Sit Down and Stay Awhile

Two more work days and I'll be off for a two week spring break.

amen.

I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending some time focusing on the house.

Inside and out.

This 80 degree weather (in March!) has me feeling the urge

 to revamp the flower beds and take on some serious

spring cleaning on the interior.

The other day Rob and I took a stroll and ended up at Restoration Hardware.

A very rare occurrence, since my baby carrying days have me acting

 more like a home body than the full-fledged

shopper/window shopper that I once was.

We stumbled upon a gorgeous adjustable linen chair on casters

 with hand turned legs.

holy canoli.

It's being advertised as a office or library chair.

However, we are using them in the family room on opposite sides of our sideboard.

They are much larger then they appear online.  I'm a happy camper.

While the nursery is our priority, Rob and I would like to get the family room

and kitchen (ugh... the ongoing kitchen) in order before the little one arrives.

The next items on our list are the crib and the rug for the nursery.

We're leaning towards the DaVinci Jenny Lind crib in cherry.

The spindles are amazing. Love.

I'm on the hunt for a oval shaped jute rug.

Something with vintagey goodness.

Here is some nursery eye-candy for those who enjoy rooms for little people.

The wallpaper, the mostly white back drop, and the peaks of the ceiling

create such a sweet resting ground.

I need to find that bunny.

I can't wait to get to work.  I'll start snapping pictures over the next few days!

Stay tuned!

*photos courtesy of restoration hardware, kaboodle, unknown, unknown

Hello 2012!

Yes, I do realize that I've been extremely neglectful of the blog.

No, I am not proud of it.

The end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 have brought on a list of things to do.
Or occupy my time.

As time unfolds, you will have a better understanding of what I'm talking about.

Until then, you need to stay tuned.

One thing that I can share with you 

is that we have a lot of plans for the cottage.

The kitchen continues to be at the forefront of our remodel

 and we finally have a fire under our

you know what's.

So hopefully you'll start seeing some work take place.

The carpenter completed the fireplace. 

We're very happy with how it turned out.

Lousy quality.  Early morning darkness, too!

My husband is going to kill me (not seriously!)

For Christmas Rob bought me an insanely amazing camera

that I have absolutely no clue how to operate.

I continue to use the old camera. HA!

Thus, him killing me.

I'll get there. 

Another new year resolution...better quality pictures on

{hookedonhickory}

woohoo!

The fireplace needs a good coat of paint. 

We haven't gotten around to that quite yet. 

But that too shall happen.

This year and move in particular have taught me one thing.

these things take time.

What are your plans for NYE?

This year the hubs and I plan on laying low.

That sounds nice for a change.

We were very blessed in 2011.

May 2012 be just as wonderful.

Wishing you joy, love, and prosperity in 2012!

* photo courtesy of live beautifully blogspot

Fireplace Progress

progress on the fireplace has been made.

hallelujah!

Before we laid a finger on it...

I may be the only person who actually admired the look of the fireplace.

But I knew what needed to be done if we were going to add our television.

Some progress but looking a little pathetic.

A little more progress!

and a few more pictures...

We need the top hole to be framed out with trim.

Then we need to give the fireplace a fresh coat of paint.

Despite needing to change the original look up,

 we are thrilled to have a mantel upstairs!

Christmas shopping is complete, whew!

I hope you are all set, too!

wow, the 21st...

We're almost there, folks!

Let There Be Light (New Fixtures!)

We've been meaning to replace a number of light fixtures in the cottage.

I've been itching to remove the old globe flush mount lights and fans.

Can't stand em'.

We've been slowly attacking one at a time. 

I can officially check two more of my list!

The previous owners used the family room space differently than we are.

Half of the family room was used as their dining room. 

This light fixture hung on one side of the family room.

A nice light, but not the look we were going for.

Especially since we weren't using that space for dining.

Rob installed this beauty.  Isn't she cute?

Since we are using that side of the room as a sitting area,

a smaller light was in order.  I think this does the job.

Here's another shot.

Next, we replaced the fan with a chandelier in the master bedroom.

I apologize, the glare is pretty awful in this picture.

I snapped the picture at night before it came down.

My husband loves a fan above the bed.  I can't entirely blame him.

With two comforters and a quilt, if I were him, I may be toasty too!

I love to be warm.  So no complaints here.

But fans aesthetically, don't do the job {for me!}

Excuse the missing light bulbs.

We bought the wrong ones.  But you can get an idea!

Take two!

We like the way the chandy pops against the wood ceiling!

Both chandeliers were a steal from Lowes. 

They have a great selection. 

Check it out!

What a difference a little light can bring to your life!

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

well, not quite... yet.

But, we're beginning to see progress!!!

After chatting with the carpenter, we realized that more work needed to be

done, other than cutting out a larger hole to recess the television.

Mantels and trim.  Music to my ears.  I'm a trim obsessed fanatic. 

My gut feeling was that a mantel was in order.

