Christmas at A Joyful Cottage

 Hello Cottage Friends,

Are you finding time to relax and enjoy this beautiful season? I hope you are. Although I've been working a lot of overtime, I do find time to curl up with a cup of tea and listen to Christmas music, or watch a favorite Christmas movie. This week I watched The Nativity Story. Such a beautiful depiction of Jesus' birth.

I've also enjoyed some gnome crafting, because every cottage needs at least one gnome. This gnome found his way to my son and daughter-in-law's home.

And this gnome has found a home on my kitchen windowsill.

The green glass and bunny tin are thrift store finds.

Bunnies are a bit of a theme this Christmas.

A real bunny, who looks a lot like the one on the plate, visits quite often. Here he (or she) is outside my next door neighbor's home.

The winter scene is an original that I found at Goodwill for $5. The decoy, dressed up with a festive bow, was purchased at an antique store years ago.

I've recently developed an interest in thrift store silver trays like the one in this photo. I think it looks so pretty paired with the bottle brush tree, and the mercury glass votive holders, also thrift store finds.

I found this Merry Christmas wall hanging at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. I like how it repeats the buffalo plaid table runner.

I added a little Christmas charm to the cabinet over my range.

This photo gives a closer look at the beadboard wallpaper I added to the interior.

A few simple pieces in the living room complete my indoor Christmas decorations. 

Lastly, the wreath on my front door started as a plain thrift store wreath that I upcycled with simple clip-on floral ornaments and a buffalo plaid bow. 

This is the Christmas atmosphere at A Joyful Cottage this year. Simple, understated, relaxed.

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given,

    and the government will be on His shoulders.

And He will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  

             --Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas!

Table Reveal and Other Chit Chat

Greetings Cottage Friends,

So glad you're here. I hope you're finding joy in each day, regardless of what is going on around us. I know for me right now I have to practice "joyful living". When I start to feel anxious I remember the words of Paul in Philippians 4:4-7 (ESV):

    "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

It may be fall, but here in Northern Colorado we've already had our first snowfall; 9" a few weeks ago. Then it warmed up to the 60's, and we've had a few odd days in the 40's and 50's. I'm happy to say almost every day we have sunshine here. 

I've wanted to write blog posts more frequently, however I've been working 10 - 11 hour shifts the past two weeks, and when I get home at the end of my work day I just want to snuggle under my electric throw (oh, how I love that invention!), and watch Youtube. Yes, I am a Youtube junkie. It's how I get my news, music, Bible teaching, instructions for crafting and home projects, and so much more. 

That being said, I have worked on some home projects here and there the past month,  one which I will share with you today.

In August I showed you a thrift store table I purchased for $15.

I told you I would "change it up", and that's exactly what I did.

I had it in mind to do something special with this table, and started by giving it two coats of Waverly white chalk paint to cover the orangey wood. 

I could have done some distressing and stopped there, but I wanted to jazz up the table and give it some "shabby chic." So, I ordered a birch accent mould from Home Depot, glued it to the table front, gave it one coat of white chalk paint, and then dry brushed the entire table with Waverly chalk paint in the color steel.

This is the first time I've dry brushed anything, and I found that dry brushing is an easy and fun process. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

While we're looking at this corner of my living room, let me tell you a little about my other decor finds. As I've mentioned before, I have to do everything in this home on a very small budget. Even more so since I've had some unexpected large expenses recently, which I'll explain more about in a bit. So, here's a closer look, along with how I pulled it all together on a meager budget. 

First off, let me explain that the chair and pillow, and the area rug came with me from Texas. I purchased those while I was working at Pier 1, and was fortunate to be able to get them on sale and/or use my 25% employee discount.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the framed print of a French street scene at the Habitat Restore for $14. The frame has a small crack in it, largely unnoticeable. I'm very fond of the print, and it fits in well with the style of my home.

To the left of the print, I hung a wire basket that I picked up at a thrift store for about $3.00, and filled it with white sunflowers purchased at Joann's at 60% off. The price was unbelievable -- like better than thrift store prices -- and so I got a bunch of faux flowers that day. (I will share more of them in upcoming posts.) A 99 cent crocheted doily covers up the flower stems and adds a romantic touch. 

The total for the table, including the cost of the paint and the decorative moulding came to $22.50. Here's a close-up of the tabletop decor. 

I shopped my home for the gray bird. The candle in the tin is from At Home. I think I paid $4 for it. The $2 white vase and 99 cent faux hydrangea came from a thrift store. The lamp, a Goodwill find, cost $2.99. A word about the lamp: I'm not crazy about the color of the shade -- the colors in the rest of the room are more muted -- and I had thought about either replacing or painting the shade, or even replacing the fabric on the shade. However, we're entering the Christmas season and I kind of like the red touch in this corner. Also, if you look closely at the framed print, you'll notice that there's a bit of that same shade of red in it: the awning under the street lamp. So for now, the red is going to stay. I may look for a replacement shade to use most of the year, and pull this shade out when Christmas rolls around in years to come. At any rate, I think the lamp was a great bargain. 

