Guest Post by Kim from Dear Daisy Cottage

Hey there! As Kevin and I continue to construct and consult the day away today, we thought it would be fun to invite one of our favorite bloggers to write a guest post for us.
So today's special guest is Kim, from Dear Daisy Cottage.
Kim owns a sunny little cottage in Florida, and has decorated it with the most delightful finds and furniture.




Dear Daisy Cottage is one of the first blogs I ever had the pleasure of stumbling across. It's such a fun place to visit! Kim's down-to-earth, fun-loving personality shines through with every post and the photos of her home will make your heart skip 2 beats. It's breathtaking!
I disagree with Disney....I think Kim's house is the happiest place on earth!
Kim is such a huge source of inspiration for me, in so many ways.

So without further ado....heeeeeeeeeeeere's Kim!


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Don’t Hold Back

Hi Everyone!

My name is Kim and I write the blog Dear Daisy Cottage and I am SO excited and honored to be a guest blogger here on The Lettered Cottage! I absolutely adore our Layla and I am a huge fan of hers. It is truly amazing AND so inspiring, isn't it, everything that she and Kevin have achieved for their home with their combined talents and creative vision? And let's not forget perseverance! Layla and Kevin have embraced their home 100% by defining their personal style and by staying true to their spirit - such a wonderful accomplishment and such an inspiration to us all.

So when Layla sweetly asked if I would like to be a guest blogger, I happily said yes and then of course I began to ponder about what to share. Should I bake something and share the recipe? Should I share about a thrifting find? Our decorating styles and cottages are a little bit different, as you will see, and I admit I worried that I would disappoint you with all of my color and knick-knacks! And that is when I remembered my own advice that I often give when asked about how to go about decorating a home ...

Don’t hold back.

So with that mindset, I am sharing a few photos of our living room that has been decorated with thrift store and yard sale finds and with lots and lots of love.







Now of course this look isn’t for everyone and it is probably one of those situations where you either hate it or love it. I mean I even use fake flowers!

;-)



And yes I do love it – as far from perfect that it is - because it is ME. I didn’t hold back when decorating Daisy Cottage. I decided to embrace our home with my whole heart and decorate it with little things and the colors that make me happy. Thankfully my family loves it too and of course I couldn’t have had this dream-come-true home without MY Kevin and all of his support.



So thank you very much for taking a peek into our cottage and for letting me share a little of it with you. And like Layla and Kevin have so brilliantly exemplified - I hope that you, too, don’t hold back when decorating your home AND your life.

Be true to you.

Fill your home with every thing and every color that you love and try not to worry about all of the rules. If you decorate this way, your home will be positively beautiful. How could it not be? After all, it would be a reflection of you.

Love,

Kim

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Thank you Kim! Your post was so sweet (you made us blush!) and we appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and beautiful photos with us over here at TLC!

Kevin and Layla

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 9

First off, I want to thank those who left us encouraging comments on our last post. I created this journal to document our life experiences (the good, the bad and the broke!) and those comments really made a difference in our day. We'll be praying for those who said they were going through similar situations. "Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock." ~Author Unknown

Also, I got a few emails from some folks who thought we were going to stop blogging, so I wanted to take second to clarify. We are definitely not going to stop blogging! It's one of our absolute favorite things to do. We look forward to sharing ideas and experiences here as long as the world wide web will have us! :-)

Okay, now let's talk transformation!

Here's how the room looked twelve days ago...



In case you're just tuning in, as you can see, our guest bathroom was previously painted neon lavender. Then last month, the day before our Halloweenie Roast, Kevin slapped on a coat of Sherwin Williams' "Rice Grain". We didn't want to confuse our guests and make them think they had accidentally entered the haunted house down the street. ;-) We'll probably repaint the room before it's all over. Just not sure what color yet.

Here is a photo of how the vanity area looks today...



We removed all the cabinetry, to create space for a farmhouse table we're going to use as a vanity. On each side of where the farmhouse table will sit, Kevin's constructing built-in shelving units that will hold towels, baskets and other bathroom-related accessories.

