Spring Arrives for Deena

Today Spring appeared in the garden. The first Summer Snowflakes (leucojum aestivum), similar to snowdrops, opened this morning in the front porch flower bed. I love this harbinger of Spring and my how they multiply! Last year I pulled many to share with friends and replanted some in the back garden. Looks like we have plenty there also poking up through the hard, dry earth despite the severe lack of rain in our area. I'm hoping those of you who are still buried under snow will enjoy this breath of early Spring........your turn will come soon.

Also today, as for the past few warm days, the robins have returned to eat supper on the lawn and then drink and bathe in the birdbaths. Those of you in the UK, and perhaps other countries, will note that the American Robin is much larger than your sweet little European Robin. Perhaps they are overeating here. Just kidding, this bird is naturally large and is actually a member of the thrush family.


I would like to dedicate this post to Deena at Can I Be Pretty in Pink. This beautiful lady is so brave and gracious as she battles breast cancer. Today, as I write, she is starting her chemo. Many of you already know Deena's story and are praying for her remission. Those of you yet to meet Deena will get to know this lovely, talented artist if you take time to visit her blog.

Deena, because you love living 'nestled in the singing woods', enjoying Nature, I wanted to share these pictures of Spring in the South.

We're all praying so hard for you Deena.

A 'fixer upper' in France!

You may have seen my posts last year about my brother's beautiful home in Southwest France. He and his family relocated to a small French village from London. They love their life in this village of 1100 people. They purchased a large 200 year old village house with lovely gardens and have spent over 4 years renovating a somewhat uncared for property into a gorgeous home.

Last week I found this house for sale in their village ~ if I was 20 years younger I might consider purchasing and renovating too! I would love a little house near my only sibling......near the incredible outdoor food markets.......the brocantes and antiques markets.......next to the olive groves and vineyards. This is hardly in the class of my brother's house, however with a little TLC and a whole lot of back breaking DIY, perhaps it could become a romantic little French home. What do you think?

Description by the owner reads as follows ~

This is a charming 500-year old stone village house that was upgraded with electricity, water and sewer several years ago. 13 klms NE of Carcassonne in the heart of the Languedoc wine country. The decor remains very rustic although I have added double pane windows and wall mounted electric heat to assist the wood stove for heating. The three floor house is located on a tiny rue and consists of 3 rooms in the basement that are now being renovated for the second bedroom, toilet and shower, and the wine cave. The second floor is the kitchen, eating room, and bath with claw foot tub and sink. There is a tiny terrace ample for eating and socializing. Upstairs is a bedroom, sitting room and toilet and soon a second terrace. The village of 1100 residents (which includes MY brother, sister-in-law and niece) contains an Abbey, hotel, bar, bakery and other services, and hosts a number of concerts and other activities each year.

This quaint little house is perfect for artists or writers, or those wanting to live a simple and authentic French lifestyle.

That last sentence says it all as far as I'm concerned. I will now make YOU want it too, all of you who long to live in France (thanks Peter Mayle - your books made it sound such fun), and all who bought and love Kari Meng's The French Inspired Home, Vicki Archer's My French Life, and numerous other decorating books and magazines depicting the glories of the French home from Versailles to.............well, to a little tiny rustic village house like this.....


I'm thinking this is the assigned parking space for the village house. It would require competence in backing up - that's 'reversing' in Europe. Perhaps a colorful armored car, as this appears to be, would be sensible as the houses are quite close together, and those 500 year old stone walls look a lot stronger than the materials most autos are built of these days.

The front entrance and foyer perhaps? Could make it welcoming - and of course we'd all paint that mirror frame white if the owner leaves it behind, wouldn't we?

If this is the sitting room - well there are chairs - I'm a bit concerned about the staircase to get there. This appears to be just like the opening to my top attic which means a ladder and then hoisting oneself up and over - let me tell you, this expends a week's worth of energy for we members of the AARP crowd!
The basement workshop don't you think? To become, owner's words, "second bedroom, toilet, shower and wine cave". Hey man, forget the bedroom, toilet and shower, after looking at all the DIY involved here let's just make it a really big wine cave - we're going to need to store a lot of bottles with which to drown our sorrows if we buy this house before YOU finish the renovation!

