"Artsy" & Whimsical "Framed" Wallpaper

We all may have heard of displaying pretty wallpaper scraps in frames to use as art, but what about wallpaper that you can buy that has frames printed all over it for you to display your own art?

I found this really cool wallpaper and thought I'd share it with you. I think this is such a neat idea for an art themed room or kids room, or just wherever. It's wallpaper with "frames" all over it and you can paint within the frames, hang children's artwork or photos in them, tack recipes on them in the kitchen, paint or hang printed single words in them ...just so many possibilities. You can find the wallpaper online at Graham and Brown. It's $30 a roll, but I'm thinking just doing one wall would be plenty. (OR...if you're even the slightest bit artistic, you can try painting your own frames on a wall!)

From the site:

"Artists Wood and Taylor, designed Frames. It's a completely interactive wallpaper - you decide what you want it to be - whether you want to put up your youngsters art, paint directly in to a frame, or put up family photos - it's up to you!"

"I Wanna Talk About Me-Me-Me-Me"

i feel: pensive

i am a: loner of sorts

i am wearing: floral jammie bottoms and a tank top

i hate: the telephone

my best friend is: plural

i look: comfortable

i am often mistaken as being: put together

i am becoming: hot in this sunroom

the song that is playing right now is: just the sound of birds, cicadas, and kids

my favorite memories are: those of heartfelt talks with family and friends

my worst memories are: only memories

my favorite vacation place is: a cabin in the woods complete with a fire, books, music, and friends

the song that best describe my life is: All Four Seasons & Banana Pancakes

i want: more patience

i am making: goals

i want to be: reliable

i try hard to: be understanding

my fear is: losing touch with loved ones

my hopes are: real and wonderful

i enjoy: reading and creating

when i get older, i: am afraid I might grow up.

i am trying to decide: paper or plastic? j/k What to make for dinner...

the leisure book i’m reading now is: Sweet Apple Farm along with four other books...

little luxuries of mine are: coffee with whipped cream while checking my email, chocolate for breakfast, warm and fluffy towels from the dryer, a nap in my cozy bed, iced green tea on a hot summer day, staying up late and sleeping in, the smell of a bookstore, a homecooked southern meal, dining by myself at a restaurant - my only companion being a good book...

when i fall for like someone, i: think of them often

one of my weaknesses: not staying motivated

my favorite colour is: not pink

my favorite television shows are: about forensic science, home makeovers/ decorating, history, Monk, King of Queens, ugh...can't think of anything

a person i adore is: Do I have to name just one?

places i would go in a heart-beat are: North Carolina Mountains

the person that i’m thinking about is: Jeffrey

i love the way: my bird struts when he's happy

i hate the way: some things work out

a vexation of mine is: my laundry basket of mismatched socks

my favorite time of the day is: after dark

summer time is: hot and lazy

i try to block out: heartache, fears, and worry

my life is: full

my favorite season is: spring and fall

after school, i: dreamt for years that I was still *in* school and hadn't studied for that all important test

one thing i can’t be happy without is: my relationship with Jehovah

i’m trying to: be strong

it hurts when: I'm misunderstood

like my father always says: "You'll always be my little girl."

the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do was: make the right choices despite the consequences

before i go to bed, i: enjoy the silence of a quiet house

the first thing i do in the morning is: sigh

the best thing about life is: you get to start over each day

i never knew that: pigs could fly

my room is: restful and full of children's books (and a few toys scattered here and there)

i cannot: watch sports

i love going to: goodwill

i dislike: shallow people

i cry when: I feel helpless

it’s: going to be ok:)

i love the movie: A Beautiful Mind

i am feeling: hungry

i listen to: what people have to say

something that makes me smile is: an inside joke

something about a person that attracts me is: humor, selflessness, honesty, humor

love is: strange & complex

traveling is: something I look forward to doing in the future

it is time to: go get some iced green tea

i’m ticked off because: where did the day go?

Immersed

Lately, I've been keeping up with the household chores but I've put projects on hold. I've been nostalgic for a time that I never knew or experienced and it seems that every few months I get like this. Just a crazy, bluesy, sadness of sorts, a mourning over the fact that I can't go back to a simpler time. I was just telling a friend that I really need to be a hermit in the middle of nowhere...perhaps out on a farm or deep in the mountains. Just a little old quaint home and a garden and fresh air...

