Notes from A Cottage Industry

Weekly words to live by.

Easy Easter brunch menu.

My Mom will be joining us for Easter brunch, and I'm keeping things easy. After all, it's much more about who is around the table, than what is on our plates. I'll do my favorite assemble-the-night-before breakfast casserole (remember it here from a few New Year's back? I shared a download of the recipe.) and I thought I'd do mixed fresh fruit bowls to accompany it.

Ralph got me these champagne coupes a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I think they look fabulous as the individual fruit bowls, holding just the right amount of fruit. A dollop of whipped cream on top and a tiny sprinkling of toasted coconut will fancy them up.

Juice and coffee will round things out. No big mess in the kitchen, and we can all enjoy our visit. What will you be doing this Easter Sunday? Is it a big holiday for you, with family, or not so much? Whatever you will be doing, I hope you have a wonderful day!

A second idea on an Easter tablescape with a farm-to-table feel.

I hope two tablescape posts in a week (back to back, no less...) isn't gonna be overkill here, but I saw an idea and I was overcome with inspiration to try my version of it. (A fellow instagrammer used fresh baby carrots down the center of her table, and that's all it took...)

I had fun creating this look, and again, other than buying a bunch of baby carrots at the grocery store, everything came directly from my own home.

I started with a runner made of artificial moss that I have had for a gazillion years as my backdrop, and I gathered up several of my flower pots to set the garden mood, along with my always-on-hand Ikea fake mini boxwood shrubs.

A short stack of old books borrowed from my entertainment center shelf added some height for one of the pots, a few plastic eggs (The kind that are meant to sort of look real-ish) and those inspiring baby carrots came together in less than 5 minutes to create my vignette on the table. Here is a look from the back side of my vignette...

I opted for my wicker trays to use as placemats or chargers, my old thrifted Sur La Table grey cloth napkins tucked in water goblets, and I then whipped up some fun little tags with a charming, and oh-so-serious bunny wearing a carrot and green onion bow tie. A bit of Dollar Tree jute replaced the white string on the manilla tag, and attached the tags to the pair of baby carrots on either plate.

Easy peasy, and quick too.

Now, I just need to decide which of these two tablescapes I'll use on Easter (or will I come up with another one?) as well as deciding on my Easter brunch menu. 

My latest favorite color combination in a simple and relaxed Easter time tablescape.

I have a little eye candy inspiration for those of you who enjoy setting a pretty table for holidays. (Or, any day!)

Have you noticed how popular the pale blush pinks and corals have become this spring? I am loving them so much that I decided I would feature them in my Easter tablescape...

I started off shopping my house for weathered worn tea-stained colors, and I came up with some old books missing their covers, a couple of my peat pots, and a pile of old dictionary pages. (Think outside of the box! It needn't be a kitchen related item, or a vase of flowers!) I also grabbed a couple of my painted clipboards in the blush coral shade,(Yummy!) a few of my printed out copies of vintage postcards.

I decoupaged some plastic eggs from the Dollar Tree with torn pieces of the pages, and printed a couple more pages with the coral stripes to use clipped to my clipboards. These then became my placements. (..or chargers, whichever you like to think of them as...)

I put the plates on the clipboards, and added a printed postcard as a little accent piece, then added my flatware and napkins.
I placed a blush colored gift box (Filled with Easter candy, but it could hold any little gift or treat you like!) adorned with a vintage print of some sweet bunnies in the weathered shades of creams and camel, and tied it with a camel colored ribbon. A name tag for "You" and "Me" made them extra special.

A peat pot with some Dollar Tree excelsior straw and a decoupaged egg tied with a snippet of pale pink and camel ribbon and a small millinery flower  placed by each place setting added another little Easter touch.

For my centerpiece I stacked the old books, and used a flower pot from my yard filled with an Ikea artificial peony plant. More decoupaged eggs and an additional printed bunny postcard rounded out my centerpiece.

I have the cutest (I think so, anyway...) little vintage silverplate pepper shaker shaped like an egg, that I added to the table, along with my favorite silverplate salt cellar, and my tablesetting was complete.

I hope this post has inspired you to shop your own home and set a fun table for a meal sometime soon!

Dining room wall decor update, at last.

Ohmygosh, could you hear my nail gun and me squealing with delirious glee at 1:45 am last Thursday night? (Or Friday morning, depending on how you view that time I refer to as "the middle of the night".)

I am 100% happy at long last with my dining room wall! (For now anyway. You know how I like to change things up in my house all the time.) It took me three days off and on, working ten or fifteen minutes at a time, (I was busy with etsy orders and my booth space, and had to allow drying time for the paint between coats....) but I finally completed my sign, and it is just what I wanted.

Neutral, kind of understated, and personalized, all at the same time. What do you think?
I began with a twelve dollar board from Home Depot. It was a four foot by four foot board (some sort of thin plywood) and I had the guy cut off one foot. (Which I will craft into another sign to sell in my booth and recoup my twelve bucks and then some...)

I painted it with primer....

I painted it a butter yellow that I had from a tester bottle for my Mom's laundry room way back when. It took a little adjusting to get the color muted just right. (I added white paint)

I then used Annie Sloan dark wax around the edges to weather it a bit. Then, I patted a paper towel of watery white paint over the glaze, and the oil to water mix made it kind of do a weathered looking thing.

After that, I printed, transferred, and painted my words.

