Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Day Two Hundred Sixty-Eight

December 6, 2020 at 10:16 am by Claudia

Yesterday was spent indoors as it was rainy and windy outside. Plus, we’re tired and quite frankly, we’re trying to retreat from the world. Some days I’m more successful at that than others and yesterday was one of them. We took time to just be, doing whatever it was we wanted to do. We also took time late in the afternoon to cuddle on the loveseat and listen to the silence around us.

I spent some time up in the office/studio and started to paint parts of the English cottage bedroom before I add wallpaper. I removed the furniture from downstairs and while I was moving the unfinished kitchen island, I had a yen to finally go for it. I had mixed some paint for the bedroom and I liked it, so I used it as the base paint for the island.

Before:

And after:

It’s hard to capture the color because it’s one of those blue/green colors that changes depending on the light. Right now, in the sunny den, it’s looking bluer. When I took this photo this morning in the kitchen, it looked greener.

I decided to go with the imperfections of the wood and did very little sanding. My concept was an island that had been made out of an old weathered cabinet. Whoever made it added a counter made out of a slab of reclaimed wood with a farmhouse sink fitted in. I’m not happy with the faucet that came with the piece but it will do until I find something better. It was a bright brass, so I painted it with silver paint.

I’m pretty chuffed about this one. The backside is equally weathered.

The whole idea for the cottage is lots of color, lots of comfortably ‘old’ pieces that somehow work together in a cozy, comfortable space.

Heck, I’d like this piece in real life!

Today is sunny and I’m going to do some more work on the dollhouse. I’ve got my eye out for a used Beacon Hill by Greenleaf – which is a quite large Victorian. I’ve been seeing a lot of in-progress Beacon Hills on Instagram and I like all the details and the abundance of rooms. You don’t always get that in the interior of a house; they tend to be four large rooms, an exception being Hummingbird Cottage, which has six rooms.

I don’t want to put the house together or at least, I’d rather not, so every day I troll Craigslist to see if one has been listed.

Am I crazy? Yes.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

Filed Under: dollhouse, Dove Cottage, miniatures 26 Comments

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Seven

December 5, 2020 at 9:52 am by Claudia

We ran a few errands this morning and as we were driving up a familiar road, I noticed the clouds, which were in a formation I’ve never seen before and most likely will never see again. I kept telling Don how spectacular it was, so he decided to stop so he could see it without being distracted by driving.

This is just a portion of it. These clouds radiated out from the center like a giant fan. They stretched way off to the right and left. I’ve never, never seen anything like it. We are so lucky that we happened to be out in the car or we would have missed it. By the time we finished our first errand they were dispersing and what we saw was just a memory. But thank goodness for iPhones! Don got a video as well.

Running errands is always frustrating. Don was picking up some chocolate from a local shop and when he exited to the street, he had to veer around some young people who weren’t wearing masks. We are always so happy to get back home where it’s safe.

We had some lunch and then it was time to decorate the tree. Unfortunately, two long strands of lights were no longer working, but we managed to work around that. We’ve had them a long time so next year, we’ll replenish our stock.

I’ll post more pictures, of course. I took this one just after we’d finished.

Oh, my goodness, what a difference this tree makes! The glow of the lights, the magic of the vintage ornaments, all of it makes me very happy. Very peaceful. And that’s what Don and I are aiming for this December. Peace. There’s nothing we can do about what OM might pull in his last days in office, so we’re letting go of all of that, knowing that compassion and love and sanity are just around the corner. We feel very good about all the work we did for the campaign. We’ve done a lot of work outside and inside – renting the dumpster and clearing the shed, putting a tarp on the roof, all of the work we’ve done on the property and in the gardens, since last spring – I know there’s more that I’m forgetting – and we want to spend this month being together, playing music, watching the lights on the tree, creating, cooking, and laughing.

We’ve all earned it, haven’t we? Let this month be about renewal and hope and faith and magic and healing.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Filed Under: Christmas 64 Comments

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Six

December 4, 2020 at 10:20 am by Claudia

When we were purchasing our tree, I went inside to see if they had any paperwhites. Sure enough, at the end of an aisle in one of the greenhouses, there were some pots available. I bought two – one is in the kitchen and one in the den. I missed having them last year and I’m embarrassed to say I never thought to check for them at our nursery! Amazing how much they’ve grown in the two days they’ve been here.

No tree decorating yet. We went out to the shed to grab the bins of ornaments and we ended up doing some organizing there, keeping items away from the parts of the roof that leak the most. It’s not perfect, the roof needs to be replaced, but we have so much more room than we did! I’ve started to dump the soil out of the pots on the porch and now I can stash them on some shelves we have in the shed. I will no longer have to crawl over things to reach them when I’m ready to use them again in the spring. We did cover some things with tarps, just to ensure they are safe from water. Anyway, that took a long time. Then we had to move the egg cup cubby to get to the storage area under the stairs, which is always a bit precarious. I found the Christmas stuff, which I’ll going to store in another bin in the shed instead of under the stairs, so that I can stash the porch cushions there instead and Don can store some of his bulky guitar cases, as well. (The office now looks much better, with the guitars fully on display.)

In a small house, everything has to have a place, and if you change one thing, the dominos start to fall and you have to adjust everything else. That’s what happened yesterday. Crawling on a wood floor is never fun, nor is contorting my body so I can see into that small space. We were tuckered out after all of that, hence the decision to decorate today.

The bins are inside, ready to be opened when we decorate this afternoon. We have a few errands to run this morning. And of course, it’s going to rain. A friend of Don who used to be in construction recommended a roofer, so we called him this morning and he’s going to stop by sometime next week and look at the porch roof to see where the problem might be.

And that’s all we can do for now.

I just finished John Connolly’s newest book, The Dirty South, this morning. I’ll start in on Moonflower Murders  next. Connolly is always, always excellent – the book was one of my birthday presents from Don.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: books, Christmas 20 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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