Blue is My Favorite Color

Eating outside is my favorite part of the warm weather season and this year I scored some lovely blue plates to make it even nicer.    

That’s happy.

Under Old Man Tree

Now that old man tree has leafed up, much of the day finds the back deck under a canopy of shade.

I can spend hours out here with my books, sitting in the shade next to the flower pots that soak in the back deck sunlight.  The pots of impatiens look like they have a cap of flowers

These bright flowers are lovely and I plant pot after pot of them, always thinking it wouldn't hurt to have a few more.

The pink begonias - which seemed to attract the squirrels - are hearty and cheerful.  

These companions brighten the day and remind me to be glad of my blessings, both great and small.  

Tiny House Tuesdays: Little Green House

The little brown clay house lives in the dining room but the rest of my tiny house collection makes its home in the living room, on my book shelf.

This book shelf is one of the happiest corners of Sassafras House because books are that way for me.  This shelf has a collection of treasures; the books here have all been read at least once and have been saved because they are worth a re-read.  Over the years, I’ve added tiny decorations to the shelves.  Tucked among the books, they seem like hidden treasures to me.  Among the treasures is this wooden green house.

Of all the houses in my collection, I’ve owned this one the longest.  I bought it in my hometown when I was in college at UCLA so it is more than 30 years old. 

This kind of Cape Cod saltbox style house was not common in my corner of California.  But here in New Jersey, they are everywhere.  The style is appeals to me know at least as much as it did in the late 1980s when I first acquired it.   These days, it seems less exotic than it did at the time.  Life is that way, I suppose.

Forced Relaxation Fail

A few weeks ago, I liberated a basket from its previous household assignment, folded a cushy towel inside it, covered that towel with some soft pillowcases from my enormous pillowcase collection, and set it by the back deck window so that the cats could curl up and have a comfy nap in the sunlight, one of their primary occupations.

I was convinced that they would love it but I may be wrong.  Except for one awkward moment when Lucy climbed in but looked anxious while she sat there, they have mostly ignored the cat nap basket.  

I still think it looks like an awesome place to rest so I think we can draw the obvious conclusion: my cats are weird.  Possibly, I am equally as odd but we’ll save that discussion for a different post on another day.

The Blue Room

After 8 years together, T and I are merging households later this month.  We’ll stay at Sassafras House and part of that process has involved making her an office from the room formally known as the guest room.  Potential guests need not fear; there are still extra beds in this house.  In preparation for the conversion, I’ve spent a good deal of time sorting out the many things jammed into the guest bedroom and its closet over the years .  There is no before picture because it was an unholy mess and why should I tattle on myself?  But I started the big cleanup in February and by April the room was cleaned out and ready for its next life.

T and I looked for paint to refresh the faded yellow room, which gets Southern and Western exposure from two large windows.  We both like blue and settled on a color called Fresh Air.  A few weeks back, I got up painter’s tape to protect the white woodwork trim.

On Good Friday, I used my day off from work to good effect as the painter-in-chief.  I started on the ladder edging in the trim, of which this corner room has a great deal.  

It’s not a huge room and by late afternoon, the painting was done.

That night we pulled down the painter’s tape and in the morning light, the dried walls looked quite splendid.

Then the pine floors got a good scrubbing and were refreshed with Rejuvenation, which works like a dream on old floors with a polyurethane finish.  The original 1931 pine floors are shining.  Within the month, the room will be filled with T’s desk and bookshelves, a cozy blue oasis with a splendid view of Old Man Tree.

Even better than that is the two of us living together full time.  After eight years together, it’s time!

Spring Bedding

The arrival of March always signals the transition to Spring for me.  Invariably, the weather doesn’t cooperate with these fantasies but I pay it no mind and busily engage in my happy Spring traditions.  Among these is the swap from my Winter duvet to something more welcoming of the coming blooms.

I’m not a complete idiot and I know that the cold will linger (it was 9 degrees last night!) so the heavy down comforter is still tucked inside.  But it somehow feels more like Spring when I sleep under the ferns.

That’s happy!

Morning Coffee

Each evening before I take to my bed, I make sure my coffee service is set up for the next day.  I grind coffee beans and prepare the coffee pot, which has a handy automatic timer.  I set out a coffee cup and creamer for the next morning.  Everything is arranged so that when I come downstairs in the early dawn the smell of fresh-brewed coffee fills the kitchen.  I have favorite coffee mugs and an assortment of creamers that make my morning welcoming.

Some mugs serve coffee all year; some are set out seasonally.  The collection shown here are the mugs I use in the Fall and Winter.  Some are many years old and have made the journey with me from Tennessee to Nebraska and now New Jersey.

Some are handmade.

Sometimes I want my coffee cup and creamer to match, as if Martha Stewart was in the kitchen (she’d judge, as well she should).

Some are recent acquisitions that make me smile, though I’m well aware that I’ve no more space 

(or need!) for coffee mugs.

All of them make my morning brighter.  That’s happy!

Before and After

I acquired my dining room chairs from an auction in 1997.  They were bargain-priced and have served us well but over the years, but were never especially comfortable.  Over the years, a few have also grown rather rickety and though T was willing to give a hand toward fixing that, it seemed a rather large chore for chairs that had never really been comfortable.  I few weekends back, we stopped in to a local unfinished furniture store and spotted some lovely replacements; chairs that were sturdy, looked great, and were comfortable.  The investment seems well worth it and we decided to try our hand at staining furniture.  

Rather than start with the chairs, we opted for a small plant stand with plenty of detail work. It started life as a plain wooden item.

We choose a MinWax stain with polyurethane built-in and set to work on Labor Day weekend.  

An hour later, the stand was ready to dry and we were sold on the idea of finishing the chairs ourselves.

