Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

I love the patina of old copper, the greenish tint it gets when it is left to age naturally; and silver, that black color that former generations would have cleaned immediately.  But, not me!  I love patina!!   I am fortunate to have a few pieces that belonged to my mother in law, that have aged to perfection.  Look at these pieces, so beautiful!  The coppery glow in the center surrounded by the darker color. To me, these are lovely pieces.  They've been used, cleaned, kept and used again. Such beauty in the designs on the handles, so intricate and elegant. The same is true in our human lives. As we age, our patina changes, just like that of old metals.  Our hair turns silver, our skin develops wrinkles and laugh lines, and isn't as supple, but I read some where that gray hair is a woman's patina.  So I am embracing it!  I grew tired of paying enormous amounts to have my hair bleached and fried, (nothing wrong with it)...

Our home at the lake has less than 1100 square feet.  In it, we use furniture that we have from combining 3 households in 2005, when we were married. On our recent trip there, we decided to neaten and organize the bathrooms.  The master previously had a tall tower that held the towels, and was crammed with them, and always looked messy. Our answer to organize this space was to purchase the space savers that were popular a number of years ago.  They have some really nice ones, so we bought two, one for the master bath, and one for the guest bath.   MASTER Bath: This one is in brushed nickel, and certainly neatened up this room.  It holds plenty of towels, hand towels, and bath cloths, and even has room for a "pretty or two".  The towels not placed on the space saver were stored on a high closet shelf.  I rearranged the closet and made room for the old towel tower, and it now holds extra paper towels and tissue.  (We tend to hoard pap...

You will never believe what I am doing currently!  I'm trying my hand at making a rag quilt.  YouTube has numerous videos of how simple they are, and they would be if I could get my machine to stop breaking thread!! Ugh!  That is so aggravating.  Anyway, here is how I started. First I got myself a rotary cutter and a cutting mat.  I had some fabric scraps, and bought some of the 18x21 packets of coordinating fabrics made especially for quilting.  I ironed the fabric, cut them into blocks 5 1/2" x 5 1/2".  I also cut batting into the same size squares. I have not tried to stack the blocks in a particular pattern, I am joining them randomly, and will make each row by randomly sewing them.  No pattern whatsoever.  What could be easier.  I have determined one thing....if I make another one, the squares will be larger, and therefore fewer of them. I decided to sew 12 blocks per row, and will have 9 or 10 rows.  This will be the size ...

I bought these two candle holders several years ago at Kirkland's. ( fall mantel, 2013) I like the color, but decided I would paint them with some chalk paint I need to use.  I have an area in the basement where I do my projects.  After the candle holders dried, I started up the stairs with them and a few other objects, and as luck would have it, one of them rolled off the tray I was carrying them on, and broke!! Blah!  Not to be outdone, I figured out a way to use it anyway!! The bottom base area was the broken part (into a million pieces), so I just poked it down into this metal urn, and used it anyway!! Of course, the candle won't be lit with the flowers around it. But I still got my dining centerpiece, just not in the way it was originally planned!! Not ideal, but as often as I change things, it won't matter!! The pedastal is one of my first blogging projects, made by gluing a candle stick to a wooden cheese plate.

Every year, we bring this small ladder to the screened porch to hold my plants/flowers.  It just doesn't seem right without it.  I went to the store this afternoon to buy plants for the pots, and stopped by Dollar General and picked up a few pretties for the porch too. I found this sweet bird house.  I loved its unusual shape, and the bright colors.  Of course I had to have this pretty bird too. The bird and bird house are perched on top of the ladder.  Then I have two post with spider plants left from a year ago.  Today, I bought Ivy, Creeping Jenny, petunias, and the large purple plant (can't think of the name).  I only purchased purple and green items.

I have quite a collection of vintage kitchen tools so I gathered them together in this enamel pan for a display. two small vintage plates, potato mashers, an old grater, biscuit cutter, an ice pick, a flipper I placed them on this kitchen step stool we found a couple years ago in the shed.  It was rusty, but I painted it white. I added an old rolling pin, juicer, flower pot, and canning jar filled with votives and tea lights to the steps of the stool.  (I'll let you in on a secret.....the next time we come down, something in the above photo may get painted white).  :) The ice pick says "Use our Party Ice". Here I added  tarnished silverware to the aqua flower pot, and put it inside the pan, placing the potato mashers and larger utensils in an old jar which I sat beside it.   Some of the silver is so tarnished it is a black color, but it's so appealing to me!  Love this tiny strainer, and the old rolling pin .   ...

I love decorating using old wooden boxes, trays, drawers, and items that are old, and formerly had other uses.  Like this old wooden box I found a few years ago. It's a simple shipping box that has Made in the USA on it.  I believe it originally held some type of Military supplies.  I've been thinking about giving it a light gray wash. I think I could do that without interfering with the engraving on it.  Here it holds a plant and two repurposed Mason jars I did recently. I have this old tool box that I've filled with bargain flowers and it sits on top of the jelly cupboard in the sun room.  This box has been green, white, blue, and now it's pink!  Versatile to say the least!! Here I've used a tray to corral a group of items for a Spring vignette. Here this wooden trug (I made over by painting white and adding label) holds florals from a yard sale that were a dime for each pot. I made over this bamboo box by painting the ...