Comforts of home. . . . . the chair.

Do you have a special chair?  

A favorite chair to call your own on the cold winter evenings.

 A cozy chair where you can make yourself comfortable

 doing whatever. Reading a great novel or a newly delivered 

magazine, the daily paper, knitting, embroidering, sketching, 

coloring, watching a movie or TV show, enjoying a snack,

 an after dinner drink, or a nightcap as the flames in the fireplace

fade and the logs crumble into glowing ashes.

My armchair has a history as I've had it for many years.  

It's a rather expensive, once always a 'Made in America' brand. Sadly it's

 hard to find much furniture made here these days. It was just an odd chair

 I found new in a local furniture store, and on sale, back when almost all

 American furniture was manufactured right here in North Carolina.

Originally upholstered in a marvelous hard wearing muted textured floral,

 it never actually showed a speck of wear.  Later, it was covered for some 

years in white heavy cotton duck slip covers during my 'shabby chic' decor

 days.  A few years back, warming up this north facing room became a 

project.  Pulling off, laundering, and pulling back on bulky white sIip covers

 became too much like hard work, so I bought a new sofa and had my

chair re-upholstered in this stunning blue-black-cream leopard print.

The pine armoire I painted years before, in Annie Sloane's Paris Grey 

chalk paint, and carpeting was removed and replaced with warm greige

 wide-plank hard flooring.

Restricted to home for most of the past two years, my chair has been

 sat upon almost daily. I've loved it and cared for it as it has for me.

Fortunately these past several months with my back/leg problems

 this chair has held me without causing pain. . . . . . . I never expected

to love a chair so much!

Small child's version of a great armchair at SuzAnna's Antiques ~ photo taken some

 years ago when I had a booth there. 

How about you share a picture of your own favorite chair on

 your blog. . . . . . .and tell about its history.

We need cozy stories on these chilly winter days.

Hugs from my chair. . . . . . . .and me.

Sleeping comfortably in an uncomfortable time!

Some glimpses of the master bedroom makeover. . . . . . as promised.

Still working on the master bedroom makeover in this small 'cottage style' house.
 At last it's able to be used again now there's new furniture, bedding and
 lighting. . . . . . and Bob has at last put most of his stuff away! 
I lined my dresser drawers with pretty paper - he wanted no part of that!
This coming Wednesday the new window shades will be installed and then
 I can either rehang the linen drapery panels. . . . . . or could search for
 something new.  
I'm thinking the linen panels are fine and I'm not planning shopping 
anywhere for some time.

Above, a few things I've made over the years - and they will remain in the

bedroom - cushion covers and lampshades.  

This weekend I framed the original watercolor of a country barn scene I've had

for years in the attic - no I didn't paint it - in a black frame, and two small prints

 by a favorite British Printmaker & Painter Angela Harding. Do check her amazing

 body of work if you are a nature lover, or even if you're not, you will be amazed

 at the beautiful bird and wildlife art she creates.

I bought this black/gold wood framed fern print at Hobby Lobby when shopping

 last week for frames and mats. It just caught my eye, was inexpensive

and perfect for the room.

The chair was one I painted and had upholstered in antique French linen

years ago - it's a favorite and moved here from the dining room where it

was hidden behind a door.

The matching black/green lamp bases are made from a pair of candlesticks,

and I also made those cute clip on shades - fabric is actually wedding gown 

heavy textured silk. I certainly would not have the patience - or eyesight -

required to sew these shades now!

This botanical print between glass with an aged black wood frame I moved 
from the living room. I've done a lot of 'shopping the house' rather than buy
all new for this room.

I love the taller dresser of this new furniture - being tall myself it just makes sense.
You can see the photo of me with my dear mother. Today marks 17 years 
since her death at age 91, an always and forever very sad day for me, 
but the memories are rich and full of the love we shared. Fortunately I arrived
 home in England to see her the day before she passed. She was the best, 
most talented woman I've ever known.
 The smaller of the two vintage silver lidded crystal powder bowls, was my
 mother's 21st birthday gift from her father in 1932 - a 'treasure' I treasure.

So now there's the question of these swirled silk shades I made years ago! 

 Can they stay? Can I do something to make them look a little less frou frou?  
I'm going to try because they are still quite lovely and are special to me, mostly
because my dear mother taught me how to make them when she came
to stay with me whilst I was recovering from cancer surgery a long time ago.
All the shades I've brought home from stores to try, just don't work for me!
There's really no way to change the trim around the top of each shade -
it's glued on and might tear everything if I try to remove it, but the base 
trim (gimp) on the lefthand shade I'm OK with. On the righthand shade,
fortunately the fancy bow trim at the base is stitched on. I can
 easily remove that and replace with similar plain gimp trim.
I'll see how it all works out.

I hope we can all stay in touch during this stressful time. No matter where 

in the world we are it seems we will all be struggling with exactly the same

 problems for some time. 

Here, our school system is closing down for at least two weeks as of

 tomorrow, creating a difficult time for parents. Retail is shrinking as shops lock

 their doors, and we all wonder how we'll fare regarding replenishing items from

 food to household necessities. If quarantined in our homes life will be much different.

But, chin up, hang in there. . . . . . there's much to keep us busy at home.

