A Creative Slump… And Birds Do the Craziest Things!

I think I’m definitely going through a creative slump and it is spilling over into my blogging, as evidenced by my lack of posts lately.   All of the endless remodeling/decorating decisions and DIY projects in the past year and a half on the house in Hooterville, not to mention the packing, moving and unpacking,  have left me feeling like I’ve hit the wall.  Hard.

I have been working on a few little things but nothing that seems creative, pretty  or significantly worthy enough to share.   Posting about getting 2 new cabinets and a ceiling fan hung in the still unfinished laundry room or the new dust ruffle I bought for the bed seems so lame…and boring.  I can’t even seem to muster up enough creativity to  coax my camera into taking any pretty pictures. 

Sooooo…what’s a blogger to do?  I thought I’d share an interesting little discovery I made this week. 

Warning:  no pretty pictures or decorating inspiration below.  :(

When we bought the house in Hooterville, the garage did not have a door.  Actually, it still doesn’t.  We have bought one but with all the other projects and renovations going on, my hubby hasn’t had a chance to install it yet.  In the city, this would pose a security risk but out here in the country…apparently not so much, so the garage is open 24/7.

In the back left corner  of the garage is an entrance to the house  (with the door that I haven’t had a chance to paint yet).  Just a few feet from the door is an old refrigerator we use mostly for chilling extra drinks.

 Whenever bottled water is on sale for dirt cheap, we usually stock up.  We go through a lot of water during the hot summer months (plus it’s always good to have extra bottled water on hand  through hurricane season), so next to the refrigerator sits multiple cases of bottled water (and a case of Dr. Pepper). 

Stay with me here.  I’m actually going someplace  with this.  ;)

On top of the stacked cases of bottled water is an open case.

Much to my surprise, I discovered a bird’s nest in the open case a few days ago.  I thought this was such an odd place for a bird to build a nest.  But maybe not.  At least it’s out of the elements. 

There are no eggs in it yet but it is definitely an active nest because if there is too much activity around the back door or refrigerator,  Mrs. Bird (a small sparrow-like bird) flies out and startles the bezeebers out of me.  I’ve been trying to get a picture of her but every time I think to go out with my camera, she’s not in there.

Needless to say, in an effort not to disturb her too much, I guess we won’t be drinking much bottled water during the next month or two while we wait to see if she raises a family in there.

Have you ever found a nest in an odd place?

My Mission: A Pretty Southern Front Porch

Other than painting the exterior doors, sprucing up the outside of the house in Hooterville has taken a backseat to other, more pressing projects.

Across the front of the house is a nice size covered porch.

Although I still have a million and one projects left to do inside the house and there are still more moving boxes that need to be unpacked, I’ve got a bee in my bonnet to start fixing up the front of the house, especially the porch area.

This is my inspiration photo.  Love this!

 original photo source unknown

I see  several definite similarities between my porch and the one in my inspiration photo....long and narrow, brick house,  shutters, and columns… so I think it would be relatively easily achieve the same type of look. 

The heck with all the unfinished inside projects.  I’m a woman on a mission!   I’ve decided that starting this weekend, my current projects include:

• a whole lot of pressure washing
• painting the porch ceiling a pretty shade of light blue  (Did you know blue porch ceilings are an old Southern tradition?  There are numerous theories as to why...  fooling spiders and wasps into thinking the ceiling is the sky, to blue being a color of good luck, to the color extending daylight, to scaring away evil spirits.)
• painting the shutters black
• a fresh coat of white paint on the columns
• stain or paint the concrete floor
• find pretty wicker furniture and cushions
• a new outdoor ceiling fan
• plants and flowers

Hopefully, we will be enjoying our hot summer evenings with a cool drink on a pretty, Southern-inspired front porch.  What is your favorite way to spend a summer evening?

Be My Guest

Aside from some tweaking of accessories, the “pink and girly” guest room at the house in Hooterville is finished.  Actually, I’m not sure if a room is ever *finished* but at least it is now  ready for its reveal and  to receive visitors.    

My inspiration for this room started with the many pink and rose-printed items I had in my other home and wanted to re-use in some way here in this house.  The photo below, which I saw some time ago on this blog, also inspired me. (I do not know the original photo source.)  I loved the combination of pretty pink walls, black iron headboard and simple white bed linens.

 

My “pink and girly” guest  room is rather small… just barely big enough to hold a queen size bed and still have a couple feet to walk around 3 sides of the bed. 

