Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

We are having glorious weather in the North Georgia mountains. Yesterday, it reached 78 degrees, on the 24th of February. Hope this isn't an indication of things to come!!  I enjoy cooler weather.  We'll take what we get, though, right?  It's all good!! With all the tulips, forsythia, and jonquils blooming everywhere, I decided a spring mantel was in order, and of course I have my faux flowers placed here and there.  If spring isn't officially here, it's here inside my home!  I do realize we might have more winter weather, but at the moment, we are celebrating spring at Shadymont. Pink tulips are blooming on the mantel. Spring plates join the display. Of course the shutters are a must to finish off the spring look. White tulips are blooming on the sofa table. Turquoise hydrangeas adorn the bookcase. Roses are always in season. More pink and white flowers in this vignette. If you are still having cold w...

I found a wonderful ceramic dough bowl and fruit at Good Will a few months ago, and have used it on my dining table ever since. Here it is when I had just bought it in the fall. Then at Christmas, I exchanged the fruit for ornaments, and used it like this. So this piece has been on my table for about 4 months!! Nothing stays put that long around here!!  It was time for a change. I hauled out my large wood tool tote, painted white over the blue, added some seed packet graphics on the sides with Mod Podge, stuck in some blue hydrangeas, and voila!  New look!! I decided I needed a runner on the table, so I added this blue one I've had for ages!! While I had the white paint out, I put the second coat on the hutch I shared last week. Once I got the 2nd coat of paint on, I didn't add back the papers I originally had on the backs of the hutch.  I wanted the planked look to show. I took a few more photos in the sunroom to share with you....

I showed you all the fabric I found at the Good Will here . That wasn't the only thing I bought.  This beautiful bowl was my other treasure @$5.22.  An employee was just putting out items, and this bowl was one of them.  A lady grabbed it the minute it went on the shelf.  I commented to her that she would certainly enjoy it.  She asked me if I wanted it, and I told her no, that she got to it first.  I didn't think any more about it, but on another pass down the aisle, I saw her put it back on the shelf.  This was a good while later.  So...... you know the rest!  It's mine! I didn't get a photo before placing the dried hydrangeas in it, but the photo above shows the inside of the bowl. At first, I placed a lot of hydrangeas inside.  But I later took the pink ones out and used them in the dining room. (I'll show you later).   Then I decided to only use the blue and white ones. I have this on the h...

Last year, my husband was given some cuttings of hydrangeas from a friend across the lake.  I can't believe how healthy they are already, and that they are blooming.  I don't know if these will change colors or not.  I don't think the white ones do, but I'm not sure of the exact name of these, so I'll just have to wait and see what happens.  I'd love to have some that I could play with the color on by changing the soil's pH.  But at any rate, I'm just so happy to have any at all. We arrived here on Monday, and the first thing I saw was this single bloom on a bush beside the back steps.

Today, I am sharing lots of photos.  I've (of course) been moving things about (small things), back problems and bronchitis don't allow for doing a whole lot.  Bronchitis for five weeks takes the get up and go right out of you.  After my 4th injection yesterday, and my 8th different prescription, I hope I'm on the mend!! Anyway, on the rare occasion when I've had a little energy, I've rearranged a few vignettes around the house. I love decorating with birds and nests, and found this nest at Queen of Hearts.  I added my blue bird from Michael's to the old sewing drawer, for the coffee table centerpiece in the Family Room. An urn with faux hydrangeas sits on the hearth.  I've shown this picture before of the pot of hydrangeas.  The frame is an old window frame from my grandmother's house.  I had to cut the mat down about an inch on each side for it to fit. I love that it is in the family room where I can see it. I stained ...

I've had this trug (tool box), or whatever you want to call it, for a year or so, and it has seen some changes from the way it looked when I first bought it at a small shop for $20.00.  I fell in love with the trug, loved the chippiness, the color....not so much.  I let it keep it's original color for a few days though.  After a few days, it got a coat of white, and some dark wax, and the inside partitions got a light blue.  I liked it better in white. It was about that time that I learned how to transfer graphics to wood using mod podge, so that was the next change.  I added a rooster to both sides of the trug.   Yesterday was the day to update it.  I had just a wee bit of ASCP in blue left in a sample jar.  So I added just a little water to thin it some, and brushed it on to the trug. I had just enough dried hydrangeas to place some in each section.  It is on the side table in the dining room.  When I get tim...

Our purpose for visiting the lake house this time, was to have new gutters put on.  That was supposed to happen this past Monday.  However, due to glitches in the logistics with Home Depot, it was Wednesday afternoon when they were installed.  Finally!!  Isn't it frustration to sit and wait for someone to come and do work?? It was only a 3 hour job because our home here is only a little over 1000 sq. ft.  Easy to clean!!   Hubby is pressure washing everything today.  The new gutters showed how much the vinyl siding needed cleaning.  Thankfully, it is a warm, sunny day in SW Georgia. While waiting for all this to happen, I got busy and tweaked and added a little more Fall decor.  I know we are only going to be here a few more days, but we will enjoy it while we are here. I got some "pups" off the neighbors aloe plant, and planted them in these two old planters I had here.  I like them sitting in the kitchen window. The pu...