Enjoying Summer Days

It’s now the last few weeks to open our windows and doors here in the Pacific NW and enjoy the sunshine and blue skies. Soon rain, fog and grey skies will arrive. Here at Corner Cottage we are trimming back bushes, cleaning gutters, sealing old windows & beginning to look for firewood. As nights go from mildly cool to nippy rather quickly

Annie is enjoying resting & listening to the sounds of DogTV before mom & dad begin indoor projects for fall & winter. Bathroom remodel begins in September! More pics to follow :) 

We have a few more things to do on our summer bucket list like berry picking, going to see a local lighthouse & state park & go digging for oysters which the terriers are great at ! Haha

Josie Kate just won a pet contest with approx 12,000 entrees. She received a gift card and is in the McLendons flyer this week. If you live in WA you’ll have to check your mailbox. It’s too cute! 

For those of you not in WA here is the ad. & below a pic of her at the store. This is her 4th time winning a money prize in dog competitions. she is helping earn her keep & fix up this old house :)

TV Solution

The dreaded TV. My husband and I added the TV package when we bought our house so that we could hide the cords in the walls (YAY). We did however debate for awhile on what wall to put it on. He of course wanted it front and center and I did not! I finally caved but I was determined to find a solution to hide the TV when I wanted to. (And don‘t tell my husband but I am so happy we put it where it is so he was oh so right). So the search began! 

I started searching everywhere on the internet to find an easy stylish solution for hiding our giant black box. I finally came across one photo of a map and the description was talking about maps in front of a TV. Brilliant right!? I started searching and couldn‘t find anywhere that someone had actually tried this. Only that one small mention. It is so simple I was shocked that no one had really tried it! I was definitely game. I searched for awhile for a map that I liked. It had to roll up and down, I wanted something with subdued colors with an antique feel (or of course an actual antique). It also had to be big enough to cover the entire TV. I finally came across this one on ebay, a 1958 Denoyer-Geppert pull down cloth map, and I bought it immediately! Ahhhhh so excited! I couldn‘t wait for it to come in! I loved it immediately when it came. Now I just had to wait for the house to put it up. Did I mention I have no patience when it comes to decorating!? Waiting was torture.

As soon as we got the house it was one of the first projects we tackled (because I just didn‘t want to wait haha). Seriously, this was so easy! We bought a 2×4 from Lowes and I painted it with Annie Sloans Graphite chalk paint so that it would look like a part of the map. We had to mount it on a piece of wood so that it would stick out from the wall far enough to pull down over the TV. I painted it and waxed it. After that my husband measured, leveled and screwed it up on the wall. Once that was done it was super easy to screw the map up straight into the wood. 


So that is it. An easy and great way to hide that big black box when you don’t want to see it! It turned out exactly how I wanted. 

Here is a few pictures of my living room decorated for the Fourth of July with the map front and center! 


A Room for Macy

My daughter decorated her room, all by herself :). I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, and thought her room turned out beautiful! She wanted a white and tiffany blue room, with a beachy feel. She created a gallery wall with a variety of teal and white cottage frames. Rivulets Quilt from Anthropologie. Throw Pillows ~ Target & World Market. Fabric for Headboard Jumbo Aqua Stripe ~ New Arrivals, Inc. New Arrivals Custom Pom Pom Curtain Panels. Bedside Table ~ Homegoods.

My Beach House Remodel

Home Entry
This is a full shot of our entryway, living room & gallery wall.  

Front Doors 
Solid Pine Knotty Adler Custom Doors with wrought iron grills.  Mexican Tile Border from Latin Accent Tiles.  #frontdoors

f

Foyer 
For our entryway, we add large pine front doors ~ My favorite part of the remodel! Rug from Anthropologie. Foyer tile from Tabarka Tile. 

Sunburst Mirrors ~ Ballard Designs & World Market.  Lamp Homegoods.  Cabinet Pier 1.

Gallery Wall

A collection of old and new photos. #gallerywall


Dining Room 

Chandelier Aiden Gray Home. #chandelier

Hallways

Family Room

Our den is a large open space and connects with our new kitchen. Features slipcovered white furniture (the ONLY way to go with kids!) #slipcovered #den #familyroom

Living Room
Slipcovered linen sofa.  Rustic accents.  Area Rug ~ West Elm

New Kitchen 
Backsplash is Tabarka Tile, white custom cabinets, butcher block island top, marble countertops.  Stools from Home Decorators.  #kitchen #remodel

Built In Subzero frigerator, Lighting over island from Park Hill Collection.


Farmouse kitchen sink from Kohler. Pendant light Currey & Co.


Eat In Breakfast Area



Hallway 

Filled with cottage armoire photos & beach knick knacks.  Diamond jute rug from Homegoods.

Master Bedroom

Closet


Master Bathroom
Sign from You & Me Signs (etsy store).  Mirrors Ballard Designs.  Sconces Cyan Design.

Linen Pom Pom Curtains ~ New Arrivals, Inc.  Wooden Curtain Rod ~ Anthropologie.  Chandelier ~ Cyan Design.
My Daughter’s Room


Jack & Jill Bathroom



Guest Bathroom



New Laundry Room

I did shiplap walls in my Laundry Room ~ Love them! Tabarka floor tile & laundry sink from Kohler.  Custom cabinets ~ handles from Anthropologie.

Sign from House of Belonging (etsy store).

Land of Sunshine Sign from New Arrivals, Inc.

