Trains with Daddy

Mr. Vaughan will be leaving soon for the army.

Gulp.

Five whole months of our love being gone. This will be one of the hardest things we do as a family. Until then, we cherish our moments together.

This past Sunday we had fun at the park and watched the COOL trains pass by. Little Mister is enamored my trains. Or trucks. Or any heavy machinery. And he is glued to his Daddy's side.

 

A boy and his Daddy.

Favorite Fridays....My 2011 Fall Colors

I am putting it out there right now. I have an obsession with mustard yellow, aqua, red and navy blue. Ever since this stinking cute purse:

Yep. Planning my fall wardrobe around it. Also, guess what color scheme our fall family photo will be themed with? I am sure you guessed it. Smart cookie.

Speaking of the fall photo.....Here are some of my choices for accessories.

Mustard Shawl

Mustard & Aqua Necklace

Or maybe these?

Coastal Surf

Don't let that blog title fool you.

Let me begin by saying I was up until 4 a.m. this morning painting a forlorn looking Victorian castoff desk. Four hours of painting into the wee hours. Getting that paint into my fingernails, on my new capris (yeah, not the smartest choice of painting attire), and who else knows where. Around our house Mr. Vaughan usually paints everything. And I usually find it everywhere. The floor, the bedspread, his prized safe.....don't get me going.

Anywho, let me back up this story by telling you about my love affair with paint swatches...maybe paint colors in general. When I find a paint color that works well, we are in lust for life. About 6 years ago I found a cream color at Walmart {of all places} that is called "Cream & Sugar". That creamy-white paint adorns many doors, trims and furniture pieces here at Vaughan Cottage. I have the formula on a sticker that resides in my wallet full-time. By the time I am like 60 my wallet will be stuffed with paint formulas.

And so we begin the love affair with "Coastal Surf".

Be still my heart.....

 

 

A couple of months ago I went from trying to find the perfect PINK for the bedroom ( no less than 6 paint swatches on the bedroom wall without a winner....) to resigning myself to second best blue. Coastal Surf was tied with another blue, but I was unsure about the green hues in it, so we went with the other choice. But I maintained a love affair with this color. I kept it in the house and would bring it out from time to time thinking what I could paint with it.

Enter the Victorian cast-off desk. Perfect choice. I wish I had a before photo of it. It was painted Hunter Green. Yuck. Coastal Surf seemed like it would be a neat choice. $31 for a gallon of primer-paint and off we went.

Umm....Uh-Oh...I am not sure about this color AT ALL

I think I like it better on the card and in the paint tray.

Curses!
Maybe "Arctic Ocean" would have been better.... or really any other color on this card. Ugh!
This piece is destined for the antique mall booth. And now I sit and debate on painting it again.

Coastal Surf...we are officially OVER!

Summer's Roadside Flowers

Mr. Vaughan took me purse shopping today. I really only get one or two purses a year. They are like shoes to me...once one wears out it's time to replace it. My old one was bought in the early spring and was a super-steal Old Navy ruffled lovely. I still love it, but the closure is shot and it was starting to look, well.....ratty?

Sometimes you just have to go after what you love. Here's my fall splurge:

Vera Bradley Alice in the "Happy Snails" pattern

Snails!

On the way there I spotted a roadside produce/flower stand...in kind of a questionable area. The big yellow sunflowers caught my eye and I asked Mr. Vaughan if we could stop on the way back.

The lady manning the stand was so excited we stopped and said we were her 1st customers of the day (at 2:00 pm?!) Yikes! I felt so bad for her. At least it was a very nice day with a good breeze. We bought two bunches of farm flowers....

One for me

And one for Elly

I love hers more. I found a huge stack of galvanized buckets at the thrift store this week. Perfect!

Favorite Fridays...Vintage Sheet (Quilts!)

We had quite an incredible day yesterday!

How often do you find this many vintage sheets?!!!

When I finished nicely piling them together for the photo I realized just how lovely they all look together....

Then I texted Elly (sweet MIL) the photo so she could get some   "sheet-speration" and maybe make me a sheet quilt! Hint Hint, Elly....

Anywho....I literally found 6 at one store! Pictured is also cute older 60's filigree metal frame for our spring family photo. And, the neat vintage Orphan Annie sheet.

When we picked Mr. Vaughan up from work we headed to another store and.......
                                                                   
                                                               BEHOLD!   

