A new home for my campaign bed

After we moved in to our country cottage, my dear friend, Chania at RAZMATAZ, had asked if our campaign bed fit anywhere in the new house.  The only room in our tiny home that has a ceiling tall enough to accommodate the bed's canopy is a loft, which we have made into our bedroom.  

I have always loved the act of climbing stairs to go to bed at night.  For me, this little ritual creates separation from the busier spaces of the house, and there is a sense of both anticipation and arrival as the ascent is being made. I sleep better here than I have slept in many years, and I think climbing the stairs has something to do with that.  Literature on sleep hygiene suggests that our brains associate little cues like walking upstairs or any other bedtime ritual with signaling the body that the time for sleep is near.  

The bed takes center stage in this room.  Sleeping on this bed makes me feel like a princess, with its stature and romantic, domed canopy.  Its sculptural lines have a commanding presence in any space.  

Furnishings here are sparse, contributing to the restful feel of this room. Accessories are organic and muted, such as the straw hat on the wall and linen lamp shades.  

The angles lines of the canopy echo the roofline.  A panel of fabric behind the headboard adds a cocoon-like feel to the bed without obstructing the view out the east-facing window.  Every morning since we moved in I have watched the sun rise through this window.  This morning bands of coral and salmon streaked across the sky, casting a glow over the forested hillsides.  Waking with the sunrise is one of the simplest and most exquisite pleasures I know.

My cats are also quite fond of this space, a high vantage point for watching the birds and comfy spot for napping.

The walls in this room are painted the same dark sage green that the rest of the house was when we moved in.  I am planning to lighten them up a bit with the same neutral creamy-taupey-grey, Sherwin Williams Neutral Ground, that I have used in the main downstairs room.  The continuity of paint colors keeps things simple and allows one to move furniture and accessories easily from one room to another.  I find colors other than neutrals to be limiting and confining.  The neutral color spectrum offers more flexibility and freedom.

Taking photographs of small rooms is extremely challenging.  It is hard to convey the relation of items in the room to the overall space itself, and thus I am having a hard time relating the way the room feels beyond the bed.  I hope these photos give you a taste at least.

Autumn has completely arrived here.  I hope you are able to enjoy the beauty and peace that come with this time of year.  

Until next time...

Anne

Making additional progress

Slowly, ever so slowly, our cottage in the woods is taking on a look and feel that suits my taste.  In the past couple of months, I have been working to make it less knotty pine cabin, more French country eclectic.  The primary area of focus has been the kitchen.

I used 3" x 6" carerra marble subway tile for the back splash, and I am simply in love with the way it turned out!  It has a luminescence similar to moonstone, my favorite gem.  I also painted the cabinets Sherwin Williams Neutral Ground, the same color I am using throughout the home.

The post rack is from Pottery Barn.  Stainless steel cookware also glimmers like jewelry and ties in with the appliances.

Right after moving in I tiled the counter top with 12" x 24" porcelain tiles in an attempt to mimic the look of concrete countertops.  This is a solid, durable material.  Larger tiles minimized the number of grout lines. 

Open shelves provide easy accessibility to dishes and keep the kitchen feeling lighter.

So this is the kitchen before.

And this is it now.  Much lighter and brighter.  I finally painted my windsor chairs black.  Little bits of black add drama and contrast to the white and gray palette.

This is the view from the front door.  The entire living, dining and cooking space is only 14' x 24'.  I still have not gotten around to painting that gable wall.  Some day soon it will get done, along with the rest of the trim.

The large expanses of glass and the high ceiling add to the sense of space.  You can see saw horses on the deck through the sliding doors.  There is still some work to be done here.

I have not yet decided what to do with the banister and railing.  I have considered leaving them the natural pine, painting them the same creamy white as everything else, painting them a medium gray.  Any suggestions or comments?

In 2 weeks, the tiled space in front of the stairs is going to be the home to this...

via Napoleon Wood Stoves

Napoleon wood burning stove.

Once the stove is in, I will be ready for winter winds to blow.  

In the meantime I am enjoying the beauty of the amazing autumn!

I hope you are able to do the same.  

As I stated in my previous post, decorating is my favorite distraction and my passion.  It helps ease the pain of recent loss and gets my body and mind energized.  

Until next time...

