Cottage Dreaming

As I wind down my 32 years in Seattle, I really look forward to a new beginning and new adventures back on the east coast.
Seattle has been good to me but after all these years, I find myself a little bored, not sure what to do with myself and ready for new challenges and experiences to jumpstart my heart and imagination again.

So I'm turning my attention to the east coast, but faced with a limited budget, I decided perhaps the Commonwealth of Virginia is going to be my new home.
I grew up in rural Wisconsin and always preferred rolling green fields and meadows with old oaks and maples, to deep, dark, cold pine forests and mountains.
I want to be around historical places, to explore and absorb their energies.
I want to meet new people and try my luck at building my cottage decor business in a new territory where the prevailing trend isn't mid-century modern in grey and teals.

And where I can afford to live!
I have no back up income, no husband or partner who helps pay the bills.  Its just me, my instincts,talent and my get-up-and-go!

I realize all the challenges ahead of me but I feel I face the same ones in Seattle where I am bored of being.
I view this as a midlife opportunity and I am embracing it!
The one thing I will miss here are my many wonderful friends.  But they all travel a lot and I am hoping they will swing by to stay with me a few days on their goings and comings from Europe!

Anyhoo - what I really look forward to, once I find a new cottage to purchase, is decorating it!!
hahaha - what artist/designer wouldn't??
Its what's keeping me sane and focused through the emotional highs and lows of selling my current home and arranging for a cross-country move with 4 cats and a young friend I've taken under my wing.
I have a lot on my shoulders but what perks me up on days when my knees feel like they are buckling, is the prospect of hanging pretty wallpapers, filling rooms with white slipcovered sofas, hanging antique chandeliers and laying the prettiest rugs I've ever seen, on the old hardwood floors.

So here is a sampling of what has been inspiring me, which I intend to use once I've landed somewhere in a simple cottage, in my new life.
As usual, its all blue & white!!  
(Although in my new place, I am contemplating wallpapering my art studio in a soft, buttercup yellow damask...)

What really gets me excited right now are the new French Blue rugs by Dash and Albert, in herringbones.  Both cotton or indoor/outdoor rugs, they are beautiful, quality rugs in a simple, fresh. clean Scandinavian style. The two herringbone rugs are must-haves for me. As soon as I buy a house, I will know which sizes to order.  They will be my anchor from which I do all the other decorating around!
Here's a link to the site where you can explore all the gorgeous rugs available:  Annie Selke
And for this who want to see my latest cottage-fresh designs for fabrics and wallpapers, here's a link to my Spoonflower shop, LilyOake.

An indoor/outdoor herringbone rug in French Blue, by Dash and Albert.  This will go on my living room floor.

Another Dash and Albert rug in a French Blue herringbone.  This cotton rug will go on my bedroom floor.

MY own design, Albertine is a strong contender for wallpaper in my future living room!

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper is on my current home's dining room walls.  Its a favorite of mine.

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper in blueberry blue.  This paper will grace the walls in my new bedroom.

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper in blueberry blue.

Cottage Check simplified is a strong contender as wallpaper in my future kitchen.

Jane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper is feminine and soft, but holds it own with gilded frames and furniture!

Additional inspiration - my old garden lilacs and a myriad of blueberry blue and white cotton or linen fabrics in my Swedish cottage collections on Spoonflower

Jane's Rose Bouquet Stripe in blueberry blue - you can make curtains to match the wallpaper!

Blue Rose Wreath in blueberry.  My current chair slipcovers are coming with me so my cottage will coordinate.  Any piece of furniture can go into any other room and fit right in.

I love European gingerbreading on houses and whatever home I buy, I will try to add personality in this style.

More inspiration:  white farmhouse sinks.  Double bowl...?

My current home has beautiful glass and crystal chandeliers so I hope to add this detail to my new home too.

If I stay under my budget, I have promised myself the Albertine gas range by La Cornue.  White?

...or Provence Blue?  I guess I will have to flip a coin, should the good fortune befall me where I get to fit one into my budget!

My own LilyOake designs, all will be present in my new cottage home.

I keep coming back to white cotton canvas slip covered furniture because it really fits my lifestyle.  And with 4 kitties, I can wash them any time!

A new white cotton canvas slip covered sofa is in my near future.  I can fill it with a mix of LilyOake cottage pillows.

A pretty detail - having packed most my house up already, I kept out a few things to keep close to me during the move

farmhouse sinks....single bowl...?

