Cornflower Cottage

Beauty Product Reviews

2009-11-10T13:59:00.003-05:00

I have been thinking about starting a regular review column here on my blog. I would like to feature a beauty/skin/hair care item each week and give my review on it and would more than welcome any comments from those who may have tried the product as well. I will be writing a totally unbiased, honest review of the product as I have experienced it and will have before & after photos as necessary.

The first products that I will be featuring are the new Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse foundation and the Maybelline Dream Matte powder compact. The foundation promises "airbrushed natural perfection" and the powder compact vows to "deliver an amazing air soft feel and silky texture" and "will not settle into lines." Will these products live up to what they are promising? Check back this week to find out.

And The Winner Is.....

2009-11-08T20:07:00.002-05:00

The winner of the Kosta Boda tealight candle holder giveaway sponsored by allmodern.com is Christina! Her choice of color was the turquoise.

Thanks to those of you who entered, and congratulations to Christina!

A 1940's Era House

2009-10-31T11:11:00.005-04:00

Above is a collage of some of my favorite rooms and elements in my mom's house which was built in the 40's. I love the character and feel of older homes. They always seem so cozy and welcoming, don't you think?

Modern Love

2009-10-24T19:19:00.005-04:00

I am really into the concept of mixing my cottage style with some modern elements. I used to think that modern style was cold, odd, and/or lacking character. What a fool I was! I am totally crushing on modern style!

Take a look at some of the items I am loving at the moment and the links where you can find them.

Vitra

A cool bowl and pencil holder from Alessi.

All Modern

After browsing the links, I would love to know which modern items caught your eye.

My First Giveaway!

2009-10-24T18:33:00.003-04:00

I am hosting my first giveaway here on Cornflower Cottage. As I stated in my previous post, the item I have to give away is from one of the links I mentioned there. It is from allmodern.com and it is a Kosta Boda Atoll Votive that comes in a range of beautiful colors, which the lucky winner will be able to choose from.

Kosta Boda was founded in 1742 in Sweden and is one of the leading manufacturers of fine art glass and tableware. Their pieces are both designed and manufactured by distinguished artists and glassblowers. The Atoll votive above was designed by Anna Ehrner and is approximately 4.375 inches in height.

The winner will be able to choose the color of the votive and I will list the names for you starting from the top row and continuing down from left to right. The colors are brown, petrol, red, powder pink, lavender, yellow, white, green, blue, black, gray, and turquoise.

This giveaway is open only to residents of the U.S. and Canada. To win, leave a comment on this post along with your name or a link to your blog. Be sure to include the color you would prefer should you win. Only one entry per person is allowed unless you blog about the giveaway. If you do, let me know in a second comment on this post, and that will be your second entry. Make sense? I hope so! This giveaway will be open for 2 weeks from today, and I will announce the winner on November 9th.

Good luck to everyone!

Modern Cottage

2009-10-22T22:07:00.005-04:00

I am so loving the idea of mixing cottage and modern styles together. Does anyone else love the juxtaposition of those two particular styles?

We are in the process of putting up unfinished cedar plank paneling in our family room. So far I love the warm, cottage feel the paneling gives the room. I envision this room with elements similar to those pictured below.

The cedar plank paneling is from Lowe's. I like the cream slipcovered couch from Pottery Barn, although I'm not sure the light color would work for us, but in my idea of a perfect room, I would have to have one. A leather ottoman that would age beautifully and add a different texture to the room, like the one pictured from Emmanuel Georges is a must. All of the gorgeous pillows are from allmodern.com. Their pillows have the coolest graphic designs and colors. I already have two tray tables like the ones pictured above from BackyardCity.com. I am going to paint them an espresso color. I love abstract art, and the print above is by Lisa Kowalski and is called "Gold Swirls." The print can be found on art.com. Last, but not least, is the pharmacy lamp. I need this pharmacy lamp! It is a beautiful work of art in my eyes! My room has to have one! The one above is from The Lighting Shop.

I will be hosting a giveaway this coming week, and I would love for you to come and check out what I have to give away to one lucky winner. The item is actually from one of the links I have listed above. This giveaway will only be available to U.S. and Canadian residents. Stop by Saturday to see what the item is and to enter!

