10 Cuttin Sage

Today is Maundy Thursday. In case you haven’t heard of it, it is the day of Christ’s last supper with his disciples and the night He was betrayed. It represents a day of solemn reflection on the horrific sacrifice He made to take the punishment for our sins. There is a feeling of patient anticipation as we wait four days for the Good News of Easter Sunday when all hopes and dreams are fulfilled in His resurrection.  I’ve learned lately that God often wants us to wait for things.  Sometimes having to wait on God makes our longing for things ever deeper. Sometimes the waiting is agonizing.  Sometimes the waiting brings tears and frustration. But always, if we allow it, waiting makes our faith ever so much stronger; and the bringing about of the thing dearly longed for is ever so much sweeter. As these interminably long days, when it seems like winter will neve r end, slowly turn into spring, we have proof that God always comes through for us no matter what.  His answers are not alway

Another thing I love (besides chairs), is paint colors! I think it would be a blast to work for a paint manufacturer, designing new colors and then naming them! I guess that would be an odd career to have, but I could really get into it! Now, the walls are almost all bead board in our cottage. To me, there is only one way to paint bead board walls.....WHITE!  Crisp, clean, fresh looking, white. Do you know how many different shades of white there are?? Hundreds.  Fortunately, I already have my favorite white. I chose it years ago!  It’s a Benjamin Moore color and it’s called.... Simply White!  Perfect name for a perfect color!  Not too blue, not too yellow, not too warm, not too cool, just right white!  It probably doesn’t make sense to rave about colors and then talk about white. But white is a color to me and it makes a very important statement in the decorating scheme.  With a clean white background, the colors on the furniture and artwork will pop! The patina of the old hardwoo

I’m so very excited about our new...old dining room set!  It's vintage Drexel Heritage, circa 1950’s. My parents bought it soon after their wedding; the first really nice set of furniture they purchased.  It is solid pecan with a blonde finish, it seats 6 and has a very cute hutch with it. The set has been handed down over the years to my big brother and his wife when they first set up housekeeping, then my little brother and his wife when they first set up housekeeping, then on to other extended family members and finally ended up in a storage unit for about 8 years.  My mother was on the verge of donating it to a homeless shelter, but I suggested keeping it in the family in case any of the grandkids needed it in their apartments, not knowing that we would soon be the new owners of 10 Cuttin Sage! We pulled it out of storage, had it lovingly restored, recovered the cushions with my new “fun” fabric and, VOILA!; trendy, vintage, dining room set!   The arm chair that my Da

Today is the second day of Spring, but it feels like the sixth thousandth day of winter! God gave us a little taste of warmth last Saturday, but winter came back full force the next day and it relentlessly won’t stop!!!! All I can think about is the next trip to Ocracoke Island and I hope and pray that the spring season will finally kick in when we go in April! There is good news:  the contractor is finishing up the inside this week and the painting begins next week!!!!  That means, the work will be completed in about 2 and a half weeks!  Our plan is to go down and finish painting the porch (that’s our job) and have furniture and appliances delivered and  basically start setting up the house for summer fun!

I love chairs. I love antique chairs and I love occasional chairs. I love upholstered chairs and wooden chairs. I love outdoor chairs and indoor chairs, ottomans, chaises, desk chairs. I love to upholster and reupholster them ( not me personally, but I like to have it done!).  I sort of collect them. My mother has given me several over the years as she has downsized her life. I don’t know the architectural aspects of chairs; I only know what I like. I just got one delivered today! I bought it at Calico Corners about 10 years ago.  I loved that chair.  Bob, the Cat, loved it, too.  Bob tore that poor chair to pieces!  I stashed it away, thinking I would one day reupholster it. Well here it is! The fabric is so much fun!  It will look perfect in 10 Cuttin’ Sage! I had enough fabric (from Joanne’s, by the way) to cover 6 old dining room chairs. But I’ll save that story for another day!

This blog was my daughter’s idea when we were in Ocracoke last weekend working on the cottage. Our concern is that potential renters are going to wonder about what the inside of the house is going to look like when we can’t post photos on the rental website yet until the renovations are complete. Then they may be afraid to book it this summer! So I'm going to give sneak previews of it now, at least, the ideas I have in my mind. I have had so much fun shopping in antique and consignment shops, and checking out clearance sales around town. Much of what we’re getting has been ordered from Manteo Furniture: the mattresses and headboards, sofas, all the appliances and some other odds and ends. I found some great buys on clearance at Anthropologie, one of my favorite stores. I’ve also scrounged up furniture that we already have and don’t really need anymore! The photos show some old and new stuff. I love this cushion from Pier 1! I think this

Ocracoke Island, on the outer banks of North Carolina, has been the McCurdy preferred family vacation destination since 2000. So... 13 years ago, our girls would have been 10 and 6 years old. We took a long weekend, our new Jeep Wrangler, the kids, and clothing stuffed in paper grocery sacks because, as we found out, there's no luggage space in a Jeep Wrangler!  We booked a room at the Ocracoke Harbor Inn, because that was one of the newer hotels on the Island, and spent 3 days there.  I thought we would never get there!  But as soon as we were on the ferry and, what seemed like saying good-bye to the real world, we realized that the 9 hour trip in a small Jeep with 2 kids in tow was worth every minute! 13 years later, after having spent a week every summer at Ocracoke Harbor Inn, we have finally realized the dream of having our own cottage on Ocracoke Island. It's name has been listed in rental brochures as "10 Cuttin Sage". We have thought about changing the name,