Behind Closed Doors

For those of you who have read my blog for some time, you know that it's the little things that make me happy.  Remember my yellow pot?  Now fabric storage in laundry baskets may be perfect for some but not for me.  It does not make me happy.  It irritates me beyond.  So, last Friday hubby and I bought the perfect affordable solution. Voila!

It's from Black and Decker, it cost $89.00 at our local Canadian Tire store and it works for me.(for now)  The shaker style doors are a nice touch, don't you think? This baby is being assembled upstairs and will take up residence in the hall where no one will see it. I can't wait to get all that fabric out of my Studio!

How I $pent My Summer Vacation

About a week ago, my dear hubby decreed that since I we hadn't gone anywhere this summer he would buy me some light fixtures for the dining room.  There are wall sconces on either side of the fireplace that I have tried to keep out of any photos I've shown of the dining room because they are ugly.  Seriously.  So in keeping with the age of the house- 208 years, but who's counting he we decided on these fixtures:

Since electricity hadn't yet been invented when the house was built, he we thought these lights would do very well.

I love them so much.

Please ignore the clutter on the left side of the wall.  Those pictures magically appeared one day.

Thank you so much Dear Man, it was a wonderful vacation.

While the Cat's Away

My hubby went big rig truckin' this week with his buddy.  You know the kind, you can sleep in them and you hate to get behind them on the highway?

Anyway, I've been looking at my stairs.  These are they:

Shortly after we moved in here, I proceeded to strip wallpaper from every room in this house.  It wasn't pretty.  I truly hated wallpaper after all of that.  I removed the paper from this stairwell also.  A few years ago, my hubby thought wallpaper would look nice there because the walls looked so nice plain.  I agreed, unwillingly, but I did agree.  He picked out the paper and put it up.  I said nothing but I hated it.

Gathering inspiration from another blogger who tends to do things when her husband is away, I stripped off the paper and painted the walls my beloved Cloud white from Benny Moore.

So much better!

When hubby came home today, he noticed the change right away.  And guess what, he loved it!  Why he doesn't just let me make all the decisions around here I'll never know.

Picture Perfect

Do you remember my dining room mantle?

Do you remember that I said those pictures had to go?  They are covering up little secret cupboards that are now a secret no longer.  It was hard to find something because there was little wiggle room in the measurements to cover the openings and fit properly above the mantle.  On one of our forays into Homesense, I found these:

 
They are sepia prints of staircases in Paris.  I really like them because they are serene and don't yell "Notice Me!"

I wish I could get a better shot of them, but there is some glare from the glass.

I don't know why Homesense doesn't offer me a job.  I must own half the company by now because of my many purchases and free advertising.

I feel so much better when I walk through the dining room now. I was going to remove those word stickies that came from the dollar store but so many of you liked them so I kept them up there.  Let me know when you want me to take them down.

En Francais, Sìl Vous Plait

Canada is a bilingual country.  This means that all business is done in both French and English.  Kids are taught French in school.
Now most of you shelter people know what a Bergere is.

A bergere is a chair.  It is not called a bergere chair because bergere means chair in French.  See, now you all learned something today.  The reason I bring this up is because I saw two of these chairs at HomeSense this past week.  I kept mentioning these chairs to my husband because we need another chair in our living room.  We gave our two wing chairs to daughter #2 when she got married last September. After a few days of badgering asking him if we could buy one of these, he agreed.  Yay!

Here is our Bergere in all its glory:

Et voila!  I love the neutral linen fabric. You can colour me happy though!

Au revoir!  Have a great weekend.

Mellow Yellow and More

I just wanted to let you know that I made stew in this tonight:

She works just as well as she looks!
Moving on....
In one week from today I am going to visit this lady:

I am so excited I can hardly contain myself.  Now in order to visit the Big Apple, I need one of these:

I know you are all dying to see my passport photo but really it looks like I'm dying in it.  I haven't had a new passport since I was seventeen.  Oh, all right, you can see my picture:












Wait for it......







Here she comes........

Guess what, because I haven't aged at all since this photo was taken, I didn't have to get a new one!
Now, gentle readers,  I need to know all of the things I should do whilst in New York.  You must know that the hubs is not coming with me,  just daughter #1 and her two sisters in law.  I can have a blast with the youngin's. No boys allowed.

Carry on.

Mellow Yellow

Friday nights at the Loyalist Cottage are usually pretty tame.  A couple of years ago I decreed that Friday night was henceforth to be Date Night.  This usually involves going out to the local eatery where everybody knows your name. name that tv show.  We then return home forthwith and watch the History Channel.  Fast living at the Loyalist Cottage!
Now on this past Friday night after filling up with supper that I didn't cook,  SCORE!  the hubster decides we should go to the Big City.  Namely the local Winners/HomeSense store.  This store is the den of iniquity to both of us because we can spend a good two hours there drooling over things we do not need or cannot use and have often bought said items. Case in point:

I always check out the dishes first thing because I love dishes.  Do not laugh, I inherited this affliction from my mother.  She was the queen of dishes.  Well, dear Mum left me a small inheritance and after paying off the mortgage I determined to waste what was left over.  I love these pots:

I have lusted after these pots.  I have entered every Pioneer Woman giveaway for these pots.  I have never won one of these pots.  Imagine my delight when I spied this at Winners:

Do you see the price on this baby?  I scooped up that pot quicker than a hen hauling cordwood.  I danced that pot to the checkout  faster than  molasses running uphill in January.   Doesn't it look pretty in it's new home?

