Thanks to all the ladies and family that offered suggestions for naming my house! I've tried to give her a name for more than a year and a half now, but nothing really seemed to fit. I wanted to incorporate the '6' from '6byHisDesign' into it somehow (knowing, of course, that it's probably not wise to go overboard on the 6s, if you know what I'm sayin'..., and I also liked the idea of a 'cottage.' What to do??
The other day, T hopped out of the van and declared, "HELLO Loretta!"
"What did you just say?!" I asked.
"I said, 'Hello Loretta,'" he answered matter-of-factly (as he always does, as a matter of fact).
"Who or what is Loretta?" I asked.
"Our house," he answered.
mmmK then. Apparently, all I had to do was ask my 8 year-old what to name our house!
Recently, however, I came across this blogger who named her home Cottage8. I liked it. It gave me an idea! And so, without further ado:
Welcome to The No.6 Cottage
{Recycled Edition}
(A.K.A. Loretta Recycles.)
before:
A little black paint, a few Anthropologie knobs I've coveted since Emily's first kitchen re-design:
Plus a pair of wood shutters scored from Craigslist for a steal ala The Nester, and voila!
Like my plate? I've seen this done around bloggiland...can't give anyone credit, though, cuz it's been a long time since I first saw it...and if you look close enough on my intro picture, you'll see all I did was print out my letters and numbers, put a piece of scrapbook tape on all the important sides, and taped the paper to my plate! If I want to change it - I just pull it all off and choose something else to 'say!'
I also fell in love with Layla's spice boxes, and have all four around the kitchen, but not hanging with lots of nail holes in the wall yet...just in case.
Now, the following pictures, I'm sorry to say, don't have before pictures...either because I never took them, or because I spent hours today scouring our photo archives and never relocated them. I want to publish this post before I turn 50, so I'm posting without befores...(I know. I know. It's a pity, and I do apologize!!)
So, this used to be our study. Now it's our family room. We sat down last spring and decided to stop coveting bigger houses and start using the space we have in this house. The study was waaaay underused since both Hubby and I sit at our laptops in the living room; a family room seemed like a far better function for the space. It sits right off the toy room, and this space is now used daily. (Previously, I couldn't bribe Pookie to go downstairs to play!)
In fact, after searching for an adequate entertainment center, we decided to use JT's old desk. It sat in this same corner - so the shape was perfect! We used the tops as is (with paint) and cut down the sides of the desk to make the walls of the cabinets. We threw little wood away, and purchased very little additional wood to finish the project! I bought a tiny thing of black paint - it covered the whole unit, plus the sideboard above and a picture frame I've always wanted to paint in our bedroom!!!
Finally, last year we declared our beloved gazebo to be d.e.a.d. Instead of throwing the shabby pieces into the trash, hubby cut them down, hinged them together, I spraypainted and sanded the edges, and together we made this lovely hideous-air-conditioner-hider-thing!
Pretty, no?
There you have it. Recycled love. 6 be the number.
The No.6 Cottage Recycles.
(& good night, Loretta!)
