Moments and Memories – Country Design Home

Jan 29, 2020

Pretty As A Picture Magnolia

Just before the holidays (yup, that’s how long it has taken me to write this post…all too often, life simply gets in the way) Coach informed me that he was attending a conference in Austin, Texas.

ATX Sign After a quick google map search, I determined that Waco, Texas-the home of all things Chip & Joanna Gaines-was only a stones-throw away, so I asked if I could tag along, see the sights of Austin and maybe I could rent a car and head out to Waco on one of the days? And so, I did. First stop, the silos, not as huge as they appear on TV or in social media, but nevertheless impressive.

To see those rusty old silos that sit on a street corner alongside some railroad tracks and imagine them as the anchor to your empire…well, you’ve got to give Chip major credit for that! The silos, the bakery and the Magnolia Market are on this block, along with some food trucks and the most gorgeous public bathrooms I have ever seen. I mean…

If you are a Fixer-Upper addict, as I am, you will recognize every style,

décor and design choice-even the old Jeep parked by the garden center…

that is absolutely on brand and pretty as the pictures you have seen a thousand times.

593e348b-6b1b-4650-a454-311bb64fe8c1 Shiplap, subway tiles, vintage tile floors, vintage wood doors, metal signage-walking into any of the many Magnolia establishments

feels like wandering into one of their many transformed homes-and it just makes you feel like you’re home.

The Silos Baking Company

is sweet…again, much smaller than it appeared on the show…the magic of television…

and filled with delectable treats.

The outside enclosed “compound” has places to sit a spell,

take pics

and wander around the field at the silos where they hold their concerts and “Silobrations“.

The Magnolia Market at the Silos

f2492795-c013-4539-a36f-2fdbf8115fae had been decked out for the holidays,

all vintage country style.

Once I did a bit of shopping and checked out

“Chip’s Corner”,

I headed over to the newer Magnolia Press and took a peek, but didn’t stay for a bite because I was off to find Magnolia Table–

Magnolia Table Sign their full-serve restaurant on the other side of town. Tasting yummy, hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare while being surrounded by more of the Fixer-Upper signature style made for an enjoyable afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take a drive through Waco to check out some of the many homes they have renovated (there are actually maps online to follow their reno path), so that will have to wait for another trip to Texas! Have a great Wednesday, everyone, and remember…

xoxoxo Susan

Filed Under: Inspiration, Moments and Memories, The Road Less Traveled, Views From My Back Porch, Wanderlust Wednesdays · Tagged: #austintexas, #chipandjoannagaines, #fixerupper, #magnoliabaking, #magnoliamarket, #magnoliamarketatthesilos, #magnoliapress, #magnoliatable, #wacotexas, inspiration

May 27, 2018

The Maine Name Game

By countrydesignhome · 2 Comments

For many years, Coach and I have dreamed of purchasing a summer cottage… somewhere we could go with our family and friends and just chill. Somewhere we could sip margaritas while watching the sun set over the horizon,

Sunset not too far from home, but far enough to be “away” from our daily hectic lives. But first we had to narrow our geographical location-within driving distance-north or south? We started south-Martha’s Vineyard, truly one of our favorite places on the planet-we vacationed there for many years, and our son was married there in 2016.

Chris and Ashley Lets Dance But it would have been a logistical nightmare with the traffic and the ferry rides to take on a weekly basis, so we ruled it out. Moving north to Cape Cod, the same held true-between Boston and Cape traffic, the weekend traveling would have been prohibitive. Looking northbound, we finally landed on Maine-the Kennebunk area, to be exact, where our daughter was married in 2015.

IMG_8097 (1) At first we looked inland-our initial plan was to find a log cabin on a lake or river. A fixer-upper, something with character, age and charm…with a water view. So, we started the search last spring, hoping to discover that charming log cabin deep in the woods, right on the water. We viewed cabins and cottages and little old houses-primarily fixer-uppers-like this one in Kennebunk- that was over 200K!!

Cottage Maine Some were on the water…rivers and ponds and lakes. But, as much as I enjoyed the looks of those bodies of water, they just didn’t have the feel of the ocean-is there anything else like the sound of pounding waves crashing the shoreline?

