Daring Diva Party

Today's the day girls!

Over at Note Songs, Shelia's having a

Daring Darling Bathroom Snapping Divas Party!

Did you dare?
I did.

Oh, I can't believe I did it but I did!

I guess there's a bit of Diva in me after all!

I had a hard time finding decorative items for our only bathroom. It's dominated by original blue tiles that go half way up the walls around the entire room. I would find things and bring them home only to discover the blues in them were too different. I tried simple, fancy, retro, kids prints, anything that came close but nothing fit the style of the room or colors of the tile.





Then we had to replace the old tub fixtures and I ended up with a chunk of the old tile to take with me when I shopped. Once I found the mini rose print with the right shades of blue, creamy yellow and grayish green I knew where I was headed. It was sure easier shopping with a sample of the material instead of that chunk of tile in my purse!





My favorite thing is the white lace curtains used as shears. The window faces west and in the late afternoon we get the most amazing sunlight filtered through the trees outside. I love the way the beautiful shadows of the lace dance on the walls when it's breezy.





What do you think Shelia? Can you love dancing lacy shadows? You bet your tiny cottage bathroom you can! Thank you for daring us to find our divaness in a most unlikely way. You are such a sweetie!





Please click on the Bathroom Beauty Snapper button to visit sweet Shelia and see who else dared to snap away!

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Today is my first time joining Show Off Your Cottage Monday. Our host is Cielo at The house in the roses. Please stop by and join in this whimsical cottage tour. You're sure to find many magical things along the way.

So what says cottage to you?

Florals and vintage images always say cottage to me, especially when decoupaged on cute little eggs.

This green wire tea cup certainly says cottage garden, but I thought the eggs would look nice peeking through on the mantel.

This beautiful egg shaped tin whispered cottage to me from across the thrift store. The stand is actually a glass floor protector that you put under the legs of furniture. Yes, I said glass. You see plastic or rubber ones in the hardware stores now. I have several of these that Hubby's grandmother used.

The back side of the egg is a floral pattern.

Well, look who hopped in. This happy rabbit was a gift from my mother. Thanks mom. He's full of cottage whimsy,

and so are the little friends he brought along. Can you find all three of them?

My spring heart from Kathy's Cottage. Everything Kathy makes is full of cottage charm.

I had tried this spring banner but it wasn't quite right. The burlap heart said "spring at the cottage" in a more subtle way. Don't mind that little white box, pretend it doesn't exist, that's what I do.

Now about that rose print that is still leaning against the mirror. I have a question for you all. I haven't been happy with the mirror for a while. Most of the time all it reflects is the ceiling fan. I love the frame though and it's the right size for that area. I'm also starting to like the white around the red frame. Have you ever hung something on a mirror? I'm thinking I could use fishing line to hang the print from the same hook that holds the mirror on the picture rail. So please let me know, does a print over a mirror say "whimsical cottage" or just plain "crazy"?

Paula's in the House! Rednesday/Thrifty Thursday

That's right, Paula's in the house, but first I wanted to show you this gorgeous bag! Gloria used it to wrap the darling lamp she made for me. I want to frame this bag! Uh oh, I got so excited about Rednesday and Thrifty Thursday that I almost forgot to give you the links!

That's better. Now you can visit Sue at It's a Very Cherry World and Leigh over in Bloggeritaville when your done here. I hope some of you were able to take inspiration from Leigh and find a chance to pay it forward in real life since last Thurday. I'm ashamed so say I forgot so that's my mission for the rest of this week.

Back to Paula....

Hey, you're not Paula! What's going on here?

Oh my! Miss Henrietta, you can't use my new colander for a nest! Let's find a better place for your little egg. It will get fried if you leave it here next to the stove! Now if you're wondering why you didn't see Miss Henrietta with her beau at the rooster party it's because she and her little egg just came home with me from Sacramento. They were pretty thrifty at $7, she is quite a beautiful hen after all.

