Black Cape Cods

One of my favorite go-to pursuits

is perusing house listings on realtor.com.

It’s been a while since I blogged about my “finds”,

but then yesterday I spied this cape cod in my hometown*

FOR A MERE $25 GRAND!!!

If you can’t see the enormous potential

of this charmer-in-waiting,

then I’m sorry —

but we can’t be friends any more!

*It’s in Greenville, Illinois, which is 50 miles east of St. Louis

+ has 1207 sq. ft. + 3 bedrooms + 1.5 baths (listing here.)

I did share this house on my RedBird Facebook page,

as is my way (follow me!),

at which time I mused about possibly

painting it all black to make a modern statement.

I’m pretty sure I was influenced by this do-over,

featured in the current issue of Country Home magazine —

as I thought it was really striking + so well-done.

The original section remains quite traditional + untouched,

but the flat roofs on the wings

+ their horizontal siding add the modern.

Metal roofs can go either modern or traditional,

+ I think this raw, unpainted metal looks industial + modern.

Country Home

This next all-black houses’s over-sized windows

add to its modern look,

yet I think it remains quite traditional.

Here, the dark metal roof accents skew traditional.

origin unknown

This stately Victorian house

is nearly all black,

with pops of white in the window surrounds.

Notice how the black window sashes “pop”

against the white trim.

Would you have painted the door trim white?

I would have.

yentua.com

This sunning home looks fantastic in black,

+ notice how pretty  all the mostly-white flowers

contrast with the dark facade:

xtoxictears.tumbler.com

This house reminds me of the Country Home do-over,

with its traditional bones

+ some modern details added,

such as the horizontal boards on the porch + foundation:

House and Home magazine

However, most of the black houses online

do include white trim,

+ let’s face it, that’s a really good look.

When a house has a multitude of beautiful details,

the white gives them the attention they deserve,

like this home’s arch top window + door

+ swoon-worthy front pergola:

aviondale.com

This house is very traditional + colonial,

but the pale blue door brings it into the 21st Century

in a very pretty way:

inspiredhue.wordpress.com

I think this is a newly-built farmhouse-style house,

+ those stand-out twin columns

might be lost if they weren’t painted white.

I love the window box with its brackets,

which echo those along the roof gable!

decor.net

Here’s another beautiful new-build

with pairs of porch columns.

Its metal roof reminds me of the all-black magazine house

that sparked my all-black inspiration.

The simple, pale front door says “today”:

charlottedack.com

.This next beautiful house’s charcoal siding

is more interesting when paired with black shutters

+ white paint on its colonial details,

like that front door surround + picket fence.

(P.S. Nothing says New England architecture

like a whale weathervane!)

unknown origin

And speaking of pretty white details + picket fences,

this house couldn’t be more charming.

I’m smitten with the rows of rose bush topiaries

+ box woods marching along side the brick front sidewalk!

This Old House magazine

In conclusion,

here’s a look-see at a pale before + black after:

They kept enough white trim

to accent the pretty details

(notice my “faves” – the black window sashes),

+ amped up the modern very nicely

with the natural wood door

+ horizontal natural boards on the foundation

+ on that nicely beefed-up front porch.

M e a n w h i l e —

after all this online researching of black cape cods,

I’m on the fence about my hometown house’s exterior color.

Instead of going with a monochromatic all-black exterior,

I now think there are just enough pretty details

to highlight in white.

I think I’d paint those interesting window sashes black,

so that they stand out,

+ some sort of pale front door

would be nice + on-trend, don’t you think?

Too bad I don’t think I could persuade G.O. to move

to my southern Illinois homeland with me!

The Saga Of The Never Ending Kitchen Curtains

Full disclosure:

I’ve made + remade Dutch colonial kitchen curtains

so many times I’ve lost count.

‘Cause that’s how I roll.

This makes G.O. very unhappy,

as he doesn’t grasp the concept of the re-do.

