Baby & Patience Getting Cozy

Baby was getting cozy with Patience the other morning, so I couldn't resist taking some pictures of them.

I was across the room, using the zoom on my inexpensive point and shoot, so the final results weren't so hot (just like my garden photos in my last post)... So again, I decided to have some fun with my filters - they make inferior photos look SO much better!

I like the colored pencil version much better!

Here they are in a sepia toned print

How about adding a chalk filter to the sepia tone?

Awww, Baby looks like my old Mr. Blackie in this negative version.

Lots of hue and saturation before adding the colored pencil filter...

Ditto on this one!

The watercolor filter was used on this one... and finally, Baby and Patience had a little fun in this last one...

Patience got a brighter lampshade hat and Baby got some crazy eyebrows and whiskers!

I'm joining Cindy for Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Donna

In defense of faux foliage and flowers...

I know faux foliage and flowers have gotten a bad rap in some decorating circles, but I refuse to feel guilty about using them!


First of all, the foliage and flowers currently available are a far cry from the plastic arrangements that my mom was forced to choose from. The choices today are almost endless, and most of them are quite realistic.


They look good in everything from a vintage milk glass vase...

... to a distressed French bucket.

Unfortunately, my budget doesn't allow for vases of fresh flowers around my house on a weekly basis.

Faux is also great if you want a little something in a place that doesn't get natural light...

... like this vintage tin wastebasket down on the floor (strategically placed to hide the ugly electric outlet and cords behind it!). A real plant would never survive in this sunless spot.

Or maybe, like me, you don't have a green thumb.

I've had these paper roses for at least 10 years, and they look almost as good as the day I bought them.

The top of the TV hutch in the living room does not make for easy watering, so faux is the perfect choice.

These faux roses, ...

... a peachy-pink with violet edges, are my favorites.

...right down to the crackled vase filled with buttons that anchors the stems.

Pete the Parakeet certainly enjoys perching in a bit of faux ivy at the bottom of his cage.

And a small sprig of faux white lilacs peek out of the vintage kitty planter in my windowless kitchen (it's definitely a challenge to grow live plants without a window for light).

This family room window is one of Baby's favorite places to hang out.

She can knock this over without me worrying about water spillage.

Now these, I have to admit, are a bit tacky. They're a throwback to the 60's and 70's, but I couldn't resist them at a church thrift fair last year.

Two matching copper pots, overflowing with faux ivy. They're perfect on either side of yet another of my bird cages.

This old brass/copper/whatever vessel holds faux flowers in front of the family room slider.

The planter is cracked and would never hold water. Court bought it for me at a neighbor's yard sale when she was very young, so it is a prized possesion.

Tons of faux (lavender, ivy, grass, and boxwood) on top of the bookcases. Again, an impossible place to water real plants.

Faux ivy is the perfect hair style for Patience, ...

.. the former garden planter who now lives indoors.

An old, dented tin vase that I've had for at least 30 years...

...is filled with some old, dried flowers.

There's no chance of these being poisonous to Baby...


...who, as you can see, followed me around while I photographed all of our faux flowers this morning!

So due to any combination of the following: 1) cost, 2) lack of sunlight, 3) hard to reach spots, 4) my brown thumb, and 5) possibly poisonous to animals, real flowers and foliage aren't always practical for me. Therefore, faux will always have a place in our little cottage, with no apologies!

I'm linking up to Cindy's (My Romantic Home) Show & Tell Friday. Be sure to stop by!

And before I forget, Happy St. Patrick's day, everyone!

Donna

Someone's nose is out of joint...

Since yesterday, there's been some tweaking going on in the family room....


... and someone is none too happy about it. She won't even throw a glance in my direction.


See what I mean? Just look at her back there. It all started with this lampshade, which is now being used on a floor lamp next to the sofa. Up until yesterday it had been a spare lampshade, but oh-what-a-lampshade! Much too pretty to be hidden away in a closet until needed.


So with its cream-on-cream pattern and dangling prisms, it became Patience's favorite 'hat.'


Last year she even got festive and topped it off with a fabric pumpkin for the fall season. But with yesterday's tweaking, I wound up with an extra lamp in the family room... one that needed a shade. That left Patience rather bare on top.


