Notes from A Cottage Industry

Trick or treat....

Halloween in the work place.

I have shared before that I am not a huge Halloween person, but much more of a harvest look sort of gal.

That being said, I thought I'd share a bit of my specific office's Halloween display. (I didn't do anything too over the top, just one area of our room.)

My grown up girl company goes a little crazy for Halloween, (and that is putting it mildly!)and we all wear costumes, (You really look like a non-team player if you don't...)so, for today, I am a cupcake fairy.

I cracked myself up this morning, driving to work.

(FYI- It turns out that hot pink tulle keeps its poofiness quite well, even after being smooshed into a seat-belt.)

 

Meanwhile, back in the laundry room....

I am taking the extra-long route on completing the many home projects with my cottage, in case you have not noticed.

I think it's a combination of being a bit more...ehem..mature... with more life experiences, (I know that it's just not worth it to sweat the small stuff, and if I have the chance to be making a memory instead of working on something, that will take precidence.) or the fact that spare time to work on things is at a commodity these days. At any rate, I am on closing in on month eleven of living in my cottage, (I know, crazy, right?!) and I still do not have the vinyl-square flooring completely installed, my door trim replaced, nor my curtains hung in there.

Until yesterday.

Today, the curtains are sewn (Thank you, Mom!) and hung, creating a whole new look from the kitchen, the laundry room and from out front.

I am loving it!

I'm so inspired I just might tackle completing the flooring in here this Saturday.

(No promises.)

Easy peasy present wrap.

Number six is turning three today, (When did that happen?!)and I whipped out a cute-and-easy gift wrap job that I just had to share...

Leftover fabric, my signature kraft paper wrap, and a home made tag.

You likey?

And, the picket fence is a work in progress.

I spent the afternoon Saturday starting the bigger-than-I-had-hoped project of staining my new picket fence.

The sewing queen joined me, and worked tirelessly doing the detail work.

By 5:00 we had a vision of what the finished project will look like.

(Sweeeeeeeet!)

It then proceeded to rain buckets all day Sunday, and the forecast for the week is continued rain. (Which we need desperately, so I am not complaining.)

Looking at our work so far also sealed the deal in my mind that the bricks will absolutely be painted the soft gray house color, once the picket fence staining project is complete.

Apparently there will be lots more weekends spent with a roller and paintbrush in my hand.

Weekly Words to live by.

For Marie - A lil' sneak peek at the decorating going on in the living room.

I am truly loving all of your comments and input on my door colors,and my to-paint-or-not-to-paint-my-brick dilemma! (as well as what colors to paint my brick!) 

The comment that brought the biggest smile to my face was Marie's: In your August posts there were no wide, white California type shutters in your front windows. No mention of them since then that I can find, but I am noticing them in your windows now. Would you please share more information, including where you got them?

Honestly, I chuckled out loud as I read your comment, Marie, as I was so surprised that anyone had actually noticed what was inside the windows while we were all discussing fine tuning the outside of my home.

Well, Marie, this post is for you. (Because I am just so tickled that you noticed!)

I did get new plantation shutters installed in my living room, dining room, and kitchen.

And I love them!

I've always been a huge fan of plantation shutters. I ordered them locally from a business named Comfort Shutters, but I am sure you can find companies that make them where you live. (Just google "Plantation Shutters".)

I love them because they are timeless. They look good plain, or combined with a window treatment, like I have chosen to do. They are great for insulating from the hot sun in warm weather, and the cold in the cooler months. They block the sun from coming in when needed, and they add privacy too.

They go with any style decor.

They are a classic.

The living room is far from finished, as I am going to get the walls painted in the next couple weeks, and I want to add all new baseboards and trim work. Oh, and my mantle is gonna be re-done (but I am still trying to design that in my head) as well as painting the bricks on the fireplace. 

(I am apparently all about painted bricks these days.)

Also, there is a little sort of built in bookcase in the room that I am reinventing too.

(More on that later.)

Anyway, if you wondered about the shutter s in the window, you can thank Marie for this post. (Marie, you made my day!)

 

One more detail.....and thanks for all of your input!

Thanks so much for all the input on yesterday's post! So many great ideas, and I feel like my gut instinct (About the brick) was right all along. My daughter called me, midmorning, and said, "Well, I guess we will be painting the brick!"

I laughed, because originally I was planning to paint the brick and the paint contractor didn't add it into the bid, and we ended up deciding to see how it looked unpainted.

(Just goes to show that you should listen to that little voice when making these kinds of decisions.)

I added another detail, my umbrella full of sunflowers, to the door last night, and I am on pins and needles, wanting to get the picket fence and adirondack chairs painted, so that I can get the full visual to make the final, final decision on painting the brick, and possibly the pillars. (as we are calling them.)I see painting the brick as no-brainer. It needs to be the soft gray, I think.

It's funny, but looking at these two pictures, the door looks like different shades of green, depending on which photo you look at. The further away shot is the green I was after, yet the close up looks to washed out and milky to me. (Do you see that too?) Let's look again, just one more time, shall we?

After our long, hot, dry summer, we are finally having rain this week, so things will remain as they are our front for the next few days, at least.

The big door color reveal, and second guessing things.

Sigh.

I'm bad about that. (Second guessing myself.)

I'm an over over-thinker.

I am thrilled with the new paint on my cottage, but I am not sure I made the right choice on my door color.

Or maybe it is the fact that I am thinking I should have painted the bricks.

(Which I can still do.)

(And changing the door color is an afternoon project, if I do decide to change it.)

And I haven't re-hung my umbrella full of sunflowers yet, which are very yellow, and may make the door seem more green.)

