Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1742 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

The Golden Hour

November 18, 2008 at 5:41 pm by Claudia

After an afternoon of running errands, I pulled into our driveway and this is what I saw. The cottage was bathed in light, a wonderful golden late afternoon light that lit up the house. I let the dogs out, ran for my camera and got this shot. You can see my shadow in the foreground.

As you can see, the trees are bare, the gardens are gone for the year and we still have some leaves to rake. Last night, when I opened the door to let the dogs out before we went to bed, I saw snow flakes. We just had a light dusting, but this is our first for the season. There is something magical about the first flakes of snow. I had to call my husband, who is filming in New Orleans, to give him the news. I imagine it was hard for him to take in since he is enjoying the warm climate of the South. Here, on the other hand, it has become very cold – in the 30’s.

Since I am in the market for a new digital camera, and there are so many out there, I’d love to hear your suggestions. What camera do you use? My camera is very small and compact, but its several years old and I would like to get more detail in my photos, as well as an optical zoom lens. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

More later…

McCoy and the paint color dilemma

November 15, 2008 at 7:34 pm by Claudia

Today is gray and rainy…a strange weather day here in New York State. It is November 15 and today it was in the mid 60’s with rain and humidity and some rare moments of sunlight. Pretty warm for November, don’t you think? Since it is so gloomy out, I think a photo of McCoy pottery is in order. I love these two pieces: the piece on the left is a double cache pot with a lovely bird. (I am captivated by all the birds used throughout the McCoy line.) The piece on the right is a bookend. I only have one, although I see them on eBay all the time. Just haven’t pursued another one. My McCoy collection always makes me smile. As you’ll recall, I started this blog in February in the middle of winter – with pictures of McCoy. Rest assured, I will share more with you from time to time. I love, love, love my McCoy!

Thank you so much for your helpful advice about choosing a shade of yellow for my living room and kitchen. For some reason, I am very cautious about choosing a paint shade. I know the decorators on television say, “It’s only paint, you can always paint over it,” but I don’t want to paint over it; I want to paint and be done with it.

Right now I am doing all the prep work; washing walls, patching, sanding, and taping. I will start the primer in a day or two and then, hopefully, the perfect shade of yellow. What do you think about the yellow used in the McCoy bookend? Too cool a shade? I want a pale yellow to go with the ivory color of my trim. Honestly? Sometimes I think I should just paint the whole shebang the same shade of ivory as the trim. Is that copping out?

Help.

A few decorating tweaks

November 12, 2008 at 10:51 am by Claudia

I returned to Linens ‘N Things recently and found this lovely matelasse-type coverlet. Since the quilt I had on our bed was showing a bit too much wear, I decided to replace it with this. The color in the photo is a bit off – it is more of a pale aqua. Of course, I chose it because it complements the ripple blanket that I crocheted last winter.

I fell in love with these colors. The pastel hues reminded me of my McCoy pottery and you know how much I love McCoy. The finished blanket did not go with our quilt, but we used it anyway because its heavy and warm. I just kept it off the bed during the day – now I can use it as part of the whole “look” of the bed.

After residing on the porch all summer, the wicker rocker has come inside for the winter. I’ve changed out the outdoor cushions for the ones that came with the rocker. I love these cushions; they are reversible – striped on one side, flowers on the other.

Oh, this rocker is so comfortable that I see some reading and knitting in it’s future. After I had cleaned it up and brought it inside, I noticed that the pattern on the cushion was awfully close to the fabric I had used to cover the piano bench – long ago. How perfect!

Believe me, when I decided to buy the rocker, the similarity in fabric design never entered my mind.

I’m now preparing to paint the living room and all the trim. This little cottage was, I think, flipped. The paint job on the walls and trim shows it – just one coat and all of it, trim and walls, in a flat finish. I painted both the bathrooms last year and have been putting off the rest of the downstairs because I don’t like painting all that much. But it must be done. I was going to use a pale green on the walls and the same off-white on the trim that I am using throughout the house. This morning, however, my husband and I re-thought it and are now leaning toward a pale yellow that we can use in the living room and the kitchen. I’m struggling with the shade of yellow. This room gets a lot of sunlight and I know yellows can be tricky. Any suggestions? I sure appreciate any you might have.

More later.

The Golden Hour

McCoy and the paint color dilemma

A few decorating tweaks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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