If you don't have anything nice to say ... talk about the weather!

"Snow likely" - HA!

Silly weather man!

There was no school today.

I am writing this post by candlelight. Well, there's a candle lit here because the power is flickering and the lights keep dimming.

This is the fourth white post in a little over a week. The snow is beautiful but I am craving color.

I've absolutely loved this book for over a decade now. I've logged in hours and hours studying the pictures or just feeding my color and design addiction.

Out of all of the interior design books and magazines I've ever looked at, the following room is one of my absolute favorites of all time.

I wrestled with the decision to include this today because the light was very, very tricky for photography. Please forgive the quality. I have a feeling that I will share this room again but there is a particular reason that I'm showing it to you today.

One of the things that I love about this room is the layering of different colors of green and pattern. Nothing is matching (as in there are no two chairs that are the exact same, done in the same fabric). Yet everything is a beautiful, blended whole. This makes it so relaxed and intimate to me - less formal. Also, it gives it a wonderful evolved over time, established feel like it's been there for a long time. Comfy!

I also love the accents of "blue willow" and blue toile. Of course blue and green match but I rarely seem to see it as a decorating scheme. Just look at nature, however, (well, in Vermont anyway) there's blue and green everywhere outside - during the normal parts of the year that is. (Scusi! I am feeling a bit querulous towards winter at the moment because the snow has flattened our lilac hedge and trimmed our giant white pines in a most unflattering manner.)

Ahem!

Then, there are those perfect little bright touches of gentle pink.

Let's also observe the severely happy sunniness emanating from the windows.

With all of this, I wonder if you could guess what absolutely makes this room the tops for me.

If you noticed it too, you are truly a precious kindred spirit.

There is pure joy in the thought of a vintage Scrabble game! That is just the piece de resistance that makes this room truly divine! 

I am secretly hoping that the storm coming in on the heels of this one is a doozy so that the kids can stay home tomorrow. (Oops! It's a secret no more.) If it is, maybe we'll play some Scrabble.

Fancy a game?

Wishing you a happy, cozy day no matter what it brings and where you are,

Katy Noelle x

Make Do and Mend (Then)

Do you ever get a glimpse of what an age that you've lived in will look like in the history books 100 years from now?

I am a late comer to the idea of "make do and mend". I used to view being artful, inventive and "crafty" as a luxury and skill that was paramount to the final rounding off of a truly accomplished, old fashioned modern woman. (Muddled thinking I think!) It was the romantic mentality of an American girl growing up in the richness of the Reagan years. If I was going to be creative, it meant that I was going to go out of my way and that I was going to spend money on it. Whatever I did, it was for the experience more than out of necessity.

That age was such a dreamy and romantic one for more people than just me.

You know, I just bet you that Princess Diana had something to do with all of this. (I mean, aren't all princesses able to sew and talk to mice?) I was just 13 when she married Prince Charles. 

Well, I learned how to sew. I was so enamoured of Laura Ashley Style and Liberty of London prints!

I went to England when I was 16 or 17 and headed straight for that little, humble Liberty of London fabric store. Heaven! 

This dress was the result

One spring break, my best friend and I decided to sew Laura ashley jumpers. Easter morning, we were bleary eyed but triumphant. We had our frocks!

My bell dress!

(By the way, I love this hanger!)

Were all of these things on Pier 66 ?!?

Back to the present I came with a bump this morning as I was remembering those long gone times. Precious to me they were with so many memories and opportunities.

However, I love where I am now!!!

Quite honestly, once a dreamer, always a dreamer.

Love, Katy Noelle xx