Nice armoire though, tall and definitely a French antique - would we, could we, paint this too?
I'm thinking this must be the second floor comprising of, quote, "kitchen, eating room and bath with claw foot tub and sink".

And here it is - recall he didn't say 'bathroom' so perhaps it's really vintage - like in ancient -where the tub was in front of the hearth and one bathed monthy after heating cauldrons of water over the coals!

I really love this area though - no need to faux finish the walls, already done and they're the real thing. The copper cookware is gorgeous, and I've always wanted open shelving so I can grab my EVOO, Balsamic vinegars and sel de mer without having to dig through cabinets with sticky fingers. Hope he throws in the little cupboard, and again I'll be painting the dark wood clock....................help me I think I'm falling, falling in love with a little village house in the South of France. There are craftsmen who build staircases, plumbers who run pipes to real walk-in showers in a room of their own.........bankers who give loans - big loans I fear. Then of course there are husbands - perhaps he'll agree to the chandelier for the bedroom if I promise not to move to France!!!

I'm away to the terrace (to ponder all this) where the owner says eating and socializing is possible - just keep the party small I say. Perhaps my brother would let me invite you all to a real party at his large house with the pool and the garden, the huge rooms and many bathrooms - then you could pop over here for a cuppa with me, one or two at a time. We could ooh and aah over the exposed beams, the stone and real plaster walls, the tile and brick floors.......and hoist each other up into the sitting room or, better still, just trot down to the 'cave' and clink several glasses of local wines - there are some good ones produced in the Languedoc I assure you.
Hope this kind owner, who obviously has done much to start bringing this little house back to life, will leave these chairs. I'm sitting here wondering about him. Is he alone eating that little meal for one - did he have a dream - is the work too much - has he given up? There is potential here for the right person. This could be a home in France. This could be the place to live the simple and authentic French lifestyle.

An Amazing Photographer

OROTHY BLUM COOPER

On Saturday evening we drove North to the small college town of Louisburg, North Carolina. Here, at long last, I met my blog friend, Dorothy Blum Cooper who is just the most amazing photographer...............and a beautiful, charming lady. In the gallery of Louisburg College, Dorothy's outstanding b/w photos, taken in and around New Orleans just prior to Hurricane Katrina, were displayed in her Southern Exposure show. She and her renowned artist husband, Bobby, presented a wonderful slide show in the auditorium. You can view this if you go to her Oct. 27, 2007 blog post and click on Calm Before the Storm at the bottom. Be sure to turn up your sound as the accompanying jazz is wonderful too! You can also visit her web site Dorothy Blum Cooper to view more amazing photos of children she has photographed.

Above ~ One of Dorothy's photos taken in Louisiana before Katrina ~ The Marston House, Clinton

Dorothy, Bobby and their children relocated to North Carolina following Katrina and are renovating an historic home, built in 1890, in the heart of Louisburg. On passing it as we left the college, we immediately fell in love with such a stately Southern house complete with huge hanging gas lamp at the front entrance. I hope so much Dorothy will invite me back to Louisburg some day when she's less busy and allow me to tour her beautiful home.

By the way, Dorothy was not wearing ruby slippers, but she had on the most spectacular pair of high heeled boots!

A Clean Slate

Several friends have requested a step by step of the guest room makeover ~ on a shoestring of course ~ so I'm posting these pics showing the room, now a clean slate, and the rest is up to me ~ yes moi!!!! The job of turning this space into something really more elegant, but cozy, is now my baby!

Hang on a moment please............."bye dh"...................he's just leaving for the NCSU/Wake Forest basketball game, guess seeing desecration of his adored wood is making him run off and leave me to it, brave guy!

OK, before, shown below, there was just too much stained wood ~ or as I've heard recently named 'MANwood'. What a great description! Why do men love this wood treatment so much more than painted finishes? Actually I'm lucky that my wood is really nice for '80's construction, the builder didn't skimp on solid 6-panel doors, baseboards, crown moldings etc. Even the painter said what nice wood and stain was used. But these closet bi-fold doors, and the door to an attic storage space, was driving me nuts and had to go in order to create a more elegant boudoir and make the room look brighter.

