A Cupboard for the Boathouse

Finally!   A small cupboard to store supplies at the boathouse.  I have been looking for years for something small and light enough to carry down those steep stairs, and this showed up at the Habitat for Humanity store!

Maybe PA Dutch?  Maybe something that would have been in Lucy Ricardo's kitchen?  

Took days of scrubbing to get it clean.

We took it over to the boathouse this weekend.  The painting and staining are finished, and now we have to get things back in place and paintings on the walls before I can take some photos. 

As for the birdbath base, I decided to make a side table out of it for my seating area in the courtyard, and it turned out better than I could have imagined.  

I took one of my stepping stones, slapped on a little concrete, and wallah!

Finds this weekend, a vintage cut glass kerosene base, sparkles in the sun!

Two cut glass ceiling fixtures, one of a kind!

Just don't know where all these vintage things come from in this small town!

On the rescue front, Waha, a husky I transported from Arkansas to Illinois was adopted yesterday, and I received this photo from the rescue.  As I speak, working on getting a lab mix named Baby from Memphis to Charlotte.

Patina is Everything!

When at my painter's home to pay him for the week, he gave me this base to a bird bath because I was admiring it.  Lovely patina!  Even came with some moss.  I just so happen to have a top needing a base.

He also gave me this owl painting, not vintage, but well done and will probably go in the boathouse when painting is finished.  Right now it's in the man cave and doesn't look half bad!

Speaking of patina, there is a complex of little cabins across the main road where my painter lives just next to the stables where I get my manure.  I had seen a log cabin up on the main road, but once I parked and started looking around, I noticed four or five tiny cabins that once were rented when there were horse shows, but that was a looooong time ago. 

Of course, I start imagining what I could do with all these tiny out buildings, a little antiques store, Bob could have a tiny book shop, maybe a little tea room, the list goes on, but some are in such bad shape they would have to go the way of the bulldozer.

This one is on the main road next to a falling-down gas station that would definitely have to be bulldozed, but what a cute antiques store this would make.  (Linda, if you're reading this, maybe ???)

This one is in really bad shape.  These cabins were built in what looks to be a floodplain. 

The rock chimneys are beautiful!  The patina on the siding is beautiful.  I couldn't get close because of no trespassing signs, but I know who owns these and could find out a little more and just might. 

There is a main house in good shape that was bought and these just came along with the house.  Shaggy, my painter, said he remembers a few years back when it was sold.  Someone came and took out all the clawfoot tubs and antique sinks.  

Each one has an old rusty tin roof, lots of patina!

A girl can dream!!

Shaggy has started painting the trim and staining the walls of the boathouse, and I love the new look.  A color green that I would never use in my home, but fits the lake.  

The stain is Golden Oak, came out darker than I thought it would, but I really like it.  It gives it a rich, warm feeling.

There has been a lot of rain the past few days, but not the horrible storms expected, they stayed to the south.  Princess hates the rain or getting her toes wet.  She is checking out the status.  Don't think she's coming out today!

The fog is thick.  Glad I don't have to go up the mountain to Asheville until Wednesday when it should be dry, sunny and in the 60s!

Back to Spring

Last post it was 9 degrees and 8 inches of snow.  Three days later it was 76 degrees and you wouldn't have known we ever had a snow storm.  Since then temps have not dipped below 60 and the Scotch Broom has decided to bloom.  Today will be 76 again, and the bulbs that are emerging will be blooming soon, too.

Cleaning up branch debris behind the Tiny Farmhouse, I spied this HUGE shelf mushroom growing on an old downed log, so I brought it in to put on my mantle.

House hunting has become a hobby of mine.  This one down the road just went on the market.  It has been vacant for some time, so Bob and I decided to check it out, and the door was unlocked!

I seriously want to renovate this place.  The gardens would be fantastic, there are rock walkways and walls everywhere.  It is only on an acre, but the trees and bushes are old, and I can't wait to see this place in the spring.

I posted on fb that I wanted to renovate, and all my friends were telling me to go for it.  A friend in MN was very interested, she is moving back to NC come spring, so I called Jake our contractor to meet and give us his opinion.  Being from York, PA, he loves historic homes, as I do, so I trust his opinion.

Love the little things . . . like this cute doorbell.

Covered in ivy, of course, just like my house was.

The back property line is lined with camellias, starting to bloom.

I want this rug runner!!

This sunroom is what made me love this house.  It looks out onto this fabulous old garden.

The possibilities!

Blue slate in the kitchen!

Good news is, it's cheap, but bad news is, structural damage, rotted logs, and Jake agreed that we would have to get it really cheap in order to flip it.  Too much work for my friend Patti to accomplish by spring when she is moving back.  Oh well, keeping my eye on it, and if on the market six months from now, just may make an offer!

Great lamp finds this week, bronze with milkglass shades, now on Ebay.

Hanging lantern style with beads.

Funky, homemade? lamp, from the '50s?  Love the botanical glass on the bottom.  Thought there may be a light in there, but there wasn't.  This one may be a keeper.

This week's rescue.  Timber has been sitting in a NC shelter for two months.  I wasn't going to give up on him.  I was persistent and kept hitting up my husky rescue friends.  I finally "broke" Francia!  Husky Haven of Florida agreed if I could raise funds for vetting and get him to Florida, they would take him in.  Yesterday he left the shelter, went to GA to a foster home and I raised $285 to get his vetting!

Poor Timber, has lost a lot of weight in the two months, as you can see from the first photo.  He was depressed, not excited like most dogs getting out of the shelter.  Hopefully, he will pull through.

This is Kono, the 13 year old I got out of TN and sent to a new home in Sag Harbor, NY last spring.  I got a letter in the mail yesterday from his owner expressing how much she appreciated my saving him and thanking me for all the rescue work I do for senior dogs.  Next trip home, she would like me to come visit.  Things like that letter make all the work worth it!

Look at Kono now!  Does not look like the same dog!   Off to the paint store, recycling, post office, boathouse where Mike is painting (yay!)