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!

That Time We Almost Had A Green House

It’s official.

I am somewhat obsessed with green now.

You may recall my Pinspiration greens from Sherwin-Williams.

I recently blogged about painting our upstairs bath sage green.

We chose Unusual Gray (at the bottom) for the walls,

with a ceiling of 50% Contented (second from top).

Our bathroom, very much in its “during” stage:

My green obsession has me plotting to use a lot of sage green upstairs,

so stay tuned for that.

Meanwhile, I now have just a wee bit of color remorse

re: the exterior siding of our Dutch colonial.

How’s that possible?  I’m asking myself,

when I truly love the white + gray + black scheme that’s out there now?

I was perusing some older blog posts the other day,

when I came across some siding choices from 5 years ago.

As one does, I’d placed some color samples on the house

for what I call “the admire”,

which is what I do when I am trying to decide ANY-thing.

Notice that there are 2 gray siding samples at left + 1 green sample at right.

Even 5 years before my green obsession developed,

I was seriously considering green siding!

Too late now, of course, but for fun, here’s a close up of the green:

I forget the name of the siding company,  but we bought it from Menards.

Shall we look at some green houses + wonder “what if”?

Found on Pinterest — source unknown

Check out the stunning details on this next beautiful home!

The Adirondack chair + container of blue hydrangeas are so “me”!

Domino magazine — I must subscribe!

And, saving the best for last, this cottage charmer.

Looks like they used the same colors as we did in our bathroom!

Extra points for painting the front door + the window sashes

with the same (beautiful) darker color!

Disclaimer: I would totally fall on those steps!

Found on Pinterest — source unknown

I still love our white house with the gray gables, though.

I think it’s timeless, + the white first story + contrasting color second story

is definitely a “thing” when it comes to Dutch colonials.

Too Bizzy To Blog; Here’s Why

Hola!

Man, I’ve missed blogging, but here’s why I’ve been absent.

I’ve been bizzily making “stuff” like this,

using old wood salvaged from our Dutch colonial!

It’s reversible!  2 X’s the fun!

It’s also currently for sale in my brick-and-mortar space, or store:

I call my biz REDBIRD Vintage Home,

+ I really couldn’t love anything more.

I share my space with 12 other vendors in this new-ish cool store:

 

Let’s have another look-see at REDBIRD.

Here I am, at left, inside my space,

 with 2 of my high school classmates who visited last week!

Guess the name of our high school.

Kay – Janet – Kathy

I’ve been making + selling pillows for several years.

I have an etsy shop for them, plus 2 galleries sell them for me —

1 in Jackson Hole, WY + 1 in Los Angeles.

Lately, I’ve focused more on signs + furniture + other “stuff”.

By “other stuff”, I mean measuring sticks.

Here is a close-up of a couple:

Wow, all that old chippy paint — I love it!

I like to think of these as the world’s hippest growth charts

or just a cool, industrial accent.

* * *

My plans are to combine my work

with other “merch” that I order for the store,

like these glove molds from NYC:

. . . and this fabulous-ness from New Hampshire:

Meanwhile, it’s time to view a few more of my projects!

I love the word “HOME” + opted to stencil it on this old, wooden step ladder:

$22

Next up, I stenciled a faded Frenchie stripe on some off-white canvas,

+ G.O. used it to reupholster this old, red metal mechanic’s stool:

$34 — SOLD!

This cute table was tricked out in a Swedish kind of way:

Check out how I lined those drawers.

It’s old Mary Emmerling wallpaper from a recent past bathroom of ours!

SOLD!

A pub table turned a little British with its stylized Union Jack top:

. . . and a couple more vintage items received their RedBird crosses:

* * *

So.  What’s going on over at the Dutch colonial? — you ask?

THE SIDING IS DONE!

Next up (soon!): tricking out THAT PORCH!

Stay tuned!

ALMOST SIDING COLOR TIME!

For those keeping score at home,

we are now in Year 2 of our Dutch colonial project.

There has been a flurry of activity inside, involving a lot of drywall.

While that’s a lot of hard work + great progress,

sadly, it’s just not that photogenic.

* * *
Recently, our attention has turned to our exterior, at long last.

Here’s what she looks like now:

We just got a bid on wrapping + siding the house,

+ I couldn’t be more pleased.

* * *

This means that I’ve been pondering exterior colors,

which is pretty much fun on a stick!

I love Dutch colonials with light first stories + dark uppers, like here:

Houzz

and here:

 

I am really drawn to white with gray.

This isn’t a Dutch colonial, but it’s the same idea, + I love it.

* * *

Meanwhile, even though I’m 95% sure I want white with gray,

once in a while I entertain the idea of something else, like this:

Country Living magazine

I love red houses!

But I dunno . . . red’s a major commitment I don’t think I can make.

I fear that our Dutch colonial’s barn-like shape with RED would be a cliché.

* * *

Maybe it’s because it’s finally spring here,

+ this year, I’m seeing pastel colors just about everywhere . . .

. . . + I’ve always loved pale yellow houses, like here:

Country Living magazine

How could you not be in a good mood, as cheerful as this is?

Same here:

Houzz

It certainly looks great paired with white!

I love the white vertical siding + dovecote (faux birdhouse in the gable)!

Oh, well, I don’t have to decide TO-day, but soon.

Stay tuned!

 

 

Baseball (Again!) + Pillow Musings

Hola again, sportz fanz!

If you didn’t know of my epic St. Louis Cardinal fandom,

then you’ve not been paying attention!

Why do you think my blog + biz are called

R E D B I R D ?

Here’s why:

Look!
My grandlad + me at Busch Stadium, St. Louis!
September 27, 2013

Any-hoo, maybe you heard:

 my Cardinals won their deciding Game 5

v.s. the Pittsburgh Pirates last night (YAY!) . . .

There they are, my 2 favorite Cardinals:
pitcher Adam Wainwright + catcher Yadier (YADI) Molina!

. . . which means they can advance to the next series,

which will pit them against the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers!

Get it?  St. Louis v.s. Los Angeles?

SO, in my world, this is perfect timing

 for some shameless self-promotion!

I make these awesome (if I do say so) city pillows;

they’re sold in my online etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/redbirdvintagehome

I hand-stencil + sew them myself, using repurposed canvas + vintage buttons.

AND I just introduced some grain sack pillows

 on which I’ll stencil any name.

Fun!

I just sent this one as a wedding gift to a couple being married in November:

Fingers crossed they’ll love it!

* * * *

But what’s going on at the Dutch colonial project, Kay?

Do I hear anybody asking this?

Well, the most photo-worthy update

is that I coerced/nagged G.O. into hanging my ginormous Cardinals flag there.

“BUT WE DON’T LIVE HERE YET!”

HA!  Whatev, G.O.!

If we DON’T do stuff like this, they won’t win!!

* * * *

But I digress.

Not much else at our project is really that blog-worthy, sadly.

They are framing for new windows, at long last,

so that’s going to be a morale boost!

Stay tuned + go Cardinals!