Power Washing Day One at My Cottage

I couldn't be happier with the work he did all day yesterday. After lunch he called a helper to come and do my red barn/garage while he tried to finish my house and balcony. I have never seen such good workers. My only other experience with power washing was just a once over. The painter doing my house kept going over and over. He was using water only until he got to my balcony flooring and he used a soap solution for the mildew. They stopped at 5pm and my main guy came back this morning for about two hours to finish up. Nobody is coming tomorrow and I am so glad. I need a break and Missy is the only one I have to direct tomorrow. She came at 4:00 this afternoon so I have her for 3 suppers and you can be sure she will have a half-ration breakfast when she goes home on Tuesday. Have a great Saturday evening and a nice Sunday tomorrow. xo

Clover is Green Despite No Rain

My grass is like straw but the clover is thriving. I have been working nonstop outside since I hired a painter to power wash and paint my house. I found him through my handyman who will be doing any wood repair. He stopped by on Tuesday afternoon to do a few chores like chainsawing some weed trees and wisteria and several other chores I couldn't do myself. I mentioned I had interviewed 6 painters and still hadn't found one. He said he knew one he had been working with for 3 years. I called him right away and he came Wednesday morning, gave me a quote and I hired him. Since then I have been working outside nonstop getting ready and I have moved mountains. He's coming to start the power washing tomorrow at 8am and I couldn't be happier. xo

Wonderful New House Compound

Catherine Sloan Architect on Instagram. 

Click here.

xo

Rooting Sage Cuttings in Water

I pinched some sage cuttings from a friend's garden yesterday after a delicious brunch and put them in water when I got home. Little roots are already starting to appear. Really. I haven't grown sage in a really long but my friends patch was beautiful. It has square stems and is in the mint family so I will be cautious where I plant it. These cuttings will be put in pots and planted outside next spring. The little rosemary plant looks really nice in person. This photo doesn't do it justice. I was also rooted in water from a cutting. I waited until late afternoon to do some weed pulling in my driveway and got a dumper cart full. It was nice and cool and I'm very pleased with the way it looks. I mowed with my old-fashioned reel mower over the gravel and it does a much better job than my gas powered mower because it cuts nice and close and there's no danger of stones being thrown. I try to do one really awful task each day and this was mine for today. xo

Converted Barn Home

♡So.Fabulous♡

My favorite feature is the sliding barn door shutters. This clever design has one cutout so you can still see outside when they are closed. I also like the enclosed steps and railings leading to the front door. I spy a screened porch too. There are many other barn homes to view here but this one is my favorite by far. Have a great Sunday. xo

Knitted Frog and Toad Wearing Clothes

Just.Darling

Read article here.

Order knitting pattern here.

The artist based these two on a book called

Frog and Toad Are Friends.

It's pictured in the article.

Enjoy your weekend.

xo

PAPA SMALL: Repairing a Leak Under the Sink

myoldbooks on Instagram

See post here

Papa Small fixes the kitchen sink. 

The small Smalls watch. 

"Papa Small" by Lois Lenski, 1951

Isn't this adorable? 

I need to know more about Papa Small.

You can borrow 2004 reprint from OPEN LIBRARY here.

Enjoy!

xo

I borrowed the book online and read it.

It is an absolutely charming story about a family who works together. This story tells what they do every day of the week. The children help with every chore cheerfully. I read this copy at the Internet Archive All you have to do to join is enter your email and think of a password. Here is the link to read the story and be thrilled with it. They allow you a little over one hour to read this book. You can arrow click through every page. You are never too old to enjoy a children's picture story book 

xo

Robert Louis Stevenson Verse

Maybe this will make you feel a little cooler. We had 20 minutes of a nice rain yesterday and today I mowed my front yard. I haven't mowed it in 5 weeks because it hardly grew because of the heatwave. I have always loved this image paired with the Robert Louis Stevenson verse.

image found here

xo

Love in a Cold Climate BBC Mini Series 1980

I just finished watching this 2-part series on BritBox and loved it. It's also available on Amazon Prime and maybe Hulu as well as DVD. It's based on the book by Nancy Mitford. 

