Spring in the distance....

 

I have been down with a nasty chest infection, like so many of us this month.....So much to do, moving back home but unable to...temporarily immobilized..it gives me time to reflect on tasks waiting and aspirations incubating in my mind...

I ordered more rose bushes which will arrive in April... Centifolia variegata, Antonia d'Ormois, Blanc double de Coubert, and Empress Josephine...all very floriferous and shade tolerant ....hope to place these among more boxwood in the garden....if you live in the Niagara area, Palatine Roses is an excellent source of old fashioned roses, located on Creek Road in Niagara on the Lake...Ontario. They ship to the U.S. as well.

Unknown to my husband, I am still hoping to build a little garden folly !! Perhaps my folly, after the renovation this year! This photo above is from Velvet and Linen....perfect as a storage area for garden tools or potting supplies...I would add a window somewhere...it would look great at the border of the woodland garden....

 

You may remember the post on our dog Tukk's doggie house, he has been gone for a while, and how I was planning to use it in the construction of an aviary or dovecote...my husband didn't think chickens, pigeons or doves was a good idea in the garden! A garden folly is at least more palatable to him! We shall see! I think it should be reinvented into something useful again....don't you?

 

 

I am anxious to show and share the changes at Acorn Lane over the last eight months....my husband has been moving some furniture and boxes for me to arrange and open, while I am languishing in an antibiotic daze this week....I have been able to salvage and reuse the vintage lights which I have collected over the years, and hope to make this the first post of the renovation... I think you will be pleased with them as much as I am! Late winter is a good time to move in and get settled, the move in behind me, and hopefully I will be ready to welcome the garden, with Spring not far in the distance.....

 

N.xo

Photos from This Ivy House, except for Tukk's house, mine.

 

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Love is in the air.....

 

A few days ago I learned that....

Life like love is fickle...but mostly, fragile.....

When I think of Valentine's Day I think of roses, chocolates, cherubs and candlelit dinners....

..... Over the years my expectations of this day have lessened.....

.....all I need is my husband, my sons.....the loves of my life!

Wishing my dear readers, every blessing and beauty that love inspires......

Happy Valentine's Day!

N.xo

 

All the above images from my Pinterest boards....

Nella Miller on Pinterest

 

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Dreaming in green...

Every year, around this time, I begin to reflect on what I should have done, should do more of, or not at all!

Inevitably, it always reflects around my surroundings, especially in the garden, when we all dream of what could be, when armchair gardening is so much more entertaining and achievable.... I look out at the snow covered beds,which have taken a bit of abuse from the work which was done to the exterior....I should have planted more trees, in lieu of annuals and perennials, more flowering shrubs instead of capricious climbing vines and more boxwood, never enough boxwood!

....but clarity, promotes wisdom, albeit too late it seems!

The lovely little rose above, The Fairy, has been a consistent performer in my garden, and I wisely chose to include her several winters ago, while perusing the Pickering Roses catalog in January.

She is thriving happily among Limelight hydrangeas in the south west border of the garden.

All manner of armchair pursuits are possible in the gloomy, cold days of January...

Pinterest surfing yields an abundance of inspiration for decorating, with the garden as inspiration.

The photo above has a lovely, soft palette of the colours of Nature....and green which I am currently obsessed with!

The above serving as a colour board for my interiors.....

Beautiful inspiration from This Ivy House......

Shades of green and ivory are the two colours I have chosen as colours for fabric .

With a touch of black.......

I am hoping to utilize all of our existing furniture with just a few minor touch ups, either with paint or fabric...

This is the Fairy in my garden, this summer, in white. It is far more prolific in pink, but the white looks beautiful with all the green foliage in my shade garden......

 

 

This is Cinderella Fairy, more of a shrub rose.....again co existing very happily with hydrangea.....

My days armchair dreaming and plotting will soon come to an end....countless boxes are ready to be opened and sorted as we prepare to move back home in mid February.....

 

The new open concept kitchen, above, courtesy of my husband, taken with his iPhone.