New Camera

2009-10-22T17:44:00.009-04:00

I recently lost my old digital camera which was a Kodak Easyshare. It was a good camera, and I liked it a lot. My husband's job has a safety points plan and with his most recently accumulated points, he ordered a new camera for me. It is a Canon Powershot A-480, as seen below.

I just got it this evening and need to figure out all of the settings and such. I hope that I like it as much (hopefully better!) than my last camera, but I am so happy to have a camera again! My dream camera is a DSLR Canon Rebel XTi.

Does anyone own the XTi? If so, let me know what you think about it. I would love to hear your thoughts, pros and cons, etc.

A Fun Syle Quiz

2009-08-03T21:34:00.014-04:00

I came across an interesting site this evening called Sproost. It is an online furniture and accessory store that lets you shop according to your own personal decor style. The quiz was fun, and it was also very accurate in determining my style. According to my results I am.....

44% Nantucket Style

33% Cottage Chic

23% Rustic Revival

I took the quiz a few times and pretty much came up with the same combination of styles at varying percentages. Give it a try and let me know how accurate your results were.

Icing on the Cake

2009-06-17T10:36:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! It's been a while, huh? Not much has been happening as far as remodeling around here, but that should be changing soon I hope. We won't be able to finish the wood floor in our bedroom. I have found a laminate floor that I like, and we may be using that instead.

I wanted to share a quick and easy recipe that I came across last week. If you are like me and don't particularly care for store-bought cake icing, you might like to try this. It is not too sweet and has a whipped cream consistency and flavor.

1 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Mix water and cornstarch and heat on medium, stirring constantly with a wire whisk, until mixture thickens. Set aside and let mixture reach room temperature.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup of sugar

In a mixer, beat butter until creamy then add the sugar. Gradually add the cooled cornstarch and water mixture and continue beating until light and fluffy.

I think this icing would be good on any flavor of cake, but my favorite is red velvet so that's what I made. I hope if you try it you like it as much as I do!

Lovely Living Areas

2008-11-26T13:08:00.009-05:00

I was browsing through the website House to Home and came across some great inspiration pictures, some of which I posted below. There are so many gorgeous rooms on this site, definitely something for everyone.

I think we may be able to finish our bedroom floor after all. We have some more of the salvaged floor boards and I went through most of it today and found some decent pieces. Hopefully we will be able to find enough to do the rest of the floor. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Have a good day everyone & a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Eva

New Family Room Project

2008-11-22T15:16:00.007-05:00

I am sad to say that the wood floor in our bedroom didn't work out after all. After getting about 3/4 of the room finished, we found the remaining wood to be extremely warped and/or rotted. It was not in usable condition. I thought about finishing the rest of the floor with new oak planks but I was afraid it would look too "new", even after refinishing all of the floor. I didn't want the new part to stick out like a sore thumb. I finally decided to scrap that project and move on. I have been too disgusted with the floors and myself to even blog about it! But I am now ready to dive into another project!

We decided to do the family room because it is a room we use every day and it would maybe serve as inspiration for what we will do with the rest of the house. We decided to panel (yes panel!) the entire room in cedar tongue-in-groove planks. I never thought I would like something like that, but hubs finally talked me into it. We put some up earlier and will do more later.

The planks are about 8 ft. long. The wall in the picture is 12 ft. high. We decided to put up the 8 ft. pieces and then put 4 ft. pieces on the bottom, and we will then put up chair rail where the ends will butt up against one another. Since the ends of our planks aren't tongue-in-groove I didn't see any other alternative that would have looked o.k.

The planks are unfinished and, since I like the color and patina of the wood, I am thinking a matte, non-yellowing poly would be good to finish it with. I will be looking for some inspiration pictures to give you an idea of the direction I am going in with this room.

Wishing everyone a good weekend!

Eva

Out Sick

2008-10-13T16:08:00.002-04:00

We have either a cold or flu virus going around in our household. Last week I had it, my daughter and youngest son have it, and hubby came home early from work not feeling well. Check back with me next week for pics of the floor. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Eva

Remember Me?

