Prettiness...

My blog posts have been seriously lacking this week, I apologize.

Life happens and that's ok.  I am always in

awe of bloggers who are really full-time mommies,

have jobs and lives who blog each.and.every.day.

I raise my glass to you!

The photo above {from Veranda 2011} was

a favorite from Pinterest this week so I thought

I would share.  I think the room seems formal

at first glance but I would have no problem

plopping my feet up on that ottoman while sipping 

a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Despite a bad week in blogging - you will want to 

come back here tomorrow.  I am hosting a fun giveaway!

So what do you have planned for Thursday?

Wednesday...

I love the quote above - found on Pinterest this week.  SO TRUE and

such a good reminder for those of us who love everything pretty

and perfect.....

Speaking of imperfect.....

Have I mentioned I have never met a home accessory I didn't like?

Here is a photo of my living room/office - with a couple Target

accessories and lots of clutter on my desk!

I love the spring branches I picked up

at Trader Joe's this week - a nice

change from a flower bouquet.  

Have a lovely Wednesday.

Upholstered Headboard......

This is our bedroom - yesterday....

perfectly fine.  We have had the black sleigh bed

for about 10 years - almost a record for a

piece of furniture in our house.  It

has served us well but I am over its

black-ness.....

Budgets are tight these days so a 'no go' for 

anything new.

I don't know if you can see it - but there is an inset on 

the headboard that I would like to upholster....I am serious.

But first I need to paint the headboard, thinking a creamy white.

The photo below is inspiring me....

via Pinterest

Not exactly the same style as my bed but I love everything

about this bed......I am sucker for blue and white with a big

dose of white.

Wish me luck!

I went shopping...

It's no secret I am in love with my city, Portland Oregon.

Besides being beautiful, funky, quirky, a great place to get

both a glass of good wine or good coffee, Portland has 

some fun home decor shops.

Yesterday, I was shopping with a friend/client and 

snapped a few photos with my iPhone that I thought

I would share....just for fun.

 We started at Cielo Home - a sweet shop that specializes

in gorgeous special antique pieces, custom upholstery and lamps,

John Derian pieces and other small decorative items.  For me,

this shop is for inspiration......it is pricey....but hey, a girl can dream!

We also ventured to Jonathan Adler - this is a new

store for Portland - opened about six months ago!

Overall, the Adler look is a bit too contemporary for my

personal home, but as a design fan, I was in heaven!

The store is so inspirational and full of COLOR!

I loved the whimsy and the messages on the 

walls of the store - all about living in 

beautiful, fun spaces.  Obviously,

Jonathan Adler believes that more than anything,

design should be fun!  Amen!

Cargo - an import store was our next stop.  Cargo has a bit

of this and a lot of that....Asian pieces are plentiful, including 

all the blue and white porcelain pieces pictured above.

The also have a large selection of Santos cage dolls -

I happen to love these, but I know lots of people

who find them slightly creepy.  What do you think?

And more wise words from Jonathan Adler........

My friend/client purchased a couple blue and white

porcelain pieces - including that LARGE jar

pictured above and will have them converted to lamps.

I can't wait to show you this project - it's going to be beautiful.

Enjoy your day!

Let's chat, shall we?

After having the kids home for the last four days, I am slowly

trying to find my mojo this morning.  And to clarify, by "home"

I really mean "off of school" because I am discovering as my

girls get older they spend less and less time at home. Social lives,

activities and sports all require lots of driving and coordination

by yours truly.

I am often asked to share more photos of my home on the blog

so as I was going through my photo files last night, I uploaded

photos to share today - they have absolutely nothing to do

with my random ramblings.....nor do any of these spaces look

like this today!  Complete evidence of my indecisive nature -

after all, I am a fickle girl.

Thanks to all of you who shopped my tag sale - I find it's a fun

way to connect with readers and have even had the pleasure of delivering

goodies to local gals to meet in person!  There are still a few

items left.  I marked the grain sack pillows down this morning!

It was fun to open the new issue of Flea Market Style

magazine and discover that two of my tag sale items

{the bowling pin and dyed grain sack pillow} were featured 

as popular flea market items to collect!

Are you watching The Bachelor?  I am a total fan, have been since

day 1.....I used to watch for the sweet reminder of those early romantic

days of a relationship.  Now, I often find myself thinking, "what would

I think of this boy if one of my daughters brought him home?" 

Yet another reminder that I am indeed getting old!

Do you know Sean's sister has a blog?

She does recaps and provides lots of insider tidbits

about the show, super fun to read if you are a fan.

Go here and check it out!

I stumbled upon this new-to-me blog and this great post

written about e-Design.  I have really enjoyed working with

some of you over the last couple months!  The e-Design

process is unique and can really help homeowners struggling

with design dilemmas in specific rooms in their homes.

