Madame of the Manor

Christmas Mantel 2011

2012-01-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, well I'm a bit behind this year! Now that the holiday madness is over, I'm finally ready to share the rest of the holiday stuff!
I really loved last year's mantel, and I wanted to keep it similar this year, but bring in a bit more color, so at first I went with this tinsel tree from Target as the centerpiece:

Which photographed really well, but was just a bit TOO much in person! Failing at finding a replacement in-store that really spoke to what I wanted, I decided to get my craft on...

A styrofoam cone from Michael's with a couple yards of fur, feather and sparkly trim from the fabric store, silver headed straight pins, and voila!

Just what I had in mind! (Well, more or less.. I ended up redoing it so less of the black edging showed!)

I backed that up with some wood letters, also from Michael's, that I painted with some leftover wall paint and topped with some Martha Stewart glitter all strung on twine:

And ta-daa!

The Christmas mantel of 2011!

Today I plan to go out and shoot some photos of the Christmas table (yes, I've left it set up all week!) so come on back to check that out soon! : )

Christmas Tree 2011

2011-12-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

As I sat here listening to the first drops of rain of the evening, which are forecast to turn into the first snow of the season (I'm not counting the freak Halloween storm because I wasn't here for it!), it occurs to me that I'd better share my tree soon or I'll miss my chance entirely!

It took me awhile to figure this tree out, and I don't feel I've quite made it all the way yet. No proper topper, you see...

But that sweet little owl holds the place quite nicely!

I'd just like something to glow a bit behind him... I was going for a sort of enchanted forest, rustic glam sort of thing this year. Which was a new one for me even though I've been lovin' that look for awhile!

I started out with a shot at flocking the tree. (Lightly, since I couldn't find real flocking and only had canned snow!)

Outside, in the full sun, I thought it looked horrible! So paste-y! Not shimmery and enchanting at all, despite a liberal application of glitter.

But then I got it inside and with the lights on it was a whole different thing! I loved it! Of course I wasn't about to pull everything back off, haul the tree back outside and finish the flocking, so I have a half -flocked tree this year! (I think I might go whole-hog next year, we'll see how hard the clean-up is after removal!)

At first I also thought I wanted a pink and green tree:

But that was looking a little too Arsenic and Old Lace, and not in a good way... or at least not in a way I was feeling. So I pulled off the pink ribbon, added some shimmery burlap trim and DIY pine-cone and twine garland instead.

A healthy dose of cute little critters to finish:

Adorable stag from JCPenney.

Glimmering mushroom from Crate and Barrel.

Absolutely adorable reindeer from Crate and Barrel. (really hoping to get back and get more of these!)

And voila! A Christmas tree! So far.... : )

Check back to see the mantel in continuous progress as well!

Christmas Crafts: Non-taxidermy Deer

2011-12-08T08:22:00.001-08:00

And NO! I didn't just hang an un-preserved dead deer from my wall! EW!
Growing up my Mom had an antique taxidermy deer head in our family room. And while on one level it grossed me out (that would be the level where the day she came home with that piece of decor she was inspired to make a deer stew out of a deer's neck. I'll tell you when you open that pot to see what smells SO delicious and see recognizable bits of anatomy and you're 12....) it also had a certain charm. We named him Bambi and put a bird's nest on his head, and bauble earrings at the holidays.
Lacking my own taxidermy version to put up for the season, I made a cute cardboard deer head!

It looks pretty cute! As long as you don't look straight on...

And it actually doesn't really go anywhere in my house, so he'll be going down to my brother's place for early Christmas dinner with Mom (I'm in charge of decorating! Wahoo!)

We'll just find a nice side-wall to put him on where no one will see him face-on.
Want to make your own cardboard deer head? Instruction are here on Good Housekeeping.
Just be careful with that exacto knife!

Holiday Crafts: Lamp Silhouette

2011-12-03T08:51:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone!

The other day I decided the lamp in the corner of my living room needed some holiday flair.

A little plain, right?

Reindeer have been speaking to me this year. Not literally... I have seen a few in the neighborhood, but none have struck up a conversation yet...
Anyhoo, I went online and found some clip art I liked, blew it up and printed it out. I planned to simply tape the whole piece of paper in the shade and be done with it, but you know these things are never that simple! First the printer skipped parts, which I filled in with marker, which it turns out is denser than printer ink, so I had to go back and fill the whole thing in. Then the edges of the paper showed, so I ended up having to cut it out...

Well anyway, in the end I quite liked the result!

Seasonal, but not too kitschy. Not that I'm against kitsch- HA!
I thought it could use a bit more of a colorful festive touch, so I wrapped some pink dupioni ribbon around the base.

And then promptly moved the TV in front of it to make way for the Christmas tree! Oops! Oh well, you can still see it from parts of the room...

In the meantime, while I was meticulously cutting out all those little antlers I decided to do it well enough that I would have the negative left for another project. Stay tuned to find out what I did with that!

I'll give you a hint, it has to do with this. Can you possibly guess?

: )

Seasonal Pillow Covers

2011-11-29T17:07:00.001-08:00

Hey All!

Tis the season for crafting, no? I got started on my own seasonal decor with some new covers for three of my throw pillows. Previously they were a mish-mosh of pink and burgandy and asparagus green, now they're all light blue velvet and cream and gold brocade!

Aren't they purty? I made this one first:

With the brocade on one side and the blue velvet on the other.

I thought that looked a little bland, so on the next one I did brocade on both sides with an edge all around and stitched on the word "joy" in the blue velvet.

Love!

For the large square pillow I wanted to do a bold image, but not something that would look silly after Christmas was over, so I decided to do a bird. Let me say now I suck at art. So I took inspiration from a partridge-like bird I saw appliqued onto a pillow at HomeGoods last summer. Can I find that photo now? Of course not. So you'll just have to take my word for it that this is a good adaptation!

It's a little odd... but if I think of it as a penguin, or an homage to Despicable Me, it works!

I'll probably go back and stencil something on that plain pillow with fabric paint, but I need to get some paint first, so that's on hold!

For now they all look quite nice lined up on my fancy couch. (That's as opposed to the big comfy couch!) Tembo seemed to think I needed to pay more attention to him and less attention to those pillows! Funny boy...

I've been working on my Christmas mantel, so check back soon to check that out!

: )

Spain, Barcelona

2011-11-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ready for more photos from Spain? Well, like I said in my Valencia post, the biggest reason I chose Barcelona for the vacation portion of our Spain trip was because I wanted to see some Gaudi design, so there's a lot of that in here! Prepare yourself! ( I suggest a beverage and a snack... and mascara. I need mascara for just about anything.)
Ready?
Good! Here we go to Barcelona!

First stop: Segrada Familia!

Proof we were there.

Passion Facade, Segrada Familia

Nativity Facade, Segrada Familia

Random church we passed on the way to Segrada Familia.

La Padrera- this was on the corner of the street we were staying on, so it was our landmark for where to turn. So Cool!

Casa Batllo at night.

Casa Batllo and neighboring building, check out that line! (It wasn't too bad, actually.)

Casa Batllo interior.

Casa Batllo cool ceiling.

Casa Batllo stairway door.

Casa Batllo roof-line.

Casa Batllo, the "dragon's" back.

I may have loved the building to the left of Casa Batllo even more! (Puig i Cadafalch’s Casa Amatller)

Isn't it pretty?

Port Vell by night.

Ancient church and statue we found while lost. It is in the guide book, but I forget...

Push-up leggings? Sign me up! (Unfortunately I could never find this store while it was open.)

H&M... in a castle......

Imprints on sidewalk on Passeig de Gracia.

Anyone who says Spaniards have no sense of humor clearly never saw this sculpture!

Gaudi's Parc Guell.

Detail of ceiling in first structure of Parc Guell.

Posing with the famous mosaic lizard.

A long line of vendors taking advantage of the masses of tourists. There was a police raid while we were there- those guys can pick up and move FAST!

Cool cave-like passage.

Me and a view from the park.

These guitarists were fantastic (I bought their CD!)

Chillin' out, listening to the music.

The backside of that bench we're sitting on.

Lunch at the beach.

Very pretty beach!

Such stylish people everywhere!

Arc de Triomf- everyone needs one!

Palau de la Musica Catalana.

Sneaky interior shot (through the window) of the Palau de la Musica.

Exterior of Cathedral... Barcelona? I forget which this is!

Beautiful light in Santa Maria del Mar.

Stained glass in Santa Maria del Mar.

Santa Maria del Mar.

Santa Maria del Mar. ( I went a little nuts with pictures in here!)

Very unusual stained glass windows in Santa Maria del Mar.

Interesting light and shadows.

La Boqueria.

Incredible displays!

Fresh squeezed juice, anyone?

How about some mushrooms?

No? How about a couple of goats heads? AH!

Statue at Museu Nacional d'art de Catalunya- she made me feel so svelte!

Haris ponders the male statue.

And finally, the view of the sun setting over Barcelona from Museu Nacional d'art de Catalunya . If you blow the picture up you can see the Segrada Familia in the backround!

PHEW! I don't know about you guys, but that was a little exhausting for me!

Well, now we're back home getting into the Christmas spirit (some of us more than others!) I've already started on a few projects I'll be sharing, so check back for the start of sparkly season!

Spain! Valencia

2011-11-22T08:29:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone!
Hubby and I were lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in Spain, and we loved it! The first week we spent in Valencia, where Hubby had a work conference. The second week, for vacation, we chose to go to Barcelona, mostly because I wanted to see some Gaudi! That and we wouldn't lose too much time traveling (which turned out to be a good thing because, of course, work ran long and we ended up only having 4 days of vacation!)

Of course I took way too many pictures, but I've tried to break it down to few enough that you won't get bored! Here are a few photographic highlights of Valencia.

Me at the Center for Arts and Sciences

Lunch with a very cool view! Snack Bar at Bioparc

Baby Hippo with Momma Hippo in background, Bioparc

Love the awkwardness! Bioparc giraffe.

"Hey, get down from there!" Bioparc

Posturing, Bioparc

Hubby wants that boat! America's Cup Marina

Cool sandcastle, beach at old port

Jardines del Real

Rose Garden at Jardines del Real

Cactii at Jardin Botanico

Proud of this picture! Cactus detail, Jardin Botanico

Very cool bench and tree, Carrer Del Palau de Justicia

Getting my bearings on first night, Plaza de la Virgen

Rain on Plaza de la Virgen

Statue, Plaza de la Virgen

Plaza de la Virgen at night

Entrance to Historic Quarter through arch on Torres del Quart

Pretty buildings in Historic Quarter

Surprise wedding with confetti and firecrackers!

I was just trying to get by and got this great shot instead. How glamorous is the old woman in the green dress?! To DIE for!!

Buildings across from Central Market

Love the color on this building- totally inspiring my bathroom reno!

Central Market

Outside of Central Market

Quiet alley in Historic Center

Dinner at Peggy Sue's Diner, too cute to pass up! (And packed every time I walked past! Food wasn't bad!)

Rainy night scene near Plaza de Ayuntamiento

And finally, the Plaza de Ayuntamiento

Still with me? Well, if you want more, check back later in the week and I'll have some shots of Barcelona up for your viewing pleasure!

: )

A Purse Makeover and a BAD Dog

2011-10-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
I've got some exciting stuff going on around here that I'll share with you all in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I had to share a little purse project I've been experimenting with.

I picked up an old prom purse from GoodWill over the summer for a buck, thinking I might try my hand at re-making purses. It looked something like this:

But that isn't it because I forgot to take the before picture! On mine the bow was smaller and centered, and there was a l-o-o-o-ong shoelace strap. First thing I did when I got it home was to cut those off. Then it sat in my pile of "stuff" for about a month while I looked for a funky fabric to recover it. I found one I liked at Joanne's and had a 50% off coupon, so the 1/2 yard I got (because I'm paranoid) cost around $5.

Here it is after I added the new fabric on the ends. I used Elmer's spray adhesive to attach the new fabric, which was a HUGE mess! Fortunately I pretty quickly figured out that nail polish remover takes off any over-spray because the inside of the purse was positively sticky when I was done!
But when I finished recovering it, it looked pretty cute!

Front:

Back:

I even managed a finished surround around the snap! (Thanks for those instructions, Ma!) Though you may also notice that sewing in straight lines is not my forte...

I was pretty pleased, as you might be able to tell from the number of photos I took! I imagined a cute blue beaded tassel, and maybe a larger blue beaded strap just large enough to loop it over the shoulder, and what a cute piece that would be!
So it sat up on my mantle for awhile while I hunted around for beads and hardware for the strap, which I finally found yesterday. I relocated it all to the coffee table so that after breakfast this morning (while watching the Nate Berkus show!) I could finish my clutch and maybe even take it on an upcoming trip!

BUT THEN!.... OOoooohhhhhh, but THEN!!!!

I came down the stairs this morning to this horror!

Ok, I didn't find the dog looking contrite like this, but he got that way pretty quickly once the screaming started!

And it's not even like he just pulled the fabric off and I could use the excess to redo it- he ATE a third of the damned purse!!! Of course, it's hard to work myself up into a real lather about it since I'd sunk less than $10 and three hours into the project, but how OBNOXIOUS!!!

I'm thinking about punishing him by making him wear a dunce cap.

Ha ha! It would certainly put me in a better mood- he HATES hats!! : )

The Real Manors

2011-10-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I like to pretend.... but if you want to see some gorgeous actual manors (that you can rent!), go check out this post that Greet over at Belgian Pearls put together. Absolutely dreamy! And a good source of decor inspiration, too!

The Bang

2011-10-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hey All!
The other day I got a good Groupon for a salon near me that I hadn't tried yet. It was for a cut and single process color for just under the price I normally pay for a haircut. I figured, why not? I haven't had my hair professionally colored since the "Great Pumpkin" incident of '97 (don't ask!), but I figured with fall coming up it was a good time for a change from the highlights (they weren't looking very good with my winter-white skin!)
I also have been riding that retro feeling for awhile now, and I knew I wanted something a little more polished in a cut, but something still sexy. Which led me to the question: to bang, or not to bang? I knew I didn't want that long in-your-eyes fringe that's all the rage right now. I've had that before and it drives me crazy and frankly doesn't look very good. So... maybe something a little more Bettie Page,

or Audrey Hepburn?

Well, I still hadn't made up my mind by the time I got to the salon, but the stylist was really wonderful about helping me choose the right color, and then helping me decide on the fringe issue.

So here I was before: (Though it was never this styled!)

And here's the after:

And pulled half back:

I kind of love it! It's SO different from what it has been in a long time that I keep startling myself in the mirror! Of course now I'm back trying to re-figure my makeup and clothing so it makes sense with the new dramatic do... oh the things women have to deal with!
Happy Fall!

Oh, and if you're in my area and want to check out where the magic happened: Allure Hair Spa in Northborough , MA.

Cool Style Quiz

2011-10-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!
I know some people hate these quizzes, if you're one of those people you might want to excuse yourself now! (But come back later, I'll have more on things like mascara and DIY projects soon!)
Well Meg over at Pigtown Design pointed us, her gentle readers, toward a fun style quiz. Check out what your style might be here!
My results:

Results: You most resemble a "Bespoke Classic".

Details...

Center hall, formal dining, stately living. Your kitchen is your prize. Decorative, finished… elegant. Resort, retreat, getaway - all inside your bedroom. Players have their exits and entrances… your home the stage. Your relaxed table atmosphere is enjoyed by everyone. Your 3rd coffee and just beginning to be productive. Pre-war, upper east side attitude. Always intriguing, never clumsy. .

Suspected "Bespoke Classic"

- Princess Diana
- Fred Astaire
- Ralph Lauren
Love it!!
: )

Vintage and Thrift Finds

2011-09-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
One thing my mom and I have in common is a love of thrifting. I think we're not alone! : ) And one of the best places I know to partake in that pass-time is Maine, where we just happen to go every summer for family vacation!

I already told you all about the amazing score I got on my enamel kitchen table, but there's lots more! Let's start with my random negligee obsession. I don't know where it came from, but I decided I NEEDED some sexy vintage nighties! Happily, both Goodwill and The Schoolhouse Antique Mall in Brewer were able to provide!

First I found this cute 60's babydoll at Goodwill:

Super cute and not too terribly see-through, which means it can actually be sleepwear!

These next two, both from Schoolhouse Antiques, not so much... but hello sexy!

How can you not fall for an aqua blue, off-the-shoulder, ruffled floor length piece? For $6! You have to take it, right? Well, I did. Can't photograph it for the life of me, but you get the idea here, right?

And finally, on the second floor of the Schoolhouse (the place is a bit terrifying when you get up to the second and third floors and you can see how much that building is falling apart, but it's worth it!) I found this total Scarlett (or maybe Dallas!) number:

How about that? The nightie and the matching over-piece still together after how long?! Nine bucks, baby!

That one's worth a second picture- look at those sleeves! Such a fantasy piece, it's great!

Ok, now onto the slightly less scandalous category of decor items.
Well, I guess this first one still counts as apparel, but I'm using it as a tablecloth, so I'm leaving it here!

This is a Ralph Lauren silk scarf that someone got some ink marks on (that aren't very visible), Goodwill $1.50. Perhaps I should have pressed it before I photographed it... oh well!

At two different Goodwills (I think one was actually in Framingham, MA), I found a couple of cute mirrored trays:

This oval one graces the back of my toilet tank, holding (for now!) a potted African violet and some hand lotion.

And this larger rectangular one is wrangling perfumes on the bookshelf in my bedroom! Less than $3 each, and I loved seeing an almost identical rectangular one at an antique store later that same day selling for $28! Gotta love Goodwill!

Over at the Salvation Army in Brewer we found a couple nice things:

First, these adorable milk glass vases. They had about a million, most fairly boring shapes and only two or three different ones, but I dug around until I found these cuties!

And the story of this marble-top table makes me laugh.

Mom and I had arrived a moment or two before the store opened, and we weren't the only ones to be waiting in the vestibule, pressing our noses against the window for a sneak-peek. I spotted this table not to far in and pointed it out to Mom, who declared it a perfect fit for the empty bed-side spot in the guest room she uses at my place. So as the employee unlocked the door, Mom distracted the other two shoppers for a moment while I dashed in and grabbed that table! Know how much it was? $8! The marble top is actually cracked,

But it's right on the grain of the marbling, so you can't see unless you look re-e-e-ally hard!

And finally, artwork:

Both of these pieces came from Big Chicken Barn Antiques, which is where I also found my kitchen table. I love the colors in this little one (about 9x11), and I was looking for water scenes, so for $10 it came home!

And another nice water scene, more quintessentially Maine, for $15.

All right, I think that's about all of this season's score! Unfortunately I missed both the July and September sessions at Brimfield (I was hoping to score an umbrella stand!), but there's always next year!

How about you all, any favorite thrifting/antiquing spots? I'd love to hear!

The Great Mascara Hunt: A Few Reviews

2011-09-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you guys, but I seem to be constantly looking for "the perfect" mascara. My lashes used to be naturally quite long, like I had trouble wearing sunglasses long, so it used to not matter too much what I put on them. Just about anything with the word "volumizing" on the label did the job! However, the length of my lashes is just one of the many things that seems to becoming more challenging as I move into my 4th decade. I imagine I can't be the only one struggling with this problem, so I've decided to document my hunt and share it with you all!
So, first off I'll start with a longtime favorite: L'Oreal Voluminous mascara, the original.

It does wonderful things for my lashes! (My sister's too, she's a longtime fan as well.)

But it does flake, and my hair brushing against them results in raccoon eyes. Which isn't so attractive!

So from there I went for a very conservative everyday mascara: CoverGirl Lash Blast.

Which is great stuff! Doesn't flake at all unless you rub it, which is entirely acceptable.

But, well, it's not exactly Va-va-voom, is it?

Then one day at Sephora I got a little sample of Lorac Multiplex 3-D lash mascara.

Hello Va-va-voom! I'll tell you I practically RAN out to buy myself a full sized tube of that! Or no, I didn't actually. I cheaped out and tried another brand first, which I cover next.

But then, well, I wore it for a few all-day sessions and discovered that it doesn't just flake, it de-filaments. Which is to say that while it won't give you raccoon eyes, it will leave little black chunks floating around your eyeballs which then give you totally bloodshot eyes... oops! That's headed back to the store! (yay for Sephora's return policy!)

So,ok, I got the Lorac sample and loved it, but was too darn cheap to spend the $22 to buy it. (Which I just now noticed is $18 on Amazon! But there's shipping...) SO... I went out and bought L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes, which I don't remember why but I thought was very similar.

Which it actually is! I mean, ba-BAM lashes! (pay no attention to the bra-straps, I have no idea what I was dressing for just then...)

But it has the same down-fall, which is that the crazy length comes from tiny filaments that adhere to your lashes and then to each other, and just as promptly un-adhere and end up in your eyes. Oh well. $10 down the tube! (After which I went out and got the more expensive one thinking it might be better, but you already know how that ended!)

Which brings me to the mascara that I'm currently defaulting to: L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes mascara. Which is a pretty creepy name, frankly.

But also a pretty good mascara! Great length and very black, though I would like a bit more thickening as this can get a little spidery looking some days.

And no flakes! Which I suppose is thanks to that creepy tubule technology. Which I thought was total jargon, until I went to wash it off and it can off all in one piece- the whole darn lash! I don't mean MY lashes came off, just that all of the mascara really stuck together and came off like a tiny little toupee. Or, as I first though, EW A BUG!!! It is a little gross. But for no flakes and reasonably high impact? I'll put up with a little creepy.
For now, anyway! The hunt will continue!
My sister is currently using Maybelline Collosal Volume Mascara and likes it, but I haven't tried that one... yet!
Anyone out there have a favorite they recommend?

Meet Olive!

2011-09-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
I'd like to introduce you to the newest addition to our family, little Olive!

Actually, her proper name is Olive Tapenade (because all the animals in the house have names that begin with 'T',) but that's a bit of a mouth-full, so we call her Olive for short!
She was rescued in upstate NY by a very nice woman who found her starving in a field and brought her to her house a nursed her back to health and then passed her on to us. Talk about a good heart and generous spirit!

It took about 36 hours for Olive to decide that we were ok people and that she didn't have to live under the bed. After letting her get a quick look at Toby and Tembo, I think she's going to be the bossy little queen of the house once we let her join the crew full time! For now, however, she's busy eating as much food as fast as she possibly can (which I'm doing my best to regulate!), and hopefully build up a little muscle on that tiny frame!

Surviving Irene

2011-08-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

Although I have to say, compared what other people have gone through at the mercy of Irene, we didn't have all that much to challenge us. Power was down for 36 hours, and we had a moment of panic when the giant oak tree out front lost three of it's big top branches:

And one of them missed our roof by two feet, while another got hooked on the power line running from the street to our house! Thankfully the line held, otherwise I'd certainly be one of the unlucky ones waiting for power through the weekend.
Other than a few dramatic hours, mostly the day was just very dark and blustery, but I refused to let Hubby do anything outside for an extended period of time, and he was getting antsy. I figured since it was too dark and gloomy in the whole house anyway, why not bring some candles into the basement and clean down there?

Hubby toils away...
Thanks to my sister for that fantastic candle-lier- it came in really handy during the black-out! Hubby used to ridicule me for the number of candles and holders I always have on stand-by (any good sale!), but not anymore!
Another home decor item that was very useful during foul weather was an old, tiny brass fondue pot.

When Hubby was desperate for a cup of tea I thought of that stand and some leftover Sterno, and the top half of our Turkish teapot! Worked like a charm! A very slow, 30 minutes to boil 2 cups of water charm...
Hope everyone else is recovering well!

Enamel Kitchen Table

2011-08-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey All!
I just got back from a great week up in Maine at the family camp. Actually, it was a very chilly, damp week, but that just gave us more time for thrifting and antiquing! Today I want to share with you the most exciting find of the week:

My beautiful, new (to me) enamel top kitchen table!
I'm afraid I wasn't a terribly good blogger and didn't even think to take a picture of the table all buried in the antique store (if you're wondering, it came from Big Chicken Barn Antiques in Ellsworth.) Suffice to say she was buried enough that we needed help to dig her out, and more than a little dirty and rusty!

There I am, all decked out in my fancy cleaning gloves, scrubbing the rust off her chrome legs with Bar Keepers Friend.

See how much better they look after a liberal application of elbow grease? (That would be the top one in that picture...)

The biggest chip is proudly displayed on the front of the table- no look-alikes here! After I scrubbed the top with a sponge, followed by magic eraser, my Mom's husband went at it with some car polish and BOY did that make her shine! See the chair reflection on there?!

She looks right at home with my iron trivet on the wall and apron collection hanging on my DIY display board. The only question left is whether to paint the apron a nice high-gloss to match the cabinets in the room, or to let it be. The household is divided. Okay, I'm the only holdout for letting it be! (Hubby, though, has yet to get past the head scratching point at all!)

So what say you all? Should I paint the apron a high gloss greenish-blue to match the curtain on the right (which matches the cabinet interiors?) Or leave it be?
Incidentally, the cute painting over the table is also a new find, I'll share more about the rest later!

Texas: Part Two

2011-06-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

After much delay, here are the shots from the second half of my week in San Antonio! The Botanical Garden was one of my favorite trips out. Don't get me wrong, it was HOT spending an afternoon outside, but I brought an umbrella to fill in shade where the trees didn't provide some, and in the end it was worth it!

I loved their visual solution to the drought- instead of leaving the fountains looking bare and sad, they filled them in with beautiful blue glass!

Lots of inspiration to be found in the giant planters scattered around.

The Garden for the Blind was an interesting addition, where the plants were all either highly fragrant or tactile (lots of herbs!)

This stunning sculpture was in the Garden for the Blind, as well as:

This huge snail!

I loved the water lilies in this little pond.

It was in the courtyard of a series of greenhouses that housed:

Bromiliads from the rain forest in one.

Cacti from the desert in another.

Ferns in a fog-machine induced sauna! And there was another VERY hot and humid house filled with Palms that was setup as a ramp that spiraled upward through the foliage, which was a cool idea, but I practically had to run through to make it out the exit at the top without passing out!

Pomegranates!
Another unique display they had was the "gardens" showing the 4 natural habitats they have in Texas. I went to check out the Pine forest area, since I have lots of Pines around my house and was interested to see what would grow around them. Turns out not much!

But it was lovely anyway. And really nice to walk in the deep shade!

These roots are so cool! Can't remember the name of the tree, though...

That's my art-y self-portrait in the window of the classic wood cabin.

But I really loved the cottage garden! This is my favorite kind of garden. It was really neat to see how many of the same plants grew in Texas that we have up here in New England, and how some grew very differently! The hydrangeas, for example, were so tiny down there as to be barely recognizable, whereas up here they grow to be 5 foot tall bushes in just a few years! They must like the cold winters!

After the Botanical Garden I headed over to the San Antonio Art Museum, mostly to see their European and American paintings, which are a favorite.

But, well, their collection of paintings was TINY! They more than made up for it, however, with an absurdly large collection of Irish silver (fun to read the inscriptions!), and ceramics and pottery from the Middle East. I didn't take any pictures of those, however, because my camera battery had already died, and after photographing the garden my phone battery was dying, too!

I HAD to get a picture of this, though, because it's so unique! It's a sand mandala- that's right, that whole thing is made of sand! Enlarge the next picture to get the full explanation of how this came to be in the museum.

Sorry for the blur, I think I was a little dehydrated at that point!

The next morning, Hubby had a business meeting over in Austin, so we swapped to a hotel over there, but first we had to do the obligatory trip to the Alamo!

The pictures came out terrible- I must have had the phone on some odd setting!

Our first night in Austin we met up with another friend who lives nearby, and he took us to an UH-MA-ZING BBQ joint called The County Line.

If you're ever down in Texas, see if there's one of these nearby, because it was DELICIOUS! And I really don't even normally like meat!

This location (Austin Hills) was particularly special because it sat on the side of a hill and the patio overlooked the sunset and the valley below. Not that you can see the sunset in this shot, but you can see the color it turned me in this shot:

Bring your sunglasses and sunblock! But more importantly, do you see that food?! Those ribs have converted me- I am a big, fatty beef rib lover! Never liked them before, but these were so good I'm going to be trying to make some myself soon!

The whole place was adorably kitschy, and instead of music the bathroom speakers played a language CD called "How to Speak Cowboy", which is for sale for $10. (Yes, Hubby bought one!)

There we are, all fat and happy, rolling back to the car.

The next day we spent some time wandering around downtown Austin, but it was SOO hot, Hubby couldn't take being outside and actually suggested we go shoe shopping! Well, cowboy boot shopping, but still! So we asked around a bit and were originally directed to either a place in town called Allen's that had mostly highly decorated, more expensive boots, or if we wanted something more functional and less decorative, a place out by the airport called Callahan's General Store. Well, where would you go?

A place that sells cow feed and turquoise refrigerators along side cowgirl boots? Sign me up! Well ok, I admit we checked out the one in town first, but I didn't fall in love with anything that cost less than $400, and cowboy boots are a little too much of a novelty up here in the Northeast to justify that much money!
Callahan's was GREAT! Totally down to earth, with a great sense of humor in the home decor section (yup, they had one of those, too!) Another place you definitely need to check out if you're in the area! I didn't take any pictures inside because some stores frown on that (though this didn't seem like one of those places!), but there's a video on their website if you want to take a peek.

But all of that was a bonus to the fact that I walked away with these beauties for under $150, which is just about what I'd been hoping to pay! And they're SOOOO comfortable. I wore them pretty much non-stop for the next 72 hours with nary a blister or rub-spot to show!

And that included an immediate trip out country dancing in them! The same taxi driver who, on our first day, told us about Arjon's salsa club, also told us about Cowboy's Dance Hall for some authentic country dancing, and I was DETERMINED to go before we flew out the next morning at 7:30 AM!

So I roused hubby at 9:30 that night, put on my new boots and dragged us off to do a little cowboy dancin'! And we were both so glad we went!

The dance floor was huge, and had just the right amount of dancers on it so we felt fine going out and bungling through our version of the two-step (which was kind of a mish-mosh of a waltz, east coast swing, and polka!), but empty enough that we didn't worry about slamming into anyone. They even had a live band! A really, really good band! They're the red blur in the background there...

And look, actual cowboys! It was the perfect way to wrap up a surprisingly delightful first-trip to Texas!

Thanks to all the wonderful Texans who helped show me just how wrong I was about that state!

Texas!

2011-06-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hubby had a conference down in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, and since I'd never been I decided to tag along and see what it's like down in the deep south!
Well, of course I didn't actually get to experience the real south since I was in a major tourist center, but I sure had fun!
A local friend took us over to this very cool cool bar in the Hotel Havana called Ocho. It's mostly a night time spot, but it was really nice during the day with the sunlight streaming in through the old conservatory windows.

I LOVED the design! The color scheme, the velvet upholstery and mirrored and mosaic tables on the threadbare rugs and brick flooring was SO much what I love! And check out that chandelier- HUGE! And there were two of them!

And in case you forgot you were in Texas for a second there, just grab a gander at the horns on those chairs- so very cool!

For dinner that night our friends took us to a fun BBQ chain called Rudy's.

With us all dolled up for dancing later, they were a bit hesitant to take us to a place that had an order counter and family style picnic tables, but we were game!

Rudy's also sells gas,

But mostly they sell meat:

Lots and lots of meat!

After dinner Hubby and I headed over to a salsa club that our cab driver had recommended called Arjon's.

The place was great! Since our hosts that night had to get home and release their babysitter, we ended up getting to the club just after 9:00, so we were one of the first one's there. But by 9:30 a bunch of people had arrived and the band began to play and the dancing was on!

It's always fun going to a place where they dance in a really authentic style since just about everyone up around us learned ballroom style (as did we!) There were some very good dancers at that place, so we watched them for a bit to remember some moves before we got up and busted ours out! We left shortly after midnight when the music switched over to club style and the younger crowd took over the dance floor.

Haris was really tempted by the Taco truck that had opened right in the parking lot outside, but after all that barbecue there was no place left to put it!

After spending a day exploring the Riverwalk (very cute, but pretty crowded!)

and Market Square (great place for souvenirs!), I ventured onto the public transportation via the #7 bus, Sightseer's Special.
First I went to the San Antonio Zoo.

Where it was mostly me and a whole bunch of school kids!

And the animals of course!

I finished up there around lunchtime, and a nice woman at the gift shop (everyone down there was nice!) tipped me off about a good lunch place called Joseph's about a 10 minute walk away. Well, it was about 100 degrees out, but if there was something to eat better than zoo burgers, I was willing to do the walk!

I'll be frank- I didn't have high hopes for a sandwich shop on the outskirts of San Antonio where the bus had driven past mostly porn shops and taco restaurants, but I was pleasantly surprised!

I made myself an iced coffee, which they were fine with (some places discourage that!), and ordered the club sandwich and fruit cup, all for about $7. The fruit cup... well, I'd pass on that next time! I could see it had some kind of dressing on it, (Italian, I think) but when I dug under that to find some clean looking pieces I realized that the whole thing had also been salted! But the sandwich... oh that bacon! I've never had such good bacon- ever! Thick, crunchy, smokey... YUM!

I also loved that the seating was a big ol' mish-mash of old dining tables and chairs!

After lunch I walked back up the road to see the Japanese Tea Garden.

I had allotted myself a couple of hours to explore the garden, hang out and be zen...

But it only took about 15 minutes for the heat radiating off all those rocks to make me dizzy!

It was really pretty, though...

And I got a kick out of seeing this girl tromping around in a HUGE ballgown and cowboy boots posing in different places for a photo-shoot of some sort. I'm thinking quincinera, maybe?

There's days 1-3, I'll try to share 4-6 with you later this week!

Doing Your Own Highlights: Revlon Frost and Glow

2011-06-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

Ever been tempted to try highlighting your own hair? Well, we're all about the DIY over here, so I decided to go ahead and do it!

We're going to pretend this is my before picture, even though it's from last fall, I forgot to take an actual "before" and this is pretty close to the right color. Minus a little red...

I chose Revlon's Frost and Glow for this experiment since they actually had a formula that said it was for "Medium to Dark Brown Hair", which I have.

Step one is to do a strand time test. Actually, I think step one is to do an allergy test, but I like to live dangerously, so I skipped that... for the time test you snip off a bit of your hair and apply the mixed bleach to it and check it every 10 minutes to see how long it takes to get the color you want. I tested up to 40 minutes but decided 30 minutes was best.

Then you take this minuscule hook and use it to pull tiny amounts of hair through the absurd plastic cap you've just put on your head.

Like so. It would probably be much easier to do this with a friend since it's a bit hard to do the back of your own head.

But as you see, it can be done by yourself. It just takes a bit longer.

Depending on how fast you are, 30-60 minutes later you look a bit like an alien with a hair growth problem. Which is exactly how you want it. As you are pulling three or four strands through at a time you may feel compelled to try to pull a more sizable chunk through each hole. RESIST! Lots of tiny little highlights do actually look better than a bunch of chunky ones. You will naturally get a few larger ones as you go, so don't worry too much about each little piece.

So then apply the bleach- I prefer to scoop some up in my fingers and squeeze it down the hair piece rather than use the spatula thing which just makes me feel like I'm smushing it through the holes onto the hair underneath. They advise you cover the hair hanging below the cap with something to protect it from the bleach, but I just tied mine back in a bun. I thought spots might look fun. Once you've got the bleach on, you cover your whole head the lovely plastic over-cap they provide, and wait 30 (or however many) minutes.

Now two pieces of advice I have for you at this point:
1) Don't to this on a very hot, humid day. Plastic caps and humidity aren't a nice combination. (Though bleach and open windows are, so also preferable not on a very cold day...)
2) When you first take the over-cap off to see if your hair has reached the desired color, DON'T PANIC!! It will look Goldilocks yellow, but that's just the dried bleach, not your actual hair color! I don't have a picture of this for you because: a. I was too busy not panicking to remember to take a picture, and b. You've got to take your clothes off before you take the over-cap off, and I'm just not into sharing that much!!

Anyhoo, jump in the shower and rinse like crazy, wash, condition, and...

Voila! You're done! Well, ok, I dried my hair and brushed it all nice so you can see where the highlights actually went, but you know what I mean!

See what I was saying about there being larger bits and smaller bits? Wasn't intentional, it just kind of happens that way.

And there's the I-did-it-myself back shot.

So, the kind of sort of before:

And the what-it-looks-like-all-fluffed-up after:

All kinds of summery, right? (actually, it looks more summery in natural light, but you get the idea!)
One other thing I might mention is that the bleach does change the texture of your hair, makes those pieces a bit drier, which does add volume. Depending on whether you want that or not, could be a good thing!

So, my friends, go forth and highlight!

: )

Third Annual Kentucky Derby Party!

2011-05-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Y'all! This year we hosted our third annual Kentucky Derby party

There's me in my 50's add for potato chips! Err... I mean, setting up the appetizers... The weather was great all morning, and as the time for the party approached the clouds gathered and the temperatures dropped. Poo.

Not a big problem, though, we just shoved all the furniture we could onto the sun porch, which thankfully stayed warm enough for people to hang out on!

You like that ginormous magnetic blackboard I made? I pulled a 6 foot tall piece of plywood down from the rafters in the garage, sanded the heck out of it and piled on 4 coats of magnetic primer followed by three coats of chalkboard paint, and VOILA! An enormous, rather rough chalkboard! (Guess I should have sanded down the primer layer a little better.... oh well, it works!)

It kept track of who was betting on which horse! (Now it's living in the kitchen keeping track of my weekly menu.)

Having learned from years past, I mixed up a big batch of Mint Juleps...

and used the leftover blackboard paint to LABEL IT!

Beer went in a big ol' bucket right next to the bar, as easy to find as possible!

Mom and I even had time for a quick drink and a breather before the guests arrived (the fact that they were all about an hour late helped!)

There's my step-mom making out with Tembo- check out her hat, she made that from the top of an oatmeal box! Layered all those things right on top... impressive, huh?

Then the rest of the guests began arriving and the party got started!

Not sure why Hubby felt the need to ask people to pose outside in the rain...

How to greet when wearing huge brimmed hats: the air kiss!

Cat hunting.

Hang on a sec... just who is that beer for??

Lots of cute kids!

Fun out on the porch.

This poor little guy (my nephew) had cracked his head open that morning and spent most of the day at the Emergency room! Apparently he convinced his mom to come to the party, though, by waking up from his post-surgery nap calling my name!!

The ordeal didn't slow him down much as he still managed to strip all the pussies off my willow branches, and took one bite out of each and every item in my fruit bowl! (Doesn't his mom look seriously sick of eating apples?!)

As hat judging time drew near, Hubby got into the swing of things himself!

We had a tie this year! Thank goodness I had ordered extra mint julep cups! Not everyone knew eachother at the party, so some people described the hats on the voting slips instead.

This one was called "Big Bird", designed by my aunt, who also won last year's hat contest!

And this one was "Horse Poop"! Designed by my Mom- did you notice the flies hovering over that manure? Reminds me of that crazy guy in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Despite the unfortunate weather, everyone seemed like they had a good time again! Now to start thinking about next year's hat!!

Elle Decor: India

2011-04-15T19:33:00.001-07:00

Finally, as promised (awhile ago!) I scanned in some of the images from the decor mags I picked up while I was in India. I really enjoyed seeing how the designs featured were similar, and how they were different. Without further ado, I'll let you see it for yourself:

This first group is from the home of a couple of artists in Germany, and I LOVE how creative it is!

Incredible wall treatment, makes you almost miss the boat full of tiffins below :).

I also love how many ideas in this story you can totally copy for yourself!

Now that's a ceiling- in their kitchen, of all places!

A twist on the antique portrait...

Her painting studio.

The magazine gives ideas of how to get the look for yourself- notice the boat there, and you just see the edge of a tiffin to the right of it!

Most of the rest are just shots here and there of things I thought were cool:

I love the patina on the items in this little shopping section.

Now this page was one of my favorite. BECAUSE... I totally bought that clock in the upper right hand corner in a tiny little non-shop down in Bangalore for about $20, and here in the magazine it shows it selling for $75!! (It's a double sided railway-style hanging clock, which I'll most likely take a picture of and share... like... a year from now...) SCORE!

Love the pops of hot pink and the painting of the truck that give it a sense of place.

Same here with a fairly minimal interior and then that incredible photo!

Stunning entryway!

Holy bathroom!

And just for contrast... actually I stayed in an Eco-hotel in South India that had an open bathroom with a tree growing in it like this. (This picture is of one in Thailand.) It was kind of cool, and kind of creepy- I couldn't help but think about massive spiders crawling into the toilet!

Some over-the-top Mughal style opulence.

And then on the other end of the spectrum, some rustic for those of us that prefer that!

Some very cool stuff at unbelievable prices- wish I'd read this before I left India! Well, new outings for next trip :).

And of course because it's Elle they featured some local decor events.

And finally, some crafting! Some fun ideas what to do with fabric scraps. (I kind of love that pillow.)

Ok, I scanned in images from two other magazines, but I'll save those for another day!

Bombay Part 2

2011-03-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the last of the pictures from our trip to India! These are all from Bombay (Mumbai).

We stumbled upon Yazdani Bakery when we decided to be a bit adventurous and take some unknown backroads over to our cousin's office and risk getting lost. (Consequently, I can't begin to tell you where it is, except that it's within walking distance of Churchgate, but Google can!) But boy am I glad we did, this place was fantastic! We started with a couple of mini-muffins and a bag of shortbread cookies, but immediately went back in for some cake and bread to take back home with us!

I love how these signs look like they could be absolutely anywhere in the US or Europe, but here they were in a back alley of Bombay! Fresh apple pie and cinnamon buns? Who would have guessed?!

Here are a bunch of street scenes from around our neighborhood (Mahim.):

Loved the color of these doors.

Chaat-walla. Best. Stuff. Ever.

View from overpass near Chowpatty.

Furniture delivery Indian style!

Cool guy on a motorcycle and a street dog, hanging out together.

Ubiquitous cow.

A cat and a laundry line, how could I resist?

There's a whole series of these!

New entrance being made for Shivaji Park.

Shivaji Park workout.

More pick-up games of cricket! Notice all that construction? (Shivaji Park)

Great colors! Dog on a wall and lady in sari.

Hubby and his Mom with fun wall mural at the new BCA (Bombay Cricket Association.)

Me and Mummy at the other end of the mural. (I'm in love with that outfit!)

And of course I had to have mehendi done before I left!

I had a cone to take home as well, so I did another design myself that I'll show you later.

This was one of my favorite shots of the whole trip, it's at a little beach behind Hinduja Hospital.

We went there to see the new bridge from a distance (it was still under construction when we were there last), can you see it there? Neither could we, darn fog!

And finally, there's me, looking a bit like I was green screened in!

Ok, so that's the end of the pictures from the trip, but I'm not done with the India theme yet! I'll show ya'll the textile kick I went on while I was there (I brought back two suitcases full!) I also want to share some of the images from the Indian versions of home decor magazines, it's really cool how they mix the traditional Indian designs with what's happening in International design trends!

India, Bangalore Quick trip

2011-03-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so (finally!), here are my pictures from our quick trip down to Bangalore. We stayed at the Cross Roads Inn, which I can't say enough about. I've stayed in some horror-story places on previous trips there, and it looks like largely hotels are either super-cheap "local" style hotels, or very expensive international chains catering (and charging for) business travelers, with very little in the mid-range. This hotel PERFECTLY filled that niche! Under $100 (US) a night we had a very nice AC room, clean bath with western toilet and 24 hour hot water (that's not always the case in India, so ask!), and even the extras like tv, closet space, mini fridge, cheap room service, and buffet breakfast included! The bed was Indian style (read hard-as-a-rock), but that's what I sleep on at my in-law's place, so it wasn't a problem for me. Anyway, if you're going to be in Bangalore, I recommend the Cross Roads Inn for accommodations.

I forgot to take pictures of the hotel itself, but here are some street scenes from nearby:

A wall of advertisements.

A pickup game of cricket (always a good picture!)

Love the colors!

Construction site, very low-tech.

A good spot for a nap, school kids in background.

South India has their own movies, separate from Bollywood, and they're known for being even more melodramatic!

I couldn't manage to hold my camera steady, but it tickled me to see Au Bon Pain translated into the local script!

The next day we went to do a little Indian style shopping around Commercial Street:

Always crowded!

The view from the coffee shop.

The cricket world cup was going on while we were there, so anytime you saw an enthralled group of men, you just had to look for the TV!

Oh, this is what I wanted Hubby to wear for our wedding! We compromised with western pants, a shorter jacket with a little embroidery around the collar and a red vest. (Someday I'll get him in one of these, I'm determined!!)

I loved how they sell things on bikes. My favorite is eggs, but I've never managed to get a decent picture of that!

Stopping for a little fruit along the way...

Lastly, and most randomly, a cool design on the wall of the mall!

I've got a few more shots of our last three days in Bombay, which I'll post soon, and then I'll show you some of the cool stuff I got on all those shopping trips!
: )

India 2011: Part 1

2011-03-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!
I know, it's been a terribly long time since I've posted... I'll return your money, how's that? Happier now? Good. Moving onto cheerier things, I've just returned from my first trip to India since we bought the house! We had gone for 4 years in a row, and the last trip was in winter of 2008, and I was missing it, so it was really nice to get back there! I didn't take nearly as many pics as I usually do since our trip was pretty short (about a week and a half actually there,) and we were mostly just visiting family, but I did get a few fun shots anyway.
Actually, quite a few (200!), so here are the photographic highlights from the first half of our time in Bombay:

Mobile veg stand, Mumbai

Famous tiffin (lunchbox) delivery, Churchgate Station Mumbai

Napping inside Churchgate Station

Need a toilet? This one's convenient... Mumbai near Fountainhead

Umm... courthouse? I don't remember- British Colonial architecture.

Hubby on a Valentine's Day sail in Mumbai Harbor

Me and a Mumbai fishing boat.

The fishing boats returning as the sun sets over Mumbai.

Me, stopping for coffee and a quick-change at the Taj Hotel (which is looking as grand as ever!)

Now that's what I call a flower arrangement! Taj, Mumbai.

Locally famous street restaurant, I'm not allowed to eat there... Mumbai, behind Taj.

McDonald's delivers! Mumbai.

Tata Nagar, near Dharavi, where the tailor lives.

Great old lady and graffiti, Tata Nagar.

Super shiny office complex directly across the street from Tata Nagar.

Napping in trucks...

I liked these two because they looked like something out of a Bollywood movie, they've got the tree and all!

Living where you work, scrap recyclers.

Street scenes, Dharavi.

Street scene, Mahim (where my in-laws' place is.)

Classic truck shot, "Horn OK Please!"

Love it... tune in later this week for the shots from the jaunt down to Bangalore, and then for the last few days in Bombay!
Meanwhile, if you're curious about what Bombay is like, check out this ad put out by the Times of India for a photography contest (incidentally, I love the whole ad campaign for this competition, but I could never get pictures of the billboards because the taxi was always moving too fast!) But that video kind of encapsulates what Bombay is, in my head anyway.
:)

A Floating Centerpiece

2011-01-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

I know I'm far from the first person to be inspired by shop window displays!
This window I saw in the Free People store at the Prudential. I wasn't too surprised to find out that Free People is associated with Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie- both stores I've trolled for decor ideas!

It's a bit hard to see, but they've suspended a branch from the ceiling and decorated it with everything from pom-poms to Christmas baubles and jewelry from the store! I loved it!
They actually had an even better one in the store, but I felt awkward taking pics in the store itself- I know some stores frown on that!

Of course my first thought (well, second after "Wow, cool!") was, "I can totally do that!"

I started out by hauling a few branches in to find the right size and shape. Actually, I started out by hauling in a whole darn tree limb that had come down in a storm- it barely made it through the door! After pulling in a few smaller options I actually ended up going at the tree limb with a pair of lops and cutting it down to just what I wanted. DIY all the way, baby!

Then I screwed three hooks into the ceiling, tied my stick up with fishing line, and started draping it with sparkly things!

I started with a couple of pearl necklaces, one fresh pearl and one black pearl, looped around and secured with fishing line in a few places.

Then I added on the mercury glass baubles, which are from Crate and Barrel (this year, $1.95 ea.) Then went on the glass teardrops, also from Crate and Barrel (box of 20 for... $6?), which you can see best in the next picture. (They're the shimmery things hanging about an inch below the stick.)

At that point I though the whole thing needed some white. I briefly considered taking the whole thing down and dusting it with white spray paint, but I thought there was too much chance of that going horribly wrong! So instead I used some of this mini pom pom trim I found at Walmart and wound it around. (I left a bit whirling down to look like snow falling!)

A single pink satin ribbon tied on the end brought in my other seasonal accent color, and made sure the pearls didn't run away in the middle of dinner!

And that's how it looks in context! I love it, though I wish it was easier to take a chandelier down temporarily, because my light fixture really gets in the way!

Although, as a little aside, I will confess to you my friends that I really want a new light fixture in there. I really want this light fixture:

Coastal Living

But as the only versions I've found round $1000.00 (ZGallerie had one for around $500, but I missed that boat- oh, HA! I love accidental puns!) I don't think that will be happening anytime soon.... but wouldn't it be fun?

Sparkly Christmas Table 2010

2010-12-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

All right, People, prepare yourselves, I went a little photo crazy on this one!!

If you've checked out my mantle and Christmas tree posts, you probably noticed that the theme of the year for my 2010 holiday season is SPARKLY! With a little bit of blue and pink thrown in for variety... :)

To achieve the greatest level of sparkle, I used a combination of mirrors, crystal, rock crystal and glass.

For the centerpiece I pulled the mirror out of the back of my fireplace (cleaned it REALLY well!), then layered on a couple of my crystal candle holders, two very cool rock crystal tealight holders I picked up at HomeGoods, and the large glass mosaic goblet-style candle holder (also from HomeGoods). The white stuff in between is a trim from Walmart that is really just little white pompoms on a wire. Fun stuff to play with!

I love the way the mirror made everything have twice the impact it normally would!

And for those of you concerned that the plates that are half-on the mirror will wobble, don't worry! I folded white napkins under so they didn't clank around!

The tablecloth is a damask stripe from HomeGoods, the blue ribbon used as a runner and for bows on the sconces (also the same ribbon that's on the Christmas tree!) is one roll from Walmart for 5 bucks! It went pretty far!

White sheers in both windows are the summer swaps from the master bedroom (there's velvet up for winter!). Both windows are layered with the silver snowflake ornaments from Target and strings of twinkle lights.

I covered the door to the garage with a bedspread/tablecloth my fab-o Mother in Law brought me from India. (I normally cover it with a brown and maroon bedspread to keep the cold out, but I wanted to lighten things up for this layout!)

Over on the sideboard there's more blue and sparkly going on with a length of fabric folded up as a runner, and more mirror and glass. I'll talk more about my "floating centerpiece" another time!

Another mirror from the fireplace supports wine bottles as candle holders and two Swedish crystal bubble tealight holders.

Cellophane snow adds even more sparkle (because I can never have enough!), and some of the mini pompoms wrapped around the bottles tie it in with the main table.

Back on the table I used my good ol' Noritake china, gold flatware, Christmas Tree Shop monogrammed napkins, and gold painted pine cones as name-card holders.

And finally, flanking the door I replaced the usual paintings with these sconces (that normally live in the guest bedroom) that are from Sturbridge Village like... 20 years ago...

And, PHEW! That's the Christmas setup in the dining room!

I'm linking up to Susan's Tablescape Thursday over at Between Naps on the Porch, so head on over there to see all the other pretty stuff people are putting together!

Quirky Christmas Tree 2010

2010-12-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

Hey All!

I had fun with my tree this year!

I started out with all my usual sparkly ornaments, some ribbon (blue this year!) then swapped out some of the traditional reds, purples and greens for this year's blues and pinks.

When that all wasn't quite enough, I stuck a parasol in the side of it- HA! I loved it!

That still not being quite quirky enough, I strung up some popcorn (kettlecorn!)- it's driving poor Tembo-dog absolutely bonkers! He can smell there's SOMETHING up there!

For the tree skirt (because the red and gold regular one clearly wasn't going to go!) I dug into my miscellaneous fabric storage and pulled out some pink fabric that we used to decorate our wedding venue, and that blue is actually a cotton sari!

Of course I've gone out and gotten a few more pink and blue ornaments since I took these pictures, so the tree is filling in a bit and looking more complete, as I'm sure it will until Christmas day itself!

And finally, here is a (bad) shot of the tree and the mantel together:

Is this angle any better?

Meh, not really... oh well! You get the idea- I'm having lots of fun stringing things up and hanging them around the room!

I'm linking up to Sarah's Christmas Tree Party over at Thrifty Decor Chick, so head on over there if you're looking for some more holiday eye candy!

Sparkly White and Metallic Holiday Mantel

2010-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

I am LOVING my pretty, sparkly mantel this year!
I've had a whole year to work on my mantel decorating skills, and I think I've finally figured things out since last year's (somewhat skimpy) traditional setup.

I decided to go with a white/cream and metallic color scheme this year with pops of pink, turquoise and light green to go with the colors I have going on in the rest of the first floor. Though none of the color pops made it onto the mantel, they'll be one the tree about four feet away!

I also decided to throw caution to the wind and put a couple of taper candles up there since the cat hasn't shown any interest at all in jumping up there, despite Hubbies concerns!

I first set it up like this, which was lovely. But in the full floor-to-ceiling view (which I somehow didn't take a picture of!) lacked that over-the-top factor I was going for! SO, I got all crafty and decided to make a garland of sparkly snow!

Which I did by threading a whole bunch of cotton balls together in varying lengths, spraying them with hairspray and covering them in Martha Stewart Coarse Crystal glitter. (You can't really see the glitter in the picture, but I promise you can in real life!)
That not being over-the-top enough for me, I added on some of the gold glittered snowflakes I got at Target a few years ago. (They still sell them, now they have them in all sorts of crazy colors, I'm using silver ones in the dining room.)

More cotton ball "snow" went into the hurricanes with the tall branches I sprayed silver last year.

Like that wreath? I made it! Yup! It's my first... : ) I started out with a wire form and five floral picks (two pearl and 3 white sparkly plastic ones) from Joanne's, which altogether cost about $9 (floral was on sale.) Then I hiked my butt out into the woods with Tembo-dog, cut some bittersweet and dragged it back home. (Hubby told me today that I left a Hansel and Gretel trail of bittersweet berries all along the path on the way back to the house- oops!) A little more hairspray and glitter went onto the branches once they were wired on, then I just sort of stuck the white parts on, tucking them into the wire that was already on there. I should probably add some glue or something to that before I store it away for the season!

These two cute dear tealight holders came from Christmas Tree Shop and were the only new thing (other than the wreath parts!) that I bought for the mantel this year. But at $2.99 apiece I almost don't even count that!

The gray furry thing is actually a fur scarf that was a gift to me about 10 years ago. It's seen better days and... erm... molts a bit too much for wear, but it works pretty well as a fluffy snow-scape!

The crystal candle holders are HomeGoods/TJs finds over the years, and the mercury glass votive holders are from Target last year, but I saw them there again this year. And the little angel tucked in on the left was also from Christmas Tree Shop last year.

So, total cost for new winter mantel-scape that's totally staying up until, like, next April because I so love it to bits and pieces: $15!

Yay :) .

I'm linking up to Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday, so head on over there to check out everyone else's holiday splendor!

Distractions and What They can do to your Coffee

2010-11-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago our furnace died. Actually, it's been dying for awhile judging by the smell, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that a repairman actually took the time to confirm that. He removed the side panel to reveal a 6-8 inch gash in the wall of the heat exchanger- fire was practically spewing out into my basement! It was kind of terrifying. What was more terrifying was the visual confirmation of my olfactory suspicion that there was carbon monoxide leaking through me heat vents! (My contractor said it shouldn't be lethal levels, but maybe I should sleep with a window open!) So, of course, I immediately shut the thing off! I've since been living with space heaters, having contractors through, waiting for quotes and all sorts of fun things like that...

So on about day three of that process, totally stressed, not sleeping great (you try sleeping when it's 45 degrees in the bedroom!), I decided to make myself some coffee. So off I went to the kitchen, cleaned out yesterdays grounds, filled the pot with water and hit go.
About four minutes later, I smelled something burning... oops! I forgot to pour the water from the carafe into the the coffee maker! Dolt...
So, in the water went, and again, I hit go....
Can anyone guess what I found when I went back a few minutes later?
Yup...

Some nice warm... water. I'd forgotten- TWICE!- to put in either the filter, or the coffee! OY! Talk about being driven to distraction!
Anyone else ever had this problem?

Stairway Project

2010-11-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

Little by little these things around the house get done... this little one was the risers on our stairway. I had painted the baseboard on the left, but hadn't bothered with the one on the right, and as you can see, the risers on the stairs were pretty banged up!

So I grabbed some leftover primer and paint from the kitchen makeover and got to work!

I had been trying to decide how to decorate the risers once I got the white paint on, and I like the stencils and things I've been seeing around, like you can see a tiny bit of here:

There's a much better picture of that around somewhere, but either I didn't save it, or it's in with the Christmas pictures or something... That's from Maryam's place, and if you haven't checked it out, you must!
I didn't think I had the patience for something quite that involved, but I also had a tile collection that I'd been looking for a spot to display. Tiles have been my souvenir of choice since about my third trip out of the country, so I've got quite a few, and I thought this might be a nice place for (at least some of) them!

I was a little worried about them getting kicked and broken (someone messed up the stairs in the first place!), so I put them off-center. Playing around a bit I liked how it looked alternating left and right sides.

And it totally accidentally worked out that if you're right handed (footed?) you end up walking on the open side of the step! Love when things happen like that... : )

My Fairy Dog-mother

2010-11-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

Being ridiculous as I am (on occasion), I just had to dress the dog up for Halloween.

He was a fairy dog-mother. Hubby protested wildly. But you know, I win...
I bought the wings at Walmart for $5

I just altered the straps a bit to fit better.

The halo I made from a coat hanger and some Christmas tinsel. (Thank goodness they start putting out the Christmas decorations before Halloween is over! This is the second time I've made use of it- the first being when I dressed Hubby up as a Christmas Tree for an unexpected last minute party. I thought it was a brilliant idea, until I found girls coming up to him, fingering the plug on his Christmas lights asking if they could, "turn him on"!)

The straps would have looked better in a lighter color, but sometimes you've got to work with what's on hand, and I had red!

Tembo loved his outfit. I swear!

Have you ever seen such a happy dog?.... Well... he got got used to it, anyway!

While we were playing dress-up we tried a little something that might make an appearance for the Holiday season.

He's so cute, hee hee.... I just need to figure out how to attach it a little better!

Coffee Table Love and Confusion

2010-10-28T20:47:00.001-07:00

This week I found two coffee tables that I absolutely adore. The first:

I saw in Elle Decor and love the look of. I've been thinking for awhile that something just a little industrial with maybe metal legs for a little sparkle and a reclaimed wood top for warm would really go well with all the different looks my living room goes through during the year. This one from 610 Home looks like it hits all those marks! However, they don't sell online, and as they are located in Geneva, IL, the likelihood of my acquiring it is very very low. Nonetheless, the idea remains- slightly industrial, green glam.
But I have to wonder if I love it and have been wanting it because it's so very in right now, or is it actually right for us? I can't quite tell...

Then just yesterday I found this second one, from Wisteria:

Which I LUURRRVE! (Pardon me while I try to drool and speak simultaneously...)
Talk about sparkly! I love the metal, I love the Indian style etching:

I love the detail on the legs, the vague campaign styling implied by the cross supports at the bottom... love love love!
BUT, is it too decorative? I always have a lot going on style-wise in the the living room, and I'd been thinking that rough wood and metal would sort of ground it all, keep it from getting too froufy... would this do the opposite? Would it push it all right over the frou-frou top? And if it did, would that be bad?... I don't know!
And the price on this is so very good- I seriously thought when I first saw the picture it would be at least twice as much- that it makes it a real possibility that I could own it... whereas I still haven't found a table in the other style at a price I would pay, which leaves me contemplating making something myself, which could be disastrous!
What to do?
What would you do??

Labeling the Trash

2010-10-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, not really the trash, but the recycling. Since my parents and Hubby's parents come and stay with us periodically, and we have very helpful friends, all who try to clean up after themselves, I was pretty often finding trash and recycling all mixed in together.
So:

I took some gold vinyl letters (the kind you use on a mailbox) leftover from a project from our wedding (being a crazy pack-rat pays off!) and labeled the recycling bins. And VOILA! No more mix ups!

Back from Istanbul!

2010-10-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
We've just returned from a wonderful 11 day trip to Istanbul. I'm still a bit jet-lagged (meaning disorganized), so I'll sort through my 500-odd photos in the next couple of days and get a post up!
Here are a couple of shots for now that sort of epitomize the new/old juxstaposition all over Istanbul that is part of what makes it such a wonderful place!

Click on them to see them full size to get the full effect!

Fall Fluffing- Warming up the Sun porch

2010-09-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

So practically moments after I wrote in my last post that I was going to hold onto summer as long as I could, I went ahead and started changing things up out on the sun porch.
The weather's been getting chilly around here, so it needed to be warmed up if I was going to keep spending time out there! So I went and changed out the curtains, swapped out some throw pillows and accessories, and added a whole bunch of throw blankets!
Without further ado...
Before:

After:

Don't you think that little bit of fur on the chair makes it so much cozier? (Thanks Toby! :)

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Accessories:

I brought out some velvet and micro-fiber floor pillows in warm colors. A slice of apple wood that I'm waiting to dry out so I can make something with it adds nice texture to the foot stool. A large copper bowl from India hold a candle that makes the bowl glow when it is lit.

Extra candles, of course! And I imagine Hubby and myself sitting down to an impromptu game of backgammon after work, drink in hand... I suppose that would be much more likely to happen if I actually looked up how to play it! (I knew how to play when I was, like, 10- why can't I remember?!)

And while it's very difficult to see in the photograph, I brought in some more of the dried Queen Anne's Lace that I used on the mantle to use out here as well.

So that's my Fall Fluff of the Sun porch!

Now if only Toby would stay in place!

Citizen Hubby- a Table Setting

2010-09-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hey All!
Earlier this week Hubby became a US citizen! He was one of the 5000+ that were at Fenway the other day. He said it was horribly disorganized- everyone filed down through ONE exit, divided into just TWO groups for check-in- insane! But that's not my point today, today I want to show you the little party I threw for him.

It was just the two of us (it was a Tuesday night!), and I broke out some of the pieces I'd used for the Hoedown Party we had for our birthdays. (look, I remembered to take pictures of them this time!)

The tablecloth is just a length of fabric that I never got around to actually turning into curtains (for an apartment we lived in almost 7 years ago!). I turned bandannas into placemats, and layered on top my HomeGoods plates, Christmas Tree Shop monogrammed napkins, crystal dessert plates (also HomeGoods), and glasses from Pier One with champagne flutes from... either Filene's Basement or TjMaxx!

A mish-mash of sparkly and patriotic things serve as a centerpiece. Or maybe I should say a backdrop...

Because really, the pie was the centerpiece! Because of COURSE we had to have apple pie!

This is a GREAT recipe. Super easy, nice thick, syrupy center... I do a few things different:
1) I bake the bottom crust for about 10 minutes before adding the apples.
2) I add a teaspoon of cinnamon.
3) I pour the sauce over the apples, then brush a little onto the top crust.
YUM!

And for dinner?

Hot dogs and baked beans! I know, not the most gourmet, but pretty American! (with little Ode to Boston thrown in!)
Add a little champagne, and VOILA!

A cute, patriotic table to celebrate the NEW Citizen Hubby!

Now head on over to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch to check out all the other tablescapes going on!

Mantle Decor- Channeling "Out of Africa"

2010-09-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

After watching Out of Africa (for about the 12th time) the other day, I got to feeling that it was time for a change in mantle decor. So I took down all the blue glass and sea shells I've had up for the last month or so, and began hunting the house.

I started by polishing up Nana's old silver tea tray (a bit of a chore since the thing is rather pitted!) and scraping the wax off the crystal candle sticks.

(Oh my god, I just noticed there's a hand print way up on the mirror! How it got there I have no idea, that's about 7 feet off the ground!)
Then I pulled out some animal print votive holders a friend gave me for Christmas last year, and a snake print candle I've had kicking around since college! I'm not quite sure how that thing made it through the 5 or 6 moves I've made since then when I'd never used it, but I'm glad now that it did!

I filled in the lower level with some wooden elephants from my collection, and a stamp a friend brought us back from a trip to China:

It's some sort of carved stone, not sure what kind, but light shines through it, which is really pretty. The bottom is carved with the characters that spell our last name, or so I'm told! I think it's a very cool thing, but I need to find someone who can read it to verify that it isn't actually some profanity!

To add a little height to the display I headed out to my field thinking I'd find some seeded out grass and tie a bunch together with a pretty ribbon. Somehow, though, I couldn't find any! I was a little disappointed, but figured since I was out there I may as well go for a walk and see if I could find a substitution. (Ok, so really it was the dog that insisted on the walk!) And look what I found!

The moment I stopped looking for the grass and just started looking at the field, I noticed all this absolutely gorgeous dried Queen Anne's Lace! I love how sculptural it is- it looks almost like an Acacia tree out on the Serengeti!

I love when things just work out like that, don't you?

So there's my Out of Africa inspired mantle! Happily it coincides (and coordinates!) with the beginning of feeling like I need to change things over for fall. I'm trying to resist that feeling since it's going to be a long time before I can pull out the summer things again! I should probably refocus that energy into refinishing the kitchen table, since we're going to be needing it again soon!
I'm linking up to Artie's Vingette Friday over at Color Outside the Lines, so head on over there to see other pretty things people are putting together!

Birthday Hoedown

2010-09-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

Since Hubby's birthday falls the day after mine (and now Tembo's is two days before!), we (I) usually take it as an excuse for a nice big party! This year I decided to have a hoedown- give everyone a chance to get dressed up in funny clothes and maybe do a little square dancing.
Unfortunately, Hubby was in charge of photos while I ran around hostessing, so there's not a single shot of the decor! I'll check around with everyone else to see if they have one, but in the meantime here are a few great shots of the friends and family all dressed up and having fun!

Hubby, his mummy, and Tembo- who really looks in photos like he should have been named Gromit (as in Wallace and Gromit!)

Me and Hubby. (I'm trying to convince him he needs to dress like this all the time- hot dang!)

My sister-in-law and her daughter, Lana.

Hubby's brother and my nephew, Dylan, who totally knows what to do with that cowboy hat!

He also had fun with the bandanna stash he found!

Mummy teaching Lana her first sentence, "I want a puppy!"

The too-cool guys (by brother and my sister's boyfriend.)

My BFF and her husband (she looked super cute, but somehow I only have this rather unflattering photo- sorry girl!!)

The Lone Ranger, err, Mom's husband. Not sure how he ended up over there by himself, maybe he felt bad that we'd lugged all that furniture out there and no one was sitting in it!

Happy family on the swing.

The babies having fun.

My and my (other) sister breaking in on the baby fun.

Even Toby got in on the theme! Doesn't he look pleased with his outfit?...

Tembo had so much dirty fun that he got banished outside until I got a chance to clean him off! I don't think he minded, though, more dirt!!

Big Dog, Short Furniture

2010-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

It took Tembo, our 80 lb. three foot tall dog about an hour of creeping after a chew toy to wiggle himself under the 12 1/4 inch coffee table.

I suspected that getting him back out would involve either broken glasses, or moving furniture... I decided moving the furniture was the easier choice!

Kitchen Reveal (Phase 2ish...)

2010-07-20T19:32:00.001-07:00

BEFORE:
A little over a month ago I began another round of renovations in the kitchen. Well, more makeover than reno, but still a lot of work for a gal on her own, on a budget and a short schedule!

BEFORE:
The goal was to brighten everything up in there- with the dark floor, counter, walls and woodwork the first thing out of most visitors' mouths was, "Where's the lightswitch?"

AFTER:
Not anymore!

Last week a new visitor came in and said, "Oh, you're house is so cute!"

People familiar with the old kitchen go with, "WOW!"

Either way, I'm pretty pleased with myself!

I love the way it turned out!

While I had the table out of the kitchen I decided to leave it out there in the garage until I got around to refinishing it (there was some pretty bad damage to the top.) To fill in the spot I brought the love seat in from the living room, as well as the trunk I'd been using as a coffee table.

I'm actually loving having a couch in the kitchen! Since the dining table is right there, and the weather has been so accommodating for eating on the deck we really don't miss the table at all. And it's kind of nice to have a comfy place to hang out with whoever is cooking! Though, I'm sure we'll want it back once the weather turns cold again!

So how did I do it all, you ask? Pretty much as you'd imagine:

Clean like crazy, and sand everything down:

Clean up all the dust, then prime everything at least once.

Once everything is whited out and you can actually see what colors look like, make final color decisions.

I painted the walls first in Benjamin Moore's Mascarpone, then the cupboard interiors in Ben Moore's Light Mint, and then the cabinet bases and doors in Valspar's Ultra/Anthem White. I rolled and brushed the cabinet bases, and sprayed the doors with my handy-dandy Porter-Cable spray gun.

I would have loved to do a Ben Moore on the cabinets as well since the paint is so much nicer to work with, but their whites were too grey! When everything was dry I re-hung the cabinet doors that were going back up (I wanted to leave open shelving both to show off my pretty things and to open things up in there a bit!), attached the old hardware, and was done!

TA-DA!

So what do you think, did I accomplish "brighter"? I think so! And I even finished ahead of schedule- 5 whole hours before Hubby's parents arrived from India!
Now to do something about those floors and counters... ha ha!
Now head on over to Susan's place at Between Naps on the Porch to see what fab things everyone else in Blogland has been up to!

Elegant Dog Dishes- DIY

2010-06-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

It seems like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? Dog dishes, elegant? No...
Well, while shopping for a nice looking raised bowl for our new large dog, I found a few very attractive options on www.ohmydogsupplies.com. (Gotta love the name, huh?)
I thought these bowls were simply stunning, and perfect for the look I'm going for in my kitchen makeover!

But the prices ($49.95 for the 5", $87.95 for the 9.5", and $129.95 for 13.25") were pretty stunning, too! Even I couldn't justify that much. (I know, because tried...)

I also quite liked this somewhat more reasonably priced option:

But for $44.95-$73.95, it was still a bit more than I wanted to spend. $59.95 for the 9.25 inch red one was awfully tempting, though!

Me being me, however, I of course though to myself, "I bet I could make something like that for way less..." So, a-shopping I went!

First I found this stainless steal bowl at Walmart for I think $4.44. (it was $4.something)

With that tapered bottom and generous lip, it was like it was designed to hang inside of something! So I bought that and headed over to Home Goods to see if they had a pretty pot it might sit inside of.

Lo and behold, I found this 12" tall beauty:

For $16.99! And that Walmart bowl sits inside it like they were made for each other!

It's the perfect height for Tembo:

And even Toby gets up on his tiptoes and drinks from it!

So maybe my version isn't quite as ornate as the OhMyDog version,

But for a savings of $108.52, I like mine just fine!!

Total fancy dog bowl cost: $21.43. YAHOO!!

Free DIY Bud Vase

2010-06-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

For probably two years now, I've been shopping for a couple of nice bud vases. With my burgeoning garden, I have more opportunities to bring in just one or two little flowers than I do to make a whole bouquet, but for some reason I've been SUPER picky. The last three trips to Brimfield I've been really looking for cute bed vases in crystal, or silver color, or even a pink, green or blue glass. I certainly saw lots, but they were either not the right shape to actually hold a flower (anyone else notice that tulip-shaped vases seemed designed to kill flowers?), or too much money, or I don't know what. So there I was, entering into another cut-flower season, still with no bud vase. Any my new hybrid tea roses were just crying out to be brought in since they were wilting within hours of the sun rising!

And then just the other day, I was cleaning out the cupboards in the kitchen when I hit upon some old herbs in jars. Dried herbs in 4 inch tall, thin glass jars... And as I was thinking what a waste to chuck those in the recycling bin, when I thought "ah HA!"
I peeled off those labels, ran out, clipped a few flowers, and stuck them in there!

Sure, if you get up close you can tell what they are. And they certainly aren't what I'd pick out if I were shopping for them...

But for free, I think they're pretty darn cute!

And they really are just right for just one or two blooms on a short stem, which is what I usually have! So now I have a couple of perfectly proportioned vases to hold me over until I find some real ones- maybe at Brimfield in July?

Random other garden news:

I have a zucchini!!

Blackstone Heritage State Park

2010-06-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today Hubby and I decided to make the most of the sunshine and headed out for a little nature walk with Tembo. (Tembo, formerly known as Marley, was named after a baby elephant in the John Wayne movie Hatari!, which is a GREAT movie!) We headed down south to the Blackstone Heritage State Park, which I hadn't been to before. Hubby thinks he's been there before, but I told him if even after going he's not sure, then it doesn't count!

Unfortunately, just a few minutes before we arrived thunder clouds began forming, and were looking rather ominous by the time we got out of the car! One of the park rangers was driving around on a golf cart warning people that there were thunder storms with strong winds and heavy rains expected to come through in 10-15 minutes!

Well, I was hardly dressed for rain since it was 90 degrees and humid, but the sun was still peeking through in spots, so we decided to see a bit of the trail before the rain started really coming down!
There was a nice carriage trail running along the river, with loads of flowers and flowering shrubs growing along it. The path was warm, but the trees shaded it in places so we had a chance to cool off!
(Photo from website.) There is a canoe put-in right by the visitor center, and since there was very little motion to the water (see all that pollen floating on it in the previous picture? It wasn't moving,) I imagine it would be a nice, easy paddle!

If you head over the bridge to the left it's a short walk to the end of the path where there is access to a part of the river that is much cleaner. I decided to let Tembo dip his feet and get a drink to cool off, but was careful not to let him get in too deep so we wouldn't be driving home with a wet dog.

Unfortunately, Tembo had other ideas!

I let him in ankle-deep, and he promptly laid down! Oh well, at least we'd brought the dog towel with us!

Seeing as he was already thoroughly wet, I decided to let him have a little fun! Shortly thereafter another ranger came by to warn us that the torrential rains were imminent, so we high-tailed it back to the car and headed home!

I forgot to take pictures of it all, but there were fields to play in, a series of trails to hike, and tens of picnic tables scattered across the lawn and in the woods. We only got to spend about half an hour there today, but we'll definitely be heading back another day!

Commencing Kitchen Makeover: Phase 1

2010-06-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Err... actually, I guess this is sort of phase 2 already, since I have painted in there once. But this is the REAL makeover, not just a stop-gap!

Here's where my kitchen is now (more or less, I've done a few things since this shot was taken!)

Dark red oak cabinets, dark reddish counters, dark reddish linoleum floors... all in all way too dark! Despite the patio doors and double window I need the lights on in there pretty much all the time!
I know I want to paint the cabinets white, and brighten up the walls. Ideally (at some point!) I would love to replace the counters with butcher block (sort of impractical, but I LOVE them!), and run the same wood floor we installed in our dining room through the kitchen as well.

In a great flurry of "must get started!" last weekend I ran out and got a couple color samples to see what my idea might look like. That one white cabinet looks so funny! (Don't worry, that door is coming down, so I can test on it without worrying about messing it up!)

I also know I want to turn some of the cabinets into open shelving and paint the interiors an accent color.

But what color exactly? Well, not the one I just put up there! Something a little more green, I think. I've got all the chips stuck up around my giant iron trivet, since that's one thing I'm pretty sure I want to stay in the room!
Here are a few of the inspiration pics I'm working from:

This one from Better Homes and Gardens has the sort of glam-cottage feel I want. I love the colors, though I don't know if I'll do that green on the walls, or just inside the cabinets.

Not sure where I got this shot from, but I LOOOOOOVE those counters! And the white combined with the wood and the tarnished silver... ooh yeah...

How can you not love Brooke's kitchen from Velvet and Linen? Both in this incarnation, and the update! So light and airy! She's also made great use of different textures. Lots to be inspired by here!

And then I kind of like these two 50's looking ones from coastal living.

I'm seriously contemplating spraying my fridge a minty-blue color!

This is something like I'm hoping my doorless cabinets might look with a little trim added on. (I think this shot was also from Coastal Living.)

And finally, I would love to put some kind of sparkly mother-of-pearl backsplash up like this one. I think a full backsplash is well out of my current budget, but I'm thinking I could do something above the stove and sink at least! (again, lost the source on this photo, let me know if you know who should get credit!)
That doesn't exhaust my inspiration file, in the least, but I think these shots give the best taste what I'm going for.
Stay tuned to see what I end up doing next!

Pretties from the Garden

2010-06-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Some garden pictures from the last two weeks:

Really cool, structural Iris- what kind is this one, Mom? (it was a transfer from her garden!)

Stella D'Oro Lily, smells wonderful!

A couple varieties of Peonies- the white fragrant ones bloomed last week, and these pink ones are EXPLODING this week! (Do you see the dog peeking out the door?)

I've been cutting them and bringing them in and they're holding up wonderfully!

Fun in this centerpiece I picked up at Brimfield this spring.

And here with another bouquet from the garden with the Siberian Iris, Ladies' Mantle, Liatrus, Lemon Bee Balm, and foliage from the yet-to-bloom Giant Phlox (World Peace, I think.) From here:

And here:

There are a few plants in that picture that I can't remember what they are... specifically that short one at the center top. Anyone know? (picture should get pretty big if you click on it!)

The Blaze Rose isn't looking terribly happy after a mid-spring transplant, but it did give me its first flower! Yay! (Except that all the attention to that area seems to be really encouraging those weeds- I pulled them less than two days ago!)

And the new Hybrid Tea Rose looks pretty happy!

Toby likes all the new mulch...

Happy window boxes on the deck:

We have strawberries!

And, umm, I think we're going to have zucchini...

That thing grows fast! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way!

We Got a Puppy DOG!!!!

2010-05-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

We are the proud new parents of quite possibly the cutest and sweetest dog on the entire face of the earth!!

Marley (we might change that- how many Marley's are there out there right now?) came from Save A Dog, which is a fabulous organization based in Sudbury, MA. They treat their dogs really well, follow a holistic approach to their health and give them lots of outdoor playtime. The dogs come into the main shelter periodically, but spend most of their time at foster homes all over the state.
We picked Marley up after work tonight. He came into the house and proceeded to spend about an hour sniffing all over the first floor (he's not sure what to do with the stairs yet!) When he'd sniffed to his content he found a comfy spot and flopped down!

I made dinner (hotdogs- we were short on time!) and he came in to investigate, but didn't try to steal anything.
When we sat down on the couch to eat , Marley spent about 20 seconds like this:

Realized he wasn't getting any food, made a quick inspection of the beverages:

And then curled right back up on the rug until we finished eating!

Not bad for 9 months old!
He's a Lab and Great Pyrenees mix, a pretty big guy at 64 pounds!

Definitely looks like a combination of the two! (That spot on his tail is an allergic reaction to Frontline. We'll need to find an alternative to that!)
He did really well on our first walk, not showing any inclination to pull on the leash at all, which is great!

He's sooo puurrrrty...

How could you not love that face? We already do!! : )

A Swing Made for Two (or three, if you squish)

2010-05-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I got a swing for our back yard last weekend! We have an adorable picture of his parents sitting on a similar swing at our vacation place in Maine:

And when I couldn't find any adirondack chairs that were tall enough for the elder generation to get in and out of, I though this might be the perfect solution! We tested out a couple set up at Lowes, and the North Haven 3 person Swing was pretty darn comfortable! So we waited around about 45 minutes while someone fetched it down and helped load it into the Sportwagon, then drove it home. Then, actually, we stuck it in the garage because it was Monday and we weren't going to have time to put it together until the weekend!

But when the weekend rolled around, we loaded it up onto the wheelbarrow, wheeled it into the back and started the set up!

The instructions said it was supposed to take half an hour to set up.

But after I saw this:

I knew that we were in for a lot longer than half an hour! It ended up taking us a little over an hour, which seems from the comments on the website like it might be a new record! This is where we were at about the 30 minute point, which was a little less than half way finished.

The frame went together perfectly. A couple bolts were a little hard to get in place, but a full-sized wrench did the job. The seat was a different issue since the center joint, which comes connected, wasn't welded exactly in the right place. That bar actually bent every so slightly as we attached the arms and tightened everything down, but that seems the way with all things Lowes (and generally all things mass assembled!)

The only other problem we had putting it together was that the locking mechanism on one side of the canopy doesn't align quite perfectly, with the result that it sits slightly skewed. See that ripple in the top? Not supposed to be there. But I figure if we add a rubber washer to that side then it should sit right!

Even with the imperfections, Hubby says it's pretty comfy! And I've already wasted an hour or two down there with a book on a sunny afternoon!

It's a pretty good spot for lazing away an afternoon!

Second Annual Derby Party

2010-05-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

How is it that I've just now realized that I never actually blogged about the Derby party last year?! Oops... Anyhoo, this year's was great!
I prayed and prayed for good weather, and boy did I get it! In fact, it was so warm that I sent Mom and Hubby out an hour before the party to buy an umbrella for the porch!

I learned a lot from last year's party and made things so much easier for myself this year!
Last year I thought I'd be cute and accommodating to a variety of tastes by putting out ingredients for a few drinks along with recipes as horse blankets for decoration:

I also kept the bar clear and pretty by putting the beer in a cooler out on the porch. The result was that I spent about 90% of the party directing people to the beer and mixing drinks. When I pointed out the bar and the many options people would choose one and say, "Oh that sounds good, could you make me one of those?" Not the best way to spend a party! So this year :

Beer went in a bucket right on the bar, and I premixed a HUGE batch of mint juleps and put it in a help-yourself dispenser in the sunroom! (Which I actually forgot to take a picture of, but it was this one.)

It was great! Except for the part where people got a little sloppy and spilled the super-sugary drinks all over my newly painted floor! Oh well, I'd rather spend a few hours mopping later on for the opportunity to enjoy my own party!

The other thing I did to make it easier on myself was to order in KFC as the main dish. All the appetizers, side dishes and dessert were home-made, but fried chicken for 20-30 people would have been WAY too much work! And you know what? People LOVED it! I don't know if everyone was just a little more tipsy than usual from the easy access to the alcohol, but there were actual shouts of , "Aww, yeah KFC!" Perfect!

In fact, the dinner table was ravaged so quickly that I didn't get a picture! But weren't the appetizers pretty?
Everyone who came got into the spirit with pretty dresses and some great hats!

Last year's winner of the hat contest reworked her hat in a gift-wrap theme for this year.

Hat and snacks all in one!

The babies all looked adorable, though none were too fond of wearing their hats!

But they were fond of each other, which was pretty darn cute!

This hat had a surprise in the back:

And here's me:

Since I can't win my own contest I just bought one. Hey, I had enough work getting the house ready! It came from Dahlia World on ebay.
This year's hat contest winner, by a long shot, was this home-made masterpiece of feathers, pearls, stones, flowers and ribbons:

Which you can see much better here:

Pretty incredible, huh?
All in all people seemed to have a pretty good time.

The stairs and bridge got used.

Even the babies had fun!

Well, most of the babies...

Though one of my personal favorite moments was when someone pointed out that Hubby and a friend of his were hanging out on the porch of our shed, which we have affectionately dubbed "the Dollhouse":

Why? I still have no idea! It was pretty funny, though. And really, what's a party without a few moments of crazy?
I can't wait for next year's!

We Have Deck Stairs!

2010-05-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Previously the second story deck off our kitchen had no exit. If you wanted to get down to the backyard you had to come back into the house and either go through the basement (so cheery), or out the front door and walk all the way around the house. Who planned that?!
Well, not any more!!
Now you can go out the slider from the kitchen or sunroom,

down the new stairs

and there you are right in the yard (Our sad, sad, two level, totally un-landscaped back yard.. Lot's more work needs to be done here...)

So much better... It even gave us a much better place for our composting barrel! (It used to be at the front of the house by the garage entrance.) Bonus!

The interesting thing is that the contractor didn't bother with a poured cement base for the uprights. He said that since our yard is almost pure sand (true) that we didn't need to worry about frost heaving since the ground won't hold enough water to freeze anyway, so the supports don't need to go so deep.

He pretty much dug a hole, stuck in a cement block and used that as the base.
If that really is all that needs to be done for a base, then putting in a lower level deck at the foot of the stairs is going to be way easier than I thought it would be. Which is great, because I can TOTALLY do that myself! Ok, well not all by myself, I'll need at least one burly man to help with the heavy lifting... but by brother already volunteered himself and possibly one other fireman buddy for the price of beer and pizza! SWEET!

Sunroom Makeover!

2010-05-11T11:23:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone!
I know it's been awhile since I posted a teaser picture about my sunroom re-do, but there's been a lot going on!
Cutting straight to the point, here is the evolution:
Before we moved in:

(At inspection:)

Before (with our stuff and new chandelier):

Middle: (Slapped up some yellow paint, made new curtains)

I must not have been particularly impressed with the color right off since this was one of the only photos I could find!
And...
AFTER:

YES!

Ok, for those of you that want details, keep reading. If you just want more eye candy, scroll down!

The first step was to rip out that awful acoustic tile:

Underneath we found this:

And a roof!

Well that answers my question about whether the sunporch was original to the house, or an addition! Hubby pulled down all those cross bars that the tiles had been stapled to, and I set to spraying all that wood!

We used the Porter-Cable PSH1 Gravity Feed Spray Gun on all the vertical surfaces (the beams and walls), and rolled the ceiling, using the sprayer to blend the corners.

Boy am I glad we decided to work from the top down, because paint dust got everywhere! (Nice sunset, though, huh?)
It took 3 or 4 coats (the 4th was a touch-up) to keep the wood from showing through.

I used one coat of Olympic VOC free primer and 2.5 coats of Du Jour by Valspar.
Next up was that rug!

Eww! I can't tell you how badly I've been wanting to rip that out since the second I laid eyes on it!

Seeing how much filth is always under wall-to-wall carpets makes me hate them even more! But I was thrilled at the condition of the ply-wood underneath!

I know, an odd thing to be thrilled about. But new flooring isn't in the current budget, so I was counting on being able to paint it, and the floor under the dining room rug had been all warped and splintered.

But this was perfect!
Next up was painting the walls:

I custom mixed two paints for this color, about 40% Lettuce Alone by Olympic with 60%(ish) DuJour by Valspar. Two coats, no primer (I was getting lazy!) I also was afraid to wait for warm weather any longer, so the paint kept sagging because the walls were so cold!

Nothing a little diligence and a few touch-ups couldn't save, though!

Then came the floor paint, which Hubby thought should be as light as possible to keep things nice and bright in there. We used Chowder in Valspar's Porch and Floor paint. (Which, in hind sight, I should have objected to more strenuously. I loved the idea, but Oh! The mess from drippy mint juleps and muddy feet at the Derby party!!)
And I know I took pictures... I definitely did... I remember having trouble with the glare... but I can't find them...
So we'll move right on to the finished product:

Ta Da!
You may have noticed that I painted all the brown wicker a nice clean white:

(A project made easy with my new spray gun!)
I managed to finish my first slip-cover in time to get the couch out!

Although if I were buying the fabric now rather than using the $1/yard stuff I got at Walmart like 6 years ago, I would have picked heaver weight so it wouldn't wrinkle so much! Oh well, live and learn, it's certainly better than it was before!
Mom did a super-speedy slip for the matching chair the day before the party, and look how cute it is! (All that experience makes a difference, I guess!)

She even managed to eek enough leftover from the Laura Ashley print I'd bought to recover the wicker cushions to make a complimentary back pillow!

You can see the old fabric on the wicker loveseat here:

The colors were fine, but they're starting to wear through on the edges. I swapped the trunk we were using before as a coffee table on the porch with the glass one in the living room.

I love the way it reflects the light and the trees!

I did another leftover paint mix to paint the old side-table light blue (it was one of those horrid oak folding things.) It works great for the TV that normally lives upstairs in the guest room!

A candle-ier in each corner for some mood lighting. (oops, forgot to move the mint julep jug!)

Love this one my sister got me, it's so pretty!
A few accessories for pops of color, like the rippled throw from Cynthia Rowley:

And the pillow to match. A blue glass candle holder for a little variety... and of course some light reading material!

But of course the real highlight of the porch is the view:

Which I've had very little to do with! Even the cat likes it!

Well, that was a LONG post! I hope you all enjoyed the makeover- I know we certainly are!!

Powerwashing the Deck

2010-04-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

In a desperate attempt to avoid being suckered into raking the back yard (have I mentioned how awful it looks back there? No? I must be trying to avoid thinking about it...) Hubby showed up on Saturday morning with a power washer and a determination to wash the deck.

Which, to be honest, needed it. This photo is from the freak hail storm we had last July, over this winter that green moldy spot under the table had gained quite a bit of ground! So while I would have preferred leaf removal to deck cleaning, I figured it would be good to be rid of the green slime. It was a little slippery...
I had NO IDEA what a difference the power washer would make! Hubby did a quick test patch and I immediately grabbed the camera:

Do you see that?! That beautiful brown spot next to him, amidst the sea of grey? That's what the power washer does!

To the whole deck!

It takes awhile (there's a reason they rent it in 4 hour increments!)

But, WOW, what a difference! It looks like wood again! As you might imagine, we immediately ran back out and got some Thomspon's Water Seal to add a layer of protection against future mold. Unfortunately, with so much rain in the forecast we were advised against doing it today, but it's on standby for the next sunny 48 hour stretch!
Yay for pretty decks!