Notes from A Cottage Industry

Best. News. Ever!

At the very beginning of this pandemic stay-at-home situation, we got some big news, and now that I am quite sure that the entire family and all of the friends know, I am excited to share it with you.

My son and daughter in law have a sweet baby on the way! They are due in early October, and needless to say, we are all about out of our minds with excitement and joy!

Not too long after the happy announcement, we were all invited to a virtual gender reveal party, (Who knew that would ever be a thing?!) and were excited to find out that they are expecting a boy! He's going to be loved and hugged and squeezed and treasured, and I am sure there will be a constant long line of family waiting for their turn to hold him!

We are all feeling truly blessed these days.

Weekly words to live by.

The calendar on my iphone says it's Saturday, but that is the only way I know it is.

This time of year Saturdays are for thrifting. Yard (or garage) and estate sales are where all junkers want to be come Saturday mornings, and with the stay-home mandate that isn't happening.

Yes, we still have good ol' Craig and his list, as well as Facebook Marketplace and any number of other junk groups on Facebook. Sadly, picking up one lonely item on the corner of the driveway of somebody's home and leaving your payment under a flowerpot on the porch is not remotely the same as Saturday saling. Navigating around town with your coffee and a MC-whatever-breakfast-sandwich, conducting drive bys past an open garage as you follow several homemade signs drawn on neon green  Dollar Tree poster board to see if it's worth a stop or not pure heaven on earth for a Junker.

**Side note here- My personal theory on yard sale signage is this: The more elaborate the signs, (and if there are more than five of them) typically the more disappointing the sale will be. People who spend way too much time on their signs are clearly trying too hard to get you to stop by for a look-see, and there is usually a reason. That reason is almost always one of two things; that have a grand total of 13 items laid out neatly on the driveway, or they want full blown buy-it-new retail prices. (No Karen, no one wants your barely used thighmaster that your daughter stuck Frozen stickers on. Especially not for $25.)

Aaaaaaaah, how I miss those springtime early Saturday mornings, spent hoping the dew will disappear sooner than later, and the sun will warm things up just a bit. Digging through miles of piles of endless potential diamonds-in-the-rough, or buried treasures worthy of Antiques Roadshow, that the guy before you missed. Oh, those are the moments that make for great thrift stories later with friends!

But right now, it is like we are living in an episode of the Twilight Zone. (If you do not remember the Twilight Zone, you are much younger than me, and need to ask your Mom about it.) I cannot tell you if it is Saturday or Tuesday without consulting my iphone. When I do check and realize Saturday has arrived, I feel a sad little tug at my heart, and I become more than a little bit melancholy. (I then tend to end up wandering into the kitchen to console myself with some sort of usually-cheese-involved snack.)

I know.

We are flattening the curve, and we need to continue doing so. I'm here, at home, and I am hoping you are too. Happy Saturday, my friends!

A little addendum to the kitchen verse project.

After I posted yesterday it hit me that I hadn't shared the other two top quotes that were competing for the coveted space up there on the kitchen wall. (I am not even sure you are interested, but...well, maybe you wondered about them.

The three quotes were:

1. Nothing brings people together like good food (which you already know I chose)
2. Food tastes better in small houses
3. Annoying the cook will result in smaller portions

It really came down to the first two verses, as the third quote kinda made me chuckle, and I ended up printing it on a chalkboard background and putting it in a metal frame on my bookshelf in the corner of the kitchen.

Actually, framing quotes, verses, or song lyrics is a fun little touch to most any room. I buy cute little frames at thrift shops and yard sales and save them to use later, either in my own home, or to sell in my booth space. I have my wifi password in a tiny frame on a night table in the guest room, and a fun verse in the bathroom.....the possibilities are endless, and not only is it a sweet touch to a room, it costs next to nothing!

Anyway, as you already know, I ended up choosing the first verse, because it resonated with me most.

There are so many great quotes out there, for both dining rooms and kitchens. Now that I work in real estate and tour people (when there isn't a pandemic going on) and I am surprised at how many quotes either on signs or directly on walls I see out and about.

Do you have a quote or verse in your kitchen or dining area? If so, what does it say? Inspire us!

Because done is better than perfect.

I think that's how the saying goes anyway.

It took me nearly until four o'clock yesterday to get motivated to tackle the painted verse up there on the kitchen wall. (I am the queen of procrastination.) As I was outlining each chalked letter with a sharpie marker (this works great when you are going to be painting your letters black) Ralph wandered in to the kitchen from his afternoon post on the sofa where he watches Judge Judy each day, and looked up at my work.

