Isn’t that a beauty?
It’s a strange spring around here. Some plants are more prolific and lush than ever, but others are not. The Annabelle hydrangea is not doing well. I’m going to have to cut it back at the end of the season. The climbing hydrangea is also not doing well. And the bridal veil spirea is flowering, but very sparsely. I wonder if all of that has to do with the very harsh winter we just went through? I suspect it might. Oh, and the rose bush is also a problem. Lots of dead branches.
There’s lots to be done.
The wild roses always do well!
Okay. It took me two days to wallpaper the bedroom in the Beacon Hill. It was stressful and frustrating and that was because I had to work around all the trim that was already in place. That’s something I haven’t had to deal with before. So, it had to be pieced together. Ideally, each wall would be one continuous piece of wallpaper, but that was impossible.
On Monday.
On Tuesday around noon. It’s definitely a test of my patience and a reminder that rescuing a dollhouse involves all sorts of challenges. I love this wallpaper, by the way. Papyrus Floral by Cobblehill Minitatures.
I turned the dollhouse to get better light and look what showed up in the window? Dove Cottage. It almost looks like a little neighborhood.
It turns out the daybed works perfectly in this room. That wasn’t planned, but I’m sure happy about it.
Now for the floors…
I moved my sofa that had been in the miniatures cupboard down to Hummingbird Cottage.
I really love it in here and it picks up the colors in the rug.
But now, the blue and white easy chair looks out of place. Hmmm. I’d like to keep this sofa in the mix because I think the living room needs a shot of a different color. Everything was “lots of shades of blue.” And this is such a gorgeous piece (by Emma of Croft House Miniatures in England.)
I’ll be keeping my eye out for another chair.
Okay, my friends.
Some weed whacking is on the docket for today.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
Oh Claudia, that sofa is absolutely beautiful! I love the wallpaper you picked out too. Another hot day here. Off to a doctors appt. this morning and I am not a morning person!
Take care!
Hope you’re home by now and the A/C is on, Deb!
Stay safe.
Oooohhh Color! I Love it Claudia! And the way it makes the daybed look light soft and airy is just perfect! I think you made a great choice. And in reality the wall paper is always pieced, so evidence of the overlapped sections is just another bit of mini “reality” in my opinion! Even though it does make it take longer to fit. And the sofa in Hummingbird Cottage is a wonderful update for that room! Places do evolve over time, and so do our “sensibilities”. The view of Dove Cottage through the windows is just the kind of mini magic that I love most…. accidental “worlds” we can almost inhabit!
As for the garden plants and “winter kill” I have experienced similar problems this year! My roses needed to be pruned waaaay back (except for the Rugosa which is extra hardy. The peonies are mostly fine, but the one by my driveway is really struggling… only two buds this year?!! Same for my large rhododendron… the part closest to the driveway suffered a lot of winter kill. And my irises are hardly in evidence at all! On the other hand the phlox self seeded and is rampant (I will need to tackle it back into bounds) and my foxgloves are abundant! But they are on the more sheltered side of the house. Every year is different, but last winter was the toughest since I have lived here, which is now almost twenty years.
Yes, my David Phlox is everywhere in the big garden bed! I’ve never seen it self seed so vigorously!
Yes, we’ve lived here 20 years and it was the worst winter I can remember…save for one when Don was away working in Boston and we kept on gettin huge snowfalls.
Stay safe, Betsy.
it’s all looking great, claudia. your patience is in evidence (or shall i say in residence? haha), especially for having to cut very small and specific sizes of patterned paper. good job! please keep going!
plants taking a break after a tough winter makes sense to me. hope they come back and that the work is easy for you.
what i just said about plants is how i feel today. started to feel like i was getting my feet under me (regarding tangible stuff and emotionally with grief), but then may was an extra-tough month … more hard choices, losses, reminders of losses. our very nice neighbors of 25 years moved out. 29 years to the day, gym membership closed (that was started as a gift from my parents when i moved back here and they knew i needed a stress reliever, a place to run in winter). my brother, sister and i are most likely not going to renew our family’s tickets to the wonderful drake relays (with terrific seats in general and for being at the finish line) that my parents bought and enjoyed for 60-plus years. and then a couple weeks ago, on an already-sentimental trip to nebraska, saw that my mother’s childhood home had recently been torn down. so, not to wish time away, but i am glad may is over. and that i can take it slower today.
happy, safe wednesday.
kathy
Actually some parts of those plants are dead, I think – not all of them, but I’m going to have to cut a lot of the plants back.
I’m sorry about your mother’s home. I’ve just learned that my dear friend Joe has cancer and I’m devastated. And my sister has some health worries, as well. It’s not been a good start to June.
Stay safe, Kathy.
Good morning Claudia! What an eye popping color on the clematis. Beautiful. We feel for you. My CO valley is known for their peaches, and just over the hill are mouth watering cherries. This year we had a string of too hot days where everything blossomed and then 2 days of 28 deg. We lost 25% of our peach and apricot crop in the valley and all of the cherries, peaches and apricots over the hill.. Heartbreaking. Several festivals center around these fruits. And in our yard that sudden freeze seriously damaged the Rose of Sharon and Butterfly Bushes. As per my wise father, I never plant anything before mother’s day. He was correct once more.
The couch is stunning. How fun to decorate all those rooms, except that wallpaper. I work with paper and your template plan is perfect. That is close work. It’s lovely. Enjoy!
I’m so sorry about the loss of important crops due to the weather, Verna. Yes, never plant before May 1st, but when you have perennials, they’re already in the ground and there is sometimes no saving them.
Thanks so much, Verna.
Stay safe.
I’m sorry to hear about your Annabelle hydrangea. Maybe extra watering or a shot or two of fertilizer will help her recover? We had a horrible winter, too, last his past year. But, it seems to only have affected 4 Alberta spruce evergreens…they had severe winter burn. So they were dug out and replaced with dwarf arborvitae, and Japanese ewes. Our hydrangeas were not affected, thank goodness.
That wallpaper is gorgeous…sorry it was challenging to install. But…totally worth it Claudia. Enjoy your day of weed whacking! ;)
I had to cut the hydrangea back once before and it was after a winter with consistently heavy snowfall. I just didn’t notice this until recently, so any cutting back would be difficult – it’s hard to get to. It will have to wait until fall. We had a LOT of snow and very, very cold temperatures.
Thanks, Donnamae.
Stay safe.
Looking good! We have had so much rain that my yard guy is having to come 2x a week. It is so hot and humid here. Judy Clark
Oh no! So sorry it is already humid there, Judy. Humidity really gets to me and I’m dreading the humid days ahead.
Stay safe.
Just like in real life. You move one thing (sofa) and it starts a domino decorating effect. Lol. Everything looks great! I opened the box to begin to build a house kit I purchased years ago and almost closed it! Hundreds of pieces of trim and shingles. Rehab and new build—all have challenges I guess. That sofa is gorgeous.
One day at a time with building a dollhouse, Mary Ellen. Just take it step by step.
Stay safe.
Wallpapering around the trim sure is finicky work. Sometimes I’m into finicky but at other times, I just leave it for another day. Pleased you got it together and did it so you can move on. From what I can tell from the photos, you did a nice job. I like that you’re rearranging pieces among your houses.
I don’t usually do that – once a house is finished, it usually stays that way. But the sofa wasn’t in a house, so it seemed time to use it!
Stay safe, Wendy.