ANTHROPOLOGIE GIVEAWAY & A Beach Cottage Sweet Little Chat with Kasey
10:20 pm
G’day Beach Cottagers, guess what (and if you Facebook with me, you’ll already know)? I’m having an ANTHROPOLOGIE giveaway today to celebrate a little something (well actually it was a large something for me) I recently purchased from the lovely ANTHRO, that I’ll be showing you soon…
Anyway I have a lovely gal over here with us today…thought you might like to come sit with a drink while we chat…her name is Kasey and she blogs right here and after lots of my readers here told me I’d just lurve her blog I never did quite make it over there until a few months ago…and they were right…it’s a funny old world this blogging one is it not?…getting to know people over the oceans in their home towns from the study of a tatty old cottage on the beaches of Sydney
…sit back and enjoy the ride, this girl is right up my alley…shame I can’t go have a drink with her in France…and yep she really does look that good in skirts…
Thank you sarah for inviting me over to chit chat about my little world. Grab yourself a glass of wine…and make yourself at home.
Oops….i forgot that Sarah is allergic to wine….oh dear. Everyone has permission to have an extra glass for her then…and i myself…might have an extra also.Just one though…because anymore then two…i might make hot dogs for dinner….and we don’t want that.
well it is a sad and gloomy world for those of us who get an adult-onset wine allergy, I do not recommend it at all Kasey, though for sure it hasn’t stopped me making hot dogs for dinner
So I am a pretty new reader of your blog, when did you start blogging and why?
I started blogging a few years ago when i had a brick & mortar shop…it was a way to let my customers know what was going on in our little world. ….but then i closed my shop….and started talking more about my family and life…with a bit about my style.
sigh I just love your style….
How do you fit in running a successful blog and being a mum to three?
Oh boy….the whole balance question. I’ve always stated….blog comes first….family comes second.
oops…
i mean cooking and cleaning first….blogging second…then family last.
I really believe that if you put family first…then you end up being the mom servant…you end up cooking and cleaning for them…maybe dressing the kids in the morning and making sure hair is brushed.
ugh. who really wants that?
Alright….i’ll come clean….i’ll fess up and tell the truth.
Sometimes my family comes first……actually….somehow they always come first….and the blog comes in a clean last.
I tend to write about my life and kids quite a bit…..so the balance is there…i just write about life…my life.
hmm so you’re telling me that I shouldn’t really have been locking my kids in a cupboard for the last year so that I can blog? Is that right?
You and I seem to share a love of vintage things, what are some of your favourite pieces in your home?
I love mixing vintage with clean modern look. I love white slip covered sofa’s…but i also love industrial….so mixing
the two is easy.
I just bought an old door that had a beveled mirror on it at the flea market…it has to be one of my favorite pieces right now.I bought it for a steal….and that is one thing i proud myself on…is finding pieces that are very inexpensive.
I don’t believe you have to spend a fortune to make your home beautiful….it might take time….but it doesn’t have to be expensive.
same here, I am loving a bit of industrial at the moment too and yep its always good for the pocketbook to shop from fleamarkets and even better if one steals furniture from outside other people’s houses
How does the white and Frenchy look work with the kiddos?
My kids are not allowed in any of the rooms with furniture…i really try and keep them in their bedrooms
all day if possible. If they are caught touching one of my antique ironstone pitchers…then i tie them to the tree out front and they have to stay there all day. It’s the only thing that works…otherwise they would be jumping all over my white furniture and touching all of my pretty things.
oh wow I thought that was only my dirty little secret, I wonder do you feed them while they are tied up or like me do you throw the odd pack of chips at them while you style your sofa??
Alright….not really…i only tied them to that tree ONE time…..and i promise never to do it again.
pinky promise!
My style is what my kids know…..its all they know. I have white slip covered sofa’s from Ikea….which i think i wash on a semi-weekly basis….and slip covered white really is do able with children..plus white just yells…clean and comfortable.
you said it girlie
I know a girl who has a magazine worthy home….but does not let her children in most of the rooms. I don’t want my children growing up like that….i want my children to remember how their home is pretty…but that they are welcome everywhere…its their home as well.
