Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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My “New” Kitchen Island

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Well, its done! We love it!!!! Perhaps we’ll find a neat marble top for it someday, but for now we are quite happy with our new addition to the kitchen. This photo has a strange angle to it because I was sitting on the counter trying to get a full view of the island.

Here are some other views, some showing the detail that this cabinet has – detail that I think is enhanced by the paint job. It really got lost in its former dark, dark version.

I love the way the beadboard turned out – very cozy cottage, I think. I’ve already rearranged my cupboards and am so grateful for more storage space. Hope you like it.

Have a great weekend!

Back home and new project

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I got back from Florida on Sunday. Boy it is good to be home! I have to fly back down there next Wednesday, but in the meantime, I am enjoying life here at the cottage. I went to auction on Monday with my friend and found this old sideboard. I forgot to take a before picture in its original state. Its one of those old dining room sideboards with a dark finish and is sometimes called Jacobean in style. I’ve wanted an island in my kitchen for a while and one day when I googled kitchen islands, I found a neat idea from the DIY network. It suggested finding one of these sideboards and transforming it into an island. Well – there was the sideboard – big and heavy and only $60.00. I’ve already slapped on a coat of primer because when my husband and I got it in the house, we were afraid it was too massive for the kitchen. The primer lightened it up enough to see it more realistically. The plan is to paint it, find new hardware, put beadboard on the back and figure out some sort of top for it. We were at Lowes today, but the quote on a special order counter was rather high for us, so we will explore other options. This island will give me more storage – a necessity in our little cottage – and a nice long working surface. It is also a bit higher than the rest of our counters. We like that. I’m tall and my husband is over 6’4″ and its nice to have a higher working surface.

Front of former sideboard/island-in-progress

Back of island with deteriorating veneer backboard

During our visit to Lowes, we also bought the beadboard and some molding. The nice man at Lowes cut the beadboard to our measurements and we brought it home and nailed it on the back (after I pried off the yucky veneer backing). Everything has been primed and I will start painting it tomorrow. Its been a fun project and it will really add to our kitchen.

I will post more photos as we go along. Have a great day.

My tooth hurts!

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I’m home today, after having a root canal yesterday. This was my first root canal…and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it. My dentist knows I hate any dental work and therefore shoots me up with lots of novocaine. So the actual root canal didn’t hurt, but my lord, did it take a long time. The tooth was a rear molar, consequently my mouth was forced into an open position for so long my jaws ached. I was in the chair over an hour and a half. Don’t get me wrong, my dentist is the gentlest of dentists, but we are talking about a root canal and there’s not much you can do to speed up the process. (By the way, I drive over an hour to go to this dentist because he is so gentle.) After the whole thing was over, or almost over, apparently I have to go back in a week or so for one more thing, I drove home and was nicely taken care of by my husband.

Today I woke up with lots of pain. I guess it’s to be expected, but I’m not a happy camper. It is getting slightly better as the day goes on. We have declared this day to be a soft food day and will eat accordingly.

Below is a little vignette from the wall by our front door. These house paintings are very dear to me. The top one is of our house, Mockingbird Hill Cottage. My Dad painted it and gave it to us not long after we moved in. We treasure it. The other is of the house in Canada where my grandmother was raised. It was the family farm in Orillia, Ontario. My sisters, my Mom, my late grandmother and I went to Canada years ago and one of the things we did was visit the farm. It had new owners and was painted white, but it was full of memories for grandma. Years later, we heard it had been destroyed in a fire. Very sad. The painting was done by my Grandma’s sister, my Aunt Ruth.


I’m going to go sit down and eat some soft food. More later.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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