help wanted...

After days of Spring cleaning the inevitable moving around and changing things up of "stuff" has begun.

I need some help in my kitchen though.

There is this one spot that I want to change but am looking for suggestions or inspiration on what to choose.

Take a peek...

See it...the "nest" sign in the frame...

I am looking for inspiration and want to replace both pieces...any suggestions?

I am happy with everything else...

I am also happy it is the weekend!!

So, let me know if you have any ideas for something new (or old) to replace these...

Thanks for visiting ~ have a great weekend!

Joining Debra at Common Ground for Be Inspired.

a walk in the park...

Yesterday, my daughter and I went for a walk through 

Borderland State Park.

From their website...

Borderland is one of the most historically significant tracts of publicly owned land in the Commonwealth. Created in the early 1900s by artist and suffragist Blanche Ames and her botanist husband Oakes, Borderland offers many of the same pleasures that the Ames family enjoyed: walking and horseback riding on woodland trails, fishing and canoeing in the ponds, or, in winter, ice-skating and sledding.

It was a lovely Spring day and as we walked and chatted we remembered it was Earth day and thought what better way to celebrate than to enjoy the beauty around us!

Again, from their website...

In 1906, Oakes Ames and his wife Blanche purchased land on the border of Sharon and Easton. The country estate they named “Borderland” remained in the family for 65 years. In 1971, two years after the death of Blanche Ames, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired the estate and opened it as a state park. The family’s home, a three-storey stone mansion built in 1910, still stands. Its twenty rooms are furnished much as they were when the Ameses lived here; many of Blanche Ames’ paintings grace the walls. Their illustrious histories remain in the house which is open for scheduled tours

I have never toured the mansion but would love to some day.

They were working on the front of the mansion so I did not take any photos but just look at the wonderful old urns, imagine them back in the day full of gorgeous flowers...

We had a fun time together and am looking forward to doing it again!

You can see and learn more about this beautiful park on their website.

Thanks for visiting ~ have a great day!!

the little room...

I am sure you all have a spot in your home where "stuff" you don't know where else to put ends up.

In our house it is a place I call the little room.

It is in fact a little room in our master bedroom that would be a great walk in closet or even a master bathroom (if we stole a little space from the master bedroom).

Both options have never come to the top of our Fall/Winter project lists.

Can you hear Jim saying "Thank God"?!!

I have wanted to freshen the space up for a while.

I thought this would be a good place to try out a color palette I want to use in my bedroom makeover that I am planning for the Fall.

(After camping season which starts May 1st!!)

So, this past February, when we were up to our ears in snow, I dove in.  Here is the room after I emptied out all the junk...

This room held our laundry hampers, ironing board, file cabinet and a bunch of junk.  I also had some of my favorite works of art that my kids made for me over the years (can you see the dirt on the walls, yuk).   The colors were from when we moved in back in 1999.  I used to watch "Trading Spaces" all the time and on one episode they said to pick your room colors off of one chip ~ lightest shade on the walls, darkest on the trim, and the one in the middle on the ceiling.

I used this method for my master bedroom as well as the kids rooms, one was purple and one was blue.  What was I thinking?!

This was the last of the not so great paint color selections and I was very happy to see them go!

I did not want to spend a lot of money so I mixed my own paint for the walls, using a Martha Stewart gray I already had in an eggshell finish with some of the flat white ceiling paint.

I am happy with the color but when I do get to painting my bedroom, I think I will throw a quick coat on the walls in here.

I do not like flat paint on walls.

Not the best pictures (sorry for the glare), but you have to admit it does look much better...

The carpet will be fixed when the bedroom is done (or hopefully gone).  The hampers went back in and I got a new ironing board cover with my color palette...

I framed two of my favorite works of art...

Picked up a cute stool at the shop and brought the file cabinet back in...

I'd love a new lampshade for my glass lamp and maybe a (vintage) dressform in the corner.

I used a baker's rack to help keep the room tidy...

Picking up some boxes and crates that would look pretty holding some junk...

For now as a window treatment I am using an oops flour sack towel that did not work on a project I did for the shop.  It looks sort of cute!  I am thinking maybe adding a black and white ticking ruffle to the top (if I could sew).

I love my little room now and have been keeping it neat!

I am happy with the color palette and have been pinning lots of ideas for my bedroom makeover.

What do you think?

I am joining Common Ground for Be Inspired.  Debra has featured my post on our At Home With White Show from last week.  Thanks Debra and thank you all for stopping by!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

P.S. ~ Tomorrow is Jim's Big 5~0...Happy Birthday Handsome!

new treasures...

Thought I would pop in and share some of my new treasures with you today like this wonderful bottle drying rack...

It is the perfect piece to display my old insulators...

We are finally enjoying some sunny Spring weather!

I am enjoying seeing the light shining through the old glass.

I also wanted to share my new purchase from Sandi's Etsy Shop, Wayside Treasures.  

Just look at her pretty packaging...

She surprised me with some thoughtful little extra treasures...

These will adorn my inspiration board along with this sweet pink glittered heart tag...

Her pretty packaging beautifully delivered my new treasure, a pair of vintage French opera glasses...

I thought they would look perfect with my mother of pearl pair that Jim gave me many, many years ago...

Guess I have started another collection ~ these will be displayed in my Paris Hotel Suite...

I have actually started planning (in my head) a makeover for this room.  I want to change the wall color, rip up the rug and paint the furniture.  It will have to wait for the fall though...

On Friday I will show you a little makeover that has inspired me to say goodbye to my Paris Hotel Suite.

Hope to see you then!

Thank you Sandi, I love my new treasure!

Thank you all for visiting!!

that's a wrap...

It has been another busy week in the cottage of this muse.

Catching up with "real life" after the White Show has had me going non-stop all week.

Today I am going to share some of the wonderful displays inside the Wrentham Country Store that the Shop Girls put together for our

At Home With White Show.

(Part one can be seen here ~ part two here.)

And that's a wrap!

Joining

Debra at Common Ground for Be Inspired

and

Jennifer Rizzo for Fabulously Creative Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend!!