I so dearly love a cottage in winter!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Because They are Mine

Hi friends!
We have been breaking records here at the Cottage.  We have a record high 95degrees today and May was the second wettest month in our history.  It has been pretty hard getting all of my glorious outdoor plans to come to fruition.

Don't worry, I am keeping myself amused!

Madam Lu and I wandered the fabric store this morning imagining all sorts of craftiness...in case this heat NEVER goes away.

I woke this morning and saw....MY PEONIES ARE BLOOMING!!!

Why is this special?  It is not.  There are peonies blooming all over the city (well, in homes of a certain age...the new tans do not seem to have peonies?).  And my peonies are not special.  They are the same white peonies everyone has.  So, why am I beside myself with joy???

Because they are MY peonies.  And peonies are my FAVORITE flower in the universe.  These white ones are not my favorite color, but they are infinitely special to me because they came with our first house.  I took a little start with me to Agrestic and though I am pretty sure they never made more than 2 tiny flowers there, when it was time to move to the cottage I again uprooted their dear hearts and there you have it.  They have been a source of joy for 10 years.  Those ugly, boring, common flowers.

They do smell amazing.
Right exactly next to my pillow.  Ahhhh!
Also one of my roses bloomed today.  Was God giving me a hug today or what?  She is a bit singed, though aren't we all.

She smells delightful.  The remarkable thing is, I only buy roses on mega clearance...like they look dead.  I guess I like the challenge?  So she is special because she lived last summer and came back again this year.  I don't remember her name but she is an English Tea Rose (because those are the smelly ones).

There was a renegade type of ground cover taking over here, so I spent a day ripping it all out and was left with a little naked spot.  After a quick trip to the Lowe's Nearly Dead Clearance Isle, I planted some plain impatients.  They will fill in until the good ground cover, um, covers that area.

The hanging baskets were another Lowe's Dead Isle Purchase.  I added some freesia which I am hoping will get even more vine-ish and will cover and hang more wild-like.  Give it some time.

So, I took the baker's rack down (not enough sun for those annuals) and took the advice of the Bon Savant bonsavant.blogspot.com and put a climbing hydrangea there.  It loves shade.  It loves brick or stone.  It flowers all summer.  It will get as big as I let it.  Perfect!

Just a picture of one of my lush little corners.  There are some wee little starts of lily-of-the-valley my dear, crazy neighbor gave me.  They are my Crazy Mary Lily O'valley (again, common but special to me).

My tiny little rhubarb.  I have always wanted to grow rhubarb and I just planted these tiny little tubers about a month ago.  Very exciting.

One of my perennial beds.  I know its not much to look at yet.  But this is the creep year.  You know "first they sleep, then they creep, and finally the leap".  Well most of this stuff was planted last year as tiny little tubers or seeds.  So, in another year this should be glorious!  You can't see them yet, but there is a row of crimson cannas growing behind this garden.

And, I can't ever remember what this is called, but it is one of those old fashioned plants my grandparents have and people who live in proper cottages must have.  Hollihocks?  This is one that started as nothing last year and this year it is COVERED in buds.  I planted 2 new ones in this bed this year, so hopefully they will look this good next year! 

That is pretty much all I have time to share for now.  We are still immersed in about 50 projects and, well, you know...raising 3 children!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Progress in Suite de la Sirs' and Hearth Room

So much to tell you about and to show you today!  None of it is done, but oh, joy!, at least we ARE accomplishing things!!!

This is just to remind you of what it looked like in the beginning.  You are, however, missing out on the "hamster cage" smell that accompanies a bathroom -shared by two boys- with a carpeted floor!  YUM!

After.  These stripes took FOREVER.  I do not recommend this project to anyone.  Just find striped wall-paper.

