Shabby French Cottage: July 2011

Extra. . .Extra. . .Featured in Romantic Homes Magazine

That's right! My big secret is finally revealed! I couldn't be more thrilled. I got a copy yesterday and did a little happy dance in the store! I can't wait to go around getting more copies to hand out to friends, family, and clients! Though I wasn't the cover photo, I did get mentioned on the cover! Be sure to run out today and grab a copy of the September 2011 Romantic Homes magazine.

Many thanks to all of you who said my kitchen was magazine worthy (200+ Comments)! It was considered a dream kitchen by Romantic Homes! I can't contain my excitement. My adrenaline has been through the roof! Special thanks to Jacqueline deMontravel and Meryl Schoenbaum who helped make this possible! From the first emails with Jacqueline to the first of several wonderful conversations with Meryl, this has been a dream come true!

For those of you new to my blog or simply missed it, I remodeled my kitchen back in March due to some water damage from a leaky drain line. Check out my article for tips to achieve this look. Don't miss the Shopping Guide to find all the wonderful places I sourced items from.

Be back soon with more new goodies! Look for my eShop opening later this week!

~Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage

Le Petit Pois

First off, welcome to all my new followers! It means so much to me for you to choose to follow me. I know you love followers, too, and if you notice I haven't followed you back, yet, please leave me a comment or send me an email, because I probablly can't access your blog or website through your comment for one reason or another!

Few! It's been a long week for me! I don't know about you, but my week started out with a bang--literally! I got rear-ended on the way to church! Whaa! Anyway, I worked in Charlottesville, VA a few days this week and had a really great lunch at a café seemingly off the streets of Paris!

Le Petit Pois has a very nice, modestly priced menu of delicious French specialities: escargot, pâté, tartes, and a host of other goodies!

The setting is beautiful! I love the sleek look of a silver table with polished stainless flatware and crisp white linens. Very modern.

It was so hot, I drank that entire 33 oz bottle of water!

The café is located in the beautiful and historic downtown area. It was transformed into a pedestrian only trove of great eateries, quirky shops, and lovely gardens.

The baguette was very good! I don't find I say that often. . .That's butter, not cheese, on the edge of the plate.

It was really hot, so I opted for soup and salad!

For my soup I selected the chilled pea soup, garnished with crème fraîche, radish, and freshly ground pepper. It was really good. One of the best chilled soups I've ever had!

I finished off my lunch with a refreshing salade niçoise topped with seared tuna. Everything about it was perfect for a hot summer afternoon. I hope I get a chance to eat here again.

I've got some fun things up my sleeve for upcoming posts, as well as the BIG SECRET to reveal! Hopefully I'll also get my eShop open sometime this weekend!

Christmas In July 2011

Here are a few photos from Christmas 2010 to help give everyone some Christmas Spirit and inspiration, as we're only ~~six~~ five months away from the 25th of December! [I stand corrected, thanks, Fabby for catching my mistake! You can visit her wonderful blog here.] For more photos of or information on any of these posts, just click the link below the photo! For even more Christmas inspiration, check out my Christmas in July post from last year, as well as all of my previous Christmas post from my archives, accessible on the Sidebar.

Pretty in Pink Wreath

A Very Mery Jean D'Arc Living / Baroque Inspired Christmas

Christmas Cloche Party

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

If this dosen't help you beat the heat, the next photo will!

In the Bleak Midwinter

I'll be back with some fresh posts, info the the Grand Opening of my eShop, plus the much procrastinated tutorial on the vent hood in my French Farm Kitchen, as well as the BIG NEWS I can't quite reveal! Sorry to keep you all in anticipation for so long!!!

~Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage

Christmas in July @ Through The Garden Gate

I hope you all aren't tired of photos from TTGG, but this place is one of those places I go to at every chance I get!!! The crew at the shop put on a fantastic display of Christmas items to help us pretend to cool down this HOT summer!

Though not Christmas, this certainly reminds me of the cool breezes of the ocean!

Of course I had to include some of their wonderful decor from Memorial Day, and Independence Day, too!

Look at all the vintage Shiny Brite ornaments. I want them all....who am I kidding? I have close to 1,000 of them!

Here is one last shimmer of winter from TTGG! I'll be back with lots of goodies, including some very special news I have to keep under wraps for just a bit longer! For my newest followers--there is much more to see--just click the link at the bottom that says "previous posts"! There are also archived links in the sidebar, as well as links to my most popular posts!

~Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage

Bastille Day

C'est La Fête Nationale aujourd'hui! Let's all wish each other a great le quatorze juillet! Le quatorze juillet is basically the equalivent of July 4th in the USA.

Fireworks in Paris. Like Button.

[Image Source]

This may be one of my favorite paintings!
Claude Monet, Rue Montorgueil, Paris, Festival of 30 June 1878

[Image Souce]

~Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage

Mantiques--Dudes like to shop, too--ya know!

After my White on Time post a few days ago, I still had tons of photos leftover from my trip to Through The Garden Gate. I realized that after sorting photos just how many mantiques TTGG carries!

Don't let the flowers fool you--look what you can do with some galvanized buckets!

Old plow parts become almost flowers on the salvaged barn wood structure she has in the shop. Her husband built it for a larger than life Crèche last year for Christmas.

She has reinvented many times since then. Once as a chicken coop, a Cow Girl's hang out, and now a Garden Shed.

I don't know about you, but I love flower frogs. I've got quite a few glass ones, but none like these.

I love how the light pours through the shop's front windows.

Here we go--MANTIQUES--you know old crusty, rusty, chippy, peely tools, and liscense plates, saw blades and more!

You and the burley one in your life would be happy here!

Heck with this set-up you could almost stay the night! I love this picnic table. I really wish it could come home with me! It is two pieces so you can use just one side flat up against a wall or both together as a traditional picnic table. It also converts into two park benches and folds flat for storage!

Check back soon for very exciting news, plus the eShop should get up and going very soon, too. More photos from Maymont, a tutorial on my cottage chic vent hood as seen in my kitchen remodel, plus lots more!

Until next time,

~Mikey @ Shabby French Cottage

White on Time

Sorry for the bad pun in the post title, but I'm getting this up right in time for White Wednesday over at Faded Charm! Here are some more photos of my favorite shop, Through The Garden Gate (more info). There are lots and lots of photos! Enjoy! I've also got a great Christmas in July post in the works, along with more photos of Maymont, a tutorial on my vent hood in my kitchen, as well as some very exciting news I can't quite share! I hope to get my eShop up and running here by mid-August!

I'm loving the concrete chickens.

Even her sales counter is beautiful! It reminds me of a Lemonade stand.

This table was hand made by one of the shops owners from salvaged wood.

A tree. A TREE. They have a TREE as an accessory in a bedroom. I LOVE it. All white dosen't have to be boring!

I have to share her cleaver way to cover up a metal electrical panel--yes there is one of those somewhere hidden in this photo! She simply used thumb tacs to attach a length of burlap to cover it! Now you see it, now you don't!