cottage — Page 15

Around the House

April 9, 2015 at 8:49 am by Claudia

Because the last post like this one got such a positive response, here is another edition of Around the House, as seen yesterday.

4-9 Short

Because neither of us is.

Short, I mean.

4-9 parakeet lamp

Because all lamps should include parakeets.

4-9 impatiens

Because it’s almost time to move the impatiens to the porch.

4-9 Scoutie

Because she likes to catch some zzz’s.

4-9 lamp

Because I love the lines of this lamp.

And the perfect glass shade that I searched for and finally found.

4-9 whitelamp

Because this lamp is cool and has a cloth-covered cord.

4-9 books

Because I love books and pottery.

And before you ask, no, I only did a book of the first year of the blog.

4-9 currier&ives

Because this is an original Currier & Ives print/lithograph.

Very old, very fragile. Found at auction many years ago.

4-9 earbuds

Because earbuds must always be at the ready.

As well as pens, pencils, nail file, scissors and crochet hooks.

I have a quick question for you. I collect McCoy Pottery, as you no doubt have realized by now. Would you be at all interested in a short series of posts about those pieces, like the series I did about the egg cup collection? I did one many years ago, but I have a nicer camera now and many of you are newish readers. It might be fun.

Happy Thursday.

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Scenes From the Cottage: The Den

January 18, 2015 at 8:48 am by Claudia

This time of year I am in full-on Nesting Mode. I look around our cottage and thank my lucky stars that we have a roof over our head and a charming one, at that. So I’ve been taking some pictures of the cottage. First up?

The den.

This room – where I write, blog, read, and where Don and I watch the tube – is full of things that are well worn, used and vintage. The only item that was new when we purchased it is the sofa. It’s now nineteen years old and on its second slip cover. Oh, and the rug, which is now 14 years old and has attained ‘well worn’ status courtesy of the dogs that have shared our life.

The den is smallish, sunken and until very recently, was not my favorite room here at the cottage. Then, after almost 10 years of dreaming of built-in bookshelves, we took the bull by the horns and stained some wood, added some standards and brackets, and now? I don’t know why, but those darned shelves have made all the difference in the world in my perception of the space.

I really love it here now.

It’s full of stuff. Every bit of space is in use. But that’s the way life is here at the cottage, where livable space equals about 1000 square feet and the owners have a lot of things that they love.

Some scenes from the den (as is, nothing styled):

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Corners-Den 5

Corners-Den 2

Corners-Den 6

Corners-Den 3

Corners-Den 10

Corners-Den 4

Corners-Den 7

Corners-Den 8

Corners-Den 9

Everything has a story of course, because that’s how we roll around here.

A flower print in a beautiful scalloped wood frame found for $15 at auction.

A pair of vintage lamps found in a favorite antique shop last year. We fell in love with them.

A blue/green table found at auction for $10.

Collections: egg cups, McCoy pottery, china, Roseville pottery, mini pottery, and books.

Well loved art hanging on the walls: an original Maxfield Parrish print, an original Currier & Ives ‘God Bless Our Home’ print (found at auction), the beautiful Lost Lamb print in its equally beautiful vintage frame.

A spinet desk made out of cherry, a lovely china cabinet (one of the first things I purchased when I moved to San Diego), an antique music cabinet, a $5 television/media cabinet (found at auction) and a $10 coffee table.

My blogging chair, found in San Diego. It’s vintage and needs to be reupholstered but, in the meantime, is sporting an IKEA slipcover.

The beautiful cigarette box I found in Edinburgh over 20 years ago – one of my very favorite things.

You can see that we don’t spend a lot of money on things. We’re always on a budget. Since we’re also naturally drawn to used, worn, and vintage, it all seems to work out rather nicely!

It’s not perfect. But perfect is boring.

I believe in letting a room evolve over time. It’s taken us almost ten years to find what works in this space. But now, it’s my favorite retreat.

More ‘Scenes From’ this week.

Happy Sunday.

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Home Again

October 26, 2014 at 9:20 am by Claudia

homeagain1

We’ve got some leaves here. No leaves left on our trees. Oh my goodness. I have a LOT of raking to do.

My neighbors, by the way, did a stellar job of clearing out our gutters and I am so grateful to them. We are very lucky to have them nearby.

I drove home with no stops, hoping to get to our post office to pick up the mail before it closed at noon. We arrived in our little town at 12:15. Darn. Packing everything up, going up and down the elevator countless times, loading the car, waiting to get Scout in the car before I pulled up the rugs – all of that took a bit longer than I thought it would. Meanwhile, Scout got increasingly more hyper as she realized something was going on. By the time we got here and she watched me unload everything and sniffed around her corral, she was exhausted.

I also think she misses the park. So do I. I’ve noticed by the way she goes up the steps from the den that she seems stronger. So little trips in the car so she can take a walk are definitely a must. I don’t want her losing that strength she has built up.

But we miss the park. And, though I was happy to be home, suddenly being done with all my work in Hartford and coming home to a house that’s been closed up and is missing my husband made me a bit blue. This transition will take some time.

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But I have leaves to rake. And grocery shopping to do.

There must have been a frost while I was gone. I don’t think it was a hard frost, but it was enough to kill the morning glories and a lot of the zinnias. I did find this morning glory bud:

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It’s supposed to get a bit warmer this week, so perhaps we might see one more flower?

To my delight, some of the roses are still blooming:

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The zinnias in the barrels are still alive, though bedraggled. I’ll share some photos of them tomorrow.

And my impatiens, sitting in pots on the porch, without water for three weeks?

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Still blooming. These are the same impatiens I overwintered. They are amazing.

I guess I’ll be overwintering them again.

The television, which you might remember was on its way to its final demise before I left, bit the dust yesterday. I turned it on and the sound was doing its noisy clicks and pops and then suddenly the picture went crazy and that was it. All I wanted to do, of course, was watch the World Series. I managed to register online with MLB so I could watch it on my laptop. (I could watch it upstairs on the old TV in our bedroom, but I didn’t want to abandon Scout so early in the evening, especially since this whole moving thing is so confusing for her.)

So, on the agenda: new television, washer repair and/or replacement (remember it died, too?), paint the kitchen, bookshelves in the den, and sort and organize each room of the house.

And read books I have to review.

And rake. And rake again. And rake again.

While putting away the food I brought back from Hartford yesterday, I came across a little treat that I hadn’t had time to eat before I left:

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What a nice surprise!

It’s all gone now.

Happy Sunday.

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Around the House

Scenes From the Cottage: The Den

Home Again

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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