We are confident that we can stain the chairs and so now new chairs are in order.  A staining weekend or two is planned for later this fall.  By Halloween, we hope to be sitting in sturdy comfort.  That’s happy!

Out with the Old

Yesterday, T set to work securing some loose boards on the front porch.  While she was under the porch I took care of some fall clean-up chores, some of which had been delayed earlier this month as I dealt with my beak.  Most of the leaves in my yard get spread over the garden to take advantage of some cheap natural mulch; others get left on the grass because they are good for the lawn.  The extras get bagged up and placed at the curb for the township to carry away to their own giant mulch pile.

The pumpkins were mulched and fall-themed decorations on the front porch were put away, in an out-with-the-old tradition.

I began to organize the outdoor holiday decorations.  Some are familiar favorites, like the holly-trimmed wreaths that hang from the flower pot hooks.  Others are brand new, like this snowman that my folks gave me for my birthday.   

Next week, I'll put the boy to work hanging some lights on the porch.  I love the sight of twinkling holiday lights and greenery, especially in the cold twilight of the short days in December.  It brings cheer to the evenings and is a welcome tradition at Sassafras House.

An Invitation for Spring

My unkind thoughts toward Winter seems to have firmed up her will.  The glimmers of warmth we have enjoyed in the past few weeks have been mostly offset by Winter's continued intransigence.  It's cold and windy and generally wintery.  Perhaps Spring needs an invitation of her very own to come and join us.

She is welcome to step on the front porch and enter through the front door, with its cheerful wreath.

In the dining room, she'll find that the bunnies are celebrating her arrival.

Come evening, she can sleep in a bed with green ferns.

In short, I've done my best to make Sassafras House welcoming for Spring.  I am ready to welcome the new season, with its green blooms and gentler warm breezes.  Show Mama the daffodils.  Please.

Household Happiness: Chicken Dinner Sign

There is a tin chicken dinner sign that hangs in my kitchen for a good reason: I make a fine fried chicken dinner.  The sign was a gift from an old friend and it's been hanging in my kitchen since I moved to New Jersey, nine years ago this month.

The sign is both a reminder of fried chicken suppers past and (JT dearly hopes!) fried chicken suppers in the future.  In that, it's a happy reminder of where I've been and where I'm going.

Household Style

My mother gave me this serving dish a few years ago; it came from her grandmother, and we don't know much about the origins of the bowl.  It's old-fashioned and I use it for serving appetizer-style foods: mixed nuts, crudites and dips.  Last night, I used it to serve a little antipasti:  salami, olives, brushetta, and mozzarella with our risotto and asparagus supper.  My friends C and N are with us this week and last night N and I agreed that a bowl like this is guaranteed to have treats.  No one ever brings this bowl to the table filled with 4 healthy snacks.  At best, you might set it out with veggies in two sections and dip in the other two.   That the dish has been on tables in my family for over 60 years is part of its charm.  I'll bet it has some stories to tell.

Well Behaved

My new cat, seen below, never hurls on the floor, doesn't complain when the kibble bowl is only half-full, and hasn't scratched the leather chair.

Yet.

Household Happiness: Hallway Wall Decals

Last summer, when I updated my life list I included an item about my hallway upstairs (number 16, for those of you playing along at home).  The plan was to strip the wallpaper, paint the wall and then add some wall decals that I'd been admiring at Elephannie's Etsy shop.  Stripping off the wallpaper and painting the wall was a big job and when that was complete I decided to live with the walls for a while. This winter, after hours of daydreaming about the wall decals I wanted, I bought some flowers to place by the hallway mirror.

They were easy to put on the wall and I liked the clean lines of Elephannie's design.   I started thinking about what else I would add to the hallway.  I wanted colors that echo the living room re-do; this upstairs hallway paint is a shade lighter than the living room and for accents I wanted to use the same dark red and brown in the room downstairs.  Flowers were an easy first choice but I didn't want the hallway to be too girly.  Elephannie's shop had lots of options.  I went with a nature theme and selected some birds and a squirrel.

 

The birds are a nice touch (note the red birds above the bedroom door of a certain Cardinals fan).  The squirrel, which is the first thing the eye sees coming upstairs, makes me smile, in no small measure because it reminds me of our good friend Pesky the backyard squirrel (you can read about him here and here).  Elephannie sent a sample bird to try out the installation.  I tried it by the light switch in my bedroom, where it stays.

This whole wall decal business is very alluring.  Easy installation, reasonable cost, lots of choices……I've been thinking of re-painting the guest room and if I do, I'll use some wall decals on the re-designed room  Until then, the hallway looks terrific and I've checked another item off my life list.  Yeah, me!

Living Room Re-Design

I've been putting off a final posting on my living room re-design because I'm not sure that the room is complete.  But while I consider some very small finishing touches, we're living in the room (appropriate, considering the name and all) and the more that I live with it, the more that I like it.

Feminist art not with-standing, the room is not overly girlish, which I like.  The new sofa is the most comfortable seat in the house, which I love.  The new chairs are scaled to suit me; also very comfortable.  The new curtains (thanks, Mom) add color to the wood blinds at the windows, but they don't overwhelm, which I like.

I did not get an ottoman, thinking that I'd give that change a try.  It did not suit, and I went to Ikea for an ottoman with a washable cover (essential under the circumstances).  While I like the color, I'm not convinced that it's perfect for the room.  I'd like another ottoman of sorts and am toying with my options.

The room is warm in tone, especially suitable for this year's very cold winter.  But it doesn't feel oppressive, so I think the room will make the adjustment to the warmer seasons quite nicely.  The room is welcoming and comfortable, which was my original goal.   I am pleased with the outcome, so I am declaring the project a great success.