When my folks were visiting from California, I went with them to stake out some new construction homes...spacious and beautiful and perfect. They may be moving here in the next five years so they wanted to see what was available. What is wrong with me that en route to such lovely homes, I couldn't help but to do double takes when passing by all the sad little old, dilapidated, ivy covered, tumbled down and forgotten houses? I swear, it's nearly the same feeling I get when I stumble across a stray animal that needs some TLC. Someone help me.:)

When I visit big box stores, internally I grumble every time over the plastic and mass-produced era that I have to live in now. I groan about the shoddy "craftmanship" (can you even call it that?) of merchandise for sale. I sigh over the lengthy ingredient lists on the foods we buy, half of which are chemicals because I know that way back when, people not only could pronounce the ingredients in their foods, but they knew exactly what those ingredients were and probably produced them themselves. I wince when my children ask for some new fangled plastic toy (that holds their attention for about a day). I'm frustrated that I don't know how to make biscuits or pies from scratch, that I haven't a clue how to garden or can my own foods, that I wouldn't know where to begin making a quilt (or how to operate my own sewing machine, for that matter), that I don't have a woodburning fireplace, that I live on a semi- well traveled street, and so on and so forth.

I was even irritated at Joe Bob Shelf Stocker at Wal-Mart yesterday because he had never even heard of the Farmer's Almanac. "Farmer's what????" *sniff*

Where is that time machine when you need it most?

Oftentimes when I find that I need to "escape" to another world and time, I go to the library and check out many books of the same theme and bury myself in them for days and days. One of the books I checked out recently is called, "A Place Called Sweet Apple - Country Living and Southern Recipes" It was written in 1967 by a very prolific columnist for the Atlanta Constitution (she's been gone for quite a few years now) who discovered a deserted country cabin and fell in love with it at first site.

I knew after reading the first page that this woman, Celestine Sibley, was really me.

Someday I know that my world will be simple and wonderful and for now, I'll work hard be content with sustenance and covering. But, oh, isn't it wonderful to daydream about how things are suppose to be?!

Housebloggers Featured In Chicago Tribune This Week

I'm excited to report that in this weeks Chicago Tribune, a few fellow houseblogs along with One Woman's Cottage Life were featured in an article entitled True-life Confessions of the Weekend Warrior. Other houseblogs included in the article were House in Progress, Nightmare on Elm St., and Chicago Two-Flat. These and other great blogs are worth checking out if you haven't done so already:)

I wanted to also mention that though it wasn't posted in the article, lol, my husband is indeed the other "remodeler" here at One Woman's Cottage Life. Most of the time, I have the easy part which is coming up with more projects for him to work on:) He knows he's in trouble when I get that pensive look on my face and say..."You know, I've been thinking...." or "I just had a great idea!" I'm just waiting for the day that he responds by quickly turning on his heels and running away while sticking his fingers in his ears and declaring, "LaLaLaLaaaa! I can't hear you!!!!! "

Yet Another Backsplash Option - Tumbled Travertine

So first I wanted beadboard...and then I thought painted brick pavers would be really neat, but now, I'm thinking little one inch travertine tiles would look pretty, too! (And no cutting!) The travertine gives kind of a warm look to the laminate. Which backsplash would you use? The countertop shown is what we'll be installing...

Decorate Your Bedroom Like a Bed & Breakfast Inn: 10 Tips

Decorate Your Bedroom Like a Bed & Breakfast Inn: 10 Tips

By Kathryn Bechen

We all need a romantic getaway weekend now and then. Even if funds are tight and time is short, with a little ingenuity and creativity you can turn your own bedroom at home into a romantic and relaxing "Bed & Breakfast Inn" retreat for you and your mate.


10 Tips to get you started:

1. Clutter Cutter. De-clutter your bedroom when you begin your fluff-up. Nothing kills romance faster than a pile of dusty magazines and techno paraphernalia.

2. Maid Brigade. Next comes the dust rag and vacuum. Turn on some music and make it fun!

3. Sensuous Sheets. Purchase some colorful new sheets in a pattern you love with a thread count of at least 300.

4. Divine Duvet. Invest in a pretty new duvet cover or bedspread. It will freshen up the room instantly.

5. Pillow Pizzazz. Some new pillows and pillowcases that coordinate with your sheets and duvet will add softness to your bed.

