Today, we stocked up our custom hand-made pantry to finish our Rose Cottage Kitchen Renovation. All pieces were thoughtfully designed by me and expertly crafted by my very talented husband. We matched the countertop stain, a mix of a few eco-stains, to a pair of kitchen chairs we have. The eco-paint is a heavy cream to match the rest of the kitchen which is separated by sound-sensitive door placement designs. This keeps the refrigerator in the back and out of earshot to reduce sound/vibration pollution for the nervous system. The counter allows for less trips back and forth from the fridge. This is also where we store our dry foods, fresh fruit, glass storage containers, and cookware. It’s like a charming seasonal market to shop at meal times. We can decorate this space for each season. This back room, which used to be the full kitchen before we began from scratch opening up the dining room, is dark and safe to store things like potatoes with easy drop off unloading access after weekly grocery runs. I am very pleased with how peaceful and strong the design is and how much storage we now have without an imposing kitchen full of floor to ceiling cabinets. The wooden berry-cream colours are soothing and naturally rich which excites me to bake up cosy autumnal pies, soups, and breads. Now, to pastel up a velvety fruit still life to frame over this space to the right. More beautiful cabinetry reveals are coming up! Love, ~Amor Milagre
Amor Milagre Balloon Pumpkin Patch, Early Autumn & End of Summer Days & Decor
Early crisp breezes, and that certain quieting in the leaves outside my morning window, tell me Autumn is joining us for tea. Out come the cosy blankets and sweaters. I paint up some new notecard designs. We reread old favourites and open the game cupboard. I wrap up Summer in family albums. Lessons tuck into homeschool portfolio pages. The necessary slowing of souls is stirring up comfort as the new daily rain trickles away the whirling of summer. Hang scarves and knit berets on the hook, for we await thy sweet calm. Love, ~ Amor Milagre
Amor Milagre Photo Album Catch Up, Early Autumn & End of Summer Days & Decor
We refresh our year-round homeschool supplies with pretty rainbow pencils, earthy clays and paints, sweet folders, encouraging stickers, and lovely blank notebooks. A few vintage textbooks make their way to our shelves, in French and Swedish. We sell clothes that have grown too adorably tiny, keeping some favourites, and wash new gangly organic pajamas full of ghosts and pumpkins.
Amor Milagre Cosy Kitchen Cafe Interior Design, Early Autumn & End of Summer Days & DecorAmor Milagre Floating Witch Hats Outdoor Halloween Decorations, Early Autumn & End of Summer Days & Decor
*I missed some decorating, and huge parts of our life, due to being stuck in bed for two weeks + a lifetime. Note to smokers: If you must pollute yourselves, do it alone in your home (and don’t move), not in public, and certainly not at non-smoking public beaches where families think they finally have a refuge. Not in doorways, outside doctor’s offices and hospitals, schools…no smoking anywhere. We shouldn’t have to survive you, if we even can. Smoking is highly dangerous to everyone. Think about it. What is in the air moves with the wind. It doesn’t disappear, but it goes directly into our lungs. We have no control over this, but you do, so stop it. Ban smoking forever. It is a crime to harm people and the environment. The ducks and fish eat your pollution left behind. It is in the water and soil, too. Homes, vehicles, gardens, etc are ruined. Childhoods and days of our life are tragically altered, and in place of joy all is left is fear and illness that never fades but spreads and limits. It’s not unserious or fleeting. It is permanently destructive to the lining of our world. I live in infinite coughs and struggles to breathe. My family becomes so as well, as they make tea. Tea? Tea cannot battle you. We shouldn’t have to survive you…or not survive you. Be aware that respiratory issues are, and always have been, a main concern. End pollution now. We deserve life.
Amor Milagre Natural Dried Wreath, Early Autumn & End of Summer Days & Decor
Caring about one thing means caring about everything. Dare to care. You will see immense improvements.
