The Bliss of Blogging....

A few weeks ago, while reading my blog list....which I always indulge myself with late at night after the day is done, I was delighted and inspired by Keri's post from Ivy Clad.
She shared her recipe for a lemon, butter cake, deliciously drizzled with lemon icing sugar...it sounded divine, so I marked it!  I thought my family would be lucky recipients of Keri's simple but delicious cake...I took it one step further and decided I would use the recipe in cupcakes instead, and fill them with my lemon curd....

As chance would have it, my friend, Jermaine from the blog French Kissed, was sharing her recipe for embellishing lemon cookies with candied violets from her California garden...I knew that would not likely happen here !! However, I did find some tiny purple violets at the florists last week....and my plan came to fruition!!
Keri's lemon cake recipe, paired with Jermaine's sugared violets...blogging at it's best!
 

I was quite happy with the results, and they got rave reviews from my Easter guests...
My sister Micki, also brought for the dessert table, her beautiful and delicious shortbread robin cookies and eggs, iced and embellished with pastel dragees...
unfortunately Picasa did not co operate and I cannot share them with you!!!
 

Moving back home for our first family dinner, Easter Sunday was so comforting, soothing and totally right for both my husband and I.....
The newly renovated home is perfectly suited for family gatherings.....
 

A view of the new kitchen, still sparse and waiting for homey finishing touches....

Looking towards the newly added dining room/garden room/mini conservatory....

We have so much light coming into the new space from all angles....
The two bar stools are on approval, but they will be returned this week...not at all comfortable! Still looking.....
 

...the finished vanity for the powder room, with Avonite counter......

I was very happy with the results, a touch of vintage and a bit of English charm....
...the scalloped mirrors are from Ballard Designs,  I thought them perfect to echo the cut out shape of the Avonite backsplash...I was hoping to emulate the look of a vintage washstand....

A small vintage sconce also helps to illuminate this tiny room, sans window or natural light....

...the small gold leaf pictures were purchased at a market in Italy during a visit there with my Mom...I still treasure them....

In this photo you can see how the vintage Vaseline sanctuary light hanging above creates soft shadows to give a warm glow to this room...it previously hung in the hallway...
 

The small pots of violets, which generously yielded enough flowers for my cupcakes are waiting for more temperate weather to be planted outdoors....
The "holding tank" currently, is an Italian drinking fountain, waiting to be installed by the front walk....
I loved reading all of my blogging friend's posts over the last several months....they are always inspirational, educational, touching and sometimes profound....
Even if time does not permit for me to post about my small corner of the globe, it brings me into close proximity with all of my dear friends out there, just like me....the bliss of blogging...
Wishing all of you a most joyous Spring season!

N.xo 

Views on vintage lighting...

Finally, as promised a bit of what I have been up to.....one of the things that I was determined to do during the renovation was utilize as many of our former furnishings and collected pieces which we have acquired over the years. So with this in mind, it influenced every decision I made regarding choices for flooring, trim, window placement, paint and...lighting.

I have had this Capodimonte light fixture in storage for years.  Originally for sale in my store, it didn't sell and ended up in my possession after the store closed.  It is serendipity that a piece reflecting my heritage should now be hanging in the new garden/dining room! Capodimonte paste porcelain originated in Italy in the early 1700's. King Charles VII, king of Naples and Sicily became interested in it's manufacture after he married the grandaughter of the Meissen porcelain factory's royal founder. This prompted Charles to start his own factory....There are manufacturers throughout Italy who continue the tradition of paste porcelain to this day. The N and crown logo, as seen above, constitutes authenticity, somewhat!

The intricate flourishes and precise detail of the flowers and leaves imparts a delicate sense of nature to the fixture...
I understand Liberace was an avid collector as well!!

I decided to suspend it from the ceiling of the new garden room, hoping to bring the outdoors in...especially in the summer, when the garden will be in bloom...it also works well in the winter.....

I have still to finish painting the french refractory table... white, and antiqued...you can see the cardboard and paint can in the corner...decided to leave the table top stained to balance the rush seats....hope to add our large natural wicker arm chairs to each end, for more comfortable seating for reading and relaxing...

It is suspended too close to the ceiling and needs to be dropped closer to the table top...hoping to fix that this weekend!!

This little acorn pendant hangs over the kitchen sink...it is the only new fixture to the scene!
Could not resist it!!

The sconces below have also been in storage for years, waiting to be used in the renovation...whenever it might be....one thing about me....I am very patient and nothing deters me....

They flank both sides of the bed in the master bedroom...

Antique lights do not need to be grand...old, charming turn of the century fixtures, even candlesticks, impart a special warmth and character to a room that new fixtures cannot...

...another Italian porcelain fixture, which was gifted to me by my husband for my twentieth anniversary...
It previously hung in our dining room, and now I have installed it in my new closet...

I still think it is lovely after all this time.....

....a simple hall fixture which has found a new home in the master bath....

I especially admire the fine detail in the brass stampings....one of the things I learned is that silk wrapped bulbs impart a special soft incandescent  light to a room....something which makes a rather important difference to lighting a room...

...in the new master bath....

...This turn of the century light is a re purposed gas fixture, which hung in our front foyer since 1989!!
The only change I made was replace the original glass shades with glass prisms....I am very happy with the result...

I especially love the crown motif and the fine tassle detail.....
It is a fine example of vintage lighting!

Even though it has a rather formal air to it, I have toned it down with my rough hewn floors and chunky island posts....

The two original "floribunda" love seats have been recovered in simple duck cotton....

...everything seems so new and clean and austere...we will have to do something about that!!

It has been one week since the move....boxes to open and still more
sorting and organizing and editing....but we are back home, and Spring is around the corner.....

N.xo
 

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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