Christmas Elf Decorates the Cottage

This post is a bit of a follow-up to my previous post.  Here's how I decorated our tiny cottage in the woods for the holidays.  Enjoy the tour!

Simply adding some hollys and pine clippings changed the look of the black lanterns and seashells.  I love holly berries!

Festive winter village printed sheets, a french striped pillow with ball fringe, poinsettia pillow, a wool plaid blanket over the bed, these are a few of my favorite things.  Our long weekend at the cottage was the perfect place to write our holiday greeting cards.

We even had a christmas tree at the cottage made from cut cedar and pine branches.  I didn't have much to decorate the tree with and I didn't want to buy more "stuff" (you know how I feel about stuff), so I made some paper ornaments, hung a mini wedding pic, threw in one of the Christmas cards and a poinsettia floral pick that I already had and ta da!

Hope to get around to posting pics of the house soon...by the way, wouldn't that top bunk look so cute with some happy little children? Wishing for some baby dust and a warm and cozy holiday season!

 - Lissette

Holiday Decorating in a Small Home

These past couple of days I've been cruising the blogs, visiting the Holiday tour of homes of various bloggers. I really enjoyed all of the inspiring holiday ideas and pinned tons of gorgeous photos and craft ideas to my Pinterest board. After a while though I became overwhelmed (perhaps just annoyed) with all of the grand homes with their huge halls decked out with boughs of holly. It just made me feel a bit bad about my tiny home not being so open, spacious and grand. So then I thought, "well, why don't I search to see how folks are decorating tiny homes for the holidays?" ... There weren't many...But I found this wonderful blog post from Hari, someone who really knows what's it's like to live in a really small space, all 168 sq feet of space.

What really stood out to me was her raw honesty, "feeling like a caged animal" and three more boxes sending her over the edge, "where will we put ourselves". I think I've had these feelings at some point being in our house and especially at the cottage.

And it’s dark and it’s Christmas and we live in a house with a foot print of 168 feet. And the kids want a Christmas tree. I can’t convince them that we should leave all the Christmas boxes in storage. Where the heck can we put 3 more boxes of stuff? I spin a plan of decorating for the birds. We’ll get a tree for the deck and make ornaments from bird seed. Or course, that won’t do. So I give in (but not all the way) and find a 3 ft. tree in a pot that fits on the side cabinet next to the couch. Papa and I had plans to go to storage and just take a few things out of the Christmas box, but the kids were adamant about taking it all. Thankfully, our Christmas stuff is purged, but still. . . given that I’ve been feeling like a caged animal, three more boxes could send me over the edge. So, we put the boxes in the shed and only took the small one down to the house. We hung that stuff in 3 minutes flat, and the kids shot out the door. “Where are you going?! Shut the door!!” They came back lugging the giant box down the hill. “What are you doing!?? We can’t bring all that in here. Where will we put ourselves?”...
...When we finished, we turned off the lights and Stevie Wonder’s “One Little Christmas Tree (can light up the world)” played. My tears started flowing. From our little tree in our tiny house (where I’ve been feeling so blue) red, green, orange and pink lights circled the planet. My sadness turned to hope.

For full post, click here: http://tinyhousefamily.com/2011/12/27/tiny-house-family-christmas/

What I came to appreciate from Hari was that we don't need all the "stuff" and huge homes to be truly happy. Sometimes a cramped space can really cramp your style. However, what I have is more important than what I don't have and I feel blessed. Living in a small home means living with only the things we love, purging what is unnecessary, no walk-in closets, just crawl-in dormer spaces. Living modestly and making do with less. Easier said than done. At the moment, our small home is crammed with stuff that Tim and I have accumulated together and things we've brought together from our past when we married. I have to admit I have A LOT of stuff that I love and have difficulty parting with. I've come to realize that to be a happy nester in a small house, some of my stuff will have to go. Like my home, I too am a work in progress.

I like Hari's strategies for surviving in a small house:

Communicate clearly.

Keep it tidy! Purge, purge, purge.

Get outside.

Get up early.

Share your story.

Reflect on your growth.

Here's a closing thought:

Home is a place we all must find

It's not just a place where you eat or sleep.

Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage.

If we know ourselves, we're always home, anywhere.

- Glinda, Wizard of Oz

Featured: In Bliss Weddings

What a lovely feature of our wedding.  I love the pictures they chose.  

For the full gallery and story, visit:

http://inblissweddings.com/real-weddings/story/lissette_and_timothy/227

Source: http://inblissweddings.com/real-weddings/story/lissette_and_timothy/227

Today is Our Two Year Anniversary

Married now two years...June 18th, 2011.  Seems like yesterday.

Our Wedding...

Photos by Ever After Visuals

May Flowers in Bloom

All the weeding I did early this spring paid off.  My garden looks amazing.  I was so thrilled with the big peonies I got this past May.  I had so many I shared with friends and family.

I loved seeing my grandmothers enjoy their bouquets.

My mom enjoyed them immensely, so much so that she uprooted a few to plant at home.  This is the rose and wildflower garden. Summer and Fall will be the next bloom time for most of the wildflowers.

So, now onto the garden tour 

Rose & Wildflower Garden

South Garden

Front Walk Garden

I'm in the process of installing a new front garden along the sidewalk with tall shrubs, trees, hollyhocks and more wildflowers to give us some privacy from the street.  Here's a "Before" shot.  "After" pictures will be coming soon.

Tidal flooding, beach, weather station re-install

I re-mounted the weather station up higher on the pole last month; new heights: bottom of sensor unit is 9' 10" above ground level, top of rain gauge is set to 10' 11" above ground level. Previously, the bottom of the sensor unit was 3'-4' above ground level when it got flooded by Hurricane Sandy.

Last weekend, extensive flooding on the tidal marsh, some of the deepest I've seen yet. I took out the canoe on Saturday morning off of our property (a first without being a disaster) then went to Metompkin beach with some friends, Mau and Jackie, on the dory; their first time seeing the barrier islands. 

Extensive flooding of tidal marsh means launching the canoe from our property without a dock



Launching canoe from our property; normally this is dry land




I remounted the weather station sensor suite. The bottom of sensor suite is 9' 10" above ground level, top of rain gauge is set to 10' 11" above ground level.





CORSICA on Metompkin Beach


First glimpse of Metompkin Beach


Getting a closer view of the ocean



Getting even closer to the ocean



Lissette is terrified just looking at the computer screen



Back at the cottage; sunset on the flooded tidal marsh

Finding Inspiration

Sorry folks, nothing new happening lately (well there is, but I can't talk about it yet).  We spent last weekend working on drywall at the cottage, yes, lot's of fun with a capital "F".  Seeing our progress has made me hopeful and excited about decorating the cottage.  So, as of late I've been searching for beach cottage inspiration.  Here are a few things I've pinned to my Cottage Decor Pinterest board.

It's hard finding ideas for small homes since most peoples' idea of a small house is 1,500 sq.ft. What I'm looking for are homes under 200 sq.ft. Yep, that's about the size of our cottage.  It takes a lot of creativity to figure out how to have all the comforts of home in such a small space.  I consider myself creative but not that creative - so I need to find ideas from others who've done it.  Tim's favorite blogs on this subject are  Tumbleweed Houses and Tiny House Blog.  I'm so impressed with what this designer has done with his 271 sq.ft apartment.

Photo credits: Daniel LiCalzi

Loft bed above the sofa, not shown in picture.

Although I like the design concepts and storage elements in Daniel's home, I prefer rustic cottage, simple style like the pictures below. Here's an adorable little kitchen space.

Photo credit: Koch Architects

Clever idea for built-in book shelves.

Photo credit: Sullivan Building and Design Group

More clever storage ideas. Here's a reading nook with a fold-out bed.



A kitchen in a closet!!! Wow!

http://www.culshawbell.co.uk/completekitchenette.html

I think Tim would be happy with this.




Ok, so the following is not for the cottage but I love this fantastic barn door headboard project from Ashley at Little Yellow Barn.



Unfortunately, I don't have a bedroom where I could have one...hmmm...unless...Nooo, I don't think Tim would let me convert his tool room into a rustic guest bedroom.  Out of the question.  Great project idea though and I'd love to do make it!

Well, that's enough inspiration for today.

Winter at the Cottage

This is why we love going to the cottage - even in the winter.

Progress in the Craft Room

About a year or two ago - I can't remember, it's been so long - we started renovating what will eventually be my craft room.  We ripped out wall to wall wood paneling.  The entire room, including the ceiling was covered in wood paneling.  We then reinsulated and put up drywall.  What we thought would take a day or two has taken months.  Even with the help of friends, we still couldn't get it done quickly enough.  Thanks Jen B., Aaron M. and Matt F.!  We'll always be grateful for their help.  Drywall mudding and sanding is hard, messy work.  I hate it.

This is what my work space has been like for many, many months. Most days, it was not this tidy - hehe.

Over the past two weekends, I've made some real progress.  I mudded, sanded, mudded and sanded over again a few times to get it right; because we've done it wrong in so many other rooms, e.g. the kitchen, our bedroom and downstairs bathroom.  You get to a point where you're so tired of doing this that you just don't care how it turns out, you just want it DONE!

Work in progress, nook for the bed and storage.

Left wall.

 View as you're entering the room. 

I did have some help from Tim this past weekend. He too was busy with his own project - no, thankfully not the boats.  He worked on the 2nd floor bathroom, mudding, sanding and painting too (more on that later).  Since his project was smaller, he had a little bit of time to help me with the craft room. More importantly, he gave me the motivation I needed to push through. Finally, after months of drywall dust, the walls are done, primed and ready to paint!

My next problem is what color should I paint the room?  That's a fun problem to have, at least for me.  I'm leaning towards a blush pink because after all - it's my craft room :P.  I'm thinking of going with this pink, Martha Stewart's Ballet Slipper Pink - I'll have to test it out to see how it looks in the room.

Along with the pink walls, I want to paint some of the furniture pieces in Behr Chocolate Froth.  It's a beautiful gray brown which will compliment the pink nicely. I can't wait to see how everything will look when it's done. 

Behr Chocolate Froth

So beautiful, I love the color.
http://www.wayside-furniture.com/Item.aspx?ItemID=802441805&ItemNum=1514-46978

I'm hoping that Tim will install two long shelves above the daybed/storage area.  

Kind of like this one here (minus the toys...and kid...although that might come later...TBD).

http://www.dwell.com/house-tours/slideshow/almost-perfect#8

Or a floating shelf like this one: 

West Elm day bed

So many fun decisions to make! This is the part I enjoy most, choosing paint colors, furnishings and room accessories. For Valentine's Day, Tim is taking me to Home Depot AND Lowe's to pick up paint samples.  I'm such a lucky girl!!! 

Hearts and Hugs,

Lissette