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A Fence & A Cottage

Happy Labor Day weekend! Summer is over and gone are the long, sunny days. Instead, fall is in the air, the first of the leaves are browning and the kiddos are back-to-school. Ballet classes, swimming lessons, chess club – busy, busy times ahead for this momma and her girl. I’m trying to plan our schedule carefully and to pencil in enough doing-nothing time in which we’ll just enjoy each other’s company, cook, play and, of course, do nothing . (Although I can’t remember the last time I had nothing to do, haha. I don’t remember how it’s done either! 🙂 ) And speaking of things to do, on the home front we’re wrapping up the whole building-our-picket-fence business. The end is in sight, I can feel it and, most importantly, I can see it. Our contractor just finished installing the two side gates and did and awesome job. The only thing left to do is replace one of the fence panels at the far end (it came warped, the risks of working with pressure treated lumber, I’m told 😉 ) with a fresh one. Then more priming & painting and we’ll be done. We have a three-day window before the temps drop and the rain sets in so we’ll be very busy laboring this weekend!

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What We’ve Been Up To

I hope everyone’s enjoying these last few days of summer. The end of the hot season is bittersweet around here. We had the best time with our girl, we worked so hard on our cottage, took long nature walks and made countless trips to the pool. We read and listened to music, and just enjoyed the bounty of summer – fresh fruits and time outdoors. I just love how the days feel lazy and slow-paced mid-July and August.  I’m also laughing because I just called our summer days “slow” when in fact, since our move, the days have been anything but. When we moved into our new house we made a long list of projects we wanted to tackle. Some of them easy and straightforward that we could do ourselves (like painting, adding crown molding and new baseboard molding), others more involved that would require contractor work (kitchen upgrades for example). And although we’ve checked quite a few things off of our to-do list, it still feels like we’re only beginning. Overall, my plan for the house is to straighten out the architecture a bit and simplify the floor plan before we start investing in new furnishings. To that extent, we removed the old fireplace screen, painted our living room walls a soft, warm white which I LOVE (Benjamin Moore – Linen White) and used our existing furniture to decorate. I love this room right now and I promise I’ll photograph it soon and share it here on the blog. It’s nothing fancy, and items in here have been repurposed and recycled but it’s so cozy and comfortable  it’s become my favorite space in the house. I’m also learning to be patient and wait for the good things – home improvement on a budget takes time. Nevertheless, some things did get done.

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The Joy of the Hunt

A week away from blogging has made me realize just how much I miss you, both blog readers and bloggers alike! Friday afternoon we returned from a short trip to New Haven, CT  relaxed after a few days at the beach but also exited to keep working on our cottage. Right before we left I spruced up the house and left everything in order because it makes coming home from a trip so much better. Upon returning, we flung open the windows, quickly vacuumed the house, dusted the rooms, watered our plants, loaded the washer and then put on a kettle. Surprisingly, we were ready to tackle the LONG list of house to dos right away and thanks to a tireless (and amazing) husband, we started working on the yard right away. We are doers by nature and taking a break from routine has made us that much eager to get things checked off of our project list. (We’re crazy!)

Downtown New Haven – I was smitten with this classic New England facade
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Thank You!!

I want to thank you all for your kind messages after last Friday’s post. You are so sweet and inspiring and I feel blessed to have this creative community to tap into. Thank you! I have gotten so many great tips and encouragement from you that my head is spinning with ideas! For example, Toby Alleyne-Gee suggested using sliding pocket doors instead of regular French doors and I find the idea genial!!! How come I haven’t though of it? We’ll be interviewing contractors in the upcoming weeks and we’ll keep the option in mind. Thank you so much, Toby!! For that and for all the other wonderful  suggestions.

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Living Room and Library Design Plans – Best Case Scenario

To say that our first month in the new house has been exciting would be an understatement. We hosted a 20-plus-guests birthday party for Isabella, we scrubbed floors, washed windows and painted the living room (before and after the party, not during. We were nice to our guests, haha. We read about these paint parties some people throw to have all of their friends help but we were nice and didn’t hand out paint brushes as party favors). We removed fences and replaced doors and went on this crazy schedule of mowing our back yard every five days (because the soil is wet, the grass grows incredibly fast). And at nearly an acre of land, there was a lot of mowing and raking. I know it sounds cheesy but we also enjoyed every minute of this madness! That being said, I have this thing with mess. I don’t know exactly when or how it started, although genetics may play a role because I remember always being like this, but mess gets to me and I can’t think clearly when my home is out of order (which is most days :)))). I need a clean and uncluttered space to be able to do any kind of work. Mess makes me anxious and it’s not pretty 🙂 So, before I could attempt any design plan for our home, I needed to shake the stress of our recent move, relax and let the ideas come.

A view of the living room from the dining room door
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