Anne

Saying goodbye

A couple of weeks we lost our beloved kitty, Pyewacket.  After years of incurable respiratory infection and the development of Cushing's disease (also incurable) we had to put her to sleep.  I have loved and lost many pets before, but have never felt grief this intense for one of my cats.  Looking at her picture still brings tears to my tired eyes.

My mom had advised me to look at the things I learned while loving and caring for her, that perhaps the meaning of her short life was to teach me things about myself, life, and love.

These are things I have learned:
(1) Breeding of flat-face Persian cats is inhumane.  The flatter the face, the more intense the respiratory problems.  These animals are born with a great disadvantage in order to conform to an arbitrary standard of what some consider to be beautiful.

(2)  The more we fight for something, the more attached we become.  In the nearly 2 years that Pyewacket lived with us, I cared for her as I would have a sick child.  She always needed something from me, from daily grooming to face washing to administration of medicine.  I fought to help her overcome her illness, just as she did, but even together our efforts were not strong enough.  As a result of the fight we shared, our bond was deep and lasting.

(3)  I have learned the vets do not know all the answers.  My vet was supportive and very caring and always told me that they at his office were just trying to help us.  I believe him.  But aside from invasive surgery to ream out her sinuses and nasal passages, which we opted not to do, the only treatment we could perform was to use the one antibiotic she could tolerate when the infection began to rage again, as it always did.  We also used a few grains of zyrtec daily, which helped her breathe a little more easily.  Persian cats commonly have allergies also, which can contribute to the sinus infections.  Giving medication to cats is tremendously difficult and stressful for both the cat and her humans.  The vet tried his best in this case, and I do not blame him for Pyewacket's death.  She was a very difficult case and such a fragile creature.  I know that he was just trying to help, and she came close to dying 8 months ago.  He actually saved her that time and gave us 8 more months with her.

(4)  I have learned to trust myself even more.  There were occasions where I told the vet I thought that steroid injections, which were sometimes given along with the antibiotic, were causing her fur to fall out and her skin to become flaky.  He said steroids don't usually do that, that there was probably something else going on. At her last appointment, when he said she appeared to have Cushing's disease because of the way her skin looked and her loss of fur, he stated it could have resulted from steroid overuse.  It could also have resulted from a tumor on her adrenal gland.  We will never know for sure, and knowing won't bring her back.  On my other pets, I will insist that steroid use be the last option.  The side effects often seem to overwhelm the short-term benefits.

(5)  Persians are inherently different from other cats.  They have a gentleness I have never before experienced, which goes beyond their calm natures.  Pye would often brush my cheek ever so softly with her right paw when she wanted affection.   She would raise up on her hind legs to receive a pet.  She was always happy, always eager to interact, always loving, despite the illness and daily struggles to give her medication.  Living with Pyewacket made me smile and sigh with deep pleasure.

(6)  I have learned (again) how little control I have.  We all like to think that if we do certain things just so and plan and work very hard, that things will go our way.  This is an illusion we buy into, and sometimes it works out for the best, but other times, it does not.  The death of someone we love is a great reminder that sometimes our plans and desires have nothing to do with what the universe has in store.

(7)  My capacity to love has not been hindered by the many losses I have had in my life.  Love, and not just romantic love, is the reason for our being.  I choose to keep my heart open and to allow the infinite well-spring of love to flow into and through it.  I know there will be more loss and more pain, yet to exist in a state with a closed heart and lack of emotional connection is not an option for me.  I choose love.  And I have the sweetest of memories to comfort me during times of grief.

I bid farewell and safe passage to my sweet Pyewacket.  Others may come after you, but none can replace you.

And so, I have been continually working on making this new house one that reflects my style and my personality.  These are things over which I do have control.  Focusing on them helps to ease my grief and affirms life by caring for those in the here and now, celebrating beauty, and connecting to the abundance of the natural world.

Stay tuned for the next post where I share changes I have made to our little cottage in the woods.   After all, decorating is good therapy!

Until next time...

Anne

Simple Country Pleasures Part II

The joy of discovery...

