November Giveaway

This snowman make-do is made from an old mill spool, styrofoam ball, wall mud, and magical snowflakes. I threw in some jingle bells, homespun, a cinnamon snowflake and an old sock. A generous helping of glass glitter makes him sparkle inside and out. Visit my prim blog to sign up for a chance to win the "cool" fella.

http://www.theoldcupboarddoorblog.com/

My Autumn Porch

I have noticed that many bloggers have Christmas graphics on their blogs already. I'm just not ready to start that season yet even though we have had a whiff of snow and the weather has turned grey and cold. There is still some color left in the trees so I want to continue to enjoy this season of the year.  Since it was a cool sunny day I got out to do some work in the yard. I gathered up most of the flower pots and dumped the dirt from them into the garden. I stored the pots and other garden knick-knacks in the room above the garage. Whew! I'm glad that is finished! While I was out I decided to snap a few photos to share here at Maywood Cottage.

My poor porch seats are in need of some attention. Since the season of enjoying the outdoors on the porch is coming to an end I think I will bring the seats and fabric in and try to finish them this winter. I purchased the fabric last year intending to make new seat covers this year but I was gone most of the spring and summer and, as you can see, didn't get "aroundtoit". So, I wrapped the fabric around the seats and as soon as it's to cold to sit outside I will bring them in and hopefully get to work on it.

I found this dry sink at a swap meet just up the street. I have been looking for something like this to put on my porch. It needs a new coat of paint ( I will get "aroundtoit" sooner or later) and some new knobs. At this point I think I will paint it green, a vintage green but I may change my mind by next spring.  The top is marble. We need something we can set our coffee on...or tea.

Another thing I would love to do is stain the concrete on the porch.  I would love a warm color to add some depth to that space.  It also needs an outdoor rug...so many things on my list of things to do.

My Sweetie and I enjoy having our coffee at this little table in the corner of the porch. Sometimes the grandbabies come up for a snack and this is a perfect place for them. We enjoy our porch through most of the seasons. We even sit out and enjoy the snow during the winter. With a cup of hot cocoa, coffee or tea, its a perfect place to enjoy watching a few flakes fall.

Those are some hydragas from my flower gardens.  They have such lovely colors this time of year.  I've put them into a copper watering pot. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Til next time.....

~willa~

Autumn at Maywood Cottage

Autumn is my favorite time of year. The only negative thing about autum is that it is to short. There is so much to enjoy about this beautiful season. One of the things I enjoy doing is sitting on my front porch with a cup of coffee and a good book. Of course, SadieMae, our border collie won't let me sit out there by myself , she is hot on my heels when she sees me headed to the front door. I love driving up into our driveway this time of year and seeing the lovely colors of fall. This is a view from the bottom of our driveway. We had the driveway paved this week so those big ugly rocks have yet to be covered with some dirt.  That will be a spring project.

This is a view from the front porch. I hope to find the time to decorate the porch with the "decorating fixens" of this season. I haven't picked up one pumpkin yet. I will be sharing the finished photos once I have the decorating complete...I just hope it happens this year.

Another photo from my porch. This is the East view. Last year construction began on our neighbors house. The lot has been empty since we built here and we hoped to buy the lot at some point but it wasn't up for sell until we didn't have funds to buy it. It was bought by the vice principal of one our high schools.  Fortunately we have enough trees inbetween us to enjoy some privacy. Our property has almost 4 acres and most of it is wooded. I enjoy this place through all seasons.

This is a view off our back deck. There are lots of maples and oak trees that make up our wooded property. In the spring we enjoy wild dogwoods and redbuds. It's a beautiful view through all the seasons.

That's Maywood Cottage's Fall life.

Til next time...

~willa~

Autumn Blessings

Happy Autumn Blogger Friends! I wanted to share my Autumn tree here at Maywood Cottage. I've been wanting to put one up for 3 or 4 years but each year went by without one. Last Saturday I finally pulled a tree down from storage and dragged out a few decorations I have been collecting for the past few years. One thing it is missing is a few hand made items.... of course you know I will be working on those. I am on the lookout for some fun lights to add too. Ahh, an excuse to go to Hobby Lobby, which recently opened in Winchester, about a 30 minute drive from here.

I wrapped the base in a piece of burlap. One of these days I will make a skirt from canvas and paint it...one of these days.

Aren't these acorn bells darling? I found them at Hobby Lobby....I gotta go back!

I am enjoying this cooler weather! The leaves are starting to put on their lovely colors in our area. This cooler weather energizes me so I am hard at work painting and finishing projects around the house.

Update on the kitchen. We finally have finished the backsplash. I chose to use beadboard and my darling sweetie installed it for me. I will be sharing photos of our progress soon. Our next project is the dining area. I'm trying to decide between board and batten or beadboard. I hope to finish it before I leave on my next trip. .

Till next time

~willa~

Beadboard Backsplash.

