mabel's house

at some point each day

i sit down and peruse some of

my favorite blogs.

one that i never miss is mabel's house.

liz posts on all sorts of things: home decor (mostly vintage inspired and thrifty!),

family life, her childhood, food (cooked by her husband, usually), and of course, mabel.

her dog.

she was recently asked, along with three other blogger's, by better homes and garden to

participate in a fall contest. 

i love her latest creation.

liz is a great writer. that's what takes me back each day.

she writes thoughtfully. she is witty. every sentence is robust. she's become

one of my favorite reads in blogland.

so, go check her out. and read through her archives.

i think you'll be hooked, too.

front room

my, how this house has changed in four short weeks.

this blue room is no longer.
the wall to the right is gone and,
if you look past the naked kid to the wall behind him,
that wall is opened up to what we now refer to as 
the front room.

here it is in process.

beginning to take shape.

it was the forth bedroom.

a small space that we decided

would be best used as

more living space in our tiny

cottage.

and it would open up the front

entry which was essentially

a short hallway with very little room

for anything functional.

once the room was opened we

had to figure out how to make 

it functional.

the closet in the corner felt awkward

but the wall the closet is on was the longest

and only one suitable for the sofa.

we knew we needed our tv

in  this room but our large armoire

was sold prior to moving, knowing

it would not fit.

after messing around with the room for a few weeks

i think we are almost done.

this is the only living space that is not painted

white. we still kept it light. three walls

have a light bluish green and one wall is

white and will eventually be covered

with horizontal  planking.

the door came off the closet.

we threw on some paint we had from

our last house along with a few shelves

and voila, we have a book nook.

we are in pretty desperate need of book space, this doesn't

even make a dent but it's a start.

and i think it adds more warmth to the

room. with room for a round

wicker basket at the bottom it also gives the

little ones a place to put their trucks.

the wall over the sofa is serving as a random

gallery wall that will probably be changed up

with some regularity.

right now i have three round mirrors that

i had from hobby lobby, i just slapped some white paint on

them. underneath each mirror

is a special piece of art from each kid.

the chalkboard was a mirror that i painted

with chalkboard paint. i also painted the frame which has

been  more colors than i can count!

the ladder i found on a mountain junking/antiquing trip.

the "home sweet home" platter is from target and the 'w' is also from

hobby lobby with a coat of rustoleum's "straw" spray paint.

this is the white wall that will soon have wide white horizontal planking

across it. i think it will add tons to this room.

the picture over the blue check chair is a painting

my brother did years ago. i have always loved it and decided that the

darker, more brooding feel of the painting

really anchored the light, airy feel to this room.

the best piece of furniture for this space

turned out to be this dresser that

 i redid last year. i'm not crazy about

not having a tv cabinet where we can close it

off but we gotta work with what we have.

the dresser also gives us the extra storage space we need.



i think i may have to take a wall painting break to make a wreath,

and this one, that my friend's lauren and aimee made is

very fun! check it out.

i'll be linking up with cottage instincts and domestically speaking.

warming things up

with nights in the mid-40's and days in the low 70's fall has finally landed in south carolina! it's my favorite time of year. i absolutely love having the windows open and waking up cold!

we are still getting settled in here at quinby cottage. i have been a painting maniac but still have a good bit left to do. my arms are petering out on me, though. every wall and every bit of trim work in this house needs freshening up so even though it's a small house it is a time consuming task, especially since i am the primary painter.

with each finished wall i am able to pull out some simple
decor and thereby empty another box. i do love an empty box!
my trash to treasure dresser is serving as a bright spot in our dining area. i pulled in a few pine cones and had the boys collect some acorns from the yard and called this space done. i love this tray, i use it year round.

i'm having to get used to lower ceilings again. in our last home the fireplace was in a room with two story ceilings so i had all sorts of room above the mantel to play with. you can see here that i don't have a ton of space between mantel and ceiling. i found the oval mirror from tjmaxx and pulled the rest from around  the house.

mr. blue bird there is constantly bouncing around the house. i found him at the dollar store, brought him home and painted him blue. he's our waldo.

sorry for the horrible picture. this little vignette really isn't as boring as it looks. i stink at photography!

i'm snubbing orange pumpkins this year in favor of white no particular reason, just a little tired of plain ole orange. (though we will be carving an orange pumpkin, and the pressure is on for pastor j to do something super fantastic because i plan to win $50 in a carving contest with it.)

i threw this together last night before our small group came over. i still have another coat

of paint to apply to this wall but i couldn't stand the random stacks of stuff accumulating on

the secretary desk anymore.

there's nothing special going on here, i just grabbed a few empty

frames, stripped a lamp of fabric, and put some twigs in one

of my blue ball jars. i am really drawn to the

industrial look but only in small doses so this naked lamp

gives me just the right amount for our small space. i'm trying to decide if i should

 paint the whole thing - base, frame, finial and all. for now this will do.



nothing special going on here, either. but i gotta tell ya, after having our house on the market for.ev.er i am excited to have family photo's out again!

they really warm a space up, don't ya think?

an almost empty bowl of candy corn is my only punch of fall in this corner.

man, my kids go through this candy fast. me? i don't touch the stuff. ahem.

nothing particularly fallish going on here. i just wanted to show off that i got some pictures on the wall. this is our hall of black and white family photos of old. see that white door thingy in the middle? kind of a pain.

it's the electrical box. i'm trying to figure out what to do with it. i may paint the trim black to look like a frame and put something fun in the center. just don't know what yet. i'm totally open to suggestions!? anyone else have something awkward like this smack in the middle of open wall space?

so, that's a little of what i've been doing around here.

like my new pillow. i love it. also from tjmaxx.