Finally we have squared away the permit nonsense on the generator. Today is pack up day. Running errands and saying my goodbyes. I will be back in a month for a few days. But now Cove House time can begin in earnest.
I’m not likely to post until we get home on Thursday as we are driving ( collies!). But I will have plenty to talk about when I get home to all the boxes and furniture that shipped north when we sold the farm. Plus there are small projects to look over that my handyman did over the winter. And my garden is calling. Hope my husband is prepared as I plan to hit the nurseries hard.
I’m an avid Pinterest user. I am on nearly everyday saving inspirations, vignettes, and plain old stuff! While I do still save dressage related images, in recent years I have really used the site to hone my interior design, architectural, and lifestyle tastes. There are thousands of pictures on dozens of boards. I think I’m more organized on that site than on my phone. Which impresses me. That said, I really should edit, archive, and delete more often.
While my home style has loosened and grown more eclectic over the years I have remained true to my traditional, classic roots. I still prefer English country house and Cape Cod coastal styles. Southern maximalism weaves through but I’m a Yankee at heart. I have a few boards that groan with saves. “New York and New England Aesthetic” probably has the most stuff. But “Cove House”, “Kitchen Inspirations”, and my “What if I lived in…” series are close seconds ( especially Nantucket).
I’ve learned a lot about architecture thanks to Pinterest. Patrick Ahearn and Gil Schafer are favorites. The shingle style of Robert Stern is another. Indoors, the designers are too numerous to mention.
I love my Design Vignettes board. The choices are more eclectic. They reflect mood as much as style. I wish I could figure out how to import photos from my site over here. In the meantime, I will hit my phone and share some vignettes over the years that I have taken myself.
Food always recurs. West Palm Beach kitchen.Fireside.Living room bookcase at Christmas.Ordinary Kitchen arrangements. How to make the functional pretty really matters.Long views.Table Settings. In this case, brunch at Bella Blu Farm.Cookbooks in the Bella Blu Farm kitchen.Food Again.Library in Garden City.Master bedroom looking out to the Sound. Cove House.A favorite! The dining room in Waccabuc set for company. Photo:Jenna Valente.Cooking in the Cove House kitchen.The bar at Waccabuc.Kitchen Desk at Cove House. Subject to change daily!
That’s it for today. We are still foot tapping Florida, looking forward to going back to our beloved New York.
Strangely, for people who like to move as often as we do, we have some rituals and traditions that have endured through the years. One is bagels and the New York Times on Sunday mornings.
We never went in for the Sunday dinner with the family route. Not that we haven’t done this. It simply never became a weekly thing. When my in laws were still alive we usually did Thursday nights with them. My parents lived too far away to establish a routine. But some how bagels and the Sunday Times has endured since the beginning of our marriage. And I miss the bagels when our Sundays are disrupted by other plans.
Waiting for me this morning in Florida.
I went digging through my thousands of disorganized photos taking up insane space on my phone. Not ONE of Sunday morning. Cakes, caprese, turkeys, homemade croissants, pies, table settings, holidays, birthdays…no bagels. Proof that our ordinary customs aren’t being honored sufficiently. I hearby promise, Sunday breakfast photos will be offered once we are back in New York.
This morning we should have been on the road. But we are still awaiting a permit approval on the generator. Turns out it’s a mixed blessing as we discovered a nail in our car tire causing a slow leak. Hopefully, we get on the road either Tuesday or Wednesday. I really want to be home for Memorial Day weekend.
Last night I was daydreaming about things I am looking forward to doing. One of the small pleasures is walking down to the cove with the dogs. I have to be careful as the roadway and path are strewn with poison ivy. But it’s so pretty it’s worth the risk.
Heading out down our driveway.On the path.
It’s a lovely walk, especially on a breezy morning.
Arriving at the beach and dock.And that’s our favorite, except the climbing of the driveway back to the house when we are hot and thirsty.
It is a joy to have access to a Long Island Sound beach and the beautiful water. This special destination definitely inspired my blog name. I am certain to have more images to share of the beautiful spot we are so fortunate to live in.
We have always had dogs. Mutts, Toy Fox Terrier, a Cocker Spaniel, a Maltese, a Norwegian Elkhound, a Lab-Rottweiler cross, then we had three shelties, and now two collies.
I happened to be sorting photos on my iPad the other day and started doing a new dog album. Since we are not back at Cove House yet and my feet are still dancing with impatience, I thought I would share some pictures of the collies, Spencer and Schuyler. Just a few of them around the house and grounds. Sort of a two for one. The house, as it is these last two years since purchasing, and photos of the fur balls. After all, who really owns your house? You or the dogs?
Spencer and a very young Schuyler in front of the living room fireplace. We, insanely, purchased puppy Schuyler in the middle of moving. He adapted fine but I think Carmine suffered a bit from the craziness of puppy zooms amid the boxes and packing paper.Freedom! We had just put in the fence. That was a priority when we arrived.Above the house last Christmas.Spencer running the fence lines.Schuyler owns the deck most days.Couch takeovers are always happening.Spencer lending a cache to the living room.Schuyler blocking access to the kitchen.
