Hello, friends.
You are probably wondering who the heck I am and what I am doing here. This is my attempt to tell you.
I am on a personal quest; a quest to create the home of my dreams, welcoming and airy, filled with cottage charm but without spending a fortune. I’m not naturally gifted in this area and I don’t have any training. I’m making mistakes along the way. A lot of mistakes. I’ve been making mistakes for years, in fact.
When I & my husband bought our first home in 2003, a 1930′s English-style cottage, I knew I wanted it to feel a certain way, have a certain look: warm and welcoming, light and airy, with period details and old-fashioned charm without being fussy, frilly, cluttered or claustrophobic. How I would achieve this, I had no idea, but what I lacked in experience I made up for with enthusiasm. So, armed only with a love of old quilts, vintage glass, white trim and chippy furniture, I set out to create the home of my dreams.
I failed. Miserably.
I painted every room a different color. A dark color. I went shopping and brought home random selections just because the display was pretty. I hit thrift stores and brought home pieces that weren’t my “taste” because they were cheap or because they would be fabulous with just a little tiny bit of work. Like a Magpie, I brought home anything and everything if it caught my attention while shopping. The house started to deteriorate, filling up with random accessories and broken furniture. I started to get really confused. I started to not be sure what my style was after all. I didn’t know why my home was frustrating me so much.
I became convinced that it was the spaces themselves that weren’t working. I needed to be more creative, more original, more clever. I tried unusual space arrangements, overly clever layouts. I started renovating. I gutted bathrooms and attic spaces, ripped out old decks, rearranged furniture and redesigned the floorplan. More than once. I got rid of the old thrift projects and acquired new ones. Saw a pretty picture in a magazine and completely changed my design direction. Over and over and over, for four and a half years.
What a mess.
Desperate and confused, I started to think my dream of a charming, airy cottage was just not achievable. I gave up. In the summer of 2007 I sold my house and found a fixer in Oregon’s wine country, a 1950′s ranch with 1980′s decor, but all one level with a fantastic floor plan and a big yard. Ugly, but very functional. We bought it, moved our stuff into the garage and focused on getting the old house ready for the market. I had watched enough HGTV to know that my house wasn’t going to sell in the state it was in, so we started renovating yet again. But this time, instead of trying to be “clever,” I just did the simplest, easiest thing that I thought would appeal to most people. I removed everything non-essential, painted with warm neutrals and bought or borrowed new furniture.
It was like the house came into focus. The new furniture was modern and the accessories spare for the market, but the bones were there. The basics were there. I could see how my original vision would work, if I had just started with this simple palette.
It wasn’t the space, it was me. I had tried too hard to be clever and original and had mucked up the space with too many ideas and too much stuff. Simple design isn’t uninspired, it’s a gracious structure within which to showcase wonderful things. Warm neutrals, simple materials. These are all things that provide the structure within which to have all the eclectic, fabulous, mismatched things that a Magpie like me brings home.
Finally, I think I’m getting somewhere. I have a long way to go. I have a lot to learn and I have a ton of questions. And now I have a 1950′s ranch with no inherent charm of its own. But I have an idea.
I also have a fire in my belly. I want everyone out there, everyone who is struggling with how to create the cottage home of their dreams, to feel like they have someone they can talk to. I want to help. I still don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but I’m doing my best, and if I can do it, you can too.
I’m so glad you’re here to take this trip with me.
Best,
Cottage Magpie
To email me, send to: angela (at) cottagemagpie (dot) com!
thank you Magpie 4 dis. i think am beginning to find what i’v longed for. thank u 4 being so practical. thank u so much
Hi Angela!
Yes, we are both living in a beautiful part of the country. I do love it here. I live in Central Oregon…Instead of “Wine Country” it’s more like “Ponderosa Pine Country”. We have had three snows already and are expecting more late next week.
I love your blog and look forward to exploring your many beautiful posts.
