Before & After: Deck the Halls

Before & After: Everything Old is New Again

A 1905 cottage needs a 1905 fireplace, so the 60's tiles had to go!

Before & After: A New Loo Makes Two

From one long, awkward bathroom to two modern shower rooms - this transformation was easier than you'd think!

Before & After: When is a Fireplace not a Fireplace?

Before & After: Let the Sunshine In

Before & After: Kitchen Do-over

This is the first of my "before and after" series of posts - seeing the progress is a great motivator for those future projects!

Painter of Light

I've always had a fascination for cottages, going back to the fairy tales that my mother would read to me at bedtime. The moment that fascination turned into a full blown obsession would be my first time seeing a Thomas Kinkade painting -

                                       "Moonlight Cottage" by Thomas Kinkade

From that day forward, I've been hopelessly in love with cottages, as well as this artist's work. Every Christmas we watch "The Christmas Cottage", a biographical film about the early life of Thomas Kinkade. 

If you've ever seen one of his paintings, the thing that jumps off the canvas is the use of light. There's a warm, welcoming glow in the windows which earned Mr. Kinkade the title of "Painter of Light". It draws you in and makes you want to see inside. 

Long before we found our little house, in fact, long before I lived in Ireland I dreamed of living in a home bathed in that same warm glow. So that's my long term goal for our home - to pay homage to the Painter of Light himself by using his paintings as the inspiration for our own cottage. 

And now you know the inspiration for the name of our home - Moonlight Cottage.