Exterior


Pool

My Maltese, Harley :)

Our home is located in Atlantic Beach, Florida a couple of blocks from the beach, in the “Oceanwalk” subdivision.  Oceanwalk is a beach side community with over 250 homes and is only a bike ride away from the Beaches Town Center ~ a collection of shops and restaurants.  
See more on my website:  



A Drive-By Through My Neighborhood

      I am lucky enough to live in a historic neighborhood in the Midwest that is known for its beautiful homes.  Here is just a sampling of the houses I see on my walk every day. The English tudor style is probably the most common type  I see.  Very classic, don’t you think?  (My house is definitely not this big!) While most are classic architectural styles built in the early 1900s, there is one mid-century modern home in the midst of all of these. While I always thought it looked out of place, it is growing on me (maybe it‘s the Mad Men influence, I don’t know!). Note the cool blue door.

      I also noticed four traits that attracted me immediately to a house: 1) a striking front door, 2) symmetrical accents that highlight the entrance, 3) detailed, contrasting trim, and 4) landscaping that is trimmed back so that the house can easily be seen. 

      The next two photos show more of the  tudor style, followed by three with Spanish influence, three Georgian Revival, and three traditional Americana (my personal favorite). Next is the mid-century modern home (I just had to include it) and finally, my own house, a 1930s, much smaller tudor cottage (ignore the peeling paint on our neighbor‘s house). 

      Take a leisurely walk, and enjoy the tour . . .

Our Newlywed Apartment

I got married in June of 2014 and my husband and I moved into an 800 square foot apartment (one bedroom, one bath, serious lack of storage space and beige everything). It wasn’t my first apartment since I spent four years away at college getting a degree in English, but it was the first apartment where I got to pick every decoration out myself. And by myself I mean with my husband, because he actually has great taste and works at a furniture store that receives overstock items from places like Pottery Barn and West Elm. 

The apartment is far from my “dream home,” but I love that we have a place of our own and that we’ve been able to make so many memories and make our first big decisions as a couple here. It’s not magazine-worthy or professionally decorated, but I’d love to get some feedback and be able to share our space here. 

The navy pillows are made from Dwell Studio’s Ming Dragon fabric and they required a lot of patience on the part of my grandma because I’m not anywhere even close to being a seamstress. The black-and-white prints above the couch were my solution for decorating a big empty wall on a small budget. I bought poster frames for $10 a piece and tried to artistically crop a couple of wedding photos. The third photo was taken at my husband’s great-grandparents’ old farm in Idaho, so it has sentimental value. 

I would have loved to paint the walls white or light gray since they’re north-facing and we don’t get a lot of sun, but since we’re renting we would have had to re-paint everything the original color when we moved out and it wouldn’t have been worth it.

The large decorative jars, along with the trio of masks hanging on the wall, were purchased by my husband while he was living in Guatemala on a two-year church mission. 

This is an old photo taken shortly after we moved in and we’ve replaced some things since then (namely the “coffee table” that I bought at a thrift store and re-painted and the “rug” that was actually a blanket we bought in Mexico on our honeymoon), but it does show our “tv stand.” My husband found a dresser on an amazing clearance sale and drilled holes in the back for cords to run through. He also removed the back of one of the drawers so our cable box could fit inside.

The kitchen is one of my favorite spaces. It’s small, so we picked out this counter-height table and my parents gave it to us as our wedding gift. The canvas on the wall is by Lindsay Letters and the runner is from Guatemala.

I’ve done my best to decorate with things we already have. The blue jar was made by my grandmom and is a nice sentimental piece since she passed away before I was born, the gold letters are from our wedding reception, the silhouette is from a trip to Disneyland with my family right before we got engaged, and I did the oil painting in an art class in high school. 

The bathroom is definitely the hardest space of our apartment to decorate/photograph. I painted the ombre and gold leaf canvas in about 5 minutes to add a little color and the botanical prints visible in the mirror were free art I found online. 

The bedroom is the least-finished of all our spaces (probably because nobody ever really sees it and it also corrals all the stuff we don’t have storage space for anywhere else). This was before we had nightstands.

This is obviously from Christmas . . . but it shows our new throw pillows. 

And this is definitely the worst photo of all since I snapped it on my phone at night . . . but here’s our balcony. I found the table at a thrift store and painted it green. The rug and chairs were on a huge clearance at Target. I put everything together quickly one night before my husband got home from work to surprise him. Not perfect or elegant, but we love it.

We’re so excited to have our own house at some point (and are actually moving out of our apartment next month and in the process of searching for one), but I’m so happy with what we’ve been able to do in this little space. 

Everyone Needs a Nap Room

At first glance, this room might be considered too small to be of much use.  I beg to differ.  This, being the most excellent nap room, is the most sought after space in our home!  Just big enough to fit the comfiest sofa with cushy pillows and throws. A bit of extra space for tall shelves, with books and magazines for when you want a read a little before nodding off.  A corner given to a small desk for some online shopping when you stretch your arms and wake up…   I’m getting sleep just writing about it. 🙂

Transforming a fixer upper -- Plaster & Disaster

The fixer upper adventure

How fun! My husband and I bought our first home this past fall, and are so excited to be embarking on this new adventure. It’s in decent shape, but needs a lot of aesthetic work (every room needs to be painted, we have bright blue kitchen countertops, etc). We’ve made it through a few rooms so far, but there’s lots more work to do as we make it our own! At the same time, my friend and I got this crazy idea that we should launch a blog together to chronicle the good, the bad, and the ugly as we both make over our fixer uppers (and work full-time jobs). Thus was born Plaster & Disaster (www.plasteranddisaster.com). So excited to see where the future leads!

Scentsational Coffee

You know what I do when I’m needing to get myself all motivated to do anything around the house? I turn on my coffee pot. I brew coffee. I SNIFF coffee. I like to drink it but the honest truth is I like smelling it and holding the hot cup even more than drinking it. And of course, I love making my coffee station all pretty and even the sight of it is a motivator to keep my counter clean :). This is one of my favorite daily rituals!