A Merry Little Cottage...

 I had a lot of fun decorating Sophie's playhouse this year. I am  not sure why, but this is the first year I have decked its halls! I found these adorable BIG colored lights for its eaves. They are actually pathway lights that stick in the ground but not anymore! I went with a candy cottage theme and the giant lollipops look so sweet in the tiny window box. The garland over the door resembles frosty icing and I added a Seasons of Cannon Falls bottle brush candy cane to the door. The frost and snow is courtesy of my favorite photo editing service, Picnik.com. Sophie loves it, but I think I love it more!

Ohdeedoh...!!

Who knew that Sophie's little playhouse could "make the cut" over at Ohdeedoh, Apartment Therapy's adorable child? I have always loved checking out their great nursery design ideas and kids play spaces, so I am thrilled to say that our playhouse is front and center over there right now!! Thanks Carrie, for deeming us worthy, and for putting us in great company with creative mums like Meg. The playhouse was a work in progress this summer. Since those photos were taken, we have added moulding around the door and embossed, metal window boxes.

Whose playhouse is it anyway??

A pretty, little playhouse!!

It's time for the big unveiling...

It is as complete as it will ever be, and I have to admit I/we are as happy as can be with how it turned out! As I have mentioned before, I have wanted this for our daughter long before she even came along! To me, a playhouse is the quintessential little girl's dream, as it was for me as a child. Since I didn't have one, I always vowed our daughter would someday...

Rather than go on and on about how happy she is with it (she's thrilled to bits!), and how I finally feel like I can relax and just watch her play with her little friends in it, I will simply give you "the tour". I hope my pathetic excuse for a camera will do it justice...

I decided to play it safe, and paint the playhouse yellow to blend in with our home. I flip-flopped between painting it pale pink or a soft, fresh green, but my reserved side kicked in, and yellow it is (that's not to say I won't change my mind and repaint it next year!). I used Flik and Company Blue on the door, and I am so happy with that. We used a locking doorknob, and she loves using her very own key to unlock it each morning! House numbers were hung above the door (her daddy made the door, too), and the old mailbox and door knocker I had kicking around. I purchased the outdoor "lights" at The Christmas Tree Shop, and no, we didn't run electricity to it.

This is what you see when you open the door: My husband built a day bed, and I used a second-hand crib mattress for it. I bought the bedding (crib sheet and small quilt) at TJ MAXX, when I visited Bangor in the spring. I got the body pillow at Walmart, and the pink pillows at Homesense. I picked up the vintage-looking bird cage and glittery GIGGLE sign there as well, and the little mats were 1.99 at Marden's.

My husband was about to finish boarding in the eaves, when I decided that it would be so nice for her to be able to lie on the bed and look up at the trees (and stars). So, he made a plexi-glass window of sorts, and it is one of my favourite things about the little house. This is also a good view of the white-wash effect I decided on out of laziness (one-coat wonder!) and for the simple fact that I like it.

This angle shows her babies' beds and the only functioning window. It is a door insert, but works well to let fresh air into the house. The curtains are from the Shabby Chic collection at Target, and I hung them simply from a branch and some cup hooks.

Moving around the room, we find the "kitchen". This is undoubtedly my favourite thing about the playhouse! I had asked my husband to make a counter area of sorts that I could place her little stove on, and "sink a sink" into. I figured he'd just secure some wooden planks, and cut out the hole for the sink. Not my husband!! As I was painting, he took it upon himself to create the prettiest "butcher block" counter area I have ever seen! We used iron brackets to support it, and they look so nice. I had also told him I wanted the sink in the corner, and this is what he came up with:

The sink is a stainless steel bowl I got for a couple of dollars, and the tap is an old salvaged one I got from a used building supply store. I simply spray-painted it with chrome spray, and its grimy facade disappeared! The dish rack and dishes came from The Dollar Store, and she loves putting some water from the nearby outdoor tap in the sink and washing up her dishes. Of course, looking out her window makes the chore less dreary!

This is a close-up of her little, wooden stove. I got it at Homesense, and it was originally a dull, wooden finish. Sooo, out came the pink spray-paint, and voila! A few scrap-booking embellishments, and it is now as pretty as can be!

Across the room/house is the eating area:

Before you think I've gone mad, yes, that is hardwood flooring. Our kindly neighbours gave us their left-over flooring, and to be honest, it is nicer than what we have in our own home!

I bought this pink, iron table set at Homesense (are you getting that this is one of my favourite stores?). It is the perfect shade of delicate pink, and is just the right size for little ones to sit. I have, however, had to squeeze myself into one of the little chairs, and, I can assure you, they are not very comfortable! I definitely "eat" quickly when I am invited to a meal in the playhouse! Above the table is a shelf I had kicking around. I placed her "appliances" on it and the little drawers house her cutlery. A girl has to be organized!!

This is where she hangs her baby buggy. It is ready to go, whenever she has to "run some errands"!!

This is the area above the door. Sophie likes having a clock that is all hers, now that she knows how to tell time.

She also had to have a phone! My mum picked this phone up at a yard sale. It was previously white, so of course I had to paint it pink!! Thank goodness for spray-paint!

Every little playhouse needs a chandelier!

Now, I may find something with a little more pizazz, but for now, this outdoor chandelier I got from IKEA (about eight years ago) fits the bill. Again, I painted it pink, added a few crystals I had lying around, and hung it from the center of the eaves. It is a rather unassuming, little chandelier, but pretty enough... and basically FREE!!!

This is the interior view of the door. I simply hung a little chalkboard on it and she writes notes like, "No boys allowed". My youngest son likes to torment her at times and lock her out, pretending that he's "messing it up". She doesn't like it one bit. She is very territorial...

And so ends our little tour. I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Our little garden...