So we are at the mercy of inspectors this week down here in Florida. Our generator and propane tank went in, the privacy hedge is to be installed tomorrow, and now we wait. Apparently, the inspector has to be on site for the test run, and we want to be sure everything is working as it should before the rapidly advancing hurricane season. I am taking solace that I am getting a few more days with my horses. They remain in Florida year round with my trainer.
The bummer is missing the apple blossoms. I adore apples and apple trees. I have two presently on my hill. But my garden dreams include more. A veritable apple orchard on a tiny scale. I have my eye a few possible where I know they will be happy. But planting once the hot New York summer hits seems less than desirable for a successful outcome.
I’m also missing out on my peonies again. We always seem to arrive home after they have peaked. I might get lucky if we are on the road next week. My mission is to celebrate Memorial Day weekend at Cove House this year.
I am happy to have received photos from my handyman that my shelves are installed in my pantry/scullery/auxiliary kitchen/back stair area. I promise a post on this area of my house when I get north. Despite being, shall we say, CROWDED, this is truly one of my favorite parts of the house. But I want to do it justice. So I will post soon when I get in there with before and after photos.
Room for the mixer!Can’t wait to merchandise the shelves!
This is a real tease for me. So many good projects await me. I’m forgiving myself for being foot-tapping impatient.
So I am envying other people’s beautifully presented blogs. And I am struggling to capture a photo from Pinterest or other sites to publish here. I am more than happy to give credit. I simply can’t figure out how to do it. Adding my own photos for attention as I am working on planning the front garden.
As I await going north, I thought I’d dwell on things I’m really looking forward to seeing. I am fairly crazy about hydrangeas. Hydrangeas may well be one of the top five reasons I could never live in Florida all year long.
My first awareness of how important they are in my landscape was probably going to Cape Cod as a child. Suddenly, there were these BLUE flowers. Up until then I don’t think I was conscious of blue flowers. I was in love. Subsequent trips to Nantucket and the Hamptons sealed the deal. I simply wanted a traditional shingle style house, on the beach of course, overflowing with hydrangeas. Through all the other style homes I had over my lifetime, that particular idealized environment never faded.
The hill garden at the Cove House goes a long way towards that dream. But I still have areas to line with my favorites!
Our new back stairs off the deck are begging for hydrangeas on either side of the walls.Spotting some to breakup the fence line is another thought. I’d include the white variety as the heads get so lovely in the fall.Definitely on either side of the chimney.Free photo from word Press. But it’s greatAnd we have to have them in our house. This is the dining room in our former Victorian home.
As I contemplate returning north at the end of the week, I’m considering my next outdoor projects. My front entry garden is very much a work in progress. Last summer, we took out the struggling grass and created a pea pebble parking courtyard. I love the crunch underfoot! We extended the bluestone walkway connecting it to the front stoop.
With the white fence in, the hard scape seems fairly complete. Next I’d like to rip out the boxwoods surrounding the courtyard as they’re not very happy. This is the one area I’d like to see fairly formal. I’m looking to take everything out (except the small tree) on either side of the stoop under the windows. The plan is a backdrop of blue and white hydrangeas. Some of them in bush form and a few tree standards to play with elevation. Next put a dwarf hedge a foot or so in from the Belgian block pavers. That way I can do white annuals and dusty miller in front. I will drop containers here and there. Hoping for a real Hamptons/Cape Cod vibe!
Now to convince Carmine to paint the house a charcoal or grayish Navy Blue.
I really miss having divided lights ( muntins) in the windows. I wish the previous owner had included them when they built the house. Since it is such a traditional looking colonial, those blank expanses of glass create a rather sterile look. Not sure if I should contact the window manufacturer and get the snap in place variety. I will definitely speak to a carpenter about making them. My concern would be how to attach them, however. These new style all weather windows make alterations really difficult.
I’m considering four or six divides over one single for the taller sash windows. I think dividing the transoms into three lights can do the trick. I cannot but feel the divided lights will give my house more soul.
Getting truly excited to be engulfed in my garden this summer. The house is calling. And we are on countdown.
Something I always made happen in all my homes? Fresh flowers. Nothing lifts the heart, the mood, the spirit like vases of flowers.
This weekend’s flowers in the Cove House South kitchen. Sunflowers in a blue and white vase are very much a signature look.White flowers in the living room. White flowers are always a theme.
Wandering through my files, here are are flowers in many homes over the years.
A Cove House autumn arrangement. A mix of fresh, dried, and artificial. Don’t be afraid of fake blooms.Sunflowers and classic blue and white in the Cove House kitchenIn the Bella Blu kitchen. When I start missing home in the spring, doing a traditional flowers and branches of the northeast make me happy.Hydrangeas in Waccabuc. These is no such thing as too many hydrangeas. Sitting on a 19th century French butchers block table.Morning at the farm.A September arrangement, all from the Waccabuc gardens.Irises are a must for spring.Phlox and a simple blue bottle.Still life, family room in the Hamptons.
Hope you enjoy. I love the simplicity of the bouquets. Supermarket finds, cuttings from my gardens, or chanced upon the roadside, I think flowers are such an easy way to make yourself happy. Paired with my beloved blue and white collections, they elevate the entire room.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful women out there.
Bella Blu by the Bay 