Summer Vacation

I'm taking some time off with my family, we are spending a week at the lake. We rent a few cottages every summer. I'll post all about the place when I get back!

New Desk

Last month I did a post about finding a desk for "my room", you can read about it here  and this month I found my desk!

This is my first purchase from Craig's List and I'm sure I'll be doing more. I even love the finish...so I probably won't paint it.

The desk has a couple of nicks, I think a little stain will fix it up.

I also found this great lamp for $7, sorry no before images. I painted the brass parts green, replaced the hanging crystals, and added this pretty shade.

I made my inspiration board from a very ugly print. I replaced the print with cork board and painted the frame.

The room is almost completed... I still need to finish my desk chair, I bought the fabric and just need to have a cushion made.

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By the way, my daughter is changing up my blog design...just testing out some new designs, not sure what will be the final design. Thanks for following!

Book Plates

I finally found frames for the book plates I removed from a vintage book. I know a few of you said you could never destroy an old book (this book was not in great shape), but look how nice the images look framed...

The images are an odd size and I didn't want to spend a lot of money framing them...I found these floating frames at Staple's. I love the juxtaposition between the vintage print and modern frame. I bought the three frames in stock and now on the hunt for more...I have sixty four of these prints ;)

House Tour

I love these historic town homes in Portland, Maine. This brick townhouse was built in 1885. The place has been beautifully maintained keeping the historic architecture but also creating a warm home. You can see more details on realtor.com.

Wallpaper

What do you think of wallpaper? I grew up in an older home where all the walls had wallpaper, back then once the wallpaper was up it was almost imposable to take off. That's one reason I never considered it, another reason is the cost. Painting a room is much more budget friendly, but I am loving the latest large scale wallpaper patterns...

(Images: Houzz)

Now I just need to figure out what room to wallpaper...

Farmhouse Kitchen

The kitchen is the most used room in a farmhouse...

(Image Janet Kruskamp)

So I'm always looking for kitchen ideas and these kitchens are full of them...

(Images:Country Living, Coastal Living, Traditional Home, Cottage Living, BH&G)

Little Yellow Cabinet

I started this piece weeks ago, after removing the hardware, sanding, painting, sanding, glazing, sanding, and replacing the hardware...it's done!

(Daisy checking out my work)



This is the before

On to the next one...

Artsy Fartsy

I love original art...but I am no artist and I just can't bring myself to shell out the big bucks for a piece...not at this time, but definitely in the future!

Luckily I have an inhouse artist in training. My high school daughter is very talented in the "art" department. She's home for summer vacation and has some time on her hands. So, I thought she might like to add a little artistic touch to some very blah pictures I have (unfortunately I have no before pictures).

She makes stencils and then layers the images with multiple spay paint colors. She's getting really good at this!

She's also a wonderful photographer...me not so good (I took these photos).

This is her sculpture, "Level Headed Shrink".

More fun sculptures my children have made for me in the past.

A little off topic, but have any of you had issues with uploading images? I have lost my logo image and every time I try to upload I get a "We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota" message. I have made the image smaller, cleaned out my photos and everything else I can think of. Do I really need to start paying for more space??

Carol Bass

Carol Bass is an artist and interior designer. In 1988 she co founded Maine Cottage Furniture in Yarmouth Maine.

Carol authored the following books;

and her home has been featured in many magazines

her home is now for sale, check out the listing photos

you can find more information at Realtor.com