So here are the doors now in a rich stone semi-gloss finish ~ the darkest color on the color card below. The walls are the lightest shade, and the medium sandstone color was used in the stairwell and on the landing leading to this room. Love how the doors look and have a plan in the back of my mind to do even more with them later perhaps!

Below is the door into the attic storage space ~ which at this point is crammed with the stuff from the room ~ a real mess. Again, the painted finish has made the door less conspicuous ~ percentage of MANwood dropping at long last!

Below, during Superman Bruce's ceiling makeover ! removing the 'cottage cheese' texture.

Now, the great smooooooooooth and clean ceiling, and freshly painted walls in this warm cream.The dangling things are of course the other 'man thing' in the room ~ the BIG WHITE ceiling fan/light fixture! This room, when finished, cannot have something so modern and ugly ~ it will be screaming for a romantic crystal chandelier. Tell him dear friends, tell him how beautiful it will look ~ never mind possible higher a/c bills in the Summer ~ or having to run a little portable fan if someone sleeping in there is too warm. Life is short, especially when as old as me! I want pretty and romantic, and I want it NOW!!!

~~~~~~~

This armoire goes behind the door to the room ~ such a tight fit and so hard to move in or out ~ and is only really seen if one is in the room with the door closed. It's on my list to paint ~ have decided not to tackle this right now as I needed to get it back into it's space so I have more room to lay out the queen headboard and footboard which definitely will be painted. What's stuck on the door? Another idea I'm playing with involving damask patterned wallpaper and French writing perhaps!!!!

I'm off now ~ primer has dried on the mirror frame I'm refurbishing so on with the paint. Probably won't bore you with more on this room makeover until it's truly made over.

Must plan supper and get a great red breathing and ready to sip....................hope dh's team (NC State Wolfpack) wins. Hope he returns in a good mood and I can win him over on the thought of dangling crystals replacing fan paddles....and romance!

P.S. Anyone else having a problem with 'check spelling' when posting? Mine has stopped working so apologies for any mistakes.

Edit: Just checked with Blogger and see there is a problem and they are working on it, great!

Edit 2: The Wolfpack won - will I get a chandelier????????

Edit 3: Oh no, he wants the Patriots to win the Super Bowl too - the odds are still stacked against me!

It's done - now the hard part!!

moment to spare so I'm here writing another 'to do' list. Superman painter has gone leaving behind a clean slate for me to work wonders with. Can I be this 'wonder worker'? Can I really turn a little American 'new looking' room into my vision of an old and faded, yet elegant, French boudoir?

It will take time ~ but I'm anxious to get started. Forgive me if my posts slow down ~ a lot of furniture painting and treasure hunting to do!

My dh returns this afternoon ~ the carpet cleaner arrives in the morning ~ and I'm dusting myself off, picking myself up, and getting ready to roll, and brush, that ugly furniture.

Here's the guest room on the first day of the renovation. Superman Bruce loves his messy work..........and he doesn't have to worry that I'll be applying for the position! Note his very own vacuum cleaner - such a neat guy who even put in a brand new bag before doing the final clean up this morning - you can come back any time Superman.

The paint colors I ended up with - shown against the off-white wall in the dining room to give you some idea of the shades we used.

Tonight I'll be pouring over the decorating books and magazines again, gleaning ideas and making decisions.

Off to pick up DH from the airport..............................a quick supper on the way home, then light the fire and relax in this dusty cottage while sipping a glass of red and dreaming in French!


Thank you all for visiting this month of January. It's gone by so quickly. I enjoy hearing from all of you ~ every comment or e-mail is so appreciated. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep up with you all ~ so many wonderful blogs to read and enjoy ~ so I may not always write a comment, but I really do pop over to see what's happening in your life.
Enjoy the weekend, and here's to February.

On HGTV it's so simple....and quick!!!

