The Victorian Chicken House

There are some new residents at Hickory Hollow.

11 in all...
10 chickens
and one stray dog
(more about Maggie later)
for now let's talk CHICKENS!!!
Are you ready to see the Victorian chicken house?
She is now ready for the tour!

Doug and Tyler made 10 nesting boxes for the ladies.
I painted them with some left over paint from my bedroom.
That $4 a roll Waverly wallpaper sure is cute!


Remember these little bird needle point pictures?
They look right at home in the cozy hen house above a little wicker shelf.
I am going to keep my eye out for some cute chicken knick knacks.


You couldn't very well have a chicken house without a place to roost could ya?
Doug made this cute little roost out of the handles of broken rakes.


Cute little Mason Jar vintage feeder.


These are our young ladies...believed to be Rhode Island Reds.
The couple that gave them to us, said they may be Bantams, they were free!
These chicks were hatched at our little preschool. They aren't laying quite yet.

They are the sweetest things, they love to be around us.
Probably because they were handled a lot as chicks.
~*~
We do have some hens that are laying,
but they just simply refused to have their picture taken.
They have a slight problem...
called feather loss.
We bought them from the local farmer, where everyone gets their hens from. I called late one evening and they told us to drive on out and get them, it was about 9:30. He plopped them in the pet taxies and sent us on our way. When we got home and got them out, we were stunned! They are they shabbiest, most pitiful lookin' chickens you have ever laid eyes on. Maybe they are molting, I don't know. What I do know is they have already given us 5 beautiful brown eggs.
Hopefully, they will get some new feathers!

See the little egg basket in the corner?
It was Grandma B.'s.

So was this little white enamel chamber pot.


It is now filled with lemon balm and begonias

My little temporary herb garden, garlic chives, oregano, French tarragon, and sage

I purchased this little door knocker years ago!
I had been waiting for the perfect place to put it.
~*~
So what do you think?
So many of you have been anxiously awaiting this transformation from run down play house to Victorian hen house. It really was a lot of fun. I have been teased relentlessly by the locals for wallpapering my hen house, they think I have way too much time on my hands.
You know what I told them...
it is all about priorities!
Ha Ha!!!
~*~
Next time...
Maggies story!
~Jill~

Thrift Store Decor I Adore!

Some days are good days at the local thrift store, some days not so much.
For the past couple of weeks I have had my eye on a couple of items, would put them in my cart, and then take them back out again. Over the weekend, after my visit to Nell Hill's I kicked myself for not buying these things I had found.
~*~
Today the thrift store was open and I was on my way.
I burst through the door,
fingers crossed that my goodies would still be there.
They were still there, thank goodness
and then I found even more treasures...

This antique mirror has been in and out of my cart a half a dozen times in the last month. It was only $1, but it is VERY aged. So over the weekend, I began thinking about this mirror, and how neat it was that it was aged and cracked. It is stamped on the back with a date, June 1919. I adore this mirror!

The next item on my list was a little side chair, spotted last week.
It was $10. I was in a bit of a panic to get back and get this chair.

It wasn't where it was the week before and I thought it had sold,
and then I saw that they had moved it.
I had also had this throw bolster pillow in the cart numerous times and put it back, it was a whopping $1 also.

Some new goodies I found today was this Chinese"ish" dish with lid. I think the colors work so well with my house! It reminds me of Nell Hill style! it was $3.50

How about this gorgeous stone pillar candle holder.
Love it...it was $3!

Boy that sure was fun! Like I said, sometimes you find goodies, sometimes you don't. I was really lucky too, that the things I had found earlier hadn't sold!
~*~
Coming soon...
The chicken house is finished!
But I am not sure if I want to turn it over to the chickens!
I am now thinking I want it to be a potting shed or an English Garden Folly.
I also have some great pictures of Nell Hill's the Store to share!
~Jill~

Nell Hill's Open House ~ Part One

Can you guess where I went on Friday? Can you guess who I met?
Oh my Heavens above, it is me and Mary Carol Garrity author, decorator most fantastic and owner of Nell Hill's!
~*~
It was a summer open house at Nell Hill's and her private home this Friday. Mom, Lindsey and I drove 2 1/2 hours to go visit.

We stopped in at the store first, and then boarded a huge air conditioned tour bus that drove us to her home.
Let me tell you, I was so excited
when I spotted her standing at the top of the stairs to welcome us in.
~*~
Mary Carol, is one super sweet gracious gal.
So warm and welcoming, an absolute doll!
Would you like to see a little bit of what I saw?
~*~
~ Part One ~
A Tour of Mary Carol Garrity's home

Isn't this just beautiful.
I love the columns and the urns full of ferns.


Her beautiful front door.
Do you remember this from her books?
I love the topiaries in the black urns.
(I'm going to paint mine black, too!)
The wire birdcage that decorates the door was for sale in her shops!