So, when I add up all my expenses (not counting the chair, pillow and rug, which I already owned), this vignette cost $50.47. Definitely budget friendly.

My reason for sharing all this information is to encourage any of you who don't have a money tree in your backyard and may feel like creating a beautiful home is financially impossible, don't believe it. It can be done on even a  very limited budget. Now, I will tell you that I didn't put this together all at once. It literally has taken me months of thrift store shopping to frugally decorate this area. But the hunt is the fun of it! It's so worth it to wait patiently for just the right decor at just the right price. My easy chair faces this corner, and every time I sit there and see what God has provided for me, I smile. The Lord wants to give us gifts. Sometimes we're so ungrateful when He does. I don't want to live like that! I want to appreciate not only what I have, but more importantly the One who has provided it all. That's joyful living!

I told you I would share about my unexpected expenses. Again, I'm doing this to encourage you. Life is filled with trials. In September my homeowner's insurance company informed me that I had 30 days to add steps to my back door, or they would cancel my insurance. That, of course, would make my mortgage company extremely unhappy. Now, one would think that it's pretty weird not to have steps outside of any door raised above ground level, right? But apparently mobile home owners often times don't put up steps at the back door because they never use it, except for emergencies. Picture a fire breaking out and having to jump from four feet in the middle of the night. 

Uh, no. 

I had planned to add steps, but wanted to wait awhile since I had just paid for a new sink and faucet. But, I complied, and that cost $775. The good news is that I became friends with the carpenter I hired, and he has come to my aid in emergencies since then. One example was last Friday afternoon when I came home from work and found my water heater was leaking. Badly. He came over and helped me get the water turned off, and I called my plumber. After the plumber looked at the problem and we talked about options, I decided to get a new water heater since the existing appliance was 15 years old. I know you're probably thinking "Well, that's not so bad. Water heaters aren't terribly expensive." And you'd be right if you're talking about water heaters for any kind of house besides a mobile home. But mobile homes don't have regular water heaters. They have "mobile home water heaters", and they're up to three times more expensive than regular water heaters because of the location, hookups, and the governmental codes. Anyway, I was without water for a couple of days and just got my new water heater hooked up last Sunday morning. The final price was shocking. Shocking I tell you! We're talking about thousands of dollars for the new water heater, all the fittings and hoses, and labor, etc. So for the next few months I'll be working on building up my savings again. Good thing I've been working a lot of overtime.

I'm not complaining, really, and I'm not looking for sympathy. We all have problems. Some financial, some health related, some relational. My situation could be so much worse. I think about what would have happened if my home had flooded. Fortunately, I caught this leak early. The reason I discovered it was the hissing noise I heard coming from behind the panel that separates the water heater from the rest of the closet. The hissing was the leak spraying from just below the hose connection. If my home had flooded? Yikes!  (Thank you, Lord, for protecting my home!)

I hope to share next week about the progress in my kitchen. I finished the wall texturing and painting, and did something fun with the glass front cabinet over the range, and I have some other things planned, like painting the cabinets. Of course, all this is put on hold while I get my finances back in shape. But, hey! I'm getting pretty good at waiting. That whole "patience" thing, you know?

Hugs,

Kitchen Progress - New Counters, New Sink, New Faucet

Hello Cottage Friends!

Happy October! I was shocked to see I let the month of September pass without a blog post. (heavy sigh) I started this post over a week ago, then work got extremely busy and with all the extra physical exertion required, I lost steam. I'm not complaining though. Everything is humming along, despite the craziness in our world right now.

I've had my new countertops, sink and faucet for about a month, and I must say, I'm really happy with the choices I made.

The sink -- a Kohler Cape Dory cast iron sink-- was a great buy. I was able to purchase it from Home Depot for under $260. It's a four hole sink, so that allowed me to use an affordable bridge faucet and side sprayer I found from Kingston Brass. The sprayer is solid brass; very heavy. The faucet comes in a variety of different finishes, and I opted for brushed nickel. I know chrome is very popular right now, however I prefer a lower sheen. I used brushed nickel on all the kitchen and bathroom fixtures in my Oregon cottage, and I was very pleased with that choice.

The countertops are Formica laminate180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch with a waterfall edge. I couldn't be happier with their appearance, and actually they look even better than I thought they would. The company that built and installed the countertops did a spectacular job, and there aren't enough words in the English language to describe how professional they are, and how well they treated me. They installed extra supports under the portion of the countertop that holds my sink, just to make sure there would be no problem with the weight of the cast iron. And they did it at no extra charge to me.

