Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1332 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Cottage Tour: The Kitchen

October 31, 2013 at 9:43 am by Claudia

Before I begin, might I take a moment to say “Yay, Boston Red Sox?” Because I am: Yay, Red Sox! What a series! What a nail biter of a game, but they all were. I love my Sox and all the late nights and lack of sleep were worth it. I’m thrilled for that bearded, fun-loving and amazingly talented team.

But no more baseball until the spring? Be careful around me; I’m going into withdrawal. And it ain’t pretty.

Okay. The kitchen. Let me say that, as always, the photos are ‘as is.’ And that includes some problems with light. Yikes, I had a hard time capturing the room. It was either too sunny or too dark. No in between. So, while these aren’t my best pictures of the kitchen (and there are plenty more of them around this blog) they are current.

Here goes. Let’s title this: The Kitchen (in All Kinds of Light.)

kitchen

Funky light. The shades are redder, the cupboards are more creamy. But there you go.

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This is so ‘as is’ that you can see I left a bottle of cleaner out on the island and a water container on top of the refrigerator.

McCoy Pottery is scattered throughout the room; on top of the cupboards, on the island, in the hutch. We don’t have a lot of cupboard space, which is why I came up with the idea for the island. I needed an inexpensive way to create an island and I got it by purchasing a old, dark sideboard at auction for $75. Some paint, some new glass knobs and we now have our favorite piece in the room.

kitchenisland

kitchenlookingoutatlr

Looking out at the living room. That tall cupboard to the left is our pantry.

kitchentable

This table had a dark, damaged finish and I eventually painted it a creamy ivory. The chairs, though sweet, are a pain. They need to be re-glued. I’m always on the lookout for replacement chairs. The green metal stand in the background is a piece we got at auction. It’s a display stand for chain. I added some dowels and it’s now our Funky Paper Towel Holder. I made the hanging swag lamp from an old lampshade frame and doilies. The table runner was made from four vintage napkins.

kitchensign

The sign was painted for us by Paula of Castle and Cottage Signs.

kitchenshelf

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The hutch. We found it in an antique shop when we we first moved out East. Our rental had a teeny, tiny kitchen and we needed more storage. I changed out the handles. You can’t see it, but the backing behind the shelves is beadboard. Love this piece. As you can see, we still haven’t taken out the window air conditioners. Today, I hope.

kitchenchalkboard

The red bench holds all sorts of tools. I made the chalkboard from left over trim on the sideboard-turned-kitchen-island. And the Jumping Jacks are my husband’s collection. I made the hanger from some old trim.

kitchencookiejar

Our favorite cookie jar.

I apologize for the less than crisp photos. Now, if a magazine came in the door and set up these shots, they would be perfect. Any takers? It’s cute, it’s funky and it’s charming, don’t you think? It would look fabulous in a glossy magazine. Sigh. I dream.

Happy Thursday.

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Book Review: Backlash by Lynda La Plante

October 30, 2013 at 10:11 am by Claudia

Backlash

Today I am reviewing Backlash by Lynda La Plante for TLC Book Tours. As always, I receive a copy of the book in return for my honest review.

About the book (from the publisher): Award-winning and international best selling author Lynda La Plante returns with the eighth installment of her acclaimed series featuring London’s Detective Chief Inspector Anna Travis.

Late night on a notorious high-rise estate in the borough of Hackney. A woman on the street never makes it home after a long night of drinking. A white van is being driven erratically. The driver is pulled over by police and questioned. A suspect…an arrest…a confession. Case closed?

Five years earlier, a thirteen year old girl disappeared in broad daylight on a busy London street. Detective Chief Superintendent James Langton headed the investigation; the case was never solved. It has haunted him ever since. And now comes another confession, to this murder, and to one more besides. But is it too good to be true? After being pulled into the fray, Anna Travis isn’t so sure they have their man.

My review: I’ve read and reviewed La Plante’s other series of police/crime procedurals, the well respected Prime Suspect series, upon which the British series starring Helen Mirren was based. I was a big fan of that series and the detailed and meticulous plots, as well as the protagonist, a London policewoman fighting prejudice in a sea of entrenched, suspicious male cops.

This series is new to me. I haven’t read any of the Anna Travis mysteries, so the only back story I know is what La Plante carefully includes in this book. It is enough. The mystery stands alone rather nicely. Once again, we are immersed in the life of a police investigation and La Plante provides plenty of meticulous detail and information as to just how an investigation is run. La Plante’s eye for detail is evidenced in the intricate plot, the painstaking work of the detectives, and the characters that people the book’s pages.

The story is believable and the tension builds as the team desperately tries to link the suspect to the murders they strongly suspect he was a part of. There are bureaucratic snags, leaks to the press, time constraints, and mistakes. But there is also the sort of ‘dog with a bone’ kind of detective work that is so vital to an investigation and that we often don’t see on 60 minute television shows.

Because of that, there was, for me, a sort of distancing that occurred. I’ve experienced the same thing with Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series. I don’t entirely connect with the protagonist or any of the other recurring characters because there simply isn’t enough time to delve into them. I label this sort of mystery a ‘dry’ mystery. Dry is not boring, by any means. It simply is what it is, a densely plotted police procedural that doesn’t allow the space for layered character development. In fact, perhaps because it is a series and La Plante might well assume we already know the protagonists, I found the supporting characters to be much more compelling and richly depicted.

