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Book Review| Notes on Decorating, by Markham Roberts

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Thank you so much for your sweet messages after Thursday’s post! It makes me happy to see that so many of you share my love of English cottages. I’ll make sure to follow up with a second part soon. In the meantime, I wanted to take a moment to welcome new subscribers ( Thank you so much for following along! ) and to share with you a fantastic new book that’s just been released last month – Notes on Decorating, by Markham Roberts, published by Vendome Press.

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Living Room Progress

Late last June was one of the happiest moments in our life together as a family. We had just bought a little Cape Cod cottage in town and had all these dreams of slowly fixing it up and making it ours. We moved in with boxes of stuff (mostly toys and books) and just a handful of furniture pieces we’d bought locally through antiques shops and Craigslist, art and a couple of vintage tables and chairs. We decided to be patient and carefully consider all options and aspects before committing to any permanent changes in the new house. We didn’t want this to be a quick fixer-upper, and although the budget was carefully considered, we decided we can wait and save for the good things. We’re still not finished, not even close, but I thought I’d share with a little progress update. 

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What to Do with an Ugly Chair? Or Two.

Have you ever had a piece of furniture you couldn’t stand looking at any longer? But still felt like throwing it /donating it/ gifting it was not an option? A family heirloom perhaps? Well, I have. And in fact still do. Our living room is cozy and comfortable but the seating options are far from glamorous, a hot mess really – a brand new Ikea Ektorp sofa, which I kind of like (bad design blogger, sorry!), made friends with two hideous but extremely comfortable brown Wayfair bargains and a pair of swivel English roll arm chairs, discards from a friend. I love the sofa and the swivels but the two brown Wayfair chairs have been my decorating nemesis this entire year. No matter now much I style our living room, no matter how many flower bouquets or pretty coffee table books, candles or knick-knacks I rotate, they stand out like eyesores. 

This is not as bad as the brown ones I got… mine SOLD OUT and are no longer available! 🙂
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Fixer Upper | Part 3 | The Living Room


Last month, my husband and I attended a couple of open houses in our neighborhood. We’re renting right now but at that point we were contemplating the idea of buying our first home here in Urbana. It wouldn’t have been the wisest of decisions (and we knew that) since we’ll be leaving by the end of the year, but nevertheless, we wanted to get a feel of the market and see what’s available in our price range. We saw several houses of different sizes and styles (a handsome Georgian, a tiny bungalow and a Tudor style cottage) but my favorite was a sweet little Cape.

cape 1

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