 

Just inside the doorway on the right is a short wall created by the closet.  It seemed the perfect place to hang  two cottage window prints  that I’ve had for many years.  If I recall correctly, I  got these at Kirkland’s and have often wished I had bought the other two prints that coordinated with these two.

 

The black iron headboard was one of the few purchases I made for this room.  It was a Craigslist score for just $50.00.

I already had the bed skirt and white matelasse coverlet but I  purchased the pink ShabbyChic brand quilt (eBay) and the beautiful white laced-edged pillow cases (Marshall’s) specifically for this room about 6 months ago.

The throw pillows on the bed were bought on eBay approximately 4 years ago.

“My Best Thrifting Find. Ever!”  found a place on the bedside table.  Since the bed is on risers, it needed a little boost from a couple thrift store books.

Even with its chipped and missing roses, I  still consider it to be one of my favorite and best thrifting finds of all time.

The “Sunnybrook” rug was used  in the living room  at my other house.   For anyone interested, this rug is still available here.  Although I can’t vouch for the merchant selling it because I did not buy my rug through this site,  I can say the rug is gorgeous in person!

The wingback chair, slip-covered by  Calico Corners in a floral fabric, was also from my living room at the other house. 

The larger chenille pillow in the chair was purchased from eBay several years ago (I used to do a lot of shopping via eBay!)  and I blogged about the smaller pillow here.

I also blogged about the inspiration for this hydrangea and rose arrangement in the basket here.   The hand-painted tray was an eBay purchase several years ago too,  and the water carafe and glass were purchased more recently from HomeGoods.

The glass fits down into the neck of the carafe to create a cover.  Cute, huh?  Just the perfect thing to hold a little water in case a guest needs a sip during the night.

The old Craigslist dresser with the lovely details  I blogged about here a year ago, has been patiently waiting for this room to come to life. 

One of my favorite rose prints hangs over the dresser.

I still have many boxes to unpack and put away so whenever  I  find the box  my craft supplies are packed in,  I plan to apply a little gold Rub ‘n Buff to the vintage pair of  white painted  Syroco sconces that flank the rose print.  The gold should highlight some of the sconces’ details and coordinate better with the picture’s gold frame.

Some of my favorite tea cups hang on the wall over the chair.  For the life of me, I cannot remember where I got the hanger.  I actually had two but didn’t use the second one so I decided to sell it on eBay several years ago.  (Now I could use it!)

The crystal chandelier came with the house but was actually hanging  in the formal dining room.  Since I am planning to hang my mom’s crystal chandelier in the formal dining room, I decided to put this one to use in the guest room.    I sprayed the brass finish Heirloom White and my hubby installed a dimmer switch for it.  I think it makes the whole room seem so much more romantic and special.

You may have noticed there is no TV.  Since there is not really  a good place to put one in this small room, I am considering  making the even smaller bedroom directly across the hall into a “sitting room” where guests can sit and watch TV, read a book  or magazine, or just enjoy a quiet cup of coffee in the morning.

 

So there you have it…the “pink and girly” guest room at the house in Hooterville.  My hope is that my guests feel it’s cheerful, cozy and comfortable.

If you are ever passing through Hooterville, won’t you be my guest?

Linking up to:

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound

115th Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Wow Us Wednesdays #9 @ Southern Savvy Style

Struggling

It’s been almost 3 weeks since I moved to the house in Hooterville  and for the past few days, I have been struggling with bouts of homesickness.  However, that’s not really what this post’s title is referring to.

One of the things I am finding as I unpack and try to decorate the house in Hooterville is how quick and easy some rooms are coming together and how difficult others are. 

I realize it is going to take time for me to get a feel for how we live in this house, what works and what doesn’t,  but one of the rooms I am really struggling with is the master bedroom. 

Long story short…  unfortunately, the only wall the bed will fit on is a window wall.  I hate the fact that by the time the headboard is added, the whole lower half of the window is covered so, in an effort to minimize having the sunlight and view blocked by a solid headboard,  I bought a vintage-looking metal  headboard.    I wanted a white one but the price was really right on this particular headboard  and it  only came in antique brass or pewter (gray). 

I picked the pewter but I had every intention of painting it white.   Well, that was until I actually saw it in the room.  Now, I’m not so sure.

The headboard is the same exact width as the window so if I paint it white, it is going to  blend in with the shutters.  I can’t decide if that is a good thing…or a bad thing.

I know it’s looking a little very boring right now but hopefully, that will all change as the room progresses.   Ultimately, when all is said and done, I would like this room to have a coastal cottage feel.  Light, airy and bright.  I plan to use some shells and beachy artwork.  I’m also thinking about introducing a few touches of lime green to add a bit of  pizzazz and interest to all the aqua and white.

