A Few Keys to Happiness

I've still got a lot of stuff to sort through and make a place for after the holidays, and after my major cupboard redo. There are little piles here and there that want me to think about them more than I want to be doing right now. I'm awfully cranky for a Friday, and I think I have the post holiday blues.

Good thing a stack of platters can still look pretty while they're waiting for a semi-permanent perch.

And I do a lot of juggling jugs too.

I really just live in a little rabbity cottage with tiny rooms and not much storage. Feels like it anyway.

I was far too enraptured by the look of the kitchens of Brambly Hedge when I was reading those stories to the kids when they were small. (Thank you, Jill Barklem. Where are you today?) But they're just so cheery to me! I overlook that I don't live in the English countryside of another century. (Or different species.)

My first sideboard post had more of a random catch-all spirit to it. I thought it would be fun to line up the different looks that I've shown you over the last couple of years.

Here's the dresser all dressed up. That post is here.

Then redone for Christmas, here. I used a touch of red transferware, and kept my doggies for that one.

My menagerie of canines is one of those piles of objects to be figured out. But I can assure you they will be treated humanely while I do. The new post here.

I need to do a little blog housekeeping here too, and answer a few who asked about the little crystal and silver teapot that I posted yesterday. . . .  It's a salt shaker, with the silver part screwing off for the lid. I also wanted to thank Beth K. for a wonderful" anonymous" comment. So heartwarming, and appreciated. My anonymous settings go on and off depending on how much spam I am getting at the time, and it's been incredibly high lately. I often get comments and requests without a way left for me to answer. I'm finding that not everyone lists an e-mail or even a blog address on their profile page. Maybe you can check yours if you're new. But I surely love the visits and the feedback. Thank you all.

Finally, I thought I would tell you about the rusty key you've seen on my sideboard. I bought my dresser at auction without a key for one hundred dollars. It was intended for sale, so I "housed" the cupboard in my dining room while I spent a little while trying every key I came across until I found one that worked. But by that time I was too attached to give up my "Welsh" cupboard, as some call it. A while later I forgot to remove the key from the door before some very young visitors came, and it went missing. It went missing for months, until one day it turned up in the rusty bottom of a large bird cage on the patio. Where that key started in life, I have no idea. But it's been an interesting exercise in patience. And it brought my Old Sideboard, Welsh Cupboard, English Dresser to me. . . . 

  

I hope it's all coming together for you wherever you are!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Jacqueline

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