Dove Cottage

This is the little cottage I call home -- a fun place to live, and always a work in progress.

Dove Cottage is named for this white dove cupola at the roof's peak, made by my Pop.  Pawley, my polydactyl cat who is enamored with the roof, can often be seen lounging up there, sort of leaning against the cupola.  With a dove and a Cheshire cat watching over the property and me, life can't possibly be anything but wonderful.

 

In this entry photo, are topiaries in a pair of Nantucket boxes around the front door, and Proven Winner baskets from English Country Gardens in the $8/ea galvanized window buckets.  Why window buckets instead of a window box?  Because a window box is only so high and only so deep and has to actually be planted, but the buckets allow me to simply set an already planted basket right down inside them, and change them out as the mood or season strikes me.  This is the part where you tell me how clever I am. 

I cut and stitched the striped awning from a heavy duty table cloth on sale for $3, and used iron plant hangers and an iron curtain rod from Home Depot as the extension arms and crossbar.

And in the photo below, are prolific geraniums, in blue and white porcelain fish bowls from SAFE Again Thrift Store -- $12/pair including the wood bases -- a steal! (can be seen better in photo at top), and white scaveola in the window buckets. 

I used old wrought iron daybed arms (I'll admit it -- they were free from the county dump) to make French-inspired hand rails, and painted the concrete stoop in a harlequin pattern.

 Aren't change and variety wonderful!

 
I'm crazy for topiaries, although it's time again to give the Eugenia below a good "haircut."  You can see the vacant hinges from the screen door I relocated to the storage shed.  I replaced it with one of those magnetic screens, which I love.

 That's better.  One selective pruning session later......

                                                  

And now for a few shots of my living room.  As you can see, I change it often -- a lifelong condition of being a decorator.  In this photo, are richly textured tapestries I display in cooler months.                                                                     

Compare the above to the photo below, where "lighter" summer accessories are used.  With my 10x10 shed filled to the brim with accessories, I could have a different look every day of the year.

The photo below shows the living room last summer in 2011, with the sofa wrapped with a soft cotton throw instead of slipcovered.  That summer I threw in some blue accessories for fun.

Below is a winter shot of that floor plan, sans the summer covers and with winter accessories and rug.  I change the floor plan often, as well.  Keeps me from boredom.

Below is the bedroom with a shaker pencil post bed, which changes every few days depending on what sheets are dressing the bed. Note the blue and white fish bowls are being used indoors here, and at the foot of the bed is a tapestry of Monet's Irises rolled around a body pillow.

Above the bed is a print of Diego Rivera's Flower Carrier, c. 1935, still sealed in its original 1936 matting and maple frame.  On either side of the bed are nicely framed full-length mirrors for reflection and height. Above those at ceiling level are original oils of ying and yang koi, painted by popular Atlanta muralist, Ben Goldman, and framed by Art French -- former owner of Frame Farm here in Blairsville.

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This is the view from the front yard.

And below is the side shade garden --- note: nothing is actually planted in the ground -- it's a container garden, which I highly recommend -- with each plant chosen for color, texture, and height.  Six years ago I planted 12 plugs of vinca major as the groundcover -- which now has spread to cover the entire area, then the pots are nestled into the vinca or raised on stands, to give the overall lush effect.
 

I have strolling trails in the woods.  Good for the spirit. 

 

And no cottage is complete without a mushroom garden.  You can see 15 of them here, and I've added several since this photo.  Most of them come from Brad Dodson at Mud Dabbers Pottery in Waynesville, NC. The Dodsons are a famous family of potters.  Click on the link at the end of this sentence to check out Mud Dabbers on facebook: Mud Dabbers

 

So that's the short tour of Dove Cottage.  As the demi-lune above the front door says --- Welcome!