That pot makes my skirt fly up.  I love it more 'n my luggage.  Take that Pioneer Woman!

I may even enjoy cooking when I use that pot!  But for now I just look at it with love.  Bless you, Homesense.

Garden State

Warning:  This post may be depressing to some viewers.

When I started writing my blog, I was amazed at the good friends I  made.  One of these friends is Sweet Bee.  She has a whole hive of bee goodness going on over at her blog not the least of which is her flower garden.  A few days ago she did a post about her plants that are blooming now.   I could not believe what I saw.  I asked if I could post some of her photos and she graciously gave permission to do so.  Here is a comparison of her garden with mine as of today:

Sweet Bee's pink rose.  Behold my pink rose:

Sweet Bee has a William Baffin rose:

My William Baffin rose:

Sweet Bee's Iris:

My Iris:

Sweet Bee's Lilacs:

And of course, my lilacs:

Now I have to tell you that Sweet Bee lives in California and I do not.  The East Coast of Atlantic Canada in no way has a comparable climate to California.  But sometimes I live in LaLa land and tend to think spring is the same all over the place.  Sad to say this is not the case.  I told Sweet Bee how upset her garden post made me and she said that the great weather won't last for long.  Soon it will be unbearably hot and everything will dry up.  I think she was just trying to make me feel better.
To show you that all is not lost I give you these:

Daffodils in bud.

My Bouncing Bets in bloom.

The Forsythia is coming along well.
I hope this post wasn't as depressing for you as it is for me.  By the way, if anyone has a one way ticket to California they need to get rid of,  please let me know!

Art Appreciation

Do you like these houses and barns?

Now I'll show you the paintings they are from:

This is a little 5x7 watercolour.  I found it laying around in a drawer full of clutter.

I love this one.  It makes me think of a cottage in the English countryside.  It is done in oils.

This one I love for the fallish colours,  Is fallish a word?  This painting was also done in oils.
Now are you curious as to who painted these?  No, not me.  My multi talented mother did them.  There were ten brothers and sisters in her family and pretty much all of them could draw and paint beautifully.  I did not inherit this skill at all but I think my daughter #1 got the gene. My mum did many paintings.  My brother has some and so do my girls.  I'm so blessed to have them and I think of Mum every time I look at them.

A Cushy Job

Here are pictures of some pillows I made for Christmas gifts. They are easy to do using printer friendly fabric sheets.

This one was made using an iron on transfer.  Easy peasy.

This final pillow was made using a silkscreen.  Not so easy peasy.  Now I have a question for you gentle readers:  Do you think these pillows would sell on Etsy?  Enquiring minds want to know.  Cheers!

A Sneak Peek!

Hello, gentle readers!  Yesterday I promised a peek at my Studio.  my friend insists I must call the room my Studio because I'm worth it.  So Studio it is.

You will notice the small table to the left.  My father made this for me quite a while ago.  I would show him a picture in a magazine and he would whip it right up.  My hubby made the slipcover for this old chair several years ago.  It was made from drop cloths when they were very heavy and white.  It washes like a charm.  The lampshade is a Rachel Ashwell shabby chic lampshade that I bought on Ebay for $9.99.  Yes, people, $9.99 and still in the cellophane!

This is a chandelier my hubby is installing for me.

And finally here are some bits and bobs I've had for a long time just waiting for my own space!  When I finally get everything together I'll have more pictures for you.
Thank you for your patience.  Carry on.

Three Strikes and I'm Out

This is just a gratuitous shot of my chair cushion that I made on the same style chair. Cute I think.
Okay, here's the problem. I have three mantels in my house. I know you're thinking wow three fireplaces with mantels to decorate, how cool is that! Well, I'm totally out of ideas on how to decorate them. I am so tired of clutter, you wouldn't believe the boxes of just stuff I've been packing up! The one above is in the living room.
This one is the dining room. I got those word things at the dollar store and I just stuck those up there to mess with my girls. "Oh Mum, that's so dumb!" So the words can go and everything else except those picture frames. They are actually on hinges and cover up two neat little hidden alcoves. The pictures are the only ones I could find to fit the openings but I'm looking for something to put in the frames.
The last one is in the kitchen. I took everything off the mantel yesterday except the clock and I immediately felt better. Unfortunately there is a plug up there behind the matchbox so I need something in that space but I'm open to options. I stacked some books up there along with my little dog because the wall ends before the bricks do and it looks weird just empty. So girls, please make my day and help me out. Please, I'm begging you! Also, as time and money allow, I'm covering up the ugly red 1950's brick in the living room and dining room so I'd also like some ideas on what colour tile to get. Cheers!