Winter Valances...

As much as I have had it with winter, I have to admit that I'm smitten with the beautiful snowscapes we see through our windows. I've always loved to "bring the outside in," so most of our windows have simple decorative valances rather than full window treatments.
(click to enlarge any photos)

Baby had been perched on the windowsill, looking out at the snow falling. Of course by the time I got back with my camera, she had moved to the chair. We purchased the valances in this room back in 1989, which is when the family room was added.


No valance on the slider, but another beautiful view of the snow from this angle. These tab top panels match the valance in the previous photo (they're also 22 years old!).

I love the battenburg lace trim on our dining room valance. It looks like intricate snowflakes to me. I think I got this valance about 8 years ago. I recently purchased a couple of more just like it for an upcoming project that I'll share soon!

This lace valance has been hanging in our living room so long that I don't even remember when I purchased it. It's probably been there at least 12 to 15 years because I purchased it during my primitive decor phase. It transitioned beautifully to the cottage decor we now have.

Nature has also been busy hanging valances on practically every house in New England it seems!

Everywhere you look, icicle valances are hanging from rooftops.

I pray that when they start melting, people aren't affected by roof leaks, but I'm afraid many will be.

We've knocked down the ones we can reach, and the ones on the side of the house where Mr. J goes in and out. We sure wouldn't want one falling on him!

But some are just too difficult to reach right now, like these outside our bedroom window.

Finally! The sun is out today after 2 back-to-back snowstorms. But they are predicting another snowstorm for Saturday that might give us at least 6" more...

I don't know how much more we can take! As you can see, the snow is already up to the flowerboxes on our backyard shed! (Sammy, in the foreground, was happily muching on birdseed in the screen feeder when I snapped this photo this morning.)

I'm sorry I haven't visited many of you in the past week but I will visit soon. Dad had a bad reaction to a routine surgery and we have been very busy this past week. On the plus side, it looks like things are slowly getting back to normal, and for that we are very grateful.

I'm linking to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home, so be sure to stop by and add your own post and/or visit all the other participating bloggers!

Stay WARM everyone!!!

Donna

Coming clean..... the good and the bad

I love windows... I just hate cleaning them!

The Dining Area

(click any photos to enlarge)

Back in the early 90's, our dining area was 'windowless' (just like our current kitchen and bathroom)...


Instead of natural sunlight and a view to the side yard, we had just a solid wall. One of the best improvements we ever made to our little cottage was knocking a hole in the wall to have this little bay window put in.


And after it was installed I got to have fun decorating it with a Battenburg lace valance, prisms, and silverware windchimes.


But man, oh man, can windows get grungy and dirty! I was having a hard time seeing all the beautiful fall colors outside, so a couple of weeks ago I grabbed my Windex, Pledge, and paper towels and went to town...


Unlike all the other windows in our house, the dining room and living room windows tilt in for easy cleaning. (I know... tilt-ins negate my right to complain about cleaning windows!)


Before Photo (the bad): "Hello, shed!!! Are you still out there??? I can barely see you......"


After Photo (the good): "Oh, you are still there! You look so much better through clean windows!" See what I mean about how BAD the 'before' windows were??

The Living Room

October 22, 2009

And remember the living room window I shared with you last week, with the gorgeous yellow maple tree out front?

November 4, 2009

Well, here it is now. All of the brilliant yellow leaves have turned rusty brown and are dropping from the tree at an alarming rate...


Pretty soon, Spotty won't have any falling leaves to watch from his kitty cushion...


But whatever he watches, he'll at least have a sparkling view!! (At least until they get dirty again... but unless we have some incredibly warm weather throughout our New England winter, this is the last window cleaning til spring!!)

Thank you to Cielo at The House in the Roses for hosting Show off your cottage Monday!! Please visit Cielo to see her cottage post and to find a list of others participating in "Show off your Cottage Monday."

Have a wonderful week, everyone!!

Donna