Please excuse the poor quality photo....the marble, honed counter tops in the islands,

have a soft green colour through them....I am hoping to bring the outdoors in....

The wood floor, currently covered in large sheets of cardboard, is dark, distressed hickory.

I thought it would anchor the all white cabinets and trim.....the hardware is oiled bronze.

In the meantime, I am hoping that all my sources of inspiration, years of reading and learning from some of my favourite designers will serve me well over the next few months.....

I admire Bunny Williams, Kate Forman, Lisa Luby Ryan, Loi Tai.....all very different, but classic and timeless.

I hope to post more pictures soon, my severe dust allergy has kept me away from our house, but in the meantime, I wish all my readers a cozy, serene and comfy Winter season!

N.xo

All the garden photos are my own, rest from Pinterest.

 

 

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Thinking ahead....

 

I always had a bad habit of not thinking too hard or long, when making decisions about decor....I usually know what I want when I see it, and don't have the need to see more samples or continue looking for the better alternative.....my Aunt Carlotta taught me to stop looking....when your eye has made your heart respond.....I like that, and it has served me well! I have been thinking about how to furnish and decorate now, for seven long months! It is now time to move ahead with a few basic steps.....

I have always admired the tufted ottoman, and liked it's use as a coffee table, multifunctional, topped with a lovely tray....I have just the large, vintage silver tray.....no ottoman!

This photo, is as close to what my two love seats resemble now. Previously, they sported pink and green floral fabric...." Floribundas " as referred to by my friend Trish, from Trouvais, lively, bright, little flowers for the living room!!

Now, in a heavy cotton duck fabric in cream....the chairs on the right are fairly accurate facsimiles, eliminated the skirts and stained the existing legs darker....they are finished, and the upholsterer is graciously storing them for us....

Two bedroom chairs will join the love seats, upholstered in this green pastoral toile... I found the fabric at E. Villeneuve Antiques, a favorite haunt....I have been contemplating it's use for some time...both seat bottom and backs will be tufted....originally I was going to use it on dining room chairs, but I decided differently.....

Hopefully, all of my original furniture will be used again, with just minor changes, like paint or fabric....

Here, you can see the detail of this very pretty toile....

Most of the furniture has gone from stained wood to variations of white, distressed and antiqued pieces....

This example below, is what I have used as inspiration for my own interpretation...

Beautiful, I think!

Images from Pinterest have been an amazing source of inspiration and ideas, and it has been a virtual sample board for design solutions for every room....

Colour palettes can be drawn from everywhere.......

This beautiful linen chest served as inspiration for painting my own powder room vanity and dining table....

This week the kitchen will be completely installed, as will the fireplace and mantle....

I hope to post them soon...in the meantime, thinking ahead, to restoring the comforts of home, like seating and tables to get us adjusted back to our own surroundings...

Hopefully, our projected move in date is early February....

I am posting from my iPad with Blogsy....please bear with me as I attempt yet another learning curve....

This is my 100th post!

Moving ahead in 2013!!!!!

N.xo

 

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A New Year begins.....

How time slips away....more quickly now than ever...one week begins and ends almost in a wink !! This year has been filled with change for me, a temporary address while we renovate our forty something home....watching our oldest son leaving his maternal home, more difficult for him than I could ever have imagined, and my youngest son hosting Christmas Eve for the first time.....good change, but still, always trepidation for those involved....we are all managing very well! I am always grateful and try to remain mindful of those less fortunate....wishing all my readers the very best of the new coming year!! N.xo

This is my 99th post, sent from my iPad, another new beginning!! N.xo

Hallelujah!

Christmas Eve morning, as I was driving back home, with the last of my errands completed, something interesting came across the CBC radio station I listen to....it caught my attention and made me listen more intently than usual...
 

It was about the impact of the song, Hallelujah, almost thirty years after it's release,
sung by Jeff Buckley, and made famous by Leonard Cohen...that incredible word, what it evokes, even if you are of little faith... the words, telling of how joy and sorrow are inexplicably interwoven.... how we can't experience one without the other...