6. Flower Finesse. Buy some fresh flowers and put them in a favorite vase.

7. Candle Cozy. A few flickering candles will add instant romance to your new B&B bedroom.

8. Music Magic. Now for some light jazz or classical music to set the tone for the evening.

9. TV Tune-out. Unless you and your mate purposely choose to watch a funny or romantic movie together, turn the TV off.

10. Tray of Delights. Bring in a wine and cheese tray with some fresh fruit, dim the lights, and you’re on your way to a lovely and romantic stay in your very own Bed & Breakfast Inn bedroom. Enjoy!

c2005 Kathryn Bechen. All rights reserved worldwide.


Visit http://www.kathrynbechendesigns.com for more free ideas and tips for decorating your cottage style home on a dollarwise budget and to sign up for Kathryn's free e-newsletter of decorating tips and resources. Kathryn is an interior decorating consultant and author who specializes in Cottage Style, Non-Toxic, and Dollarwise decorating.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathryn_Bechen

**photos above of One Woman's Bedroom

More Painted Subfloor Goodness & Hardwood Choice

When you're working on an ongoing remodeling project with lots of dirt and drywall dust, and you have two dogs that shed...AND you have a child with allergies (or you have allergies yourself), carpet is absolutely out of the question, or at least it is in our house. I'd rather have no carpet at all than dirty carpet and let's face it, carpet at it's cleanest is dirtier than we care to know:) We're holding out until the very end to put our wood flooring down but until then, we have to make do with subflooring. I painted it an antique white about a week and a half ago and thought I'd share a photo of what it looked like after one coat. I applied two coats but forgot to take photos afterward. If you want to do this as a long term flooring solution, I would prime first and use a really good quality floor / porch paint, or else use several coats of polyeurothane over your paint choice...(And do lots of other research first because I'm not an expert:)

Our couch and loveseat have been moved back in by now along with a giant sisal rug, and the tape has been removed from the wall. Our living room isn't big at all but is still very cozy and comfortable and adequate. Excuse the total lack of decor and window coverings. One of these days I'll get to that. As a side note, and I think I've posted about it before, hubs added the trim around the window earlier this year. This house had *no* window trim whatsoever except for some measley window sills. We still have a few more windows in the house to trim out, but that is a project for another time:) The sample in the lower right hand corner represents the wood flooring we bought. I think it will really add some warmth to the house:)

I know some of you may be wondering *why* I put time and effort into painting a subfloor that will be covered over. Good question:) First of all, I painted it to prevent the little ones from getting splinters and secondly...it just looks better, lol!

"Once There Was a Farm"

I've never lived on a farm and I'm not quite sure where or how my interest in farm life and country living developed. I am from the South and from a very "southern" family, so that explains some of it. I know that the life of a farmer and his family wasn't easy but there was a certain simplicity to it all, it seems...beauty and closeness to the earth. How I do love reading about farm life and country folks and ways! Eventually when we're finished with our cottage, I'd like to try my hand at growing a bit of food for the table, but until then I just live vicariously through books. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm currently reading Once There Was a Farm, A Country Childhood Remembered. This book particularly interested me because it is a memoir written by a 71 year old woman by the name of Virginia Bell Dabney. In 1917, her mother left her husband in Chicago and moved her father and two young daughters to a 160 acre farm without plumbing or electricity in Virginia. Her mother was extremely hardworking and smart and so far it has been a delight to read about how efficiently she ran her farm and cared for her family.

I read the following paragraph and just loved it. I'll never think of eggs or hens the same way again:)

An Excerpt from
Once There Was a Farm, A Country Childhood Remembered
by Virginia Bell Dabney
Our hens were happy. I awoke on summer mornings to their singing. Hen song is not musical but it is expressive - of food to eat, soft dirt to take dust baths in, private nests for laying, a sunny place to scratch for worms and bugs and a chance to roam in the grass. Perhaps the greatest difference between raising chickens then and now is that today commercial growers can't afford to care if hens are happy or not. The 1980's hen is an egg machine. She spends her productive life in a cage with all the artificially enriched food and water she can consume, and what she eats makes eggs so that she cannot help but lay. The egg drops onto a conveyor belt and she has none of the satisfaction of feeling it under her, of cackling, "See the lovely egg I laid, perfect, perfect!" Hen brains are preprinted with intelligence about hawk shapes and how to warn and scatter, and not about much else, but they do have the capacity for joy. It is slavery to keep laying hens commercially these days. The layer endures perhaps twenty-four months of caged living, making an egg a day, and after that the guillotine. No lovely cool green grass like ours were turned out on about an hour before sunset so they would not roam too far. No dirt to scratch in, the immemorial right of gallinaceous birds. No soft nest to settle into. Our chicken houses were dusty with the busyness of hens, but the nests were kept clean, free of mites and with clean wood shavings for comfort. When a hen wished to lay, she jumped up into a nest box that was curtained in burlap so it was dim and private. Some other hen might argue for possession of the box, and once in a while a nest would be occupied by two determined layers. When her egg was produced she told everybody it was the best egg in the house and went back to sunning or joined her sisters in pursuit of a grasshopper. Though our hens were also shipped out to meet the ax when they were no longer productive, they at least enjoyed a good life up to the end.

