a rug, the first dried hydrangeas, & a cloche

Do you remember the jute rug in the kitchen eating area with the scalloped edge?  I loved the detail around the border, but I have some sad news.

After about a year in a heavy traffic path, the scallops around the corners started to come loose.  I learned this is the kind of run that is best used in a room where people and animals won’t be walking over the corners throughout the day.  I probably should’ve noticed the wear and rotated the run to extend its life, but it was becoming a bit of a tripping hazard.  The fortunate thing about jute rugs, though, is they are inexpensive, so I don’t have anxiety about them wearing out.  Most of my jute rugs have lasted for several years and the ones I had the longest (about 8 years) I sold with our last house and imagine they are still in service.  This was just a case of a cute rug in the wrong place.

So, I selected a new one.  I looked at a few none-jute options but old decorating habits die hard and I went with jute again.  This time, I picked THIS nubby checkerboard rug to add some more pattern to this corner.

I love how it looks and, if you remember, it references the dining room rug, which is also a jute checkerboard.  Although, the dining room rug is a bit too small for that space so I’ll likely be swapping it out as I’m working on the room.

If you’re currently rug shopping, use code MARIAN20 at Rugs USA to get 20% off your purchase.

I was also so excited to cut the first late-season Annabelle hydrangeas from the bushes I planted this spring to dry.  I loved having dried hydrangeas in our last house and using them in fall and winter decorating.  I didn’t want to cut too much off the bushes this year since they are still being established, but there were some blooms already drying on the bushes, so I cut those off.  You can read a post about drying hydrangeas HERE.  I tested out a few different methods and shared what worked best and was easiest.

And, I had to share the most amazing antique European cloche Maria from Dreamy Whites sent to me.  She knows I’ve been putting a lot of work into my garden and said she had just the thing to send along to me.  It’s so gorgeous that I don’t know if I have the heart to actually use it outside!

I have admired large cloches like this one for decades.  I have been moving it around so far to see how it looks in different places in different rooms until it finds its perfect home.  Of course, once we have a pottager garden I might sneak it out there every now and then.  I’m sure it was used in gardens for many seasons and did just fine as long as it wasn’t left out during the winter.

I was hoping to start painting the dining room ceiling yesterday or today, but my back was sore from putting together a new bed frame for Calvin (his feet were hanging off of his twin bed) and moving a buffet I bought for the dining room.  Now I remember how my back felt almost every day when I worked primarily on furniture and why I got out of doing that business full-time!  My back can only take so much!  The heating pad and rest have helped and I’m hoping I can start on the ceiling later this week to get that project moving.

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