He then offered up his opinion on my project, as he asked me why I wasn't simply painting my verse on a board, which could be easily removed when I got tired of it. As I explained my reasons (boards sometimes warp, it would be thick, it's a different look, yada yada...) I felt a wave of panic that maybe I was making a mistake up here on the ladder, and I would be spending three days trying to color match this oil based paint in the kitchen to cover my sharpie marker letters up.

In the end, I advised him to get back out to his beloved Judith Sheindlin and leave the wall art to me. Of course, he was just trying to help, (as he said no less than three times) and he did raise some good points, but I was too far in to turn back now. I finished outlining all of the letters and stood back to study things.

(Can I say here that this stay-home quarantine thing brings a whole new meaning to quality together time?)

It took me an hour long break before I got back up on the ladder to begin painting in my letters, both because the job seemed enormous, and daunting, and part of me was worried that Ralph was right. Worried that possibly when I finished I just might be calling Home Depot for a one by twelve foot board for curbside pickup so I could start over and cover the wall art.

After painting about a third of the letters, my creative advisor popped back into the kitchen and, much to my relief, (and sheer delight!) he gave his seal of approval in a tone that sounded more than a little surprised at how much he liked it. 

 

I took two more substantial breaks during the evening (to visit with a couple of friends on the phone, but mainly to snack.) and wrapped things up before the ten o'clock news. Al in all, it was about a three to four hour project, had I done it start to finish in one time slot.

 

It isn't perfect, and I have some touch up to do this morning, here and there. Also, I am still contemplating whether or not to add a little scrolly do-dad at each end, but for now, it is done, and I think we both like it. A lot.

As you may have guessed, my kitchen project is still not completed.

I think it's this whole quarantine thing....you know, when I have plenty of available time, I seem to accomplish less. I tell myself I'm going to do something and then get sidetracked (ehem...usually by food) and then tell myself that I will do it in a little while, because, after all, I'm not actually going anywhere.

(Insert long, full-tummy sigh here.)

Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I had gotten the sign template chalked to my wall, and then...well, I had second thoughts. I kind of freaked out, thinking it looked a little crooked. (That would be horrible, because covering black lettering on a creamy white wall would take about 27 coats of white paint.) I put some blue painters tape up there and realized it is in fact pretty straight.

Then, I had second second thoughts. What if it's just too much, up there? And, there is about fifteen inches on either end of the quote, which looks kind of too roomy up there to me.

I think.

I could add some sort of little doo-hickey on either end, I suppose. Or, I could start over, and make the quote one piece of paper longer.

Ugh.

Maybe I should make a quick quesadilla and ponder it for a bit.

Midway through a dining room update (or, how I continued to avoid completing the kitchen soffit project)

I bet you thought you might be seeing a fun verse painted on my kitchen soffit today. (If you didn't know me well...) 

Here's the thing.

I have the sign template for my kitchen project printed, taped together, and even chalked the backside of it. (Yay!) I have the six foot ladder open and standing in the not-so-large kitchen. (Thank God Ralph is laid back and just maneuvers around it to get into the fridge, never mentioning it...) I even have my blue painters tape hanging in strips all along the soffit, ready for me to get the twelve foot long template taped up in place. 

But I'm having trouble getting started because I'm afraid it will be crooked somehow, and that would bother me to the ends of time. I'm also concerned that my chalk won't be visible enough for me to see to paint my letters. 

Okay, those are excuses, and I am going to tackle this project today.

For sure.

Over the weekend I was messing with taxes (ugh.) and unemployment, (there are no words to express the frustration here, but please know, if you are going through this too, I am feeling your pain.) and I ended up not being able to sleep, so  at about 3:00 a.m. on Friday night (Saturday morning actually.) I made a cute new table runner of sorts for the dining room table.

That's when I realized I have not updated you all on my dining room.

Remember my old dining room set? (A fantastic Craigslist find that Ralph picked up in a torrential down-pouring of rain for me....) Well, the chair seats had seen better days, and all of them were needing to be redone with new stuffing or foam or whatever upholsterers do, and I was starting to feel like it was looking a little outdated....okay, maybe not outdated exactly, but not quite the look I was wanting any longer. 

I fund a new-to-me table last summer, and it sat out on the covered patio out back waiting patiently to have chairs to go with it, and it's base to be painted a weathered white. One day I found chairs (craigslist agin) that I thought I loved, and a friend helped me make the swap in the dining room happen. (Ralph didn't know I even had any of these plans in the works, because, as I shared in my last post...man decor opinions.)