 

I took these photos right after the countertops were installed. You can see how pretty they are.

A couple of you commented that you were planning to replace your countertops in the near future, and that you were considering Formica laminate 180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch after you saw the sample I showed in an earlier post. If you are still thinking of choosing the Formica laminate180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch I would say, "go for it". I think it's a great alternative to real marble. Certainly much more affordable, and easy to maintain.

I've made progress on the kitchen walls, too. After removing all the batten strips and caulking the gaps, I primed the walls and began the process of texturing. I have never done this before, so I was a little nervous about just jumping in and doing the work myself. However, as I've mentioned before this is a budget project and I can only afford to hire professionals for jobs too big/difficult for me to tackle -- such as the countertops, sink and faucet. So, I spent hours watching Youtube videos on how to apply joint compound to get the texturing I wanted, and took the plunge. I'm about 3/4 finished with the texturing, and I have to say it's been a fun project. This is a closeup of the texture. I will prime and paint this when I've finished all the texturing.

The pattern is very random, and achieved by applying joint compound with a skip trowel method. I want my kitchen to have a vintage, old world look and this texture is helping me achieve the desired effect. It's not an expensive DIY project. A 3.5 gallon box of pre-mixed joint compound at Home Depot is about $9. So far I've used almost one box and will probably use about half of a second box to finish my kitchen walls. So, that's about $13 for material that will make a big impact. My labor is free, whereas if I had a contractor do this for me I'd spend as much as $2.00 a square foot for their work. I haven't measured my walls, but I'd estimate there's about 200 - 300 sq ft to cover. So, I'm saving a big chunk of change doing this myself.

Today I hope to complete the texturing, and then I can prime and paint. I'll be painting the walls white, just not sure what shade of white yet. 

Hope you're well and enjoying the cooler days. Believe it or not, my patio flowers are still in bloom. However, I did relinquish the front of my home to Fall. My scarecrow Charlie Dickens is a thrift store find. The "So Long Summer, Hello Fall" sign and pumpkins came from Walmart.

This little vignette brings a smile to my face. Hope you're smiling, too.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." Isaiah 40:8

Hugs.

Table Talk

Hi Cottage Friends.

So, I took time this past week to do some furniture painting, starting with my little $3.99 Goodwill patio table. This is how it looked before.

Not too exciting in its original state, but after applying a can of Rustoleum Antique White spray paint, it took on a whole new personality. Not only does the white bring out all the pretty details, but it brightens up this spot, too.

Another one of my thrift store finds got a makeover this week. While nosing around Habitat for Humanity recently, I found this little table with no price on it. 

A nice young man who works there told me I could have it for $7.00. Needless to say, I happily took it home. I knew it would be perfect next to my chair and ottoman.

I didn't want a large table, just a side table big enough to hold my coffee while I have my morning devotions. (Right now I'm enjoying online Morning and Evenings devotionals by Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon's wisdom and ability to articulate biblical principles with heart and candor inspire me.)

I debated about how to paint this table since it sits in front of my floor lamp (new from the days when I worked at Pier 1) which has a lot of distressing. I love the lamp and didn't want my table to compete with it. Then I came across a pin on Pinterest that inspired me.

Source

I wondered what would happen if I sanded the finish off the top of my little table. Would I end up with the same natural color as the inspiration table? It turns out my intuition was right and that the original wood is very close to the color of the wood on the inspiration table. Painting the rest of the table white was easy peasy. I still need to put a protective wax or poly on the top, but I'm happy with the finished product.

I took my granddaughter to brunch today to celebrate her 19th birthday. Her birthday was actually last week, but between her work schedule (she's a CNA, working her way through nursing school -- I'm so proud of that young lady) and my work schedule, we had to postpone our date until today. We enjoyed eggs benedict and lots of girl talk. When we got back to her parents' house I hung out with everyone for awhile and then headed home. On the way home I stopped at one of my favorite thrift stores just to look. I really didn't plan on buying anything. However, I did find another table for my living room; solid wood priced at $15.

You know I'm going to change it up, don't you? Any thoughts on what I should do?

Hugs,

Giveaway Winner and Home and Garden Update

Hello Cottage Friends,

Today's one of my days off, so I've got time to update you on what's been going on in my garden and home. But first I must announce the winner of the Biblical Minimalist book giveaway. The winner is

 

Congratulations Debbie! Please email your mailing address to me and I'll arrange for Cheryl to send you a copy of her book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. It had been awhile since I'd done a giveaway and I'd forgotten how much fun they are.

Now on to my garden and home updates. 