♡Highly recommended tv streaming.♡

xo

Love This Early American House

Early American Country Interiors by Tim Tanner 

I found this photo on Pinterest and it had a 

link for purchasing the book here.

♡I love everything in this photo♡

xo

Antique Greyhound Dog Figural Door Handle

This antique brass greyhound door handle is quite wonderful.

This antique moon face door knob would make me smile every time I touched it. More decorative door hardware here.

I'm looking forward to seeing episode 5 of Grantchester tonight on PBS. Enjoy your Sunday night TV watching too. xo

Why the Bluebird is Blue

I found another 1920 storybook digitized by Guterberg.org

The illustrations are by Harrison Cady. The first story is about a brave little gray bird who was rewarded with a blue coat. Enjoy all the stories.

READ HERE  

I have been enjoying being back in the saddle again. My tractor was expertly repaired by a man and his son who repair mowers in their garage. They picked up my little John Deere riding mower on Tuesday and brought it back on Friday. I am thrilled. They live very close, only just down the road about two miles away. It's so nice to have someone I can call who is reasonable and fast and so nice. New best friends♡

Have a great Sunday tomorrow. xo

Crooked Cottage Charm: Renovation

Read the article in Maine Home & Design Magazine

click on above link

Robin McCoy grew up in spending every summer in this house and she wanted to maintain all the quirks when renovating from a summer retreat to a year-round residence.

Please read the article. It is a PDF that can be enlarged. 

Click on the + sign next to 100%. 

Best viewed on a computer. 

More photos to love including interiors.

Enjoy!

xo

Cats' Nightmare by Louis Wain c. 1890

Louis Wain: The Man Who Drew Millions of Cats

Read the fascinating article HERE.

So many more photos of his artwork too.

♡🐈‍⬛Enjoy🐾♡

 

Pair of Greyhounds for The Garden

🐾♡YES, PLEASE♡🐾

This duo of 19th-century greyhounds is a coveted "true pair" because they are not cast from the same mold, says Israel. 

Photo by: Barbara Israel. 

Aren't they wonderful? 

Read more here.

xo

Cat Watercolor by Shozo Ozaki

I love this, especially the face.

Watercolor by Shozo Ozaki

found here 

xo

Busy day ahead. Tractor repair man stopping by and another estimator for painting my house. Wish me luck.

August is Here All Too Fast

You know summer's almost over when you see 

'Back to School' ads on TV.

Ping Pong Paddles on a wall.

 CLINGSTONE, A faded, shingled 103-year-old mansion set on a rock in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, is one family's labor of love. It has been maintained for the past 47 years by working weekends in exchange for free lodging and food.

Read more about this in my 2011 blog post HERE.

I sold a house several years ago to a woman who volunteered there after she read the enchanting story in the New York Times. She said it was one of the best experiences she ever had!

xo

Peter Rabbit Book 1914 Story by Beatrix Potter Illustrated by Virginia Albert

I HAD NO IDEA BEATRIX POTTER BOOKS WERE EVER ILLUSTRATED BY ANYONE ELSE! This book was published in 1914 and we are so thankful it has been digitized by Project Gutenberg as an eBook. It appears to be a very large children's book. See every page and read the story. Most are full page color illustrations but some are black and white. READ HERE.

See a video of a bookseller holding and talking about Beatrix Potter's 1902 first edition HERE.

Have a great Sunday. 

XO

Wonderful Embroidery Pattern: Peace & Plenty

I found this on Pinterest. It's a Kathy Schmitz download. Her Instagram account is wonderful too. See it here. xo

Buttons Made from Beach Stones

What a great idea. 

All you need is a drill or a Dremel Tool to make the holes. 

See more photos here on Bonkers About Buttons.

xo

I found a tutorial for making your own here.

