DIY — Page 2

Scenes From The Cottage: The Studio

January 23, 2015 at 8:54 am by Claudia

For those of you who are new to the blog, this is a little space I carved out of the upstairs hallway. I use it for my sewing machine and a cupboard that holds supplies and favorite things. I used to call it my studio. In fact there was an article published about this space that used that very word.

However, ‘Studio’ is another term I’m trying to phase out – purely in terms of my personal space. Because I don’t feel entirely comfortable with that word. Don insists that I’m an artist. And I am. But do I earn my living from the things I create in this space? No. So, studio? I’m not so sure.

So….what word to use?

Craft room? It’s not really a room, is it? Craft space? No. I’m also tired of ‘craft’ and ‘crafting.’ Creative space? That might be a possibility, although my creative space is not limited to this hallway. If I could get away with it, I’d use the word ‘atelier’ because it conjures up spaces with skylights tucked in the attics or garrets of a French building. And I have a skylight and this space is located in the former attic of this cottage.

Atelier, though bordering on pretentious, might be sort of fun. What do you think?

I’ve chronicled this space a lot on this blog and it has gone through various incarnations. To tell you the truth, I haven’t been using it much lately and I’ve felt sort of ‘meh’ about it. I think it has nothing to do with the space, but more to do with where my head is at lately.

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Letitia, my vintage dress form, and the cabinet I got on Craig’s List for $75. I repainted it at the same time I was going crazy painting the bedroom furniture.

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The girls: my mom’s Shirley Temple doll on the left, Tressa (who has two left feet, so of course I had to rescue her) is in the center, and Emma (also a rescue) is on the right. Party hat made by my friend Tina, who also gave me the tiara.

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Egg cups on a vintage mantel that’s been hung on the wall. I found the flower print in San Diego, the shadowbox holds a program from the Broadway play, Claudia, along with a little tiny bride and groom cake topper. The program was given to my by my friend Suzanne. That burlap and lace ribbon says Mockingbird Hill Cottage. The fireplace screen on the floor was found in my friend Heidi’s now defunct shop. I love it. The pink sewing box was found in Wisconsin when I was coaching there. It holds all the letters Don sent to me when we were courting. (Lamb Chop has recently moved to the top of the sewing machine. She gets around.) The sewing basket (which has recently moved to a closet in my effort to clean up this space) was found in a local shop – embellishments added by me. It holds all my embroidery supplies.

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Inside the cabinet: threads, ribbons, buttons, some McCoy, fabric covered boxes, a piece of Roseville Pottery, a koala bear bank from my friend Becky, and my bride and groom cake toppers.

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The putz sheep that my friend Lori (who is the owner of Vignettes in San Diego) had a friend embellish and decorate for me is on the right. I treasure it so much! I miss Vignettes, which is my favorite shop ever. The putz sheep on the left was given to me by my dear friend Judy. The Claudia covered matchbook was made by another dear blogging friend, Elyse.

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If you look at the frame on the right at the top, you can see the original colors of the cabinet.

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My Ranarp lamp from IKEA. And more overwintering impatiens. The pin cushion was made by Debbie of Happy Little Cottage. I found the little blue pitcher with the letters CH on it in a little antique shop. My initials, of course, so I had to have it.

There was a lovely old shelf on the wall behind the sewing machine but it fell off the wall one day. I’m still trying to figure out if I want to repair it or just put something else there.

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A favorite chair. If you look closely, you can see where I stepped through the cane on the chair back. Yes, my friends, I did. I was standing on the chair in the bedroom trying to get to a leak in the ceiling and the chair fell over, causing my foot to go through the cane. I was extremely ticked off at my foolishness. Much cursing and swearing ensued.

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Lamb Chop and Baby Lamb Chop sit on top of the sewing machine, which is covered by a vintage embroidered doily roll that I found in an antique shop a few years back.

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The baby mug with the C was made by Emma Bridgewater. I got it many years ago while I was in London at her shop in Marylebone, which I think is no longer there. I found the wall pocket in a local vintage shop.

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A vintage kitchen spice shelf hangs on the wall. That’s the original Lamb with the Party Hat. Yes, indeed! And a doggie toothpick holder, some vintage miniature clothespins and a Paris/Eiffel Tower medal I got at Vignettes in San Diego.

