Keep Smiling

Keep Smiling

Thursday, June 12, 2014

A Peek Inside The Cottage

Hi there blogging sisters,
I'm just checking in to show you what I've been up to :)

This is a door that I bought for $15
and turned into a headboard for one of our bedrooms.


With the help of some tide-charts and books,
I was able to find just the right things to decoupage onto the panels.
As you can see I painted it green and then dry brushed some dark blue into it.


The paddles were something that I made from scraps of plywood,
left from paneling my new studio.

I say not bad for a $15 redo :)
What do you think?




After I made the paddles  I took them outside 
and beat them with a rock and on the side of a cinder block.


Entering the pink bedroom, my favorite.






I love this old mirror.
I bought it years ago at an estate sale.
(Oops! there I am in the photo)


Well, there's the tour,
 but before I close I want you to look at 
the center quilt stacked on the cabinet.
My Mom made that and every stitch in the quilt
is done by hand.  
It will someday belong to our daughter and then one of our granddaughters.
She put so much of her soul into it,
and I feel her presence each time I look at it.

Do you have a family treasure? 
Please share :)

Have a lovely week.
Your blogging sister,
Connie :)



51 comments:

  1. Love the headboard and paddles that you made. Love the pink room too...so very pretty!! Yes...I have some family treasures. I have my grandmother's pear collection...there are bowls, candle holders, salt & pepper shakers, and more...all pear themed.
    hugs,
    Cindy

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    1. Hi Cindy, have you ever made a post about your collection? I would love to see it. If you have please sent be the date that you posted it and I'll find it. If not . . . think about doing it; I know that I am not the only one that would love to see it. Thank you for your sweet compliment on my creations :)

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    2. Hi Connie...I did do a post on my grandmother's pear collection last year. .
      Here is the link to it... http://cynthialeedesigns.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/grandmas-pear-collection/
      Hope you have a great weekend.
      hug,
      Cindy

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    3. Cindy, that first photo of your cupboard and the quilt hanging beside it and those wooden buckets . . . oh, my goodness, but your dining room is amazing. Your grandmother’s collection is wonderful and I agree that those candle holders are just so unique and beyond pretty. This is a treasure to be sure :)
      My mother had a china collection that she treasured and had given to me. After her death I gave the collection to my niece (her name is Cindy, too). Her husband bought her a new china cabinet just to hold them. I know that they are treasured and will be handed down to one of her daughters one day :)
      Thank you for sending me the link to your post . . . Oh, and your grandma was a beauty :)

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  2. Hi Connie, thanks for sharing, it's all looking wonderful! I do have a couple of family treasures, firstly a beautiful wooden bowl that my Dad, who passed away 6 1/2 years ago, made for me, based on the planet Saturn. The bowl is a deep round shape, and has a wide rim to represent the ring around Saturn, and is turned so finely there is almost no weight in it. I also have 3 paintings of my Mum's (who is still with me) - a still life and two landscapes. I cherish them all, as well as various paintings and crafts my niece and nephew made for me when they were little. I love to look around my home and see the reminders of my family! x

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    1. Hi Tania, your treasures sound amazing. Those are the things that make a house a home :)

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  3. love the oars . . . love the headboard in the pink room . . . love the quilt made by hand by your mother.

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    1. Hi Carol, Thank you, thank you and thank you. I'm delighted that you like them :) excuse me "love them"' LOL.

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  4. Hi there Connie!
    Your rooms are sure coming together nicely. I love how you've decorated them-- I like the pink room too. ;) That mirror is pretty. I can tell your proud to have your mothers quilt-- it's so nice to have it and to be able to pass it down. I think everything I have is an heirloom! I can't think of any ONE that I have to pass down... I guess it would my small rocker that my grand parents gave me when my daughter was born.When they dropped it off to visit-- my grand mother rocked my daughter in it. I'd like to think some day...she'll rock a grandbaby in it! blessings, Pat

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    1. Hi Pat, a rocking chair to rock your babies . . . what a fabulous treasure to pass on through your family. I love it :)

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  5. Wow-You have done a LOT since you moved in. I LOVE your headboard and paddles. They are all just wonderful and so cheerful and fun looking.
    Your pink bedroom is beautiful. What a great place to sit/sleep and dream. I love it, Connie.
    That quilt is so very special. I don't know what happened to my mother's quilts. She had dementia and I think someone came along and got a lot of her stuff for nothing. So sad. I have a few bits and pieces but not much.
    Hope you have a wonderful weekend. You deserve some rest!!!! xo Diana

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    1. Hi Diana. Thank you for your sweet words . . . but there is no chance for rest in our neck of the woods. Steve has taken a three day weekend and we are going to be very busy. We have just got to get this house stuff done. What I mean is getting totally out of the old house. next we are going to start getting ready for a big yard sale. Going through what is left there and making three last choices on everything. Throw away, yard sale and keep. Everything goes. Then I can shampoo the carpet, paint the walls and give it over to our realtor :)
      Then I hope I have time to rest . . . a rest I will, LOL.