2008-10-06T16:09:00.003-04:00

It has been quite a while since I last posted! For the past couple of days I have been reading and catching up with lots of other blogs that I enjoy. I have been working on the master bedroom floor by myself here and there when I get the time, and have almost gotten it finished. I will have pictures of it to post this weekend. I have found some odds and ends for the room in my junking expeditions, which I will show you this weekend as well. It is coming along slowly but surely.
Hope everyone is doing well!

Eva

My Virtual Master Bedroom

2008-08-17T21:30:00.011-04:00

Since we have started putting the oak hardwood floor in our room, I have been thinking about how I ultimately want the room to look when all the remodeling is finished. I went "shopping" online tonight and found some examples of what I would like to do in this room.

First I decided on bedding. I would love white bedding in my room. I'm not sure how practical this will be since we do have children and they like to romp around on our bed. But I do suppose that is what bleach is for.

I would like an iron bed like the one below, except I would prefer it to be weathered, with some rust here and there.

Then I started thinking about wall color. Since I would like to have a serene feeling in the room and nothing too jarring, I decided a warm antique white might be the color I will use.

I have a china cabinet that my mom gave me about a year ago. It was in my living room, cluttered with books, magazines, dusty knick-knacks, and the various odds and ends my kids would throw in it. I am reading "Straight Talk on Decorating" by Lynette Jennings and in it she talks about re-purposing furniture to use in ways other then originally intended. So, I got the idea that I would remove my old, laminated, worn, and ugly dresser and chest of drawers from my room and use the china cabinet for storage instead. I had taken the glass from the doors of the cabinet a while back and was going to replace it with chicken wire. Now I plan to put some bead board panels in and use it for an armoire. I found a color I like at Lowe's last weekend called Crocodile Tears that is a mossy green like the color swatch shown below. I think that is the color I will paint the china cabinet a.k.a. armoire.

I want simple window treatments that will let in lots of light, but still allow privacy when needed. I already have cafe shutters in my bathroom and LOVE them! I would like to use them in my bedroom as well.

I saw these window treatments on walmart.com and love them. Simple and pretty.

It will be interesting to see if this room will turn out exactly as I envision it. Good night all!

Eva

Andrew Wyeth

2008-08-14T21:02:00.020-04:00

I was searching some art sites today and came across these Andrew Wyeth prints. I was immediately attracted to the earth-toned palette and the rural settings he depicted in his paintings. At the same time, I noted a sort of somber, lonely quality about them.
I do really like the prints though. What do you all think about them ?

"Christina's World" is the first print. Christina was Wyeth's neighbor and was afflicted with polio.

The second print is titled "Master Bedroom" and basically depicts a dog's bond with its owner.

The third print is called "Ides of March", the fourth, "Big Room", and the fifth, "Around the Corner".

The sixth print is called "Ground Hog Day". Notice the lone place setting?
I get a melancholy feeling from most of these. Maybe it's just me. Click here to learn more about Andrew Wyeth.

Good night all!

Eva

Cleaning and Organizing

2008-08-10T19:03:00.004-04:00

I have been cleaning out our closets and decluttering for the past week now and I am still not finished! For whatever reason, I have the urge to purge so that's what I have been doing. Hubby has been busy with work, and our partially-done bedroom floor has been neglected, but still I feel productive getting things organized.The floor really needs to be finished and I hope to get it done this week.

I have a few things in mind for our room after we get the floor finished. I'll post some of my ideas and things I have collected thus far. Happy Sunday everyone!

Eva

Renovation Style

2008-07-24T17:55:00.011-04:00

I have been obsessed lately with older houses which have been renovated and retain much of their original architecture. I found all of these rooms on the website of "This Old House".

The renovated bathroom in a 1925 Oregon bungalow. Small space, but looks very efficient.

This is the master bath in a 1963 ranch home. Small, but very pretty.

The owners took out a wall to enlarge the kitchen and painted over the existing fir floor. Notice the 10 ft. high ceiling!

This kitchen, as well as the rest of the home, has 11 ft. ceilings! I love the light, open feeling of this kitchen~the cozy chair would be perfect for a cup of tea and a good book.

