Monday, August 12, 2013

Just when you're not looking.....

It has been a crazy summer, in so many ways! Things were just getting nicely back to some degree of normal...we could see a path in the garage and carriage house, where boxes used to be...furniture piled high, waiting to be allocated a new spot, was finding it's back into the newly renovated spaces....

....a challenge at times, but taking on a bit of fun, finally!

The two " floribundas love seats, recovered in inexpensive cotton duck, and two bedroom chairs, previously covered in yellow damask, now nicely ensconced in the open kitchen/great room, in green pastoral toile...I had the fabric squirrelled away for approximately three years, waiting for my vision of this room to come together...

 

I am still undecided about a stove back.....so a small, vintage painting of sheep, is softening this space....

Yep....sheep, pigs, cows are on my mind, at the moment!!

A little peek in the corner, of a lovely vintage etching of cows on the river Wye....on the end wall of the new kitchen....I just can't help myself here....my husband is just shaking his head, wondering where this is going!!

 

The stacked stone fireplace, also hides the TV, behind beadboard doors, on a sliding, barn door type hinge....perhaps this is contributing to my barnyard mentality decor of late !! Really, my aim is towards a mix of country English and French?? Anyhow, things were moving along nicely, when just two weeks ago a severe, severe thunderstorm, flash flood hit the Niagara region. Our area received over ten inches of rain in less than two hours....because of a power black out for eight hours, our two sump pumps became disabled, and our entire NEWLY renovated lower level was flooded....we had everything sitting in 10 inches of water...

The dumpster is back!

 

....and so are the boxes! I truly believe, that all this erratic weather is due to global warming, and how we are responsible for what is happening to our planet, globally...I think it will be something we cannot easily fix and a way of things to come, at least in my lifetime...

 

In the meantime, while we wait for estimates, insurance adjusters and quotes, the garden has provided a refuge...always there for me to regroup, think and collect my thoughts...it has been an amazing summer for hydrangeas...the rains and cooler temps are perfect for them to flourish...

 

Lace caps...

...and mop heads, from potted Easter hydrangeas which I stuck in the garden, left to their own devices, growing after several years of patiently waiting...

 

Potted caladiums below, loving our shady terrace...

 

 

Perhaps, my favorite...oak leaf hydrangeas...

...so it appears, when we are feeling the most happy, grateful and possibly fulfilled....a new challenge or bump in the road arises....

.....very insignificant here, in the grand scheme of things....precisely that....they are just things, that will be fixed and replaced....perhaps placing to much importance on it......God trying to tell me something?

 

I'm not sure what that is at the moment...but with summer moving on rather quickly, I have my hands full again...Pinterest has my undivided attention, whilst I search for ideas for new laundry rooms, built ins and family room inspiration..

I hope all of you are enjoying the last days of summer, I appreciate all of your comments and responses to my very infrequent posts over the last year......it is heartwarming when I see you in my inbox, and truly is a highlight of my day...

N.xo