So I searched through my stash and found this adorable pink fedora for her. I even spruced it up with a little autumn flower, but she is having none of it...

Come on, Patience. You can't give me the silent treatment forever...

In my next post I'll show some of the family room tweaking that put Patience's nose out of joint!

Donna

Cottage Halloween Decor...

No orange pumpkins here... but if pink with white polka dots is to your liking, or maybe blue, green, or creamy white, you've come to the right place!


I'm happy to report that the photo pumpkins I made last year survived just fine after being stored in the backyard shed since last October (through the New England extremes of a bitter cold winter and hot, humid summer)...


These three photo pumpkins are being displayed on the little 3-tier garden table I brought in from the deck....


Spotty enjoyed a warm afternoon in the bay window yesterday while keeping the lamp bandit company...


Patience is sporting a pumpkin on top of her lampshade for Halloween...


... and some of my other fabric pumpkins from Ronda's Tempting Textiles shop are lining the entry steps of our little split level cottage...

So that's the extent of the Halloween decor inside the house this year. If you'd like to make your own photo pumpkins, here are the step-by-step instructions from last year...

Hope you're all enjoying the beautiful month of October...

Donna (who is still pining for summer while enjoying autumn)

My Decorating Style is COUNTRY ECLECTIC...

...according to a HomeGoods quiz I recently took...


I love HomeGoods. The garden bunny and birdcage on top of the bookcase in my banner came from HomeGoods. And I wrote about them here when I got these storage baskets for under our coffee table; here when I reorganized my bookcases; here when I prettied up our TV area; and here when I created a little vignette on our kitchen counter. So let's see how close their quiz came to defining my decorating style...

Donna, you are a Country Eclectic

You have wide-ranging interests and influences and therefore appreciate a mix of styles, periods, and objects. You would never use a matching suite of furniture or could stand a home that seemed cookie-cutter.


Well, that's true... After all, I did pair this old, ornate mirror with a very modern CD cubby...

But you love the breezy, layered look of wonderfully personal beach houses...

I have to admit, this vintage beachy seagull painting definitely 'spoke to me'...

... and the happy florals of English cottages.

Well, this vintage floral cottage mother's motto is one of my favorites! So far they've got me pegged.

Bringing the outdoors in makes you happy...

That's so true... I use bird garden statues and a basket of lavender (from HomeGoods) on top of the TV in the family room...

And Patience, who used to live in the garden, was moved into the house perrmanently last year...

a little chintz or ruffle or weathered furniture,

Patience sometimes sits on this rusted garden table.... yes, I do love weathered furniture...

...urns filled with tennis rackets, colored glasses filled with cut flowers, vintage-looking, mixed tea cups, and all things that give a sense of a happy, simple life.

Yes, cut flowers in colored glass makes my heart go pitter pat...

You value comfort. Your home is a warm and open friendly place...

I try...

and you feel happiest when everyone is cared for and relaxed in your space.

Spotty can vouch for that!

Elements like pillows

Very true... I can't resist big, plump pillows (from Marshalls) on the couch...


...or the windowseat.

throws,


I do love using throws on my wing chairs... lightweight throws for summer...


... and vintage chenille throws for winter.

overstuffed furniture, and good lighting set the mood

Is anything more inviting than an overstuffed chair paired with a "free by the curb" reading lamp? Okay, Mary Higgins Clark, I'm ready for your next book!

You may also enjoy layering different fabrics or mixing patterns to create a cozy effect.

I love layering... solid white paired with this vintage robin's egg blue tablecloth...


...or maybe a quilt (from TJ Maxx) layered over a white tablecloth...

Click here if you'd like to take the HomeGoods Stylescope quiz created by Deborah Needleman, editor-in-chief of Domino magazine. The results of my quiz perfectly matched my decorating style, Country Eclectic... So what's your style?

COMMENT RESPONSE: Patience, my lady planter, was purchased a couple of years ago from The Christmas Tree Shop. She was a dark brown/bronze color and I sponge painted her light grey to look more like a cement planter. Ironically, that same year (after purchasing Patience) I saw very similar planters at HomeGoods!!!!!

Donna