How unfortunate!

Because I can’t seem to do anything

unless there are multiple redo’s!

Let’s think about something more pleasant, though,

+ view the (I think!) final curtains:

P e r f e c t i o n !

I made these from an old, full-length pair**

of Rachel Ashwell’s Simply Shabby Chic at Target,

**which you can still buy.

They were in a bedroom at our last house,

so they’re basically “free”, right?

But wait.

It took me three tries to even get these right!

Here’s attempt number one:

So what’s wrong with those?

Well, I thought they were too full

+ looked like something from the Palace of Versailles!

My solution was to remove 2 of the 4 panels,

+ here’s what that looked like:

In my mind, this was a little better,

but the more I looked at them,

the cheapier they seemed to appear.

They looked like I got them from the dime store!!!

Ha!  That’s right!

I just said dime store!

I’M ANCIENT!!!

But wait — it gets better!

When I had my very first house

when I was probably 19 years old,

I actually did buy bedroom curtains at the dime store!!!

They were called CAPE CODS,

+ I loved them!!!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Trust me, the rest of my decor

was pretty hilarious,

but that’s a subject for yet another blog post.

Back to today’s triumph:

I had to get the folds between the rings just right,

+ trust me, as per usual, it wasn’t easy.

Here’s what I did to “train” them:

After carefully folding them,

individually, by hand,

I clipped them in place with chip bag clips

+ let them settle in for about a half hour or so.

Genius!

Whew!

Feeling exhausted, just by reading about it?

Imagine going through it!

And yes, there were other, earlier versions —

 all equally grueling + frustrating for poor G.O.

Here were some red gingham cuties

that I sewed, using an old twin bed skirt

from back in the day when Martha was still at K-Mart:

I don’t recall why these went away,

because I do love that red gingham.

Oh, wait — yes, I remember.

I decided I needed full-length curtains instead of tiers,

so these longer gingham checked curtains

took their place:

Once again, adorable, if I do say so,

but the material was wrong.

I’d ordered fade-resistant indoor-outdoor fabric

from fabric.com,

+ it turned out to be just too heavy + stiff

to make good curtains.

They eventually became upholstery projects,

so they ended well, at least.

Finally — in conclusion,

I still want some red gingham check

in that kitchen of ours,

because I love it so.

This — again from fabric.com:

But how – what – where – when?!?

Stay tuned!

Outdoor Sink/Potting Table

So.

On Friday I bought myself this magazine

at my happy place, Barnes + Noble:

Look at this idea

for an outdoor sink/potting table!

Do you see what’s happening here?

Looks like someone put some legs

on an old sink,

hooked up the faucets to the outdoor spigot

+ placed a galvanized bucket underneath

to catch the drain water.

G E N I U S !

Wow, could we use something similar

next to our back door,

replacing this bench + birdhouse vignette:

Here’s the same space in yet another configuration,

being photo-bombed by Chloe the Dachshund.

As you can see,

we have the galvanized bucket-drain situation handled.

We also had a long, vintage kitchen sink,

similar to the one used in the magazine,

but wouldn’t you know it — we SOLD IT!

Seller’s remorse!

No worries, though.

I bought this vintage cutie at a garage sale for $10!

Sorry for the bad snapshot,

but you get the idea — isn’t it perfect?

Now all we need is a table.

Perhaps G.O. could make one himself,

like this project from last summer,

for which he repurposed an old wooden ironing board top

+ some black pipe from Menards.

Sold it, though!

He could make another large table/island

like this recent project,

made from reclaimed lumber

+ an outboard motor shipping frame.

Turns out we sold that, too,

but we might just still have this old table:

We got it at some long-past flea market

or perhaps another garage sale.

I can’t remember;

nor can I remember if we still have it!

I’ll check, though, so stay tuned!

Upstairs Bedroom + Stairway News

So.  What’s happening with the Dutch colonial,

are you even asking anymore?

