Happy Halloween

 

I couldn’t let the month of October come to a close without paying tribute to this month’s Cottage of the Month, Kathy’s Halloween decorated home in Simi Valley, CA. While I’m pretty positive most of you have already checked it out by now, I have lots of new followers to this blog and my website that may not be following Cottage of the Month, or maybe you’re not even sure what it is!

 

In a nutshell…On my website I have a special monthly feature, Cottage of the Month, where I feature a new home every month, and it always begins on the 1st and runs through the entire month. I’ve been doing this feature for over 5 1/2 years now (yes, that’s 65+ features). I have them all Archived so you can look back at every single feature I’ve ever done, going all the way back to February 2006!

 

So here’s a little sneak peek at October’s feature, a few of my favorites pics…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received an enthusiastic email from a Cottage of the Month fan, Corey, saying “Love this month's October cottage, breathtaking! I feel like a little kid but I hafta ask...Can we go back at Christmas, can we please, can we?"

The answer is yes, Corey!

There was an overwhelmingly positive response to this months feature, thank you Cottage of the Month fans! Kathy and her girlfriend worked their tushes off in getting the house ready for me to come over and shoot. They were literally setting up each room moments before I could shoot. Since we all loved Kathy’s home so much, I’ve invited her back so we can all look forward to visiting her home again in Spring and Winter, 2012!

 

Happy Halloween my friends! And don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see November’s Cottage of the Month. I’m featuring a sweetheart of a gal named Ruthie!

 

Till next time, click and keep up with us on our favorite sites….

 

Cottage8 Master Bedroom: Luggage Nightstands

October is always a super fun, busy month for us. We celebrated my birthday, and we also celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. We spent a warm weekend in Newport Beach, where the weather was clear and beautiful all weekend long… 

 

We came home to find it starting to feel a bit like Fall, so I’ve been digging deep into the backs of our closets for our favorite flannel sheets, wool blankets and my cable knit sweaters with the joyful anticipation of chilly, cozy nights.

 

With the changing weather soon approaching, I’m feeling the urge to get my rooms “ready” for the new upcoming season. No holiday decorating just yet, but all those little projects that have been lingering on my to-do lists are finally getting checked off.

 

Remember this striped suitcase I shared with you a little while back, from my friend Victoria. It was a little piece of a bigger puzzle I’ve been working on and recently accomplished. 

 

 

I had grown tired of the white french provincial nightstands that used to flank either side of our bed, so I swapped them out for repurposed suitcase/luggage rack nightstands…

 

I simply placed old suitcases on top of vintage luggage racks and whala…instant nightstands!

 

You know the phrase it takes a village…well I think it took the better half of Ventura County to help me pull this little project together, thanks to some pretty terrific gals.

 

I asked my friend Nicki to find me an old striped suitcase during her travels. Because I wasn’t hitting the flea markets as frequently over the warm summer months, she was my go-to pair of eyes as this gal thrives in 90+ degree weather. She ended up finding this great old suitcase at a local flea market from our mutual friend Debra…

 

 

The vintage luggage rack that works as the nightstand base I purchased from my friend Rachel, whom I’ve been buying from for over the past 15 years…

 

 

This is a super tiny room, so I was relieved to discover the rack and suitcase fit perfectly between the mantel headboard and the wall…

 

 

Wanna hear a secret? Lately I’ve been thinking about painting my headboard mantel in Ralph Lauren’s Black Truffle (a smokey charcoal black), and of course leave the tufted fabric center alone. Think I should go for it? Am I crazy?

 

 

You probably already know this, but I’m pretty equestrian obsessed lately, so when my friend Jenni was offering up this old horse print in a cool aged wooden frame, I just had to snag it…

 

 

We love the framed monogram above our bed, which often is covered with a large mirror depending on what I’m doing decor-wise that week. The monogram and double frame is entirely vinyl and was super easy to apply! I got it on etsy…

 

Here’s suitcase luggage rack #2, which I bought from my friend Victoria at A Beautiful Mess and the vintage luggage rack was another flea market find. The stripes on that case just do it for me!

 

 

The large, funky old clock piece I bought from my friend Karen years ago, and it seems to end up in each room of this house, depending on what project I have going on. And the lamps are from Pier1…

 

 

This room is still in desperate need of some crown moulding, and I have a really sad looking dresser I bought years ago from an old salvage yard that is going to be getting a facelift real soon. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of projects, and that’s a-okay by me!  

 

 

Till next time, click and keep up with us on our favorite sites….