Neither of us are professional carpenters, so this reno has been a little intimidating. It's definitely a learning process. Today's lesson taught us that we don't like the look of 24" deep built-ins.
So tomorrow Kevin will take those babies back outside and cut them down to a more shallow depth. We're thinking more like 12" deep.
Wonder what tomorrow's lesson will teach us?
As long as it doesn't involve figuring out that 12" is too shallow, we'll be okay.
:-)

Layla

Carolyn's Family Room Redesign

Hello! I thought I'd share one of my consultations today, since the guest bathroom won't be ready for another close up 'til tomorrow.

A while back I got a letter from Carolyn. She purchased one of my Photo Consultations and wanted my advice on how to re-work her family room using items she already had. She was looking for some fresh, easy-to-implement ideas to help pretty up the place pronto!

Here's an except from the letter she sent me....

Dear Layla,

I think I've arrived at a furniture arrangement that I'm happy with, but that leaves me with a HUGE blank wall. And for the life of me, I can't figure out what to do with it.

Most of the pieces in the room are inherited (sofa, hutch, sofa table, large chest, mirror). I'm a huge fan of using what has been in our families. That's how I ended up with a blue sofa, and a chair & ottoman that are mostly green. (we bought the chair/ottoman before inheriting the sofa) I've tried to pull the blue throughout the room, and it's ok- but I think some color on the walls would really help. And perhaps either new window treatments or something to spiff up of the current ones would help as well. I threw together the things in the hutch using items I already had. I'm also open to suggestions here.

Carolyn

So keeping all of her requests in mind, I emailed her a slew of suggestions and put together the following photo drawing for her to use as inspiration to get her creative (re-design) juices flowing...

(hover your mouse back and forth over the photo to see my suggestions)

A few days after I sent my email to her, she sent me this updated photo of the room:



She said she plans to continue to add things to the room over time, but boy did she do a great job of shopping the house in a hurry, eh? :-)

I asked Carolyn if she would send me some more updated photos of the room so I could share her "Before's and Now's" here on our blog. She said yes, and was sweet enough to send over the ones shown below.

In my consultation, I suggested she try swapping the large chest that was up against the wall between the windows with the smaller-scale table behind the sofa. Considering the width of the back of the sofa, and the width of the wall space between the two windows, I thought it might be nice to switch the two pieces.

BEFORE:



NOW:

I also thought she might try placing a large mirror over the fireplace and a grouping of smaller, framed prints above the piece of furniture to the left of the fireplace.
Carolyn made the switcheroo, and here's how it looks now...



Over on the other side of the room, for a little contrast, I suggested that she use a bunch of lighter-colored items inside the dark wood, corner hutch. I also suggested that she try using some books as "lifts" to create more visual interest. Lastly, I suggested using baskets to add some texture and offer a little hidden storage. (I keep extra light bulbs, candles and small extension cords in the baskets in our living room!) Here's what Carolyn came up with...

BEFORE:



NOW:

I love that she was able to incorporate things from around her home into what turned out to be a dashing little display of accessories here. I also like how she staggered similar-shaped/colored items from one side of each shelf to another.

(Click on this photo to see what I mean)

Here are some more shots of the room that Carolyn sent me...

Before, the large chest between the two windows felt a little too big...



Now, the drop leaf table feels just right!



She used a collection of things she found around the house on top of it...



She decked out the top of the large chest, shown here in its new location, with a variety of recycled goodies too...



She even already had a monogrammed white pillow to use on the side chair, just like in my drawing!

I also had the pleasure of helping Carolyn with her kitchen, so if you'd like to read/see more about that room, stop by her blog, "Lettuce Be Glad".

