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Month: May 2016

Working On My List…

Working On My List…

After spending a lot of time dealing with my garden and weeds and lawn and all that a few weeks ago, I actually still had time to work on finishing up a few projects. I also did a little shopping and found a few new/old things for the cottage and I was finally able to hang a few things on some walls!  For some reason the list of little projects keep getting longer or at least staying the same – finish one thing and…

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Sea Star Cottage

Sea Star Cottage

As some of you may know, Shell’s Cottage is not our first beach house.  Back in 2005, we bought little Sea Star Cottage from a friend of the family.  It had been a rental for several years and the owner was ready to sell.  It needed quite a bit of cosmetic updating such as paint and flooring and tile, but it was the right low price and size for our small family at the time, and best of all it is just half a…

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The Gearhart Fire Department

The Gearhart Fire Department

We just love our Fire Department here in Gearhart! It is a totally volunteer organization and they do a darn good job! The fire station is right in the center of town and the trucks are usually right out there for everyone in town to see. For many years the department would set off the big town siren once a week and all the volunteers would come out to train and sometimes wash the trucks. They had to stop setting off the…

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The Little Rooms….

The Little Rooms….

  Sometimes it is just the little areas and corners of a home have the most vintage charm! Here are some of the small details of the cottage that you may not have seen or noticed before….. The closet of the yellow bedroom is so sweet….it reminds me of the closet I had when I was a little girl growing up in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Portland…   First of all this classic glass/crystal door knob..   The hardwood floors and built in drawers and…

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Working in the Garden….

Working in the Garden….

Well…I never did find my yard guy…. Sometimes this is how things go down here on the coast…. Here is what can happen in just a few weeks to a lawn next to a row of wild roses… The whole front lawn was about to become part of the rose hedge! And this is what happens when the bark dust mulch never shows up and nobody spreads it on the flower beds… Dang!! *** I was getting quite frustrated so took…

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Spring!

Spring!

This is going to be a quick little post! I arrived in town Monday night and discovered that for some reason everything in the garden had grown and bloomed and gone crazy!  Must be spring! Also…it does not look like anybody has touched the lawn with a mower in weeks!  Not sure why….can’t find my local yard maintenance man…hope he is okay! All the wild roses along the fence are blooming which is great since I cut them all way…

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Old Family Photos From Seaside

Old Family Photos From Seaside

I came across a photo album in a box of my father’s things and found all these great pictures of my dad and his family spending time in Seaside back in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  I had never seen these before – sure wish my dad was still here to tell me about them! My great-grandparents, Giovanni and Anna Maria, built this house on the South Prom in Seaside way back in the 1920’s and the family owned it up until the late…

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Gearhart Beach

Gearhart Beach

I’ve been so busy writing about the cottage that I guess I forgot to mention our beautiful beach and coastline!  What was I thinking?  This is the best part! This is why we are here!  This is where all the magic happens! So… here for your viewing enjoyment…. is a peek at what happens on the western edge of our neighborhood on a sunny summer day when everybody has come out to play because…. “IT’S A BEACH DAY!!” – 🙂 –   We have…

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A Few More Things…

A Few More Things…

  Remember the dark green carpet in the yellow bedroom?  No more green carpet! We bit the bullet and had the carpet removed from the bedroom and had all of the wood floors on the main floor refinished.  This bedroom was the only room in the whole house with wall-to-wall carpet and now I know why. The back part of the room and the closet appear to have been a later addition and it looks like they just laid down the…

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Ironstone and more…

Ironstone and more…

There is something about spending time in an old cottage that makes you want to fill it with old things.  Beautiful old things.  Like English ironstone and blue transferware and comfortably worn quilts.  In the case of an old beach cottage then there are also things like vintage Pendleton blankets, old fishing creels and historic seaside photos. I have found myself keeping an eye out for “beach cottage” items in my travels. Now…I will admit it…I am a longtime fan of…

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