Cottage Crashing Waves

AND, having lived in and worked on an old house-mid 1800’s…

Red Home Ice

for the past three decades-it eventually dawned on me that I no longer had that fixer-upper spirit in me! The thought of tearing down walls and repairing old roofs and replacing leaking plumbing and knocking down giant icicles sent shudders down my spine-what could be less restful and peaceful than that?! So, shifting gears, we searched nearer to the ocean, but lets just say that with each bedroom you add and each 1/4 mile you move closer to those pounding waves, the price increases $100K! And then finally, we found it by chance…a drive-by of sorts. A charming “Cape Cod” style cottage-brand spankin’ new– Cottage Exterior in Spring not on the water, but in a nature preserve overlooking towering pines and birch trees…this is the view from our back kitchen door : )

Cottage Back View

This seasonal home is unlike anything else we had seen-it is part of a condo development called the “Cape Arundel Cottage Preserve”

Cape Arundel Cottage Preserve Model Homes situated on close to a hundred acres of pristine Maine forest bordering The Eastern Trail…10 minutes from Dock Square in Kennebunkport, 10 minutes to Goose Rocks Beach, 15 minutes to Wells and Ogunquit and 20 minutes to Portland. Easy enough to enjoy all that coastal Maine has to offer, but tranquil enough to enjoy the peace and quiet of the Maine countryside. Oh, and if you’re in the antiques biz, there’s the Arundel Flea Market just down the road (and you know who is chomping at the bit to get in on the action there!) Since we purchased the unfinished cottage back in January, we have eagerly watched the progression- slowly at first with the never-ending snowfall Cottage Exterior in Snow

but now at almost warp speed towards completion. Yesterday, we checked in, only to discover that where there used to be piles of lumber, we now have a kitchen

Cottage Kitchen and bathrooms and floors and the walls have been painted and I didn’t have to do any of it : ) And, most importantly, a matching SHED. What’s the big deal about a shed, you ask? Cottage Shed Well, that’s a story for another day…but for now, I’ve created Pinterest pages for every single space and have been buying “essentials”-

Cottage Bedding there’s a lot required in outfitting a 3 bedroom cottage!! Thank goodness for HomeGoods and Target! So, over the next few weeks while we await our completion and move-in date, I will be sharing the spaces and hoping to get some ideas from you-we will be using hand-me-downs and refurbished pieces for now until we settle into our new digs. But first up, we need a name for our new summer home-apparently that’s a thing. Something catchy, not too beachy-since we’re not right on the water. We came up with a few on our drive home last night, but we are looking for suggestions (since ours were pretty lame-not much rhymes with Arundel : ). So if you have an idea, send it my way! And if you happen to be in the Kennebunkport area and want to take a look for yourself at these gorgeous new cottages…there are so many styles and sizes to choose from…the address is 1976 Portland Road in Arundel…and if you do, tell them Sue from Country Design Home sent you! Have a memorable Memorial Day Weekend everyone! xoxoxo Susan

Filed Under: Moments and Memories, Outdoor Adventures, The Road Less Traveled, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: #arundel, #CapeArundelCottagePreserve, #HomeGoods'#Target, #kennebunport, #Mainelife, #summercottage, #summerhome

Mar 26, 2017

Beginning Anew & A Giveaway!

By countrydesignhome · Leave a Comment

This past year has been one of great joys and great sorrows for me personally. The birth of our very first grandchild (he’s a wee bit camera shy, but suffice to say-and this is my totally unbiased opinion- that he is the cutest baby in the whole world…) followed by the incredible wedding celebration of our son to his lovely bride, were both the happiest of occasions.

But, those extraordinary events were overshadowed by the diagnosis, illness and subsequent death of my mother,

(their beloved grandmother and great-grandmother) who passed away recently at 89 years young from cancer. To say that the events of the past year were overwhelming is an understatement. Each presented its own set of unique demands and daily challenges, and each was equally important in its own right. So, during that time, blogging was most definitely not in the forefront of my mind. Getting through each day, surviving until the next dawn broke was about all I had the time and energy for…and so it had been some time, until quite recently, since I had put “pen to paper” to write my stories. But time marches on, as they say, and life settles down, and we move forward…or in this case, backwards…to a time when I was happily painting and sawing and sanding and DIY’ing and sharing it all with you on social media.

In the past few weeks, I have started (and finished!) some new projects, remembered to take photos

and share them on social media-which, in itself, was pretty amazing! So, I am finally beginning to re-furbish and re-love the pieces that have been lying dormant in the basement…and the barn…and the shed during this long and lonely winter. Loving this sweet little side table I recently re-did but completely forgot to write about.

