restoring the roost

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style
since 2010

The Nursery: Details

· antiques and collectibles, decorating the roost

Thank you all for your sweet comments on the nursery. It was certainly a joy to plan and decorate this precious space 🙂

I wanted to highlight some of the details of the nursery for you and provide some sources for our furnishings and decor. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me and I’d be happy to give you more information on where we found things.

This little round pillow was mine as a child growing up; it winds up and plays a lullaby. The little blue plaques above the cribs are for their initials/names after the babies are born and we know the genders. 
These picture holders we plan to use for newborn photos of the twins or perhaps to hold each of their baby books so that they can be easily accessible for recording memories and milestones. 
Aren’t these hand-crocheted bibs and washcloths so sweet? A friend of mine made them for the twins and I can’t get over how beautiful they are! 

A few crafty projects went into the nursery decor, one of them being the vintage children’s armoire makeover. This was a piece that was originally my mom’s as a child, then she used it for me, and since then several other women in our family have used it for their babies. It has been painted several times and although it was a nice white I decided to paint it Annie Sloane’s Duck Egg Blue for a nice pop of color in the room. Please visit this post to read a more detailed account about the armoire’s makeover.

The armoire gives us so much extra needed storage for hang up clothes, baby carriers, crib sheets and blankets, first aid supplies, socks and shoes, and even bibs. We do have a closet in this room but more than half of it is being used to store other things.

Another project was my bulletin board project with fabric that I already had on hand. I simply covered the bulletin board with fabric by using decorative tacks and then strung up family photos using clothespins. Easy as pie!

Using the same fabric, my mom sewed a pillow for me that looks so pretty with our glider and ottoman.

The brass “shell” floor lamp I found on Craigslist for $12. At first I wanted to age it a bit somehow to give it a deeper patina, but I am running out of time now and just decided to use it as is. I placed it on a pile of sturdy books to give it the height that it needed for reading in the chair.

Our family photo gallery wall was another big project that took some time. Just getting the photos in from family members, making prints, and selecting frames was a big chore. Some frames we had on hand or were already with the original photos, some we bought and painted from thrift stores, and a few I found for great deals at HomeGoods. Most of the photos are in black and white, but a few originals we just left in color rather than changing them out. We plan on adding several more photos to this wall- it’s a work in progress!

I’m really happy with how the gallery wall turned out and excited to share and teach our little ones the faces of their family members and a little about their family history.

Below is a source list for the rest of the furnishings or purchases for the nursery. Items that we already had include the bookshelf, table lamp, an antique rocking chair, framed botanical prints, bulletin board, and a few of the accessories.

Jute Rug

  World Market Basket Weave Jute Rug  We liked that this rug was so neutral and durable, and that it was made from all-natural materials. I’m usually not a fan of jute to walk on, but this one is surprisingly soft for jute.

Armchair/Glider and Ottoman

This chair is a Little Castle brand armchair/glider with round ottoman. We really liked the style and that we would be able to use it anywhere in the house besides a nursery after the twins get older. We were able to choose the upholstery we wanted from a wide variety of fabrics from the manufacturer, and I chose this chocolate brown and white toille. I’ve always love toille in a nursery and I think the chocolate brown works well for either gender and as more of a neutral for any space. The chair was purchased at a 10% discount at a wonderful local baby store called Green Pea Baby.

Cribs 

 We chose white Jenny Lind Da Vinci cribs and ordered them off of Amazon. The crib mattresses pretty heavy duty (spring-loaded like a real mattress) and are by Sealy.  Each of our moms bought a crib and crib mattress for us 🙂



The crib skirts came from Pottery Barn Kids, link found here: Pottery Barn Ruffle Crib Skirt in white (we had an unused gift card for PB thankfully!)

We found this great dresser at a local antique shop for $170 that we are using as a changing table!

I ended up getting most of the baskets in the room from places like Home Goods, TJ Maxx, or World Market. We are using them to store toys, stuffed animals, diapers and supplies, blankets, and other odds and ends. Baskets are such wonderful solutions to pretty storage!

The large wire basket with liner on the bookshelf I’ve decided (for now) to use as a little nursing station. It holds burp cloths, a few bibs, lanolin cream, nursing pads, bottles of water, a breastfeeding reference book, and a journal for keeping track of feedings.

The baby blankets hanging on the cribs were hand crocheted as gifts–one of them was for me when I was a baby and the other was made by my Aunt Judy who was extremely talented with needlework and handicrafts. The little bunny pillow was something I purchased a long while ago before I found out I was pregnant and the round pillow was mine as a baby (it winds up and plays a little lullaby).