Lovely Embroidered Tablecloth

via

This is wonderful, isn't it? I love it.

It would make me smile every time I passed by the table.

What a fun tablecloth. I think the person who did the embroidery had fun doing it.

xo

Beautiful Pots of Geraniums

I adore red geraniums in clay pots and these are simply breathtaking. The stone wall leading up to the house is wonderful too. Love❤️♡❤️

Photo found here.

Three Besties 🐾🐾

via

via

Aren't they adorable?

You can just tell they love each other.

♡♡♡

xo

Summer Garden Party

This Instagram photo is from a book by a Southern Author and interior designer that is coming out in a few days called Celebrating Home, A Time for Every Season by James T. Farmer III. It looks like a "must have" coffee table book, doesn't it? Click on the Instagram link to see more photos and follow him if you don't already. See a long list of his other books HERE. Enjoy your Sunday. I'm doing another Open House today. xo

William Merritt Chase Group Portrait (his family)

Beautiful family portrait. Portrait Group (Dorothy, Helen, and Bob) (c.1904). William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916). Oil on canvas. North Carolina Museum of Art.

Chase first met his wife, Alice Bremond Gerson, in 1879 when she was only thirteen, and still known as Posey. He married her on 8 February 1886, although some sources claim it was 1887, when she was nineteen and he was thirty-six. Initially, the couple lived with William’s parents in Brooklyn before moving to their own place in Greenwich Village. Between the years 1887 and 1904, Alice bore a total of eleven children, of whom seven are believed to have survived childhood. They include Dorothy, Helen, and Bob, depicted in this work. 

photo found here 

Yesterday I went to an early afternoon movie with two girlfriends to see Where The Crawdads Sing and enjoyed it thoroughly. Have a great weekend.

Edwardian Villa in Johannesburg South Africa

Annabelle Desfontaines's villa in Westcliff, Johannesburg, South Africa was built in 1902.

Dog bed in kitchen♡🐾🐾♡

♡Dutch Door Love♡

You are in for a treat. 

There are SO MANY additional photos to view here.

Enjoy!

xo

The Most Wonderful Kitchen

There's so much to see in this kitchen and I love it all. This is a REAL cook's kitchen for sure. Wish I could see more! 

I have been advised this is a kitchen in France. The Instagram account is called Cat_in_France. Click here to see all of her posts.

xo

Boot Room in A Regency Country House

Boot Room

Flower / Mud Room

Great article and more photos here.

Just.Wonderful

xo

Refreshing Swimming Pool

I would love to jump into this pool right now. We just had a downpour and you can cut the humidity with a knife. This one looks super refreshing, doesn't it? xo

photo found here

Such an Elegant Bathroom

I have been saving this image on my desktop and now I don't know the source. I shall post it when I find it. Isn't this elegant bathroom amazing? Every detail is perfect. Simply stunning. Hope you have a great Sunday. I certainly did. We had a very light rain overnight that gave my parched grass a good soaking. I was able to leave the windows open and listen to the pitter patter of the raindrops and it was wonderful. Today I played around with repotting things, weeding, transplanting and just a few other lazy day things.

Found the source.

Meredith Ellis Design 

Kipps Bay Decorator Show House

Dallas, Texas

https://www.meredithellisdesign.com/interior/kips-bay

Walk-in Closet off bathroom.

More built-ins inside closet. So wonderful.

xo

New Construction with Antiques

This is a lovely room in a new home designed by classical Architect Patrick A. Hearn. Found on Instagram here. I love the two easy chairs sharing one ottoman. The two antique clocks in this room are lovely, aren't they? xo

Breakfast of Champions

I just wanted to show you my morning cereal with freshly picked wild raspberries. The mother robin was feeding raspberries to her last youngster who refuses to leave the nest. The other two have already fledged. I did a marathon mowing today front and back. I did the front in the morning and the back in late afternoon when the shade set in. Hope you have a great weekend. xo