If you have your own design dilemma and think I could help, please email me at jill.hinsondesigns@gmail.com.

Now,  go have a fantastic day!

Forever*Cottage Tag Sale!

I'm in the midst of some early spring cleaning.  The tag sales

I have hosted here on the blog in the past have been 

fun and a way to pass along treasures to others 

who appreciate a good pillow or decorative

object like moi!

This is how it works - just email at jillbeth@aol.com

and let me know what item you would like to 

purchase, I will let you know if it still

available - it's first come, first served around here!

I will send a Paypal invoice and mark

the item 'sold' once it has been paid.

{please make note of shipping costs}

Happy shopping!

Vintage hand mirror - $20 {$15 shipping} Sold!

Vintage hand colored botanical with matte - $30 {$10 shipping}

Vintage Big Ben clock - $10 {$10 shipping}Sold!

Vintage pin - $10 {$10 shipping}SOLD!

Dyed grain sack pillow $30 25 {$20 shipping}

4 yards Waverly's "Seeing Spots" in red - $15 {$10 shipping} Sold!

Gorgeous grain sack pillow(22x22) with gray linen back $50 40 {$20 shipping}Sold!
*Includes down fill

Gorgeous 22x22 grain sack pillow {both sides grain sack} $50 40 {$20 shipping}
Sold! * Includes down fill

Chippy frame fits 5x7 photo $10 {$10 shipping}Sold!



Please don't hesitate to email me with any questions!

Weekend thoughts.....

May the sun be shining in your corner of the world

and may you find peace of mind and time to

enjoy the small things with those you love....

Happy weekend!

Master Bedroom Inspired....

Since moving into our home almost 2 years ago, our master bedroom
has remained a bit neglected.  I had it painted before we
moved in and have kept the same bedding and furniture -
it's perfectly fine but I am ready to turn it up a notch!

I created the design board above to work out a color
palette - I am partial to white bedding but wanted
to use some color and I am loving the coral/navy blue combo.
The room already has a pretty dark grey on the walls but
I am definitely considering going even darker - isn't everyone?
Almost a reason to NOT go darker - ha!

The art is pure inspiration - I have had a bee in my bonnet to
paint something myself {gasp!}.  Our current headboard
is also going to be transformed with paint and fabric -
**Disclaimer - I am not a super diy-er so we
shall see how this goes.

Happy President's Day weekend!

Red plates.....for love.

HaPpY VaLenTine'S DaY!

It's no secret that I appreciate small moments -

as a mom of a teenager and tween-ager, I am reminded

daily about just how fast time is passing.  However, one

of the many benefits of getting to this point in my parenthood

journey is to learn how the seemingly 'little' things I have 

done for and with my girls are appreciated and loved........

Let me explain.....

My teenager is in the midst of applying to Catholic high school -

it's a process, albeit a bit stressful and involving lots of paperwork and essays

and interviews.......  This past weekend we had the

'big' interview at her school of choice.  My teenager was

asked about family traditions.  The interviewer was really 

wanting to know about our religious traditions but my daughter 

talked about our RED PLATE tradition

{and I may have felt a lump in my throat}.

I thought it would be fun to share {again}.

Long before the days of Pinterest or blogs - early in my

days as a new mother, I read about creating easy, small family

traditions.  One of the suggestions was to award children's big

and small accomplishments with a red dinner plate.

I purchased a couple plastic red plates and have tried

my best to surprise my girls with their place set at dinner with a red

plate when they do well on a spelling test, lose a tooth,

win a soccer game, play a violin recital....you get the idea.

I share this, not to increase my chances for Mother of the Year

or make anyone feel inadequate.

I share this because while Pinterest and blogs are wonderful,

they can often lead us momma's to feel overwhelmed, 

especially around these holidays - like today.

I share this for all mothers of wee ones  and big ones - just beginning

or in the middle or this wonderful journey that often feels completely thankless,

draining and overwhelming.......

I have been guilty of overindulging my children 

with expensive gifts, inviting way too many

six years olds to a birthday party, insisting on a homemade

birthday cake that required me to stay up frosting into the 

wee hours of the night and planning 'perfect' vacations.....

among many other crazy things us momma's do.

{raise your hand if you were up late last night making homemade Valentine's}

This weekend, during a high school interview, I learned

how something as simple as a plastic red plate, could 

mean so much....

And how could I not use the red plates this morning?

The photos above were taken late last night 

{yes, I still have alot to learn}so

I apologize for the bad light.  

Oh, and those plates......they may just might show

up on someone's wedding day too....but I can't

think about that right now - high school looming 

next year is almost too much to handle right now.

May love find you today.......

Steward of Design....

via

I was honored when Stacey at Steward of Design asked

me to answer a few questions about myself and design.....

go here if you want to learn more about 

yours truly......

Butler's Pantry.....