This is another before.  Everything in this house has two layers (as you will notice).  This is the amazing vinyl layer that was lurking under the carpet.  How delightful!
And this is the new slate floor.  So fresh and clean.  So "unscented".
Again, a "before" of the suite.
And an after.  I had so much mudding and sanding to do to fix the drywall after the removal of the dastardly paper (s) two layers....this actually took a very long time.  As you can see, I only did the area around their bed.  This way I could put the beds back and have freed up the rest of the room to do section by section, wall repairing, sanding, painting, striping, and restoring.  Believe it or not, I thought I would have this project done this winter...ha!


I painted the entire ceiling...they are such a drag to paint.  Because the room is to be darkish in color and is pretty sparse in ceiling light, I painted the ceiling in a basic bright white semi-gloss.  The semi gloss reflects any available light and helps to brighten the space.  The wall color in this part of the room is Kensington Blue (Benjamin Moore).  It is a nice warn-vintage-ish kind of blue...manly with a hint of military-esq


Sir M's bed.  He is very particular about how it is made (if only he were as particular about putting things away).  The stripes:  "Why," you might ask, "did you waste time striping the walls where you were putting their beds?"  The answer is; I thought the Sir's would enjoy them.  It gives them some visual interest on what would otherwise be a plain one-tone wall.

One of my favorite things about a cape cod are these amazing angled walls.  I think the stripes really show them off!  Yes, the vent still needs to be sand-blasted and re-painted.

For a break we went to The Muster on the Saint Mary's at our Historic Fort Wayne this weekend.  The sirs were knighted by Mary Queen of Scots for their braverism at The Battle of Ticonderoga.  They were French Fur Traders for this event.
She was beautiful!

She "doesn't take too kindly to strangers".  Who needs an attack dog with this gun-slinger around?
And finally the room I will begin to call the "hearth room" formerly known as the kitchen and family room.  The separation of flooring (awkward) made the rooms defined and yet lacking cohesiveness.

The Dining Room Table has finally, after 5 yrs of ownership, made its way to a real Dining Room.  I can't wait to show you our new eating area!  This room is thankfully dark as I have not even BEGUN to FATHOM a remodel for this whole wing of the house.  Other than removing the carpet months ago, it has not been touched.

Oh yes, and we got a new patio door.  The old one was completely rotting and barely opened/closed.  The dogs had run through the screen so many times it looked like a door on an old camper rotting in some forgotten woods.  The old muttons were outside the glass, so to clean the door I had to pull them off.  The new door is fiberglass and the muttons are on the inside.  The screen works (and has a lifetime free replacement warranty-even against idiot dogs that your husband loves) and the door opens and closes (also with a lifetime warranty) so that is NICE.

This is monumental, dear ones.  The room is completely carpet free at this point.  Sir is so proud of his hard work!

It is amazing how big the room seems when emptied.  With this area plus the mudroom and dining room you have the size of our entire first house!

Always leave your mark on a home.  Always.  I have left our info at each of our homes in a few spots.  It is a way to bind you and your mark on a home forever.  The home I grew up in had some info from the original owners in a few spots and I adored it.  We were only the second owners of that house and my mom left little tidbits about us in it.  In that way, my childhood lives forever.

Yep, I just wrote it in the middle of the floor.  But years from now, if someone ever rips out the old hardwood (dolts they will be) they will read all about this family from long ago.

OOOOOOH What is this?  Sweet Chocolate For Breakfast!!!!!  It is gorgeous, fabulous, clean, delightful WOOD!!!!!

Sir M woke up early this morning and started to lay some flooring.  I guess he likes the angled look?  Perhaps a budding artist?

Esther and Daisy are really exhausted by all of this.

NO, she did not nearly cut her tail off.  She laid it neatly across the bottom of the freshly painted hearth.  Dear, dear Daisy.
With that, I am off my friends.  I hear the UPS guy.  Delivering my new Hearth Room table????  Much to do today.  I will keep you updated on our progress!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Murder Mystery?