Since moving to our new home in the heart of the national forest, we have made an awesome discovery-- a real-life swimming hole!  It may not look like much from the photo above, but the wide spot in the middle of the image is actually deep enough to completely submerge oneself in and will accommodate at least 2 people on lounging floaties quite nicely.  The creek is spring-fed and remains refreshingly cool.  The water here is pristine, with a limestone creek bed and an abundance of small fish that gently nibble at one's water shoes.  

This is the same creek that I can see from my windows, but the swimming hole is further downstream and has to be reached by winding past forested hills and valleys on narrow gravel roads.  This drive to the swimming hole is part of the fun for me.  It is way out there, surrounded by two designated wilderness areas which are part of the nearly 300,000 acre national forest.  On its website the Illinois Sierra Club says, "Hutchins Creek (eligible for designation as a Wild & Scenic River) has formed a wide, flat valley bordered by steep forested slopes, rocky bluffs, and V-shaped creek drainages. This area is relatively undisturbed by humans, with a couple of old farmsteads and cemeteries the only evidence of past human usage of the land. The mixed mesophytic forest and the clean, spring fed creeks, typical of the Ozarks, provides habitat for wildlife including neo-tropical songbirds, wild turkey, deer, bobcat, and many smaller mammals."  

The Sierra Club failed to note the possibility of our most recent, encounter.
 

 Last weekend we headed over to swimming hole and there were a couple of young families there-- see the umbrella and chair in the left of the photo.  When we got out of the car with Sadie, our border collie/lab mix, we were cautious because it seemed there was another dog tethered to a tree up ahead, which was odd.  Most dogs we meet around here are off leash, so we were concerned that perhaps this one was a bit aggressive.  My husband went ahead to check out the situation, and he came back to the car with a sly smile on his face.  "It's a pig," he said.  "A what?" I asked.  "A pig," he repeated.  I walked up and sure enough, there, attached to a long rope was a miniature pot-belly pig.  I asked if I could pet him, and his owner said sure.  His name was Elmer.  As I petted him, his tail wagged non-stop.  In fact, his tail wagged the entire time we were there.  He was quite friendly and calm.  Sadie sniffed him and, uninterested, ran ahead to splash in the creek.   

Small though it may be, this swimming hole seems magical to me.  It is a far cry from an over-crowded, noisy, public swimming pool.  Out here we are serenaded by birdsong and calling frogs.  I think about the early settlers whose farm houses are still seen on these gravel roads and imagine the joy and relief they must have gotten from a dip in the creek's cool waters.  When I swim here I feel a connection to them.  I also think about the protection of our national treasures and am so thankful for the establishment of a national forest system that preserves the sacred beauty of this area, and others like it, in perpetuity.   Barring any disasters, natural or otherwise, one hundred years from now this area will look as it does today, as it did one hundred years ago.  I am but one creature whose life has been enriched by the clear waters of this creek, like one small fragment of limestone scattered along the creek bed.  I realize how intimately connected all life forms are and am struck by the universality of our most simple, basic needs.   

Wishing you a weekend of simple pleasures.

Until next time...

Anne

Making progress and thoughts about painting wood...

Little by little, I have been putting my stamp on this new home of ours, and it feels wonderful!  Last weekend I did some more painting, focusing this time on the wall of wood below the open staircase.

My husband had been outside mowing the lawn when I began working on this project.  I had told him weeks ago that I planned to paint the knotty pine walls.  He had said at that time that this was fine with him, but when he walked in the door on Friday afternoon, hot and tired, to get a drink of water and saw me painting the wood walls, he GASPED.  Audibly.  It took him a second to recover.  I was very casual and just said,"Hi, are you thirsty?"  He asked if I was sure I wanted to do this, and I said that of course I was sure.  Besides, at that point I was committed.  There was already paint on the wall.  

So, we went from this below... 

where the sunlight, along with the natural pine on the floor and walls, gives the room a very yellow cast,  

to this...

where my boston fern looks so very lush, and the yellow cast is gone.

When I told some friends I was going to paint the wood, they, too, had a similar reaction to my husband's, although not quite as audible.  I have written about painting wood walls before, and how many people find them to be sacred, where it is akin to sacrilege to blemish them with paint.  I am of the mind that your home should reflect your deepest desires and fantasies.  In the cottage of my fantasies, all the wood walls are painted.   The texture of the tongue and groove planks actually is more evident when the wood grain is not visible.