Butler's pantry's are one of those spaces in a home that I would consider

a luxury.  I was lucky to have had one in a former home but 

unfortunately, not in our current home. 

I love to entertain and I might have a bit of an obsession 

with ironstone platters, silver napkin rings,

aprons and cloth napkins.  My kitchen

cupboards - while plentiful, were not really

built for storing the above mentioned obsessions

entertaining essentials.

I purchased this white cupboard at a favorite Portland

antiques spot from a favorite dealer.  It came with a single

shelf.  I had my handy dad cut three shelves for me and

my husband installed them in the cabinet

over the weekend.

I painted the interior Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe

with a leftover quart I had mixed at Home Depot.

The paint had hardly dried when I began filling

it with all my platters, linens, cups, flatware,

serving baskets, water pitchers and misc......

As you can see, it's not quite perfect - but it certainly provides

perfect storage for all my entertaining essentials!

A seascape update......

The seascape I posted about earlier this week

got a frame.....a quite chippy/scraped frame which I 

happen to love.  

I had the opportunity to spend a few days this week

out hunting in some of my favorite

Portland antiques stores.

I passed on the ironstone - on this day.

Architectural salvage just makes me start dreaming!

I have always wanted a clawfoot bathtub!

And based on the photo below, I think I might not need

to shop for vintage paintings for awhile......

Happy Friday to you - what's on your agenda for this February weekend?

My big girl's Saturday night basketball game got cancelled -

so I promptly made dinner plans with good friends.

This is the kind of change of plans that makes me happy.

This does not however mean a lack of sports -

we will on the sidelines cheering at not ONE but

TWO soccer games.  Oh, and Valentine's - I must

convince my little girl that homemade Valentine's

are superior to Justin Beiber Valentine's from Target.

Wish me luck!

Collected vs. Decorated

This sentiment {from Suzanne Kasler}

pretty much sums up my design philosophy.

Clients often struggle with understanding it - cause everyone

wants a pretty, finished room 'now'!  But I think the prettiest, happiest,

coziest rooms are ones with personal collections - photos, collections,

heirlooms, books, something old, something new

....meaningful objects that speak to those who

dwell within the rooms walls.  Those rooms truly sing!

I don't hide the fact that I am not a formally trained

interior designer - but my instinct to design imperfectly, 

perfectly collected looking spaces that reflect the life and loves

of those who live in the space is something that 

can't be taught.

The rooms in my own home have many things no 

interior designer would include in a design 

plan but they are meaningful things to

me and my family - they tell the story of us.

That's real life design!

Lamps Plus Design Bloggers Conference...

This is happening.....

A few weeks ago a real life friend sent me a 

text encouraging me to check out 

Emily Henderson's blog.  She said there

was a Design Bloggers conference that was

offering a scholarship to attend for newish

design bloggers.  Emily was one of the

'professional' choosing the winners and that

it was a perfect fit for me.

To enter the the contest I simply had to 

submit an email answering some questions 

about my blog, easy-peasy.  

Well, yesterday I got word that I was

selected along with four very talented ladies

to attend the Lamps Plus Design Bloggers

Conference in Los Angeles!

I feel honored to have been selected but

completely freaked out too - I have never

attended a blogging conference and after

reading the bios of the other winners I am

a wee bit intimidated - hello, an Anthropologie

product designer???

But - ultimately, this is life and it's about living!

Blogging has brought me so many opportunities, like

this, and this, and this -

I would have otherwise never had - so this

is yet another.  Most importantly, I remind myself, my two girls

are watching me, every step of this journey.

And I am blessed to be able to show

them how "it's never too late to become

what you were meant to be".

Now.....what am I going to wear???

Collecting seascapes.....

I had a couple opportunities to visit some favorite Portland

antiques malls last week - I was really shopping for a client

but of course I found a little something for me.

I am a huge fan of vintage art - there are alot

of hidden gems out there - painted primarily by hobby

artists, often unsigned but beautiful and interesting nonetheless.

I think vintage art can add instant character to 

newer spaces and is SO much better than any

Ikea poster or Home Goods piece and can

be purchased for the same price or less!

My favorites to find are seascapes.  I found the small seascape

pictured above for $40 in a Portland antiques mall.

I bought it unframed but now would like to find 

an antique frame to pop it in.  It measures 8x10

so should be pretty easy - just need to hunt for the 

perfect frame.

Of course,  a collection of these types of paintings look 

great grouped together on a wall but you can

also prop them up on a bookshelf like in the first

photo.  You can also hang them by themselves on a small

wall - perhaps near a light switch for a bit of 

pretty when you are doing something as simple as shutting

of the bathroom light!

I grabbed the image above and below from Pinterest{original source unkown}.

Who knew, John Derian collects seascapes!?

Vintage art, do you have some in your home?