The neutral rug won out....

I have a Pinterest board filled with colorful rugs in an assortment of beautiful designs. 

But in the end, this 6' x 6' neutral rug won out over all of them.

I plan to do a gallery wall above the bookcases with the theme being
vintage religious/Catholic decor.

Gallery walls can tend to be busy (and I have a lot to hang)...

... so I didn't want the rug to compete with the artwork on the wall.

It was a tough decision though. There are so many gorgeous rugs out there! To help me decide which rug would look best, I lined up a sampling of the art I'll be hanging in the office and then, one by one, I enlarged my favorite rugs on the computer screen. 

(rug color change due to photos taken at night)

I stood back and looked at both the artwork and the rugs at the same time, and that really helped me decide that a neutral rug would definitely work best for what I have in mind. I really liked the simplicity of this one so I ordered it online and had it in less than a week.

A lot of the vintage Catholic pieces I'll be hanging are Polish, like the one above and the two Communion pieces from the grouping of five pieces of art in one of the first photos. My dad was Polish and attended Mass every morning. They remind me so much of him.

And as you can see, Miss Baby immediately made herself right at home on the new rug. A little too much so, as you'll see in these short video clips!

Baby just had to "help us" with rolling out the rug!

I hope the novelty wears off very soon!

I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday ,

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

and Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Have a great week, everyone!

Donna

Inside (Studio Office continues) and Outside (Bird News!)...

Inside things are pretty much the same...

 I still have a long way to go with the office. I lined up a lot of my religious decor to see the colors. I want to pick a rug that goes with the the pieces I'm planning to use on the walls.

(photo altered with film grain filter)

 Today I cut a lot of stringy tendrils from the Wandering Jew plant I got at the Woodstock, NY yard sale last fall. I stuck them in a vase of water. With any luck they'll root and I can start another plant.

I put some of the smaller cuttings in this hanging rooter that I've had for nearly 20 years.

And of course I perched a few of my 'weighted' parakeets on the rooter as well.

In addition to the 'vintage Catholic' decor I'll be using in my studio office, I'm beginning to see another theme emerge! You might remember this antique parakeet lamp I shared with you in a previous post. Claudia (Mockingbird Hill Cottage), knowing how much I loved her parakeet lamp, was instrumental in helping me get this sweet lamp from New York to Massachusetts!

My Nana LOVED her Pete the Parakeets, and memories of being at her beautiful home in the 50's are so vivid. It's no wonder I want to create vignettes and such that remind me of her.
Here are just a few 1950's photos of my beautiful Nana with her Pete's and my sister and I. 

No. 1 is Nana and me with Pete overhead; 

No. 2 is Nana with Pete (cage door wide open & a big bowl of water in front for Pete to bathe in; 

No. 3 is my sister and I with Pete (I'm the big sister on the right), and...

No. 4 is my Nana holding up my sister when she was very young to see Pet close up. 

(Oh how I wish I had that bird cage and the table it stood on in some of the photos!)

Since I don't, I did the next best thing and got a vintage cage of my own to set in the family room, right next to an almost identical table that once belonged to my Mom (with the small table covering).

And, of course, the cage is complete with a (faux) parakeet and a canary!

Now speaking of birds, there is a lot going on outside.

The bluebirds have most definitely claimed the birdhouse as their own.

Mama and Papa spent quite a bit of time making their nest.

... and it appears that Mama is now in the box almost constantly, which makes me think she has laid her eggs. And Papa is never far away.

Quite exciting indeed!

On another note, when I looked out the window this morning...

... I spied a burst of brilliant orange...

... which can only mean one thing...

The Baltimore Orioles have arrived after a long winter's absence.

Of course our little robin friends also have brilliant red/orange breasts, but these boys have been around since February/March and are much more common than the Baltimore Orioles.

And last, but certainly not least, we've had our first hummingbirds arrive! A female was at the feeders last night and a male was at them today. They were not on the feeders when I took these photos, but take a look at the sweet mourning doves in the background. One is on the bench in front of the window and the other is on the large flat rock on the ground in front of the bench.

Spring arriving has been such a blessing after the long hard winter.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday
and Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Donna

The studio window is a hit with the plants and kitties...

The large window in my new studio office is proving to be a hit 

with both the plants and the kitties!

