A duo of signs...

Hello!

We are approaching the end of The Mister's physical therapy sessions for his leg, and when we went last week I noticed, for the first time, these signs in the parking lot. It reminded me of some of the odd combinations of signs that people photograph and post on Facebook. Well, as you may know I do not do Facebook, so my friends, you are stuck with looking at Sue's Sign Photo.

Am I the only one that sees the humor in this?

Even rehab can be fun.

Life is what you make it.

Have a great day!

A Blue-Eyed Spider and Some Vintage China Plates

Do you remember me? The summer has begun, and of course, I am too busy for words. Or at least, too busy to blog. I still think of you, though!


We have been back from the Wren's Nest for almost a week, and have spent most of the time working on our poor yard that had been neglected for 12 days. Need I say more!


While we were in Hendersonville, we went to the annual Garden Jubilee, and though I purchased a thank-you gift for our friends who watched our house while we were gone, I was so proud of myself for, in addition to a few Iris rhizones, buying only two other things, one of which was something we really needed and I specifically hoped to find there (I will share the other one with you in a future post.)

We needed a doorstop to hold open the door

that goes from the screened porch into

the enclosed porch,

as the wind keeps blowing it shut.

I thought this guy was the cutest little thing,

and he is very good as his task

since his body (a rock)

is quite heavy.

There were all sorts of artisans there,

and I was amazed at how crafty

they all were...

And speaking of clever artisans,

I loved this display of broken china necklaces.

The vendor actually used the plates that she cut the pieces

of china out of to display the pendants that she made 

out of said plates.

If you click on the photo below to enlarge it,

you will see what I mean...

 

We attended this event with our friends who recently bought the unit next door to Birdsong Cottage and had a great day. Of course, this was the only "great" day we had, since most of our time up there was spent doing hard labor on The Wren's Nest. Who can figure? More on that saga later.

I'm hoping that your week has gotten off to a great start!

Our Great Room at Christmas

Good morning. I hope that your week has gotten off to a good start! Continuing with my previous post, here are some shots of our great room.

This beautiful 1800's glider horse sits on top of our 

entertainment center.

Shortly before Christmas last year,

I frivolously took the plunge on eBay winning the bid for it.

I never showed it on my blog because I could not get a 

decent photo of it, and still can't, 

as you see here. 

But it is such a beautiful antique that I am sharing it anyway.

She sits up there all year round,

with different seasonal pieces surrounding her...

This year we decided to go with a small,

4-foot country Christmas tree

which I decorated very minimally.

I purchased it on-line through Walmart.

On it there are tiny star lights 

(LED, and battery-operated) 

strung on beautiful bendable silver wire.

I purchased them on-line from the

baby division of Restoration Hardware...

...and lightly larger ones drape down over

the gifts,

antique galvanized milk box

(remember the days of the milkman?)

and bench.

We bought the milk box in Hendersonville

and I love it because the front of it says

"Willow Brook Farms".

The bench,

which I painted with Annie Sloan 

Chalk Paint (Olde White)

and finished with her clear wax, is one

that you may remember

from this post when it was 

an ugly shade of yellow...

To the left of the milk box is a basket 

filled with birch logs (from Michael's),

greenery, and a twig star

(which was originally a Walmart

tree topper from which we cut off

the red berries).

The basket is actually one that you

would use for serving utensils...

On the tree I put just 12 small mercury glass

ornaments, all different.

They were purchased on-line at Luna Bazaar

found here 

A lovely company to deal with!...

...and some hand-felted small acorns

through Etsy,

and found here...

...and then added about twelve crystal 

ornies. 

Can't remember where I got them, but

I think it was Target...

The best part about trimming this little tree

was that I could sit down and do it,

and then was able to move it to the bench.

This was a real bonus to my back,

which has been aching considerably

lately!!

*******************************

And now, for our big accomplishment of 

the season.

You may recall that a few years ago we 

bought an old black china hutch top 

and installed it over the fireplace.

You can see a post about that here.

It was nice for a time, 

but truthfully I got tired of figuring 

out how to decorate it seasonally

without it looking like it was always 

filled with "chotchkees".

So, Mr. Perch and I, who are

avid fans of HGTV's "Fixer Upper"

decided to rip out the shelving,

take off the top layer of the mantel,

which he had put on to support the hutch,

and add a beautiful piece of wood as

the top part.

He went to about five stores in search 

of the wood, since we knew that

we didn't want something typically found

at a big box store.

There is a wood-workers' store in Raleigh

called Klingspor's Woodworking Shop,

and there he found a beautiful piece of

butternut wood (not the squash!), 

which is also known as

white walnut, and more rare than

black walnut.

He cut it to fit,

sanded it smooth,

and I applied three coats of a wood 

finisher product that they recommended

(not a stain).

And of course, above it he planked the 

wall for a ship-lap look,

adding crown molding at the top.

As with the farm table 

and all of our diy projects, 

DH does the woodworking and building,

and I do the painting and staining.

Fair deal!...

