage During the Holidays

 

Vintage pieces round out the presentation and are quick to set up.

Vintage pieces round out the presentation and are quick to set up.

It isn’t unusual for me to answer the door with my old french apron on and dusted in flour during the Christmas Holidays.  I am usually baking either for guests that sporadically drop by, preparing the food gifts I give to neighbors or  if I time it just right, I bake for the throngs of visitors to our little town that ride by the house in the  horse and carriage.   I had to come up with a way to send people on their merry way with a pocket full of goodies on a chilly night.

Paper pouches using leftover Christmas wrapping paper seemed to be a good solution.  You start with an 8″ by 8″ piece of paper.  I mentioned that I am using leftover Christmas paper but it helps if it is a kraft paper base.  It just seems to hold treats better than typical wrapping paper.

 

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Horse & Carriage rides that pass the house enjoy this little hand out as do visiting friends.

Horse & Carriage rides that pass the house enjoy this little hand out as do visiting friends.

A simple holiday punch as a sweet accompaniment to home made toll house cookies.

A simple holiday punch as a sweet accompaniment to home made toll house cookies.

Vintage linens for the Christmas Holidays.

Vintage linens for the Christmas Holidays.

Nothing sets the mood for Christmas like tea lights flickering through mercury glass votive holders.

Nothing sets the mood for Christmas like tea lights flickering through mercury glass votive holders.

An antique candle holder adds to the ambiance.

An antique candle holder adds to the ambiance.

This one-of-a-kind piece was a wonderful find at a local antique store.

This one-of-a-kind piece was a wonderful find at a local antique store.

Vintage glass punch bowl acquired at the Round Top Antique show comes in really handy.

Vintage glass punch bowl acquired at the Round Top Antique show comes in really handy.

Freshsqueezed fruit juice with floating slices is the key to Holiday punch.

Fresh squeezed fruit juice with floating slices is the key to Holiday punch.

 

In the kitchen, baking by candle light with Christmas music playing feels very old fashioned.

In the kitchen, baking by candle light with Christmas music playing feels very old fashioned.

The kitchen gets the Christmas touch with a furring strip rustic star and Christmas stockings made from vintage grain sacks.

The kitchen gets the Christmas touch with a furring strip rustic star and Christmas stockings made from vintage grain sacks.

Vintage European towel with lovely embroidery.

Vintage European towel with lovely embroidery.

The Little Cottage That Could

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In the new year, I am embarking on a major renovation of my little cottage.  The goal is to work with the existing foot print but make the cottage everything that it should be.  After living in the house for ten years, I have come to know it like I know a good friend and have come to understand how I can live better within it.  It can be The Little Cottage That Could while continuing to pay homage to the wonderful old home that was built some 80 years ago.

Certain foundational items will be on the punch list like updating the electrical, insulating the exterior walls and replacing all the sheetrock with horizontal wood planking.

Upgrades will include an additional bathroom upstairs to create a master bedroom en suite, creating an additional bedroom in existing space and adding closets and built in storage.  Special touches will be exposing the rafters upstairs and tucking a sleeping loft above them and a fire place in the den.  If historic guidelines will allow, we’ll do a bump out in the kitchen to give it a little more space.

Several years ago, I was mining the internet and I somehow ended up on a real estate site that had the most wonderful Hamptons Cottage for sale at the whopping price of 1.9 million  dollars.  Location, location, location right?  Of course.  But what really struck me about the cottage was its staggering simplicity.  I fell in love with it and it will be part of my look book that I present to the contractor when I finally get started on the renovation.

I saved the pictures for future reference so I’ll share them with you:

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One Room or Another…

 

Den.

Before: Den

Side Table/Night Stand in the new Master Bedroom.

After in the same spot: New Side Table/Night Stand in the new Master Bedroom.

The beauty of an old house is that each room can be anything you want it to be.  Just as antiques can be moved from one room or another based on fancy and feeling, rooms can be re-purposed out of whimsy or necessity.  For me, necessity dictated some changes.