Unearthing the Dining Room + More Cottage Kitchen & Dining Plans

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

Well, our guests have come and gone. I have to say, the week before their arrival was a killer for me. I have never worked so hard in my life trying to get this house clean and presentable. You may have heard me refer to our home as a "construction site". It is like a construction site in the sense that I can never seem to get rid of the dust, nothing ever seems truly clean, everything (like furniture and other belongings) is always being shuffled around, supplies like paint and tools are (were) everywhere we turn ... ugh. So, for a solid week hubs and I worked on the house. We organized closets and rooms, painted the living room and hallway floor again (it's just subfloor - our hardwood will go down last), made our guest gutted bathroom a little less scary, scraped paint drops off our old ugly linoleum in the kitchen and put down several coats of floor shine, took ALL remodeling supplies that were piled up in our dining area back to the garage (we have a TABLE, folks!), put our cabinet doors back on, mowed the yard, weeded all the landscaping beds, mulched, pruned trees, added lattice to the bottom portion of the deck (I got to use the table saw and nailer to cut and put up all the trimwork myself - yay me!), painted part of the exterior, pressure washed the entire house and deck, and cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned! I couldn't believe how much work the house needed to get it back into decent shape. *sigh*

So like I mentioned, in this whole cleaning process, we managed to unearth our dining room. I wanted to share a few photos...I thought our next project was going to be adding beadboard around the dining room and kitchen and then adding the pine ceilings, but I think we've decided to first remove the door to the laundry room that is in our dining area. Hubs wanted to take this door out months ago when we were doing drywall work in the kitchen and dining area. However, I wanted to keep it because our pantry is also in the laundry room and I didn't want to walk through the living room to go through the other laundry access door that's in the hallway. My mother suggested, though, that we could buy a pantry cabinet to go in our kitchen and paint it up just like the cabinets (see the mock up photos below). I think it's a neat idea so that's what we're going to do. It may be a while before we can purchase a plain pantry to trim out, but we're going to go ahead and get that doorway walled up in order to add our beadboard.

(click to enlarge)

Just to show how far we've come with our dining area, this is what it looked like before our remodeling work began. You may be intersted in seeing some of the demolition photos.



Let there be light!


We'll soon be taking down that white door to the laundry/pantry room. There is another door to the laundry room in the hallway that we can use. I know the table is off center with the ceiling fan, but the fan/light will be replaced and moved to the center of the table after we put up our new plank ceiling.




I recently gave my farm table legs a little makeover. I painted them the same color that my walls are going to be, then aged and distressed them a bit more. Because we'll be adding white (or off-white) beadboard halfway up the walls in here, the legs won't blend in like they do now.







I bought this digital print on canvas last week. It has all the colors that I just adore...nice and cheerful, too! (And just $39!!!)



We have space in the kitchen to add pantry cabinets. See that wall space left of the black dishwasher?



A pantry cabinet would fit there perfectly, I think:) Thanks, mom, for the idea!

I think I'm going to go cozy up with a book now. It's called Once There Was a Farm: A Country Childhood Remembered and looks like a good one!

OneWomansLife.com & OneWomansCottageLife.com

I'm on the run getting ready for a cookout here tonight, but I wanted to take a moment to let you know that you can now access my site through a couple of different domain names.

Just remember www.onewomanslife.com & www.onewomanscottagelife.com . Either one will get you here:)

Have a beautiful weekend, everyone!

Photos: Red Cottage / Farmhouse "Antique" Kitchen Cabinets *FINALLY* Complete!

