We built Bitty Brambles about twelve years ago.Our daughters were two and six, and it was the perfect time.They spent many a day lost in their imaginations within the little house.They had a tiny sofa, chairs, and table. They cooked in a little pine kitchen my grandfather built for me when I was three.It wasn't unusual for us to find them sleeping on the diminutive furniture late in the afternoon.Unfortunately, those idyllic days of childhood have passed. Last summer I realized Bitty Brambles had been untouched for a few years. It had become an impromptu storage shed for garden implements and household items. Around this time I was in need of peace and solitude; it was summer and two teenage girls can frazzle a mother's nerves. I spent a day sorting through the rubble. I gave away the miniature sofa, chairs, piano, and tiny pine kitchen (so difficult). I scrubbed the floors and washed the walls and windows.I moved in two chairs, a rug, bench, teapots, pictures and other tidbits I had accumulated over the years. My plan was to create a comfortable garden sanctuary that paid homage to the little girls who believed in fairies, had tea parties for their dogs and dolls, and invited their parents over for blackberry and mud pies with dandelion tea.
Bitty Brambles sits atop a stone foundation. To the left is a tiny terraced vegetable garden.
The two chairs were originally for my dining room table, but proved
to be too tall. They are from Lane's Country Living collection.
I upholstered the bench with a remnant of plaid fabric. The little green table was given to my daughters by a kindly woman who owned a small gift shop in our village.Yes, we live in a village.
It was a perfect place to put a plethora of straw hats I collected in the 90s.
The windows are just Plexiglas.I made the curtains from an old set of cotton sheers.
The tall wall was the perfect place to hang old pictures and to display teapots that were taking up too much room in Brambly.
An extra Windsor chair from our kitchen patiently awaits the next gathering. I still need to find a table to place under the window. Presently, it's an old foosball table covered with a bedspread from my great-aunts ranch.
The plates on the right and left were my grandmother's.
Silhouettes depicting my daughters hang beside the door.
We have the lamp on a timer.At night the 25 watt bulb casts a warm glow through the windows and out to the garden.
A little cuckoo clock in the corner.
My husband had this Dutch door specially made by his friend with a door shop. We added the cross pattern that matches the trim on Brambly.
We ordered the door knocker from Anthropologie.
Just some things I've picked up over the years.
The Alice in Wonderland prints used to hang in my daughters' room. I couldn't bear to part with them.
Throw pillows from their old room.
Bitty Brambles is a gentle reminder of the past without being a shrine. It will remain a little house in flux as our needs change through the years. I'm sure my husband would prefer to store lawn equipment in it, and one day it's likely become a playhouse again. But, for now, it is a cozy, quiet place to sit and think.
Linking to:
"Show and Tell Friday" at
My Romantic Home
"Feathered Nest Friday" at
French Country Cottage
"Inspiration Friday" At the Picket Fence
"Time Travel Thursday" at
Brambleberry Cottage
"Wow Us Wednesdays" at
Savvy Southern Style
.jpg){kind=link}