We live on Harney Way, which is why the sign reads "The Jewel of Harney Way" at the top.The idea for this line came from a visit to my best friend since fifth grade's home several years back, when she still lived in northern California.

We had taken a walk one morning and we passed a little cottage with a picket fence. On the gate was a bronze oval plate that read "The jewel of such and such street" (I don't remember the street name) and I thought it was precious.

I knew I wanted to steal this idea so I squirreled it away in my mind, but once I put up my own picket fence at our cottage, I was torn, because I already had my little sign that seemed also perfect for my gate to welcome friends. Here is a picture to remind you of it from last summer...

...so, I kept waiting to use the idea. I thought it worked on my dining sign, so here it is.

It's not perfect, and I still might weather the paint a bit more, but I am feeling all sorts of crazy mad love for the wall now. It fills the wall, without being too showy, which is just what I was after.

Now, to decide about the black hutch...

Out with the old, and in with the older.

...and so much cuter, if you ask me.

Remember my old one?.....

Eeeeeeeeewe.

It worked fine, and did it's job for me in the kitchen for these past six plus years, but I've got to say, I am not gonna miss it one bit.

I think the new-to-me white range looks more intentional, in a Susan-Branch-ish we-love-vintage-things kind of way, as opposed to the-70's-left-their harvest-gold-stove-here-and-no-one-wants-it-back. (This being said, I was able to sell old yeller super quick on Facbook Marketplace...yay!)

Extra special thanks to my son-in-law for doing 99% of the heavy lifting up the porch steps and through the tight opening to the kitchen! (and climbing out from behind the range once it was plugged in)

So....I've got to ask you...do you like it, or do you love it?

.....

In other news, it is week four of my spring cleaning, and according to Clean mama, it's beds and floors, and I am totally onboard! Who's with me?

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #notesfromacottageindustryblog

My spring cleaning continues this week in the one and only bathroom in the house.

Is anybody doing spring cleaning along with me? According to Clean Mama, whose system I am attempting to follow, says "....last week we cleaned the baseboards, did deep dusting and light fixtures last week. If you didn’t, catch those things up as you’re deep cleaning the kitchen this week.
Monday - Clean Toilets - tank to floor, - Clean + Clear Bathroom Counters, Clean Bathtubs + Showers  (Bathrooms Day)
Tuesday -  Launder Curtains/Drapes + Clean Blinds (Dusting Day)
Wednesday  (Vacuuming Day)
Thursday - Wash Bathroom Floors  (Floor Washing Day)
Friday - Wash Interior/Exterior (?) Windows, Clean Window Sills + CATCH UP ON ANYTHING THAT DIDN’T GET DONE (Catch-All Day)
Saturday - Wash Bath Mats + Shower Curtains  (Sheets + Towels Day)"

Two things here; first, I love how she lays it all out for me. It's not overwhelming, and it is 100% doable from my standpoint. Second, and a full disclosure here, I missed doing the baseboards in the bathroom last week. Yep, I somehow skipped them. I'm doing them today,(Even though Clean Mama said Friday is catch up day. I am inspired today to do them!) along with the toilet, and done a week late is okay by me.

I am not at all sure what happened to me last week, but somehow I couldn't get myself caught up enough to share my Easter tablescape ideas. They will be here this week, for certain, as I am planning not one, but two small gatherings next week! I am planning one with my grandsons, and one with a friend. If I can find time to photograph it, I will also share my Easter breakfast table plans. (No promises on that one, since I am desperately trying to underpromise and over deliver here this week!)

How about you? Are you feeling like you are ready for entertaining in small groups yet? I am feeling guardedly optimistic that this summer is going to be much less isolated, and I am so looking forward to it! We have a nearly six month old grandson we have yet to be able to meet, and the thought that we just might get to travel and see him, along with his brother and sister are at the top of my list, as you can imagine....

 

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #Notesfromacottageindustryblog

The post where I figured out what I will NOT be going on the dining room wall.

Ya don't really know until you try, right?

So, in one of my last posts, I mentioned the dining room, and the wall of mirrors I am planning to replace. I was positive that my weathered shutters idea was going to be nothing short of perfection when I envisioned it in my mind. (Que the theme music to Traceyville)

While the idea might have worked with the right length, width, and ideal amount of weathering, it turned out to be a no-go. First of all, I have a heater vent on the low part of the wall, so the shutters had to be hung high enough to not cover that.
Then too, it just seemed like too much wood. I mean, as you can see, what I am referring to as shutters are actually bi-fold doors that I planned to weather and age with paint and crackle and wax, but even with my wildly keen imagination, when I stood back and looked, it was just too much wood. A painted wood (off white) entertainment center on the other side of the doorway to the hall, and then the (currently) black painted hutch.....adding more wood between them didn't seem to add anything.

Ugh.

I then thought I had an epiphany and brought in some shorter old (partially) weathered window shutters from the back patio that I then tried hanging (on existing nails from the mirrors) so each shutter section was horizontal.

Ewe.

What I pictured in my mind as a weathered subtle backdrop for a clock or a wreath, looked pretty much like I had hung an extra wide weathered teak patio lounge chair from Hawaii hung on the wall.(Do you see that too? That fold there on the third rung down is where your knees go....)

Not the look I was going for, as you might have guessed.

(....and I would feel like I needed to say "aloha" every time I looked at them.)

