Although it’s hard to imagine “what we used to do” before mobile devices and social media, a lot of us do still remember those days!
When my husband and I started to plan the design and building of This New Cottage, and with me being a scrapbooker, there really was only one way I could think of to organize my magazine clippings of ideas and inspiration. I’d categorize them, tape them to background paper, add notes and put them in sheet protectors in a three-ring binder (see picture). My method of “pinning” worked perfectly! Today it’s even easier on Pinterest!
I clipped magazines over the course of about four years. At first, I tossed the clippings in a cardboard box. After a couple of years, I started to categorize my ideas. I found that what I had clipped at the beginning of my project and my inspiration pictures a few years later were strikingly consistent. Luckily my husband’s ideas were the same as mine! Our vision of rebuilding our Cape Cod cottage was to create a home reminiscent of the great eras of the 50s and 60s. We would look for ways to create the retro look with a mixture of vintage and modern products!
Little did we know that these binders would become our go-to references until This New Cottage was completed, and even to today.
Being a little old-school, I’m happy that I didn’t have to rely on an online tool to refer to for my ideas and inspiration. During the course of design and construction of This New Cottage, the binders and other reference materials went with us on shopping excursions and to meetings with the builder’s suppliers. The tote bag they resided in felt like an appendage during those planning days!
Now the binders reside on a bookshelf in This New Cottage. And we still refer to them every now and again.
This New Cottage, written by its homeowner and its builder, is a tale of color, nostalgia and the challenges of rebuilding a Cape Cod cottage. Watch for it in bookstores soon.