I have mentioned before that I have a small garden, but I am prepared to squeeze out every inch of usable space from it. I certainly don't have a green thumb, but it isn't black, either. I love combing the garden centers for pretty flowers to plant in my garden, and I love the planning process each spring.

While I admire those who have a meticulously planned garden, I prefer cottage style planting for my own home. I love meandering paths through a garden that seems more lovingly planted than methodically planted. I guess there are two types of gardeners: those who turn around, throw tulip bulbs over their shoulder and plant them where they land, and those who lay them out, colour-coded of course, and plant them in planned clusters. Neither is right nor wrong - but they are inherently different.

I enjoy looking out my window and seeing lush plantings of "old-school" plants: peonies, stock, astilbe, black-eyed susans, sweet william, and, of course, daisies. I love tall plants intermingled with lower ones, and I don't want my garden to look like it was planted according to a map. I think I have achieved a more relaxed garden, and I look forward to adding to it, and cultivating its "free spirit".

What kind of gardener are you?

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This is the old buggy I "stole" from the dump on my "dump date" with my hubby a while back. It was rusty and dirty, so I painted it this lovely aqua shade using spray paint, of course. I planted it with flowers, and it sits outside Sophie's playhouse. Can you see where I am going with this?

Check out this sneak peek:

What do you see in the background? You guessed it: the playhouse!! I will finally post a picture tour of it on Monday. I hope you'll come back and see it!!

The all work and no Playhouse...

No...this is not Sophie's playhouse. But it is pretty, isn't it?!

I never met a home improvement project I didn't like. Well, okay...that's a bit of a stretch, of course, but I do love having a project on the go. Saturday was a good day...a fruitful day from an accomplishment point of view. You see, work continues on "The Money Pit", aka Sophie's playhouse. It had been at a bit of a standstill as we picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off from a few back to back hits to the money belt. In the course of two weeks, we had to fork over a lot of money to repair our damaged garage door (my husband's doing...pheww!), his truck's broken windshield, and our one-year old pool pump breaking. We have definitely been having a string of bad luck from a breakage point of view, but we take it in stride seeing that no bones are broken, and everything is fixable. Still, major repairs and the costs they incur still hurt and set us back considerably...

So, after a construction lull, we are back at it: building what we can with the lumber we have on hand, painting the interior of the little playhouse, and trying to finish the inside for her, so she can finally play in her long-promised little cottage. Being the world's sloppiest painter, I usually have a little more wastage than the average shmuck; so, off to the paint store I go today to get more. I have about 60% of it painted, so today should find the job completed. My husband made the most adorable counter area for her little kitchen...greatly exceeding my expectations for it!! I am so thankful for his carpentry skills; and his desire to do things right makes for a well-built project each and every time. I also lucked out and got a used crib mattress for the day bed he built for it. I picked up pretty bedding for the bed when I visited Bangor last month, so we are almost there... for the interior anyway. Next weekend will see the cladding of the exterior with clapboards (and, thus, more painting for me), and then we will add the window boxes that Sophie planted a while back, and the other accessories for the exterior.

I will show you photos as soon as it is complete and I look forward to seeing our little girl playing house and hosting her little friends. Perhaps a little house-warming tea party will be in order? She can invite me and her daddy. After all, we deserve to get a little "return on investment"!! We've sacrificed enough Saturdays to even warrant a cookie!!

Summer savings and loans...

photo: Butik Sophie

Who said summer was less expensive than winter? Sure, we save on heating costs, don't have to shop for Christmas presents, and can eat more hotdogs...but it certainly isn't cheap!! In between trips to the grocery store to stock up on ice-cream and barbeque fixings, jaunts to the local nursery for perrenials and annuals, and family vacations in our gas-guzzling vehicles, summer can drain the pocketbook like no other time!!

Progress on Sophie's playhouse continues, a project that my husband has now labelled "the money pit"...not quite the whimsical name I had envisioned for it!! Still, he is right; most of the summer projects we all undertake involve handing money over fist. We opened our pool for the season, and just that cost $100 - even before purchasing the summer supply of chemicals we will need to keep the pool sparkling clean (no cost for my labour, of course...). We have discussed building planters, trellises, finishing details on the pool deck, even tossed around options for the driveway. My enterprising hubby is actually considering pouring his own concrete driveway and walkway (with his dream team of like-minded buddies). When I piped up about wanting to do something a little different with the walkway (i.e. stamped, coloured concrete to mimic flagstone), my frank husband cocked his head, furrowed his eyebrows and casually replied, "You can't afford different!"

So true...nothing like a good bucket of cold water thrown onto me every now and then to remind me that I'm not Linda Rockefeller...!!

In fact, I like being who I am. I come from blue-collar roots and you can't beat them out of me. Sure, I like pretty things; but I get the greatest thrill from doing or making them ourselves. In fact, I just finished helping one of my best friends make-over her living room. She spent a total of $300, which included slipcovers, seagrass ottomans, a new light fixture, and paint. We had so much fun putting the final touches on the room, and we share a love of getting a great look for little money. She has no airs about her and was happy to accept some of the decorative items I was no longer in need of, which we put in the room. It turned out beautifully, with a wonderfully beachy feel like the rest of her home, and that is what really matters.

So... that's my take on the cost of summer. Sure, we all pay in sunburns, too many calories, and insect bites, but what really takes a hit is our bank accounts. Camping is not cheap, a Sunday drive is not free if you stop for five ice-creams, an outdoor project always costs more than you imagined, and the power used to run your pool pump and/or heater does not add up to savings in home heating costs. Those are the facts. Now... go hang your clothes on the line and fire up the barbeques for some $2/pack of hotdogs. Now that's cheap!!

(ice cream photo: Matthew Mead Style)