Friday, September 14, 2012

Come, Sail Away!

Welcome, Landlubbers! The breeze is light and steady, here at Cairn Cottage. The sun is high in the afternoon sky and I am ready to sail away in my nautical 4-season sun room. This is my favorite room in our quaint cottage on the lake. Fortunately for me, the previous owners also liked the nautical theme and had decorated the walls with a lighthouse themed wallpaper. The colors went perfectly with many items I already owned. I have recently been decorating our entryway, which is on one side of the room. My padded wood bench is the perfect spot to put on shoes or just rest a bit before going outside.


Pillows were added for comfort and color. A southern window ushers in lots of natural light!
 Here is a close-up of the stitching on the blue pillow. I just love the nautical theme of a map compass. The pillow also came with rope surrounding the outside of it, attached with loops of material.
I have also hung a shelf on the wall with hooks for hats, totes, and jackets.
Today, I decided to take my lunch on deck, {that is, here at the bench}. I just propped up one of my folding TV trays. It was quite a comfy little spot for a quick bite.
I had a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, pototo chips, and fresh cucumbers. Yum! Cool, fresh bottled water was my drink.
For dessert, Reese's peanut butter cup cream pie!! It was a store bought pie(actually made by "Edwards" and was in the freezer section of the grocery) , but still so deliciously rich!!
After lunch, a cup of tea just hits the spot. We have some very friendly neighbors here. I have 2 teacups set out, just in case one of them stop by for a chat. I'll be ready to pour them a cup. This dry sink sits next to the bench. A perfect spot to serve tea (or set my keys or purse down as I get ready to go out the door). I collect cobalt blue glass (much of this display was handed down to me by my mother, who had collected several pieces before I had gotten into collecting them).
Boats, especially sailboats, are a new love of mine. I found this teapot at an antique mall this past week and decided it would fit in perfectly with my nautical theme.
There is printing on the bottom, but it is very fuzzy and hard to make out. I did look up sailboat teapots and found out that it says "Porcelier Vitreous Ware China Made in the USA."  It also came with a metal coffee filter that fits on top of the pot when the lid is off, if someone prefers coffee, instead of tea! (Not sure if it originally came with it or not.) The Porcelier Company went out of business around 1954, which would date the teapot to at least that year or older.
This cobalt blue sugar and creamer set are also perfect for my nautical tea party.
I decorated the window behind the dry sink with fishnetting and attached seashells that our family has collected from beaches at the ocean on various vacations. You can see the lake out this window, too!
I love how the sun brings out the vintage blue color!
Well, I hope you enjoyed your visit to my nautical entrance area. All this beautiful sunshine, food, and tea has made me a bit sleepy. Think I'll go down to the cabin and "Stretch Off the Land" - Old sailing ship term for taking a nap.

Ann
“Better joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace” Spanish Proverb

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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Paradise Found!

 Hello, all my bloggy friends! So happy to be back posting on my blog. I have missed you all so much!

Well, we are finally all moved into our new lake house! It was a grueling  couple of days, as we pretty much packed and moved everything ourselves, plus we had the help of our son and his friend one of those days. We are already so happy with our new home! My hubby, who took the week off, as well as having Labor Day weekend off, says he feels like we are on vacation, but it's permanent! I don't think it's fully soaked in for either of us, that we are actually lake people now!
My moving crew carrying a desk up the stairs.
 Beautiful views.
 My hubby got to bring some of his rocks from the previous house to landscape our lake house. Thus came the name, Cairn Cottage.(They were temporarily put on our patio till he puts them in just the right spots around the yard.)
Our Chihuahua, Jet, even loves the views from our living room!
Evenings are quiet and peaceful.
Being on the west side of the lake allows us to see the sun rise every morning.
My hubby and I fished off of our seawall and caught 8 fish the first morning we were there!
Even the wildlife gives beauty to our days, These swans were right out in front of our house yesterday.
So majestic!
I love this swan photo I took with the reflection,
It was quite a wait for us to make this move, but well worth waiting for, I think. There are many things we plan on doing to upgrade and decorate our new place, so I will be posting new updates and pictures, as we continue to make Cairn Cottage our very own little piece of paradise!

Ann
“Better joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace” Spanish Proverb

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