Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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On a Rainy Weekend

May 23, 2026 at 9:01 am by Claudia

It’s a rainy Saturday morning and it will be a rainy weekend. So, we have coolish in the 50s temperatures. I’m going to hunker down inside and do…something. I have no idea what that will be as I’m still waiting on the wallpaper and the seller has not updated me. I’m trying to stay positive but I did read several reviews about “why did it take so long to get to me??” and “doesn’t return messages.” We’re at the end of a 5 week stretch between Social Security payments, so I don’t have the extra funds to order something else.

I want to continue my work on the dollhouse, but more importantly, I need  to work on the dollhouse. It’s my escape from the continual assault on our democracy. Don and I talked about it last night. We have to be very protective of our emotional and mental health because we are not young anymore. We are in our mid-seventies and time is precious and life is precious and I CANNOT GIVE HIM THE POWER TO RUIN MY MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH. Nor will I give him the power to ruin my husband’s mental and physical health.

So I’ll sit down in the office and take shadowy pictures of the dollhouse, like these:

I do love the play of light and shadow inside the house.

This is the desk I made for Dove Cottage but eventually removed because it made the bedroom too crowded. It will finally have a home in the downstairs hall.

I hung the painting. I love it.

The clematis is in bloom. Happy, happy.

Don has a gig this afternoon at a sane time. He sings from 1-4 and he gets paid for it. So much of this kind of work is just tips. So actually getting paid is a refreshing change. And he gets home in time for dinner. Win-win.

I’ll be vacuuming, patching a couple of throw pillows that are not looking too good at the moment, and who knows what else. Keeping busy.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: Beacon Hill Dollhouse 14 Comments

Little Projects

May 20, 2026 at 8:26 am by Claudia

Today will be the last day of the heat wave. It’s been very, very hot. We ended up putting in the kitchen A/C unit. Very grateful for it saving my sanity the last few days. The bedroom unit has not been installed yet, because temperatures will be much cooler for a while after today.

We’ve been hunkering down inside the house, and I’ve been grabbing time in the morning hours to work on the dollhouse. It’s not air conditioned, so the morning is the only time I can work there. I’m waiting for more wallpaper – “Waiting for Wallpaper” should be the title of my autobiography – so I have been building little pieces from kits. I’ve had a couple of these kits for many years and I was holding on to them for this house.

This is a little table from Arjen Spinhoven, who lives in the Netherlands. It was quite well designed and easy to put together and stain. I love the detail. It will most likely sit next to the sofa in the living room.

And I made these two base cabinets from kits that I ordered from miniatures (dot) com when they went out of business. The yellow sink unit has been living in the Lake House. I brought it upstairs to the Beacon Hill to see how it might look in the kitchen. I like the idea of a kitchen that isn’t matchy-matchy – a mixture of cabinet styles that have been put together over time. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m going to try it.

Don’t you just love seeing the real-sized paint brushes outside the window?

And then I realized that the other fireplace had been assembled incorrectly. It actually leaned forward and would never be flush with the wall, so I took it apart and figured out how to realign everything.

Wish I had a before picture! This is the after picture.

I’m waiting until tomorrow to mow the corral and the back forty. The grass is very long but it’s been too hot to tackle that job.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: Beacon Hill Dollhouse, miniatures 16 Comments

Mini Tramp Art and Work Outside

May 16, 2026 at 8:34 am by Claudia

Lots of work was done outside yesterday. I dug up a big outcropping of some wild plant that was taking over the area right in front of the big garden bed. I pruned, as best I could and there’s more to be done today, as well as mowing. Mowing has popped up on the to do list because I looked at the forecast and after today – it will be in the high 80s  to the mid 90s for about 4 days. Not the kind of weather for mowing. No rain for a while, so that’s good. I was so tired after yesterday’s work, but needs must!

It is a lovely, beautifully sunny day, so that will help.

My teeny little budget is keeping me from ordering more mini wallpaper at the moment, so I’m in an in-between stage in the renovation. Just dreaming up ideas at the moment. And I’m still determined to figure out how to tackle the wallpapering of the bedroom. What a glutton for punishment I am!

Here’s a little something that arrived in yesterday’s mail.

A painting (real) surrounded by a wooden mat and tramp art/victorian frame. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it on my Instagram mini feed. She has a few more tramp art frames and I covet them. Re-hanging our tramp art framed angel a few months back reminded me of how much I love this form of creative expression.

Also, sheep!!

Isn’t this exquisite?

It will most likely go in the Beacon Hill living room, but I’m holding off on hanging anything until the room is closer to being finished.

It took a long, long time, but my love of dollhouse miniatures has come back and for that I am grateful.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: Beacon Hill Dollhouse, miniatures 20 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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