Rex

Meet Rex. He's very low-maintenance (and no shedding!). We got him over a decade ago at Restoration Hardware, back when they had all sorts of cool stuff like this. We were in college at the time so he was a real splurge at $125. But we've loved him ever since, and he now resides alongside the staircase in our current home. Definitely a Super Find. Good dog!

Springtime indoors

You may have noticed by now our affinity for cheerful greens throughout our Modern Cottage designs, whether used in accessories, indoor/outdoor plants, or both. We especially love our indoor plants which add such life to a space and look extra fresh and glowy when the sunlight pours in on them. We like to house them in great vintage finds, like this old metal tub. Old buckets (galvanized, enameled, etc) work well, too. And these bright blooms are modern and playful. They have a pretty long life span for cut flowers!

Easter egg experiment

We realized late last night we had forgotten the Easter egg dye at the store earlier. And, of course everyone was sold out (we had hoped to get something all-natural). So, we took to the internet thinking there must be some homemade methods using foods and what not and found tons of ideas. We went with a few recipes from Better Homes and Gardens in the end:

We got yellow eggs using tumeric; blue eggs using red cabbage; and gorgeous green eggs by mixing a separate dish with part of the yellow/tumeric mixture and part of the blue/cabbage mixture (it turned an odd dark orange in the dish, but the eggs still dyed green). They all came out a little different, some with spots, some pale and uniform.

I was certain the cabbage dye was going to turn the eggs purple, but indeed they dried blue!

I think they are stunningly beautiful (as far as Easter eggs go :) and now we are super excited to color eggs this way each year.

And here is the little pail our guy used for his first ever egg hunt... (assisted by Dad, of course :)

Happy Easter!

It's the little things...

It's not the most glamorous topic, but it is functional - so might as well make it Modern Cottage, too :)  That's right: toilet paper storage. Keeping a few extra rolls near the toilet not only saves time when it's time to reload the holder (versus digging under the vanity cabinet or other storage location for the next roll) but also feels a bit luxurious - there's something about having the basics fully-stocked. I typically don't like anything sitting on the floor unless absolutely necessary (living with a golden retriever for 10 years will do this - dog hair clings to everything) so I pictured a basket that could be wall-mounted. I wasn't feeling woven - more utilitarian/sturdy/minimalistic. I decided I would hunt down a vintage-y wire basket. I started on Etsy and found our winner on the second page of my search - it was almost exactly what I was envisioning, and after verifying dimensions, I determined it would be a seriously perfect fit. How often does that happen? Silver Bee Vintage was great and the piece arrived promptly from Texas. A couple of nails later and voila! Cutest TP storage ever, don't you think?

(Ball jar photography available here.)