Evolutions.....

Things happen in life that lead you in a different course. We have to have our wooden floor removed and replaced soon. I decided that we needed to get out bookshelves out of the living room beforehand as that is a great deal of work. I love having books in a living room but have always dreamed of having a library. We are getting close to being done with creating the separate library but now also have a long wall where the shelves used to be that needed decorating. So time to move things around again...

My antique English sidetable is now on a portion of this wall. Right away, Jos said we could now use this as a quilt wall. Guess he missed that from our old house.

Here is my summer decorations for the sidetable...

My Bull's Eye quilt which I made back in 2004

Sweet primitive Windsor doll's chair with my teddy holding a stitched pillow which was a gift from a friend

Cutting board decorated with a summer vingette

Amazing to think it is time to change it to autumn in the next couple of weeks.....

Heidi

The garden shed.....

All throughout June, we are working on odd jobs at Cranberry Cottage. We are using long weekends there to get things done. This past weekend we decided to start on a job we have put off since we bought the cottage 9 years ago...the garden shed.

 BEFORE

This shed was hand built by the farmer who owned the cottage before us. He made it so solid that even our neglect was not enough to bring it to ruin. We had the roof replaced years ago but never got around to painting it. The problem was that I hated the brown and wanted to do something different but also within keeping of its surroundings.

Last week, I got a brainstorm that it needed to look like typical Old Dutch "potdekselen". We bought a large pot of "bielzenzwart" which is a very fluid tar based paint. We got stuck in and I discovered that I have a hidden talent for this kind of paintwork. I did the three sides while Jos worked on the front and underneath of the roof overhangs on all side.

The difference of the before and after photos just amaze us. We are really happy with a weekend's hard graft.

 AFTER

Our next task will be to repaint the door and roof line in cranberry as the cottage itself is and making some new lace curtains. The ones hanging now are so old that I am afraid they will turn to dust if I touch them.

Heidi

A small addition with a big effect.....

Monday evening, Jos and I went over to IKEA which is only minutes from our home. I had been wanting to buy the Fintorp kitchen rail with hooks for some time. We already had my wall with my collection of speculaas cookie molds (click for post on my previous blog) in the kitchen...

We bought two and connected them to one long rail. I hung some of my Brixton baby mugs. I just love these mugs with their homemade look...

I also hung the stitched tea towel I won in Willy's giveaway recently. I just love it and have two of these towels to make more to match. Thank you once again Willy...

It is a small addition to my little kitchen but I love the big impact it has made to give it a country feel...

Heidi

Do you know???

Anyone else find themselves longing for autumn on these last few days of the summer months? I saw the first pumpkin stands when we were at Cranberry Cottage over the weekend. I am planning on stocking up on them soon.

I have been adding little touches that say summer is ending to my home. I put out a crazy quilt I made with autumn colors and some accessories on the dining room table. Not quite autumn but shows it is coming.

I thought it would be fun to add a cutting board under my dough bowl but this one is very new looking. I love the size and shape of it but need to age it in a way that it is still safe. So that means no stain painted on. I am hoping someone will have advice for me about aging a cutting board? I found this link but wondered if anyone has done this before or knows of another way? I know I could just using it intensely but that takes a very long time and I want to use this on my shelves with my speculaas cookie molds.

So if you have any tips, I am all ears.....

Heidi

Making old into new.....

I host a quilt group in my home each month so I need lots of chairs. This was a very old chair we bought back when we lived in Sweden to use at a computer table. It was from IKEA and the finish had turned such an ugly orange color. You cannot really see how orange it was from this before photo...

I had been rummaging in the second floor rooms through all our stuff which is still being sorted since we moved in. I found a remnant of a upholstery fabric I had used to recover two Swedish chairs which you can see here (click  for old blog post). It was enough to try padding this wooden seat once the chair was recovered.

Jos took the chair apart, sanded it down and stained it in pure palisander stain for me. Normally palisander comes out a rich brown as we have used it for our bookshelves and my Windsor chairs. On this pine it came out much lighter and gives the chair a nice warm and rustic look. I stapled layers of stiff, thick batting to the chair before then stapling the upholstery fabric on and replacing it to the chair. I have the chair beside our hutch in the living room when not being used. Now I have an extra chair for my quilt studio that is much more comfortable to sit on as we turned an old chair into a new one.

Heidi