I spent much of yesterday raking up leaves. We had a big, scary storm come through on Monday and the high winds knocked ¾ of the leaves off the sugar maple. Then we grabbed the tarp, raked them onto the tarp and took them up to the woods to become mulch. Most of the leaves on the flower beds stay there, protecting the plants and doing their thing to help the soil. Of course, raking at this time of year is endless, but the front yard is definitely looking better than it did.

I’m late getting this post up because we stayed up until 1:00 am watching the Red Sox/Rays game. Oh lord. It was endless and frustrating as Boston couldn’t seem to get anything going for most of the game. I found myself yelling at the screen more than a few times. After the Rays scored a run and maintained that lead for much of the game, somehow the Sox managed to get three runs up on the scoreboard and they won. They will play either the Detroit Tigers or the Oakland A’s for the American League Pennant. If it’s the Tigers, it will be a bit tough for me as they are my hometown team and I grew up watching them.

One of you asked to see the newly acquired lamps in a larger photo of the den. Let me say right off that the den is notoriously hard to photograph; it has a lot of windows and it borders the porch with its deep overhang. So, light? A problem. But I grabbed my camera and came up with these.

The den is a smallish room (every room in this house is small – the house is less than 1200 sq. ft and that includes the uninhabitable basement) and it’s sort of packed with furniture. But we hang out there a lot. I blog in that chair. Evenings find us sitting side by side on the sofa, more often than not with Scout taking up half of the sofa and Don and I crammed into the other half. What’s wrong with that picture?

The window blinds were here when we bought the cottage and, so far, I’ve been okay with them. Lately, I’ve been thinking about some sort of curtains. But curtains are my other source of frustration, right after lamps. We’ll see what I come up with.

We’ve had the sofa for about 17 years. Would I like a new one? Yes. But it’s hanging in there with the help of a slipcover.

The blogging chair is vintage – we got it in California. It needs to be reupholstered but somehow there is always something else that is more pressing on the budget front. So I use this IKEA slipcover which doesn’t quite fit but is cheap and easy to replace when I subject it to one too many coffee stains. To the right of that china cabinet is the television. You don’t need to see that, although sometime I’ll show you the cabinet, found at auction for $5 and repainted and ‘aged’ by me.

Like everything in our home, the furniture is used, recycled and reimagined. I bought that beautiful old china cabinet when I first moved to San Diego. It used to hold my collection of vintage Fiesta. The ottoman has a wicker base and we got that in San Diego, as well. I got the green table at an auction for $20. The coffee table was found in an antique store for $10. The vintage wire laundry basket was a Craig’s List find for $50. Well worth it. The white table was purchased at Heidi’s antique shop when we first moved to the cottage. The screen against the wall was a find in San Diego (it’s from our Craftsman days – I tied some strips of fabric to the rods) and the painting over the sofa with my favorite frame ever was an auction score for $15. We’ve had the rug (originally from Pottery Barn) since we first moved out east. That would be 12 years ago. The floor lamp on the left side of the sofa is vintage, we found it in San Diego. The glass shade was found separately. Everything, except for the initial investment in the sofa, was very inexpensive.

My little desk (found on the street and not pictured) is in the corner and there is a vintage sheet music cabinet (found at auction for $25) just inside the entrance to the den.

While the living room has lighter McCoy Pottery-like-sherbety-colors, the den is predominantly red, cream and tan, with a splash of green. It’s a very cozy room at any time of year, but it is especially so when the weather turns cold. Now you can see where I work each morning. With coffee in hand, I step down (it’s sunken) into the den, Scout following. We arrange ourselves, my girl and I, in our respective places; yours truly in the chair, Scoutie in the ‘tunnel.’

I’m there right now.

Happy Wednesday.