But I do have one problem. I recently moved my blog server back to WordPress.com (a long and frustrating story for another day). But with that move, I was not able to bring all of you, my lovely readers along with me! Those of you who had joined the ranks of my blog followers over the past few years will no longer receive my blog posts…unless we take action…so I need your help! If you wish to continue receiving email notices of my blog posts and DIY escapades (and, remember, we never, ever, EVER use your email for any other purpose : ), and I hope that you do, you need to click on this link to the home page of my blog https://countrydesignhome.com/

scroll down to the right side of the screen until you get to the line that reads “follow my blog”. Fill in the little window your email address, click send, and you will receive a confirmation email from me via Word Press. Just hit confirm, and you are done! Now, I know this is a pain in the neck and you are thinking, “well, this is a pain in the neck”, so I am going to sweeten the pot a wee bit. All of the email confirmations I receive by April 15th will be placed in a random drawing and one lucky person will win a $50 Amazon.com gift card…as a personal thanks from me to you…

…because we can all use a little fun news on Tax Day, right? So, thanks for understanding, and thanks for being part of my life and allowing me to share my stories with you…and I am hoping that we can now we can finally begin anew. Susan xoxo

Filed Under: Inspiration, Moments and Memories, Views From My Back Porch · Tagged: #giveaway, Amazon.com, refurbished furniture

Feb 14, 2014

Friends of the Heart

By countrydesignhome · 4 Comments

Many years ago, in a college psychology class, I participated in a group discussion regarding friendships: how we enter into a friendship, how we maintain it and how friendship fades away, despite the best of intentions. Although much time has passed, an observation that one of my classmates made has remained with me to this day. That there are essentially two types of friends: Friends of the Road and Friends of the Heart. What does that mean, exactly? Friends of the Road are those that we encounter along the way while being busy with life. A childhood neighbor, a classmate, a co-worker, a teammate or dorm-mate, these friendships are formed due to time, place and circumstance. At that moment, the friendship appears to be unstoppable, an unbreakable link formed from a common bond that you promise will last forever. But once you change jobs, move away or graduate from school, the friendship, despite your most ardent efforts to keep in touch, fades into fond memories and Facebook reminders.

Ah, but Friends of the Heart. Those people you meet along the way whose paths are forever intertwined with your own. They are not your family, but these are the friends you can turn to in a moment’s notice, in joy and in sorrow, in illness or trouble. They are your people. Your back door friends. The “I-don’t-have-to-clean-up-the-house-because-I-am-having-company” kind of friends. Because they see you, know you and love you just the way you are. I have been so very blessed, in my life, to have found a group of friends of the heart. We started out as neighbors, bonded by our children who shared classrooms and ball fields. The dads coached, the moms cheered on, brought the water and snacks and patched up skinned knees. As we proudly watched our children grow and thrive, we stood side by side on the sidelines, in the bleachers and auditoriums and cheered them on, comforted their sorrows, rejoiced in their victories, agonized over their defeats. And while that business of life was happening, our friendships became those of the heart: strong, unstoppable, unbreakable bonds. And then, once our children were grown and happily on their own, our friendships did not waver, but instead, grew stronger. We traveled around the world together, planned birthday parties and weddings and showers together and spent many an evening over dinner and drinks just enjoying each other’s company. Recently, I lost one of my dearest friends of the heart after a much-too-short battle with pancreatic cancer. She was the youngest of our group, so much fun, full of life and eager to see whatever the world had to offer. Now, each passing day brings a fresh reminder of how very fragile and sometimes too short life can be on this earth. If I could tell her one more time, if I could show her one more way, if I could only have a few more precious moments with her, I would let her know again just how special and truly blessed I was to have her in my life. Now, if you are fortunate enough, like me, to have a friend of the heart, choose today to tell them you love them. It doesn’t need to be a holiday or special occasion. You don’t need chocolate or fancy flowers, greeting cards or expensive gifts. Just text them or tweet them or Facebook message them or call them or even send them a copy of this and tell them how much they mean to you. It may be weirdly out-of-character, feel funny or awkward, but do it anyway. Because you never know when it may be your final chance to let them know how you feel. And so, I would like to say to all of my dearest friends of the heart, I love you. You have enriched my life in immeasurable ways, and life will never be the same without all of you in it.