Mom's day

Look at what our little man got his mama! A lemon cypress, her favorite. Dad is teaching him well :)

This was followed by lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, and then a picnic at the lake that afternoon. It was such a great day and the little guy had a blast. Can't wait to do it again.
   
Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas!

A little re-do

Awhile back, we plucked a footed silver bowl with a gorgeous blue-green interior from our favorite antiques gallery. It served us well and was right at home in our last house, which was a bit more formal than our current house. It's been living on our salvaged steel coffee table atop an oversized white tray (you can see just a bit of it here) since we moved in. As of late, I swear this bowl seems to tarnish overnight, and I want clean, shiny silver...who has time to polish silver? It also started to feel too delicate and, well, formal. I don't know why it only just occurred to me to re-style the tray - but I suddenly wanted to do something more relaxed and a little bit farmhouse. Rocks instantly popped into my mind...smooth, grey, tonal rocks. So, we as a family stepped out into our yard yesterday afternoon (it was such a beautiful day!) and hand-picked some rocks out of our landscaping. The husband even sweetly washed them off for me outside and set them to dry on the front patio. Then he brought them in and I happily loaded them into a little corrugated galvi tub. I am so pleased with the clean, simple, casual look which feels both beachy and farmhouse. What could be better?

Yellow fixation

I don't know what's come over me but I've recently become fixated on yellow. Not pale, subtle yellow - bold, golden yellow. The husband is not sure what to make of it. He is giving me concerned looks. Have you ever felt more cheerful when you wear yellow? I think it's a real thing. So maybe it's stemming from that... a desire for sunshine and all-around good cheer. I think it can make a great pop of bold color in an otherwise clean and simple Modern Cottage. I'm not talking walls of it. Just a few hits. Like these pendant lights from West Elm. Hello! Such a steal on sale. I feel dangerously like stockpiling them for future projects. Speaking of hello ... this hello sign is exceptionally cheery as well.

On Saturday I came across a Winston Churchill quote ... to me it's a great sentiment to live in the moment and appreciate and enjoy what is happening in our lives now. So I (cheerfully) printed it out in sunshine yellow. Then I framed it. I'm not making this up. Here's the proof:

I'm planning to create a fun art grouping in our office and thought he could join in. Ah, but I didn't stop there. Nope, I also picked a can of golden-yellow spray paint. I figured if I could get a little hit of yellow I could work my way out of  Anxious Design Mode (that's when one's brain works overtime designing and re-designing in one's head, with inspiration and ideas jostling around willy-nilly in mass chaos). I have some ideas about where I might use it (husband is worried) and when I figure that out I'll report back. Who knows, it may be a fleeting fixation... but a $5 can of spray paint never hurt anyone. Here's hoping your week is filled with sunshine, too!

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.)