Notes from A Cottage Industry: 5 posts from April 2022

It's snowing here today,(Unheard of, and a record for us!) with a weather warning in effect until midnight tonight, so I thought it only appropriate to choose this day to finally share my springtime update for my fireplace mantel.

Anyway.

After Valentine's Day I put away all of my red accent decor and pull out my most favorite of all Robin's egg blue pieces, and add lots of garden touches. The fireplace mantel is a focal point in the room, so I especially like decorating it.

After removing last season's decor from my mantel, I start my updates the same way pretty much each time I want to make a change. I look at my backdrop pieces, which usually include one or more mirrors, and a shutter or two.

I move things around a bit, maybe taking something away, or adding to it, and then once I like the balance of the backdrop I wander through my house looking for items in other rooms that are the color or theme I'm after.

I absolutely adore old books because of the fabulous colors on their covers and bindings, and I keep them stored in all sorts of places around the house. I love building my color scheme by starting with a few books (or a big ol' pile of them) to begin creating my vignette.

This time wanted to go with the Robin's egg blue to greens to wheaty earth tones, so those were the colors I assembled with my books. (Aren't they yummy?)

I placed my sweet little old rotating fan on top of the taller book stack, and added terra cotta pots with my Ikea plants in them (I cannot keep a houseplant alive) around the smaller stack of books.

Sometimes, but not always, I will add one or two of my banners or other paper crafts to my vignette. Right now I have my Sow, weed, water, wait itty bitty banner strung across the old window, and I am liking it. Some years I switch to an Easter-y theme, but this year I'm content to stay with the spring-with-a-slight-hint-of-gardening look.

That being said, I did add one of my Bunny Flash Cards, held up by a tiny flower frog. An old straw hat that I have had forever, a chippied garden hand tool, and one of my vintage alarm clocks rounded things out.

I put away the fireplace screen for the spring and summer seasons, and instead, filled my old copper boiler pot with oodles and toodles of artificial hydrangeas. (Thank you Walmart!)

I like to move things around in my home, and the day after I did my color-swap and mantel refresh, I tried out my two extra buttery yellow wicker chairs flanking the fireplace...what do you think of this? Too crowded there? A nice change?

After an hour I moved them back to their respective old locations (One in the guest room, and the other in my workroom) because my mind started whirling with ideas, and the next thing I knew I was online browsing Ikea sofa and loveseat sets. (The sectional is now eleven years old, people! It has really done it's job, but it is ready to be replaced!)

New furniture is not currently on the must-have list around here, so I reeled myself in, all lickety-split like.

**big sigh**

I'm enjoying the lighter, brighter feel in the house (even if I am looking at snow falling outside the living room windows...) and later today I think I'm going to start playing around with an Easter brunch tablescape.

Speaking of Easter, is this an "entertaining" holiday for you? Do you do a brunch, an egg hunt, or a supper with friends or family? As for us, our Easter plans change each year, with no traditions set in stone like the other holidays. I was thinking a nice drive and a picnic lunch might be fun, but...did I mention it's snowing here today?

Maybe a sofa picnic.