Some eye candy that is guaranteed to brighten up your Monday...

Friday I flew back to the states from Spain and it is good to be back. I forgot how green everything can be in Maryland this time of year, and it's absolutely beautiful (and allergy inducing).

Regardless I still spent most of this weekend outside, just soaking in all the spring growth and chirping birds. I think these pics embody the season and the desire to be outside -

could easily spend all day reading in this little nook

I would be happy in this little cottage...hopefully there is a sandy beach right behind it...

so pretty!  I love paths and lanes lined with trees

all images from Pinterest

Country Home in Australia

Today, we are going to Australia to visit Alice Barker and her husband Daniel's cottage, built around 1910 and located in Ballarat, Australia’s largest inland city.

Ceramics they bought in Morocco, Turkey and Thailand can be seen displayed in many of the rooms. Blue-and-white china jars and bowls are grouped on a hall table and on the kitchen mantel, while the dining room dresser displays floral patterned teacups and colourful Moroccan pottery. The fireplaces are original.

Alice and Daniel are both keen photographers. In the sitting room, vintage black-and-white photographs share the walls with images from their travels. One of Alice’s treasures, an old Kodak Brownie camera, is displayed on the mantel beside reproduction copies of 1920s postcards from Egypt on a wire stand.


Daniel and Alice with their daughter, Lucinda.






























All images and information from here.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's night time here, and for many of you I guess it must be Monday already, but anyway I wanted to wish you a very Happy Mother's Day to all you beautiful mothers! Hope you have all been duly pampered and had a wonderful day.

Now I leave you to enjoy today's tour that takes us to a story-like cottage in Norway. Hulda and Arnt Håvard live in this house called Ingerborgstua (apparently a woman named Inga used to live here) full of shabby chic details made by Hulda herself.




Meet the owners, Hulda and Arnt Håvard




























A poem written by Hulda, which appeared in the newspaper, now hangs in her kitchen.

All images from here.

O M G - Best house tour ever!

I don't know how to make your Monday better, because if this house tour doesn't leave you high off the beauty I don't know what will. It is simply gorgeous.

The house is registered for film and photo shoots - so no one actually lives here. Still, it's beautifully done. Seriously, I would consider giving my left hand for this house. And I'm left handed.

ps - you can see a larger view by clicking on the image



















Well ? What do you think?
via 1st Option