"Garden Room"

Two months ago, I talked about moving this cabinet into the entry and said I wanted to paint it.

Last month, I showed you a picture of the cabinet painted, but I was not happy with the "staging" of the cabinet.

I still need to sand the cabinet, but finally the entry makes me happy.

The star of the entry is one of Steve's paintings, Flowers and Rust, which is 4 feet across and 5 feet tall.

It's an old painting of the garden and the only thing that remains the same from that painting is the rusty watering can.

The green box, my grandmother's Coats & Clark sewing box, sits on the cabinet holding flatware.

Steve always hates change, but he likes this one because he knows right where to put the flatware when he unloads the dishwasher.

The bird candle holder was a gift from one of my college roommates and I am so happy that I found a prominent place for it.

The green of the box and the yellow of this birdcage blend beautifully with the colors in the painting.

I have no idea why I have started a mouse collection - maybe I should blame Vera of Rowhomes and Cobblestones who always shows us the sweetest little mice.

My excuse is that these little Maileg mice me smile.

I like the view of the "Garden Room" from the doorway and from the kitchen.

I don't know when I will get the cabinet sanded because my hand still troubles me and also because JP's wedding is just 11 weeks away -  I am in full "wedding creativity mode".

I leave you with a picture of "Little Lulu" and Steve in the "Garden Room".

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a red white & blue table

This patriotic table setting was brought about by the Target Dollar Spot.

I could not pass up these cute patriotic pillows.

I know I could easily make them, but it seemed silly when the pillows were only $3 each.

I liked the texture of the patriotic hand towels and 

I thought they might work perfect for napkins and placemats.

Today we received the invitation for the annual Brunswick Lane Memorial Day Party so I decided it was okay to go patriotic in the dining room.

The hand towels are the perfect size to use as a napkin tied in a knot.

In my pre-blogging days, the napkin usually went to the left of the plate with the flatware on top of it,

but I have become much more creative in my table settings after seeing so many beautiful tables on blogs and Pinterest.

The star plate from Fishes Eddy I used as a centerpiece is a favorite reminder of my first visit to New York City.

There is always a bit of a patriotic thing going on in the living room

and so I think the new Target pillows will be sticking around at least until the 4th of July.

I am sure by then Target will have come up with some other cheap decor to lure me in!

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Dwellings of the Home - Amaze Me Monday

not the life I had imagined . . .

In 1982, Steve and I were chosen to participate in a Life Planning Seminar through his company.

One of the exercises asked us to close our eyes and picture ourselves in retirement - both Steve and I imagined ourselves walking on a beach.

As I was dusting the guest room this morning, I read the quote on this notebook and realized that I am not living the life I imagined.

This little blurb sits on the sidebar of my blog and yes, I did imagine myself living in a cottage by the sea, but our lives are so much more.

The idea of Steve becoming a full time artist was nowhere on the radar.

He never dreamed that anyone would pay money for his art

or that anything he painted would end up on a bottle of wine.

I had no idea that I would ever write a blog or that I would become friends with fellow bloggers.

Who would have predicted that I would share teaching lessons with Anita of Castles Crowns and Cottages,

 visit antique shops with Patty of Patty's Pretty Things or

that Bobbie of Cottleston Pie would drop by the house for a visit.

I never imagined that I would become a photographer

 always carrying my camera and/or iPhone to capture a special moment.

I find myself creating vignettes around the house

and posting pictures on Instagram -

definitely not in my earlier dreams.

We are now in our retirement years, walking along the beach and

 this precious little one walks/runs along side us.

This is not the life I had imagined,

it's better!

little by little . . .

 

Little by little,

I am ticking off things off the list.

The yard looked like this last week

but you can see that I have made some changes.

The first change was to move the yellow cupboard from the porch to the hallway and give it a new paint job.

This old cabinet has been many colors over the 35 years I have owned it and this time I created a mint green using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Antibes, Pure White and Marine Blue.

A touch of yellow peeks out on the edges

and a little bird knob graces the front of the cabinet.

We are planning to paint the walls white, but for now I am content with the green cabinet against yellow walls.

The reason I wanted the cabinet inside the house was to store placemats and table runners - the pottery was added for fun!

The removal of the cabinet from the porch led to moving the baker's rack from the side yard.

I tried a lot of different items on the shelves until I settled on pottery.

While I was painting the cabinet, Steve was working on another project on the list.

A friend gave us this bench in January and Steve freshened it up with a couple of coats of polyurethane.

Another project on the list was to spice up the vintage window hanging on the wall.

My hand is healed enough that I can sew once again and it took just a few minutes to sew up a little  banner I stenciled.

The area was finished off with an old ladder that got bumped from the living room.

The curtain for the garage door is finished and

 tomorrow I am tackling the "jungle" in the garden.

With only 7 items left on the list and 2 weeks to go before JP's graduation party,

life is definitely good!

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