I just checked, + my last blog post about it

was written on March 8, 2018!

Our upstairs kitchen was just getting underway:

Thankfully, that room’s been completed,

+ it’s beautiful!

Unless you follow RedBird on Facebook (please do!),

where I’ve shared many Dutch colonial photos,

you’ll have to believe me.

Okay, here’s one more peek of the “during”:

I promise to write an entire kitchen blog post soon!

First, though, let’s view some recent progress

in the upstairs bedroom.

I failed to take any “before” photos (AGAIN),

but trust me, it was bad.

Now it’s almost completed,

with this photo taken from one corner

looking toward the closet + hall doorways:

Fun fact: the closet was painted pink when we bought the house.

See the boards inside the closet?

That pink.

Since then, its walls + those of the bedroom

have been repaired + painted white,

+ all the beautiful, original woodwork

was painted Pittsburgh Paint’s Ghost Writer gray:

 

Man, do I love white walls with gray woodwork!

There’s a pair of huge, south-facing windows,

so it’s going to be nice + bright!

From another corner of the room,

a view toward the closet + hall doorways:

A new sub floor has been laid

in both the bedroom + hallway —

seen here, looking toward the kitchen,

with the stairwell about midway to the right:

All we need to do to complete those areas

is to install a closet organizer + carpet.

But first.

Perhaps, we’ve saved the worst for last,

+ this time, I got some juicy “before” photos!

Behold the staircase,

as seen from the upstairs hallway:

Here’s a close up of the stair landing:

Just as they were throughout the rest of the upstairs,

the original plaster walls were a wreck.

This corner, at the stair landing, was badly cracked,

but earlier today G.O. began patching it.

This is the view from the landing down to the foyer + front door:

Here’s G.O. now, scraping yet more plaster boo-boo’s

from the walls at the bottom of the stairs:

This is what one sees, entering from the front door:

Even though things look pretty hiddy right now,

you can tell that the original staircase was quite beautiful.

We’re both so glad that this project’s finally been started!

I think we’re just NOW seeing the end approaching,

+ it’s been YEARS.

Meanwhile, I owe you a post or two.

Stay tuned for some belated kitchen updates!

 

Vacation Apartment In Rheim, France

So.  Today we’re headed to France,

where I recently traveled vicariously

via this Netflix show:

Monty Don — our somewhat disheveled yet delightful host —

zips around the countryside

in a cute, little Frenchie car,

showing us all sorts of beautiful French gardens,

IN-cluding  Claude Monet’s famous property in Giverny . . .

. . . which he immortalized

in hundreds of Impressionistic paintings, like this one:

Even G.O. experienced wanderlust while watching,

so who knows?

Grab that passport + cross those fingers!

Anyway, today we’re headed back to France,

courtesy of one of my favorite blogs, Remodelista .

We will be staying in one of two boutique apartments

in Rheimes,

which is in the Champagne region

northwest of Paris.

Let’s have a look-see at those boutique apartments,

where we’ll be staying while in Rheims.

They each contain plenty of French antiques,

including this peg rack:

Isn’t the hanging mirror charming?

Coincidentally, I had seriously considered

getting a similar French peg rack

for our canned ham RV, like this one, at $40.88:

Anyway, speaking of mirrors,

there were seemingly dozens in the apartments —

the most beautiful of which

is this stunning 100 year-old barber’s mirror:

Omigosh — what a dream,

to design an entire bathroom around that mirror!

Bravo for the twin pedestal sinks

+ the tile excellence!

(Full disclosure:

we have the very same tile floor

in our main bathroom of the Dutch colonial!)

I’ve always wanted a “floral tile” floor like that,

+ after my semi-exhausting search,

we finally found ours on Amazon.

The Frenchies used leftover tiles in the second bathroom,

which is equally as charming:

I’m in love with plain, Jane square subways,

+ we’re seeing sinks like that all over the internet.