Later that day, when I was down at Camas Antiques dropping off Easter banners in my booth, I spotted a pair of old hutch doors with glass windows inserts, and seriously considered them. This sparked a series of ideas in my head about vintage windows, but in the end, I ruled this whole window-hutch-door idea out.

(Am I exhausting you with all of the in-my-head-debates I had?)

Instagram came to my rescue, as I spotted a sign this gal had made for her home. I could make a sign, and it wouldn't cost too much (...it might even be free. I have to check my wood scraps in the garage.) and it could be done in the exact colors I want.

I quickly designed a basic sign for the dining room in my cheesy print program on my computer. I'm thinking the butter yellow from the wicker chairs, with white and stain weathering (maybe) and possibly dark-ish tan lettering? Maybe blue?

What do you think? Are you seeing my vision? Okay, let me share two possible ideas. First, the sign I just shared, done on slats of wood, or beadboard....(From Instagrammer Burlaproserevivals)

The second idea, a painted sign on flat wood....(Found this idea on a Pinterest link to the TV show Fixer Upper) 

Of course, this idea is still another wood piece on the wall, and I may not like it when completed. I am thinking I will find or buy my wood, then paint the background colors and hang it on my wall to then make the final judgement call. If I do not like it, I'll paint a sign to sell at Camas Antiques.

I'm heading out to the garage to have a look-see and update next post!

On a roll with kitchen spring cleaning, thanks to Drew Barrymore and someone named midwesternmama29.

**First off: yesterday's post has been updated with "after" photos of my Day One of Spring Cleaning in my kitchen.**

I was feeling pretty proud of myself once I completed my clean out of the kitchen closet, but I didn't stop there.

Nope.

After the closet clean out, I went back  to working on banners and papergoods as I do most days, and then, in the afternoon, something rather serendipitous happened. I had the TV on for background noise, as I typically am in and out of the garage (where I do all of my spray glue and glittering) and my little workroom, and as I entered the kitchen I heard the Drew Barrymore Show on, and they were oohing and aahing over some laundry room hack from TikTok.

Curious, I poked my head into the living room just in time to catch the very last ten seconds of this gal using a beverage dispenser for her laundry soap. Ohmygosh, what a great idea!

What else did I just miss? I grabbed the TV remote and backed the show up to see the entire segment. (I love all the features of TV these days...)

Fascinating.

Her first hack was organizing her fridge so her family could actually see all the foods, which she hoped would make them eat the healthy snacks. I was mesmerized. She actually used her fridge drawers for things other than cheeses and veggies. (Who ever told me I had to only keep cheeses and lunch meats in there?!)

I was overcome with a need to organize my fridge right. that. very. minute.

I copied midwesternmama29 with my little cuties in the fridge door, and at the risk of sounding like a total nut job, I felt like I had achieved organizational nirvana. I literally opened the fridge each time I entered the kitchen just to gaze at my newly re-situated beverages and fruits.

Okay, so maybe things like this don't rock your world, and admittedly I do need to get out more, (but, it is a pandemic, after all....) but these organizational tiktoks might inspire you as well, and so Drew and I are sharing.

My most creative (and possible favorite) storage solution in my kitchen.

If you're following Clean Mama's Spring Cleaning event, you know that this week's spring cleaning is the kitchen, and I'm ready for it. I'm beginning with organizing, and cleaning a slightly unusual closet of sorts that is in my kitchen. (It is the door on the left in this photo. The door on the right is our pantry.)

I say slightly unusual because the reason this closet exists is that there is a light switch on the wall, and on the floor of this closet there is a large trap door. It opens upward, and latches on the back wall of the closet to expose a ladder that takes you down to a small cement floored basement room that houses my furnace and water heater.*

*Full disclosure; I have never actually been down the ladder into the small cement floored room. The ladder angle seems steep, and I am better than fine with Ralph being the brave soul to go down that ladder to change the furnace filter, and the battery in the smoke detector down there. I am happy to simply hit the light switch and a light in the basement room comes on for him.

Anyway.

Because our home is on the cozy small side, storage is at a commodity and I wanted to make the most of this closet space, however, on rare occasions someone needs to be able to go down to that little basement room. (Like when you realize that danged chirping is coming from the smoke detector battery down there)I realized I needed storage that wasn't a full on production to remove as needed, without ending up with a tall stack of rubbermade tubs or boxes in the kitchen.(I realized all of this after two separate occasions where Ralph needed to suddenly go down to the basement room, and it took more than a few minutes to empty the closet for him to gain access.)

Thinking on this dilemma for a short while, it hit me. I knew exactly what would work, and I had a good idea of which one of my junk friends might have what I needed. I reached out to my friend (she has a fantastic junk inventory built up) and asked her if she might have rolling bakers rack. (Like bakeries use.) 

She did!

I bought it and it has been a game changer. Not only does it hold a good amount of baking, cooking, and entertaining inventory, it moves easily, and I can see everything at a glance. It's like it was meant to be. Do you have any clever storage hacks you have come up with? I love it when stuff like this comes together!

So, today I am wheeling it out of the closet and reorganizing it, as, like with most of my storage areas, things slowly but surely have gotten out of control. I am also evaluating what I still use and what might need to be donated or given away.

As for the rest of this closet, it houses my step ladder, recyclable container and garbage tub to the left of the baker's rack, and my aprons are hung along the back on nails that were there when we got the house. A Shelf high above everything else holds my hardly ever used (but always good to know I have) giant chafing dishes. Efficient, and easy to spot what all I need, as well as being super accessible for those rare times we need to get into that basement room.