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  6. Both of those headboards are just brilliant. Love your cottage <3

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    1. Hi Connie, thank you so much.
      The green headboard and paddles are the first crafty thing that I have really gotten to do in a long time.
      This move is taking up all of my time :)

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  7. Awesome....I love that headboard, you did a great job. I never would think to make a headboard out of a door. And those paddles??? Another awesome!! I like that you have a guitar in each bedroom :) Never know when the urge to play grabs you. (I am pretty much thinking that is one guitar taken in the two bedrooms) Looking forward to more pics of the house and especially your new studio.

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    1. Hi Louise, no, one of those guitars is mine and one belonged to Steve's Dad. There is another in the living-room, which was my beginning guitar. We have enough to have a jam whenever someone visits, that can play :) I love sitting around and jamming with friends :)

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  8. I love the pink bedroom!!! Hot totally gorgeous and the picket headboard OMG you are talented. Your door headboard and oars are brilliant. Clever clod!! Thanks for the tour!

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    1. Hi Sue, I am delighted that you like my headboards. I do like to fill my home with a lot of homemade items . . . I think it gives it a cozy touch.

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  9. They are each so beautiful and yet so different! Your decorating skills continue to amaze me. I love the picket fence headboard!!

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    1. Good morning Ginny, thanks for stopping by and thank you for your sweet comment. You have made my morning :)

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  10. Everything is coming along nicely, Connie! Those paddles are great. I had to reread the part where you said you made them! : ) Great job.

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    1. Hi Kathy, thank you :) Those paddles were really fun to make.

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  11. What a special treasure it is to have that beautiful quilt of your mothers!

    I love all of the sweet touches in your cottage, and those paddles.... simply genius! Great job!

    I have some sweet hand stitched quilts from my grandmother, and two beautiful spinning wheels that my Dad made for me; just to mention a few treasures.

    Have a great weekend, my creative friend.

    Kerin

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    1. Your Dad made you two spinning wheels . . . how fabulous is that :) and quilts from your grandmother, that's very special, too. My new neighbor just told me that she has a quilt that her great grandmother started and almost had finished before she died. The fabric in it is so vintage and delicate, but I told her to bring it over this winter and she can put it on my quilting frame. It is too fragile for anything but hand quilting :) I'll certainly put it in a post.

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  12. I have a few family treasures but none of them hand made. My Mom, who does not save a thing...put a silver cream and pitcher and salt and pepper shaker in a garage sale a few years ago. I took it out and she said, "oh that old thing." Your Dad's Mom gave that to us for a wedding gift and I don't use it. I think she bought it from one of those traveling sales men!" WHAT???? I kept it. I also have a couple of other treasures....an old suitcase that my Dad carried when he came home from the service in 1957. He had all of his belongings in it. I blogged about it a few years ago. I need to find all of this stuff and display it. Living in one room is rough.

    Cindy Bee

    PS - love the headboard---both of them!

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    1. Hi Cindy, these items are amazing treasures. Especially when they come with a story. I used to have a hammer that belonged to my Dad and through the years it got lost in a move. He was a contractor and knowing that each time I use it my hand was place where his had been . . . it made me feel close to him. I lost him when I was 15. The one thing that I have that was his is his pilot wings; he learned to fly just before I was born and had an old war surplus plane :) He didn't have it long, because I lonely remember the plane from photos.

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  13. Connie, I had no idea you had gotten this far and have the bedrooms done!! You have been working so hard. I love your handmade paddles, but I am going to have to report you for beating them lol! I have my grandmothers hand stitched quilt, my Mom said she remembers her working on it when she was a little girl. They had some kind of a quilting club that would get together and stitch away!

    Carol

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    1. Hi Carol, yes, we have been doing nothing but work for what seems like forever, and there is still more to do. Our big thing now is to get the old place empty, clean and ready to hand it over to the realtor. That will be a day to celebrate. Now that we have this one liveable, we can work on the other projects to the bungalow little by little :) Talk about working all the time, you have been a busy girl, too. Are you getting some rest now that the market day is over? I have sure been enjoying the photos on your posts :)

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  14. I love your bedrooms, especially the Pink bedroom. I love quilts too and have collect a types of quilt that is local to me here in the North of England. I live in the county of Durham and the quilts are called Durham Quilts. Like your mothers quilt they are entirely hand stitched and the pride of my little collection is a quilt made by my nana. She passed away when I was only 5 years old so I feel very privileged to be it's custodian. I did a blog post about it in 2010 if you would like to see it. http://vintagehearth.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/nana-barrows-quilt-and-some-of-her.html
    Linda xxx

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    1. Oh, Linda! Your grandmother's quilt is beautiful. I love quilts where the stitches are the design and not the different colors in the blocks. Her stitches were so amazing, a very talented lady. My stitches are not even close to being that grand, so I rely on color and embroidery to add interest to my quilts. I can see why you love the quilts from your homeland . . . especially if they are all done in the fashion of your grandma's :)

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  15. Both bedrooms look great. I love how you used the old door for a headboard and I never would have guessed that you made the paddles from plywood. That picket fence headboard is perfect and the whole room just looks amazing.
    My family treasure would be a set of flow blue china. I don't know exactly how old the set is but I'm going to guess somewhere around 150 years.