Extra points given for the wall-mounted faucet

+ the chippy, white door!

One of the bedrooms has another French peg rack,

a beautiful floor, more mirrors, navy comforters,

+ a game board** that I MUST HAVE!!

** (Another full disclosure: G.O. loathes leaning artwork,

while I find it extremely stylish.)

What say ye?

While we ponder that,

+ I make a mental note to lean something, later,

let’s check out one of the kitchens:

How do I love thee?

Let’s break it down, left to right:

a. hanging soap dish,  b. pretty cutting boards,

c. antique brass faucet,  d. penny tiles,

e. attractive accessories, +  f. another mirror!

That’s a stellar range hood, too,

+ I’m all on board with the wall-hung, accordion light fixture:

Would you check out this unique Frenchie electrical outlet!?

There were several throughout the apartments,

+ I think they’re a dream!

Other views of the kitchen showcase yet more dreaminess,

including the highly-coveted (by me) SMEG refrigerator:

WHEN WILL I FINALLY GET MY SMEG????

Anyway, I’m also quite fond of the interior window,

used here to separate the kitchen work space

from the dining area:

Last, but certainly not least,

check out their reclaimed cabinet kitchen island:

Beautiful, no?

Sadly, our current island is not of the vintage persuasion,

but I did have one in my long-ago apartment

in which my boys + I lived during the nineties.

I built it above my late, great retail store,

Heart-in-Hand:

Omigosh!  Look at that horrible photograph!

Look at all my “stuff”!

If you’d like to see more of it,

then please, check out this blog post,

+ have fun going down memory lane with me!

Susan Branch, Author + Watercolor Artist

So.

My recent search for a botanical print led to my discovery

of a favorite new watercolor artist . . .

. . . Lucile Prache, about whom I blogged yesterday:

. . .  + whose work reminded me

of another favorite watercolor artist + author,

Susan Branch . . .

. . . whose books I used to sell in my old shop, Heart-in-Hand.

I just love her sweet illustrations

+ charming, hand-painted fonts:

How adorable is the plaid border she’s painted on this page!

She’s written all sorts of books + publishes an annual calendar,

available on her blog.

She’s also written a series of 3 memoirs,

2 of which I’ve read + highly recommend.

The middle book, Martha’s Vineyard, Isle Of Dreams,

which I read first,

is about her moving from California to Nantucket island:

Since I’ve always wished to visit Nantucket,

it was wonderful to read her description of her life there

+ her renovation of a charming cottage for herself.

Look at her darling diagram of said cottage:

As you can see, each page is just a visual treat:

As this book comes to an end,

Susan had met, fallen in love with + married Joe Hall:

Okay, everybody: awwwww!

Isn’t that sweet?  Relationship goals!

 Joe is the proprietor of Nantucket’s famous Black Dog Tavern,

from which one can purchase all sorts of home goods + apparel

with the Black Dog logo:

Her third book,

A Fine Romance / Falling In Love With The English Countryside,

is a diary of the couple’s car trip in England:

Once again, she’s in a place I’ve longed to visit,

+ her vivid descriptions allowed me

to travel vicariously with her.

They toured many beautiful English gardens,

including the one surrounding Beatrix Potter’s** cottage.

** Yes, that Beatrix Potter,

of Peter Rabbit fame,

yet another author/illustrator whose watercolors

I’ve always admired.

Soon enough I found myself watching

the Renee Zellweger biopic,

Miss Potter,

which was just as charming as all get-out

+ for which I give an enthusiastic THUMBS UP!

Here’s Renee now, on location:

I don’t know if that’s the actual Beatrix Potter cottage,

but isn’t it swoon-worthy?

Anyway, in conclusion,

while there are 3 volumes in Susan Branch’s memoirs,

+ I have read only the 2nd + 3rd books.

In fact, I just discovered the existence of her first

while I was writing this blog post

— it’s called The Fairy Tale Girl —

+ is about her early life in California.