I'm so honored everytime someone allows me the opportunity of collaborating with them on their personal spaces. This particular consultation really spoke the re-purposer in me. When Carolyn first contacted me, I could immediately relate to her request to work with a lot of the things she already owned. Re-doing our house on an almost non-existent budget has become a way of life since Kevin and I left our small, but stable, paychecks to chase our dreams last year. We knew it was risky, but we were compelled to follow our hearts nonetheless.
Since then, a few things have worked out, and a few things have not. And let's just say the things that have not have made life...uh....interesting around these parts as far as finances go. (You may have noticed that Kevin is now at home more than he is on the road touring, and you will soon notice that Lettered Cottage Home will be closing it's virtual doors.)
The honest truth is, without our Sponsors, a handful of new clients, and our True Value gift card, there may not be a whole lot to even blog about. It's not fun to think about, but like they say, sometimes the going gets tough. If you are going through something similar, and I know there are a lot of people out there who are, our hearts go out to you. For me, writing about our experiences here at TLC has been very therapeutic this past year. There's nothing like having a great group of great online friends with similar interests to bond with! :-) So we'll continue to blog our little hearts out, and share as many shoestring budget-friendly decorating tips and tricks as we can think of along the way. Our hope is to inspire, and to be inspired in the process.

Hey! Speaking of inspiration, stay tuned for some updated photos of the guest bathroom tomorrow. The built-in shelves are coming along great, and with a little bit of (okay, maybe a lot-tle bit of) caulk, our guests will never know they weren't built by a professional! Ha! :-)

Layla

Wanna hang plates on your wall like Carolyn did? Check out these incredible invisible plate hangers from dischangers.com!

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 5

Thankfully, it was fairly easy for Kevin to sand all the sticky off the plywood floor in the bathroom the other night...



He went through quite a few pieces of sandpaper...



...but he was striking poses on our smooth, clean floor in no time...



:-)



The next morning, Kevin took a trip to True Value in Montgomery to pick up some of the stuff we'd need to finish the floor.

He came home with two gallons of paint, some green painters tape and a chalk line.



I chose "Sea Salt" and "Alabaster" as the main colors in this room. They're Sherwin Williams colors, but the folks at True Value were happy to color match them for us.

Kev went ahead and primed the floor...





...but then we decided he should probably get crackin' on the built-in's first, before we paint the checkerboard pattern on the floor. We're going to use a few coats of non-yellowing poly on top of our checkers to protect it from wear-and-tear and from any water that may hit it, but it makes more sense to do the bulk of the work first because of the amount of drying time each coat of paint and poly will require.

We want to clad the entire ceiling of the room in beadboard panelling. We'll paint it with semi-gloss paint so that it can handle the moisture factor this room may experience if anyone ever actually bathes in here. It's been two years and it's only been used a few times so far, but if we decide to sell the house at some point, we want to make sure it's good to go for the people who may want to use it more than we do.
So last night, we attached the first piece of panelling to the ceiling above the vanity area...



But because we always forget to hook it up to the charger, our battery-powered screwdriver died within minutes of driving in the fourth screw.
We let it charge overnight last night, so today we'll attach the other piece of panelling and Kevin will start building the shelves that will flank the farmhouse table that our sink is going to go in.

Here's a short video we filmed to document the first step of what is sure to be a lengthy process.
(I'll apologize in advance for the spooky lighting. We had to use a lamp because we had to shut the power off in this room so that we could take down the light fixture where we attached the panelling.)



Someday, when we're old and gray, I'm sure we'll look back at this virtual journal of ours and say, "what were we thinking"?!
But like they say, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away."
And since moving into this place, we've certainly had enough "moments" (a.k.a WORK) to consistently leave us out of breath!
And like Kevin says, "hanging panelling on the ceiling, ain't no joke"! <:-P

Happy Weekend!

Layla

This post brought to you by...

Coastal Living - November 2009

We received our November issue of Coastal Living magazine in the mail yesterday and I could hardly wait to sit down and soak it all up last night.

A quick glance at the table of contents revealed that this issue would include some of my favorite things- food, travel, decorating and Heather Chadduck.