There must be something going on with me and high ceilings today. This is a renovated kitchen in a 150-year-old farmhouse in Louisiana. Perfect right down to the cute dog sleeping on the rug!

Eva

Thank You Rechelle!

2008-07-21T19:55:00.003-04:00

I was surprised and honored to find that Rechelle at Walnuthaven Cottage had given me an award for my blog. I appreciate the gesture and have to commend Rechelle for her blog-I love it!

In turn for receiving this award, I am to choose seven others to give the award to. My choices (in no particular order) are as follows:

1. Kim at One Woman's Cottage Life. Her blog was the first I had ever read and I was hooked from the start!

2. Tina at Cherry Hill Cottage. Her home is beautiful!

3.Mari at Guldkant Pa Livet. This blog has wonderful pictures and is so inspirational!

4.Mia at Mias Landliv. Wonderful blog with beautiful pics!

5.Rhoda at Southern Hospitality. Such a beautiful home!

6.Donna at An Enchanted Cottage. Another of my favorites!

7. Niki at Nostalgia at the Stone House. Just found this one and I love it!

Ladies, feel free to choose seven others to give to~or not. Just know that your blogs are wonderful!

Pictures of Floor Progress

2008-07-12T19:12:00.006-04:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to post pictures of the floor. Both Al and I have been busy with college enrollment, financial aid forms, and numerous other things. But we worked for a few hours today on the floor, and we are about half way finished! We like how it's turning out and hope to get it done within the next few days. It sure is hard on the back and knees though~but well worth it!

Come back in a couple of days for more pictures!

Eva

Started the Master Bedroom Floor Today!

2008-06-30T20:53:00.002-04:00

We started putting down the wood flooring down in our room today. It took a lot of prep work to get the planks ready to go down. Al removed all of the old rusty nails from the planks and we scrubbed down all of the planks then waited for them to dry out. We are doing the floors the old-fashioned way-hammers and nails-since we don't have the type of nailer used for flooring. But we are enjoying the process and envisioning the finished product. It's very satisfying to get a major project going since it has been a while since we have done anything to our house.

This is what we have done so far and still have much more to put down. It will be so worth it when it's all down, sanded, and finished!

Eva

Thrift Finds for Jenna's Room

2008-06-25T20:07:00.007-04:00

My Mom and I went to Goodwill on Monday and I found some cute things for Jenna's room.

I found this cute mirror.

And this picture frame.

My favorite find was this Ralph Lauren twin-sized bed skirt. I LOVE the colors! I chose a soft pink called Pink Sunrise for the walls.

Our cat, Lily, has to be in the middle of everything I'm doing!

One of my favorite parts of summer is when the chicory blooms between July and September. I love the color of these flowers-exactly like the color of cornflowers!

Eva

Salvaged Wood for our Bedroom

2008-06-22T17:56:00.006-04:00

Al finally got all of the wood planks up and our 2 oldest sons, Zach and Austin, stacked it on our back porch. We still have to pull out all of the old nails before we can put it down in our bedroom. After we get it down we will sand it then finish it.

I got the notion to get a plank and sand the old varnish off half of it (see pic below.)

Here is the sanded half again....

I had some Minwax Oak Provencial stain from an old project and decided to stain the sanded portion to see how it would look.

I let the stain set for about 15 minutes and wiped it off.

I will probably try a darker stain as well to see how that will look.

All in all I think the floor is going to turn out beautifully. Can't wait to get started on it!

Eva

Wildflowers

2008-06-20T20:10:00.006-04:00

My hubby, kids, and I went for a walk yesterday and I picked a bunch of pretty wildflowers. Just wanted to share some photos of them with you.

The cornflowers and tigerlillys are starting to bloom here. I hope to get some nice pictures of them this weekend. Speaking of weekend, hope you all have a great one!

Eva

Simple, Pretty Rooms

2008-06-18T23:28:00.009-04:00

I was looking online today for some cottage inspiration and came across some rooms that I like.

I like the white cabinets and the farmhouse sink in this one. The three white pitchers are so pretty.

Again, I love the white cabinets and white accessories. I'm not sure if I like the blue shade though.