Finally a day off! I've been working 56 hour weeks and appreciate this day off....immensely. I'm spending part of the day researching ideas for the bead board back splash I want to add to the kitchen. I've come across a few pictures that are inspiring and want to share them with you.

In my search for ideas on using bead board as a back splash, I came across a few articles that mentioned how difficult it is to clean the bead board; that was a discouraging piece of information, I needed options. Since the stove area has the most potential for making a mess on the back splash I've been considering what to use in this area. While on a shopping trip to Lowes I noticed some metal tile panels and thought they would make a great piece to go behind the stove. Lo-and-behold I found a photo where the home owner had incorporated this idea. It makes a great transition between the bead board panels; problem solved. Isn't this beautiful?







Before I left on this trip I had a little chat with my sweetie about the back splash, I showed him how far up on the wall I wanted the back splash to go. He stood a moment looking rather puzzled that I wanted the back splash to go that high and couldn't seem to compute the concept. Well, now I have a photo to show him. I love how high this home owner has placed their back splash. The layout of this sink area is much like my kitchen, with the window size and placement as well as the cabinets.




I love how this has been trimmed out. I was reading that you should use tile for the trim around the sink area. I need to research further but I would think that using regular trim and caulking well would be OK. But, I'm new to all of this and certainly don't want to be redoing something a year down the road. Any ideas?

Ooops, my slip is showing....

I wasn't going to do this but decided to show my countertops even though everything is still under construction. In doing this, I kinda feel like I'm letting my slip show. The outfit has been picked out and donned to perfection, with all the accessories fitting to a T but then there's the slip showing inches below the perfect hemline. Oh well, we are all only human, right?



My son, Nick, took these photos. I hate to complain but I sure wish he had "fixed" "doctored" "hid the unperfection" before he sent them to me. I'm out of the area and on my laptop which doesn't have the program I use for cropping and doctoring the photo before I post them. And I would have liked a different view. But, I am grateful he sent them to me and that I can share my mess with you all.



The cabinets have been painted, the jewelry has been added, what remains is to add the bead board back splash and the painting. I'm a happy camper that we are almost there. So, any ideas on what color I should paint the beard board. I'm thinking the same color as the wall, or the same color as the top cabinets.....but, I'm not convinced that is what I want. What do you think?

Oh, by the way, I am seeing what you see. I have not seen these counter tops installed nor have I seen the finished colors on the cabinets. After all the flak my Darling Sweetie gave me on the choice of the cabinet colors, he has said that everyone who has seen them said they look wonderful, including him. He was surprised that they turned out so well. Before he finished painting the lower cabinets, he had a little anxiety about painting the bumpout (below the kitchen) sink the same as the upper cabinets but he said it turned out to be perfect. Why does he ever doubt me.

Did you notice we installed an instant hot water fixture? That was my Sweetie's reward for be so agreeable to this change, even though he was worried.

Getting the low down on paint.....

Before I started my "kitchen project" I read as much as I could about painting kitchen cabinetry. There are many sites online where one can glean this information. Some say "clean, sand, prime and paint", the others say "use tsp, deglosser and paint. Well, I have tried them both. I first started with "use tsp, deglosser and paint". That didn't go to well, it was time consuming, stinky and I had to use more coats of paint. My sweetie and I followed the directions on the deglosser product and in my humble opinion it didn't degloss enough. Ok, let's try the other "painting expertise". Clean, sand, prime and paint....works much better. My expert suggestion in this (expert because "I" made the mistakes and learned from them); if you have a low gloss finish (this is for stained and varnished pieces) clean with tsp, sand, use a light coat of primer (if you are going with a dark color have your primer tinted), and paint. If you have a high gloss piece use the deglosser (but clean with tsp first), sand prime and paint. By the way, Benjamin Moore makes a great paint, with low VOC and they will color match for you. Another by the way, TSP is a cleaner; it cleans the grease and grime from the wood. We all know if any grease or grime is left on the wood, the paint will chip off from that area.

My second suggestion is...expect the project to be time consuming! Unless you have a really small kitchen with very few cabinets and drawers, it will take several days to complete; if you work full time like I do, it might take a couple of weeks to complete; if you travel like I do, it might take a couple of months to complete. But, you know I can't leave you on a negative note, stop dreaming about it and talking about it, take the plunge. I'm not finished with the project yet but I'm already happy with what I am seeing.

Final suggestion; before you start, pull all your thoughts together for this project. Make your decisions on the color and style you want and finalize them. This will minimalize second guessing yourself. Second guessing myself has been the biggest problem and frustration I have encountered in this kitchen redo. It's hard to have a sense of peace about anything if you are playing the second guessing game.

My lower cabinets were one of the things I kept second guessing myself on. I finally chose a Valspar color called "Fired Earth". This color is a deep chocolate color that is brown-black. I love it! I plan to paint a couple of chairs with this color and a dresser. It is deep and rich, exactly the color I was hoping for.

I hope these suggestions help you. If you have any questions or just need some encouragement because you are in the middle of a kitchen redo, send me an email, I'm here to help anyway I can.