Chadbury Cottage

2008-07-21T14:13:00.005-05:00

I want to show you two of the shelves in my den. I've been collecting Ks for a long time. It's the first letter of my last name. When I first started, I found printer's type and children's blocks. I found the brass paperweight and the black and red Ks on eBay.

The little Ks on the first shelf are displayed in a wood box turned on it's side. I found that on eBay too! The printer's tray was one of my first antiques. I have another one on the third shelf. The little blue bowl holds some antique keys. The bell is one of my antique finds.

On the second shelf, a blue planter was a Hobby Lobby buy at half off. The blue and white apple was given to me by my friend Michelle. I love that little KLM house!

The molds are ones I used when I made baskets in Florida. I have the baskets sitting beside the molds. There is a little hand made box I received as a Christmas gift in 2006. Michelle's husband made it.

Dining Room Slipcovers

2008-06-26T13:33:00.002-05:00

From Country Home Magazine!

http://www.countryhome.com/projects/decorating/slipcoveredining_1.html

Several slip covering projects like sideboard cover, chair slipcovers and table slipcover with runners. This would be a beautiful idea for summer if done in whites. Also, think about Christmas, Fourth of July, baby showers and other holidays/events!

2008-02-26T19:24:00.005-06:00

This is the stairwell in my home. I made the quilt and hung it with an old rake displayed above it. I call the quilt The Dirt Quilt because we were building our house when I was piecing it. It reminded me of the red clay soil around our house.

This picture shows the "niche" in the stairwell. I really do not like this 'hole in the wall'. I had a hard time coming up with something to put in it. I made the gate from pickets bought at Lowe's. My Mom gave me the QUILTS sign. The watering can is an old one picked up at a nursery here in town. There is a little tool box and a couple of old garden tools. On top of the box is some red dirt a friend brought home from a trip to the southwest. She had seen T-shirts dyed with this dirt. She thought I might like to dye some fabric with the red dirt. I'm saving it though, my friend passed away a few years ago and it is a little reminder of her.

This old chair came from a garage sale back in Florida. It had no seat, so I stitched some old fabric to the seat and filled it with moss and ivy. The little quilt on the back of the chair is one I made a couple of years ago. The blocks are string pieced. The crocks are old, the little brown one probably held moonshine!

Goodness at the Goodwill!

2008-02-18T17:41:00.007-06:00

Look at my goodies! Today was a great day! All this loot was under $20.00!

A vase, a lamp, a jar, 6 light blue Fiesta soup bowls and an old crackled dutch motif plate to hang on the wall. All this blue and white goodness to add to my collection.

A Santa bowl, 120 recipe cards and a frame for my friend Ty who decorates with a Texas theme.

Finally, 2 yards of fabric. A black and white Waverly decorator print and some black and white homespun (good enough to use in a quilt).

I love the Goodwill Super Store!!!

It's a New Year!

2008-01-02T12:25:00.000-06:00

I'm showing you a little corner of my kitchen. One of my goals for 2008 is to have a bit of a makeover in my kitchen. I plan to paint the walls a deep rich blue (a change from the dark red). Change the knobs and handles out to black and change the lighting to black iron. The biggest change will be the counter tops. I'd like granite!

Of course, on my list again, I have to make window treatments. I have the fabric for some of the windows in the den, kitchen and breakfast area. I even have the style picked out. The floral in the picture is the fabric I'll use. It is Queensland from Kaufman. There actually is a bit of deep blue in the pattern. I'll have to find a fabric for the contrast. Just need the 'get-up-and-go'!

These are just some of the goals I've set for the new year. I've got a few other plans in mind, I'll save those for another post.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year with success in all you aspire to accomplish in 2008!

The stockings were hung...

2007-12-26T15:41:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! Our family's stockings are hanging on the mantle ready for Santa to fill. This year I dressed the mantle with pine, mini lights, red berry garland and plaid bows. (Woops! I forgot to hide the cord!)

Santa is made with an old quilt for his coat and hat, an antique linen napkin, with real wool for his beard and fur from an old coat for trim. His face is hand made from clay. He is carring an old spool with a bees wax candle to light his way. His garland is a length of pine covered with mini gingerbread men, apples, pinecones and an old cookie cutter.

Our stockings are a traditon that has lasted 52 years! My stocking was knitted when I was born. When I married, my husband recieved a hand knit stocking. The same was true for each of my children. All of these stockings were made by family members. When my daughter married there was no one to knit her husband's stocking. I finally found a lady on e-bay who knitted his! This year we had two new additions to our family...my first granddaughters! Once again, I turned to e-bay and found someone to make one for each of them. All the stockings have names and the year born on the cuff. They are hanging from brass letters that spell Santa.

What's on your coffee table?

2007-11-18T12:50:00.000-06:00

Cindy at My Romantic Home asked to see our coffee tables! My coffee table in the living room is the first antique I ever bought, an old library table made of golden oak. It has a drawer with a porcelain knob (That is where we keep the remote to the stereo, which is hidden under a skirted table.)My husband cut the legs down to coffee table height many years ago.

Centered on the table is a battenburg lace napkin. On the right side there is a grouping of a very old postcard book, an old Emily Post Etiquette book that belonged to my grandmother, a crackled teapot filled with ivy and some lace gloves I wore to my husband's Air Force officer commissioning.