Very sorry, right now you would not be welcomed into the cottage, despite this sign inside my front door. I'd love to entertain you, would have the tea tray ready................but not while the painting is still underway and the entire house appears to be coated in a fine white dust, quite embarrassing! Remember those painful words 'Spring cleaning'? There will be plenty of this required in the next few weeks! Why is it jobs always take longer than estimated? The ceiling makeover (removing the texture, repairing some areas, waiting for the drying process....and more waiting, then two coats of paint) took a day and a half more than expected.............but it looks super nice now, smooth and so clean. Actual painting of walls underway now and a helper appeared as 'Superman' is behind schedule!

Are you like me, do you find it hard to get much accomplished when there are strangers working in the house? I always feel I have to be offering drinks, snacks, lunch, afternoon tea.........perhaps this is why they fall behind schedule........I'm too hospitable!

The upstairs is still inaccessible as the stairwell is being painted now, so today I'm trying to do useful odds and ends. First, ironing the holiday table linens which are still in a pile and have been ignored far too long. Making Magical Leek Broth (those of you who've read 'French Women Don't Get Fat' are familiar with this!) for my supper as dh is out of town, and then perhaps run a dust cloth over the cloudy dining room table.
Just paint rollers whooshing upstairs, and two paint splattered guys talking about beach music and religion - after all this is North Carolina!

Decorating notes for a quiet day.

Found a sample piece of burlap - tied it around a candle with twine - I like it.

Filled a vintage zinc topped canning jar with shredded music - this came as filler in a recent package from sweet Joy at The Hope Jar - I'm loving my scarf Joy, and the Paris and crown tags.

Looking for more old books to add to this pile in my bedroom.
Thinking about and coveting these rather expensive vintage glass knobs snuggled up at SuzAnna's Antiques last week - would be perfect to hang my burnout velvet bedroom curtains but I'd need so many for the bay window.

Organizing altered art supplies.

Tea tray linen cloth I embroidered at age twelve - used at special afternoon teas.

A quick note of thanks to all who left a Birthday greeting for my special cousin, Sue. Your messages crossed the pond and brightened her day.

Sisters AND Cousins Are Special

As children they went away to boarding school together. As teens they learned their craft and both became talented dressmakers. Prior to World War II they worked together here in this beautiful Devon seaside town (click on pic to enlarge) in their father's hotel/pub - two sisters who were very close. They were glamorous ~ they dated famous British Wimbledon tennis players. They lounged on the sea wall wearing cream linen dresses, elegant hats, silk stockings and soft strapped leather shoes.

For their sister's wedding, they lovingly stitched the wedding dress and the bridesmaids' gowns.

My mother, third from the left and her older sister next to her, they were so close. The bride and the sister on the far right are their twin sisters.

They each married during that terrible time of war and, being close sisters, they each had a daughter of their own within nine months of one another. The cousins ~ me on the left obviously throwing a tantrum, while Susan my cousin walks holding the sisters' hands.

Mary & Sue

Torquay Seafront Promenade - 1944

The cousins grew up just a few miles and a bus ride apart. We had no cars but the double decker bus could take us to each other in about 30 minutes. We spent Summer holidays together, looking into the future...........................

................................enjoying girlie pursuits in the house.............playing on the beach, walking the fields on the cliff tops, picking blackberries and hazelnuts from the hedgerows, sharing pennies at the amusement arcade on the pier, you can see it's still there in the first photo above.

In the teen years school kept them busy, then boyfriends appeared. They met now and then. Sometimes hanging out at the one little coffee bar that had a juke box - feeding it sixpences to hear Buddy Holly sing 'Peggy Sue' over and over again.

Johan, Mary, Bob and Sue (seated)

Torquay, England - Oct. 2007

The years have flown by and the sisters, our sweet Mums, have gone. We no longer live a quick double decker bus ride apart. Sue is still there in that lovely English coastal town with wonderful Dutch husband Johan. I am far away across the pond with Yankee Bob. Sue's unable to fly here to see me but I cross the pond when possible to visit with her. We are always in touch - because we are, and always will be, very special cousins.

Today my cousin Sue celebrates her sixty fifth birthday. Where have all those years gone?

Neither of us was blessed with a sister but I'm so thankful we are cousins.

~~~~Happy Birthday dear Sue~~~~