There are other tours of the ~~studio~~, ahem, atelier, on the blog. It’s had many looks, and lots more ‘stuff’ along the way; I cleaned a lot of that up about a year ago because I was in the mood for a less cluttered look.

That’s it, my friends. No bathroom tours and definitely no tour of the guest bedroom/office/studio which is currently a mishmash of furniture and guitars and amps. Maybe someday.

Happy Friday.

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Scenes From The Cottage: The Bedroom

January 22, 2015 at 9:33 am by Claudia

I’d say the “Master” bedroom, but really, let’s be honest here. We have two bedrooms. One functions as a guest bedroom/office/studio. The other is the one we sleep in. So I’m not going to use the somewhat grandiose Master. Come to think of it, Master of what? Of his domain? Of his lands?

And why not Mistress? Or Master and Mistress?

I’m starting a movement to cease and desist using the term “Master Bedroom” unless you have an estate in the country with servants in the house and serfs working your land.

The bedroom is tucked under the eaves, which makes furniture placement a challenge – to put it mildly. But it’s cozy, that’s for sure.

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It’s impossible to take a picture of the entire room. I’ve tried.

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while will remember the new California King bed we ordered last year and the delivery saga that ensued. We ended up having to sleep in the full sized bed in the other room for about a month. To say we were in tight quarters is an understatement. But the new bed has been with us almost a year now and we love it. LOVE IT.

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No, I don’t iron my pillowcases, not even for a photo shoot. I can’t be bothered. I do make my bed every day, though. I cannot handle an unmade bed unless I’m sick.

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A couple of years ago, when Don was away working, I went on a mad painting spree. The furniture in the room had a variety of wood finishes, many of them darkish. We have two small windows in this room, so I decided a creamy white was in order. It looks much better, though I worried it would be a bit feminine for Don. He assured me that he didn’t care because he was only in the bedroom when it was time to sleep.

A practical guy.

The dresser was found on a street in Cambridge when I was living there. Free. My friend and I carried it for about four city blocks and then up four flights of stairs. I’ve had it for about 23 or 24 years. It’s been painted gray, then yellow, and now aqua and cream.

The vintage rocker needs some repair and I plan on attending to that shortly. I love that rocker. I crocheted that throw and made the quilt, as well.

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A vintage tea towel as dresser scarf, assorted jewelry, a silver pillbox from Tiffany’s given to me by my late mentor and his partner, my grandmother’s lamp, my great-grandmother’s tea chest, and a photo of my late brother and me.

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A photo of me when I was teaching at Boston University (oh, to be that young again), some McCoy and Roseville pottery, and Don’s head shot (which I took).

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A pansy print that I bought while working in Owensboro, Kentucky. I love the print and the vintage frame. A D hook from Anthropologie which holds my necklaces (most of which I never wear). D for Don, by the way. I also had the C, but I couldn’t find it when I was putting this up. So the D won.

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I coveted and salivated over this painting for over a year. It was in a shop in San Diego – Vignettes – and as I went back and forth to SD to coach a few shows, I would see it and gaze upon it and then I would walk away because it was too expensive for me.

Finally, I took a picture and sent it to Don, talked it over with him and got his approval, and then drove to Vignettes where Lori, the owner, told me that she had wrapped it up for a customer and was getting ready to put the sale through when the customer changed his mind. All the while, she had been thinking that I was going to be so upset when I saw it was gone.

That clinched it. I bought it. I always knew it would go on this section of the wall that surrounds the chimney.

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Impatiens brought in for the winter.

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Egg cups. And a Christie Repasy print.

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Beautiful Japanese wood block prints on rice paper. These are Don’s. He bought them when he was courting me and living in the company housing provided by the Old Globe. He wanted something to personalize his living space.

On my side of the room:

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Books and lots of ’em. There are books behind books – two layers deep.

The black and white photograph of a rose was taken by my late brother, there’s vintage mirror my mom bought me when I was visiting them in Michigan, another parakeet lamp that I found (!) that needs some rewiring, photos of Winston and Riley and Scout.

The lone wolf print was purchased while we were living in San Diego.

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My traveling pals: Maggie Rabbit, Wayfrum Holmes, Little Lamb. They’re sitting on a vintage hatbox I found many years ago in the Berkshires. And that’s Home, by Edgar Guest. I found it in a local antique shop last year.

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More books. A bit blurry, but you get the picture. They’re everywhere.

There’s also a cabinet to the left of my dresser that our old behemoth of a television sits on, but I didn’t get a photo of it, though there’s one elsewhere on this blog.