The curtains are actually from the living room but are so much prettier in the nursery. My mom has since helped me make new curtains for our living room that look fabulous and SO much better with the wall color and furnishings.

I’m sure we will have a few extra things set up in this room once the babies come that are not currently pictured here, such as a cool mist humidifier that we already had on hand, baby monitors, a bobby pillow, and the diaper pail that we temporarily moved out of the room for the photo shoot. I’m really hoping to use this nursery as much as possible for their sleep, nursing, and even play time, and I think it will work out well especially since our bedroom adjoins the nursery directly through a side door and since it will be so close there is no need for bassinets or baby supplies in our bedroom.  I pray that they have fond memories of their nursery as a place of peace and comfort.

Autumn Preserves for the Pantry

· gardening, Homesteading

The end of the summer doesn’t necessarily mean the end of canning season. Autumn offers several opportunities to bring your canner back out–and as a result make a mess in your kitchen again!

For me, I decided just to make a few things that we could freeze easily without having to bust out the canner. Perhaps next summer and fall I will be more motivated to preserve more but being hugely pregnant has a way of zapping your energy 🙂

Fall is traditionally the harvest season and, thus, there are still several fruits and vegetables that can be grown and preserved during this time. Winter squash and pumpkin especially are great examples. Here are just a few:

-pickled beets
-apple and pumpkin butter
-green beans
-snap peas
-fall radish relish
-dried beans and dried southern peas
-squashes
-pumpkin puree

beans for pickling, preserving, drying, or eating fresh!
Later in the summer we went to a local orchard and bought a large bag of delicious peaches and a variety of apples. I decided to freeze most of the peaches and apples in plastic baggies for making pies, dessert toppings, in yogurt, or as a fresh winter treat warmed up anytime.
Here’s how I froze the peaches:
Step 1- wash peaches and working in batches, blanch for 30 seconds to 1 minute in boiling water

Step 2- transfer to ice water bath and when cool, peel skins off peaches.

Step 3- cut up or slice peaches, remove pits, and put in large bowl

Step 4- Cover all peaches with water and put equal parts of a teaspoon of lemon juice to cups of water to prevent browning. Some people like to add sugar to the peaches and/or water, but I left that out.

Step 5- after soaking a bit, transfer peaches to plastic freezer bags (I used quart sized), label with date, and place in freezer on flat surface. I’m going to try and use my peaches up within the next 4-5 months to hopefully avoid them getting freezer burn.


For apples, you can basically use the same process but you may want to layer the peeled apples onto cookie sheets first, freeze for an hour or two, and then put into plastic freezer bags so that they don’t all stick together in one clump. We also used the apples to make a couple of jars of yummy apple butter in the crock pot that we put straight into the fridge for eating.
Crock Pot Apple Butter
Cinnamon Peach Jam
I reserved some of the peaches, especially the ones that were overripe or going bad, for making jam. I combined several recipes into one and decided on a small batch of cinnamon peach freezer jam without pectin. I used about a tablespoon of lemon juice instead with about 1 cup of sugar and a couple sprinkles of cinnamon to taste. You may also want to add a little bit of coarse salt.
Step 1- peel peaches (or blanch and peel) and place into food processor or blender to process until peaches are cut up into small bits. Place blended peaches in pot on stove.

Step 2- Add sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon and bring to boil, cooking for about 15 to 25 minutes or until jam will set up. You can test this by sticking a spoonful of the jam into the freezer for a few minutes and when taken out if it does not slide off of spoon too easily or fall off in drips it is done cooking.

Step 3- Ladle peach jam into clean jars, leaving about 1/4 to 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims and apply lids. Label tops of jars after cooling. Place into freezer or refrigerator if planning to use immediately. Peach jam can be refrigerated for up to 2 months!
What have you put up lately to have on hand for the winter? 

The Twins’ Nursery

· antiques and collectibles, decorating the roost

We have finally finished our sweet little nursery for the twins!!

It’s a good thing too, because two weeks ago I had a scary episode of preterm labor. I am currently resting at home and trying to “cook” these precious little ones for a while longer. I’m 31 weeks currently, and praying I can make it to 34 weeks or longer. Thanks to my mom and hubby for helping me finish up the nursery in case the babies make their entrance early!

I just love to go into this room and quietly sit, relax with a book, look around and imagine what it will be like with the babies here (a lot messier I’m sure, haha!).