We kept the rest of it simple by adding some

 glittered pine cone branches (bought at Michael's)

 to the mantel (the glitter looks like rock candy)...

...and swagged a glittery star and jute

 garland underneath it...

And since I couldn't find any decent

candle holders, I used, of all things,

two antique wooden bobbins

that I had upstairs in my studio!...

In this photo you can also see that we 

added greenery to 

the tops of the windows

(now minus curtains!)

which flank the fireplace...

There you have it!

Not quite what you would see on those 

beautiful, but heavily sponsored 

and advertised decor blogs,

but home just the same.

Home is where the (humble) heart is!

As ever, thanks for spending this time with me!

Our Dining Space at Christmas

Hello, and how are you?

I had some fun shaking things up a bit with my holiday decorating this year. We were a little slow due to finishing the table and something else, which I'll share in my next post. I thought I'd start with our dining area. Since we have no formal dining room this space opens up into our great room, so I try to decorate it in such a way that it all flows together, and use a lot of (fake) greenery throughout. We wanted to keep it casual, so here goes!

Now you see where those old rakes went.

And in between them is the ladder

that I featured in this post...

Over the sideboard I put up the old frame

that usually sits in our entryway,

and added a wreath that I have had for a 

few years...

I had some fun with the glittery deer garland,

recently purchased on Etsy...

Since we took down all of our 

way-too-formal curtains,

and have not yet decided what will 

replace them, 

we added a garland around the

sliding glass door...

Some greenery on the table,

along with the same candles I used

during the Thanksgiving season...

When I saw the little burlap-covered snowflake ornaments,

I couldn't resist hanging them on the backs of the new

(old) chairs.

The thin burlap ribbon found at Michael's was great...

Do you remember the rakes,

also seen above,

 that I featured here?

They were way too beautiful

to stay outside.

Only normal people use rakes

for their intended purpose!...

Thanks so much for visiting me today!

How are you coming along with your 

seasonal decorating?

Oh, Dear! (I mean, oh deer!)

Good morning deer dear friends! In case you are wondering whether or not I am having some issues with the English language today, read on!

As we were completing our farm table, I started to shop around a little for some Christmas and seasonal decor that would better suit our farmhouse look. I wanted to keep it simple this year and give our spaces a more rustic and casual feel. Before I knew it, and with no real intent on doing so, I found myself leaning towards one particular design element. I guess I don't have to tell you what that element is!

They are on the dresser...

and on wall art...

on a  garland...

on pillows...

on gift tags...

on snack plates...

and even on sweaters...

...and you should have seen the look on

Mr. Perch's face when I jokingly told him 

that I bought this one for him

because it looks like Ollie 

wearing bells and antlers...

Oh, dear, even my cards ended up with

well, you know what!...

We usually have real live deer running around in this neck of the woods

at this time of the year,

but for some strange reason there is not one to be seen.

H-m-m-m...

A snake in the grass, or at least one on the wind chimes!

Good morning!

This is a funny thing. Well, I guess that would depend on how you look at it. A couple of weeks ago Hubby saw our cat Ollie sitting on the back of the settee in the screened porch looking out of the upper part of the screen. Ollie was chattering away, as cats often do when they see a bird. Imagine Hubby's surprise when he looked up...

...and saw this...

Mr. Slither was enjoying a rest

lounging on our wind chimes...

Though snakes are not my favorite beings,

I must confess that it was fascinating

watching him at close range.

We think that he was a Black Snake

and not poisonous,

but did not make any attempt to find out.

Bear in mind that these wind chimes 

are about two feet in height, 

and Mr. Slither was wrapped around them

three times in some spots.

Since I took these photos through the screen, 

they are not very good, 

but I think you get the idea...

After a while he got tired of us staring at him,

especially when Hubby tapped the screen,

and he slithered off.

The snake, not Hubby.

If you look closely below,

you can barely see him in the center of

the photo moving down the thin branch of

the Tardiva Hydrangea bush that is in front

of the screen. 

And he moved like lightening.

This answered our question as to how

he got up there in the first place...

By the way, at our garden wedding,

we walked down "the aisle" to 

Pachelbel's Canon in D.

We bought these wind chimes

because they play that song.

I wonder of Mr. Slither would have danced to the music.

Waterlogue

Hello there!

Recently I downloaded a great app. It's called Waterlogue, is $2.99, and worth every penny. What it does is turn your iPhone photos into a watercolor paintings.

I'm not one to load millions of apps onto my phone, but whenever I hear about a good one relative to photography, I like to check it out.

It's so much fun to load your desired photo into the app, and watch it convert right before your very eyes. First it creates what looks like a pencil sketch of the photo, and then you watch it gradually add in the color, just like a water colorist would do.

Here's an example of what it did to a photo of my newest granddaughter.

 The original photo of Avery...

...and after applying Waterlogue to it...

I plan on trying to use this in some artwork. It's called an app, but I call it magic.  I'll let you know how it shakes out! 

Have you found any sweet apps lately?