Some of us might remember growing up and having that one room…the FAMILY ROOM….that was for ADULTS only….and really…it was the only room that only got used a few times a year.
Not here in my house….family room is for family…..all of them…dirty hands and all.
Even though…the next time i find an ant pile because one of the children "accidentally" left a popsicle wrapper under the sofa….i’m sending them to live in Australia.
they’d fit in well Down Under in a tatty old cottage with white sofas that grow chocolate wrappers under pillows…
So how come you ended up where you are now and how’s that different to California?
We moved here to the Chicago area 3 years ago from Colorado due to my husbands job relocation.
That was the toughest move ever….because i really felt settled. { we lived in the San Fran bay area before moving to colorado}.
I love living here….and have made some really fabulous friends. It’s the weather that kills me…i really do
not love the frigid cold of winter.
If the chance come to move again…i think we would move back to the bay area of Cali.
I love the mild winters in which i can still layer my clothes {i have an Anthro shopping problem}..
and we can be near the beach….the wine country {i love my wine….}…and the mountains.
really, I never woulda picked up that you love wine 
hmm I’m thinking I need to find me some Anthro layering for Sydney winters
tell me again, quite how do you make fabulous friends when re-locating, i haven’t quite cracked that yet??
A strange thing has happened to me since I started reading your blog…I have swapped my jeans & flip flops for skirts and find myself incessantly oggling hair clips, do you have this effect on other people too?
Sarah…..i love your look….don’t change a thing!
I can’t really wear jeans because when i sit down….my belly fat oozes over…so that is why i wear skirts…elastic band around the waste.
I don’t really wear flip flops because of my toe fungus.
My hair clips are only because i have a huge bald spot on my head…so the hair clips always disguise that.
oh wow, you mean if I do skirts I won’t have an oozing muffin top?
ahh yes, I see now those shoes are good for disguising fungus…
I heard you used to do Fashion Friday, is that coming back anytime soon?
I loved doing fashion friday….and will start back up soon.
Thank you for giving me the OKAY to go out and buy more clothes…because i must have new clothes in order to do fashion friday.
If my husband calls you because i told him you said okay….then just go with it.
ok, no worries…a little birdie I know named Darcy told me husbands on your side of the water and my pommie accent go down quite well, so I might be able to work a little something out with him…
What’s some of your fave places to shop…for shoes and homewares and girly things?
I really do love Ikea…and a place here in the states called Homegoods. I love perusing thru Anthro’s home
department…to get ideas…then finding the things elsewhere for less.
I find a lot of my shoes at T.J.Maxx…but will spend some good dollars on boots when Anthro debut’s their fall line up.
I’m a boot girl…..and i love me some ruffled slip covered furniture.
how very funny…I love IKEA too and boy-oh-boy have I heard a mint about Homegoods…bring on my trip to the States that’s coming up….rocking Anthro and Homegoods…
Hey did you get the styling call from Anthro yet ??
??Not yet Sarah……why……do you know someone that could hook me up?
oh don’t worry I have connections…it won’t be long…think you may well have to tie the kids up tho
Do you have plans brewing for your blog and what is coming up next at your place?
I don’t have one single plan brewing at the moment……other then getting thru the summer
with three kids home and a mountain of laundry pilling up in the corner.
This last year has been pretty amazing…i was able to travel to France with a close friend…it was my
first visit there…..and have been writing here and there for some places {like here…thank you sarah}..
but my life is really content right now.
I just take life as it comes…..one day at a time. If something presents itself….then we will see….but so far…
no one has knocked on my door and asked if they could be my personal chef for a year…..so right now…i’ll just keep cooking boxed meals for my family and documenting about it on my blog.
same here Kasey, my doorbell sure ain’t been ringing off with requests for my services so guess I’m right there with you…cooking fish fingers and just bloggin’ along for the ride
Hope you enjoyed our chat and if you don’t know Kasey, go say G’day!