I'll edit this post after I complete this spring cleaning task....happy Monday, my friends!

EDITED TO ADD: Here is my "after" shot of my rolling bakers rack. All clean and organized, as well as the closet being swept and vacuumed out......

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #Notesfromacottageindustryblog

Springtime details around the house.

Ugh. The trials and tribulations of having Typepad hosting my blog. I had the entire post written, only to have it disappear when I went to publish it today. Grrrrrrrrrr.

(Making a loud sigh, and chanting "Serenity now" in my best George Castanza voice softly but angrily under my breath...)

...

Okay, let me begin again, Typepad. (Saving this post every three sentences this time....)

As I am on week two of Clean Mama's Spring Cleaning Challenge, I am wiping and dusting all of the still sawdust tinted areas of my home, and I have to tell you, it has me inspired. Inspired to re-fluff every nook and cranny as I come through. Does deep cleaning do this for you too?

One of the things I was wiping and dusting is the little built in bookcase between the dining area and living room. (Sorry, forgot to take any "before" pictures, but suffice to say, it looked fine. It just had not been changed up in about five years.)

I decided to go for a more springtime look, and brought in some of my tera cotta and peat flower pots, as well as some green plants (all of which are artificial. I am not good with live indoor plants!) Anyway, I am loving the fresh new look!

I also, for the first time in years, re-homed my vintage typewriter to the guest room, on the bottom shelf of the night table. (Guess what? I am loving it in there! There are black framed vintage family photos and the black typewriter works nicely in there...)

Taking the typewriter's place on the coffee table is now my old rusty-crusty-vintage-y birdcage, with a little vignette inside it.....whatcha think?

My mantel was already in springtime mode.....

...and I added a few more touches on the entertainment center (are we still calling them that?)and I couldn't be more content with the new look.

Everything looks clean, and light, and bright, and happy. This spring cleaning thing has been a good thing for me. As an added perk, I didn't spend a dime on the refresh. I used what I had!

**Oh! On another note: Thank you to everyone who weighed in on hutch color options to help me out! It ended in a very close horse-race-like finish, with the blue winning out by a nose. It was followed incredibly closely by the black, and the white. The two tone white with blue came in last, but enjoyed a respectable amount of popularity as well.

So.....I have decided to tackle the mirror-chalkboard wall first, and then make the call as to what color to paint the hutch (or not) so stay tuned! 

The post you probably saw coming: to change or not to change the hutch color.

...and if so, change to what color?

(Insert huge sigh here.)

Well, I dug around on pinterest and found some photos of hutches in colorways I am considering. (Man, I love living in this time of technology!) So, without further adieu, let's get this party started....

To refresh your memory, here is the hutch as it looks today...

I actually like it black when I see this shot, but let's remember my colorway of my home, as you see from the kitchen...

Okay, so now, let's look at other options. (Photo is small...sorry 'bout that.)Option number one, we have basic white. The pros are that it is timeless, cons are that my white dishes may not show as well. (but, is that still okay? Maybe.)

Option two is painting the entire hutch a Robins egg blue, as in the color of my bathroom, and laundry room in my home. Pros are that it is neutral, and it is my favorite color, and my dishes should stand out well against it. Cons are....hmmmm, I am not sure here. Can you think of any?

Option three is a white hutch with blue background, as Jackie suggested (and I had just saved a photo like it!) While I like the idea of this one, I am not sure I am a two-toned gal. What do you think????

(Again, sorry for the tiny photo...)

Option four is to leave it alone. (Sorry, this photo is really dark, asit was early morning when I took the picture...) Leave it black, and try out my weathered shutter look first, before changing it up. (The old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude.)

There we have all of the options. Which one is your favorite? The good new is that, in the end, it's only paint, which is affordable. Help a girl out here, please!

This week's Spring Cleaning assignments, and a peek at an idea I have for the dining room.

Not gonna lie, (and not to brag, but...) I nailed the Clean Mama spring cleaning assignment of the laundry room last week. Cleaned my washing machine innards for the first time, ever, along with everything else in the room, including cupboards. Extra proud of myself, because I nailed it while spreading a hefty thick layer of sawdust all over my home, and then having to spend the better part of two days sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, wiping, and repeating. (If you missed it, see my post here.) I also gathered cleaning supplies. If you're playing along, how did you do?

I'm so ready for Week 2: Dusting and Wiping, as I am now considering myself expert ninja level in this task. Bring it on, Clean Mama.*

(*Full disclosure here. I am still finding sawdust in areas of my home I didn't realize the sawdust from the sander could reach, and I will swear on a bible if required that it is reproducing at night while I sleep.)

In other news, while debating the color ideas on my hutch in the dining room, (Same post, here.) I also realized I was ready for a change up on the wall perpendicular to the hutch in question. It's currently covered in four vintage mirrors, and a vintage frame with a chalkboard in it. You can pretty much see it here...

I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I am wondering if some weathered wood shutters might be a fun textural backdrop for a wreath, or a single mirror, or even a big clock. Here are a couple of inspiration photos to give you more of a visual of my idea....

I know. It's not a dining room wall in the photo....but, close your eyes, and imagine, if you will, the wall with the mirrors and chalkboard, with 2 sets (Four panels) weathered, white over wood, mounted to appear as one solid piece, and then, a sweet wreath, like...maybe this...? 