On a sunny day like today, the bedroom is filled with a lovely, rosy glow. And though I’d love more wall space, instead of the half-walls, there is something wonderful about being tucked under the eaves in an attic bedroom.

Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments section.

Happy Thursday.

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Scenes From The Cottage: The Kitchen

January 21, 2015 at 9:33 am by Claudia

The kitchen was what clinched the deal for Don. Not that it has a lot of bells and whistles. Not that it is full of stainless steel appliances and cupboards galore and granite or butcher block countertops. Nope. It has too few cupboards and mismatched appliances. It has tile countertops that I’d love to replace.

But because it was added on to this little cottage many, many years ago, it has a slanted ceiling that is much higher than the ceiling in the living room. It slopes down from the wall it shares with the living room to the wall that faces the back forty. Since Don does a lot of the cooking and he’s over 6′4″ tall, he fell in love with the space. And we both fell for the windows that are on all three sides of the room.

I’ll try to note things you might want to know below each photo, because there are a lot of photos.

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The view from the living room. The island was made from an old sideboard. McCoy Pottery is scattered throughout the room. That’s Scout’s dog food under the island. The lampshade was recovered in some of the fabric from my stash. The Vernor’s crate is one of my very favorite things.

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As Is. A well organized message center? Decidedly not. Photos of family on the refrigerator.

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The table was originally finished in a very dark stain, so I painted it. I got it from my friend Heidi’s shop for $75. It has two leaves, as well, though I think we’ve only used them once. The chairs have been gathered here and there. The one with its back to the camera was found for $5. It’s vintage and was made by Thonet.

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Pretty cups. Bottle rack from World Market. The little tray was decoupaged by my friend Tina. She also gave us that beautiful aqua pitcher.

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Riley’s Dish Garden, in honor of our dearly missed boy.

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The pantry. I bought that canister (part of a set) when we were driving across the country on the way to our new home in the Northeast. The horseshoe is Don’s.

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The kitchen cabinet was found in a little shop on the other side of the river – we had a very, very, very small kitchen in our rental and we desperately needed the storage space. I changed out the stainless steel knobs to some pretty glass pulls. It’s full of McCoy, Fiesta, vintage china, Emma Bridgewater, transferware. I made the light hanging over the table from an old lamp shade base which I covered with old doilies. The red cloth-covered cord came as part of a kit. I also made the chalkboard and the hanger for Don’s Jumping Jack collection. You’re welcome to pull on one as you come in or out the door.

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Fiesta and McCoy.

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The sign is one of my favorite things – made by Paula of Castle and Cottage Signs. Isn’t it lovely? More McCoy, as well.

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I found this sign, which is not vintage, through my friend Heidi. I loved the colors and it was the perfect size to hang over the entrance to the living room.

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The funky paper towel holder made from an old chain display rack.

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The bench by the kitchen door. We bought it right after we moved in here. We store a lot of tools inside the bench. Dog towels; both on and under the bench. In the winter, hats and gloves.

And the view from the kitchen into the living room and den:

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There you have it. As Is. The way we live. There’s always clutter on the kitchen table, notes and lists on the island, pottery everywhere (I don’t know what I’d do without it.)

Cheerful clutter, I call it. A sleek kitchen is clearly not for us. I admire them. I marvel at the space and the counters free of clutter. I dream of matching appliances and butcher block countertops. And a dishwasher that works.

But cheerful, funky, and colorful is really our style. The pottery has been gathered and collected over the years. The table and chairs pieced together over the last almost ten years. The chalkboard was made from part of the trim that originally came on the sideboard (which I found at auction for $60). The lamp was a solution to a kitchen with recessed lighting, which I like, but let’s face it, there are times when some mood lighting is in order. We came up with the paper towel holder not long after we moved here and bid on the chain display at a local auction. We brought it home and soon I had a vision of dowels and paper towels. (Hey, that rhymes.) It’s one of our favorite things. The island was something I dreamed up to give us more storage and counter space. We can’t imagine life in the kitchen without it.

If you’re interested, there are more photos of the island and the chalkboard and the hanging light and information as to how I made them elsewhere on the blog.

Any questions? Ask away in the comments!

Happy Wednesday.

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Scenes From The Cottage: The Studio

Scenes From The Cottage: The Bedroom

Scenes From The Cottage: The Kitchen

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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