"I went to the woods..."

Have you ever come across a quote that when you read it your heart skipped, your breath got caught because the words, the sentiment, resonated so deeply within your soul that you wanted to memorize the words and make them your own?

Here is mine.

"I went to the woods because I wished to lived deliberately.

To front only the essentials facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,

and not, when I came to die, discover I had not lived."

~ Henry David Thoreau.

I ordered a canvas of the quote...before the first logs were even stacked.

I know disappearing into the middle of the woods might not be for everyone, but I think discovering the most important parts of our lives is.

Summer Friends Art

For the longest time, I wasn't sure what I was going to hang on the walls in the girls' room in the cabin. I wanted something to tie in with our farm theme, but I also wanted something that would still fit once they out grew their barn beds. I searched high and low on the internet and nothing seemed quite right. Then I went to my parent's house one day. I was in their basement rifling through an old box of books trying to find something to read to the girls when I came across it, the perfect old picture book from my childhood.

It's called Summer Friends and it is the story of Suzie leaving the country at the end of the summer. She goes to all of  her summer friends- the cow, the chickens, the frog- and asks if they would like to come back to the city with her. But alas, none of her friends want to go to the city. So ingenious little Suzie decides to draw a picture of her summer friends.  "Now," she said, "I will not forget my summer friends when I go home to the city."

I remember reading this book as a child. It was actually reprinted the year I was born. You can tell I loved it because there are my scribbles on some pages and some are taped back together.

THIS was the perfect book for the room. The illustrations were just darling and perfectly fit the farms and the pond near the cabin. Plus, I adored the theme of the book that Suzie's friends would always be with her.

 However, the book was falling apart. Also some of the illustrations that I wanted to use were on the opposite side of the same page so I didn't want to just take the book apart and frame the pages.
Instead,  I decided to make my own art. I bought canvases at the local art store and painted them red, white and blue. I scanned the illustrations into the computer and printed them out. Then once the paint dried, I decoupaged the prints onto the canvas, as simple as that.

For right now, there are three prints on each side of the room. Eventually the girls will have bunk beds in this room and then I can hang all six in a series.
I love that their room has a little piece of my childhood in it now too.

Here is the promised close up photos of their window treatment...

...and one of my flea-market finds, a chair for $4,

perfectly distressed and ready to use in the corner of their room.

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Painted Buffet for Cabin

I scooped up this small buffet from my sister when she got a new dining room set. Originally, it was dark wood with gold handles. When I first brought it home, Mr. Cabin looked at me like I was nuts when I said it was going to the cabin. "Trust me I said. All it needs is a little paint." He didn't look too convinced, but I went on with my plan undaunted.
I painted it red as you can see. Then I went back and painted the dentil molding pieces white and blue. It's such a great pop of color against the log walls. Plus it fits perfectly behind the front door.
However, the reason why I am really loving it now... extra storage! Gotta love that.

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