So here's Miss Paula, showing off my new colander. I had been wanting a red one to replace my 80's pink and blue one for a long time. It was 20 years old and starting to rust in a few places. When Kohls opened here a few weeks ago everything was on sale. I saved $5 on this pretty baby!

I love the little black speckles in it that Paula says are a contemporary update of old fashioned enamelware. So now I guess you can add contemporary to my hyphenated design style...hmm....naw...we'll stick with Frenchy-English-American-Country-Cottage-Farmhouse, it has such a ring to it!

Now this beauty is an absolute treasure to me. I had been oohing over all your tole trays for a long time. I told Gloria I was looking for one at the Antiques Faire. I saw a few but non were the right colors for me. Gloria and I were just leaving the last row to head for the exit when she turned around for some reason and gasped! She pointed and said "There's your tray!" The tag said $30 but Gloria went to negotiate while I started digging to see how much money I had left. She got it down to $25 and that was a miracle considering I was so excited I was about to hyperventilate. I'm surprised they didn't see if they could get more than the tag said! I have never seen one so large. It measures 25 inches across. That's bigger than my turkey platter!

I loved all these red tables and chairs but like I said in my last post, I promised hubby I wouldn't bring home any furniture...this trip...

I know Antiques sales are usually not that thrifty but there was a lot more than antiques here and most prices were reasonable. Almost every dealer came down a little when asked. All day long my mom kept saying, "This is the most fun I've ever had for three dollars." Parking was even free! Now that's thrifty! Friday or Saturday I'll show you some of the "finer" pieces we looked at. Notice I didn't say "bought"!

Thursday is also the first episode of "Doors of Welcome" hosted by Karen at Some Days are Diamonds. I wasn't quite finished with mine yet and yesterday's storm wreaked havoc on what I did have done. I may be a little late in posting my doors but will try to get them up by tomorrow night.

It sure is getting busy around here...must be the season.

Hugs,

Dawn

Familiar Cottage?

If this little cottage painting looks familiar it's because you saw it here, at Jen's Blog, Candlelit Cottage. I grabbed it up as soon as I saw it. It was just what I had been looking for.



Thanks Jen, for sharing your wonderful home and garden with us and for offering such lovely items in your Etsy shop! When you stop by Jen's, make sure you look through some of her posts about her veggie garden. Who knew a veggie garden could be so lovely?

Dawn

Thrifty Thursday ~ Time Out

It's been a long week and I'm ready for a trip to Bloggeritaville! Check out Leigh's cool thrifty mirror ~ it's really awesome ~ along with all the other thrifty finds when you're done here.

This was going to be my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday. That is, until the mailman pulled up with a package from dear sweet Kathy from Kathy's Cottage. The kid's wanted to swim just then so I grabbed the package and my camera and headed to the pool. I bought some great vintage fabric from Kathy's Etsy shop: HensinDaisies and that little darling added in some beautiful little surprises on the side. After a I took tons of photos of my haul I was just too excited and couldn't wait to share them with you. So now this is my Thrifty Thursday post because it features my bargain rocker ~ more about that at the end.

This is my new Time Out spot, just for mommy. From now on, when daddy gets home and decides to tease the kids and start all that loud horseplay and squeelin', I'm "taking to" my rocker until the ruckus dies down. Have you noticed since I started blogging I'm picking up all these southern phrases. Maybe there's a "lady" inside this California girl after all. I'll never be able to set a table like you all though!

So here is my little corner of peace and quiet on the porch. I got this big, chunky rocker in a thrift store several years ago. It was already peeling paint and was set on top of a bunch of stuff that was stacked to the ceiling. The guy didn't want to climb up and get it but I begged and begged. And offered him all the money I had on me. That did the trick. I still think it was a great thrifty buy even though I shelled out $50. Can you see how thick the seat is? My hubby and his friends were like, OMG its solid oak...strip it...stain it...varnish it...and I was like, step away from the shabby rocker and no one gets hurt! Ah, there's some California speak for ya, like for real!