In addition to being gender neutral, I wanted it to have a very calming feel. We went with a lot of neutrals more of a vintage/cottage theme more than anything else, with some playful touches. I think it fits in well with the rest of the house. I stole the curtains that were in the living room for the nursery because I had planned to make new living room curtains anyway, and I think they look so sweet in this room.

One of our decorating projects we included was a gallery wall of black and white family photos. All of the photos are of relatives or ancestors, some of themselves as children or babies, and we included myself and BJ in the mix too. I’m hoping that having this will help the babies to become familiar with the faces of their family, those already gone before us and still living.

We plan to paint each baby’s name or initials on the little blue plaques on the wall above the cribs

We moved the vintage doorknob shelf (a DIY project detailed in this post) into the nursery and I think it works perfectly!

the baby shoes on top of the shelf were my mom’s as a baby, and the ones hanging on the knob were mine 🙂

We ended up pushing the two cribs up against the wall opposite the main door to the hallway, since this is just about the only position they fit without taking up too much wall space.

An antique chest of drawers used for a changing table occupies one wall next to a large window. We simply put the changing pad on top and hung baskets on the walls above for holding diapers and supplies within easy reach. The top drawer of the dresser holds additional diapers, wipes, burp cloths, and supplies. A wire basket with burlap liner on the floor beside the dresser will serve as a hamper for dirty clothes or blankets. We will likely eventually move the diaper pail over here too.

The opposite wall of the changing chest is separated into two sections by a door into our master bedroom. One side is bumped out with the addition of a closet. The other side of the wall we have placed a vintage children’s armoire, lamp, and basket of soft toys. The diaper bag hangs on a hook nearby for easy access.

Even though my husband has been using the closet in this room as his, we plan to store several things in it that we have no other place for, like the baby stroller, booster seat high chairs, toddler feeding supplies, and any other odds and ends. Some things like an activity gym mat and a bouncy seat we were actually able to store underneath the crib until we need them!

The children’s armoire was originally my mom’s as a baby, then mine, and used by my cousins for their kids. I repainted it using Annie Sloane Chalk Paint in Duck Egg Blue, then distressed the already painted original knobs. To read more about the makeover of this armoire, visit this post. It is wonderful for providing storage and space for hangup clothes (without taking extra room in the closet).

An upholstered armchair (also a glider) with ottoman sits in the corner along the wall adjacent to the hallway. We left the filing cabinet here as it had been when the room was an office simply because we have no where else to put it. Baskets on top of the filing cabinet hold play mats, blankets and supplies. We chose a soft chocolate brown toille for the armchair fabric before placing the order and a brass floor lamp ($12 Craigslist find!) provides targeted light for reading or late night feedings.

A bookshelf with baby books, basket of toys, a breastfeeding “station” basket, and other special mementos sits along this wall next to the chair. We placed a vintage mirror and a few more framed photos above the bookshelf. I decided to paint some of the bargain thrift store frames with the Annie Sloane Duck Egg Blue paint as well for old photographs.

And just a few more shots….

The two white crocheted blankets are very special- one was mine when I was a baby and the other was hand made by my Aunt Judy who has since passed away. It’s nice to have something from her that I treasure and can pass down. 

pinit.js

A snapshot of the Bible verse I painted for some “wall art” above the closet door

I hope you enjoyed our little nursery tour! This post gives an overview of the nursery and in my next post I will expand upon all the details for you, including a list of sources where we purchased any items that were new. We are thrilled with how the nursery turned out, and hope it will be a place of comfort and joy for our little ones.

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Day Trip of the Month: Beaufort, NC

· architectural history, Day Trip of the Month

I guess you could call it our “babymoon”………as my hubby and I enjoyed a long weekend over Labor Day in Beaufort near the NC coast. It was a great mini vacation for just the two of us–with great restaurants, shopping, beach time, and sightseeing.
Up here in North Carolina (as opposed to the tidewater town in the state south of us with the same name) Beaufort is pronounced “BOW-FURT” rather than “BE-U-FORT.”
The Beaufort Historic Site
If you have not ever heard or been to Beaufort, NC– you are in for a treat! It is the cutest little coastal historic town down east, really close to the Outer Banks. It’s home to the North Carolina Maritime Museum featuring the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Carrot Island, Fort Macon State Park, wonderful local restaurants, and a fabulous early historic district!
It has a very long history, founded in 1709, as North Carolina’s 3rd oldest town! For more on Beaufort history:  click here
Here are some highlights of our trip:
downtown Front Street

This is a good example of what some call the “Beaufort House” type. It’s essentially a two-and-a-half-story, frame house with an engaged two-tier porch. This house type was common in the nineteenth century in Beaufort, from the early 1800s to the last quarter of the nineteenth century when Victorian styles start to appear with more frequency. 

