Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

Y'all know how I love to have fun without spending money.  I want to share a few things I've been busy with in the last few days.   This is what I think is a plant stand.  It is wood, and very sturdy.  My husband had it when we married, and it has been stored in the basement for a few years.  Not very appealing to me, so I decided to give it a makeover.  You can see the water spots, and that it is two different colors of stain.  UGLY!! I made some chalk paint from unsanded grout, water, and leftover Behr white ceiling paint, and got busy.   I just wiped the piece off, and started applying the paint. I tried to just dry brush it, but I put on two coats, a day apart.  I didn't take a lot of pains with it because I wanted it to look old.  Then I let it sit a couple of days, and started distressing it a bit. Here it is all finished, and holding some faux plants.  I moved it around in several different places t...

I am so excited!!! Today I went to one of my favorite shops, Hen's Nest Consignment.  I had gone to look at a table I saw on their Facebook page that I thought would work for me at the lake house.  Unfortunately, it was a little too narrow for what I needed.  I did find a couple of wonderful items though. Now, I know y'all have seen this floral arrangement numerous times, in fact in my last post, but I need to show it to you again.   This arrangement is wonderful as far as I'm concerned, but it has always seemed top-heavy.  The vase is just small for an arrangement this large.  I bought this at a consignment shop a long time back for $19.00, and I've used it in about every room in my house. At Hen's Nest today, I found this beautiful metal container. Isn't it pretty?  I grabbed it up the minute I saw it!  $3.99.  It's quite large, about 12 inches high, and probably 10 inches square.  Lovely colors. So......I deci...

I have been staying home a lot and haven't bought any new things recently, so I have bee n moving things around.  Imagine that!   I removed the table cloth and place settings from the dining room table.  I wanted to simplify it for a nice change.  I moved the terracotta planter from the side table to the table for a centerpiece, kept the 2 candles, and used two placemats for a runner.  Easy, simple change! I placed a more formal arrangement on this little table.  I love the color it adds to this corner. On this table, I added the fleur de lis plate, and switched out the plant for this one in the cherub urn. I switched out a tall lamp with this one with the large white base, and moved these floral pictures over the table.  I really like this much better than the picture that was there previously. I removed the terra cotta planter from this table to the dining table, leaving this more open.  Then I switched this picture fr...

Whew!  I'm too pooped to pop!!! We had an outdoor workday today.  Hubby pressure washed the front porch, mud room stoop, and the patio outside the basement.  While he did all that, I re-painted our front porch rockers, and a small table to go between the rockers.  I moved some of my plants around to the screened porch.  I had some on the front porch, and some on the screened porch.  Now most of them are on the screened porch.  It will make it easier to water them plus we can see them from the family room.  I also mowed about 2 acres of yard, and threw a flower arrangement together for the front porch.   I re-painted the rockers because I had painted them earlier in the Spring with a flat black paint.  That just didn't look good.  So today, they got a coat of glossy black paint.  So much better!! These steps lead to the mud room.  My verbena wasn't doing well on the front porch, so I will see if it does bett...

Hoosier or baker's cabinets have been around since the early 1900's.  My mother had one in her kitchen.  I remember the flour bin, the metal drawer and the  porcelain work surface trimmed with red.  The drawer pulls were also red.  At some point in time, the top of the Hoosier was removed.  I think my Dad may have traded it to the next door neighbor along with a wash-stand for a set of cabinets for the kitchen.  (If my memory is correct). Anyway, I came to have the bottom of the Hoosier cabinet.  It has set in the basement of the two homes I have owned for 25 or 30 years.  I'm sorry to say it was in horrible condition.   I recently decided I would at least clean it up a bit and paint it.  So here is what it looked like before.  What a mess!!!   I know, it was horrible. The condition was so poor, and the wood so soft, I was afraid to do a lot of sanding.  However, I sanded it lightly before and af...

Today I am sharing a few areas at our little get-away.  The furniture there is a combination of pieces my husband had, and some that were in his family for years.  We saw no need to buy new when we had so much stuff already, so we made what we had work.   Just look at this old antique vanity dresser.  I just love the round mirror with the scalloped trim.  The stack of books are actual ones I found going through my MIL's things.  I tied them up with string. If you'll look in the mirror, you will see the matching chest of drawers, although it looks more black.  Do you see the trim on the front of the dresser drawers?  The area where the little angel sits, opens up.  I'm not sure what those were used for.  Maybe to store jewelry??? There is one on each side.  Unfortunately all the knobs had been replaced.    The twin beds that my husband and his brother slept on when they were small boys are in the room...