This room looks so cozy and inviting. Love everything about this one.

I like mix of textures and materials in kitchen. It isn't fancy at all but I think it's beautiful in its simplicity.

The only thing I would change about this bedroom is the small side table. I like the size and the height of the table but I would prefer wood weathered to a soft taupe/gray, or with white, chippy paint ( and a lamp for reading at night.)

This bedroom is simple, sparse, and very clean looking to me. I love the light color palette and the bedding.

Hubby is still working on taking weekend. up the rest of the hardwood flooring next door. Tomorrow will be the last day because the owners will be demolishing what's left of the foundation this weekend.

Goodnight all.

Eva

White and Distressed!

2008-06-16T19:04:00.012-04:00

I am becoming seriously obsessed with the color white. Below is a picture of my mantle that I took today-the picture looks a little wonky. I painted the
candlesticks white and lightly distressed them. I found the cute little bird on the right at a thrift store. It was an orange-y color and I painted it white and distressed it as well. Please forgive the picture quality.

I found these at Goodwill today.

They were sage green with a black glaze and probably would have been fine as they were. But I decided to (you guessed it) paint them white and distress them!

Another pic of them.

There was a house next door to us that was at least 50 years old. You can see it in the pic above, behind Jenna and Ian. This was taken about a couple of weeks ago.

This is what's left of the house. The owners are going to build an A-frame cabin toward the back, behind where the dumpster is sitting. The house itself couldn't be salvaged due to a crumbling foundation and extensive termite damage.

The whole house, aside from the bathroom, had tongue-in-groove oak hardwood floors throughout. One of the owners, who is a friend of ours, told us we could have whatever we could salvage of the hardwood floors so we are going to try to get enough to do our bedroom.

This is what we have so far. Still a lot more floor to take up!

A couple of pics of some of the floor boards. I am so excited to be able to use this in our bedroom!

Happy Monday everyone!

Eva

Makeover

2008-06-12T22:07:00.007-04:00

My mom and I went to get our hair cut Monday. My hair has always been short but I wanted to go even SHORTER!

BEFORE

AFTER

I love it! My husband loves it, too. My 6-year-old son said, "Don't worry Mama, it'll grow back."

Eva

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part II

2008-06-12T21:00:00.011-04:00

Welcome to my second installment of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". Below are a couple of closeups of my kitchen cabinets. These are a laminate finish over particle board which, in my opinion and experience, are not the sturdiest of surfaces for a kitchen or bathroom.

Notice the wear around the edges of the cabinet door. Most of the doors in my kitchen look like this.

See the worn area behind the knob? Again, most of my cabinet doors look like this. I'm not sure if it is from my scrubbing them or what I use to clean them with, which is Mr. Clean or Pine Sol mixed with water.

This is the second bathroom. I've removed the trim from around the doors and tub and put up paintable wallpaper. I don't think I like the blue though. I am going to paint it a neutral color. This is just a temporary fix until we get around to remodeling this room. The door you see in this picture opens to the laundry room.

The door to the hallway is to the left and the door to the laundry room is to my right. The tub is behind me.

The "chrome finish" plastic faucet is cracked and the plastic sink is scratched, stained, and basically horrible-looking!

This is the master bedroom. Right now it is the master of horror! The size is good though and it gets good light.

Another pic. The door you see opens to the master bath and there is another door beside it, to the left, that opens to our closet.

This picture was taken in my room as well. I took one of the strips down and you can see how wide and deep the gaps between the wall panels are. Some are even wider! It is almost impossible to fill these gaps and sand them in order to paint the walls and get great results.

Our room again. The carpet in here was awful! After 3 years of living here all the carpet in the house looked like it was 20 years old. I ripped out the carpet in our room about 2 years ago and just put a coat of porch paint on the subfloor to make do until we redo this room.

The batteries in my camera ran out before I could take pictures of my bathroom and the boys' room. I will have to take those and post them tomorrow. So I guess that means there will be a part III!
Until tomorrow-good night all!