....on it. Can you see it there, in your mind's eye? If so, does that look better, or worse, than what I have there now? (You can be honest. I have thick skin.)

Anyway, I'd love your input on this. Should I do a change up, or leave well enough alone?

To-may-toe, to-ma-toe. As you can see, the pandemic-stay-home-stay-safe has finally taken its toll on me.

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #Notesfromacottageindustryblog #dontworrybehappy #homesweethome

A dining area update. (Or why I spring cleaned my dining room ahead of schedule.)

Very nearly a year ago I shared my dining room in progress in this post. Since then, I added new slipcovers to the chairs, and kept avoiding the big job of painting and staining the dining table.

I didn't feel like the black table base worked with my cottage style, and the table top was incredibly red-toned. That being said, painting the table base white over black was doable, but it seemed like quite an undertaking to sand down the table top. For starters, the table is decently heavy, and in order to get in the garage to sand would entail dismantling the table and schlepping it out the front door, through the yard, out the picket fence gate, around to the driveway, and finally, into the garage.

I felt tired just thinking about it.

So, time passed. The slip covered chairs looked okay. I mean, they were fine. Really, perfectly fine. Just not zippity-do-da-these-are-the-chairs-we-have-been-waiting-for fine, but fine. 

Except that they didn't add that warm cozy look I had anticipated they would add to the room. They looked a bit too formal for our little cottage, if that makes sense. That, and (...and this is the bigger issue) we apparently are rather sloppy grown ups. Every time I would look at the chairs, I would find another little blob, or smudge, or spill and I would have to run and grab my upholstery spray cleaner to get rid of the latest spot. (This was a challenge that had never occurred to me when choosing slipcovered chairs.)

Anyway.

Time passed.

I was down at Camas Antiques adding something to my booth when I saw three fabulous (to me at least) butter yellow wicker chairs. I stopped dead in my tracks. They were exactly what I wanted for the dining room. I asked at the counter if there were more of the chairs, and low and behold, there were indeed three additional chairs downstairs.

I needed to think about this. After all, I had already been through two different sets of chairs that were wrong for the room. I went home to think on it.

I went back a few days later and got them. Unloaded into the garage, they waited patiently for the big moment they would be brought in and placed in the dining room. You see, I knew I wanted the table painted and stained before the chairs could come in.

Yesterday was that day. actually, I began painting the table base the night before, and had Ralph help me flip it over to paint, then stand it back up when it was dry. (Right there in the dining room, because it seemed like too much work to move it to the garage...) All that was left was to sand the table top.

In the dining room.

What was I thinking? Was I thinking? 

By the time it crossed my mind that this was not a good idea, I was too far into the project. There was no turning back now. A fine coat of sawdust blanketed literally everything in the room, from the ceiling to the floor. (At least I had the sense to close all the doors in the hallway and to the kitchen...)

It took me all morning to sand the table top, and the entire rest of the day, into the evening, to vacuum, wipe down, and wash everything in the living and dining rooms.

I guess it's a good thing I am doing a month of spring cleaning, right?

On another note, I think I am happy at last with the table and chair pairing! Here is a parting shot of the room from the kitchen doorway....

Happy hump day, friends!

Taco Tuesday, the soup edition.

We don't necessarily do Taco Tuesdays every week, but I am thinking it just might turn into a thing at our house, for two reasons. First off, they are relatively healthy, as long as you are mindful of what toppings you get carried away with. Second...I am a Pinterest girl when I need a recipe, and dang! There are just so many good and different taco recipes out there! (Different kinds of meat, no meat, baked, crispy, soft....soup.)

Tonight we are having the yummiest and easiest ever taco soup. ( Find recipe here.) Seriously, all you do is cook the meat, and open the cans of other ingredients, dump them all in the crockpot, and let the magic happen while you are busy doing other things (like spring cleaning!)

The post where I decided to try my hand at actual "spring cleaning".

I have a memory from back when I was a school-age kid growing up in the bay area of California, of my Mom taking a week's vacation off from her secretarial job at Lockheed to do spring cleaning at our home.

It was quite the undertaking, at least from my child's-eye-memory bank.

I recall her spending full days, beginning in the morning, with an organized game plan to tackle all sorts of deep cleaning housekeeping chores that kind of develop over time while no one is looking. She waxed the hardwood floors, cleaned the oven, (This was long before the days of self cleaning ovens...) washed the baseboards and the windows, and I'm sure a whole lot more that I do not recollect. What I do remember was thinking just how squeaky clean our home was by the end of that week in spring.

Looking back, it was really kind of spectacular.

I had forgotten all about this, until last week, when something I read prompted me to do an actual deep spring cleaning of my own home. Interestingly, I have never actually done a structured "Spring cleaning", even though my Mom used to do it. I am not sure why it has never occurred to me to do so.

That is until now.

Okay, let me back up one more time. I know I might seem to rambling, (am I?) and this is getting to be a long story here but, I'm trying to give you some background.

I am a sucker for marketing. (Always have been.) Fabulous business cards, labels, or tags cause me to stop my scrolling online, or stop my shopping cart in Target to take a closer look. Because I love that stuff, I spend far too much some time looking at marketing ideas on pinterest or wherever I may happen to spy it with my little eye, and at some point online a few years ago, I came upon the branding pieces for Clean Mama.

