Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

A Favorite Thing #10

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Welcome, friends, to A Favorite Thing #10.  That’s a nice even number, isn’t it? Once a week, we all come together to share a favorite thing – it could be a place, an object, an activity, even a person or a pet….something that brings a smile to your face and has a special meaning for you. Let’s look at some of last week’s highlights:

Manuela, of A Cultivated Nest, shared her teapot collection. It’s a beautiful collection, with a toile teapot or two that so remind me of Manuela’s style. My personal favorite was this fabulous Mackenzie Childs teapot. Good thing I’m not anywhere near your home at the moment, Manuela!

Cass, of That Old House, shared the pumpkins she and her daughter, Anne, created for Halloween. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this pumpkin that Anne carved. She did it free-hand. Totally beyond my capabilities.

And Susan, of Ash Tree Cottage, shared a moving tribute to her beloved father, who died two years ago. What an incredible man and father he was. I know he’s smiling down on you, dear Susan. Your loving words described him beautifully.

Gosh, I really love hosting this get-together. I learn so much about you and I thank you for that.

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This week, I’m sharing my Necco Snow Globe. What the heck is that, you ask? Well, last year I found this gorgeous, vintage Necco Candy Jar in a local antique shop.

 It’s quite large and I love its Art Deco lines. My readers gave me lots of suggestions as to the things I could display in my jar. But this was not long before Christmas and one day I had a little light bulb moment. Before I could blink an eye, I found myself creating this:

My Necco Snow Globe. I used my bottle brush trees, a little Putz house and a pine cone. The snow is Kosher Salt.  I thought this was temporary and that after the holidays I would put the jar to another use. But I love it so much that it remains on display today – same scene, same snow globe. How fortunate! I already have one Christmas decoration ready to go!

Now it’s your turn! What do you have to share this week?

You can link up anytime from this evening through Sunday. Make sure you enter the URL of your post. If you’re unsure how to do that, just click on your post title after you’ve published it and copy the information in your browser address window. Come back here, paste the URL into your link entry and there you go! If you have any problems, drop me an email and I’ll help you out. Please link back to this blog on your post. That way, those that read your post and are interested in reading more can do so.

One of my concerns about link parties is that the very reason for them has somewhat gone by the wayside. They’ve become so big and there are so many of them that many bloggers don’t take the time to visit any of the other participants. Link parties are a way to meet new bloggers and share with each other and the only way to do that is to visit each other. So, please, take some time to visit everyone over the next few days. No rush. Stop by, introduce yourself, and leave a comment. It’s the neighborly thing to do.



A Fresh Coat of Paint for the Kitchen Island

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Yesterday turned out to be the annual Painting of the Kitchen Island Day. This island takes a beating as we circle around it, open and shut doors and drawers, bang into and generally abuse it. And once a year, I reach a point where I long to see it nick-and-chip-free, if only for a day or so. Out comes the paint. Scout is barred from the kitchen. I make sure Don is out of the house. And off I go.

I’d love to show you bright and sunny photos of the island, but I haven’t seen the sun in over two weeks. I’m not kidding. I don’t think I can take one more gray day. So here are the photos of the island, freshly painted, unstaged, and a bit grainy.

You can see all the details that its original incarnation as a dark brown sideboard hid. That dark brown, almost black, stain overwhelmed the piece and all the carving was lost in that heaviness. When I first brought it home, it looked so huge that Don wasn’t sure it would even fit in the kitchen. I quickly slapped on a coat of primer to show him it would work. I knew that this creamy color would bring out all the details. The back of the piece was unfinished, so I covered it with beadboard. And I changed out the knobs.

This piece has been a life-saver for us. We use it all the time, hence the dings and chips that will reappear shortly. Sigh. The drawers hold linens and baking tins. The cupboards hold our KitchenAid Mixer and various pots and pans. We don’t have a lot of cupboard space in this kitchen and the island has given us much needed storage.

And it’s pretty.

I don’t want to put anything on it.

Now I will do my usual thing and follow Don around for a few days, urging him to BE CAREFUL! He will get annoyed. I will try to fiercely protect my island and eventually I will give up. Because kitchens take a beating. At least, kitchens that exist in real life do.

Scout – showing her outrage that she had been barred from the kitchen for 3 hours.

I wonder if we’ll ever see the sun again around these parts. I’ve been thinking about painting the kitchen a pale yellow. Hmmm.

I’ll be back at 8:00 EST with A Favorite Thing.

Happy Friday.

Small Space Storage: Toilet Paper

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There. I said it. Where to put your supply of toilet paper? Those of you who have read this blog over the years know that I have never lived in a big apartment or house. Never. Indeed, many of my domiciles were one or two rooms. This little cottage seems positively palatial compared to those spaces.

So, storage is always an issue. In the years I lived in the city, I would just stop by the neighborhood corner shop and buy 2 rolls of paper as needed. That’s all I had room for. Now I have one and half baths, but neither space has room for a cupboard or any other behind-closed-doors kind of storage.

I see a lot of bathrooms where the toilet paper is piled high in a basket. But, let’s be real here. Bathrooms are damp. There’s a lot of hair floating around. Items can get covered in that sort of damp/dusty stuff. Do you know what I mean? (I don’t have a better way to describe it.) So I came up with an idea for storage. Several years ago, I haunted eBay until I found what I was looking for:

(Bathroom photos are so difficult, aren’t they?)

This is a tole hamper. You can find these on eBay fairly often. Here’s what it has going for it:

  1. It doesn’t take up much space. It’s vertical, rather than horizontal.
  2. It’s pretty. The hand-painted flowers suit my style and my bathroom.
  3. It holds about 8 or 9 rolls of toilet paper and keeps them under cover.
  4. I don’t have to keep running out for a roll or two.
  5. It’s pretty (had to say it again) and shabbily vintage.

If you live in a small space and love the vintage look, this might be a solution for you. It keeps the toilet paper hidden but easily accessible.

It’s become one of my favorite touches here at the cottage.

Happy Thursday.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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