And just because I fancy it and because I am surely revving up to my trip to the States whereupon the good people at Anthropologie have offered me a couple of nights in one of their Cali shops, this post has an ANTHROPOLOGIE giftcard giveaway attached to it… OPEN WORLDWIDE tho’ if you win and you are in Aus or somewhere tricky for Anthro it’ll be from somewhere very nearly as nice 
all you gotta do to win is :-
tell me which homey pic in this post of Kasey’s ya love?
or much more interestingly
and because she pretends she doesn’t have a lot of them
but I think she rather does
let me know
what you think of her shoes?
I’ll be seeing you sweeties around…
**comment = entry, more you comment more you enter**Facebook/Tweet this to double up**
Vintage Lake House Decorating with My Sweet Savannah ~ A Beach Cottage Interview
8:40 pm
G’day my beauties. Thank you all so much for the comments for Miss Beach Cottage’s post yesterday, I appreciate that a whole lot…you know what I learnt a lesson there from you guys…about encouragement and sharing….yeah, that is why I keep coming back to this place…
Anyway back to today and a little Beach Cottage decorating exclusive…
I am so very happy to tell you all that my friend Melaine from MySweetSavannah is here today for a little chat.
I love Melaine’s blog and I often stop by over there with a coffee in the morning…her home is divine and just the sort of place I’d like to live if I didn’t live here…on the side of the lake, all rustic and vintage and cream and gorgeous.
So when I asked could I be a tad more nosy, could I learn a little bit more, she said of course…so settle down ladies for a gossip, ‘cos this is one seriously good before/after eye candy and absolutely choc full of inspiration…Melanie shows us how it can be done…
this I tell you is classic real-girl decorating with vintage & creams & white in a real home by a girl like us with kids, a dog, a budget and a busy life….just as we like it…cool real life vintage living & decorating….this girl rocks my socks.
Hi Melaine! Thanks so much for stopping by with the Beach Cottagers, we are so glad to have you!
I love the story of you finding your house when you were young newlyweds through an old friend. Can you explain a bit more about the lake, your lifestyle because of it and the community?
Hey Sarah, G’day! I’m so glad to be over here today with you guys
Crystal Lake is a small private community on the King / Snohomish County line in Western Washington. Crystal Lake was established in 1929 as the Seattle Rod and Gun Club. Our community has so much history. I could talk for days about it really. As I said before it all started in 1929 as the Seattle Rod and Gun club. This was a place primarily for vacation homes for the upper class folks. The goveroner would frequent Crystal Lake as a vacation spot. And then the Depression hit and the few homes that were here were sold and some people were forced to make it their permanent residence. Going into th 1950′s more houses were being built and more permanent residents were moving in. In 1986 our clubhouse/lodge {which was featured in the movie "black widow"} burned to the ground in an electrical fire. We re built in 1988 using trees off the property. We also have a 250 acre working tree farm. It helps subsidize the cmmunity overhead. Currently there are approx. 66 members of Crystal Lake. We get together frequently at the lodge for holiday parties and potlucks. It’s a very tight knit community.
You said on your blog that everything was dark and grim at your place before you worked your magic on it, can you explain that a bit further? What was the worst room in the house?
Every room was horrible. I’d say it was a toss up between the master bath and the kitchen. If I had to choose, I’d say the kitchen. You could stick your hand through the ceiling due to a leaky roof at one point. The floor was uneven and it had an unsightly wood stove in an awkward spot. It had to stay for a while because it was the only heat source for the house! The cabinets were all mix and match garage sale and were mounted about 9 feet up on the walls making it nearly impossible to get into without hauling a stool out. The walls were a mix and match of bad materials.
Can you explain how you got over some of those things initially and like us it seems you were on a budget, how did you get around that side of it?
When we bought our home we had next to no money. I was working at a latte stand and we would use my husbands paycheck and my tips to remodel the kitchen, week by week. It was our first project, it was a necessary one! We used inexpensive items like 12×12 granite tiles and inexpensive white appliances. Over the years we have upgraded those items to slab granite, stainless steel appliances, etc.
here is a before of the kitchen skylight
(Sarah: we are thinking of doing this in our cottage in the breakfast room…so inspired!)
What has been your biggest investment in your home and how did it change it.
The biggest investment was probably all the stuff you don’t see. The plumbing, the electrical, all that fun stuff. Our home was built in 1942 so all of that had to be completely redone.