Well, it turned out that I am not a modern farmhouse girl at heart, (I see that clearly now) and the chairs were too new looking (if that's a thing) for me. By this point I had sold the sweet cottage dining set to a family that had six kids and were beyond thrilled to find a dining set with three leaves and eight chairs. (It truly warmed my heart when the guy picking it up shared how excited his wife was to be able to fit the entire family at their new-to-them dining set!)

Well, Ralph adjusted to the new look and I searched craigslist and facebook marketplace like a crazy woman, not quite sure what I was looking for. As luck would have it, I remembered that my daughter had six thrifted-from-craigslist parsons chairs (originally from Ballard Designs) that she had stashed out in her big ol' shop, because she had replaced them with more modern farmhouse style chairs in her home. (Which looks great, by the way...) 

Anyway, long story getting longer here, you guessed it. I called her and asked to buy her chairs. She wouldn't take my money, but gave them to me. Ohmygosh, so mush more me. More us. I loved the look, and Ralph loved the comfortable seating.

There was one teeny tiny issue. My daughter had washed the slipcovers, which were linen, and when I put them on, they had all shrunk. (They now are capri length slipcovers.) Ralph of course had not noticed this. Either that, or he thought this was yet another shabby decor look he didn't fully understand and thought better than to ask about. At any rate, we have new slipcovers coming, because they were on a huge sale, (Yay!) and so I feel like we are rounding the corner to the dining room area coming together in a cozy cottage style sort of way that I love.

The table base still is waiting to be painted, because for half a minute I decided balck might be good, since my hutch is black. (Turns out it looks to modern for me, just like those last chairs I bought...) so it will be getting a white paint refresh later this week (I hope) right after I complete the kitchen sign job.

Do you get tired of things, or rooms, and feel like they need a refresh sometimes? Or do you like the secure feeling of home, where things look the way you like and never feel the need to fix what isn't broken? I'd love to hear about it!

Oh!...back to my table runner creation. (I had nearly forgotten that this is what my post is about...) I had seen this idea done on this girl's instagram account, and I thought it looked cute; a little cottage mixed with some whimsy. I had a bunch of strips of shredded chenille and cotton that I was doing a garland project with, and I simply grabbed few pieces and tied some knots. I like it, and I love that it was basically a free design project! (I think I will love it even more after my slipcovers arrive and my table base is white)

What do you think? 

Weekly words to live by.

Getting ready to (finally) start a log-time coming home project...

I know I have posted before about my concerns around having too many quotes and sayings signs around my home, and I am desperately hoping this latest project won't be taking me over that edge.

As you may recall, I have a yet-to-be-updated-or-renovated 1950's cottage kitchen, (Complete with harvest gold range, thankyouverymuch) and I've made it work for us. It's got a cozy feel, thanks to the black and white stick on tile checker board floor my fantastic son-in-law put in for me over five years ago. (In case you're wondering, those stick on tiles are incredibly affordable, hold up great, and you can pull up a damaged one and replace it lickety-split, if need be!)I also adore my bookcase full of thrifted and collected dishes and such...

....but there was one project I have been meaning to do since the week I moved in here. Above the front wall of cupboards is a soffit about 13 inches tall. It runs the entire thirteen feet wide up there above the cupboards and window, and it seemed to be screaming for...a quote.

(Do you agree?)

The reason it has taken me so long (besides the fact that I am always getting sidetracked with new projects and life....) was that I couldn't decide on the right quote. I narrowed it down to three of them, and then I pondered them.

For a few years.

Once I decided on the quote, I had to decide between a twelve foot long board with the sign painted on it, (Easy to take down if I tire of it) or to paint directly on the wall. I ended up deciding to paint right on the wall, as I feared a twelve foot long board would be a. heavy,(Aaaah! What if it fell?!) and b. could warp potentially after a time, and would then hang wonky. (I am a nut about envisioning worst-case-scenarios...in all areas of life.)

Next, I needed to choose the right font.

And decide if it should be all upper case, or both lower and upper case.

Ugh. See what I mean? So many decisions. (I know. I sound melodramatic, but, seriously, it had to be right the first time, because a do-over on this size of a sign would be unbearable for me.)

I decided (or so I thought) on a font choice, and printed out the twelve-pieces-of-paper sign template, and then decided the wording needed to be all uppercase. I then had to re-print the entire template again, of the back sides of my first template.

By now you are seeing why it has taken me five plus years to get to this stage of my project.

