Some Random Sprucing Around the Cottage on a Beautiful Saturday

Soon, we'll be off to my parents' house (which has also been spruced with a new roof, some new paint in their living room, and some patching on the ceilings where the old roof had been leaking) to celebrate Father's Day with a backyard BBQ.

But I wanted to quickly share some of the work we did around the house yesterday. I started off with an early-morning run while John mowed the front and back lawns. We have this really cute push mower since both of our yards are so small. Once we had both showered and eaten a good breakfast, we headed up to Lowe's to get some colorful annuals for the front garden beds. John picked up a few other items for projects and then we rounded out the trip with 4 tiki torches for the back yard.

As soon as we got home, I grabbed my garden gear and got to diggin'! It's pretty modest right now, but I hope things will fill in soon. I also don't want to go too nuts too soon (as much as I want the perfectly grown/overgrown garden, I'm sadly aware that that takes time and work...boo). So I put in some impatiens in the garden bed under the front bay window, and by the mailbox planter, I put in some celosia, which I've always wanted to plant! It looks like a little gnome hat or like a wishnick's (troll doll's) hair. To add some vertical interest, I also planted three sections of angelonia. The garden bed by the mailbox, like the two around our two dogwoods, has a circular perimeter filled with vinca vines. The trees' vinca are flourishing--nice and voluminous. The vinca around the mailbox...not so much. It was looking a little wimpy. So I'm hoping with the added color that area will now look a bit punched up. I also weeded the bejesus out of the crack where our curd meets the street and grabbed a bunch of the weeds sprouting up in our gravel driveway. I left some of the more "charming" ones--some clover, etc.--but grabbed the big old ones that were getting tall.

As for later plans...I will put in 1 or 2 hydrangea bushes under the front bay window (will probably buy them soon and container them until I can plant them come fall). And in the backyard...ugh, this will be WORK. I'll have to carve out a defined garden bed along the back fence. Then the current plan is a peony bush in the center, flanked by a hydrangea on either side, and finally a rose bush at either corner. Still fine-tuning that, but again it looks like most of those are fall plantings so I can container them if that's the route I decide to go and then put them in the ground when the weather cools. A nice way to mark one year in the house, methinks. I'll keep you posted about developments there. For now, here are some shots of progress in the front:

With previously transplanted irises and before weeding.

After adding impatiens and after weeding--now you can see the border!

Sad-looking and both ill-filled in with vinca and overgrown with random grass.

After! Cleaned up, weeded out, and colored up.

Angelonia.

Celosia.

My other projects yesterday were both very quick.

First, I have been loathing the blue-painted threshold in our kitchen since day 1. It strikes me as odd that the sellers either painted it that way themsleves or never addressed it from the sellers they inherited it from. Their aesthetic was very modern, and this, combined with the floral laminate floor reads decidedly country--and not cute French cottage country or farmhouse country, I'm talking honky Americana country, which is my least favorite look of all. Anyway, we had some white paint left by the sellers, so I grabbed the can, and slapped it over the blue paint and badda bing: happiness every time I walk by.

Ugh...so awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh, 100% better!

It's not a huge change, but it's enough that I stop and stare at it.

Yes. So fresh and so clean!

The other was a doorknob switcharoo on the bathroom door. That door has been begging for a vintage crystal knob, but man...that ish is expensive! So while at Lowe's yesterday, we wandered by an aisle and looking right at me was a glass knob that looked like the more expensive crystal ones. I'm talking this one was $9 and the others are usually $100 or more. Sold.

Here's the door before, closed and viewed from the laundry room.

Close-up...snoooorrreeee! And also, ew.

After--looking sharp!

Look at that swagger. Get down with your bad self, door!

Two remaining issues: one, you can see there's no screw in the hole there--we have to drill pilot holes before we can fasten the little rosette plate. But since the knob is holding them on rather tightly, we're less worried about this in the short-term. If they start to loosen or slip, we'll address it then. And these knobs are exactly the same on both sides: as in no lock. But, again, we're less concerned about this in the short term. The door itself does not actually shut very well thanks to crooked seams from the house settling. So even though our old doorknob had a lock, it didn't really function anyway because of how the door closes. The real fix will be to put in an entirely new door, and we'd want to flip it--currently, the door opens so that the light switch is behind where the door swings in. Not a huge issue, but certainly inconvenient, especially for guests who aren't familiar with our dear Cottage's quirks, or when we need to get in there when it's pitch black. But for now, we're both very happy with the little facelift.

Saturday was a day of curb appeal and mini nips and tucks. And we love all of them.

Until next time, happy Father's Day to everyone, especially my amazing Dad, whom I'm always grateful for when I have another "Oh my gosh, I'm turning into my father" moment. Yes, we are very different people. But when it comes down to the core of it all, I'm very glad to have the foundation I have thanks to him.