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    1. Wow, it is amazing to me that a set of china would last that long . . . not around anyone as clumsy as me, LOL. Thanks for the compliment on my bedrooms and paddles. I always appreciate encouraging words.

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  16. I love both these rooms and how you have them decorated! Loved how you used a door for one headboard and a gate for the other. So creative and pretty. I bet that quilt your mother made is amazing. Is it still in good condition? Do you ever use it?

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    1. Hi Melanie, thank you for your sweet compliments on my headboards. The quilt is in wonderful condition . . . I have used it, but each time I washed it I had to go in and do some restitching. So, now I just display it. I have heard that it is good to wash the fabric from time to time because it keeps it in better shape.

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  17. You are very creative and have a beautiful home to show for it. I have a baby shawl that was knitted by my grandmother and all my boys used it, now it is being used by my granddaughter. It still looks brand new which shows the quality of the work xxxxx

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    1. Hi Fran, what a lovely story . . . to have all of your family babies wrapped and warmed in the same wonderful shawl that your grandmother made. It sounds like a delightful idea for a children's book.

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  18. I think you're putting your heart and soul into your cottage too.......it's fantastic. I like the door headboard but I love the gate one...such an ingenious idea. It's all coming together beautifully. Well done you two.
    Patricia x

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    1. Good morning Patricia, thank you I am delighted that you like my headboards. There is so much work to do around here, but we are plugging along. This morning we are planning a trip to the dump with branches from and old hollow tree that we cut down and wire fencing that we have been removing. This is our fifth trip and there are still things that we need to clean up and get rid of. We are certainly getting our exercise, LOL.

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  19. Hi Connie, You have been a very busy girl! Those paddles and nautical designs are a wonderful headboard idea. This theme goes along with you and Steves love for your boat! I agree, your pink room is too pretty! I enjoy the story of your precious keepsakes handed down to you. This is what soooo makes a home! Everything is coming together so lovely~~~I enjoy seeing how things are coming along with your new cottage. Blessings~~~Roxie

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    1. Hi Roxie, I have been having fun, along with working much harder than we ever expected . . . After living in one place for thirty three years, we have accumulated so much stuff. I just can not wait to have everything moved and the old house cleaned and put on the market. That will be a happy day indeed :) Your day will come, and I am looking so forward to all the posts that you will be doing when you start decorating your new cottage. Thanks for stopping by; I always look forward to your visits.

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  20. simply beautiful..love the quilts..

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  21. I love visiting your blog, Connie. Your crafty ideas, skill and talent are inspiring. I wish I could have you over for coffee and conversation. I think we'd have a great time!! Thanks for you visits to my blog too, by the way!

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    1. Oh, you are so sweet . . . I would love to come over for coffee and conversation. I don't know if you know this, but I am an Indiana girl, too . . . I haven't been back there for around ten or twelve years, but I'm a Hoosier at heart :)

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  22. I just love all of your creative ideas!

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  23. Such a clever idea with the headboard Connie, you are so inventive and creative! The paddles are amazing too, a perfect touch over the bed.
    Love the pink bedroom too, so pretty. The quilts are lovely, and extra special in that one is a family heirloom to treasure and pass down.
    Thanks for sharing the results of all your hard work and creativity Connie, it all looks so wonderful!
    Gill xx

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    1. Hi Gill, thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words . . . that is the fuel that I need to keep going . . . we are a long way from done :)

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  24. Wow! I can't believe how much you've gotten done already. Those bedrooms are both so inviting and pretty. The colors are wonderful and you've thought of so many great details. I love that piece of furniture that the quilts are stacked on in the pink room.

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    1. Hi Stacy, thank you . . . that piece of furniture is a low dresser that I got for $15 at a yard sale, topped with an old kitchen cabinet pulled out of an old home in Portland, OR. My friend had it in her garage and when I commented on it, she gave it to me :)

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  25. Hi Connie,

    Thanks for the snoop! You've been so busy making this house your home! The paddles look great; you really beat them up didn't you! I'm with you on the pink room. How wonderful to have the quilt from your mother - a nice heirloom. I have a cameo broach that was my great grandmothers. I also inherited my moms jewelry when she passed as I am the only girl. I did give her sisters something special too.

    Hugs,
    Kay

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    1. Hi Kay, I love old family treasures and when they are jewelry, it makes you feel like you're linked to the women of your past . . . it's a good feeling. My grandpa and grandma met on a merry-go-round, then one day many years later my grandpa saw this pin that is a horseshoe with a horse-head in the center. he bought it and gave it to grandpa as a reminder of when they met . . . many, many years later she gave it to me. It is a cheap piece of jewelry to most, but worth more than diamonds to me :)

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