Thank you everyone, for making my 2012 a perfectly fun year. It will be a year next month since I started on this journey and I have had more fun sharing my little Cottage and the goings on in my life with all of you.
Thank you to all who follow me and to those that just stop by for a short visit now and then. I appreciate you all. I am so happy to see all your beautiful homes and projects and the wonderful ideas that I always get from you. Of course, The Captain isn't any too thrilled because it always entails another job for him. But, I do have to say in his defense, that he usually does them with a smile! So as 'usually' is the operative word here, let's get on with it!
"A room where one sleeps and dreams and grieves and rejoices becomes inseparably connected with those processes and acquires a personality of its own. This room is not a pretty or dainty one, but it has always been a retreat for me, the one spot in Belmont where I might be alone and possess my soul in quietness"...So wrote Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, in her journal.
Tucked back in a corner of the Cottage, just outside the guest bedroom, is a very tiny room which, from now on, will be referred to as The Snuggery, but before I tell you about this inviting spot, let me say that I've seen so many wonderful craft and project rooms through blogging, and I truly admire them all. I used to have, in another life, a room such as those. Lots of paint bottles, patterns, greenware and scraps of fabric and wood lined the shelves. I even had a drafting table and a jig saw, but in this life I am content to shop for other people's crafts and when I do work on a project you most likely will find me at the kitchen table or in front of the fire. This little room was not designed to be a hard core craft room and, I feel so fortunate now to be able to take the time to enjoy the solitude and quiet that this little place of peace provides for me.
This tiny room, I'm sure, started life as the outside of the Cottage. Sometime over the course of the years, it was enclosed and by adding a few windows, it was turned into a sunporch. When we aquired the Cottage it had ugly, dark green, rubber tiles on the floor and the walls were marked and yellowed. We stripped them off and painted and stenciled them. I came across the ribbon rag rug in Ross's and since it had the perfect colors, bought it. I am finding that I'm having to glue some of the rags that keep falling out, but for $11 I think it will last long enough.
"And inside there was the most charming little snuggery imaginable".
Mrs. Molesworth, "The Cuckoo Clock", 1877
Starting from the left side as you enter stands my grandmother's maple hutch that she had in her dining room for as long as I can remember. I painted it a few years ago, and it is now a place where family pictures, wrapping paper and some Christmas decorations are kept.
The Captain helped a friend move and was given this small table. I painted it and now it is handy for a lamp and a few magazines in the drop down front. The lamp is from Home Depot, which I painted, and the shade from K-Mart, embellished with a flower jewel picked up at Hobby Lobby.
In this corner sits one of a pair of chairs that we picked up many years ago at a yard sale. You may recognize it as a twin to the chair in the library. I ordered two slip covers from Sure Fit. They were originally gold with pink flowers. The one in the library was dyed with Rit dye in Denim. This one was dyed burgandy. The flowers didn't change much but the backgrounds did. A pillow that was purchased at the annual holiday sale in town and Little Butterscotch Bunny, snuggling in the corner, along with a pretty throw, keep a body warm while watching out the windows for the first snow fall. This is the only room in the Cottage that doesn't have a huge attic space over top, so it provides beautiful music from the rain.
The workbench consists of three sets of Ikea cabinets that we got from a hairdresser who was closing up her shop. The Captain attached a top and I made the skirt out of a drop cloth after we removed the doors of the cabinets.
"Well, this is a cute little snuggery and no mistake".
Robert Smythe Hichens, "The Way of Ambition", 1912
Meet Mabel. She is an antique dress form that is wearing a blue and white apron that I already had. I put it in the washer with a whole lot of bleach and it turned the blue to the exact shade of lavender-pink to match the rest of the decor. The reason she goes by the name of Mabel, is because that was my grandmother's name and I have her brooch that spells it out. It is pinned to the hanky on the apron pocket.
Here is the desk that we picked up at a yard sale. I showed it to you awhile back in it's original sorry state. I painted it with plain latex white paint and used AS dark wax over all. I did not remove the hardware before I painted. It is quite typical of the period of the desk and, in my opinion, a little bit ugly, as was the desk. Now I am happy with the way it looks and is a perfect place for storage and for my sewing machine.
"It was decorated with those pretty little knickknacks so dear to the heart of a girl in a snuggery she can call her own."
Robert Barr, "In the Midst of Alarms", 1894
This was my great-grandmother's Wheeler-Wilson sewing machine. I believe it to be circa 1876.
Well, that is the story of my Snuggery.
It is a room just big enough to while away the time with a cup of tea and a good book or a simple dream.
Whatever the case, it is all mine to enjoy...
Judy
"The room in which we took tea was a veritable snuggery."
Robert Grant, "A Romantic Young Lady", 1886
The tea set is from HomeGoods. The book, Granny Chic by Tiff Fussell and Rachelle Blondel, is a gift to me from one of my dear friends, Anne at Marmalade and Catmint. Thank you, Anne, for this charming little book. It's jammy packed with delightful projects and inspirations for the handmade home and I am thoroughly enjoying it.
I am joining these wonderful parties today:
