Living Room Reveal!

After lots of deliberating and hours of hard work, we have finally finished our living room makeover. Though the room wasn't horrible before, it didn't reflect our style as a couple in the slightest. Once Farmer Bubba and I decided it was time to tackle the cottage and finally make it our own, we thought we'd start with the living room. This is the one room in the house that won't be affected when we add up and redesign the rest of the house to make it more functional. Before we get started, here is a little reminder of what the living room looked like before:

BEFORE

BEFORE

One day, while browsing my all-time favorite blog, The Lettered Cottage, I saw a post about using shutters on your interior windows. It was a great idea and a jumping off point for our living room. It was the one element I KNEW I wanted to use. We have a long bay of four windows across one wall that provides an incredible view up the Potomac River looking towards Virginia, but they let in A LOT of light and specifically, heat. So the interior shutters were a great solution for style and function, keeping out the heat and prying eyes when necessary.

My next hurdle was figuring out what color I wanted to paint the walls. I tend to get overwhelmed when making decisions, especially one with SO many options. I was having a hard time getting out of "neutral land" with creamy whites and light grays, but nothing really jumped out at me once I had it on the wall. During a quick visit from my mom, I mentioned how I love dark blue and turquoise colors and she encouraged me to go for it. And she had a point, the house is full of old baseboards, window and door trim painted white. Not to mention with all the windows and high ceilings we have quite a bit of light to work with. I was hoping the blue color I chose would make the white trim "pop"...and boy was I right!

So, without further adieu, here is the new and improved Point Breeze Cottage living room:

View of the entire room - from the kitchen/back of the house looking towards the front. Front wall - "Desert Fortress" Side walls - "Swizzle Stick". We also painted the overhang where the air ducts are white to match the ceiling. It really opened it up!

View from the front door. Sitting area in the front, TV area in the back.

Sitting area - I found ALL of the pillows for the living room in one trip to Marshall's! It was totally my lucky day!

One of my favorite displays in the room. Top shelf of the book cabinet - memories of our honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii! aka - Heaven on Earth! Cannot wait to go back, hopefully in the near future. (Thanks to my mom for the Anniversary gift/decoupaged serving tray with Hawaiian postcards!)

Another display atop the electric fireplace. Something to represent Farmer Bubba - Four generations of Hill men, a tobacco knife and spear-head, tobacco basket and dried leaves, and a couple of other farm related trinkets. PS- check out the pretty wildflowers from our garden in the backyard!

View from the front of the house, looking at the bedroom doors and old library ladder that leads to the loft.

Ahhh, my beautiful interior shutters and shades!! I was planning to make my own shades/curtains, but I found a GREAT deal on these at Lowes and they brought just the right amount of nautical to the room!

The bay of windows with the shutters closed and the shades down.

A special gift from my mom - a touch of "bling" to bring a little Mindy to the room.

On the top of the TV cabinet I decided to bring a touch of my family's watermen roots to the room. The beautiful, hand-carved Heron was a wedding gift from Bubba's close friend and talented artist, Tommy Deagle.

There is nothing quite like a Southern Maryland Blue Crab :)

I've noticed how trendy antlers are becoming in home decor. Lucky for me, I have a husband with a garage FULL of antler sheds he finds in the woods during hunting season. And it brings a little bit of his style to the room :)

Another shot of the antlers on the coffee table. Can you tell I read a lot of Coastal Living?! 

New slip cover from Ikea for the couch - perfect! We were also able to reuse a rug we had in the living room previously.

A couple of aerial shots from the loft. 

Again, from the loft. You can really see how great the floors look from this angle! I know the rug is too small, but it is serving its purpose until we can afford a larger one. It was on clearance at Marshall's and is softer than anything else in the house...Harper loves it!

AND we're beagle approved!

Thanks for taking a look at our new living room. I really am so pleased with the way everything turned out, and owe so much of the credit to my handy husband and helpful grandfather. Without them, I'd still probably be painting right now!

Have you made over a room in your house lately? What was your favorite part of the process? For me, it was the fact that we were able to "re-use" so much. The love-seat in the sitting area, round table behind the love seat, old mirror on the wall and the TV cabinet were left with the house when we purchased it. The recliner and book shelf/cabinet were hand-me-downs from family members, the coffee table, table by the bedroom doors and small bench under the front windows were yard sale finds, and the fireplace and clear lamp were gifts from my parents. Even a lot of our decor pieces, like the antlers, tobacco basket and leaves, and binoculars were pieces we had from everyday life.

This makeover was quick and mostly painless, and I loved every minute of it! Now, to get rolling on some more projects...

Renovation Update: Bay Restoration Fund Act

Baby steps people.  We are finally getting started on our journey towards our home renovation!

We received word that we were approved by the St. Mary's County Health Department for the Bay Restoration Funding Grant. There are still a couple of documents that need to be sent in for review, such as tax return info from last year, but this is still a great first stepping stone! Once everything is in order, we will be able to get started on installing a new septic and mound system.

Based on our income from 2012, they will determine how much of the Grant funding we are eligible to receive. If collectively we've made less than $300,000 in 2012 alone, we are eligible for 100% of the Grant funding. Let's just say, we are certainly going to receive the full 100% of the Grant.

From there, we get to choose from a list of five Advanced Treatment Unit (ATU) Vendors to determine what the best style of tank is for our home. Then we can finally call our excavator [which is still yet to be decided] and get to work. I don't want to jinx myself, but I may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's just a glimmer!

Weekend Finds!

It's no secret, I love a good yard sale. And even though we haven't been to many this summer, we did venture out this past weekend to see what thrifty finds were out there. The town of La Plata in Charles County, MD held their community yard sale on Saturday, so we woke up early and made the drive North.

While I didn't find anything for our Etsy Shop, I did find quite a few little nick-knacks for myself! Check 'em out:

J.Crew navy blue maxi dress - $1.00 (best buy of the day!!), Multi-color faux pearl necklace - $1.00, Orange mini-watering can/planter - $0.25, Like-new garden snips - $1.00, Black and White New York skyline decorative plate (that will match my bathroom decor PERFECTLY) - $0.25

Technically, I only found the teapot this weekend, the groovy glass was from last summer. BUT they both have the 1950's vibe I'm looking for when I finally get around to re-doing my kitchen. How cute is this teapot though?! So retro, and only $2.00 I believe...

That old saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure," sure is true. You never know what you'll find at a yard sale, I think that is why they are so addictive - You're always hunting for your next big discovery! Most of the time, when we find vintage glassware or unique home decor items, we list them on Etsy and sell them to shoppers out there who don't have the time to search for these rare finds or don't live in an area where they have access to such things. Our shop is currently empty, BUT I am hoping to have several new and beautiful crystal decanters and a couple other serving pieces listed by the end of the week. 

A Quick DIY

A perk of having a super old house? Super old and durable bushes, plants and trees! Especially when it's a beautiful, big lavender bush:

I know I shared this photo before/recently, but it's just so pretty!

After blooming all summer long, I noticed that the lavender was starting to fade, so I decided to do a quick DIY project. I simply cut several handfuls of the calming scented blossom, gathered them into manageable quantities, and then tied them up with some ribbon I had around the house.

And voila! A lovely little air-freshener to hang around the bedroom, or whichever room you use to relax. I highly recommend planting a lavender bush if you ever get the opportunity.

Independence Day at the PBC

Did everyone have a happy and healthy Fourth of July? We sure did! It was certainly more low-key than years past, but sometimes the impromptu visits from family and friends and quiet evenings at home are the most memorable.

Here are some photos from our Independence Day at the Point Breeze Cottage and how we decided to celebrate our freedom and the land that we love.

During a last minute search for a red, white, and blue scarf for little Harper, all I could come up with was this red and white polka dot ensemble. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it worked! 

I never thought I'd be a dog lover, but this little beagle stole my heart!

This was the best "posed" shot I could get of her with the American flag...

Bubba's older sister [who recently welcomed twin boys into the world] brought her family down to relax at PBC for the holiday. Proud big brother and sister, Jake and Nora, decided to take a dip in the Potomac River under the watchful eye of Uncle Bubba.

Of course, Harper didn't want to let them out of her sight either...

My favorite picture from the weekend. Little Miss Nora, cuddling up with Uncle Bubba for some downtime and a Princess movie in between swimming, dinner, a walk around the neighborhood, and fireworks!

Does she look like Droopy here or what?! Harper was over it all by the end of the day.

I wish I had of captured more pictures to remember what a nice and relaxing day we had, but these will have to do. Sometimes it's better to live in the moment and take a mental photo rather than keeping a camera in  your face all day. :)

I hope everyone out there had a great Independence Day too!

We Have Wildflowers!

I posted last week to let you all know that my wildflower garden was finally starting to bloom, even if it was only a couple of flowers. Well, we now have a sea of beautiful wildflowers! I was so excited when I got home, I begged Bubba to weed-eat the yard so it would be clean enough for me to take a couple of photos. Lucky for me, it needed to be done anyway, so Bubba obliged and I waited patiently with my camera. Of course the clouds rolled in and the sun disappeared by the time I made my way to the backyard, so the photos aren't perfect, but you can certainly see the lovely pops of color!

Here is a quick look back at the journey of our wildflower garden:

We went from this hideous shed...

...to this open patch of dirt/land...

...to a framed-in bed of dirt...

...add in the DIY birdbath and spread some wildflower seed...

...and then you wait. And wait. And wait...and then one hot day, out of the blue, it finally blossoms!

Yayyyy! There aren't many clean lines or too much structure with this flowerbed, but I'm still so happy with it!! It's not completely filled in and lush yet, but it's everything I was expecting: low-maintenance and so pretty.

Patience is a Virtue: Wildflowers

I'm not sure if it was the two tornadoes and heavy rains and the insane humidity and heat we've been having, but something has finally spurred my Wildflower Garden to life. Just when I was starting to think that my idea for a low maintenance flower bed was going to peak as a weedy mess, I spotted them. A few lone blossoms in a sea of green!

In case you missed it, an old shed in the backyard crumpled and left quite a mess. We cleaned the area up and decided to block it off and create some low maintenance curb appeal. Considering the shed was hideous and once it was gone, there was still a hideous open spot of dirt, anything would would be a step up. A couple of bags of wildflower mix and several weeks of watering and rain later, we finally have our first signs of color!

Keep the Curb Appeal Coming...

Renovation Status Update: We are making extremely slow progress with the County and the bank(s). {at least it's something though...} In July we will be applying for a grant that St. Mary's County is offering to residents in critical areas {check} for a new innovative sand septic system. After speaking with a couple Health Department officials, this seems to be the route we need to take.

We've also researched all of our options for financing this project. Now we have to decide who we are going to go with {offering the best rates}, and how soon we can get started.

Next on my check list is to call Dave Decker Plans LLC and schedule an appointment for him to come out to the cottage and draw up our addition {or second story} plans.

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Ok, so in the mean time, we're working on boosting our curb appeal. Bubba took the initiative to freshen up our fence in the front yard with a fresh coat of white paint {pictures to come soon}, and it looks GREAT! That was one job I was MORE than willing to hand over to him. I'm all about painting inside the house, but a white picket fence? I'll leave that to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, or in this case, Bubba Hill!

More up my alley was the flower basket I added to the gate of the fence. I found this cute little metal basket with a flat back and knew it would be perfect for the fence. It just needed a little bit of spray paint and a couple of screws. 

Oh, and of course some flowers too! I grabbed a couple buy one-get one portulaca's from a local flower and vegetable vendor, Betty Russell in Clements, and the project was complete. It turned out so cute, now if only I could get the flowers to bloom out a little more...

I threw a couple of the extra portulaca's in a pot and placed them on stump by our "driveway". 

Waterspout UPDATE: Actually a Tornado!

Ok, so you know how I told you that we here at PBC survived another waterspout? I was wrong, we survived a TORNADO!! I knew it felt awfully scary...

The National Weather Service (NWS) ruled that the storm we experienced on the night of June 10, 2013 was in fact an EF-0 tornado. I've never really understood the reasoning behind using a zero for rankings when it has no value, but I digress...that's an entirely different conversation. Anyway, they declared that it was actually a tornado and part of their decision to name it as such was because of the damage further up the street where a trampoline was shot into the air and became lodged in the top of a tree. You can see a really cool map and read all about this incident at the National Weather Service Website.

And here is a picture I was able to snap of the trampoline dangling from the tip-top of the tree!

Oh and don't forget the Derecho that came through last Thursday, June 14, 2013...a report I saw on the Southern Maryland Weather facebook page stated that the NWS confirmed that as the storm came through Coltons Point, it produced a waterspout that then formed ANOTHER tornado once it reached land. Two tornado's within a four day time frame?! Crazy.

I'm sure it doesn't seem crazy, or even newsworthy, to the residents of Oklahoma or Texas, but we live in Maryland people...We rarely get tornado's, let alone two within one week in the same neighborhood. We were lucky in the fact that we didn't sustain any serious damage, but our neighbors up the street weren't so lucky. They had a tree from the neighbors yard on their other side completely uproot and land on the roof of their house. Everyone was fine, but it left quite a mess! Again, these were EF-0's, so they weren't extremely serious, but I'm still thankful to the Big Guy for keeping us and our home safe. Check out some of the damage from tornado #2 in CP:

I will try and get a picture of the tree on the roof and update once I do!!


***Update! Here is the picture of the neighbors with a tree on their roof: