The Little House That Love Built

A House is made of walls and beams, a home is built with love and dreams.

For as long as I've been blogging about local shops, a fan favorite and always one of my most popular reader favorites has consistently been The Speckled Hen, a primitive shop in Scotia.  It doesn't matter what the season - readers and shoppers can't get enough of shop owner, Maureen Culver's design magic and merchandise.  Maureen just has an 'eye' for putting beautiful things together and customers know that they need not have such a talent, all they have to do is tell Maureen what they need to accessorize and in minutes Maureen has curated the perfect vignette.  If you're one of her customers, you know I'm not exaggerating.  Well I'm not blogging about The Speckled Hen today, but I am sharing more of Maureen's magic.  This time I'm sharing Maureen and husband Tom's Little House. A little word of warning here....much like Maureen's social media posts make us all want to shop, today's post will leave you wanting your own Little House! Don't tell your husbands you saw it here!

If you're a regular customer at The Speckled Hen, you probably know that the Little House wasn't always here.  Before Little House, a dilapidated shed once stood in its place, threatening to topple.  It had to come down and that's when Maureen's imagination kicked into high gear.  Lucky for Maureen, Tom is not just talented, he's all about making Maureen's visions and dreams come true, and come true - they did!!  Little House is the perfect romantic getaway, just steps away from their 'real' house. It's crafted with love, filled with memories and exactly what you'd expect to come from Maureen's creative imagination.

The stones under the porch came from the Culver family farm in Vermont.  Each stone was brought from Vermont and carefully laid in place.  The rusted garbage can on the right corner serves as a rain barrel to collect water for watering the plants.   If you look at the first photo, you'll notice the metal basin they use as a fire pit and the old sap bucket, also from the Vermont family farm.  Before I show you what's inside, here's a few more photos of the outside.....

The Dream Team

Above is a toy truck that belonged to Maureen and Tom's son, Henry.  The truck lies exactly where Henry left it as a young child.  Henry is now 27 years old!

Farm equipment given to Maureen by her sons Steve and Henry on Mother's Day!

Official store greeter, Charley, a rescue dog who insists on posing for photos!

They say the devil is in the details, but in the case of Little House, the more appropriate expression would be, "Heaven is in the details".

 A bed given to Maureen from her mom!   Maureen collected the windows over time and now they are being used in the Little House.  The front doors were both thanks to customers, one found on the side of the road.

Maureen has some help when it comes to the beautiful garden displays all around The Speckled Hen and the Little House. Mary Brehm, who also shares her talents with Wynne Trowbridge at Shades of Green has complimented Maureen and Tom's style with gorgeous gardens and container gardens.

Mary doing her best to be incognito and out of the spotlight!

There is nothing Maureen hasn't thought of, nothing that Tom hasn't helped bring to fruition.  While this post is intended to share Little House with Maureen's customers, and give a window into Maureen's sense of style and the beautiful retreat she and Tom have created.....it was impossible to do this post without walking away feeling the love and partnership these two have ...not just where her business is concerned, but in their life as well.  It was so obvious that Tom's contributions to making this dream come to life were labors of love, and making Maureen happy was the fuel for Tom's sweat and muscle equity throughout this project.  What a beautiful example of marriage for their sons, especially Steven as he entered his own marriage this weekend!  I'm honored to be able to tell their Little House story!
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