Sprucing Up For Spring

Well, after 23 years, I'm finally adding more gingerbread to the outside of our house. When we first built, I was overly caution about how much trim was added not wanting the house to look like a wedding cake. Our house style, Carpenter Gothic circa 1835, is more plain than later Victorians.

But after living with it for so long, I've decided it needs a little more fancying up. So over the next 3-4 days, I'll be poring over online catalogues trying to find what I really like. If you're new here, the top house is ours. The following photos are possible trimmings, brackets, and gable decorations. Stay tuned for the final results.

An Outside Tour of Baileywick Cottage

The herb garden in summer

The front porch

The dining room window with master bath window above. The window boxes will soon be filled with pansies.

Side porch which is our main entrance. I love the louvered vent above!

Around back is the balcony off the master bedroom. Kitchen window below looks out over the gardens.

Below the kitchen window is the shade garden with a hydrangea, ferns, and ivy. Beau is looking at me through the railing going down from the back porch.

And that's a short tour of the outside of our house. As I was walking around taking photos, I saw all the work that needs to be done. Leaves to be raked, empty flower pots to fill, and just stuff that needs to be thrown away. Here in Georgia that's what January and February are for; preparing for spring. Things are already starting to bloom and push out of the ground. I also need to prune the roses before Valentine's Day. Much to do!

Our Cottage Painted

The painting of the house is finally finished. From 1990-2012, it was blue. While I did like it that color, it wasn't my first choice. My husband picked out the color, and while it looked good, I figured 22 years was long enough for one color, which is why I decided to get it repainted white with green trim, cottage red porches, and light blue porch ceilings. I love it! Most of the family like it, too.

Painting porch ceilings blue to mimic the sky is a southern tradition. Supposedly, wasps won't build nests there because it looks like the sky. Since we've always had problems with wasp nests on the porch ceilings, we'll see. I've always wanted to paint ours blue, but just didn't have the nerve. But I figured, why not? If I hate it, I'll just paint it back white. Fortunately, they look great!

And the red porch floors? I really like them, too, even though they're a little harder to keep clean. Originally we just left them bare wood, and dirt didn't show up at all.

Tomorrow I'll take you on a visual tour of all these places.

Christmas Around Our House

Hex Floor Tile Redo

I need advice. I've read somewhere about how to make grout black, other than mildew, between tiny hexagonal tiles. When we put this floor in with white grout, I didn't think about how it would look twenty-two years later. It's a dingy shade of tan. I've bleached it and tried all kinds of cleaners. It just won't come white again. So I want to make the grout black. Would a Sharpie permanent marker do the trick? Any ideas or suggestions?

Fav Photographs For Pinterest

These are some photos from other blogs that I just love. I've been saving them on my computer desktop, and now that I'm on Pinterest I wanted to Pin them. The only way I could figure to do this was to put the images in a blog post and THEN pin them. It worked. If anyone knows an easier way, please let me know! I was going to delete the photos after pinning them but then thought that ya'll might like seeing them. My favorite is the reading nook. Oh...my...goodness. If I had a place like that in my house, I might never come up for air!

A Different Kind of Christmas Tree

Isn't this the cutest tree?  And to make it, all I'll have to do is collect all the books already sitting on my floor and stack them in this fashion.  Genius!

Come Into my Parlour

Since I already have the parlour pretty much the way I want it, I like to do small things to make me happy; such as tie a burlap string around a stack of books. I'm easy!

This tea arrangement makes me happy, too. The books I tied up are under the teacart.

I bought two of these needlepoint pheasant pillows on e-bay.

I've posted this photo before but haven't shown it hanging on the wall. It's one of my favorites taken in Stratford-on-Avon. I made it into a black and white photo and then hand-colored it using transparent oil paints. Pretty cool, huh? Excuse the reflections of the curtains in the glass.

A bevy of family portraits on an end table. I threw in the turquoise frame to shake things up a little.

I have matches in this box which hangs to the left of the fireplace. There's a story that goes with this box.

I think I was college age and our family was at this bluegrass/craft festival up in the Smoky Mountains. I saw this box and really liked it. Daddy, being the sweetie he is, said, "I'll buy it for you." I only ever remember him buying two things for me; this box and a Sarah Coventry bracelet that I still wear forty years later. And he's taken my brother and me to the country store for many ice cream cones.

I remember one time he was taking us fishing, and we stopped at this same store for lunch supplies. As a special treat for dessert, he got little cups of pudding but failed to buy any spoons. Of course we didn't discover this until it was time to eat. We didn't know what we were going to do short of sticking our fingers into the pudding, but Daddy being ever resourceful, looked around and saw some reeds on the river bank. Walking over to them, he cut a long one. As he walked back to us he cut it into three pieces, each piece about the length of a straw, and handed one to me and then one to my younger brother.

We looked at each other and then over at Daddy who had stuck his reed into the pudding and was drinking it like a milkshake. We thought he was a genius for being so innovative. He was and is a genius still. He's one of the smartest men I know. And one of the kindest. I love my daddy!

Around the House-Part 4, Final Installment, Maybe

As I was shooting all these photos, I realized that I like hardware and furniture with swirly things. Every dark piece of furniture, either cherry or mahogany, has flourishes on it.

And yes, that label on the bookcase, 270 CHURCH HISTORY, is a Dewey Decimal System number. I admit it...I have my non-fiction books arranged in that system. I had the greatest fun organizing it, too. I'm a book nerd and order freak of a high order! I'm not ashamed.

Dining Room Love

You can probably tell that I LOVE our house! For a few years after building it, I would pull into the driveway, stop, sigh, and say, "It's so cute!" Much eyerolling from four children would begin.

I know you don't get tired of looking at my house, so here's some photos of just the dining room.

I love how that wax cascades over the side of the candlestick. Lavender from my good friend Charlotte.


Pewter in the early morning sun.

A corner of a long mirror hanging above the double windows at the end of the room. Got it at a yard sale for $30.

Sunlight reflecting off my new Spode Italian dishes. They were a gift to my husband for 35 years of service to his company. Wasn't it sweet of him to let me pick the gift?

Curtain rod from Pottery Barn. I love the weight of the wooden finial. I also love the bullseye corner block and the fluted window trim.

Next time I'm showing you my new granddaughters. They may be as cute as my dining room! You judge.

More Photos Around the House-Part 3

This little bust was the first one I ever won when I was in a recital at age eight. It was also the last recital I was ever in!

This photo is looking from the parlor, through the foyer, and into the dining room.

This bowl of treasures are things my husband has found walking through the fields of Georgia. He spends a lot of time helping farmers with their crops. He also knows I'm a sucker for all things old whether they're broken or not. One of the sweetest gifts he's ever given to me was the bent spoon lying on top. He thought it might be valuable. Of course it isn't, but the thought is priceless to me!

I adore this little delft lamp. I have some matching antique tiles to put up over the parlor fireplace someday soon.

This old-school phone belonged to my maternal grandparents. It's the only one that works when the electricity goes out.

And here are my vinyl 33's left over from the day. I have a record player and play them occasionally on a Saturday night. Why a Saturday night? I really don't know. That's just when I'm in the mood.

A few photography books for inspiration.

The Bailey family crest.