Maybe it was that Robin's egg blue, or...who knows what, but that lead me down the rabbit hole to see exactly who this Clean Mama was. If you are not familiar, do yourself a favor, and check her out. She focuses on cleaning everything in your home. (Um...yeah, hence the name Clean Mama. Smart name, clever branding.) 

Aaaaaaanyway....

Last week I saw that she was doing her annual spring cleaning event, and I felt suddenly inspired to get on the spring cleaning bandwagon.

Beginning today, for the entire month of March, she is doing a free spring cleaning event, broken out by weeks, complete with printables and the weekly breakdowns for the month. I'm thinking after a year at home, I am more than ready for this challenge. It starts today, and the details are on her blog. (Check out her blog post to get yourself ready...) 

As you can see, this week is prep week and the laundry room. (It sounds doable!) I'll be starting today and I hope you'll be inspired to join in. I'll share my progress, and I'd love to hear yours. Who's in?

 

......edited after I read Clean Mama's post for today: (8:20 AM Pacific Time)

We can find Clean Mama's daily spring cleaning posts here.

Also, I want to be clear here that I am not saying that I am (or would expect you to) buy all of Clean Mama's products today to get started. I am confident her products are good (with great packaging) but if you're doing this deep dive into cleaning, please feel free to use whatever products you love.

I printed the free downloads I needed for the week, and I am starting now with my laundry room, and beginning with the washer. I am going to tape the washer cleaning instructions inside my cupboard for future reference, as our water is very hard here, and I am thinking I will want to do this task monthly moving forward.

One last thing; I may be jumping the gun here, but I looked up Clean Mama's post on how to clean your washer. (I never knew we needed to do this!)  Here is the blog post link. 

Weekly words to live by.

#weeklywordstoliveby #notesfromacottageindustryblog #acottageindustry

The unseen decor must-have item I cannot live without.

Regardless of the time of year, there is one constant that adds to the comfy, cozy, welcome feel in my home, and if you've been here, you know what it is.

It's home fragrance.

Mmmm, mmm, mmm, mmm. I want everyone who enters my home (including myself) to immediately feel welcome, and furthermore, to be met with the most pleasant, yummy, comforting scent.

It has been a daily ritual of mine for literally years now, and I will tell you what it is.

It's wax melts.

Oh, my, my, my, how I love me some wax melts. (The only time you will not smell my wax melts is when I have something delicious smelling cooking in the oven, crock pot, or on my stove top....)Oh, and in case you are wondering, you can get the the wax burners here as well.

Decades ago, back in the early, early 1980's I think, potpourri enjoyed a wildly popular resurgence (I think it comes from the Victorian times originally or even further back in time...) and we enjoyed big jars or bowls of fragrant dried flowers. (Anyway, my girlfriends and I all did.) and then along came a thing called "simmering potpourri" where you put these dried flower petals, and cinnamon, or lavender, or vanilla, or whatever...in a big ol' pot of water on the stove.

It smelled heavenly.

The problem with simmering potpourri was that you would be enjoying the fabulous scent wafting out of your kitchen, and la-dee-da...time would pass, and suddenly, (usually when you were at the point most furthest from your stove) you would smell...what is that?!

Uh, oh.

Just at the precise moment your brain processed that bad, burning smell, your smoke detectors would go off. All of the water in the simmering potpourri would have evaporated, and you now were the proud owner of a burned pot, and a smell you couldn't get rid of for three days.

Far out.

**Side story here: One of my friends (in the 1980's....) had a pot of simmering potpourri on her stove, and her elderly father lived with her. Well, he was having some of his pals over, and she left to run an errand.

She returned to find that her Dad had served the simmering potpourri to his friends, mistakenly thinking it was some type of interesting cider drink, due to the cinnamon and vanilla he smelled.

They didn't really like it, but they all politely drank it.

True story, friends. (No one got sick, but it was easy to understand how it happened.)

Okay, back to my blogpost, and the history of home fragrance.

Scented votives and fat candles in glass holders then reached the height of popularity at some point after that, (The 90's....about the time Pearl Jam and Nirvana hit the scene....)and while I love a nice scented candle, I was born in California, and I kinda still worried about earthquakes. Also, I am rather forgetful, and the fire hazard thing just concerned me too much with three elementary aged kids in my home, so I never got too heavily into the scented candles all over my home thing. (I mainly enjoy a nice scented candle during my bubble bathes....)

This brings me back to wax melts. (Were you starting to wonder where I was going with this post?) A company named Scentsy first brought them to life, at least in my world, and then the copycat companies jumped on the bandwagon. The Better Homes and Gardens brand is still to this day my all time favorite, with it's not-to-be-undersold pricing, and wide array of fragrances.

You melt the wax in a cute little electric contraption called aptly enough, a wax burner. Wax melt burners come either as wall plug in style, or sit on the table style, and I have both. (I know you are not surprised.) I couldn't pick a favorite if I had to. I just know that I love the comforting fragrance floating throughout each and every inch of my home. (Another side note here: They also double as great little night lights.)

I am a seasonal scent nut kook purist, and I love matching the seasons, or weather to my home scents. I mostly use the vanilla peach for summertime, (fresh, and light, with just a hint that something just might be baking in the oven) A Thankful Harvest for autumn (Be still my heart. I swear it's a scent straight out of a Hallmark movie.) Perfectly Pine smells like a real fresh cut Christmas tree,(I start burning this the day after Thanksgiving while I am putting out my Christmas decorations.)  and finally, Orange Buttercream is my number one go-to for springtime. Of course, sometimes I try new scents, but these are my tried and true wax scents for the year.

