You remember that we live in a wee cottage, right? Just keep that in mind as I tell you another story.

My husband asks for very little. I am the collector, the luster-after-vintage, the-ebay-etsy-antique shopper. Don? He wants a new guitar every once in a long while…and that is about it. He is very undemanding. When I first met him, he had very few items in his possession. He was acting in plays that kept him on the road, so he didn’t accumulate much. Now that we have this life together, he loves all of the things we have chosen to make our cottage our home.

We took a Sunday drive a few weekends ago and we stopped at a charming antique shop. Almost immediately upon entering, Don spied a spinet desk and he couldn’t take his eyes off it. It reminded him of a desk he’d had as a child. He wanted it…very clearly wanted it. (Now I like spinet desks as well, and have always thought it would be neat to have one.)

It is rare when he really falls in love with something, so we stood there discussing it and trying to justify buying it. The obvious question came up: “Where would we put it?” My answer? “There are maybe 2 places we could put it, but it would involve much rearranging and I don’t know if it will work.” Our cottage is tiny and there is very, very little wiggle room for adding new things.

But we bought it. I mean, how could we not? It was a great deal and my husband loved it.

The one place I thought it might work was at the base of our staircase. We have a little built in cupboard under the stairs that reminds me of something out of a 40’s movie, like “Christmas in Connecticut” or “White Christmas” – it is very cottagey. I keep lots of stuff in there including the vacuum, the swiffer; things that I use daily. In order to make this work, I had to clear all of that out of there as well as rearrange a closet in the den which had a lot of stuff in it that needed to be tossed. We figured we could put the vacuum, etc. in the den closet – I use them every day and I certainly wasn’t going to be moving the desk every time I needed them. One thing led to another and it ended up being a several-hours-long job. But it is done. The desk is in place. It does add a lot to that little area – providing us with another nook in our home. I’ve only had to move it four times – because now that I am working on this new project, I needed the paint and tools that were stored in the cupboard. The tools are now joining the vacuum in the den closet.

The wood is so pretty – It looks like cherry but it might be some wood stained in cherry.

This is a vintage cigarette box that I bought in Edinburgh many years ago. I think it looks perfect on the desk – I can’t add too much since it is basically Don’s area and he doesn’t want a lot of ‘stuff’ there. He really loves the desk in this little niche and I must admit I do, too. The table lamp gets turned on in the evening, adding a lovely glow to what was previously a dark corner.

We’re using a Windsor chair for the desk at present, but it is not the right scale and eventually we will replace it. I was moving the chair out of the way to take a photo and who did I spy peeking through the spindles?

Yes, Mr. Riley…checking up on me.

I’m still working on my project – I didn’t get around to it today. Some of you mentioned the kitchen island. If you want to know more about it you can read this post and this post. I eventually want to add a butcher block or marble top to it.