Based on what I think I want this room to be when it’s done, does anyone have opinions about painting (or not painting) the headboard, or any other decorating suggestions?

Meanwhile, I’ve also been working on the “pink and girly” guest room.  That room has been so much   fun and extremely easy for me to pull together.   No struggles there  so it’s almost done! 

The reveal will be coming soon!

And So My Life in Hooterville Begins…

I predicted I would probably get emotional when the moving van pulled away from My Cottage of Bliss with all my furniture inside.  However, I was not prepared to start crying the minute the moving van pulled up in front of the house…before the movers  had even turned the engine off or got out of the truck!    Aside from that,  the move to the house in Hooterville was fairly uneventful.  

Through the tears, I couldn’t help chuckle about  the size of the truck they brought.  One might get the impression My Cottage of Bliss was a McMansion instead of a little 1300 sq ft. house.

 

Obviously, since we had already moved the majority of our smaller items, the larger furniture pieces they moved for us didn’t even begin to fill that truck up! 

The 3-man moving crew was great though.  They were fast, efficient and very careful with our furniture.  Not a single thing was dinged or broken and, as a bonus, the final bill ended up being less than the estimate we were quoted.   Quite refreshing considering all the horror stories you hear about moving companies holding peoples’ belongings hostage until they pay up more money.

My hubby must have  felt bad…really bad…that I cried over leaving My Cottage of Bliss because he came home from work that afternoon with this beautiful flower arrangement…the first flowers I have received from him in years.

 

Since moving day, I have been putting in some  long days attempting to get boxes unpacked and trying to decide on furniture placement.  There is still so much to do.  I can see it is going to be a slow process but soon I hope to have some pictures of how things are starting to come together.

We’ve also made several trips back to My Cottage of Bliss to start getting  it cleaned up and ready for the nice couple who will be renting it from us.  They are both school teachers who are retiring from the Pennsylvania school system at the end of this school year.  Their daughter, son-in-law and 2 young granddaughters live just one street over, and they also have other relatives in the immediate neighborhood  that we have known for years.  We were happy to find someone who we know will take good care of our house and they were thrilled to find a house so close to their family members. 

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Meanwhile, also happening in Hooterville…

Remember the ugly homemade light that hung from the ceiling in the old kitchen?

 

It finally met its demise in the burn pile today (oh happy day!),  along with some of the old cabinets, some brush and other miscellaneous junk. 

It was quite an inferno hubby had going.  The heat radiating off of it was surprisingly intense.  I suppose being able to burn your  junk, trash and brush on your property could be considered  one of the advantages of living out in the country.   ;)

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The father of one of my daughter’s riding students volunteered to make  some jumps for the jump course in our riding arena.  When he pulled up yesterday with the first set  in the back of his truck, it caused quite a stir.

 

Shamu!  Times two! 

Awesome!  Can’t wait to see what  other designs he comes  up with for the other jumps.

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And finally, it’s Strawberry season again in Hooterville.  All the strawberry  fields in the area are in full bloom, including the one right next to our property .

The berries are plentiful and cheap, but unfortunately the ones we’ve had this season have been somewhat disappointing, taste-wise.  Still pretty to look at though.

 

Good-Bye My Cottage of Bliss

Little by little over the past 4 to 6 months, we have moved  the majority of our smaller belongings  over to the house in Hooterville. 

Tomorrow  morning, March 4th, the movers are scheduled to come and move  the large pieces of furniture for us. 

It’s been a long, sometimes stressful, and very emotional journey to get there but, after Friday I will officially be a full-time resident of Hooterville.

The best way I can describe my feelings about this move to Hooterville  is “bittersweet.”

During the 35 years we’ve lived here, many memories have been made in this house—the cozy little home that is the namesake of my blog.  This was the first home my hubby and I bought.  A couple times through the years we considered moving  but we never did because we liked the neighborhood so well.  I think  I may have  mentioned  before that I also spent my childhood years   in this same  neighborhood,  living and playing just a mere 4 streets away, and attending schools in the immediate area.  Needless to say, my roots here run very deep and it is extremely difficult for me to leave this house and neighborhood without feeling some pangs of sadness.

Good-bye My Cottage of Bliss.

You weren’t big or fancy but you were “home” in every sense of the word.   I’m sure going to miss you.

P.S.  Effective Friday, I’ll be off-line for an undetermined length of time until my blogging computer is moved and reconnected at the house in Hooterville.    See ya’ll soon!