...it gave me pause....

I have always loved the song, my favourite rendition perhaps, by k.d. Lang.
It was sung by Lang at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and I recall the power and strength of the words, the feelings it evokes in me every time I hear it....

This Christmas, more than any other, it resonated strongly with me....how, in desperation, we throw our arms heavenward looking for an answer, consolation,
perhaps redemption, but above all hope and gratitude....and in the end, joy to be alive...

Every Christmas, I am more aware of gratitude and life itself, it seems...
 

On a lighter note..... Hallelujah !!!!  My kitchen cupboards have arrived and are being installed ! At a bit of a stand still now, with the holiday season's arrival....
Above, the new garden room/conservatory, open to the kitchen...one more coat of paint and then finished...it was all painted Cloud White.

The two islands waiting for their marble honed tops...
Early January scheduling....

...looking towards the garden room....
 

I chose simple Shaker style cabinetry with beadboard accents, suitable for our country location...the hardest thing for me to do while renovating, was remaining true to our home's own sense of place....the "bones" I had to work with...
 

Close up view of the posts in the islands....

The powder room vanity, waiting for new Corian top, Avonite, on the new stone/slate floor, called Winter....it will have a simple, under counter, oval basin with tarnished brass faucets....the cabinet is a vintage piece I painted a while ago, in anticipation of the new powder room....the walls are Cake Batter by BM...
 

These paper cones, were the only gifts I managed to make this Christmas...I found an edition of The Illustrated London News from 1871 while rummaging through the carriage house early this month...from December 21, 1871...I photo copied the illustration, Christmas Bells by Lorenz Frulich, on cardstock, and embellished it as Victorian scrap might look....channelling as my muse, Susan's class at Stitch, earlier this month....thank you Susan!!

Another joyful season has come and gone, my dear readers....I wish all of you love, health and much happiness, now and throughout the coming year...and always grateful for your unwavering support and generous comments...I am always overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity and above all, friendship...

photos from my iPhone

The Holy and the Broken, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of Hallelujah, a new book, by Alan Light.

N.xo

 

Just thinking....what's next??

Today, just like everyday, I went back to check on the progress of the renovation to our home in Jordan...
I like to go on the weekend, when all the trades are absent, and I can look at what has been done through the week, alone, without company or observation...
It was a wet, drizzly and foggy day today, not looking like Christmas at all...
The light coming in through the big, new windows was a flat, dull grey...
but I liked the way it played off the walls, and the paint colour I had chosen, Cake Batter.
I thought it would work nicely with the greens and whites I like to decorate with at Christmas,
and the newly upholstered sofas, now renewed with a creamy cotton duck fabric.
Two tufted, vintage bedroom chairs will join them, recovered in a green pastoral toile fabric. To date that is really all I have decided to do until we move back in.
 

It's been a learning curve these last few months, every little detail must be considered to avoid disappointment and worse, mistakes you have to live with!
 

 

I am hoping that all the collections and trappings of life accumulated over the years will find their way back in....
 

I know that I edited for six months, while I was packing for the remodel and I have a gnawing suspicion that more will have to go!  Several walls were knocked down, so space for furniture has diminshed....

I know that I liked the way things fit in last Christmas....
 

This sweet, Victorian scrap ornament, taught by Susan at Stitch this week, has kept me occupied of hand, if not of mind....

I plan on making a few more this week.
 

Connection to things is interesting....memories recalled and experienced.....

I quite liked the way they looked in my old house, how will they look now??

 

One thing for certain is a constant,  our beautiful, woodland surroundings have not changed over the years that we have lived here...every season they bring new beauty, especially in winter....
Today, looking through the new, white windows, the view was the same, familiar and
comforting....
 

Next week will be the tell all......the floors and kitchen will be installed....
Progress, finally!


Thank you for bearing with my fragmented thoughts today!

N.xo