If I get a porch or sunroom, I would love to build a replica Swedish daybed to grace the space

A dream:  A Swedish tiled stove in blue and white.  IfI cant have the real thing, I can add tile to the kitchen backsplash or to a fireplace surround!

I've loved this image for years - an old Swedish desk in a soft white with a surprise bright blue interior!  I will paint all my furniture in this manner.

Christmas Candle

Every year I look forward to the YULEFEST at the Nordic Museum in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood.
Its a seasonal tradition around here, in the neighborhood founded by all the Nordic immigrants who settled in the PNW because it reminded them of back home, with the snowcapped mountains, cold blue waters and pines.
Yulefest is a holiday bazaar and craft fair where you can find anything Nordic related, including rosemaling, nordic sweaters, foods, painted Dale horses, straw or painted wood ornaments,woolen yarns and knitted masterpieces, Danish porcelain and even my own Scandinavian tea towels (I was vendor last year!)

I look for one dealer in particular who sells her beeswax tree shaped candles.  I look for them each time, but this year she surprised me with a small inventory of pristine white ones, besides her yellow beeswax trees too.
I think both colors are gorgeous but this year I got a white one.  

I love how beautiful they are on a dark, rainy Seattle night when candlelight really brings a warmth to a room.

Shown in white on my mantle with a backdrop of my Kane's Rose Bouquet wallpaper in blueberry blue!
And in yellow beeswax on a linen cotton canvas tablecloth in my Edwina pattern in blueberry blue.

Custom Wallpaper, Fabric and an Art Studio Tour

   Hi Everyone!

I have been uber busy this past spring/summer, getting ready for an open-to-the-public art studio tour.
Here is the link to Arts North! Studio Tour.
I will be showcasing my fabric and wallpaper designs as my art form.

I will also be hosting 3 guest artists in my own home - hopefully they will all fit into the dining room!

I will be right next to them in my tiny, but pretty art studio room.
(more photos of that after the tour is over)

This will be my very first time participating in such an event and the first time ever having the public entering my tiny cottage!
Talk about pressure and nervousness...

I have been scrambling to not only design fabrics and make things with them (like throw pillows, chair slipcovers, sachets, tea towels, etc), but also to whip the few rooms open to the tour, into viewable shape.
Mainly, the dining room, which is the first room of the house upon entry.

The room needed to be upgraded so my sweetheart and I installed beadboard wainscoting all around the room, which I then caulked and painted.
We tried our hand at crown molding which is now caulked and painted too.  So much work!  But so worth it.  It really adds character to a room, a house.
We will do this in the family room too - a winter project!

I then repainted the walls a lighter blue and wallpapered one small wall area, to showcase my designs and how they work together to create a cohesive look in the room.
The rest of the wallpaper will get done after the tour.
I have 3 guest artists who will be hanging their framed art on the walls and the last thing I want are numerous nail holes in my newly hung wallpaper!

I designed the wallpaper to coordinate with the curtains and slipcovers on all the chairs!

I thought I'd share one small corner of this room (the rest isn't ready yet!!) as I am 10 days out from the studio tour and still have loads to get done.

Years ago I painted murals and furniture for a living and after I left that behind for a career in graphic design, I still painted pieces for my own home.
The table is a piece I did 10 years ago, or so.
Way before chalk paint!
I used acrylic latex over Kilz primer.  Several coats of paint in a soft white and a pale Swedish blue.
Protected with 3 coats of Crystalfin poly acrylic in semi-gloss.
The top was done with a fine nap roller.  
No unsightly, unprofessional brush marks anywhere!! (and I am proud of that)

I added faux nailhead from Do it Yourself Chic and gilded it with composite sheet gold leaf, as well as parts of the base.

The fabrics are all mine, sewn from my designs I feature for sale on Spoonflower.
If you are looking for fabrics and wallpaper in a Swedish cottage look, please visit my shop:  LilyOake

I adore the linen cotton canvas and have nearly all my designs printed on that fabric content, but there are 18 different fabrics available, plus 2 types wallpaper and gift wrap too!

Let me know what you think!

And if you're in Seattle on September 12th and 13th, please swing by to say hello and tour the other 11 studios with their guest artists, in the neighborhood.

A table I painted 10 years ago, pre-chalk paint.  Gilded and protected by Crystalfin, its still like new after heavy use!

The table base with Swedish blue and gilded accents....and an elegant tail model, courtesy of Tessie!

Sweet Pea models one of the linen slipcovered chairs, in "Jane's Rose Bouquet" in blueberry.