Tag: <span>cottage</span>

(Holiday) Guest Amenities

December 18, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

The holiday bed.

I am always looking for simple ways to make guest feel special, but simplicity is a must. In my holiday guest room this year, I have a quilt fold that yields a special surprise and an amenities kit using a simple lunch sack. Both can be easily done on the fly, without too much effort.

I hope you find inspiration.

All the best,

Cindy

Holiday greens, dressed bed and some special surprises…

A gift on the bed side table.

A simple lunch sack folded over, left plain or using holiday stamps and embellishments as I have done.

Bottled water, simple snacks and personal care items.

Travel sizes all wrapped in a muslin bag decorated with simple holiday stamps.

Simple folds create a place to tuck in a little gift.

A special gift for guests. Nothing fancy. It could be a favorite candy bar, event tickets or even a lottery scratcher. Anything to bring a smile to the face of visitors.

The holiday bed.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: amenities, antique, bedroom, bedside, christmas, cottage, gift, guest, holiday, surprises, table

Holiday Birch Logs with German Glass Glitter

December 7, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

A random smattering of German glass glitter. A little like moss growing on a tree.

My house is by no means opulent, but every now and again, I can’t resist a little sparkle when the holidays arrive. While spending some time with family in Dahlonega, Georgia in October, my cousin helped me find the perfect birch tree on my uncle’s property to harvest for this project. It had been broken off by storms and we felt it would be okay to chop what was left into a few pieces.

I got home and randomly dabbed watered down glue in various areas and added some coarse silver German glass glitter. I can’t really say the pictures do it justice, but it looks lovely. Place them in an old tub found at the Round Top Antiques show, along with fresh greens and smattering of artificial embellishments and it makes for a lovely arrangement throughout the holidays.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

A warm welcome in front of the fire.

Nature’s finest. Birch logs and Christmas greens.

The additions of scented pine cones.

Arrangements aren’t just for flowers.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, arrangment, birch, birch logs, christmas, cottage, country, german glass glitter, holiday, logs

Because Christmas is here again…

November 29, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Sprigs of fresh greens, vintage glass ornaments in a simple ironstone bowl.

All my decorating is done. I started earlier than normal this year and now that I am done, it mostly means I can coast for the rest of the year and devote my weekends to baking. Indeed.

Here are a few snippets of the inside of the house. You may notice there aren’t a lot of long shots. It’s mostly because I am holding back on wide shots so when the feature in Country Living comes out, you won’t already be bored with it. 😉

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

A simple fresh green wreath flanked by antique mercury glass beaded garland. The bed is simply dressed with vintage linens and ruby red washed velvet pillows and a quilted velvet blanket at the end of the bed in a subdued neutral color. It all makes for a cozy place to be.

An old sap bucket is a terrific alternative to more expensive vessels to house a holiday arrangement.

A papier mache Santa boot that I painted then adorned with German Glitter Glass and a holiday embellishment, topped off with a fresh sprig of greens.

A stair landing arrangement.

Trying to tuck in a little Christmas in each room, both great and small.

A simple Home Goods pom pom wreath hung with sweet cotton red and white striped ribbon.

Who says wreaths are only for doors?

Another Sulphur Springs, Texas find. This lovely blue antique cupboard is a great way to store and display my vintage textile collection and ironstone pitcher collection.

My antique chandelier with a crown of fresh Christmas greens.

An old print befitting of such attention.

Sprigs of fresh greens, vintage glass ornaments in a simple ironstone bowl.

Etched footed bowls found on walmart.com

Simple fresh greens, footed mercury glass bowls and my vintage, hand blown ornaments.

The use of NOEL is apropos of the French farmhouse window above the kitchen sink.

Beautiful old silver footed bowl I found I an antique shop in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

Beautiful old silver footed bowl I found in an antique shop in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, christmas, cottage, country, decorations, greens, historic, holiday, home, house, mckinney, merry, santa, texas

The Pumpkin Conundrum…

November 16, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Out with Halloween naturals and in with Christmas décor. The leftover green pumpkins were too pretty not to find a way to use for the Christmas Holiday, so I created this transitional arrangement to greet friends and family. It could easily adorn a kitchen island or fireplace mantle, too.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Fall pumpkins, stacked and tucked with moss, followed by a Christmas garland presented in an old cast iron urn. It’s one way to transition from fall to Christmas, using what you already have.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home Tagged With: anique, christmas, cottage, garland, historic, holiday, home, mckinney, porch, pumpkin, texas, urn

Jingle All the Way…

November 9, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Time is clicking by and it’s time to get decorating for Christmas. This year is special because it is post renovation and I’m really excited to decorate. Roughly this time last year, my stress level was off the charts because I was packing up and temporarily relocating. So glad that is behind me.

I am sincerely happy to be back in my home.

That said, my mandate is to do as much as possible with what I have on hand or can acquire on a budget. It starts with the porch. I am actually trying to break old habits and not hang a wreath on the front doors as I usually do. So far, that means a simply crafted jingle bell garland using vintage jingle bells and seasonal arrangement in an old sap bucket.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Red Velvet Ribbon, vintage bells and craft store millinery make a fine welcome.

A sap bucket, artificial greens missed with seasonal greens and an old galvanized tub filled with logs.

A sap bucket, artificial greens mixed with seasonal greens and an old galvanized tub filled with logs.

A happy welcome. Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, bells, bucket, christmas, cottage, front, holiday, jingle, mckinney, porch, sap, texas, white, wreath

The Autumnal Porch

October 19, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since I have posted anything not related to the renovation. I am still settling into the house and figuring out how I want to live within my walls. I have a ton of pictures, but I have to show some restraint in sharing them because there has been some interest in featuring the house in national publications and/or books, so I don’t want to flood the market with more pictures.