To the left of the front door was this beautiful outdoor seating area.
The wicker was painted a dark turquoise and the iron chairs and table were black.
The urn has ivy planted in it and white taper candles.
See the stone riser, they were everywhere, and were for sale in the store for only $14.
Of course, I had to have one of those!

How exquisite are these windows?
You can never have too many moldings can you!

In the foyer, to the left was this little seating nook.
She has used shutters instead of blinds on most of her windows.
Look where she placed this mirror, it is in between two windows!

This is the pretty scene you see when you first walk in the front door.
If you have her books, then you have definitely seen this before.
She has prints everywhere!

This is the living room, and you will probably recognize those butterflies and bookshelves.
She tucks little tables almost anywhere.

The dining room.
The topiaries are in little french pots that were for sale in the store.
Lots of layers and lots of green moss and silver. She elevates everything on pedestals.

The screened in back porch.
You have seen this beautiful painted piece of furniture many times in her books.
See the topiary in the white vase, I bought one just like it!

Another corner of the back porch. Isn't it lovely?

Outdoor refreshment area.
What a beautiful way to ice your beverages.
Gorgeous hanging baskets of ivy and candle chandeliers.

Stepping down from the back porch was the hidden dining room area.
Most of these items were for sale in the shop. Doesn't this just make you want to have a garden party?

An outdoor seating area.
Love the balustrade with the ivy and clematis clambering over it.
An urn with ivy on a little black table.

Walking down the garden path, back to the front of the house.

Getting ready to walk past the garden gate.
I think we all need one of these in the garden.

This was the first stepping stone as you would enter the garden from the front.
How whimsical!
~*~
Hope you enjoyed these pictures.
I sure had fun taking them to share with you.
I have even more to share next week of the store.
Now I am off to wallpaper the chicken coop.
How's that for a tempting ending so you will return for a visit!
~Jill~

Geese and Gardening

Life in Hickory Hollow...

This past weekend we had beautiful weather! Beautiful weather for getting out and getting some projects completed. We have had to do a bit of work in the garden, actually a lot of work. The soil is just not rich enough for anything to grow very big. We bought bales and bales of peat moss and tilled it in the soil. This fall it is going to get a manure and lime treatment. These cute geese were hanging out by the pond all Sunday morning. I crept up pretty close to get these pictures to share with you.

Visitors...

We have also had a couple of unwelcome visitors. Doug had to shoot a big snake down at the pond shortly after I had taken these pictures. It was about 4 feet long and as big around as a man's wrist. He couldn't tell if it was poisonous or not and we couldn't risk the kids getting bit. Now, I am not a big on guns type of gal, but I was pretty relieved that we owned one and my husband knew how to use it. I am absolutely, positively, skin crawling, jumping, yelling scared of snakes....even little garter snakes!

Another unwelcome visitor has been the deer. Humph...they are not so cute anymore...they have tried to prune all my Cleveland Pear trees that line the driveway into topiaries! I am not thinking they are cute in the least...they have also eaten the new leaves of my raspberry and blackberry bushes and have tried even more topiary art on the fruit trees.
BAD Deer....very, very BAD DEER!

The Stone Nest...
We have a Killdeer couple that have made a nest of stone, smack dab in the middle of the driveway. There are 4 little stone colored eggs in the middle. The comical act of these two was pretty funny about 2 weeks ago...they pretend that they are injured to lure you from their nest. We call it "hurt wing". Here we are a few weeks later, and they aren't so cute...and they are getting a bit aggressive. We have been driving out and around the nest so we won't disturb them. Now as we come down the drive they run at us! We pull over to the side and ask her everyday if she could just get on with it, so we can have our driveway back! I will let you know when the BIG day arrives...personally we can hardly wait!

In the Garden...
So far in the garden I have planted 9 Big Boy tomatoes, 9 Celebrity tomatoes, 2 Brandywine tomatoes, 4 Cherry tomatoes, 4 banana peppers, 4 green peppers, 4 jalapeno peppers, 4 Italian Basil plants, 4 Siam Queen Basil Plants, 3 rows of Blue Lake Green Beans, 28 cucumber plants (yep, you read that right, 28 plants germinated from the seed), 4 cantaloupe plants, 4 watermelon plants, 4 zucchini plants, 4 yellow straight neck squash plants. We are getting ready to plant corn later this week. My potato plants are up, but not just real big. I have been Miracle Growing everything, and they look a bit better. I am hoping to be able to can spaghetti and salsa this fall! I will take some pictures of the garden later this week to share with you.

and the Chicken House...

