Head on over to Tend where I talk about my love for plinths and pedestals in the garden.
Enjoy your weekend my friends.
We are headed to the beach!
Lighting
I tend to take most of the photos inside my home during the day soaking in the sun light that filters in but last night I looked up to see Hannah drawing lamp-side and had to grab my camera.
After I took the photo I walked around the house to click a few more photos, appreciating the soft light of each room.
Lighting is so very important to me. It sets the mood and tone of a room. I admit that from time to time in the evening I like to cross the street and look into my cozy glowing home.
There are only a few rooms in my house that have overhead lighting, the kitchen, the bathroom and the dining room and all of which are set with dimmers. These rooms also have lamps for the many times I do not want the overhead lights on.
Dimmers are my best friend. Whether I am taking a bath or cooking dinner I can decide how bright or how dim I want the mood to be. There are some in this household who like things a bit brighter than I do which results in the battle of the dimmer. I chuckle sometimes thinking at what the person walking by at night may think as they see the light show inside.
I have quite a collection of lamps in all shapes and sizes, mostly thrifted, some new and even hand made. Chris (the one who prefers bright overhead lighting) sometimes curses me each night as he turns off each lamp before retiring for the evening.
I think I may do a post soon dedicated to all of the lamps in my home. They each have their own story and perform individual roles in my home.
Would you like to see this sort of post?
A few of my favorite thrift stores
Life has been busy. Busy enough that I haven’t been thrifting for over a month. A record in my book!
I broke that spell this week with a little trip to a few of my favorite spots.
1. Studio pottery bowl, perfect for summer fruits.
2.Wooden handled silverware tray. Just in time for back porch parties.
3. Large cotton madras tablecloth. I plan to use this for summer picnics and for the beach.
4.Blue striped mixing bowl. One of my favorites recently broke so this was a timely find.
5.Wooden handled wire basket for the farmers market and our CSA share.
6.Cobalt blue and grey studio pottery vase for summer wildflower bouquets.
7.Woven basket case perfect for the pool, the beach or as a summer handbag.
For the local folk, as promised a list of my favorite spots…….
Not only the closest in proximity to me but also full of high quality goods. The top floor is full of clothing, handbags, shoes and bags all in impeccable condition and the bottom floor, full of housewares. This place has washed and ironed linens!
Note: Riddle is closed on Saturdays in the summertime.
High quality beautiful goods many of which are antiques. Some of my most treasured pieces of pottery and kitchen wares come from here.
Note: Neighborhood League is closed for the summer months and opens right after Labor Day
A great mix of collectables and housewares as well as clothing and jewelery.
Note: Pennywise closes in the summer months but reopens after Labor Day
Some of the best furniture around!
This one has a bit more “junk” to sift through than the others but I still have found many treasures here. All proceeds go towards the Domestic Abuse Project.
Harry’s Treasures and Collectibles
This is an antique store but the basement is full of 1/2 off treasures. Some of my favorite pieces of furniture have been found at Harry’s.
Sunday Scenes
Happy June!
Yesterday was a relaxing one with time in between for hanging laundry on the line, making a big batch of granola for the week and arranging little bouquets from the garden to scatter about the house.
Rainy days
it’s been very rainy here. there has been a thunderstorm almost every day for the last two weeks.
but there are little respites here and there to weed, go for a walk and we even got to romp on the beach for an entire day on saturday.
we are hoping there will be a break on thursday for some fireworks, friday for some berry picking and then on saturday for a pond party.
i don’t seem to mind the rain and clouds all that much. must be my irish roots.
i do appreciate not having to water the garden. things are really happy out there.
my houseplants even got to enjoy as they went on a little summer vaca the past few days to drink up the rains.
you can’t really see our living room floor as it’s covered in board games.
and we’re going to the movies tomorrow.
Life has been busy
life has been busy.
our new project is almost complete on the outside but still has a bit of interior work to be done.
our gardens are lush and jungle like from the extremely rainy spring we have had.
the weather has been gorgeous as of late with no humidity and crisp cool nights.
earl the squirrel continues to visit us daily for nuts.
the other day the contractors had the back door propped open. i came down to find earl in the kitchen to say good morning.
he’s part of the family now.
p.s. many of you have mentioned or written that you can no longer read or make comments. because things have shifted a bit here and are still in transition you may not have noticed that you just need to click on the title (which is now the date at the top of each post) and it will then lead you to the individual post where you can comment at the bottom.
don’t be shy!!!
I Believe in the Thrifting Gods
i set out yesterday for a morning of thrifting looking mostly for lamps and found everything but.
the thrifting gods were definitely with me and blessed me with quite a haul!
i was overjoyed to find many beautiful pieces of pottery. vases, jugs, pots….and oh that lovely set of mugs.
the pot with the lid has a wire handle which will be perfect for compost. because even your compost pot needs to be pretty too!
i love the wooden string winder and neat little hanging basket with the wooden handle.
i have a little addiction to hanging planter pots and loved the blues and browns of this one.
and i just can’t seem to have enough wooden beaded necklaces. perfect for sprucing up any summer outfit.
and they may just continue to live in that pretty little woven basket that was also found.
i love how everything looks together and didn’t really want to pull this little family of finds apart at first.
but i am having fun as i slowly scatter them around giving them new homes, creating new vignettes (my favorite past time) and even tucking some away as gifts.
A summer manifesto
i’ve been dreaming lately.
of traveling, of new places and adventures.
i want to save up for the 4 of us to travel across the country for an entire summer four or five years from now.
not quite sure how we’ll do it. but i’ll keep dreaming. cause dreams can come true!
for now i will dream a little smaller and plan a few camping trips to new sites. i’ll find a new swimming hole, host an outdoor movie night in our backyard and go for a picnic on the beach. i’ll ride a canoe, go for more walks after dinner, venture into the city for gelato on really hot nights and make peach pie.
well then, i believe i just wrote myself the beginnings of a summer manifesto!
more to come……
Over at Tend
The bones of our home
living amongst construction has not been as bad as i thought.
in fact i find it sort of beautiful.
i feel more connected to my house than ever as it’s bones are revealed.
we have been finding old photos and papers in the walls.
and i now more than ever want to do research on the folks that lived here before us.
although we completely gutted this house and made it our own from day one, it was someone else’s before. i forgot all about that until we recently began to peel away layers.
some things i do know or have heard through the grapevine….
our house was built by the local prisoners in 1920.
a horticulturalist who lived here grew many plants under lights in the basement.
the chief of police committed suicide in the basement (hoping this isn’t true)
the last family to live here raised 5 boys in this house.
there is so much i do not know.
and i can’t help but wonder who will live here after us.
i have tucked a few photos and notes in the walls to let them know who we are.
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