An Unexpected Pleasure

A year ago I was contacted by the editor of Cottages and Bungalows magazine about featuring our house in the magazine.

I posted this pic on Instagram the morning of the photo shoot last November - I recall being excited, nervous and pinching myself to see if it was really happening.

It was so exciting when the issue arrived - several friends emailed to say they had read the article so we anxiously checked the mail each day.

The photos were taken in early November and since they would be in the August issue

I had to bring all my summer decor down from the attic.

One of the things that cracks me up is that almost no room in the house looks the same as it did 9 months ago - we have a new sofa, the ottoman is gone and the green and yellow table is now blue.

The dining room looks much the same, but I do have a fun new change to show you in another post.

I hovered around the photographer and got some great tips for making my photos better.

I love that they included photos of Steve's studio - he's already gotten a few calls about his paintings.

Both the guest room and our bedroom have some big changes since the photo shoot.

Last fall we were deep into a multi-year drought and the garden was not as lush and green as it is today.

Just look at the difference after a rainy winter and actually being able to water the garden.

In a world of neutral shades, I love that this issue is filled with color and that our house was featured with so many beautiful houses including this house below which belongs to Erin of My Painted Garden.

A big thank you to all of you who read my blog, encourage me to try new things and inspire me - if not for you, this unexpected pleasure would never have occurred.

just a few little things ...

I miss blogging and I just realized today what has kept me from writing.

I'm always taking pictures, but I kept thinking I had to have something BIG to share for a blog post.

We have been working on several big projects for a couple of months.

None are finished, but I decided it was okay to share just a few little things going on around here.

Trying to stay ahead of the weeds has me working in the garden every morning.

The red chair was sitting beneath the living room window, but the Matilija poppy plant has grown so huge that the chair was hidden.

I like its new home because it can be seen from the street.

All the gardening has me bringing greenery and flowers into the house - this is the first time I have put potato vine in a vase and I love how it climbed up the candlestick.

I made some changes to the front porch

 in anticipation of the 4th of July.

The changes I mentioned involve shrinking the amount of furniture in the house and moving things around to create an illusion of space.

The door in the guest room had a table in front of it, but that's now in our bedroom.

There was a huge armoire I used for crafting on this wall, but it is gone and our bedroom seems so much bigger.

And now that I shared a few little things,

I'm going to hit post and head over to read all my favorite blogs.

From 6 to 7

On Friday, Steve and I walked around Carpinteria, a cute little beach town north of us, and I snapped a few pics with my phone.

My iPhone 6 died recently and I was using my new iPhone 7 camera.

I had heard that the iPhone 7 camera is pretty good, but it wasn't until I began editing that I noticed the quality of the photos.

With my iPhone 6, if I tried to crop just a small portion of a photo, everything looked pixelated, but I don't have that problem with the iPhone 7.

These cottages were photographed about an hour after the yellow house - the fickle June weather can turn a blue sky into a white sky in a matter of seconds.

I had a lot of fun editing the photos because zooming in and cropping gave me such different views - I had no idea there was a red flower when I was shooting the photos.

I love the color combo of aqua, yellow and purple in this garden.

You can just barely spot the American flag hiding behind the greenery in this pic.

I didn't even realize I was getting a patriotic shot - I just held my phone out in front of me and didn't really see what details I was capturing.

My eye was drawn to the aqua house and I didn't even notice the palm trees.

And that white roof of the porch completely escaped me.

Nor did I notice the French doors.

Several streets were lined on each side with jacaranda trees, but this was the only shot I could get without cars.

That lawn doesn't look too well cared for, 

but cropping took care of that problem.

What drew me to this house in the first place was the white picket fence and the pretty windows.

Purples, reds, yellows, pinks -

after a rainy California winter, the whole town of Carpinteria was in full color and my new phone did a great job of capturing it.

I took this photo in our garden and I snapped the beach photo on a bike ride yesterday.

I have a feeling I'll be using my phone a lot more than my Canon.

Now I'm headed over to link up with Pam of Everyday Living for her Gardens Galore Link Party.

I hope you link a garden post of your own.

Remember me?

Steve commented the other day that I haven't posted in weeks and I told him that I haven't done anything worth writing about.

That isn't exactly true because I took photos (248 to be exact) of a friend's beach house in Malibu, but I am still in the editing process.

While taking a break from editing all the Malibu photos, I decided to spruce up the guest room for summer.

The inspiration came from this driftwood heart I made a few years ago - it was hidden in the garden and I decided to reuse the driftwood for a project.

The heart was taken apart and the driftwood was painted in shades of blue

 to create a summery garland for the old door in the guest room.

This is one of my favorite spots for seasonal changes.

The vintage Underwood got a new quote,

shells were gathered for the little cubby

and I always love an excuse to use a few of my clock faces.

The softer palette for the room comes from this triptych, "In Another Life I Was a Surfer".

The dresser is a new addition - it was in the living room with the drawers painted red,

 but I'm loving the soft blue.

The guest room definitely has a more feminine feel

 than the rest of the house.

Steve rarely enters the guest room, but Lulu can be found there at any time of day.

Now it's back to editing photos and I'll leave you with one of the photos that's ready for my post

and I hope it won't be two weeks before I get the post written!

...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...

Join me at Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson for SYC.