(watercolor filter)

I picked up this cute "Blue Chalk Sticks" succulent the other day.
It was the perfect fit for this little blue green pot I've had for quite some time now.

The Infant of Prague might not stay here permanently as Baby tends to like this spot. And even though the statue is vintage and already quite chippy, I don't want Baby adding any more distressing to it!

This is a perfect window for Baby to sit in as she watches the buds burst forth as spring arrives! As you can see, I keep rearranging things in here to make sure
everything is Baby-proof!

I purchased this jade plant last fall when Amanda and I took a trip to Woodstock, New York. While there, we stopped at a yard sale and the woman was selling TONS of plants she'd started herself. She clearly had a green thumb as everything was gorgeous. I'm happy to report that I've not only not killed it, but it is thriving. I do need to find a nice pot for it, but it's an odd size so I haven't found one yet.

Until I do, it sits in the original black plastic pot in a tinfoil dish.

Tiger also enjoys looking out the window. On her trips back from the litter box 

(located on the floor in the corner of the room)...

...  she always pauses on the top step to survey the goings on outside of her little world.

If something of interest is occurring outside (dogs being walked or cars going by), her attention stays focused on that even when she has returned to her bed.

As Baby was looking out the window today, she got spooked. 

Baby does not like it when the UPS truck or the garbage truck...

....  or the street sweeper comes down 'her' street. Here in New England, after tons of sand has been dumped due to the many winter storms, the street sweeper is a sure sign that spring has arrived.

Of course as soon as the street sweeper was gone, she was back up on the desk checking out the smallest details of 'our' new studio office!

Click here to see previous posts about the progress of my new studio office.

I'm joining Debra at Common Ground for Be Inspired, and
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday this week.

Donna

A peek at my studio office reveal ... Something Old, Old, Old and Something New

We have finally started moving me into the bigger of the two bedrooms

 that used to belong to our girls.

(It seems like just yesterday that these were their childhood rooms.)

There's not too much to show you at this point as we're in the VERY beginning stages of making this my studio/office. Unlike others who move at the 'speed of light,' we move at the 'speed of snail.' In my old office, the computer was on top of this desk but it will now be used for writing and paying bills.

This photo was taken last night, right after we moved the desk in. 

And this photo was taken today with shadows created by the late afternoon sun. The "something old, old, old" in my title refers to this gorgeous old desk, my beautiful chalkware Mary, and the fabulous parakeet lamp on the desk.

The "something new" is the reduced-price chair I picked up at Target a few weeks ago.

I found this old antique desk at a sidewalk sale about ten years ago.

It's one of those rare pieces that you just know if you pass it by, it won't be there the next time you go back, so I grabbed it on the spot that day!

I know the extremely distressed finish would have sent some running for a sander and can of paint. But I'll borrow a quotation from Mark Darcy when he told Bridget Jones how he felt about her..

... because truth be told, those were my precise feelings when I spotted said desk...

"Perhaps, despite appearances, I like you very much.... Just as you are."

Yes, this desk and I were 'meant to be' as much as Mark Darcy and Bridget Jones :)

Now you might have noticed this beautiful lamp sitting atop the desk. 

Isn't it positively the most perfect lamp ever for my old desk? I mean just look at the colors!

I paired it with this old, broken shade I've hung onto for some reason or other. 

Perhaps this was the reason for hanging onto it?

I have to say, it's growing on me!

I have to thank Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage and Jean at Horsefeathers of New Paltz for helping me bring these gorgeous parakeets all the way from New York to my little office!

Thank you both so very much!

And last, but most definitely not least, is this gorgeous old chalkware Mary statue. Since most of my studio office will be decorated with vintage Catholic pieces, she's just perfect.

This photo was taken last night, right after the move...

... and this photo was taken in the late afternoon sun.

So that's a peek at the very beginning stages of my office. I have my computer/transcribing desk set up over by the window and will share that next. I'll also be setting up a painting table/desk in that area eventually, when we really determine what size will work in this room. And, of course, no artwork will be hung until I'm 100% certain of the room arrangement. I'm also going to be on the lookout for some kind of rug for underneath the painting desk. (These new hardwood floors definitely need to be protected from this messy painter!)

Now to figure out how to keep Baby away from that parakeet lamp and Mary statue!

I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday and
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Donna