Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Sunday

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Okay, its 10:00 am and I am still in my flannel pajamas reading blogs, playing with my new phone, and generally being lazy. We’ve had a few snow flakes this morning but much to my disappointment, they seem to have stopped. I am ready for a little snow on the ground. Today will be a day of chores: doing laundry, cleaning up around the house, doing some work outside (if it doesn’t rain), organizing.

I’m starting to get in the Christmas spirit. I work part-time in my friend’s store which is fully decorated for Christmas and has been since early November. Christmas music is playing, loads of shoppers are stopping in and it all brings a smile to my face. I love how cheery everyone is at this time of year – even with frightening news about the economy at every turn. My husband and I plan to cut back on our Christmas present spending – just a few little gifts for each other. The real joy for me is the way the house looks, the sound of Christmas carols, and sharing our time with family and friends. I’m looking forward to a little Christmas decorating in the week ahead.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

McCoy and the paint color dilemma

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Today is gray and rainy…a strange weather day here in New York State. It is November 15 and today it was in the mid 60’s with rain and humidity and some rare moments of sunlight. Pretty warm for November, don’t you think? Since it is so gloomy out, I think a photo of McCoy pottery is in order. I love these two pieces: the piece on the left is a double cache pot with a lovely bird. (I am captivated by all the birds used throughout the McCoy line.) The piece on the right is a bookend. I only have one, although I see them on eBay all the time. Just haven’t pursued another one. My McCoy collection always makes me smile. As you’ll recall, I started this blog in February in the middle of winter – with pictures of McCoy. Rest assured, I will share more with you from time to time. I love, love, love my McCoy!

Thank you so much for your helpful advice about choosing a shade of yellow for my living room and kitchen. For some reason, I am very cautious about choosing a paint shade. I know the decorators on television say, “It’s only paint, you can always paint over it,” but I don’t want to paint over it; I want to paint and be done with it.

Right now I am doing all the prep work; washing walls, patching, sanding, and taping. I will start the primer in a day or two and then, hopefully, the perfect shade of yellow. What do you think about the yellow used in the McCoy bookend? Too cool a shade? I want a pale yellow to go with the ivory color of my trim. Honestly? Sometimes I think I should just paint the whole shebang the same shade of ivory as the trim. Is that copping out?

Help.

A few decorating tweaks

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I returned to Linens ‘N Things recently and found this lovely matelasse-type coverlet. Since the quilt I had on our bed was showing a bit too much wear, I decided to replace it with this. The color in the photo is a bit off – it is more of a pale aqua. Of course, I chose it because it complements the ripple blanket that I crocheted last winter.

I fell in love with these colors. The pastel hues reminded me of my McCoy pottery and you know how much I love McCoy. The finished blanket did not go with our quilt, but we used it anyway because its heavy and warm. I just kept it off the bed during the day – now I can use it as part of the whole “look” of the bed.

After residing on the porch all summer, the wicker rocker has come inside for the winter. I’ve changed out the outdoor cushions for the ones that came with the rocker. I love these cushions; they are reversible – striped on one side, flowers on the other.

Oh, this rocker is so comfortable that I see some reading and knitting in it’s future. After I had cleaned it up and brought it inside, I noticed that the pattern on the cushion was awfully close to the fabric I had used to cover the piano bench – long ago. How perfect!


Believe me, when I decided to buy the rocker, the similarity in fabric design never entered my mind.

I’m now preparing to paint the living room and all the trim. This little cottage was, I think, flipped. The paint job on the walls and trim shows it – just one coat and all of it, trim and walls, in a flat finish. I painted both the bathrooms last year and have been putting off the rest of the downstairs because I don’t like painting all that much. But it must be done. I was going to use a pale green on the walls and the same off-white on the trim that I am using throughout the house. This morning, however, my husband and I re-thought it and are now leaning toward a pale yellow that we can use in the living room and the kitchen. I’m struggling with the shade of yellow. This room gets a lot of sunlight and I know yellows can be tricky. Any suggestions? I sure appreciate any you might have.

More later.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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