Nevertheless, I get a sense of Anna Travis and enough of her back story is revealed that I find her intriguing. The same goes for James Langton. La Plante, who is also a screenwriter, is very good at describing the scenes of the novel; the rooms in the police department, the scenes of the crimes, the homes of the deceased, the families left behind. We get a real sense of the ‘where’ of the novel.

La Plante is a very good writer. She knows how to build a plot that is compelling and taut with suspense. If you like mysteries, especially police procedurals, I know you will enjoy this eighth book in the Anna Travis series.

Lynda La Plante

About the author: Lynda La Plante’s novels, including the Prime Suspect series, have all been international best sellers. She is an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and a member of the UK Crime Writers Awards Hall of Fame. She runs her own television production company and lives in London and Easthampton, NY.

I can giveaway one copy of this book to a lucky commenter. Please leave a comment on this post if you are interested and I will pick a winner on Sunday evening. Good luck!

Happy Wednesday.

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Cottage Tour: The Living Room

October 29, 2013 at 9:37 am by Claudia

These World Series games are so tense that there are moments when Don or I say, “Let’s just watch a movie. It will be easier.” By the time a game ends and I finally hit the bed, I’ve been up at least two hours past my normal bedtime and I’m too wired to sleep. Since I wake up early, this is not a good thing.

Bleary-eyed, I sit here in my blogging chair, grateful that I did some photo editing yesterday which will make posting this morning much easier. Why did I edit yesterday? Because I’m going to take you on a little tour of the cottage, room by room – with the exception of the bathrooms and the spare room/office/Don’s studio. The bathrooms are very nice, just not that interesting and hard to photograph. The spare room? A mess. That’s on our ‘to do’ list.

If you’re saying, “Claudia I’ve seen this before” I understand. But I know that newer readers haven’t, so here goes.

First up: the living room.

livingroom1

Our house has a lot of windows and we love all the light that comes pouring through them. Taking photographs, however, can be problematic, but I think I’ve managed to capture this space fairly well. As is, of course. Remember: Christmas in Connecticut defines our decorating style.

This is the view of the living room from the kitchen. (The kitchen and living room are separated by an arch, yet still function as one big room.) This is the left side of the space. The loveseat is at least 20 years old – I bought it when I was living in Cambridge, MA. We bought the yellow chair when we moved to the cottage and the red chair (one of my favorite pieces) was snagged for $50 in San Diego. The coffee table was refinished by our friend Rob back in San Diego and I bought it from him for $75. The sideboard near the front door was purchased in San Diego about 14 years ago and the cupboard was an auction find for $100.

livingroompiano

The other side of the living room. The dollhouse was a Craigs List find for $35. I’ve completely redone it; if you’re interested in more information you can click on Around the Cottage on the navigation bar and you’ll see a link to the dollhouse. The piano was my grandmother’s. It’s a Chickering with gorgeous sound and it is the piano that my mom played when she was a child. All of my siblings took a turn or two playing it, I took lessons for about eight years and some of my dear aunts and uncles played on it every Christmas Eve. So, you can see that it is priceless to me.

livingroomlamb

livingroomrosepainting

My dad’s first oil painting. He also made the frame.

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Monty the cow and one of my husband’s guitars. I found the old lab stool in a secondhand shop and the firkin underneath the stool was my grandmother’s.

lrsideboard

See what I mean about the light? There are windows behind that sideboard.

livingroomsideboardtop

livingroomhousepaintings

These two paintings hang on the wall next to the front door. The one of top is of the cottage and was painted by my dad. The one on the bottom is of my great-grandparents’ farmhouse in Orillia, Ontario. It was painted by my great-aunt.

livingroomcupboard

The cupboard and a vintage bench. I found the vintage linen laundry bag locally and decided to hang it on the french door.

livingroombluebench

Found the bench in a local antique shop. That’s an organ stop that we found in Canada on top of the bench. My mom gave that ship to my dad as a present and he sent it to me a year or so ago. The duck was carved by my neighbor, Al. He gave it to us during a visit to his home.

livingroomredlamp

livingroomlookingintoden

That’s the den on the other side of the french doors. We love that it’s sunken – it makes for a cozy retreat.

livingroomstairway

To the right of the french doors is this little area, recently commandeered for my office. There’s a door underneath the stairs that leads to a little storage space. There’s a narrow coat closet on the right (hidden in this picture) and the doorway that you can see leads to the bathroom.

livingroomdesk

My little work area. The desk was found on the street. The chair (made by Thonet) was found at a local antique shop and we paid $5 for it. Do you believe it? What a great find!

livingroomdesklookingupstairs

And there you have it. We’ve had to be pretty creative with the space – a chimney divides the longest wall which also has three windows, the front door opens directly into the living room and we had to fit a piano into the space. A couple of years ago, we spent a day moving furniture around to see if there might be a better layout. Nope. There isn’t. This is the way it will stay.

Tomorrow I have a book review scheduled, but on Thursday, I’ll be back with more of the cottage tour.

Happy Tuesday.

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Cottage Tour: The Kitchen

Book Review: Backlash by Lynda La Plante

Cottage Tour: The Living Room

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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