We have a small "summer cottage" on a lake an hour north of our "real home".  We purchased it 6 years ago and have enjoyed it the entire time.  We have "fixed it up" and decorated it on a shoestring budget.  It came furnished, but the majority of the new furnishings came from friends, yard and garage sales, clearance racks, thrift and antique stores.  I love decorating the cottage.  One of the fun things is turning trash into treasure - which I just love.  The other is doing some things there that I probably couldn't get away with in our "real home". 

The cottage is our home away from home.  It is my refuge.  When we get into the car to head to the lake, all cares and worries are left at home.  We have no phones - hit or miss cell service, no internet - we have not even been able to "borrow" wireless from our neighbors (although I have to admit we have tried), and no cable (there is a long story to that which I will not get into here). 

Everything is laid back at the lake.  Friends and family are always welcome, and we love sharing it with them.  It is a ski lake, so the only thing fast there is skiing and tubing.

In honor of the upcoming lake season, I want to share my refuge with you too.  At least once a week, from now until September, I pledge to dedicate my blog space to some aspect of the lake. 

Today I share with you some of my favorite treasures I have found and use to "decorate" my space.  I have many more, but quickly took a few photos as we were leaving on Saturday...



My cousin and his family come up for a weekend every summer.  Lori (his wonderful wife) and I always spend one of those days hitting all the thrift stores, antique stores, garage sales, barn sales, church rummage sales, etc...  A lot of the treasures posted here were found with her.  But this one always reminds me of her, because we scored it together, and she painted the words "Crooked Lake" on it for me.  In another post, you will see the other amazing work of art she did for me at the lake.