I need to interject here that, as I was typing this post, Ralph came into my workroom and asked what my post was about. When I shared this with him, (he had no idea I had been planning this project, let alone for five years, because...man opinion.) He then gave me his entirely unsolicited said man opinion on my quotes, making various facial expressions (from frowns to total distain) and a couple of eye rolls at the quotes that had made the top three, and wrapped things up by offering up some alterations and re-wording for my chosen quote.  (See before reason I didn't feel the need to tell him about my project...)

Thank God I didn't show him my font choice.

Anyway.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be dreary and cloudy here, and that is the absolute perfect weather to tackle this project! That kind of weather puts me in a nesting mood, and I am pretty sure I will be in my full and total glory working on my painted wall sign. (Also, it is Saturday. At least I think it is, and this feels like a Saturday kind of project.)

Wish me luck!

(Are you like that? Does the weather inspire you to do certain projects?)

Writer's block.

That's why you haven't heard from me since Sunday.

Or maybe it's the fact that I'm pretty much spending every waking moment (that I am not baking or eating) in my home office working on my etsy shop.

Every morning I come in and sit down to do a post, and the only thing that seems to be new is more baked treats, paper banners, and paper crafts (Mother's Day is coming, whether we are quarantined, or not) and I think if you see one more look-at-my-newest-banner-tag-label-baked-good-whatever you will vow to never read another thing I post. 

Anyway, that's what I've been doing. I'm wondering what you all are doing to keep from losing your marbles. Are you cleaning things out? If so, what are you doing with your ever mounting donations pile? (Asking for a friend) Are you binge watching a gajillion shows? (I have to say here that television has lost its luster for me.) Are you taking yourself on daily walks around your neighborhood? 

I'm also wondering what you'd like to read about here, during this crazy adventure, (Am I causing you to roll your eyeballs with each new paper craft post?) ad I would love it if you'd share with me what all would interest you!! (I will tell you that I am contemplating two new home projects around here that I plan to share next week, assuming they come into fruition.)

Stay home, my friends, and stay safe!

Weekly words to live by.

A little outdoor spring cleaning...

Is today Saturday? The struggle is real when anyone asks me what day it is these days. (We forgot to put our garbage cans out this week, because we didn't know it was Tuesday.) This being said, I think when we keep busy, it is a bit easier, and so we have been trying to have some sort of scheduled activities each day. (Who knew waiting for the grocery store to send a text that our order is ready for pickup would be a highlight of a girl's day?)

Anyway.

The weather here has been spectacular, so we decided we should do some outside work. We power washed the covered patio behind the garage and then power washed the white picket fence and the sidewalks and porches out front. Talk about instant gratification! 

We enjoyed our first patio bonfire of the year last night! Small victories and baby steps here in quarantine. We're gonna get through this!

Because, at the end of the day, we always have hope.

And faith.

And wine.

(Okay, maybe we don't all always have wine.) 

(Maybe that's just just me.)

Have you seen this movement making its way across America, to front windows of homes and stores in your town? Your city? Your neighborhood? People have begun putting hearts in their windows, along with teddy bears, and words of hope, and anything they find comforting to share with others to remind us all that there is still hope. That we are not alone. We have each other to lean on, and to commiserate with, and to be there for.

Maybe you think it's silly; cheesy even. You know what? I'm all about cheesy. Heck, if was ever there was a time to throw caution and properness to the wind and be a total dork, it's now. We might not be here come Christmas. I don't mean to be morbid, but if that's God's plan for me, I am good with that. However, while I am here, I want to make the most of each day, and let those around me, the ones I know and love, along with the guy walking his dog past my house, know that they matter. That we are in this together, and we still have hope.

Ralph and I took a walk around our neighborhood, and we saw the sweetest sign on a mailbox post around the block from us....

I told Ralph I had seen the heart in the window movement on the news, and we both liked the idea. He said I needed to whip up something for our window. (Well, you know that was all the encouragement I needed...) In about a half of an hour, I had created a quote for a banner type sign in our window and Ralph helped me hang it up.

Yeah, it's cheesy. It's schmaltzy. It's a tad bit unusual thing to put in your window, (but still, it's Bob Marley for gosh sakes. It's still cool. And relevant.) but who cares? It made us both smile, and if it makes someone passing by do the same, and feel less alone, less quarantined, less out-of-control, I'm good with that.

...

After I shared my window pictures with a friend she suggested I put it in my shop as a printable, so I did!

My Mom then needed a smaller version, so you will find both a three foot wide and a six foot wide instant download listing in my etsy shop, here. Join the movement! (and if you do, please, please share a picture of your window with us!!)

Because more is WAY more when it comes to birthdays.

I'm of the mind set that everyone deserves to feel oh, so special at least one day a year, and I think that a lot of folks would agree with me.