I have a special needs dog who often requires care throughout the night.  For the better part of three years, she wakes me up 2 to 4 times during the night.  The original master bedroom was upstairs, so it required me to pick her up and carry her up and down two flights of stairs (she is blind and can not walk down them on her own) which was difficult, not to mention dangerous.

About two years ago, I felt it was better to sleep downstairs in the guest room because it was easier to take my dog outside without having to navigate two flights of stairs.  However, the guest room has no closet and is hardly large enough for decent clothing storage.

The solution was to re-purpose each room downstairs in order to create a master bedroom for myself.  Indeed, it would help me feel less like a guest in temporary quarters as I did, storing my clothes in stacking plastic storage containers.

And so it goes, I had a major antique sale to get rid of the furniture that would not fit in the new arrangements and I set out to re-design each room in a way that was more suitable.

I will share the pictures in future posts, but I thought I would start out be sharing the old and new floor plan along with a sneak peak of the results.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Cindy

A guest room, den, dining room and sitting room.

A guest room, den, dining room and sitting room.

 

A guest room, master bedroom, dining room and den

A guest room, master bedroom, dining room and den

Baby’s Breath

 

Baby's Breath in antique vessels.

Baby’s Breath in antique vessels.

 

I’m not prone to fill my house with market items, as I prefer to fill my home with antiques and vintage items.  But sometimes when you find a market item with the right vibe, it doesn’t matter that it isn’t old.  These mother of pearl drawer pulls with brass centers is just such an item.

Waiting in line to pay for my merchandise at Home Goods, no less…standing by all the impulse buy displays, I spied these lovely little drawer pulls that amount to mother or pearl flowers with a brass bead for a center.

Bunched together, they look like a lovely bouquet of Baby’s Breath.  The neutral tone of the mother of pearl flowers against the somewhat tarnished brass makes for a perfect foil of the rustic against the refined….my favorite style approach.

Trying to find the best place for them proved rather easy.  I chose a bedside table where some vintage and antique brown transfer ware reside.  There seemed to be a parallel between the cream and brown tones of the antique pitchers and the drawer pulls.  It didn’t take much convincing…I was sold that this was the right place to put my great little market finds.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Delicate little mother of pearl petals refine the old, crackled paint finish.

Delicate little mother of pearl petals refine the old, crackled paint finish.

 

The rustic against the refined; beautiful inexpensive drawer pulls add to the charm of an old, antique table.

The rustic against the refined; beautiful inexpensive drawer pulls add to the charm of an old, antique table.

The drawer pulls reminded me of a bouquet of Baby's Breath.

The drawer pulls reminded me of a bouquet of Baby’s Breath.

The little touches that make this little space pretty and useful

The little touches that make this little space pretty and useful

 

 

The Days Ahead…

 

Christmas Pepperberries, now dried juxtopposed against the shiny mercury glass.

Christmas Pepperberries, now dried juxtaposed against the shiny mercury glass.

 

Please forgive me, I haven’t posted in a while.  Simple explanation…I had company for about three weeks and I started a new job.  Roll both of those together and it leaves nary a moment to do any kind of blogging.  But here I am, in the first weekend when I can breath a little bit.  It is such a lovely day, all I can think about is green grass, hydrangeas getting ready to bloom and in general, looking ahead.

Last weekend I spent cleaning from top to bottom.  This weekend I can take some time to pay attention to the details like changing out my Winter vignettes for something that says Spring.  The dried pepper berries with mercury glass arrangement is just such a thing.  Pepper berries have gone by the wayside, mercury ornaments are placed in a wire bowl someplace else and both are replaced with lovely, white blooms.

Something simple makes me very happy.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Until next time,

Cindy

Pepperberries and Mercury glass...the bridge between Winter and Spring

Pepperberries and Mercury glass…the bridge between Winter and Spring

 

Replaced with simple white blooms.  An easy change with great impact that welcomes Spring.

Replaced with simple white blooms. An easy change with great impact that welcomes Spring.