On the left are a little collection of candy jars. None of them are old or valuable but add just the sparkle I needed.

What's on your coffee table?

2007-07-09T13:02:00.000-05:00

This is a display in my bedroom. The framed doily was made by my great grandmother (on my Mother's side). My grandmother gave this doily and a few others to me in the 1980's. I had them all framed and love them so much. On top of the doily is a piece from an antique. My Mother used to go to England on buying trips when she had her antique store. This is a little piece that came in the shipment and didn't belong to anything. She gave it to me and I tied some pink and blue satin ribbons on it and set it on top of this frame.

I found the dress form in an antique shop in Louisiana called Beau Coupe. My Mother is going to give me her mother's wedding dress to display on it. Right now I have a crocheted collar tied with satin ribbons.

The potty that the fern is sitting on is another antique find. To the left of it is an old oak dresser and to the right is an old oak armoire.

Upstairs Hall Bathroom

2007-06-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

I'd like to take you on a little tour. This is our guest bathroom. I made the shower curtain from blue ticking and a quilted panel of bluebonnets. It's hung with white wood rings on a white wood pole. I also made the locker hooked rug. I used blue and tan scraps of cotton fabric. The blue glass handles came from Target. There is a round blue glass knob on the medicine cabinet also. The color of the walls is a light tan. The photo doesn't show accurate color.

This is a little dish I found in an antique shop. I don't know what it was intended to be used for but I use it for rings and jewelry when I wash my hands.

A little set I bought quite a while ago. I think it was Martha Stewart. It is granite ware.

These two pictures hang over the towel rack. They depict bathroom scenes. One is an old bathtub and the other is an old sink. They remind me of a french boudoir.

The shelf over the toilet (Target, again.) has antique travel cases filled with bottles and brushes for use while traveling. There are a few old containers that once contained bathroom products. The round blue tin on the top shelf to the left was my Grandmother's powder. It still smells just like her even after all these years. The little picture above the cabinet is an old advertising piece my Mom gave me a long time ago.

The two plates hanging on the wall are from a local antique shop. I love the one with the scalloped edges. I tied some blue satin ribbon on it.

The little angel is from a priory in California. St. Andrews Priory in Valliermo, CA. The monks there make these little pottery angels for any occasion you could think of. They also make missions and saints from the clay too.

The candle is on a hot plate covered with a blue and white shade and base. My daughter gave this to me. I think she got it at Micheal's. The candle smells so good...butter pecan!

2007-06-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

This is the builders floor plan for our house. I changed a few things...a wall with french doors between the living/dining and the great room, a wall beside the refridgerator, a cabinet above the oven and french doors and a wall in the bonus room upstairs. That is about all it took to make this floor plan perfect for us. I love closed rooms as opposed to the open areas in most new homes today. That way we have little places to escape to or private areas of our own yet room enough for us to gather as a family.

I spend a lot of time in our great room. I can sit in my chair and keep up with the news while I stitch on my applique or work on hand quilting the latest quilt. During the daytime I like to be downstairs to be close to the kitchen while I am cooking but at night I will go upstairs to my quilting room and work in there.

My husband has an "office" upstairs that he retreats to every night. It is his own room! He has a huge TV and a leather recliner that looks like an old baseball glove. I'm not kidding about that, it is so comfy but not a real looker (if you know what I mean). Also, his computer and collection of old movies take up the rest of the space. He is quite happy up there and only pokes his head in my room on his way downstairs to get something to eat or drink.

The other two rooms upstairs are bedrooms. They are joined by a jack-and-jill bathroom. My son lives with us now that he is home from four years in the Marines. It's not like it was before he went in...now he makes his bed everyday! The other room is a guest room. I'll be showing more of these rooms to you in the future.

Back downstairs we have the master bedroom which is my sactuary. I have it decorated in blues, whites and tan. It is very restful and I like to get in bed with my laptop and cruise the blogs (and ebay, of course).

In the living room and dining room I have a collection of tea pots in an old store display cabinet. We like to sit in here and look at picture albums and of course we have our holiday family dinners.

Last is the great room. This is the place we use the most. The kitchen is small but it is efficient and one of the features is an island with a cooktop right in the middle of the kitchen. You can cook from both sides which is nice because my son loves to cook. We are often both in the kitchen at the same time.

Come back and visit again!

2007-06-23T14:28:00.000-05:00

My husband and I built our home in 2000. We have three living areas, 3 1/2 bathrooms 4 bedrooms, and a detached garage. I picked the color scheme from my childhood...red brick, black shutters and white trim typical of southern houses in small towns. We had the builder put in crown moulding in all the rooms, double downstairs and single upstairs. Our ceilings are high and each room has a ceiling fan. I have french doors between the living/dining room and the greatroom (kitchen, breakfast and den) downstairs and in the bonus room upstairs which is my quilting room.

We added a pool to the backyard as soon as we moved in. All the landscaping was done the first year. The two trees in the front yard are elms. We have holly bushes around the house in the front and back. Since this picture was taken we have added patio furniture around the pool. A table and umbrella with 4 chairs, a high table with two chairs and two more chairs with stools and a small table between them.

I really love our home. I love to decorate in a country style. Next post I'll show you the floor plan.