Who doesn't want a mantel in their main living area?

We have one in our basement, but I'd love to hang stockings where they

could be seen more often!

Again, more trim is always calling my name.  I can't refuse.

Ching, ching!

This mantel is an absolute stunner. 

We'd love to have something like this.

We like the idea of trimming out the television just as the above photo has done.

The carpenter has a vision and I'm going with it.

That's scary for me.  Letting go is something I need to work on.

I'll make sure to keep you all updated.

I'm still feeling under the weather,

but it's much to difficult to resist blog land.

chat soon!

*photos courtesy of tiek built homes, uknown

Weekend Wonderland

We've officially had our first snow fall.

While all of the snow has melted since then, I'm beginning to

feel the gusty wind that we Midwestern states become so accustomed to.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the world of retail, too!

Not to mention that every other commercial is reminding me that

we need to begin our holiday shopping soon! 

In keeping with our weekend routine, Rob and I hit up a few antique shops!

This one store in particular is always fun to explore.

Architectual salvage galore!

And a very knowledgeable staff.

Even they were stumped on the kitchen hardware I posted about yesterday.

We strolled around town.

Rocking my Missoni for Target ballet flats.

We then took a drive over to Arhuas Furniture.

 As much as I love their stuff, I can't always get myself past the $ tag.

This pillow was a must though...and I must say the quality is great.

If we get tired of the deer...

...we can just flip it over!

While we were perusing around Arhuas,

we got inspired by these tiny trees made from paper.

We did our best to recreate the trees from memory.

They are probably a bit different, but that makes them even

more special to us.

Here's what you'll need.

A shish kabob stick will work perfectly!

We had terra cotta plant pots lying around the cottage,

so we were ready to go!

Rob's hand not mine...Just saying!

Stack paper of diffenent lenghts and widths and have fun.

You'll eventually end up with this.

Minus the star, of course!

This little project put us in the holiday spirit.

Is Monday rolling around already?

I'm going to take off and enjoy the rest of my Sunday with

the man who keeps me smiling and deals with all of my shenanigans.

The Clock With No Tick Tock

I know, I know...

I've been MIA.

A lot of work and a lot of leaves.

I'll leave it at that.

how are you, friends?

After days of obsessing over our front entry, Rob and I found a clock.

It sure is beautiful.

It's a lovely shade of blue.

It has great little legs.

Glorious carvings.

It's missing one thing, though.

The guts.

Rob and I were sold at first glance.

My mom was not.

Why buy a clock without the mechanics was her gripe if I can remember correctly.

Makes perfect sense.

I wouldn't call the purchase a "steal" but it wasn't antique grandfather clock

expensive either.

Plus, we have plans.  Stay tuned.

We do have the glass piece!

My excitement had me snapping pictures prematurely.

The clock was not our only purchase this weekend.

The boys were hard at work.

Our next purchase was all Rob.

Once in awhile I get a bad case of selective hearing.

Does that ever happen to you?

If I'm in a store where I'm liking what I'm seeing, I hear absolutely nothing.

Rob must have asked me on five different occasions if I liked a particular bench.

I did.

But how much, I'm not sure?

My eyes were too busy wandering around.

He managed to get measurements and buy the bench before I could think twice.

I'm glad he did.  I think it's important for us ladies to let our men have choices in the house they too live in.

It's an old rusty park bench.  I believe it's from New York.

I love the sandstone seat.

We placed the bench in our family room near our bay window.

I think it looks great.

Good job, honey!

The houses on our drive up to this particular shop are jaw dropping.

I wish I had more houses to show you, but the quality of the pictures are lousy.

and Rob's head was in the way :]

I promise I won't abandon the blog for that long again!



Design Block

The last few days I have felt uninspired.

A bad case of design block, one might call it.

Feeling this way and not knowing why drives me absolutely bonkers.

My uninspired mood put a damper on our weekend.

Until today, that is.

Rob had a brilliant idea.  Let's go somewhere you've haven't been before.

Genius.  That boy knows how to make a girl smile.

For the most part, I've hit up every possible antique store in our city.

Or at least I'd like to think so.

How could have I missed these places?

Industrial. Modern. Primitive. Craftsman.

You name it, they got it.

Their use of reclaimed vintage materials is super inventive.

Doors upon doors...

Too many mantels to count...

 Antique bed frames too gorgeous for words!

Ahhh...feeling refreshed, friends!

We were able to snatch up a few things for the cottage!

{antique mailbox}

The mailbox is now hanging in our laundry room!

A great place to throw our keys or misplaced mail.

{architectural header}

Where the foyer and the family room meet...

Where the foyer and dining room meet...

Love how the header is working with the corbels!

The sun was pouring in this afternoon.

So I snapped a better picture of our window treatments.

It didn't take me long to get out of my funk.

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING

ISN'T HAPPENING FOR YOU

 RIGHT NOW, DOESN'T MEAN

THAT IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

.unknown.