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

I didn't think I'd ever see the day where I could officially say..."The cabinets are finished!". This cabinet makeover was a tedious, major project and I'm so glad that it's behind me now. (If you'd like to see photos of all the steps involved, please see this cabinet progress entry.) It feels great, though, knowing that you can take any ho hum item, be it cabinetry, furniture, or even a knick knack of sorts, and completely revamp it into something totally different and unique. Our cabinets were standard oak, early 1990's cabinets...nothing special about them. Now maybe they look as if they belong in the early 1890's:)

Here is what our kitchen cabinets looked like before the remodeling work began.


And now after the cabinet facelift...



















I treated myself to new white dishes after completing this project! I'm so glad aI painted the inside of the cabinets, too:)











My favorite part...I bought these little scrolled carvings at Lowes and hubs nailed them on to the false drawer fronts:)











Now that the cabinets are completed, we'll be moving away from the whole cabinet area for a while and will work on putting beadboard halfway up around the kitchen and dining area. Then we'll put up our pine ceiling up! We'll come back to installing the new countertop and backsplash after all that:)

By the way, if you are contemplating painting your own cabinets, be sure to check out these helpful pointers courtesy of RemodelMySpace.com before you begin. Enjoy!

UPATE! The countertop is in and the brick paver backsplash is installed and painted! I couldn't be happier with the results! What's next? We have to add the finishing trim to our new tung and groove ceiling, intall crown moulding, paint the ceiling a creamy white, install beadboard 4 feet high and paint it, and then install our hardwood flooring...so much yet to do but it's getting there!







2008 Update: To see the latest kitchen photos with completed ceiling, moulding, paint color, and lighting, click here.

2009 Kitchen Update photos:

Y ou all left such lovely comments in my last entry about our new hardwood flooring. Thank you! It was a backbreaking job as you may well know, but we are very pleased with how it turned out. I'm glad to hear that some of you have the same flooring and have been happy with it! For those of you who are eager to rip out your old linoleum or carpet, I understand! It will happen, and even if it takes much longer than you prefer to get to that point, it will be well worth the wait! {You'll be kissing your new floors, too, I'm sure!}

I was disappointed to see just how grainy the photos were in my last entry as I looked at them in theFor now, the kitchen is my playground. morning light so I rephotographed them and replaced them. I spent some time, too, capturing some little kitchen vignettes. {I know it seems like the kitchen is really the only place I photograph vignettes, but that's because the rest of the house is pretty much a great big embarrassing "before" that needs a lot of work still.} For now, the kitchen is my playground as far as decorating fun goes, though the studio is getting there...

Last week I shared with you some photos of the kitchen floor "surgery" we had to perform recently in order to prepare for the laying of the hardwood, along with some additional history about our kitchen. In short, I've been waiting for this flooring for a looooooong time.I feel like the hardest parts of the kitchen remodel are behind us It has been a slow, labor intensive journey getting to this point with our kitchen. We've been working on it little by little for over three years now, but when you're on a budget, slow progress is better than none at all, right? We still have to tackle the trim work, install/paint beadboard, and work on a few other small projects I've been dreaming about for a while, but I feel like the hardest parts of the kitchen remodel are behind us. We've knocked out walls to install windows and french doors, installed a new plank ceiling and lighting, added trim to and then painted our standard honey oak cabinets, installed a new countertop, backsplash, and faucet, replaced the appliances, and finally over the course of the last two weekends, laid the hardwood flooring.

Just about all the accessories you see in the photos came from Goodwill or yard sales. A couple of things were purchased from Ebay. I think my favorite recent finds are the old mortar and pestle {it was $1}, the cake plate and dome {$5!}, the antique cookbook {$1}, and the Morton's salt tin {.50}.

I hope you enjoy these random shots of our "kitchen in progress". Can you picture it with white beadboard around the entire perimeter? Can you picture the dining area with a fireplace? {More on that in the future!} Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas for this space!

First a "before":



And now a few million "afters":











































I wasn't going to show you this side of the room since there are boxes of flooring stacked up, but I wanted to tell you that I'm making plans to put a fireplace on the wall that the map is on. The kids LOVE this giant, laminate map and they all want it in their room. One map, three kids sharing two rooms. That still leaves not enough map to go around. Hmmm...




And a before and after taken from the same angle. {Maybe there is potential for the rest of this house afterall?}:





If you like this project, I'd appreciate your vote in a contest I've entered at Repair-Home.Com. Just scroll to the bottom and click on "Rollover to rate this".

Also, you can rate my kitchen now on HGTV's Rate My Space...Thanks so much for your support!