Shop these new original Oil Paintings, and their fine art prints & stationery. They appear in my upcoming books. More soon! Love, ~Amor Milagre
Amor Milagre Oil Painting Seven Sisters Ocean Cliffs View, English Channel Coast, East Sussex EnglandAmor Milagre Oil Painting Seven Sisters Ocean Cliffs, English Channel Coast, East Sussex EnglandAmor Milagre Oil Painting White Fringed Moth in GardenAmor Milagre Oil Painting Maine Lake Mountain ViewAmor Milagre Oil Painting Blue Maine Lake Mountain 1
Amor Milagre Lake View Beach, Oil Painting and Nature Photography
We finally found a new peaceful spot to play and paint. Many new lakescapes are coming up! (Update-smokers don’t respect rules so I am very sick. Boat fuel in water is toxic. We will keep looking for a new planet where we can be with nature.)
Amor Milagre Home Cafe Interior Kitchen & Dining Design, Rose Cottage Renovation
Jumping into the lake with all clothes on was the cherry on top of a math-filled, novel editing/illustrating, cosy keep cool kind of Tuesday here at Rose Cottage. Tomorrow will be an oil painting, salad mixing, garden green bean & blueberry picking sort of Wednesday.
What lovely littles fill your days this week? Love for all the fun little things! Love, ~Amor Milagre
Amor Milagre Home Cafe Interior Kitchen & Dining Design, Rose Cottage Renovation, Vegan Hot ChocolateAmor Milagre Children’s Books, Novels, and Illustration, Teddy BearAmor Milagre Home Cafe Interior Kitchen & Dining Design, Rose Cottage Renovation, Vegan Hot ChocolateAmor Milagre Children’s Books, Novels, and Illustration, Author Writing Days
Then on Wednesday…
Amor Milagre Wildflower Still Life Paintings & Homeschool Art Class
Amor Milagre Journal, Our Summer family gifts from The Bees Knees British Imports, Paddington, Peter Rabbit, Pretty Mugs, Sewing Thread Tin
I love gift shops so much that it was my dream to have my own, but full of my original art, books, stationery, and home goods. While we do use and decorate our home with my lovely seasonal gifts for special occasions, we also like to shop once a year at The Bees Knees British Imports shop. These women exude happiness. It’s so fun to visit their online shop, and we hope to one day visit their MA store.
The British Store, Bridgham & Cook shop in Freeport Maine, is a local (to us) place to choose our annual themed ornament. I used to love exploring every UK-sourced shop in whichever city I was living. I’m a collector of newsboy hats, tartan scarves, and cable knit jumpers, but only the rare organic cotton ones. (As always, not a sponsored post, just like this co.)
Then for some extra flavour, we bake and snuggle up with our favourite BBC programs like Gardener’s World and Agatha Raisin, Miss Scarlet, Jane Austen movies, old stop-motion Paddington episodes, Beatrix Potter’s friends, Mr. Bean (not while eating), and our silly old Pooh Bear movies. Recently, we found an odd but funny little show called, Five Children and It. Very odd, but fun to see what the kids wish for. Many of our books are by British authors, so it’s a cosy day of tea and reading in the sitting room nook, curled up in bed, or in the sun of the library. We hope the Brambly Hedge fine china designs come back! We love the puzzles.
This week, we’re organising our sewing supplies. This little thread tin will help to keep our current threads in one place…and not rolling off the table. The prettily threaded tote bags will hop along with us on outtings in town. We’re very much a family of library owls. And, the mugs…we just use daily so it’s fun to catch up on certain ones. Love the flora-fauna one. It has a good feel, and when we find some each year, it builds up a nice collection in our custom-made tea drawer. Ours is a home of artists and writers, so having these classic illustrations about is another fun way to celebrate the imagination. I’ve been waiting years to see these lovelies in shops again, and done very well. Quality matters a lot to me. We only buy special things that will last lifetimes. We only make special things that will last for ages. It’s fun to take care of your treasures.
When I was a teen, there was a beautiful online French gift shop where I got some lovely tablecloths and some amazing rainbow striped high-top espadrilles. There is just something about wanting to find a gift for yourself, or a Dear One, and being surrounded with a curated array of gorgeous options to wander and choose as you like. As a child, there was a local gift shop that was absolutely bewitching to explore. I recall a very elegant (expertly handmade) winged frog fae on a shelf that really sparked a new kind of magic in me. I have many plans to add to A Gentle Life Collection…coming up, my Darlings.
Well, we’re away laughing on a fast camel…bringing strawberry vegan icecream cones down to the beach. Happy summer birthdays! Love, ~Amor Milagre