Vintage Fabric!

25 different pieces of vintage fabric. All hanging nicely and cleanly pressed....REALLY! I almost needed to pinch myself when I glimpsed the rack. I didn't even buy it all! There were more treasures I found yesterday, but I can't tell you ALL my secrets now.....

Have a great thrifting/fun weekend everyone!

Hope for the future

I have been incredibly blessed in my life.

The last few days I have been stuck on what I don't have, instead of everything I do.

I hate those kind of days.

Time to pull my chin up and get on with it.

Getting my creative on

We are almost all moved in! Just a few more pieces to bring in....like a much needed locked cabinet.

The COTTAGE side

The RETRO side

Hopefully by next month we will have a backdrop and some cute cottagey fencing up. Some of the larger items have already sold in the past few days!

Come and visit us at:

School Days Antique Mall

Favorite Fridays...Vintage Travel Trailers

The antique mall space is moved in to.

Found some GREAT items there today too!!

Will post some pics of the space tomorrow.

Until then, check out my pinterest if you get a chance! Loving pinterest!!!

Oh...let me go and create a board for some vintage travel trailers!

Someday....

Succulents for her Birthday

My Mom would have been 51 years old today.


I put on my new favorite yellow shirt, favorite hair flower and tried to smile my best for her.

 

Then I went and planted my succulents for the mall space. I know she would have loved these sitting out on her back deck. I think they turned out very nice.

Happy Birthday Mom. Love you. I can feel you smiling down at us.

Etsy Love

So many favorites....

Repurposing at it's best!

Color and shape

Scotties

Amy Butler delivers!

My Girls

I am not the only girl in this household...there are at least a few more, namely girl cats and dog cats. But the "girls" I am referring to in this post are my orchid girls.

I will admit, I am becoming a bit obsessed with orchids. You see them all the time in the store, in the backgrounds of those reality shows, in magazines and in catalogs. It seems like they are everywhere but the normal household. Maybe I am wrong, but I always considered them the plant for experienced plant owners. I have come to realize they are easier to take care of then I thought.

A couple of months ago my generous friend, Laurie, gifted me two orchids from her garden. One didn't make it, but the other is flourishing. Here she is:

Girl in the bathroom

When she came to our house she was only a couple of tiny buds and some huge green leaves. We had no idea what color she would be. For WEEKS we watched the buds grow bigger and bigger until one finally opened! It took a whole day for the bud to fully open to see the colors and shape! It was so neat to see the process. Do you know a healthy orchid can be in bud for several months at a time?! Quite incredible. This girl opens a new bud about once daily. She has been blooming for two weeks and new buds are still growing. None have fallen off yet. Good sign!

 

Of course, a week after the first two plants arrived I ran to the store and bought another. This one is a mini phalaenopsis.

 

She usually sits in the office, but I moved her to a more friendly photo space. She has been blooming for over two months now and also has not lost a flower. 

I think I will stick with these girls for now. When I can get them to bloom again next year I will consider myself experienced enough to own some more!

Hate to love

Have you ever bought anything to resell and hated to part with it?

Me too.

Case in point:

1950's Fenton Daisy and Fern Opalescent Blue glass bowl

Smitten.

I think it would look lovely sitting on my new nightstand......

 

This nightstand was originally part of larger vanity found at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. I hemmed and hawed about selling the vanity as it is just GORGEOUS....
And as it sat in my kitchen I looked at it from a different angle and realized that it could be separated into nightstands! And Voila!

Swoon....original bow hardware and trim!

Hey, I have 7 days to decide on the bowl. It is sitting on ebay right now and I can always change my mind before next Monday, right?!

Lake Glass

Our family has found a little hobby....

Just take a walk down the beach and look for sea glass....
We live a few blocks from Lake Michigan and on lovely summer nights it is so relaxing to take Little Mister and Mr. Vaughan lake glass hunting.

Can you see the glass?

 

 

Little Mister doesn't quite like to walk on the rocky sand we have by our house, so Mr. Vaughan carries him most of the way. When I find the glass he gets to put it into the collection bag.

First piece of the day

 

I love wearing my pink summery dress and flip flops. Even if the rocks get all up in my shoes.

As we walked the fog started to roll in from the lake. So beautiful.

But the little bugs were too much today and we headed home only after a little bit.

Green and clear...going straight into our sea glass jar