Beaming with Pride

Anyone who knows me can't be too surprised that I ended up in an Irish cottage with a purple door and a white picket fence.  Those people will also not be surprised at our latest addition -

WE'VE GOT BEAMS! LOTS OF BEAMS!

Sitting Room

Sitting Room

Sitting Room

Hallway

Hallway

Kitchen

Kitchen

Our builder extraordinaire, Anthony, made quick work of this project! I stained the beams the day before he and his assistant did the installation.

Every Blooming Thing

The summer in the garden has had some ups and downs.  Let's start with the highlights:

New roses this year. Here we have David Austin's "Mary Rose" English shrub roses. 

The lavender hedge is maturing nicely. 

Starry Night petunias

A lovely "Shirley Temple" peony.

Our bird feeding station.

This hydrangea is called "Curly Wurly".

Our fire pit

This shrub rose is named "Winchester Cathedral ".

"Ebb Tide" English rose. 

Purple perennials.

Now for the unpleasant part -

Our beautiful Norway spruce tree that canopied the cottage... 

...fell ill and had to be taken down. 

I cried that entire day, to be honest.

Hard to see, but there's a guy in the tree cutting limbs.

 Just a bit of the trunk peeking over the roof.

 Some of the bits and pieces.

Nothing left but the stump.

 Proof that it was TRYING to live. New growth, but not enough.

I planted a willow tree nearby, in hopes for a new canopy in a few years.

Curb Appeal

Springtime to me means gardening. We've done nothing up to now to enhance the front garden, which is really just a little patch of grass. 

 

It's an awkward patch to mow, and doesn't really add to the curb appeal, SO --

 

 

Out with the grass, and in with the gravel! Normally I wouldn't prefer a hardscape over greenery, but over the summer this area will be transformed into a proper cottage garden. I'm still in the design phase, but stay tuned and I'll post more pics of the progress.  Wish me luck!

Going Grey

The final task has been done in regard to the exterior renovation.  The yellow paint is finally gone!

We considered so many colours since moving into the cottage.  I liked the idea of a lavender facade to go with the purple door, but that was just a bridge too far for my hubby.  I had to rethink my choice in favour of a more gender-neutral shade that wouldn't scream "a little old spinster lives here", so our next thought was a white house with black trim. Like the tudor houses in the English countryside, but after looking at quite a few white houses we decided that it was a bit too plain for us.  The next choice was a bit funny in hindsight - YELLOW.  I know, it was already yellow, but as Hubby found out in our lengthy discussions, I didn't like the "buttery" yellow.  Too orangy, too bright, etc.  I kept telling him I wanted a fresh yellow.  A pale, lemony yellow. Not too bright, mind you.  We passed hundreds of yellow houses and he would ask, "Is that the yellow?"  After getting the same answer a number of times, he changed the question to, "What about that? Too buttery?" Our friend, Dawnette, was visiting from the states and she was witness to the Great Yellow Debate.  So she was naturally surprised to see the stonework on the front. "I thought you were PAINTING it!"  she said.

After the stone cladding went up, it really made the paint look that much worse.  So thanks to our talented friend Deccie, we have a lovely shade of Cloud Grey on the remaining walls, chimney and window sills.  It's fresh, it blends well with the stone, and it really defines the essence of Moonlight Cottage. Next project is some additional landscaping, so I'll be back with pics of that project soon!

It Must be a Sign

My latest project was to make a sign for our cottage. After pondering several options, I came up with an idea to put the cottage name on our gate.  I found a secondhand table and painted my design on the top. 

I started with a base coat of primer

         Sketched my design in pencil 

     Filled in detail with black paint

     I added purple to match our door

The finished sign attached to the gate

Improving the View

As promised, I'm posting the finished potting bench. This started out as two panels to conceal the gas tank. This was the view out the kitchen window -

And thanks to my hubby Seamus, here's the new view -

Already loving it, and the bench was made from all recycled bits from the shed!

He's my Handyman

I absolutely love men with DIY skills, and my hubby has them in abundance! He will try anything, and always jumps in and gets projects done FAST! I couldn't ask for a better handyman. Here's what Seamus is up to today -

It may not look like much right now, but I promise that it's going to be amazing!