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

Studio Office Reveal. Part 3.

Another quick little update on the office.

Talk about an eclectic array of desks in my new studio/office! 

One of the latest additions is this new white IKEA ALEX desk, which will serve as my painting desk.

The other two desks are an antique writing desk and a mid-70's faux wood/file cabinet desk.

Three desks from three eras is all this tiny room can handle!

This is what the room looked like last week...

... before replacing the apothecary chest with bookcases. Much more functional!

They give me some much needed storage space and a place for my printer.

Of course Baby insisted on 'helping' while I was putting books in the bookcases.

She's been having a great time investigating all of the changes made over the weekend. 

I was able to use 2 floor lamps from other parts of the house, so between those and my OTT-Lite, hopefully the lighting situation will be good enough for painting.

The room still has a long way to go. It needs a rug, curtains, and all of the artwork hung.

But as I've said before, we move pretty s-l-o-w in this household, so all in good time.

I'll be joining Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Donna

The Studio Office Reveal. Part 2.

The studio office setup continues!

As you can see, Baby has made herself right at home in my computer/transcribing corner.

Please be careful of the bird lamp, Baby!

Last week I showed you the fabulous vintage green writing desk, parakeet lamp, and chalkware Mary statue that sits on one wall of the studio/office.

I'm afraid the computer/transcribing corner lacks the same vintage charm.

It consists of a small faux wood desktop set on metal legs and an old beige file cabinet. I've had it longer than I can remember. (The jury is still out on whether I'll try to paint the file cabinet white. The ideal time to do that would have been before it was moved into the room, so my guess is it will forever more be boring beige.)

The wicker 3-drawer storage unit was purchased at Target and the bird lamp at The Christmas Tree Shop, both maybe about 5 years ago?

The computer/transcribing desk sits next to the bedroom's one window (which is quite large) so it's a very bright room, although it's hard to tell on this overcast day!

One of the nicest things about this new room is that it came with an awesome roommate - Tiger!

Tiger sleeps on Amanda's old bed, which is currently across the room from my computer desk. Since Amanda often comes home from the city for visits, she still sleeps in this bed with Tiger.

They've been doing that for over 20 years, since 1993 when we got Tiger as a kitten.

(I love this picture!)

The small bedroom that I just moved out of (Court's old room) needs to be thoroughly de-cluttered and have the wallpaper stripped. After that it will get a fresh coat of paint and have the 33-year old wall to wall carpet torn up and new hardwood floors put down (hooray!).

Once that is done, the twin bed will be moved into that room...

... and bookcases will line the wall of my new office where the bed now stands. Or at least that's the plan.

(I love this picture of Tiger. I caught her just as she was about to yawn!)

Tiger will be 21 years old this August (or as our vet likes to say, of legal age!)

As Tiger has aged, it's gotten harder for her to get around, so a makeshift set of stairs (round storage boxes and an old vanity stool) allows her to get up and down from the bed that she has always slept on. Her food and water bowls have also been moved onto the bed. And since it was also becoming more difficult for her to get to the litter box down in the basement, we set one up in this room for her.

Tiger loves to hang out in her "Tiger Den" that sits atop the bed (a cardboard box with a blanket lining and an overhang of blankets on the roof). I'm hoping she'll want to stay roommates with me and have her "Den" set up on the floor, which would actually be so much easier for her. But if she rejects that idea and insists on sleeping on top of the bed, as she's done her whole life, I'll hold off on bringing the bookcases in and just keep things as they are with the bed in my office.

In my last post, you may have noticed the baby gate set up in the doorway of my new office studio. As I mentioned, we set up a litter box for Tiger in this room since it's so difficult for her to go up and down the stairs to the basement.

The gate was put up to keep this handsome boy out. For those of you who do not own both dogs and cats... For some very strange reason, dogs consider the little droppings in a litter box something of a gourmet treat. Yes, (gag), you read that right. So this gate is the equivalent of a "Restaurant Closed" sign for Mr. J.

(You might remember that we originally bought this gate last year when Mr. J had his surgery and we wanted to make sure he did not take a tumble down our split level stairs!)

Who knew we'd be needing it again so soon?

Of course Baby isn't going to let a "Baby" gate stop her from getting in. Nope. 

The Baby gate is clearly not Baby proof!

She just leaps over in a single bound.

All the pieces you see in the background (two of Amanda's old bookcases and a small apothecary chest) are sitting here temporarily until I move yet another bookcase from my old office in, but I first have to give it a fresh coat of paint.

So, yes, it's a bit of a cluttered mess in this back corner right now, but all in good time! Hopefully I'll have more to share soon!

I'm joining Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week.

Have a great week, everyone!

Donna