When I painted the drywall, no such gasp was heard by him.  Others cautioned me that painting things a shade of white would ruin the character of the cottage.  I disagree entirely.  The walls I have painted seemed to recede a few feet after the soft white paint was applied to them.

My efforts to banish the sage green from the house are on-going.  The wall with the patio doors is about 20' tall.  I haven't yet had the gumption to bring in the extension ladder and completely move all of the furniture out of the way in order to paint.  One must work up to these things slowly.  Eventually I know that I will wake up one day and decide I simply cannot take it anymore, and that will be that.  That is typically my way.

So, as I stated at the beginning of this post, little by little things are coming around to being the way I want them to be.  Decorating houses, like picking a partner, requires that one stay true to oneself, and not follow the preferences and tastes of others.  After all, we are the ones who live with our choices, not well-intentioned friends, and not all mistakes are easily fixed by covering up them up with a coat of paint.

Until next time...

Anne

Simple Country Pleasures

Photos from a summer morning walkabout.

Wishing a wonderful weekend to you all.

Until next time...

Anne

Welcome to my humble abode

After many months of tedium and uncertainty, our search for a new home has come to an end.  The deal fell through on the house I had posted about a few times, and as the saying goes, another door opened for us, yielding something beautiful beyond our wildest dreams.

In the heart of the Shawnee National Forest; down a curving, gravel road; 4 miles from the nearest town (of only 350 people); we finally found our forever home.  

This is our road looking east.  The tree-covered hillsides are part of a designated wilderness area, although there are privately owned lands interspersed with public lands.

This is our mailbox and a view of the hills to the west.

 Here is our little cottage in the big woods.  It is newly built and, due to the spectacular views and privacy, was literally intended to be a vacation cabin.  We have made it into our permanent home.

The house is 1100 square feet but contains a loft, an office, and a guest room.  There are also 3 decks, each with a different view.

The largest deck is of the "great room," which you see just beyond the wall of glass.

This is the view from the front door.  The wall color is a gray-green, chosen by the seller, and although it is not one of my preferred shades of white, I actually don't mind the color.  It reads as a neutral and coordinates with everything we own.

I love the angle of the sloping ceiling beneath the stairs.  This shot was taken from the hallway and also shows the little "Harry Potter" closet under the stairs.  That closet is invaluable as a pantry.

Here is another view of the great room, with hills and trees in the background.

The house sits where an old farmhouse once stood.  It is oriented to capture the breezes, the views, and the light.  

We have front row seats for some truly inspiring sunsets.  Last night's was one of the loveliest I have ever seen.

I realize it has been a long while since my last post, and I appreciate your patience in that regard.  The move was more difficult than I imagined it would be.  We cut our living space in half and have had to work within the constraints of a much smaller house.  It has forced us to be creative in terms of how we utilize the space, especially wall space and floor space.  We have managed to keep only the basics, but living here feels far from austere.  We have all the comforts of a typical home.  

Stay tuned for more from deep in the heart of the forest, where the air is pure and the views are pristine.

Until next time...

Anne

Taxidermy, anyone? And some good news.

via Country Living

Have you noticed the recent trend of using taxidermy in stylish home decor?  A gorgeous California home featured in a recent Country Home magazine used taxidermied animals in a couple of different rooms.  It no longer seems to belong only to the realm of camouflage-wearing types.  

via Country Living

When my husband were in Texas getting married we visited the lovely town of Fredericksburg and the store of famed designer Carol Hicks-Bolton.  With permission, I whipped out my camera and snapped some photos of their displays.

Every image has some type of taxidermied specimens, from birds...

to mountain lions and foxes,

 and of course, deer.

Some of the displays showed a sense of humor.

I found the use of preserved animals in decorating to be both intriguing and noteworthy; however, I am not sure I would want to live with them.  Something about looking into their hollow eyes disrupts my emotional equilibrium.  As one who loves artifacts from nature, this may not make sense to others, but the things in my house were found objects-- antlers collected while walking in the woods, seed heads gathered from a fall meadow, shells and driftwood amassed while strolling the beach.  They are also things that either died a natural death or were shed, discarded by a living creature.  My house does not contain any specimen collections of insects either.  I have pressed plants and flowers, and one could argue that these were also once living entities, but they do not have dead eyes that would stare back at me.  So, for me I guess it's the eyes that I find to be most disturbing.  