The above photo is from Jama’s Alphabet Soup (cute name!)

 blog post —

which is a very interesting read (trust me — check it out!)

In conclusion, I shall request The Fairy Tale Girl

from our inter-library loan system, TODAY.

You can buy signed copies of all 3 books on her blog,

so if anyone’s wishing to send me an early birthday gift . . .

. . . hint!

 

Botanical Watercolors From Paris

So.

In yesterday’s blog post, I shared my hopes + dreams

of finding a botanical poster for my kitchen.

Seems everybody was fond of this vintage sunflower chart,

but not so much its steep price tag of $272.45.

But wait.

Look at what I spied

amongst** my search for the vintage botanicals!

(**I know amongst is not a word, but I like it.)

Beautiful watercolor posters painted by Parisian artist,

Lucile Prache, available on Etsy in Lucile’s Kitchen shop.

Please.

How perfect is it that an artist in Paris should wear

the highly Frenchie blue + white striped top that I love*!

(* + have owned + worn many times!)

 

 

Carrot Cake Recipe 13 x 17 – $110

Medicinal Plants 8×10 – $30.50

Wouldn’t this poster be terrific in a coffee shop?

Coffee Watercolor 11 x 14 – $80

 

 I think owning a print of an original piece of art

would be great,

+ I’m such a fan of hers!

I’m still shopping, though, so stay tuned!

Vintage Botanical Artwork Love

I spend a lot of quality time on the couch,

as one does in winter.

When (+ if) I look away from my TV, phone or bozoputer,

I see this:

Disclaimer:

G.O. is preparing his signature Calico Beans dish to pass

for a Super Bowl party later today,

which explains the slight mess

+ the reason my utensils are askew.

Omigosh!  Those plastic ones don’t go there!  BAD Kay!

This explains why I’ll never be one of the popular kids

on Instagram (@redbirdkay52 – please follow me),

but I digress.

He is also throwing away all our non-stick pots + pans

after watching this documentary

on the horrors of DuPont + Teflon,

The Devil We Know.

Yikes!  Sorry I missed it.

Back to the pressing issue at hand,

which is the artwork in our kitchen.

We recently hung those bowl prints,

which I ordered from a forgotten catalog, years ago.

They’re great, but me being me,

I already wish to hang them elsewhere**

+ to replace them with my dream artwork,

the botanical print.

**Which, need I say it, drives G.O. crazy.

Oops.

  Since that’s not as important as my happiness is,

off I dashed to shop for said botanical prints on etsy,

where I was immediately attracted to these vintage pull-down charts

from the shop, Mighty Vintage in Berlin.

Violets – $414.59

How much do we love the way the vibrant colors

POP against the black backgrounds?

Sunflowers – $272.45

Cherries – $355.37

Since we live in Illinois,

something corn-related might be kind of fun,

like this chart from the shop Wild Strawberry Retro from the UK.

Maize – $162.27

Okay.  Ouch.

Hundreds of dollars is a tad more than I wished to spend,

so I continued to shop – this time for reproductions.

I think I found it!

What’s not to love!? – via OlgaBegakArt from Austria.

Tomatoes – 13″ x 19″ $56.86

The illustration style is deliciously vintage,

+ the colors are fantastic!

What do you think?

Stay tuned!

Navy Blue Walls, The Sequel?

I think it’s been 5 years since we painted our living room

Pittsburgh Paint Flagstone gray:

In my little world,

having any room be the same color for 5 years

is just NOT acceptable!!

Yes, it’s time for a change!

(Plus, I never really wanted gray.)

My heart was set on my favorite color — navy blue!

Sadly, as so often happens,

I was too timid to choose something so bold

+ instead, settled on the neutral gray.

(Don’t get me wrong — I do love Flagstone!)

So much for going big or going home, though.