Did you notice my new bird trellis? I teased you with it last week. It was a bit of a splurge from Lowe's. I planted a few ferns under it to soften the base without hiding the design. I've always wanted something there to stop the eye and this was perfect. Now if I could only get the rest of the porch looking as cozy.

Stay cool,

Dawn

Edited to add Thrifty Thursday 'cause hubby needed the computer last night I didn't know if I would get back here in time to finish it.

A Peek at the Porch

We've been having wonderful weather for June. It's in the 80s with a little breeze so its been nice working outside. We've cleaned off the clutter and cut back the bushes by the walkway. Hubby tore out most of the foundation planting, but there's a whole different story behind that.

Here's a sneak peek at the porch.

A little bird stopped by

to see what all the fuss was

and decided to stay.

My dear mother-in-law came over with a gift.
She said my rooster on a stick looked lonely

so she brought him a friend.
They have a lot in common and

he is quite smitten with her.

He strutted all day!
I just hope I can remember to water her.

That's it for now. I'm trying to make some fabric decisions for the chairs to my little bistro set. I also need to figure out how to fix up the screen door. But all that can wait till morning, I'm ready for a glass of tea!

Dawn

Interior Inspiration ~ Pomegranates!

Here's peek at those interior pomegranates I mentioned a couple of posts ago.




This fabric was the inspiration for my interior. It's by Raymond Waites and is called "Conservatory". This color way is called "Sunglow" but I have seen it in a beautiful blue also. I bought it before we were even sure we were going to be able to get this house. It is not one of my better bargains. I paid an astronomically high price in an Ebay bidding war! But I loved the colors, the roses and the pomegranates. They are one of those items that bring back childhood memories. And it fit the cottage feeling of this home.

This photo is from Christmas '07 and shows the valances in our living room. I bought drapes to match the background and made the valances myself. I don't really sew much so this was a major project. We recently painted the room and I decided to re-work the valances because they've always seemed too long to me. I'll share them when I get it all back together!

This is some fabric I recently purchased at Jo Anns. I plan on making some crazy-quilt type cottagey throw pillows. Those are pomegranates, right?

My favorite piece of art, chosen because almost all of the fruits and nuts shown in it were at one time grown here by my hubby's grandparents. This is just a close up of a small portion. I didn't want you to miss those glorious pomegranate seeds! It is a print of a 1840 painting by Adolf Senff.

I have some other items, serving dishes, Christmas decorations and such that also have pomegranates. It's funny how these little themes work their way into our lives. I never planned on collecting pomegranates. Just like I never planned on collecting roosters or french inspired items or salt and pepper shakers...the list goes on and on....but the point is one day you look around and notice a lot of red transfer ware...then blue transfer ware... roses...sunflowers...oh my gosh I don't know how it all works together. But that's the beauty of cottage style...it all works together!

Dawn

May I introduce myself?

Hello friends. I'm so happy to finally have my blog underway. This is my first post! I've been tip-toeing around the neighborhood getting a feel for it. I've visited many of your blogs but was always a little too shy to say hello. I just can't keep away any longer. You all are too fun and friendly for me to stay in the shadows. So here I am on your doorstep, suitcase...uh...er.. laptop in hand, inviting you to my home. If you're inclined to visit again you'll most likely find that I like things casual but pretty. You'll also find my style is a bit of this and a bit of that. I like the flourish of all things French, the tradition of English style, the nostalgia of vintage and the freshness of an American farmhouse.

I am enjoying fixing up our home and making it a place my family and friends feel welcome. I love browsing thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets so that special item can find me. I'm lucky enough to have an attic full (I'm talking packed to the rafters) of things my in-laws saved over the last 70 plus years and I'm finally getting around to going through it. And who can resist an occasional trip to the large discount stores? My home is ever-evolving. I love what I have but it can always use a little tweaking. It's not just about the "things" though. As much fun as we all have collecting, making and arranging, it's the feelings the items bring out in us, the places they take us, the connection they give us that makes them special.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting me and find yourself in a cottage state of mind today!
Dawn