You Light Up My Corner

So......

my mom's recent move has prompted several changes here at Sweet Bee Cottage too.

Some furniture has gone to consignment shops and to the Fabulous Phyllis and in return something new has come to a little corner of Sweet Bee Cottage.

We have this odd corner in our hallway.  Several years ago I found the perfect table to fit there, but I always knew that there was a better solution.

Well Fabulous Phyllis and I worked out a fabulous deal and I am now the proud owner of a corner cabinet.

Please avert your eyes from the things I don't know what I'm going to do with.

I am so excited about the possibilities!  

Yes, it's black and although I do really like black furniture, I don't think black is great for this spot.

I'm thinking about white with some colorful knobs....

(Couldn't stand to leave it empty - put a few of my milkglass pieces in and I love it.)

But really, my heart is saying paint it something bright.  That silly heart of mine is also saying paint it blue......like a cornflower blue.......with white milkglass knobs......and a white interior.

Maybe the opposite of this....blue on outside, white on inside.

 This looks like the perfect shade of blue....not too dark, but bright enough to wake you up.

 Love how this looks, but it's brights at Sweet Bee Cottage.

 Again, a great color, maybe a bit too intense, but it still draws my eye.

 This one has be rethinking the blue exterior and white interior - what a great pop of color.

And here's a classic!  Looks great, but I won't make mine quite so distressed.

 More blue to consider.

Love how they painted the thrift store chairs and how it looks with everything.

And, now here's a question for you.  

Do you think I can just paint over the black and not have bleed through?  

Should I strip it?  

Should I go for the milkglass knobs

ebay

ebay

 or whimsical

hobby lobby

so many to choose from at Hobby Lobby

or something more exotic?

anthropologie

anthropologie

My mind is buzzing!  I so want to get this done NOW!  

BUT - 

I have to get through report cards and parent teacher conferences and then - if the weather holds - this cabinet will be done by Thanksgiving!  

Of course, I'll show when it's done.

Thanks for buzzing by!

Hope you're staying warm and cozy where you are.  (Or cool if you're in the Southern Hemisphere.)

Soup season has started here at Sweet Bee Cottage.

We're trying a new potato soup recipe tonight that's cooking right now in the crock pot.  Smells divine!  

One Last Post from the Big County Fair

This is it, my last post from the Big County Fair for this year (oh yeah, I'll be back with more next year)!  There were just a few things that really impressed or inspired me!

I saw this in the Home Ec building and I just had to take a picture, thinking this might inspire some of you!

 I believe this was a dresser....

 and they cut the top off somehow and moved it to the bottom of the last drawer...

and made a back out of some kind of wood and created this awesome bench.  I haven't seen anything like it in blogland so I was very excited to share this with you!

This Trash to Treasure fashionable outfit was in the Jr. Building and was made by someone younger than 18.  I think it's so cute!!!  Of course Worker Bee loved it because he was a geography major in college.

And here is another one of the Christmas trees from the grown up Home Ec building.

Love the boots at the bottom!  This was such a cute tree but it didn't win any awards.  

And finally, one of my favorite things I saw at the fair...

 This fabulous Alice in Wonderland cow!

 She was painted by a local high school student.

I wanted to bring her home with me!

You know what I love about the fair?  So much local creativity on display!

Well.....after seeing all these delights.....

will you enter your county fair next time?

You should!  

Thank you so much for stopping by!

One Little Change at Sweet Bee Cottage

Much of my time lately has been spent helping my mom organize her new little cottage - although there does seem to be a lot of moving boxes back and forth.  Worker Bee has been wonderful to my mom and has even gone over there and helped her when I didn't have time.

Well,  lucky me, because Sewing Bee has moved to a much smaller home, she is getting rid of some of her furniture and Sweet Bee Cottage has been the lucky recipient of these pieces.  Although....truth be told....this doesn't involve a piece from my mom, but because of her this table was liberated from our bedroom.

