Saturday Morning Gather – #1

gath•er: to come together or bring together into one group, collection or place.

Welcome, and happy Saturday!!

If you are new here, welcome! I’m so glad you’re here.

And if you’ve been around a while, I want you to know how much I appreciate you following along and supporting my blog. It truly means so much, and I am grateful!

I’ve been thinking about a weekly newsletter for quite a while. I wanted a way to share what’s been going on at VH and also share some of my favorite finds from the week.

Sometimes, I run across an amazing tablescape, a wonderful home decorating idea, a great recipe, or a fabulous DIY and think how fun it would be to pass those things along to YOU.

And all of a sudden one day it hit me, “GATHER” summed up what I wanted to do. Gather things I had seen that week, and Gather with you to share!

So, grab your favorite morning beverage and find a cozy spot and let’s take a look at what’s been happening this week.


807 Cottage

this is what the house looked like when we bought it

First up, a little update about our Airbnb cottage. In case you didn’t already know, my husband and I own a home that is an Airbnb rental, in the small town where we live.

In June, we came across a little house in a small town about 10 miles away and decided to purchase it for another Airbnb guest house.

I named it, 807 Cottage, because that’s the street number of the house and my vision is that it will be a cozy little cottage when we are done.

It needed some work, so right after we closed in mid June, we got to work.

We pulled all of the carpet out of the bedrooms and hallway, and pulled up vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms. The living room and dining room were original hardwoods, so we left those.

I started shopping thrift stores, estate sales and garage sales and purchasing furniture to repaint to use in the cottage. And my husband started adding a shower to a 1/2 bath in the home.

In the meantime, I repainted all of the interior walls white. It was a dingy tan color and needed a little brightening up. Honestly, I went with a white because it kept me from having to tape off all of the trim and ceilings because they were already white.



I still can’t believe the difference the white paint made!

Since then, we have added wood laminate flooring, added a hallway (this was part of adding the shower), painted the exterior brick, made and hung cedar shutters on the front of the house, added more insulation to the attic, put in a french drain in the backyard, and regraveled the driveway.

We have done all of the work ourselves with the exception of laying the flooring, and the plumbing and tiling of the shower.

It has been so much work, but it is looking great and I can’t wait the share the entire process with you, very soon!



on the blog

Last week on the blog, I shared a super fun tablescape idea for your football season get togethers. If you missed it, you can see it here.

affiliate links are used for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure here.



You can pin the image to refer back to later. It would be a fun idea for a Super Bowl party next year too.

And in case you didn’t already know, I have a group of other blogger friends that I do a virtual dinner club with every month. We choose a theme and each of us creates a tablescape around that theme. We share our tables on the last Thursday of the month and then share a menu for the theme on the last Saturday of the month.

Be sure and keep an eye out for that! There is some wonderful creativity from this group and some amazing recipes.

We will have lots of holiday inspired tablescapes and menus coming up in the next several months.

in random news

There is a red wasp nest somewhere in my house!! In the past couple of weeks, my husband and I have found about 10 red wasps either dead, or flying around in our bathroom, master bedroom or right outside the bedroom door in the living room.

I have looked everywhere and CANNOT find it!

some of my current fall favorites

I’m loving all the natural and woven pumpkins, like these….


and I love these linens and table decor for my fall and thanksgiving table…..

and these cute fall pillows…..



and look at these other amazing things I found

take a look at these 21 amazing fall decorating ideas


this pumpkin spice golden milk latte

how to create a beautiful gallery wall


how to make these adorable twine pumpkins


and this adorable DIY fall wreath

2 brown transferware teacups stacked on top of each other with a bleached pinecone standing inside



I hope you have found some inspiration here at our gathering today!

blessings, and have a safe and blessed holiday weekend,
michele





20 Comments

  1. Great post, my friend. I can’t wait to see the reveal of 807 Cottage. Hugs to you

    1. Thank you so much Renae! I am so excited to get it done and share the reveal.
      Have a wonderful weekend!

  2. Libby Garrett says:

    Michele- your blog is such an uplift!!! You have so MANY creative ideas always!!! Thank you for taking the time to share your blog!!! You make many people happy by encouraging them to get creative and make their homes a happier place— a much needed talent these days especially!!
    P.s. your cottage looks like it will be adorable.
    Thank you, Libby Garrett

    1. Awww, that is so sweet for you to say Libby! I am so glad you find inspiration here, because it truly is a passion to share what I love to do! Hope you are doing well!!

  3. Thank you so much for the feature! I so appreciate you!

    Happy day!
    KariAnne

    1. Of course, and right back at you friend!! Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

    2. Joanne Sheppard says:

      I enjoyed reading post on AirBNB. I loved that you were creative in using thrifted items to furnish this beautifully and especially that you had a budget. This was more realistic than others with unlimited $$ to spend. I loved the pant hanger idea. Did you prime the brick before painting? We want to paint ours and yours came out lovely.

      1. Thank you so much and I’m so glad you enjoyed the tour! We didn’t prime the brick because we used a masonry paint made for painting brick and it has primer made into the paint.
        However, we did power wash the brick and let it dry really well.

  4. Love the name Gather! It’s just perfect for you and VHD. Beautiful job my friend. Looking forward to more!

    1. Thanks so much Diane! I really appreciate your kind words. I was struggling for quite a while about what to call it.

  5. What a beautiful blog post Michele! and thank you for including me, I am so honored. I have enjoyed watching you work on the house this week. XO
    Wendy

      1. Oh, thanks so much Wendy! And I was happy to share you this week.
  6. Love this post…..keep on gathering 😁. Can’t wait to see the finished house!

    1. Oh, thanks so much! That’s really great to hear, and thank you for following along and your kind words!
      The house is very close, so I hope to have pics in a week or so.

  7. Your blog inspires me to “dig deeper” in the Thrift Shop where I volunteer one day weekly. I’m so busy doing intake and sorting that I rarely get to shop. I’ve got to change that!

    1. Oh, you definetly should! Such treasures to be found sometime.
      Thanks so much for following along and your kind words!

  8. Michele
    I love the name of your weekly post. Thanks so much for sharing my diy!

    1. Oh, thanks so much Rachel! I really struggled with what to call it.
      And happy to share your cute wreath DIY!

  9. Thank you so much for including my golden milk latte recipe, Michele, I really appreciate it. It’s really easy to make and tastes so good too. Super excited to follow along on all the progress you guys are making. I know this house is going to be an extra special place for so many people to enjoy. Hugs, CoCo

    1. Of course, its sounds super yummy! And thanks so much for the encouragement on the house!

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