Imagine my surprise when I flipped to the article Heather produced on page 28 and saw this old photo of the two of us working together on a tablescape...



Okay, okay! So I photoshopped myself into the picture. A girl can dream right? ;-)

In all seriousness, you have to check out "Seaside Style". Heather created three different beach-inspired tablescapes that are perfect for the upcoming holidays. In one setting, she used coral bush. And because of the photo of it on page 30, I am now obsessed with the stuff.
Don't even get me started on the driftwood garland and giant recycled glass marbles on the first page of the article. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!
Thankfully, they included the web addresses and phone numbers of the stores where you can find all of the items she used. Areohome.com here I come!

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On page 37, I enjoyed reading about Coastal Livings Idea House 2009, located in the community of Seawatch in Sunset Harbor, North Carolina.



The interiors of the Idea Home were created by designer Philip Sides. He used "creative color combos and sit-down-and-stay-a-while furniture arrangements" throughout.
The house is simply stunning, but reading his name brought back some crazy memories.
Last year, before I started doing virtual design consultations full time, I must have sent out over 50 resumes to everyone and their brother. One of Kevin's tours had fallen through, so we needed to find ourselves some jobs fast. I didn't blog about any of the scary stuff that was going on in our world at that time, but let me just say that we spent many a night laying in bed, flinching every time we heard a noise because we thought the repo man was in our driveway. And keeping our utilities on became almost as hard as keeping our minds off the looming reality that we may lose our house.
Anywho...I really wanted to land a job in the interior design field, but would have been happy with anything at the time. Well, long story short- no one called me in for an interview or even responded to my letter/resume except for Philip Sides. And even though he was writing to tell me he couldn't hire anyone at that time, his courtesy was so greatly appreciated and his letter probably had something to do with the creation of my design business shortly thereafter.
It's crazy how small this world can seem sometimes!

Back to the Idea Home...
Here's a link to a video tour of it.
You may need to throw on a bib before you watch it. :-)

If you're lucky enough to live close to the house, you can purchase tickets to tour it here:

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The November issue also contains information on the 10 Best Seaside Hideaways in Mexico. Check this one out:

Photographer: Tria Giovan

Can you say paradise? This is the Palapa Room at Verana, in Costa Alegre. If you're looking for seclusion, this is definitely the place to go. To reach the resort you take a 30-minute taxi ride from Puerto Vallarta to Boca de Tomatlán. Then a 30-minute boat ride, then a walk through a village, and then up a path to a seaside cliff. Sound exhausting? No worries―a mule will haul all of your luggage. :-)

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"Family Ties" (on page 76) was an absolute delight to read as well.
Sherry Bilsing and her husband, Mark Graham, worked with designer Jackie Terrell to create a home filled with "vintage finds, a modest dose of color and kid-friendly style".

SO many elements in this photo on page 77 made me swoon...

Photographer: Dominique Vorillon

I love the clean-lined wainscoting. So crisp and fresh!
I love their use of casual, striped slipcovers on the normally "seriously-upholstered" wingbacks.
I love the little wood-topped stools, lined up in a row, underneath the windows.
I love the shade of green on the pottery sitting on the mantle.
I love all the textures. The wood floor, the charcoal-colored tile on the fireplace, the thick, plush rug, the Ikea basket filled with logs. They're all so scrumptious!
I love the vintage school poster hanging on the wall. The matting around it matches the wall color perfectly! I wonder which came first? The mat or the paint? :-)

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I could go on and on about this issue of Coastal Living, but I don't want to spoil too much. If you don't have a subscription, you can also visit their website to read some of the stories featured this month.

Thank you to the staff at Coastal Living for putting out yet another great issue!
And congratulations to the Editor-in-Chief, Lindsay Beirman, on the purchase of his new, bouncing baby boat, "Buttercup"! The story on page 12 about it was really fun to read. :-)

Layla


To read other Coastal Living reviews, visit these great blogs:

Coastal Nest
Completely Coastal
Beach Vintage

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