Just before all of the stay-home-stay-safe situation happened, I received a birthday banner order from a friend for her daughter's twenty first birthday. They were planning a girls trip out of town, and she wanted to decorate the hotel room with oodles and toodles of banners. We got to talking and ended up adding goodie bags for the plane ride, and some cookies too.

We discussed basic ideas, and came up with a color way. By this point, my mind was already whirling and twirling, and I could hardly wait to get started! The big banner was the inspiration point.

From there, I created several smaller banners to coordinate. Some were adorned with little bits of extra bling, and others were matted against a matching coral rose printed background paper. I was so smitten with the way they all came out and complimented each other that I ended up deciding to add them to my etsy shop.

The sweet gift bags were fun to create as well. I used a matte gold tulle instead of tissue for my friend to use to peek-a-boo out of the tops of the bags....

Next up, it was time to bake some birthday cookies. (You know how I love to bake!) I made my signature never-fail sugar cookies recipe and my buttercream frosting.

I tinted some of my buttercream a soft coral rose color, and added little sprinkles here and there after I frosted each cookie. I'm completely in my happy place when I am decorating cookies, cakes, or cuppy-cakes.

sigh It was a labor of love. 

While the frosting was setting up, I got a wild idea to individual cookie boxes for the girls...

...as well as a decorated to-go style box of cookies to snack on in the hotel room.

Ohmygosh, I had so much fun on this order!!!! I think I nailed it, when I say more is more when it comes to birthdays, don't you? I hope the birthday girl loved it too!

Twenty twenty, the year of the virtual Easter.

It's the Monday before Easter; Holy week, and I am feeling the need to be a nagging Mom here, as I spoke with a good friend this morning who shared that her son-in-law, who is a specialized pediatrician in Texas, is hosting house guests this week. (I have no words...)

Are we all clear that we are not going to be hosting a house full of family that does not currently live with us for Easter brunch/dinner/egg hunts/whatever this year?

I certainly hope so.

It's not rocket science. Find the church service of your choice on a local TV station, or streaming online, and enjoy your family in the 2020 way; virtually.

Video calls on facebook, facetime, houseparty, zoom and skype....just to name a few, are incredibly easy, and actually kinda fun. We tried it out yesterday with a portion of our family, and I have to say, it is the next best thing to being there. Yes, it will be different, but we will make it work, and, God willing, we will talk about this Easter for years to come.

Weekly words to live by.

Quarantine goals. (And some thoughts I wanted to share.)

I'm here, following the Washington State Stay-Home order, while doing more than my part to not let those sugar cookies get stale.

Among other things, this whole shelter-in-place-because-life-as-we-know-it-has-become-the-twighlight-zone thing makes me absolutely ache for comfort food. Orange cinnamon rolls, homemade chili with cornbread, mac n'cheese....foods that have the incredible ability to make me feel like every little thing is gonna be alright. 

You probably popped over to read this blog post for a bit of sunshiny reprieve from all that is going on, and if I have disappointed you today, I'm sincerely sorry. It's just that, while I do have oodles of cheery, inspiring, and interesting things to share with you from around my house, (I think they're interesting, anyway.) it feels so weird and wrong to not first acknowledge the big coronavirus in the room, so to speak.

I will interject here that there are some hilarious memes to be found online that provide some much needed comic relief through this nightmare, and it goes without saying that none of us will ever disregard the importance and value of a roll of toilet paper ever again. Along with this new enlightenment comes the unfolding reality that life as we knew it last Christmas is gone.

While I am a firm believer in faith over fear, it's becoming more frightening out there, day by day, and part of me keeps thinking this is a really long, bad dream. (I don't want to be in a situation where I have to learn how to make a protective face mask from a bandana and two hair scrunchies...) I'm worried for our doctors and nurses, our police and firefighters, and that guy that was putting produce out at the grocery store yesterday morning at seven A.M. when I arrived for "senior shopping hour".

It's consuming my mind and heart.

I'm not gonna get on my soapbox about how all of us that are not doing undeniably essential work need to keep our potentially virus carrying butts at home. (We all already know this, by the way.)

I feel more than a little...helpless.

In between cooking, and baking, and, God help me, eating, I am praying. Praying my heart out for all of us. That we find a vaccine or a cure, that people don't die from this, all alone. That we all learn to be kinder to one another, and to give each other more grace. 

I promise you that tomorrow I'll be back with something far more chipper, and light, and hopefully I will maybe even make you chuckle, but please know that even as I share easy-breezy-my-home-is-my-haven posts, I am praying at a ninja level for this to pass for us all to realize what really matters in this life, and to love each other better.