Thank you for your visit and kind comments on my blog. I appreciate that you took time to stop by.
Have a great day and enjoy that extra hour of sleep.
Blessings,
Carolynn
great story because it is mine, except I bought the ranch 25 years ago and failed to get the desired airy cozy practical home I was looking for, several times. I will check up and see how you progress and share some stories too.
So glad to hear from you, Sue! Thanks for stopping by. I am still not entirely sure what I am doing, but I am still trying my best to keep at it! Hope to see you again! ~Angela~
wow, just found your blog through songbird and it’s so strange because we are waiting to close on a 1969 ranch in Oregon! I am in love with cottages and was trying to figure out how I could make a ranch cute.. but we love the layout and the yard as well, super functional and I love being all on one level! I’m glad I found you!
Oh my goodness! That’s amazing! We might be right next to each other!
I’m going to come check out your blog now, because I would loooove to compare notes on the ranch-to-cottage journey! ~Angela~
Angela…..I sure related to your story! Now I think I have a better understanding why some things I’m trying to do in our new little cabin style house in the Calif mountains just aren’t working. Sometimes “less is more.” I hate clutter but I LOVE “stuff!” It’s a challenge. Thanks for sharing….it really helps! Cheryl M
Thanks, Cheryl! It’s hard sometimes admitting how clueless I am, but I always hoped that if I was honest about how much I struggle it might help others, too. I’m so glad that you stopped by! Hope to “see” you again soon! Your cabin sounds really charming. ~Angela~
My husband and I started raising our blended family in a darling Cap Cod – the home I in which I left my heart. It was very cottage style, then we moved to a 50′s ranch and I was hooked – we all loved it. Was great fun to do the cottage things to and paint cabinets, brick fireplace, redo bathrooms but keep the ranch feel decorated cottage. & years ago we moved into a cookie cutter new home and the furniture was put in place I just haven’t done anything since we moved in to speak of – we yess I did empty the boxes, I guess my thoughts were it was all new and shouldn’t be changed…well now I am tired of it being plain Jane so am thrilled to meet you to motivate me – so please GO GIRL – thank you and Merry Christmas!!!
Oh Kathy, thank you so much! I have been sick for the last few weeks and I’ve just been feeling like I’ll NEVER get anywhere with my home. Getting comments like yours means the world to me. Thank you so much for stopping by. Best, ~Angela~
I think everyone likes blog authors to have the honesty that you have exhibited in this post. Everyone who blogs blog for different reasons but i don’t think it would have been successful for you if you just started JUST for the money either. Bloggers have to have the tenacity after working hard on a project to then sit down and analyze the process to write about it, go through and select from all the pictures, find reference links if needed, deal with blog glitches that erase all that you have entered only seconds before publishing…and being that this is all in our spare time, it’s a given that we (I blog as well) would want to make a career out of it. Thank you for sharing and good luck to you in the new year!
Thank you, Jeannie! I agree — I don’t think doing it *just* for the money would have worked. I’m glad I’m finally finding my path here. Thanks for visiting! I’m coming to visit your place right now! ~Angela~
Angela, I love your thoughts, ideas for decorating and ways to achieve a comforting home without all the dark drab furniture shown in ads from stores. Keep inspiring us to look for ways to make our homes fun and welcoming. I love color and all the fabrics out would make me smile every day!
Oh thank you so much, Kathy. I love color and I’m finally learning to embrace that. I’m so glad you came to visit!
~Angela~
I found your site because you note that the Kwanzan cherry blossoms bloom 2 weeks later than other cherry trees. The many trees around Brookline reservoir in Boston bloom at the same time as all the crab apple trees, 2 weeks after the cherry trees, so I was questioning whether they were in fact cherry trees. But apparently they are!
Richard, they may be! Or they may be something else altogether. Peach trees bloom later as well, for example, as do flowering almonds. I wonder what they are!? ~Angela~