Eva

"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" Part I

2008-06-11T18:17:00.024-04:00

I love where I live and I like the floor plan of my house. The interior leaves a lot to be desired and I wish that we had an extra bedroom and an office. The main thing though is LOCATION. The rest can be changed.
I took a few pictures of my house today. About a year after we moved in, I decided that I was going to take down the vertical strips that cover the gaps where the wallboard panels meet, fill the gaps in with drywall mud, and prime and paint the walls. I have done that in the rooms you are about to see. I am not very satisfied with the results though. Some of the seams that I did were up to an inch wide and very hard to get filled and sanded evenly with the rest of the wallboard. Some of the walls have a "wavy" appearance. So we are going to be installing drywall in every room now. We also installed laminate flooring in the living room, dining room, and family room.

Kitchen pic I. This room will be totally gutted. I hate the laminate cabinets! The flourescent light fixture above the island has got to go!

Kitchen pic II. I like the windows here. I usually keep some plants here but my 2-year-old likes to play in the potting soil.

Excuse the panel of sheetrock leaning against the wall. We are going to replace the window with a set of French doors.

Living room pic I. I see something under the couch.

Living room pic II. There is nothing cottage about this room.

Living room pic III. The china cabinet I have yet to paint.

Family room. My plants are on top of the entertainment center. I think the big TV and entertainment center will go when we remodel and be replaced with built-in bookshelves. I like the wainscotting in this room but when we redo this room I will probably allow hubby to put in the unfinished tongue-in-groove paneling he wants. As long as I can give it a nice whitewash!

This concludes part I of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". It will get worse I promise. Come back for more pictures tomorrow-if you dare!

Eva

An Award from JoAnne

2008-06-09T22:07:00.006-04:00

Sweet JoAnne from Sunflower Meadows has presented to me, along with four others, the Arte y Pico award for our blogs. I was very surprised and extremely honored that she would choose my blog for an award. As I mentioned to her, I honestly didn't think anyone would ever read my blog or take an interest in it so this award means a lot to me. Thank you JoAnne for the award and for your very kind words about my blog. The other bloggers to receive this award are as follows:

Susie from Bienvenue, Joy from Joys of Home, Kimba from A Soft Place to Land, and Penny from Lavender Hill Studio.

I have visited each of these blogs this evening and each one was wonderful. I love that there are so many blogs out there to draw inspiration from and potential friends to be made. Thanks again JoAnne! Goodnight all.

Eva

Jenna's Room & Thrift Store Treasures

2008-06-09T18:11:00.014-04:00

As I promised yesterday, here are some pictures of Jenna's room and the little bit of progress that we have made so far. There isn't much to see yet but hang in there with me guys!

We have the drywall up and one coat of mud on. Two more coats to go. I need to rip out the carpet and padding and pull up the staples. Probably should have done that first, huh?

This chandelier came in our dining room when we bought our home. I am going to paint it white and put a pearl finish over it.

I scraped the popcorn texture off the ceiling. You really can't tell much from this picture I don't think.

We are going to install some type of wainscotting around the room as well, which will be painted white. Her walls will be pink since that is her favorite color. I am thinking a pale, muted pink-not too bright. I have a pine hutch that will go in her room to hold books and toys, and a pine daybed. I am going to paint the daybed because the finish is too orange.

My mom and I went to a couple of our local thrift stores today and I found some cute things.

A cute mini pitcher & bowl.

Four picture frames.

Another pitcher. I love cream or white pitchers.

A pedestal bowl which I filled with pine cones. Shells would be pretty, too.

This rooster was painted gold and silver! I decided to paint it antique white.

Tomorrow I will post some pictures of the pine hutch I have for Jenna's room and some of the things I have bought for her room, as well as some ideas I have for her room. Warning-I will be seeking some advice so come back tomorrow and help me! Thanks everyone & goodnight.

Eva

Remodeling Blues

2008-06-08T14:06:00.004-04:00

While browsing around on the Country Home magazine website, I found a few photos of rooms that I like. I love the light color palettes, the natural light that fills these spaces, and the almost sparseness of the decor. This seems to be the direction I am going when it comes to what I want for my own home.