I think I thought the green was going to be more granny smith apple green than it seems to be. (A teensy bit more vivid maybe, without being Seahawk lime green, if you can picture that.) Then  again, certain times of the day, when the sun hits it, I love it.

(Should I have chosen a burnt red? I love red doors, and I know they are some sort of Fueng shui thing for brining wealth into your home, which I wouldn't mind, but.... I just feel like red doors are so...expected.)

(Add another happy-but-undecided sigh here.)

Okay, I'm not making any rash changes until I paint my adirondack chairs and picket fence. Then I'll share the finished-as-it's-gonna-be project and see how I feel.

Weekly Words to live by.

The new front door...in the partial install stage...

Remember my front door dilemma?

Here is the door I eventually settled on.

(Is that the one you thought I would choose?)

The Handyman installing the door ended up being a day late, and then hit a road block, needing to get a piece of trim, and a different drill bit and so he is supposedly coming back to finish up today. (I am loosing hope though, as he was supposed to be here at noon, and I have called and left him a message and it is now after 1:30.)

(Aurgh.)

This held up my painters from painting the fabulous door, (It was originally set to be hung the day before yesterday originally, as I said before.)and they are here, doing the last of the touch ups,and painting my new front door now! 

Oh, the anticipation of seeing my new door, hung in place, painted up in it's glorious new color, is just about killing me!

Aaaaaand...we're midway through the outside paint job....

I arrived home yesterday to see a fabulous shade of soft gray covering my cottage...

...and I love it! 

(Did you pick the gray for my cottage, when you read this post?)

The old school-circla-1960 TV antenna was gone.

(Yippeeeeee!)

Some charcoal (actually named "Peppercorn") accents, like the garage doors were in the works too.

I'm one happy girl.

Today, the trim, and details like the doors.

(No new front door hung yet. I got busy and put off running to Home Depot to buy it, and then scheduling a door guy to hang it. I finally did that last Tuesday, and now it will be going in today or shortly there after. Stay tuned!)

Following that, the picket fence will be painted..er...stained..white.

I can hardly stand the anticipation and excitement of seeing it all done!!

It's happening!

After more than ten months in my little cottage, weeks of debating over color combos,and front door choices, the outside paint job is finally beginning, and I am fairly confident that my entire neighborhood is watching through their windows as the magic unfolds.

The painter dudes arrived the day before yesterday and began the lead paint abatement, which is  a fancy name for water blasting your home, and then scraping off all of the peeling areas of paint. It's apparently a big deal, because you have to be licensed to do this, and it is done with a lot of prep work, and plastic drop cloths.

And, as is true of so many other projects, the outside of my little cottage now looks even worse than before we started.

(I am okay with that.)

They finished the abatement portion of the job yesterday, and will begin with the paint job today.

(Can I get an Amen?!)

My new front door is set to be installed this afternoon, if it works out for the door guy to not be in the painter guys way, and then the painters can work their magic on it too. I can only hope it will all look as charming as it does in my mind right now.

Oh, this is just like waiting for Christmas!

Repeated epic laundry fail.

Apparently I go by the motto of "Go big or go home" in all areas of my life, including when I make mistakes.

I realized  while  doing the laundry this past Saturday, that I have been spraying "Spot Shot" carpet cleaner on those stubborn spots on my soiled clothes and linens, thinking it was laundry stubborn stain remover spray for the past couple months, give or take.

Apparently I wasn't wearing my glasses when I bought this spot remover in the first place, (Or I was preoccupied, multi-tasking talking on the phone while shopping) as I do not have a single carpeted room in my cottage.

Another tap on the shoulder from God to slow down, and be present, I suppose!

Weekly words to live by.

Getting my crafting mojo going....

My newly engaged friend is hosting a surprise brunch today. She invited each of her closest girlfriends one at a time to come by for breakfast, not knowing each other are invited.

Once they arrive, they will be surprised to find that it is a very special champagne brunch where each will be asked to be a bridesmaid!

(Isn't that the sweetest idea, ever?!)

I got to help out by making the oh-so-special cards that will be on the table with little prezzies for the soon-to-be bridesmaids (and Maid of Honor)

Here is the front of the card...

...and the inside...

So fun! I will be adding this to my easy shop shortly as a e-kit, so stay tuned!

A lil' sumthin' for my friend, the bride-be.

How cute is this?!

As soon as I saw these on etsy, I knew I'd be ordering one for my (at the time) soon to be engaged (Now, newly engaged!) girlfriend.

When it arrived, I liked it even more. (Can you just see a stunning wedding gown hanging on this? And later, maybe a yummy soft robe?)

The easy shop will do any words, so I am now thinking I need one for my guest room closet to hang my guest robe and slipper socks on that says something clever, like "be my guest" or "Stay awhile". What do you think?

Boy, girl, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy, boy......girl!

I shared a few months back that grand-babe number nine was on the way. We now know that this latest little bundle of love is a girl!

Baby number three for my oldest daughter and her husband, she will arrive in January to meet her two big brothers, and we can hardly wait.

Weekly words to live by.

 

 

An officer and a gentleman.

I couldn't possibly be prouder of my son today, as he completed office training for the Air Force and is now officially a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force.

I have no idea where the time went, as it feels like he was just a little guy riding his bike up and down the street a nano-second ago.

Way to go, Sugar-man. Your Mama is thrilled for you!

Hello, October.

Can it really be October already?

Autumn is my most favorite season, and I'm as ready as can be for it, with my pumpkin spice scented wax melts wafting through my cottage, firewood poised and ready for a fire in the fireplace (as soon as this latest warm snap passes) and pumpkins cozying things up, inside and out. 

I'm ready for a rainy, rainy day (or week...) where I can snuggle in on the sofa with a blanket and my laptop, with a cup of hot spiced cider.

Oh yes, let the season begin!