Find a cozy chair

There are plenty to choose from

Then sit back and enjoy the view and watching kids be kids.

There’s no better way to spend the long days of summer.

I am adding this to Melissa’s Beautiful Life Party.

Continuing the tour of the cottage (I really should name it, huh?) Perhaps y’all want to pick a name. Or not. So, yesterday we visited the cottage bathroom and today we are venturing into the kitchen. Ah, this kitchen makes my heart smile. It makes me want to bake all day. Almost makes me not mind doing dishes by hand all day. To anyone who wants to come be my chef up here during the summers, forget that. I need a dish washer!

I got off track, sorry. Here is the kitchen that makes my heart flutter. The kitchen that makes me want to brave the long cold winters of Northern NY without heat so I could live here year round. The kitchen that my kids make brownies in. The kitchen that I don’t mind cleaning up sticky finger messes in. You get the idea.

The best part of this kitchen is this walk in pantry. Be still my heart. Lined with cabinets and a cute little window.

Thank you, mom, for liking the other cottage better (which you all will see soon enough) so that I get to enjoy this kitchen all summer. Love you. Love it. Love that you spent so many years building up to this dream that includes me.  For this place that is the home to so many memories and many more to come.

I have said before how much I love cottage style bathrooms. Today, I am going to share the bathroom that has inspired my love of all things cottage-y when it comes to bathrooms.

Here is the main bathroom of the cottage

I looooove this clawfoot tub. My mom and I were at a community yard sale a few years back when the remodel was going on and the person wanted $40 for this thing. My mom offered $20 and it was hers! $20!!! She refinished it and painted it red and it’s fabulous.

As bathrooms go, I love this one because of the details. An old cabinet plus some candles, an old mirror and some flowers. It doesn’t take much to make a room simply pretty.

There you have it. Tomorrow, I’ll show you the kitchen. After I clean it up!

I am adding this to Hooked on Fridays at Hooked on Houses.

Happy Father’s Day! I hope the day is wonderful for everyone.

Here are some links that I have enjoyed from my reader this week in the limited time I have had.

• Confessions of a Recovering Spendaholic

• Staying Balanced While Life is Full

• 10 Yard Sale Entertaining Essentials

• Bold Color Transforms Kitchen Into Bright Warm Space

• How To Compost Without Raising A Stink

• I Want it All, I Want it Now: Curbing the Gimmies

See you back here Monday for some cottage touring. Happy Sunday!

I was recently offered, by Brother, to try out and review their Brother MFC-5890CN Professional Series Color Inkjet All-in-One with Networking and Large-Size Printing for review. For full disclosure, in exchange for my review, which need not be positive, I can keep it.

Set-Up

Setting up the machine was easy peasy. I discovered upon installing the software that it came with some pretty nifty stuff. I’ll talk about that in a bit.

Printing

What I was most looking forward to using this new machine for was printing photos. I was not disappointed. The material I read boasted that it could print up to 11×17. Since a pack of photo paper came with it, I got right down to business to test it out. I printed 4×6s, 5×7s, 8×10s and 11×17s and was thrilled with the quality.

Two 4×6s on my entryway shelf

5×7

11×17, printed and mounted onto a large canvas. My mother came over and saw it and claimed it for herself she loved it so much. And couldn’t believe I had printed it from this printer. The quality is really amazing.

The printer is also good for, you know, printing stuff. So I printed and few menu plan worksheets and some coloring pages for my kids and even made a photo calendar in the Brother Creative Center. That was uber cool.

Scanning

I was looking forward to trying out this feature too. I couldn’t wait to dig up old photos and turn them into digital photos. The scanning process is easy and straight-forward.

I took a 4×6 that hubby took on our honeymoon in France and scanned it in, then printed it as an 8×10. The quality far exceeded my expectation. Again - pleasantly surprised.

This is now framed and waiting to be hung and admired instead of sitting in a drawer in a photo album. Love that. Life is too short not to display beautiful photos.

Copying and Faxing

This is where I tell you the copier and fax work as they should. I don’t do a lot of copying and faxing, but it’s nice to have that option when it comes up. I have been most thrilled with what seems so far to be the cost-effectiveness of printing photos at home.

Final Thoughts

I am very happy with this machine. It’s easy to set up, install and use. It comes with many features, I am sure not all ones that I have tried. The Brother Creative Center is full of great things to explore - like printing your own greeting cards. Other features that I haven’t tried but intend to when I have the time are things like Paper Port - a way that has been recommended to me by family to store and file receipts and other paperwork online and reduce paper clutter. I love that! All in all, after using this machine for a few weeks, I haven’t found any flaws and have only been pleasantly surprised with all that it can do - including reducing expenses on photo printing, helping get organized, and making my home a little bit prettier and simpler.