I am now realizing that I have rambled on about the history of home scents for several paragraphs, so I should probably button this up, for fear that everyone is thinking that I am a fragrance obsessed senior with far too much time on her hands. 

(Well, we are still in the midst of Covid, so that is not entirely untrue.) 

Whatever.

Don't take my word for it. If you have not tried wax melts to add the icing on the cake to your home atmosphere, I suggest you pop by any big box store, and when you are alone on the wax melt aisle, open a package of a scent that sounds yummy to you, pull your mask down off your nose, and take a big. deep. long. sniff. of it.

It just might change your world. It did mine.

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Happy hump day, peeps!

There are still a few remnants of snow on the ground here, but spring has most definitely sprung inside my home.

I know I eluded to it just a few posts ago, but I am ready for some springtime. This week I decided I could wait no longer.

I put away all of the red and black decor touches all around my home over the past week. I then pulled out my most favorite Robins egg blue and light corals, and I've gotta say, it's like seeing an old friend after they've been away.

Since our home is on the "cozy" side (Around 1100 square feet total) most of my touches are in the living and dining room area. (In smaller spaces, less looks like more!) The fantastic quilt my mom made me for my birthday a few years ago now adorns the back of the sectional...

...and makes the most welcoming statement for the entire room. Bird's nests and faux eggs, along with greenery and terra cotta pots are scattered about in nooks and crannies.

The mantel is enjoying a re-do as well, with my terra cotta pots and my favorite seed banner, along with some of my faux Robin's eggs. This all works for me through Easter and Mother's Day, and clear into June, when I pull out my patriotic decorations.

I am so loving this change up in decor! The entire color way and lighter, brighter look is like an actual breath of fresh air to me.

I know. It's still raining here, with grey skies, and so it's not quite windows-open-flip-flop-wearing-weather just yet, but it's coming, hopefully sooner than later, and I for one, am ready. who's with me?

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Weekly words to live by.

Who else is ready for spring?

I know we are not supposed to wish our lives away, to live in the present, but...dang, between the Covid virus and the record setting cold and storms (and tornados...) I am over winter already.

Talk about your cabin fever.

I've got a crazy busy day planned here, with a quick trip down to Camas Antiques (our snow is melting....yay!) to pull the last of the Valentine items from my booth and get it ready for my spring and Easter items that I will be loading in tomorrow. From all I have been creating and gathering, it looks like aqua and coral are gonna be taking the lead color wise. (Which is no surprise, as that are my favorite color combo and what I am pulling out of the trunk in the living room today.

I store all of my offseason linens in there (everything must be useful in a small house!) and today I will be putting away the red and black plaids from Christmas and Valentine's Day, and I'm beyond ready for my yummy robins egg blues and corals to totally change the feel of my front room! I'm feeling happy just thinking about it.

I hope everyone is staying safe, and warm, and I hope you're doing something today that makes you smile.

The post where I decided to go with "more is more", and created a fun and foofy backdrop, courtesy of the The Other Tracey.

I love it when an impulsive idea morphs into something fabulous, don't you? Like, it was meant to be. If you don't know what I mean, let me explain:

Sometimes, an idea will quite literally pop into my head, and before I have actually fully processed that idea, I will act upon it. (Note: I do not recommend this as a method of running your business or your life.) One of these half-baked ideas happened just before Christmas last year.

I have been enjoying having a larger booth space at Camas Antiques this past year, (even with the pandemic!) and one day while trying to find a spot for some new holiday banners, it suddenly struck me that I should have a case sized space somewhere close by across the aisle from my big booth. That way I could showcase a certain theme in it. 

Anyway, as soon as the idea came to me, (and without a second thought that maybe I should think this idea through or at least sleep on it for a day) I whipped out my phone and texted Clark (he is in charge of booth spaces at Camas Antiques) to see if I could get on a wait list for a case. A couple of weeks later (after I had forgotten all about wanting a case at this point...) Clark let me know he would have a case for me on January first.

Oh! Okay.

I now had about two weeks to figure out what I was going to put in this new small space area, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember exactly why I felt I needed more space at the store. I knew for sure that I could fill the case, and after thinking further on it, I gave myself a time frame of six months to give it a shot. If it isn't profitable for me by the end of June, I would give up the extra space. (And no, it never crossed my mind to tell Clark it was a spur-of-the-moment idea and thanks, but no thanks...)

Stepping back in time about two or three months to early autumn, The Other Tracey had sent me a box literally crammed full of fabulous old skirts in various styles, and all in shades of whites and creams.

Be still my heart.

She had cut them along one seam so they could be hung flattened out on a wall as a whimsical backdrop. (She had done this a few years ago in her booth in Reno, and somehow had never gotten a photo of the idea, but she was certain I would love the idea too!)

So, I had been keeping the box of skirts, and was adding more to it so I could cover one of the walls in my large booth space. Now I realized I could use what I had to cover the back wall of the new case. 

Yeah, baby.

It suddenly felt very meant-to-be to me.

On New Year's Day I headed down to Camas Antiques. I used my staple gun to attach the skirts to the back of my case, and, with the Other Tracey giving me her input on installation of the many vintage skirts, via video call, I had my backdrop up in no time at all. (Truly, it was the next best thing to her being there!)

