A Taste of Maine

My sweet friend Mandy sent me these pictures from the Coastal Living Idea House in Scarborough, Maine. Ahhhh, Maine.

Clever tile floors have the look of painted wood; also love the turquoise stools.

A look that can only be described as weathered by the sea. Check out the cleverly painted beadboard walls. And don’t miss the turquoise Kitchenaid mixer! Did you know those came in turquoise?!!?? Hello, Santa????????

Beachy stripes continue in the dining room, with beautiful contrast on the ceiling between the whitewashed beams and the pale blue ceiling.

For me this room speaks for itself. It says “ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.” Sign me up.

Those are old barn doors “with an antique wash.” Perhaps they came from a barn all the way in Indiana???
The coffee table reminds me of the coffee table I talked Mr. Marvelous into bringing home when we were first married. He would be mortified that I’m airing this publicly but someone in our old neighborhood actually put this fantastic coffee table out for the trash man! I can’t remember what it took, but I got Mr. Marvelous to walk 1/4 mile to this neighbor’s house, in the dark, at night (the only way he’d do it) and carry the HEAVY thing home from their garbage pile. It was during our “we are broke, but madly in love, and that makes us love everything, even the upside down laundry baskets we are using as nightstands” phase. Tell me you went through that too-no one should miss that for anything in the world.

I’m a sucker for angled ceilings and beadboard.

Aqua and splashes of red-lovely combination.

Looking at these pictures from Maine, I can almost taste the wild blueberries. You read that book as a child too, right? That Sal, she never could pick as fast as she could eat.
Speaking of wild blueberries, it is blueberry jam time at my house. If you have never made blueberry jam, you should make this year your year!!!!! I make a big batch of this every summer and give jars away to friends and family and freeze the rest to enjoy in the winter months. One of Mr. Marvelous’ co-workers has already been asking for it this year.

Wildflower Inn Blueberry Jam

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light, via AllRecipes.com

Ingredients
5 cups fresh or frozen, thawed, wild blueberries
5 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup fresh orange juice (about 3 oranges)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (6-ounce) package liquid fruit pectin (such as certo)

Preparation
Place the blueberries in a large saucepan, and crush with a potato masher. Add sugar, juices, and salt; stir well to combine. Let blueberry mixture stand for 30 minutes.
Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and add pectin, stirring until well blended. Pour jam into jars or airtight containers. Cool completely; cover and refrigerate for up to 4 weeks.

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I recommend against doubling this recipe. I did that one year and ended up with about 14 jars of blueberry syrup because the pectin was insufficient. It was still delicious though. We put it on pancakes and over ice cream all year long.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. Thanks for stopping by!

11 Comments

  1. I too am a sucker for attic ceilings and beadboard! Thanks for all those photos….boy am I needing a beach house for winter…I know I am serious because when I couldn’t go to sleep last night, I thought about getting on line and finding one to rent for the winter…YIKES! Good thing my husband doesn’t know how to follow my blogs!

  2. WOW I am in LOVE with that house!! The bedroom with the damask bedding is pure bliss.. thanks so much for sharing! That blueberry jam sounds so yummy… I might have to give it a shot.

  3. MMMMM that jam sounds soooo good! I just made Censational Girl’s summer berry preserves and have a bunch of cans left over…. I think I know what I will be making this weekend!

    ~Meg

  4. Oh man, that black wire chandelier is the bomb! And no, people don’t still use that expression unless they live among the Amish, which I sorta do.
    ps- Never even thought of blueberry jam. YUM!

  5. What a fun post, Erin! I love the beachy scenes, would love to have a beach cottage someday. My parents used to live at the beach and I still have shells from there and add beachy touches to my place. I read Blueberries For Sal to the kiddos at school every year!

  6. You don’t see ‘blue’ in Australian homes much anymore (there’s a ‘brown’ thing that’s been going for some time now) but these pictures are all just so lovely and refreshing! We don’t do beadboarding here either (at all!!) but gee it looks nice.
    Wendy xx

  7. Holy cow, that house is beautiful! Thanks for sharing. One of these days I’m going to transform my boring tract home into a beach house in Ohio! 🙂

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