We have just had a giant furniture shuffle!  I love it!

before

These chairs were originally at the kitchen table, but when I got Mom's dining room table, I moved my dining room chairs to the kitchen.

So the old kitchen chairs went to the living room.  And....they temporarily had these boxes as a "side table."

after - still need to accesorize

This sweet wicker table had been in the sunroom, then was my nightstand (and oh my it was waaaaaay too small for a nightstand - I was always knocking things off of it in the middle of the night - but it looked great and I was all about the cute for awhile),

this is where the table used to live

and now I've put it between these two chairs you see as you enter our house.  The chairs and table are all from Pottery Barn.  I love them and I wish they would bring them back!

Other changes are in the works......wait till you see what I found for a corner in my hallway!  Let's just say there will be quite a bit of painting furniture in my future.  Oh boy!!!

Aren't you delighted with little changes?  And I just love how fresh something looks when you just move it to a new spot.  Cheapest decorating around!  Gotta' love that!

Thanks so much for buzzing in!

And Now for Kids' Tablescapes from the Big County Fair

Reader Bee (my niece) is following in her auntie's footsteps!  She entered the Big County Fair this year too in the table setting category!  Her table was in the Junior Exhibits and these exhibitors only need one plate for their table settings.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my future competitors!  

Here is Reader Bee's!  She has a picnic theme!

(For you eagle-eyed readers, she is using my dishes, my glasses, and my flatware.)

She earned first place!  

I like that they don't compete against each other, they just earn first place if they meet certain criteria.

Now Baby Bee wants to enter the fair for table settings too.  

Valentine's Day!

 Christmas!

 A Chinese tea!

 Mary Engelbreit!  

And guess what?  I know this competitor!  She is a former student at my school!  And her mom loves Mary Engelbreit so I bet she borrowed these from her mom!  I was delighted to see her work!

 Love the pumpkin centerpiece here!

 Easter!

 Now this was a boy!  I love that!  You go Duck Hunter Boy!

 Best of Show!  This might be the fair theme which was "A Jungle of Fun."

 This one also earned Best of Show.  I think they might have been honoring 4H, but it could have been for St. Patrick's Day.  

 I think the plate and bowl were hand-painted.  I love the little napkin bundle.

 I have to say I really liked this one too (but not as much as Reader Bee's).  They made those cute little ants.

 Another jungle theme!

 Lord of the Rings!

And finally another summer picnic!

Wasn't that fun?  I just love the creativity these kids show.  

I have a few more pictures for another post on the Big County Fair.  

Hope you aren't tired of it yet!

Thanks for buzzing by!

And of course, I just have to link up to

at Between Naps on the Porch!

Just a Few Family Treasures

My mom, Sewing Bee, recently moved out of her home of 28 years to a much smaller house (the green cottage - we haven't named it yet) and she had to get rid of a lot of stuff.  As we helped her pack we came across little treasures that I was lucky enough to be able to claim for myself.

(no, not the red chair, I just thought it looked cute with the treasures)

I had never seen this checkerboard and box before.  My mom told me that this was my grandpa's and this is exactly how he kept his set of checkers.....in this match box.  

There's something about the whole story that just touched me. 

 I can picture my grandpa (who always smelled of oil and car grease AND Doublemint gum - that combination of smells - which I don't run across very often - always takes me back to being a kid at Grandma and Grandpa's) with his grin asking my mom or her sister to come play checkers with him after a long day of working on cars.  

Another treasure my brother didn't mind that I took is this barn and silo.

I can always remember it being at Grandma and Grandpa's when we were kids in the 70s.  

I have no idea how old it is, but my mom didn't remember it from her childhood.  It also had barn animals and  white corral fencing, but those parts are gone now.  

My mom had it in a toy basket for the grandkids to play with at her old house, but all the grandkids are too old to play with it.  

Well today we're off to the Big County Fair!  Baby Bee is dancing with her dance group there.  Looking forward to having some yummy fair food.  I'll have to take pictures to share with you!

Thanks for buzzing in today!