Flower Garden After Rain Rain Rain

Tiger Lily 

The beauty of this bulb with it's brown freckles amazes me. 

You can plant the little black bublets on it's stem and have more of these next year.

Oak Leaf Hydrangea

I love that it fades to pink.

Nikko Blue Hydrangea

It is fading to a light purple. I have been trying to dry these without success.

 Maybe they are waterlogged this year. Normally I dry bucks of them.

The flower garden proper is overgrown and filled with weeds.

 I pulled weeds for two hours Monday. I can hardly tell. It is disheartening.

Montbretia

I tied it to this wrought iron post and I am liking this look. 

The Talented B gave me the wrought iron post and idea. She is a smart gal.

You can see my Beautiful Weed post about this plant here.

The grass certainly has enjoyed the continuous daily rain for 45 day in a row.

The night our gravel road washed away we had ten inches of rain in four hours. I do not fertilize our grass or fuss over it in any way. We have a huge amount of grass so I merely mow it.  

Can you see the enormous Spider Plant on the right? 

I dug it out of my sister's neighbor's trash. My sister was a little bit alarmed but got over it.

The plant looked rough but has recovered splendidly.

It is thundering now-more rain!

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happy gardening

Olive

Kitchen Island With Vintage Dish Rack

  I ran into this metal and wood piece in an antiques store today. I thought it might hold dishes. Do you think it is an old bill collector? If so that is a lot of bills.

I am proud to say I have numerous collections of tranferware now. We use them all the time. What you see in the island is for display because the kitten climbs around in here. She is a busy and industrious  toddler.

Shelley is lounging underneath the window. Cindy Lou is underneath the island. So far no plates have been broken from dog cat shenanigans.

 This is the view of the island that is composed of two old windows.  

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joy and peace

Olive

Cottage Kitchen Window

This morning I went to an estate sale at a charming 1940's cottage.

 I thought this window was darling. 

The red pops so well.

Look at those vintage jars.

I could not take more pictures because the house had about fifty people in it.

There were many bottles for sale.

The cottage was sold but I really wanted the screen door.

I bought a few smalls and two ticking stripe pillows. It was awfully humid. 

I had to get out of there. 

I am beginning to feel that we live in the jungle with our daily rains.

Happy Friday

Olive

Sofa {Estate Sale Acquired} and Buying Tips

We saw this sofa on day one of the estate sale and Joe made an offer to the agent which she refused.  She did get my mobile number and called me later that night and said we could get the sofa the next morning for that amount. I actually got that price down a little bit more.

It may not be the neutral slip covered sofa from Pottery Barn that I had in mind but it has some great features. I like the fabric, the nailhead trim, that it has one long cushion, and has a 40 inch deep seat. It has much to recommend it.

Also every piece of linen and fabric in the estate sale house was custom made. As I can find no tag or label on this piece it may be custom. 

I do not show this den often because we use it as an exercise room {CC's exercise ball is in the background}, an office, and watch TV here. It basically stays in an uproar. I hang pictures and objects on the walls that make me happy. They may have no rhyme or reason for you.

My mini office with a non functional 1970's clock that makes me smile. I nearly sold this chunky lamp but it holds up well against this huge sofa.

A few tips for buying used sofas: 

Make sure there is no odor.

Make sure there is no pet hair.

Make sure there are no tears, stains, or worn areas.

Pick it up and look underneath it. The bottom fabric should be intact.

Check that the pillows are intact and are included in the price.

Sit on it.

 No sagging allowed.

Do no pay a lot of money for a used sofa.

Bargain nicely.

Be patient. 

What I am looking for usually turns up and I never buy new.

 To see wonderful items we did not buy at the sale click here.

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joy and peace

Olive