Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Adding A Dash Of The Unexpected In Your Home

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Not long after Don and I moved into the cottage, we went to a local auction. We saw this:

A wonderfully vintage and battered display rack for, of all things, chains. Both of us are drawn to things with interesting graphics and a touch of the industrial.

This large piece had graphics, all right. We looked at each other and bid on it. Why? Who knows. No one else was bidding on it with any degree of enthusiasm. We had no idea what the heck we would do with it.  It was one of those moments where we threw caution to the winds. We got it for $20.

Immediately, my mind started whirring. What could we do with it? We had to do something.

I call my decorating style Christmas in Connecticut for a reason. I like vintage, eclectic, overstuffed and cozy, just like the furnishings in all those wonderful old 1940s-era movies. But, to be perfectly accurate, it is Christmas in Connecticut – with a dash of funky. 

I like surprises in my home. The unexpected. I want visitors to think they’ve figured it all out and then discover something totally offbeat.

I had an idea. I trotted off to the store, bought a length of wooden dowel. I measured. I cut. Couldn’t have been simpler, really.

Then I added these:

And we had our funky paper towel holder.

Here it is in the kitchen. Now, I understand it is not everyone’s cup of tea. But we like it a lot. And we use it all the time.

These two photos show it in the context of the whole kitchen. I love the contrast between the cream colored table, the wooden chairs, the white of the hutch, red shades, doily swag lamp and the metal/industrial look of the paper towel holder.

It’s a surprise. A cozy cottage kitchen with a sudden dash of hard-edged/metal/industrial. And, I don’t know about you, but I love a happy surprise. I like to be kept on my toes.

Have you added a dash of the unexpected in your home?

Happy Tuesday.

Goodies: For Me & For The Shop

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Blogging friends, who are true friends, of course, are lovely indeed. Saturday afternoon I went out to the mailbox and found a package from sweet Judy Clark. Yay! A birthday present!

Be still my heart – that little wall pocket (birdies! sweet little house!) is adorable. I remember admiring it on a previous A Favorite Thing post of Judy’s. Bless her heart, she remembered that and sent it to me. See the vintage Singer sewing machine manual on the right? That was in the box, too.

The other item needs a wee bit of explanation. If you recall, last year at this time I started to obsess about the little Nisse made by a Danish company called Maileg. I saw them peeking out at me on several blogs. Finally, right before Christmas, I found a wee nisse in the Garnet Hill catalogue. That started it all.

It was the little guy on the right, who normally lives on my desk in the den.

Several months later, Judy made her own version of a nisse for me – the sweet girl in the center of this photo. And a few months later, Miss Judy sent me the two nisse that are on either side of sweet girl.

Is Judy an enabler? I think so.

Back to the birthday present:

I don’t know how on earth she did it, but Judy found this canvas bag from Maileg.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I am in Nisse Heaven. Would you care to lay a bet as to how many nisse I can acquire?

I warn you, you may lose. I am nisse-crazy.

Thank you, Judy. Judy is a wonderful person and an amazing crafter and seamstress. You should visit her blog and her Etsy shop, which is packed full of her gorgeous creations.

But before you do that, I’ve 3 new scarves listed in my Etsy shop. Yes, I’ve been crocheting like crazy.

Obsession Scarf in Watermelon – wool and acrylic – soft to the touch. Lovely. Update: Sold!

Obsession Scarf in Claret – silk and bamboo – oh, so soft and silky.

Obsession Scarf in Tutti Frutti – wool and acrylic – soft to the touch, a potpourri of yummy colors.

I’ve got more on the hook – stay tuned.

Happy Monday.

Sunday Bookmarks

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I don’t know about you, but I frequently discover something I find interesting while browsing the web and I bookmark it.  It’s a handy way of remembering blogs and articles and interesting web sites. The problem? I have way too many bookmarked sites and I usually have to go through them periodically and delete those sites I no longer have any interest in. Housecleaning. Or Laptopcleaning (I’ve coined a new word.)

Here are some sites you just might like:

  1. My new favorite blog: Aunt Peaches. Aunt Peaches is a crafter; in fact, her byline is “The Citizen Kane of Craft Blogs.” She is talented, a great photographer, creative and irreverent. And I love me some irreverence. She also uses the occasional cuss word and that makes me love her more. Note: In my daily life, I can bandy about a cuss word or two or three with the best of ’em. I discovered Aunt Peaches via She Posts, another site you might like. She Posts highlighted one of her posts and I clicked over to read it. Two hours later, I had read most of her archives. That’s how much I like her. Bookmarked.
  2. Adele singing the theme to the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. Gorgeous. Haunting. Bookmarked.
  3. These stoves are such a neat idea and the company behind them has been passing them out to some of the homeowners who suffered such devastation during Hurricane Sandy. Bookmarked.
  4. I’ve been reading this blog, Pinch of Yum, for a while now. The authors, Lindsay and Bjork, share yummy recipes with their readers. But the neatest thing, at least to me, is the monthly Income Report. Bjork breaks down the figures and shares just how they earn money from their blog. For those of us trying to earn a little income from our blogs, this is valuable information. By the way, they donate much of that money to charity. Bookmarked.
  5. Have you seen these blogs? The Pyrex Collective I, The Pyrex Collective II, and The Pyrex Collective III? Oh goodness! If you love Pyrex, and I have to admit I have a real hankering to begin a collection, you will love these blogs. Posts are written by a group of bloggers who love their Pyrex. Bookmarked. Bookmarked. Bookmarked.
  6. My friend Steve, of An Urban Cottage, sent me this link. This will take you to an incredible, and that doesn’t really begin to cover it, dollhouse in the Greek Revival style made by hand. You must see it. And you must visit Steve, if you haven’t already, because he has the most wonderful house that he is restoring and it’s in Cambridge, MA, my old stomping grounds. Bookmarked.
  7. I saw this Tumbleweed Tiny House when perusing my email and I fell in love with it. This particular tiny house is a bit bigger than some but still small. And Charming with a capital C. I love the way it’s been decorated. Amazing. Bookmarked.

I hope you enjoy these links on this Sunday. It’s a cold, windy day here in the Northeast and I’m sitting here wearing my flannel pajamas, wrapped in a shawl. We had another sleepless night last night. Enough already, I say. I’m staying in, doing some crocheting (shop update tomorrow) reading and job hunting.

Happy Sunday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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