hello all! let me just tell you, i am having so much fun w/ blogging! you know how when ur house is all clean(by clean i mean everything ugly and/or dirty is stuffed away in some closet) and you have guests that have never seen ur cottage b4? and you start to look at ur house thru their eyes? and it looks so pretty and fresh and romantic??? well, i'm having that feeling from blogging as i anticipate each one of you- my guests! everything i look at now or photograph is new to me and i see it thru your eyes. it has made me appreciate my homey cottage and my garden all the more. so thank-you friends and loved ones!
now for the answer to my own question; what DO you DO w/ your fireplace in the spring and summer??? well, i grew tired of staring into a fireless black hole in the many months that we do NOT have a fire in the fireplace. soooo- i cut out a shape from a piece of luan ( don't know if i spelled that right, but it's that really thin wood board used for backing on dressers and whatnot) that i had lying around. and i painted this pattern on it i got from a mag. ( i think it was an old "creative living" mag.) so i put it up there for lack of something better. it was too small, but that's the only scrap i had remotely big enough at the time, so it would have to do.
so i lived w/ it for a while and it was fine- but who among us decorates to end up with fine? certainly not me. so i was always on the look out for an upgrade. later that year, my good friend and no. 1 client LL, spotted some old swinging doors they used to put on the pass thru of kitchens in the 60's and 70's. she immediately thought of me! she grabbed them and later gave them to me, hoping i could find a cottage romantic thing to do w/ them. and i did- well, if i'm being honest, my hubby did! the doors were already painted white, then i antiqued them and walked around the house carrying them and holding them up here and there (cuz they were just so cute i had to put them somewhere in my cottage!) and while hubby was sittin' on the couch watching football (and as i was in his way) he said, "why don't you use them on the fireplace?"-"hmmm", i said. (decoratin' wheels a turnin'). YES!!!! why don't i??? so the next day while the kiddies were at school and the hubby was at work, i got to work. i added some fabric
w/ my mom's trusty staple gun and used some scrap wood to attach them together . and put her in place and fell. in. love. i love it so much that i almost hate to take it down to have a fire in the winter! lucky for me we have more nice non-fire weather than not. :) i would love to hear/see some of your ideas and creative fixes for the fire place in your home! i am linking up toFaded Charm for White Wednesday and Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented so head on over and check it out if you have the time! until next time, make your cottage your home and your home your cottage! ~decorating diva :)
i NEVER would have guessed those were from a sixties kitchen. Never.
ReplyDeletethanks for reading my blog faithful friend! yeah, i think i saw them(the same kinda doors) on "i dream of jeannie" or one of those shows:)i think the wood appliques were added later tho.
ReplyDeleteGoodness...I absolutely love your fireplace screen!! You have quite a creative eye!! Thank you so much for stopping by ~ your blog is great too!!
ReplyDeletethanks cottage muse! love that blog title!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the new fireplace screen! It's so perfectly cottagey. Love the pictures from your garden in your previous post too!
ReplyDeleteHappy White Wednesday!
Carol
thanks carol! man i'm on a comment high! this is so much fun!
ReplyDeleteYour fireplace screen is lovely. I love the whole look of your fireplace wall. Are your walls a shade of pink? I am hoping to paint some rooms in my new house pink and would love your paint color. It is so pretty! Do you like living with that color on the walls?
ReplyDeleteYour blog is beautiful.. I love the floral print on the sides.
thank-you juliet! actually my walls are a butter yellow, i guess the comp. screens can make it look diff.! i would love to have pink walls, but for my husbands sake, i keep the pink limited to the accessories and fabrics. :)i do however have a pink bathroom- and that keeps the riff-raff out (i.e. my hubby and son;)) i say go for it! just remember to go a shade lighter than what you think you want, cuz it always comes out a little darker on the walls. also, i've noticed w/ pink that it can have a "glowing" effect, so lighter is better. i've had 2 different bathrooms, 2 different pink colors- so i speak from experience. thank you for visiting and for commenting! i love to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteOh.. it is a pretty yellow! Would you share with me the paint color if you have it? We seem to like the same pink floral things and I am picking paint for a whole house. Any pink paint colors would be great too. I am looking at BM Bridal Pink. Thanks for the tip about going light with the pink. This will be my first house with girly cottage colors. :-)
ReplyDeletehow exciting juliet! the yellow is called "vanilla" oddly enough. it's way more yellow than cream like you would think a vanilla would be.it's a creamy,light,buttery, and warm yellow. but it's been almost 8 years since i first painted this house. i just bought some to paint the fireplace wall, due to the smoke "damage" from years of using the fireplace. and i just touch up as needed.it is glidden's ultra hide paint in satin or eggshell (?). if you send me your email, i can send you the formula. then you can have home depot mix it for you, that's where i got the glidden paint. if you have the formula you can probably get it mixed anywhere w/ any brand of paint- but they'll warn you that it won't be exact, i recommend getting a sample pot first. :)my email is detayls34@gmail.com. so excited for you and decorating w/ girly cottage colors! have fun and feel free to contact me w/ any other questions!
ReplyDeleteoh juliet, i forgot tell you about the pink paints, right now i have a med-dark peachy pink (almost terra cotta w/ less orange) but i am soon going to change it to a lighter shabby pink, which i haven't chosen yet. i'm sure i will blog about the bathroom when i re-do it!
ReplyDeleteVery creative solution! I think it turned out lovely!
ReplyDeleteDark peachy is also good and fascinate colour. Even I have also planned to paint it. I wish that I will also paint the cottage with dark peach. I hope that It would be look like better than soon.
ReplyDeleteelectric fireplace inserts