Coastal Cottage with a Patriotic Summer Twist

It’s SUMMERTIME!!!!

The best time of year at the cottage.

It’s bright & beautiful & the temperature is warm & mild.

Best of all?

No rain.

(I hope I’m not tempting the weather gods with that one… )

I’m going to start from the beginning.

If you follow me on IG (instagram) you know I was asking about rug recommendations because I found one I liked and I wanted lots of feedback. You guys rocked it and told me so much about your rugs, where you got them and your experiences. Thank you!! That is invaluable.

After careful consideration, I decided on the one that caught my heart and I felt would look just like I wanted it to in our space.

When it arrived, we unrolled it outside on the deck. And shook… and shook. I was surprised because it didn’t shed at all like I expected. In fact, it was sort of anti-climactic.

I know, but I was all set for kind of a big mess. Not so much. No odor either. I’ll take it though!!

So I stripped the room down like I do. I pretty much remove all the decor. Sometime small furnishings too. I like to start from scratch and play around.

Here is the room bare:

While I looove my floors… I think the space looks best with a rug to anchor the furnishings and delineate the space. Especially in my old home, where the living space is awkward. It’s long and narrow. 

And you would think in a small house, you wouldn’t want to separate the space… but it actually helps the long space look like two separate spaces, which I like because they function completely differently and it suits my furniture layout.

Next, I rolled out the rug and placed it under the sofa and the chair and a half. I forgot to take a picture with just the rug… because I was so freaking excited with how it looked… I had Jim & Austie place the trunk exactly where I wanted it while I directed. No scooting. I wanted it set right down. 

The trunk shows up sooo good on the light rug. It sort of looked like a chocolate trunk melted onto the floor before. There was no distinction between the trunk & the floor!! But this is trunk/rug magic. 

It looks just like I imagined in my trunk/rug dreams. 

Next I swapped out the table for my painted velvet chair & my wee drum table.

My velvet chair is still pink, so I draped my Under The Canopy throw on the back. (It’s sooo soft!!)

Ta-da, no more pink. It’s fixed. Plus I like the little tassels. They are fun.

The rug has tassel fringe too. So they are tassel twins.

I left the table & chair as-is, and turned to work on my new “coffee table”. The last one was in residence for about two years. And that is like ten years for me!! I gave it a vacation. It’s living down at the little cottage while I use the trunk. That I bought to take to the booth. But I’m just “borrowing” it before I sell it. It’s already used so that is allowed right?

I hope so, because I sense a trend… 

Due to popular demand when I shared it with you guys on social media (I love that we can do that!!) I left it unpainted. It’s funny how things work out. I was going to paint it because I knew the dark wouldn’t fit on the dark floors well. 

And then, I ended up with the Jute rug!! It’s everything I wanted in here. It’s not fussy. It’s neutral. (You know me and big color commitment). And it’s got a coastal feel. It’s a triple threat. 

Then I got down to the FUN!

It was a little more FUN last year though… cause my mom was here and we did it together. Since I was all alone, I put my AC/DC Back In Black CD in and rocked out while I decorated. 

I hit HomeGoods when we made a run to the city to pick-up Austin’s grandparents from the airport. They flew in for the graduation. 

You know what a crazy pillow girl I am!! Jim actually said; “Don’t hit the pillow isle” as I went in the store. Does he even know me??? Because that fell on deaf ears. 

And I was looking for something.

I needed a Whale pillow. Yes. I said “need”. 

Work with me here. You see… I did’t have one. And I’m sure neither you nor he would want to deprive me of a Whale pillow. Good. Because if you think I have too many pillow, I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life. hahahahaha

Seriously though, I’m so glad I found it!! We only have one HomeGoods and often, I am teased with reeeaaally cute stuff by my Instagram pals that have a HomeGoods on every corner and get to go whenever they feel like it. 

In my defense, I technically only bought two pillows. You see, I’ve been hoarding the red, white & blue Sandpiper numbers since my mom was here in the Spring!! I knew I wanted them for the Summer and I’ve been saving them. I’m a saver-hoarder hybrid. A savoarder if you will.

I added the red & white anchor pillow to my painted chair. I got that one last year, with my mom! I popped a tray on my drum table and layered in a few vintage bottle brush trees and a lantern on top of a tray.

The red “First Mate” is my other new one. How could I resist!? Well obviously I didn’t. hehe.

I love that the pillows are so affordable there. I’ve seen cute pillows online before and been floored that they cost hundreds of dollars. I don’t have that kind of budget!!

My coffee table got a pitcher of Peonies and I flanked it with some vintage mason jars. I used coarse sand, a tealight and a flag in them. Done. Super simple. And super cheap!! Everything was on-hand from last Summer.

Of course is was the cheapest and easiest thing. So naturally the mason jars are my favorite decoration I added. 

Okay tied with the whale pillow.

…. and the rug. 

A three way tie.

That isn’t to bad for a girl who can never make up her mind!!

See how the rug makes the living room it’s own little place? I love it!!

Humphrey is my greeter.

He might look gruff, but he is real sweet. He loves me because I protected him when my mom wanted to drill a hole in his head for the flag… I opted to tuck it in a book instead. 

I really don’t tolerate animal cruelty.

Bwah hahahaha.

My mom is gonna kill me for that comment 😉

But the rug looks great huh mom?

Alas, we all know Mother Nature and those Peonies are really the star of the show…

Thank you for stopping in today, and for letting me share the new look that the rug adds to the room, and for sharing in my pillow obsession. I love enablers!!!! xoxo ~Shannon

PS: I’ve got bedroom & bathroom projects in the works so I should have something new to show you next time you come by. I hope you aren’t sick to death of my living room!!

Disclosure: Thank-you to RugsUSA for supplying the rug for my review. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions voiced are 1000% real-me! 

SOURCE LIST:

• Maui Chunky Loop Jute Rug in Bleached – RugsUsa
• Vintage Trunk – Garage Sale
• Enamelware Pitcher – HomeGoods
• Peonies – Trader Joe’s
• Mason Jars – Thrifted
• All Pillows – HomeGoods
• Jute Wrapped Lantern – Kirkland’s
• Lantern – HomeGoods
• White & Wood Tray – Birch Lane
• Wicker Whale – Birch Lane
• Plaid Throw by Ralph Lauren – HomeGoods
• Armoire – Church Rummage Sale
• Whale Bookends – Birch Lane
• Wood & Iron Table – Ross
• Chair – Yard Sale
• Drum Table – Gift (Goodwill)
• Sofa & Chair – Discontinued 

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