There seems to be a returning to Victorian tastes and sensibilities, with its appreciation of and fascination with natural history.  The use of taxidermy and objects from nature in modern home decor seems to represent this trend.  Living with and close to nature is something that soothes my soul, and bringing little bits of it into my home is one way for me to maintain that connection. 

What do you think?  Do you or would you use taxidermy in your decorating schemes?

On another note... the home-buying saga continues.  Just as we had given up hope that we would be able to purchase the home we have a contract for, 

via Realtor.com

and settled in to the notion that we would stay in our current home, there has been an amazing turn of events.  We now have another extension of the contract and a new closing date!  It seems we might actually get to purchase the home I have been dreaming about for the past 6 months (this entire process began back in September, when we first viewed the home.)  The whole experience has been a test of patience and stamina.  I am hoping there will be a payoff in April when we can actually move in.  Thanks for hanging in with me through this process.  We have bounced back and forth, particularly when we thought there was no chance the sale would actually go through.  My hope has been restored, and my husband said something yesterday about starting to think about packing.  So, it seems that he is regaining hope also.  

The house may look a little tattered at this point, but it is solid and classic.  It has the three original features that define a style and set a tone for the interior spaces-- floors, doors, and trim.  This property has the perfect location for us and is one I could see myself living in for the rest of my life.  After moving three times in as many years, that is a thought I relish!  

With the coming of spring, I am feeling a freshness and a renewal and a sense of possibility.  May the abundance of spring be present in your life.

Until next time...

Anne

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

Perhaps I should say, "we."

After much thought and discussion, we have decided NOT to move after all.

We took the lists of wants and needs that were guiding our search for another house and applied them to this place. What we discovered was that we were looking for this exact same house in terms of the interior spaces and porches, albeit with a back yard. I did some research and learned that having the concrete parking lot behind the house removed is not as costly as I had imagined.  We decided that instead of moving, we will completely make over the outdoor space so that we have a back yard, so that I have a real garden to play in, so that we have privacy, and so that Sadie has room to run off leash.  So bring on the fencing, arbors, trees, shrubs, and lots of cottage-y flowers!

 In honor of our decision to stay and to celebrate my falling (again) in love with the virtues of this old house, here are some pictures taken at various times in the past year.  The one above was taken before we even moved in.  I have since painted the porch and done some foundation planting, but realized today that I have not taken any photos of those improvements.

Deciding not to move is a lot like deciding to salvage a rocky marriage.  You have to look deeply into your heart and be honest about the things that attracted you to the house in the first place, the things you fell in love with.  You have to assess its strengths and attributes, along with its limitations.
However, while it is indeed possible to change a house to suit your wants and needs, we cannot possibly change another human being in any way, even if we might want to.  The only thing to change in that case is one's perspective or to move on.

I still adore this pantry.  It holds an abundance of food and kitchen wares while being accessible and easy to keep organized.

One of the things most difficult in hunting for another house was finding one with ceilings tall enough to accomodate our campaign bed from Restoration Hardware.  The bed is almost 9' tall!
 This room has 10' ceilings, so there is no problem.  I also appreciate the architectural interest of three-sided bay.  This would be hard to find in another house as well.

The proportions of the living and dining rooms, along with the tall windows, provide light and airy spaces for living.  The rooms flow well into one another.  The house has never felt dark or cramped.

Most of the planned changes involve the out door areas, however, I am determined to replace the interior window and door trim so that it matches the original trim boards that I found in the basement.  In the 1970's, when the house was being used as a doctor's office, the original trim was taken down and ranch style trim was put in its place.  By painting walls and moldings the same color, I have been able to minimize the visibility of this fact, but it is something that bothers me about the house.

So, I am feeling like the weight of indecision and disappointment has been lifted.  I am starting to reconnect with my house emotionally and to turn my thoughts to planning upcoming projects.  Visions of climbing roses are dancing in my head!

Stay tuned for my next big adventure.  Thank you for your on-going support and friendship through the many adventures I have had thus far.  I appreciate every one of you who take the time to stop by and visit.

Until next time...

Anne

P.S.  Apologies to Bob Dylan for borrowing the title for this post.