We have really been working hard on the chicken house...Doug put on a new roof, and I have finished painting the outside. It is soooo cute! I even added a hanging basket and potted up some plants to sit on the little front porch. I will share some of those pictures with you too! I am hoping to be able to finish the inside with the wallpaper this week. Doug and Tyler are almost finished building the nesting boxes! I think I have decided that we will get 8 hens. I am going to get a couple that lay the pretty pastel eggs. If you are in the neighborhood in the next few weeks, come on by for a slice of quiche made of farm fresh eggs!

Thank you everyone who so diligently follow this gal, who doesn't quite so diligently post! My goal is to post at least once a week this summer. We are really working hard to get our place up and going so we can have bountiful harvests later this summer!
I seem to be over the bloggers block...now I just need to find a bit of time, to visit all my blogger buddies!
~Jill~

P.S. I am addicted to watching the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows...why, I don't know...it is so silly, but this girl loves a good romance, I guess now matter how fake it is...anyway... I like the pilot so far for Jillian!

My Fountain Courtyard

I finally found some inspiration
and here I am this morning with a new look and a new post!

All before 10:00!
What do you think of the new look?
It is a bit more classic and hopefully I won't be so inclined to redecorate once a week.

Now on to the fun stuff
~*~
My new courtyard fountain and landscaping...

While looking a couple of weekends ago for a fountain locally, we learned about a place in Southern Missouri that makes their own fountains. We found out the name of the business and drove down last weekend. They had over 80 fountains up and running. Beautiful things...Grecian ladies with urns, balustrades, bird baths anything your heart could desire in concrete!

The couple that owns the business were so very helpful. But, they asked me all sorts of questions that I couldn't answer. "How big is the area, how long is the sidewalk, how tall is your roof, how tall all your windows?" Hmmm...well I really don't know, probably about yea high and this wide. They wanted to make sure that the fountain would not over power the space or look dinky.
It didn't take me long to find this one, and I think it is perfect!


Bob still has to come back and do some odds and ends. My front door still needs to be stained walnut and the pillars painted. We only have a week and half left of school, so we will have the whole summer to frou frou!

Now I am off to go teach this afternoon,
but I certainly feel better, having everything in it's place again!
~Jill~

AWW SHOOT!

Have you ever had just the sudden URGE to redecorate?
You decide, say, to redo the living room...
pull the furniture all around...
some of it you slide into the kitchen,

some of it you carry out to the hall,

roll up rugs, remove all knick knacks,

because while you are "redecorating" might as well clean, too!
Well, I got the URGE to redecorate my blog...

Hmmm...I'm going to do a Nell Hill look,

today I am going to spend hours on the internet looking for free backgrounds,

I am going to fart around with margins,

change the font and the colors make a beautiful new header...

and I came up with NOTHING!

I didn't like a thing I came up.

Now, I'm tired and my cyber house is in disrepair.
I had a beautiful post planned showing your my new fountain.

Alas...photos are still on the camera.
I've brought back the chickens for a bit...
until Iget inspired for my blog background...

So for now, I have pushed the furniture back into the living room,

and didn't even dust!

Humph...
and would you just look at what I did?
A post with no pictures.
How sad is that?

Maybe inspiration will hit soon!
I have some great things I want to share with you!

~Jill~

Fountain Search

The blogger's block is still here. And I am telling on myself....I haven't even looked at the computer in about 2 weeks.

Lindsey has started playing softball and I have volunteered to be an assistant coach. Bet you didn't know that I played softball since I was 5 years old and continued playing until I was about 19 years old! I dug out the old ball glove and have been literally having a "ball" ever since!
My official title is outfield coach/pitching machine operator!

I've also been substituting a lot at school, 4 days just last week. There isn't going to be any classroom teacher openings this next year, but maybe next year I will have a room of my own. I have already been dreaming of how I am going to decorate my classroom. Can you believe it...ME dreaming of decorating something! I am daydreaming of a cute country school look with a Debbie Mumm schoolbus lamp, willow baskets of apples and country plaid curtains. Debbie Mumm has even created school bulletin board borders and calendar sets. It is taking every bit of will power not to start stocking up!

In between all this madness we managed to get our driveway pad poured, curved sidewalk and a back patio. Doug and I did a bit of landscaping out front, planting barberry bushes, hostas and ferns. I am on the lookout for an outdoor concrete fountain. We went on a huge drive yesterday but didn't find anything that struck my fancy. I just called a place in Kansas City and they have a huge selection, the lady on the phone told me I needed to get up there in a hurry though. With Mother's Day quickly approaching...they sell out FAST!

Okay...I gotta go!
My heart is racing...and I think I need to strip out of these jammies and jump in some sort of vehicle and head out to find my fountain....I am afraid they will be all gone by the time I get there. This is sort of like the rummage sale panic I experience every Saturday morning!

Okay...
I will try to write something more often!
If I don't get beaned in the head by a softball!
~Jill~