Did you have an amazing Mothers Day?  Your mistress had an amazingly catastrophic baking calamity.  In my family, everyone brings something to the big get-togethers.  I am usually assigned "fruit".  That was actually really nice whenever I had a new born, but generally the rest of the year I CAN cook.  So, for Mom's Day I was given the job of desert.  Of course I made Cottage Cookies...but I also made my white chocolate cake with sour Michigan cherries and white-chocolate cream cheese frosting.  It is AMAZING.  I spent FOREVER on it.  A gorgeous 3-layer event!  Stunning.

Then. It. Crashed.  After 3 hours of work.

There was wailing, cursing, fist shaking, dramatic flailing of self onto bed with arm across forehead, and any other display of insanity that occurred to me.

After an emergency call to the Bon Savant bonsavant.blogspot.com  I decided to make it a "trifle".  That nice man calmed me down to nearly a 'normal' human being.  Supposedly it tasted good, but I could not bear even a nibble after the drama.

the Bon Savant instructed me on the decor...the dear gentleman...

I put the cookies around the bottom.
 Well, the poopereah carpet is on its way out.  Let me tell you how joyful I am this day!!!! 


This is the weird swoopty transition to tile.  They put a sort of plaster slope up to the tile.

Luckily this chipped off really easily.  And we could really use some luck on this remodeling stuff.

This vinyl is amazing.  Really.  Picture wood paneled walls, this dark avocado green and brown vinyl, and probably some seriously dark furniture...bet this was a sunny, friendly kind of place....

WAIT!  What is this red stain?  What the????  A murder???  It is a murder-house???

OhMyWord...they drug the body over here.  This is where they wrapped it up.  Holy Crap...we've uncovered a 50 yr old murder...

Is that the murder weapon?  Looks like a TV.  So, someone with a bad fro did it in the family room with a tv.
A preview of the new flooring.  It is 3/4" hand scraped hickory and the color is perfect!

And today Madam Lu and I went to some new secret spots and got masses of lilacs.  Then we trimmed some of my crab apple branches and filled my 12 mason jars...those are all over the house as well.  It is awful looking in here, but smells amazing!


This year I decide to put the bakers rack in front of the the East Wing.  It helps fill in the blank wall where we cut down the messy tree.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Patience Pays

Hello friends!

Since I last checked in our basement has been dried, the carpet and yuck is all gone, and other than laundry, I have forgotten about the whole thing.  Ahhhh.

There are finally some signs of life in my flower beds.  I think the slow start has actually been beneficial to them.  I, at least, am able to take  my time enjoying each thing in its season.  Last year it was so warm-so fast, that everything bloomed all at once and then it was just H.O.T.  Barf!

My most exciting news is that I have my first harvest of my special White Lilacs.  About 6 years ago my mom dropped off three tiny pot with 3 different varieties of teeny-tiny lilac sticks.  We were still living in our first home, but getting ready to move so I left them in pots that year.  One, alas, did not survive...and then there were two...

They continued to grow and grow at our second home.  I am a devout follower of the "relocation" theory on flowers.  I have peonies, for example, that came with our first home (50 yr old peonies, I would guess) and have been moved to each home.  I also have the traveling lilacs.

This is just to give you an idea of what the plants looked like their SECOND year.  When we planted them at the "new" house this is how big they were.
Here are my little dears now.  This is AFTER I harvested all of the flowers from the white lilac on the left.  They are situated right outside of our bedroom windows.  The white one is on Sir's side and the classic purple is on my side.

Our room smells AMAZING!

The harvest was not huge, but it is the first, so we will enjoy what we have!

Oh My Delight!

The red bud and one of the traditional apples are blooming.

I love this little nook in our yard!

My famous (well, only to me) hydrangeas are trimmed and growing.

The new lillie bed is thriving.

You can see the soft little fronds of one of my peonies...one of my vintage peonies...and the climbing roses are already going crazy.


A short post today because Madam Lu is very sick and like a baby orangutang (but less hairy) she needs to cling to me.

We'll chat again soon!