Anyway, speaking of gray, our living room’s focal point,

this vintage sorter, is also gray:

And what a sad, sad coincidence . . .

. . . we also have a gray couch + not 1 but 2 gray chairs!

I think we can all safely say:

TOO MUCH GRAY!

So it’s not only time (5 years!?), already,

to change that gray wall color,

but I need to get rid of a gray chair or 2.

First, the walls.

Yes, my heart still belongs to navy blue,

+ who knows?

Maybe I’ll actually love this one!

Navy blue paint is really hard to get right!

Sometimes it’s COBALT!  Or PURPLE!

 

But, if it was a true dark navy,

wouldn’t it look fantastic with my beloved ikat rug, though?

Here it is in our most recent past house, the brick bungalow,

where it also looks great with that dark blue furniture:

This now brings us to the gray chair portion of our living room change.

I’m pretty sure we’re switching out that arm chair

+ getting this pretty mid-century arm chair + ottoman, instead:

Here it is, sans ottoman but in a tad larger photo op:

It doesn’t really look that dark blue,

but I think it will work.

Fingers crossed it won’t blend into the navy blue walls behind it, God forbid.

Uh oh.  Do you see what’s happening?

There’s that pesky color doubt of mine rearing its head again.

So, just in case, I’ve got “PLAN B”, + here ’tis:

It reminds me of a color, Beeswax,

that we used in our riverfront farmhouse

that we built at the turn of the century.

It’s just so darn cheerful,

+ wouldn’t it complement the pretty butter yellow in my rug???

Oh, here we go again.

Stay tuned!

Cabins In The Snow

Today’s post is a result of my daily “look-see”

at Remodelista’s inspirational blog,

this one devoted to cabins in the snow:

I love snow + think every house looks more beautiful in said-same.

For proof, here’s our Dutch colonial last Christmas season.

Charming, if I do say so!

Disclaimer: we’ve not had much snow this year,

+ I am not amused.

So.  Let’s cheer ourselves me up

by looking at some houses in real snow,

beginning with this Belgian stunner

that’s been one of my online favorites for years:

I’ve always wanted to live in an old stone house!

The juxtaposition of the rustic stone + that glass room addition is so exquisite.

Inside, they’ve continued mixing the modern with the rustic.

I’m smitten with those red kitchen stools,

but I fear I would tumble out of the bed during the night!

This Aspen, Colorado ski chalet was recently renovated

to yet more glass + stone perfection:

I’m a fan of the interior’s rough-sawn wood planks

combined with the smooth, white walls + dark gray beams:

I shan’t lie — I am obsessing about living in a mid-Century modern house

(again),

so I love this one in New York state:

By again, I mean that while I was in college in the 70’s,

I lived in a genuine mid-Century house

in a 50’s neighborhood in my southern Illinois hometown.

Sadly (very), this was prior to my devotion to MCM style,

+ I would definitely love a courtesy “do-over”.

Please.

Inside, the homeowners obviously left the natural wood ceiling + beams

but have brightened everything up by painting the wall paneling white:

Next up, I love all things Swedish, in-cluding this dark green beauty!

How wrong would it be

for us to paint our white vinyl siding a crazy dark color??!!

Okay, that’s not gonna happen,

but please.

The whitewashed wood interior + Scandi-style furnishings!

Obviously, the view’s not bad, either.

Our maternal ancestors are from Switzerland, as is this mountainside cabin.

Wow.  It’s as flat as a pancake here in Illinois, where we live.

I can’t imagine mountains like this!

(Love the fence, too.)

Once again with the dark exterior + ultra-light interiors,

+ once again with my loving the bare, minimalist decor

when we have anything but!

That view!

Could we at least plop one chaise lounge in that space, though?

This concludes our fun tour of cabins in the snow via the Remodelista blog.

Maybe I can whip up some energy to remove all things Christmas

from our household + pare things down just a tad!

Doubt it.

Hope you had a merry Christmas!