Most important, stay well, practice social distancing, listen to beautiful music,

sing like the Italians are doing, cook, bake, garden, read that stack of waiting

books. . . . . . . . . .and pray that hopefully this will pass very soon.

With love -

Decor for the New Year. . . . . . . . .

"Taking down Christmas" makes the cottage look somewhat bare. 

All the red touches, which I admit I really enjoyed for a few weeks, are packed

 away, the glitter has gone and all that remains to make the holidays a lovely memory, 

is the faux tree and its decorations still in the gazebo - just too cold to spend time out

 there. With the warmer days coming later in the week I'll have to make the effort

 and get out there with the waiting green storage boxes! Meanwhile I'm loving the

 lighted tree at night, and turn it on for a while these freezing mornings.

I've left a few of the faux pillar candles scattered around the rooms, timed to

 come on at 6 pm they brighten up these cold evenings without any effort, prior

to lighting a roaring fire on the hearth.

I really don't have any etched in stone house projects in the works for this year. 

I admit to having a little 'secret list' tucked away and, once it warms up in late Spring,

 after our travels in March, I may decide to tackle - with help - an interior painting project.
Currently we have a leaking toilet tank plus the HVAC system needs checking - enough
to be concerned about right now.

Talk about 'a clean slate', the house does appear to be that way again. 

The early morning watery sunlight is quite cleansing. 

I'm still searching for the items I had to remove from places to make
 room for Christmas decor.

Do you do that and then, like me, have to look high and low
 (under beds for example) to find where you've hidden them? 

Cottage Collage. . . . . . .

Yesterday

Late afternoon

Camera in hand

Walk around the cottage

See things you enjoy, collect, love
From around the world

Push the shutter button

End up with lots of disjointed images

Collage

Something fulfilling about making a collage
Putting things in their place

Some things change

Some things always stay the same

Home

A very hot, humid Saturday here. . . . .but it's still
 early so I'm off to do some small garden chores.
Have an enjoyable weekend dear readers.

Cross country covers . . . . . . .

I'm wondering if I've made the right decision!

Last week I took a 'leap of faith' and I'm hoping it will work out fine.

Before committing to a new sofa purchase, I found a company which 

does professional textile dyeing. . . . . . . including slip covers!

After checking them out by phone and reading positive reviews of others who

 have had covers dyed, I whipped these white ones off the sofa and big armchair 

on the right (didn't send the natural French linen slip cover on the small chair by the

 fireplace as I just might dye it later - indigo blue, aubergine, or some brilliant hue),

 and headed to UPS. There they packed my covers in a big box and soon they

 were on their way across the USA.

 Yesterday they arrived in Oregon where, hopefully, within a few weeks, they will

 be turned into a perfect medium dark grey and then travel those

 2,860 miles back east.

When I mentioned another option about the slip covers versus a new sofa,
this was it. It seems perhaps a good way to know if I really want a grey sofa.

Of course I know it still means we will be going through those

 'slip cover battles' for a while longer BUT nowhere near as often as with
 white covers. I'm prepared to try the dye job, hopefully will love
them and be showing them to you later.

Meanwhile this what we're living with for now - a bit of a green mishmash!
I laundered the antique French linen cloth from the dining room table and draped
 it to hide part of the old damask upholstery on the sofa. Although I'm not into
 green decor right now, apparently it's a trendy color this year (Pantone's Color
 of the Year 2017 is Greenery) so I will love it for a few weeks until the grey covers return.

Yes, it's that time of year again. The cottage needs sprucing up and 
I need to get busy.
Sunny Saturday morning here though somewhat cooler - hope your weekend
is full of bright moments.

Christmas in England...................

I'm not going home to England this year,

but yesterday, with a little time to spare (how on 

earth did that happen with Christmas now so close),  

I looked through the photos I've taken 

of Christmas decor about the cottage and 

decided to improve on the English 'cottage feel'

with a wee bit of cheating/editing.

I think receiving Christmas cards from England, 

some depicting authentic country cottages, 

made me realize I don't really have one of those. 

Who am I trying to kid!

This year my favorite card arrived from my cousin.

Cousin David in England gets it. 

He lives in my hometown, we grew up there, spent a lot of time together, and he knows how much I love coming home. Last Christmas Day I enjoyed dinner with him and his entire family. We indulged in everything English, from soup to Christmas pudding, gathered together around a big table in a lovely restaurant on the cliffs above the English Channel. It was the one day of our trip home when the rain stopped for a while and the sun popped out from behind the clouds......it was a perfect Christmas surrounded by special people. It was worth a long journey across the pond and brought back lovely memories of my English childhood.

This year we will be here. The cottage feel is important to me at the holidays. I admit I'm somewhat envious of those at home who will be cozy, tucked into a real country cottage, sipping a pre-dinner sherry, enjoying dinner, munching on mince pies with brandy butter, flaming the Christmas pud', listening to the annual message given by our gracious Queen.........then sitting by the crackling fire, sipping a nightcap, listening to the last of the carols as Christmas fades into the night.

I will soon be baking my mince pies..........we have the Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry ready for a toast - there are two bottles as we don't play Scrooge here - come by and join in. The firewood is stacked and ready to crackle and pop on the hearth, the candles are glowing, the carols are waiting to be played.

Christmas happens wherever one is. 

You can make it happen.

You can dream and remember.
It's etched in stone.

It's in your heart....isn't it?