In the mean time, I have been trying to get back in the groove of design, crafting and creating projects to publish on the blog. For the first time in a while, I have actually completed a project: my fall porch. Trying to create a hybrid between all out Halloween décor and something more subtle, my mandate was to work with what I had on hand with the exception of purchasing pumpkins.

Forgive the graininess of the pictures. I misplaced my battery charger for my good camera and the battery ran out. I have a new one coming so that I can offer you better quality pictures. (Thank God for Amazon Prime :))

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

An arrangement of silk hydrangeas, bittersweet berries and ethereal looking paper wisps compliment the Halloween picks found at the local hobby store.

Gauze and lights give a nice, eerie affect.

A pile of pumpkins and gourds round out the overall design.

Inexpensive tea lights provide a sweet, nightly glow.

Vintage light globes with Halloween embellishments.

Not too much, just enough to make me feel that fall is in the air.

A fall arrangement in a galvanized tub that I purchased at Round Top.

Drop cloths provide a nice treatment for the windows.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Projects Tagged With: autumn, boo, cottage, country, fall, halloween, mckinney, porch, spooky, texas

A House into a Home…

August 4, 2015 by Cynthia 4 Comments

This has been a busy two months. Moving into an unfinished house with construction dust was not what I envisioned at the end of the renovation, even though it’s still not done yet.

To say it has been stressful would be an understatement. Slowly but surely, I am digging out of it. Sometimes with the help of family and friends and sometimes going it alone, each weekend I accomplish something that helps me feel better about all the trouble. Washing and vacuuming every surface, setting up proper bedrooms so sleep can be peaceful, editing collections, figuring what I can do without, working hard not to fill every square inch of storage so there is room to grow, cleaning the outside of the house, removing construction debris that wasn’t removed, having a pop up antique sale, arranging furniture, hanging pictures and just generally setting up house that will be the place I call home.

This weekend, I had the help of one of my most special friends, Vince Maggio. He is the truly undiscovered master of arrangement. He worked on my living/dining area and what a great job he did.

These are iphone pictures, not using my Canon camera, so take that into consideration. These two pictures are just snippets, I’ll do a more comprehensive article when I am closer to finishing with setting up the house.

I hope you find some inspiration.

All the Best,

Cindy

A $65 Craigslist table that was partially stripped. I like it just the way it is. $25 One King’s Lane bamboo directors chairs that match the tone of the table and the linen press. A grouping of vintage nautical print from The Round Top Antique Show placed in floating frames and a variety of other collected pieces.

Antique linen press full of curated items, a comfy couch across from the fireplace (pics of that later, it isn’t finished) and inexpensive IKEA pillow, along with a French ticking stripe pillow from Home Goods all come together to make a beautiful, comfortable place to set a spell and take a load off.

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, bamboo directors chairs, comfy, cottag, cottage, cozy, craigslist, ironstone, mckinney, renovation, Round Top, table, texas, white

The One Minute Mile

May 25, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

The perfect contrast of light and dark

Big things happen in little minutes and that just about describes what will happen in the next 5 days. Floors, cabinets, tiling, plumbing finishing, electrical finishing and painting. And that’s just the inside. The rain has hampered working on the outside but it makes no difference to me. I just want to sleep in my own bed and fall asleep staring at my own ceiling.

Here are the lastest pictures. Everything is in a state of being completed. And then, with a wing, a prayer and a good tail wind, it will all come together.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Stained new wood (left) against sanded old wood on the right.

Windows that were in another part of the house, reset in the upstairs sitting area

Simple silk shade lamps throughout the house

Kitchen cabinets built around an original feature of the house, the brick chimney

Kitchen cabinets

Newly built kitchen cabinets are lovely. We have used an antique piece as the base for the kitchen sink.

More kitchen cabinets. Note the bun feet instead of a toe kick.

Exterior lighting used for interior lighting.

Barn door hardware to close off my very small office/work space

Stylish and budget friendly, these stock zinc light fixtures picked up at Home Depot

More kitchen cabinets

This wall/door didn’t exist before the renovation, but you would never know that. It looks like it is original to the house.

The interesting angles, windows and walls of an old house

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, cabinets, cottage, country, farm house, floors, historic, home, mckinney, paint, renovation, texas, white, wood, zinc

Finishes, Finishes.

May 19, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

We are in the final stretch. The frenzy to the finish. Twelve days from today, the moving truck will show up so I can (finally) go home.

In truth, the house is a bit of a war zone right now. A lot going on, many trades working at once.

Here are a few pictures that show the walls being painted and the ceiling ships lap left exactly as it was when it was put up some 80 years ago.

To the finish line…

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Old rim locks for the interior doors.

Hallway painted with an old window side light turned into a transom to allow natural light into the hallway.

The front bedroom.

Front bedroom with an antique piece that I have permanently affixed to the wall that will work as a closet and storage.

The original plank ceiling. Sealed with a simple finish that brings out the natural luster in this old pine that was probably 100 years old when it was installed.

It was quite the hunting trip to find old four panel farm house doors for the house. Certainly no easy task.

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, cottage, country, house, old, renovation, ships lap, white

Down the hall and around the corner…

April 19, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

My first response walking into the house this week: Holy Toledo! We are making visible progress. This simple cottage gets more interesting with each layer of construction completed. The walls are going up and it helps the house take shape.

Every square inch that is possible to build out, has been built out. It means that we have to build around architectural features like roof pitches and stairwells. Almost from the minute you walk through the great room to the rest of the house, every hall you go down and every turn you make leads you to something quirky and cozy. I look forward to using all these nooks to create small treasures of respite.

Updated pictures below.

I hope you find inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

XOXO