First the garden, which in my case is a patio garden. This is the last photo I posted.

 

And this is how the patio looks this morning.

Can you see the changes? I've moved plants around, and added some decorative items. I was surprised to find out how much sun my patio actually gets throughout the day. Because I work from 5:00 AM to 2:00 PM, I didn't get a real feel for the hours of direct sun this spot gets. So when I was home for a full day and took note of the sunlight. . .well, I realized I needed to make some changes to benefit my flowers.

As I said, I also added decorative items, which I think enhances the patio. I'm partial to fleur-de-lis, so when I found this one in the outdoor decorations at At Home for 50% off, I snatched it up.

This little sign was 50% off, as well.

I found this willow art piece at a thrift store for a couple of dollars. It was au naturale when I purchased it, so I gave it a white chalk paint treatment for a shabby chic look.

These all were inexpensive purchases that for me add a homey touch to my little retreat.

Several of you commented that I needed a little table between my wicker chairs, which I agreed was a necessity to hold a drink. The space is pretty small, so it took me awhile to find something that would work there, and also wouldn't break the bank. One day on my way home from work I stopped in at Goodwill and Eureka! I found my little table for $3.99. 

When I have the time I'll spray paint it a new color, but for now it's fine.

I found this sweet birdhouse sitting on the ground outside my patio fence (left behind by the previous owners) where it was hidden from sight, so I brought it inside the patio to enjoy.

Another change I made was to add some in-ground planting. There's only a smidgen of hard clay soil in my patio area, just below the porch railing. Now anyone who knows anything about clay soil knows that it's nearly impossible to grow anything in its natural state. You have to amend the soil so it will drain properly. I'll do another post sometime on how I accomplished this in a super easy way, but for now here's the result of less than two hours work.

I'm pretty excited about this little patch of what eventually will be my mini cottage garden. The Foxglove (rear left), and the groundcover Spotted Dead Nettle on the left and Ajuga on the right are perennials. I planted the pink geraniums, which I already had on hand, to keep within my budget. I'll add more perennials later, and this will become a low maintenance beautiful addition to my patio.

Hanging above this area are my wrought iron planters. Another Goodwill find at $5.99 for the small one, and $6.99 for the larger planter. 

These like-new, sturdy planters were an incredible bargain. I had decided that I would just have to wait until next year to do this project because there was no way I could pay retail for planters like these. I couldn't find anything under $25, and that's for something small and cheaply made.  Did you catch the little fleur de lis at the top of the planters. How could I resist?

I feel like I've done enough with my patio this year. Next year I plan to do the lattice wall I wrote about here. And maybe some other things. But for now I'm turning my attention to the inside of my home.

Come inside and we'll chat about my plans for the kitchen. This is a big project on a tiny budget, and I'll do as much of the work myself as I can muster. Here are some recent photos. (Excuse the messy appearance; I didn't plan on using these for the blog, but they actually make the room look better than if I took photos in its current even messier state.) 

I've already begun this project by removing the batten strips on the walls, and caulking the resulting gaps. I've deep cleaned the inside of the stove hood and above the cabinets (which was an amazingly hideous job because obviously the previous owner hadn't bothered to clean for years), and washed down the walls. I've removed all the backsplash. A local custom countertop company has measured for new countertops. Here's a sample of the laminate I'm using, Formica 180 fx Calacatta Marble in Satin Touch.

You're probably wondering why I would use a custom countertop company rather than Home Depot or some other big box store. Well, I had Home Depot price it out, and it was a lot more expensive. Plus, my local guy will remove the old countertops and dispose of them and the sink, something Home Depot would not do. So, if I went with Home Depot I would have had to pay a handyman or contractor to do that for me, which would have added to the cost. So, although we often think we can't afford a small business as compared to a national retailer, I say, "do your homework". You may be surprised at how much money you'll save by using that small local business to do your work.

I'll have the sink and faucet replaced, too. These are tasks I'll need a plumber to complete. What I will do myself is texture and paint the walls, and paint the cabinets. Praise the Lord for Youtube! I learned how to remove the battens, and now I'm learning how to texture walls. It's never too late to learn how to DIY. 

I'll be sharing a lot more about this in the days ahead, so stay tuned.

One more thing before I go. Please forgive me for not replying to your comments and/or visiting your blog. The past few months have been an exercise in adjusting to this new life of mine. It's a huge change for me and my energy level at the end of a work day is pretty low. Any work I do on my home and garden is done on the two days I have off. Having said all that, I am working on resolving this issue, and making the changes needed to reconnect with all of you. You are so gracious to visit and leave kind comments. I don't want you to think I take that for granted. I don't. There are plenty of other blogs that you could visit, and I know that. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making time for me. I will work to do the same for you. God bless you.

Hugs,