Here are some photos of the old Beaufort town cemetery, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The grave markers were extremely old for a North Carolina town.

a wooden marker

more wooden markers- headstone and footstone

one of my favorite houses we passed- a frame “story-and-a-jump” house with dormers, a wood shingle roof, and impressive brick end chimney. 

We had a wonderful time just the two of us on a relaxing weekend trip before babies 🙂

Summer Harvest

· gardening, Homesteading

Here are the Roost we are busy harvesting from our summer of 2013 garden. A few things didn’t pan out as much as we had hoped, and the constant overload of rain we received caused some mildew and mold problems. But, overall we did pretty well with trying to improve our harvest from last year.

The spring season was perhaps our best yet with a constant supply of lettuce and TONS of kale and collards. We also harvested onions and radishes for the first time this spring and our garlic crop turned out rather well too.

Below are some highlights from our gardening efforts:

Cucumbers: We had a great harvest in the beginning with tons of fruit coming in, but eventually from all the rain the leaves succumbed to mildew and the plants died back. We planted more cucumbers so hopefully we’ll get another big late summer harvest. I made refrigerator pickles and canned relish with our cucumbers this year.

Green Beans (“lazy wife greasy bean,” half-runners, and rattlesnake beans)
The beans have grown wonderfully this year! We have been blessed with basketfuls every couple of days or so during the growing season. In addition to eating them fresh, we plan to dry a bunch for shuck beans and also preserve some in jars.

Note to self: do NOT place basket on porch railing while harvesting green beans or the turkeys WILL try to eat them!

Our Squash plants were pretty much our only major failure this year. They were all growing beautifully with leaves and flowers, but no fruit was being produced except for some zucchini. We figured out it was probably squash borers that go through the stems of the plants that caused this. Surprisingly, we do have some pumpkins actually producing a couple of fruits as well as a mystery squash.

We were pleasantly surprised with how well our Potatoes did and wish we had planted more. In a very small space, we planted yukon gold slips and reaped a very good harvest! They are so yummy. We also planted sweet potatoes along the edge of the screened in porch

Tomatoes (Romas for canning and heirlooms for eating)
Several of the tomato plants didn’t make it and died to disease, but of the ones that did we are got only one decent harvest from. It has been disappointing because as soon as they started producing they all began dying. I think the heavy rains for so long really affected them followed by the short heat wave. I always wish we had planted more tomatoes when it gets to be the middle of the summer, and the same is true this year. You can never have enough! To satiate our tomato fix, we bought a big flat of home-grown romas and some slicing tomatoes from a local farm.

the tomatoes pictured here are from our garden

This is the first year we have been able to harvest Carrots. Although a small, one-time harvest, we enjoyed them!

carrots and some potatoes just pulled from the ground earlier in the summer

Peppers (bell peppers, banana peppers, and hot peppers)
Our peppers are doing pretty decent considering everything. We’ve harvested mostly banana and hot peppers thus far, with a couple of bell peppers. The bell peppers on the vines will hopefully get a little bigger soon, but we aren’t getting a ton simply because we didn’t plant many pepper plants.

Herbs (basil, rosemary, chives, oregano, parsley, mint)
The herbs are fairing pretty well! The basil is looking great, and everything else seems to come back year after year.

The okra is starting to come in, and soon we should have a fair amount. So far I’ve gotten a couple of ziploc sandwich bags full of okra waiting to be pickled! You have to watch okra almost daily when a new pod starts, because it will get huge and tough very quickly. You want to pick it while it is still small to medium sized and tender.

Still growing in our garden are peppers, okra, sweet potatoes, beans, winter squash, zucchini and pumpkins. We plan to plant a late summer/early fall crop of lettuces and other greens as well. Some of our plants don’t look too great simply because we (mostly me, especially being tired and pregnant) haven’t had time to tend to the garden as much as we’ve wanted. The squash plants look like they are starting to get a fungus on the leaves, I’ve spotted squash bugs on some things, and the garden needs a good weeding.

This year we actually succeeded at succession planting, and will definitely keep it going next year. Replanting crops as they ran their full cycle supplied us with a fairly steady stream of produce to where something was ready for harvest most of the time. Even when our cucumber plants, which had already given us tons of fruit, were stunted from a powdery mildew due to all the rain, we replanted and the new growth is doing okay.

Hopefully we can keep several things going this fall if we have warm enough weather. Even if the temperature gets chilly, we can still grow a few things in the cold frame!

Happy Harvesting,
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