It was perfect, and I was beyond thrilled with the results. Here is a peek at the beginning of me filling the new case....

So far, I am thrilled with my new case space, as it seems to be a great little side hustle of sorts to house more of my paper crafts inventory, and it is very easy to restock. I filled my case with a Valentine's Day theme and a couple of weeks later, switched it up for the upcoming Superbowl game.

I love it when these kinds of ideas work out! Do you ever do things like that? At home, or with work, or whatever? 

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The evolution of my workroom over a six year time span.

Aaah yes, the little room where all of the magic (and messes) happen, so to speak.

Okay, Let's start at the beginning. If you've been reading my blog a long time, you might remember that the smallest room in our cozy cottage was my little workroom. It is a teeny tiny bedroom sandwiched in the hallway between the other two bedrooms and the bathroom, and its petite size is perfect for my workspace.

I was looking through old blog posts, and I was shocked to realize that I have never shared my home workroom renovations with you.

I moved into my sweet little cottage on the corner back in December of 2014. (Can you even believe it has been a little over six years?! I can't.) I shared a peek into it in early 2015, and you can see a picture to refresh your memory (and mine) here.

And later, I shared some small details here.

Then I tried repurposing the heaviest piece of shelving in America to hold crafting supplies here. (Oh my. What exactly was I thinking? I planned on painting it, but, in perfect 20/20 hindsight vision....the 80's furniture just needs to stay in the 80's....)

None of it was really coming together quite the way I had envisioned it in my mind's eye, but it was working.

Kinda.

We (my handy-mad-carpentry-skillz daughter and I) renovated my workroom in 2017, and somehow I never shared anything about it here.

Weird.

(Let's go with the "better late than never" mindset here.)

So, as I said, it was 2017. (Remember 2017? When life was lived with lots of hugs and no masks?)

Anyway.

Twenty seventeen. My daughter is very handy with wood and construction, and for my Mother's Day gift, (along with a new nail gun) she wanted to refresh my workroom.

Yay!

We designed some built in shelves and a desk to do beneath them, and then we got busy...We (My daughter) built shelves (I was the go-fer helper) above the desk and I moved the little vintage white dresser to hold more crafty supplies. 

She had a very old, very heavy thrifted desk that had been passed around between family members that she had an idea for in my workroom, and we planned the whole makeover around that. She took the top off of the desk, and we repurposed the two banks of drawers to use as the base for my new desk area...

Oh, so much better for working in!

Except for the fact that I am a messy creative type.

The room functioned well, but my messiness creativity stayed pretty out of control until...well, until the pandemic hit. I am not sure if has been all of this time spent at home, day after day, after day, after month, or what, but the messiness began to wear on me something awful. 

I decided to do something about it.

I got a bag for trash and a box for donations. It was hard at first, but the more I purged, the more I began to see just how much stuff I had that I had not used in at least a decade and a half.

Seriously.

I got in touch with my inner Marie Kondo (I didn't know I even had it in me!) and after a few purging sessions with myself I found I had more to donate than to keep. (It turned out that all of this stuff wasn't "bringing me joy" as Marie would say, as much as it was very nearly turning me into a craft hoarder. (You know what they say; it turns out that shopping for craft supplies, and crafting are two different hobbies....)

Desperate for a system of order, I purchased white photo boxes from Michaels Crafts (Only $2 each with the sale price...) and picked them up curbside. (I actually love this service that has come out of the pandemic. Just pop open the hatchback on my car, wave thank you, and get back home...)

As much as I liked the little vintage dresser I had in the room, the long narrow drawers were just a magnet for messiness. I searched online, and found a cubby style shelving unit that would hold items, yet keep them visible for me. Also, it would hold the photo boxes oh, so neatly.

I then filled the boxes with the themed paper craft supplies and already made banner inventory  I had purged through, and I stood and admired my handiwork for a solid forty five minutes.

I am thrilled to share with you that I have now kept my workroom clean and organized for going on three months now.

(Trust me, this is huge for me.)

Has the past year and the pandemic changed your homekeeping style any? Have you paired things down, like me? Started cooking differently? Baking more? I'd love to know!

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Weekly words to live by.

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie-pies! 

A little Valentine cookie post.

This Sunday is Valentine's Day, and since we are all pretty much still hibernating at home, (And it looks like most of the country is under winter storm watch!) I thought it might be fun to share some easy (and so cute!) cookie decorating tips.

I love baking sugar cookies for holidays, birthdays, and pretty much any occasion I come up with. You can find my recipe for my Sugar Cookie and Buttercream Frosting recipes here:

  Download Best Ever Sugar Cookies Recipe  Download Best Ever Buttercream Frosting Recipe.

I have a set of graduated heart cookie cutters that I love to use, as I can have various sizes of cookies to tuck into baskets, boxes, bags, or plates to give out. Once my cookies are baked, I let them cool completely before I frost them.

Make your frosting, and use separate bowls to add various shades of food coloring to keep things neat. You will want to use a pastry bag, and a number 3 decorating tip to frost the cookies. You may also want to add sprinkles to your cookies for some added color.

Once the cookies are decorated, they can be arranged in boxes, baskets, or bags to share with friends...so easy!

 

#Valentine'sDayTreats, #GimmeSomeSugar

 

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.