This picture below gives you an idea of the state of the before…
The same little alcove now…
I love how you say ‘there’s no place like home’ but like me you’ve said nothing has happened overnight. So what did you do first and what made the biggest difference…?
The biggest difference for me would have to be the exterior. I put shingles and rockery on our house and I think it was a huge improvement from what was initially there. We also cleared a bunch of trees to make a bigger yard, etc.
The roof is stunning, I would kill for that…I love how you left it natural…was this a conscious decision or was it because it would be tricky to paint….
Our roof is cheap composition, nothing fancy at all!
I love how you pair the creamy white with the leather and the beadboarding…did you go all out for that look or has it evovled?
I have to give credit to my friend Jill on that one! {http://forevercottage.
What is the paint colour on the walls by the sofa?
It is called Oatmeal by Ralph Lauren. Although they are no longer making paint, you can ask for it by name at Home Depot.
Can you talk us through how the cream fits in your family life (a question I get asked a lot!)?
Well, our home wasn’t always this white. It’s a look that I fell in love with sometime in the last couple years and I think it is timeless. Everyone always freaks out when their kids com over to play seeing how we have a off white sofa. Honestly though, it is even easier to keep clean than the leather one we had before. I just throw the cushion covers in the wash and hang them to dry! The kids eat hot dogs on them and the dog lays on them. I am happy to say that I love my Ikea couch!
Aside from the sofa, the cream works for me because it is very relaxing. It has a cozy put your feet up kind of feel. Not stuffy at all, and it has just the right amount of lightness to make even the darkest days here in Seattle seem a little brighter!
I absolutely love the black wall feature…is it chalkboard paint? Was it easy to do? I am inspired!
SO EASY!!! The kids love it too! I am obsessed with chalkbard paint! You can do it anywhere and in any color! For the wall in my kitchen I used a quart size I got at Home Depot. For the door in my kitchen I actually used a spray paint verzion of it. Just depends on the area you are doing I suppose.
I love how your home looks so cosy and friendly but still very chic can you explain how you’ve achieved that mix?
Why thank you! Yes, it’s very simple really. I read lots and lots of magazines and look at lots and lots of blogs for inspiration! I like to "shop from my own home" and rearrange things all the time~like weekly, it’s a sickness really!
Where do you shop to find things for your house…what is your favourite store?
Lately I haven’t been buying anything much unless it is vintage. The authenticity of vintage pieces are just so appealing to me. So, I shop at local antique stores, garage sales, thrift stores, and of course I still love discount stores like TJ Maxx. I rarely pay full price for anything.
Your house has so much character with vintage pieces …what are your best tips for finding vintagey specials?
Shop, shop, and shop some more! I have favorite flea markets I "stalk" and I go to thrift stores at least once a week.
When you go to flea markets, etc. don’t be afraid to ask the dealers, "is this your best price?" chances are you will get at least $5 knocked off.
Thanks Melaine so much for swinging by this old Beach Cottage for a chat, I’ve totally enjoyed it, and more I will be stealing your ideas and looking for more from your blog, with of course full credit to you….things I’ve added to my Beach Cottage To Do List….chalkboard wall, quotes on the wall, towel rail and of course I don’t really need to tell you that as one with more white vintage plates than anyone on the planet I am SO doing that thing with the vintage plates lol
Isn’t the internet just great for sharing, inspiration and friendship?
I think so.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it all together…what has Melaine inspired you to pick up the paintbrush and do??
Postcards from Beach Cottage Treasure Hunting & Wiry Old Women + A Winner!
11:35 am
Howdy! How ya doin'?
Well I have to say I have been knee deep in things here in Beach Cottage Land. But mainly other than the boring stuff, I have been thrifting and painting and gardening. I am painting the front door…black…I have seen so many cottagey, vintagey, country-ish houses lately with a black front door that I am having a go myself…
Beach Cottage Frangipanis, Vosges Paris & Press from the Netherlands
11:10 pm
G'day Beach Cottage Babes, hope you are all feeling fine and dandy?
I was recently delighted to discover that there was a press mention of this here beachy vintage cottage blog where I spend my days floating around in Flea Market Coastal style
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