Cottage Stalking - Jackson's Point

So now that we have warmer weather, I've totally switched from house stalking to cottage stalking.  If you follow me on Instagram you know that I recently went away for the day with some friends to Jackson's Point, ON which is on Lake Simcoe.  This place is beautiful!  It's about 45 mins North of where I live, and reminds me of Cape Cod...with gorgeous homes & cottages on one side of the road and the water on the other side.  Like most of the areas around Toronto, this place is booming... like $1 million cottages booming!  Most people are tearing down and rebuilding, so there is a real mix of old and new.

This first little blue & yellow cottage is for sale and as luck would have it, there was an open house so we all (like six of us) took a peek.  (I guess you would call what we did "open house crashing").  Here's one shot I took of the sweet inside.  It's still on the market so you can see more of it here.   

I absolutely love Craftsman, Cape Cod and Victorian homes, and there really was a mix of all three.  I kept turning my head from side to side because the houses were sooooo amazing!  

This last one is a bit of a tear down or fixer-upper.

  Personally, I like the style so I would probably fix it up.

(All photos are mine taken with my iPhone.)

It's amazing what a week of warm weather can do...these trees now have full leaves.  We seem to have completely skipped Spring and gone right to Summer here.  

I've heard some people calling it "Sprummer". 

You can check out my Pinterest boards if you want to see more houses/cottages.

Have a great week!

My 2014 "Benchmarks"

In looking back over this year, my first year of blogging, I seem to have taken a lot of pictures of benches - built-in or otherwise.  So I thought it would be cool to recap my 2014 by showing all the benches I've taken photos of.  I don't know why I like them so much...I think I just find them classic and relaxing. 

Above is an old church bench painted white which sits in the porch of our friend's country home. I took this shot during our trip up north in the spring.  There was actually one exactly the same on the other side of the room, but the shot was too wide for me to take (with my iPhone), so I just took the one side.  The pic below is the inside of this same house and this bench is a great idea.  When you have a small eating space, make the window into a seating area and move the table over.  Great use of space!

The one above is from my friend's gorgeous country kitchen and below, a garden tour in June.  

The four benches below were from our end of the summer Muskoka trip.  This "cottage" was amazing inside as well and had built-ins in every bedroom and at the front entrance.  The one below at the entrance also had drawers and a cubby flanking it which I thought was perfect for storage.  The window seats in the bedrooms also had drawers under them for extra storage.

These two benches below remind me of England and have  black and white striped cushions to add to the classic look.  

And last but certainly not least, is this outdoor bench I saw this Fall.

Just want to thank you all for following me this year on this blogging journey.  I hope to continue to bring you photos of beauty and inspiration from wherever life takes me.  My goal has always been to show people that good taste and design doesn't have to cost a lot.  

I'm hoping to focus a little more on my clothing and fabric designs this year.  As much as I love interior and garden design, fashion design has also been a real passion of mine.  I often wake up at night with a design in my head and have to draw it right away before I forget it.  I'm also working on some fabric designs which I hope to share with you soon.  (It involves technology, which is not my thing, so it's taking a bit of time).

Remember, you can follow me on Google, Instagram and Pinterest.  And to those who are already following, thanks again for all your support!

Cottage Style Bedrooms

In my last post I showed you some outside pics of this  amazing Muskoka retreat we went to for Labour Day weekend. Here are the inside photos I promised!  Even though it's a very high-end property, being a cottage setting the inside is a very relaxed and sophisticated feel.  The space is full of built-in benches, beautiful mouldings and gorgeous views.   I felt like I was in Cape Cod.

The first room, the room we stayed in, had a French- country vibe with painted furniture, toile linens and French quilts.

Here's a close-up of the French quilts - I just love the detailing with the scalloped edges and intricate needlework.  Beautiful craftsmanship!!

Each room had a window seat which was extra wide for sleeping. There was storage 
underneath and a spectacular view. 

Below is a pic of the boy's room, which again had a cottage feel. There were lanterns for lights, a log bed, fish motif pillow and patched quilts.  All the kids' rooms had a wall-mounted book case/holder which I thought was a great idea. (You can see it on the far wall).   This would be great for anyone who has a small space and doesn't know where to place books.  It doesn't take up any floor space and the book covers act as art.

Here's the sweet pink girl's room.  

I've talked about using symmetry and white linens before when you're staging a space to sell it because it gives off a calm relaxing feeling.  You can see how the designers did that here in this cottage as well.  Each room has calm linens and two side tables with two lights.  Notice how each bed has white pillows with one or two decorative pillows in front of them, which co-ordinates the whole space.  
It's an easy way to decorate a space - any space - not just a cottage. 

Below was a tiny room in one of the cabins on the property.  I love how they created a headboard with wood which also acts as a shelf and is used for storage.  They then mounted two lights (symmetry) in the wall because there was no room for end tables.  Great use of space and simple beautiful design. 

In each of these bedrooms, because the walls are a neutral white and the linens are neutral, it would be easy to change the country / cottage decor by simply changing out the quilts at the bottom of each bed. This is why I love white linens on a bed - well, really it's because I get bored and change things a lot.  

Hope you were inspired and enjoyed this cottage.

I'm still working on my teen girl's room and hope to have some more pics of that soon.  I've had a lot of fun with black paint over the summer... I think it's mid-life crisis.

Have a great weekend!!