What To Do Today?

So last week we started setting up the decorating studio. Steve painted the door to the upstairs "Dancing Green", I like it pretty well. He painted the walls "Dover White" which is a very effervescence white. 

He then moved on to hang the draperies that I had made, for the shop's french doors, a while back. I had to laugh, it took him three tries to hang the rod because every time we measured a curtain panel it was a different length. There are four panels, altogether, and they measure 84" to 90" long! The different lengths are because I cut these curtains on a six foot table and really had no scale to work with but the measuring tape and the weight of the fabric pulling it taut on one end. We never noticed the length difference because the panels were pooled on the floor! Even the linings differ in length. 

Oh well, we moved on, will get the pinking shears out shortly! I rolled out Dash and Albert Diamond Sprout polypropylene rugs on the floor. I am aiming for a garden room feel for the studio. When you are on a budget and you have to use what is available, instead of putting it together from scratch, you need some sort of a theme to help pull it together. 

Now to put the swatch racks in place. Very important because they are the main tool for starting custom decorating work. They have to be functional and look good at the same time. Not crazy about the titty pink lamp color. I like the cement floor lamp from the eighties, it gives the space some architectural form. 

I have brought down two woven chairs, from the house, into the space and am thinking of making chair seats and decorative pillows out of a large navy and white check to crisp up the look. So I walked away from this project for a week and today I am going up to hang swatches so I can figure out how much room I will have available to hang shelving for wallpaper books and lamp shades. Sometimes it looks better when you wait before you see it again, because being right in your face it starts to look too piecemeal. So, off to work! I will keep you posted.  

Textiles Of The New Year!

Shoveled the path from the truck to the door...

...unloaded the textiles and a whole lot more...

...found the richest colors and the most intricate florals...

...married an eagle mirror frame with an English plate...

...old Sheffield knives to use as spreaders...

...Twin Tower shot glass, a bird plate and a pair of tiny ducks to pin on my lapel...

...digging through the piles unearthed a painting...

...and a small needlepoint stool...

...a happy colored quilt and a schooner in a frame...

...adding to my husbands collection...

...I have seen this pair once before, in my life, this time I brought them home for me...

...thinking about the person that embroidered these cases in blue and yellow to cheer her winter bed...

...skimmed the creme off the top...and brought home the happiest textiles and patterns to start the new year.

Picking with my customers on my mind. The few added pieces can bring a homey style to a room in the woods or a cottage on the water. It is a generational look, layered and loved from grandmother on down. 

New Year Day

We arrived home just in time to see New Years Day all dressed up...

...in her pristine ballgown of snow. 

As thou preening on the red carpet...

...every guest had on their finest formal white attire...

...top hats, the taller the better!

The dancing silhouettes...

...the wallflower standing alone...

...a bench in the garden for viewing the party. 

Happy New Year! 

Airing Out The Wife

Pyramid Point, jutting out into Lake Michigan, covered in snow. 

A squall coming in as we stop on top of the hill to catch a picture. 

A pair of Manitou Islands. 

The water is up this winter. 

Every grey stone is on the beach. Found one piece of beach glass. 

I love the color of the beach grass in the snow. 

The spit of land is covered in water.

Driftwood on the snowy beach. 

See the waves coming in from either direction?

Came home from Florida mid November and just now had a day to ourselves. Blowing out the merchandise in the shop and packing what was still there, in boxes, took a full month. Today the movers came and picked up what was left and brought it to the Holler. Being full from feasting and not having used my camera for thirty days made me cranky so my husband rolled me into the truck and down the path to the beach and the water. After a walk and some fresh air I feel like a nap! Thank you husband honey! 

Merry Christmas Trees

Looking back at the different Christmas trees we have had, here in the Holler. The "nautical" tree was especially nice.

Thirty six years of ornament collecting! I hung them all.  

A star themed tree. Hope to find more of the big red stars for presents next year. They came in several sizes and colors. 

Toile tablecloth as a skirt under the tree. My husband loves the colored lights.  

I love glass ornaments the most, the way they reflect the lights. 

This years tree was a quick, in a pinch, tree. Closing Anchor Cottage, bringing home all the stuff, didn't want to unpack all the boxes of ornaments, so I brought home all the artificial flowers I had in the shop and stuck them in the tree. Snagged the blue toile curtain over the doorway and wrapped it around the base of the tree. Ta da! Christmas in the Holler this year.

I like decorating the tree. It makes me happy.