Tomorrow we are going to resume working on our daughter's room. It has been over a month since we have done any kind of remodeling and we are ready to get going. Al's ankle is feeling better and he can get around without crutches now. It looks like surgery may not be needed after all since his ankle is healing and both bones are still in alignment. I get discouraged sometimes because it seems like every project we start takes ten times longer to complete than what we had planned. I will post some pictures of Jenna's room tomorrow and show you what we have done so far. Until then, I'm wishing everyone a nice, relaxing Sunday!

Eva

Whites & Pastels

2008-06-06T20:34:00.012-04:00

Here are my red photos for the day.

I got this picture from Hobby Lobby a few months ago. I love the red flowers!

This is our turkey, Buster.

I was looking around on the BHG site last night and found some pictures of rooms done in shades of white and soft, pastel colors. I love how fresh and clean these rooms look. However, if I were to do this look in my home the white would quickly turn into shades of gray!

I have a china cabinet that I am using to store my decorating books and some knick-knacks. Here is a picture of how it looks as of now.

I want to paint it cream and put chicken wire in place of the front glass. My husband would prefer it to be black. I have taken off some fruit and flowers that were decoupaged on the bottom doors and have it sanded and ready for paint. Should I use a primer on it first? I haven't painted furniture before and I really want this to turn out good.

I think I am going to make myself a hot cup of tea and grab "Under the Tuscan Sun" and snuggle down in bed. Goodnight everyone.

Eva

I'm Seeing Red

2008-06-05T19:43:00.007-04:00

I was out running errands today and took this picture of my son, Ian, in front of the fountain in town wearing his red shorts.

Some cherries I had for a snack today.

Relaxing outside at my Mom's eating a cherry popsicle.

Eva

Red Wednesday!

2008-06-04T21:34:00.010-04:00

Hi everyone! Here are my photos taken today for I Saw Red week....

This birdhouse with the red roof hangs outside of my bathroom window.

Crocs-you either love 'em or hate 'em. I find them comfortable and good for working outside.

I took this picture while waiting in the drive-thru at McDonald's this afternoon.

Last, but no least, a picture of two red-heads. This is me and my daughter Jenna. I couldn't resist putting this one on here.

I have been over to Sadie Olive's blog this evening and looked at her red photos and those of other bloggers who are participating and saw some great pictures. Very inspiring! I will be keeping my eyes open for more red photo opportunities tomorrow.

Eva

Starting Over & Red Inspiration

2008-06-03T20:44:00.007-04:00

Hi folks! I had to start over from scratch with my blog-thankfully I had only posted about six times so not much was lost. My previous blog's name was Cottage Dreaming and I had found another blog with the same name, so I decided to change mine to Cornflower Cottage, wanting to be original you know. I had some issues with the URL on my old blog, it was actually under the Lavender Lane URL and when I typed my blog address in as cottagedreaming.blogspot.com, the original blog would show up, not mine. By the way, the original Cottage Dreaming blog is great so check it out. So after much confusion and derision I decided to start over.

On my sidebar you'll notice the link to Sadie Olive's I Saw Red week which began on June 2nd and will last through June 8th. Since red is my favorite color, you know I'm in! I have yet to post a picture of something red but I think I have something in mind. Stay tuned....

Eva

Edited to add: I just figured out why the mess with the URL thing happened. I didn't notice until just a few minutes ago that under Settings/Publishing there is a place where you can type in a URL and check it for availability. I can't believe I missed that! Aaahhhhh!!!!

My Cottage Style

2008-06-03T20:13:00.007-04:00

My husband, Al, and I are beginning the process of renovating our home. We live in a 1,600 sq. ft. manufactuMy hred home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, which we bought new in November '02. We like the floor plan of our home but everything else must go, e.g., vinyl-covered wall panels with the vertical strips, laminate cabinets, nondescript light fixtures, cheap hardware and faucets, cottage cheese ceilings, etc.

We have begun drywalling in our 2-year-old daughter, Jenna's, room and I have scraped the cottage cheese texture off of the ceiling. Not easy work! Al and I both like cottage style decor. He goes for the more rustic style and I like rustic as well and a little of everything else-coastal cottage, European cottage, romantic cottage....Did I miss any?

I posted some photos above that I found at cottageliving.com that inspire me. Maybe they will inspire you as well.

Eva