Spray paint mania and sneak peek

Good morning and happy Monday...I must say, I am on cloud 9 today. It was a great weekend! We had a family dinner on Saturday night to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. We had an adult-only dinner and it was so much fun to spend time with everyone.

The weather finally turned and we had highs in the 70s with no humidity and it's going to stick for the next few days. I have a project in the works that may manifest now that the weather is cooperating. And....it was the first Sunday night that I didn't spend picking out kids' clothes and setting out school bags for them--and for me! Yay for summer.

We did some spray painting this weekend and I was super excited about the items I had to paint. A few of them are accents that will go on a built-in bookshelf in my nephew's bedroom! His bookshelf is white, so you will see that these accents will POP.

A few befores....of course, Charlie wanted in on the fun.

An old brass thingy my mom gave me that needed an update...

I bought these birds at the flea market for $1.

Even some Matchbox cars were in the crosshairs...along with a little green box Charlie painted.

We got started. I forgot to snap a pic of this little guy before...it's a frame for a globe.

The paint I got was a gloss green...I didn't know it was gloss until I started using it, but it looks really cool! The birds got a coat of white paint and I hung them in my kitchen.

And I know you're dying to see the Matchbox cars....I really thought he would inundate them with paint, but I love the effect he was going for. : ) My little DIYer.

I haven't put away my spray paint next....I have another project going and I am hoping it looks good when I'm finished!

Out back

I thought I would share some pictures of our back patio this morning. It is rather humble, I will admit.....but at least there is nowhere to go but up! : )

This is the first time in our new house (we've been here for just two years now) that I have tried to angle the table to make room for the chair, footstool and small table. I like to go out there after the kids are in bed and read a magazine. Also, new to the back porch this year is the rug and umbrella. The back of our house faces west, so it can be sweltering back there. I bought the umbrella to give us a bit of shade. The rug is from our old house and it had been just sitting in the basement....so I thought I'd pull it out and sophisticate the space a bit.

I also was super excited to find a mandevilla plant on sale at the garden store. It was 40% off, plus another 20% off. (I think mandevillas are so expensive!) I'll share more about that plant another day....

Pictured here is our playset that we inherited when we bought the house and the kids' water table. Plus dog.

To be honest, a patio reno is on The List (you know, the one that never ends). On my wish list for the patio....a nice big paver patio with some great plantings around it. I'd also like a shaded area for part of it. Fire pit. Also, an arbor for me to grow some pretty vines. We'll get there. ; )

Thwarting nature

I discovered a few days ago that something is eating my back patio containers. I would never begrudge a woodland creature a meal, but it does tee me off a little bit when they chomp off plants that I've spent my hard-earned caaaszh buying.

Here is what I noticed....

You can see from this plant label what my petunias are supposed to look like.

Here is what my ornamental grass is supposed to look like.

Solution? I wrapped some garden netting around them. I am hoping this will deter the animals until the plants get big enough and do not taste like baby salad greens to them.



If it's successful, then I'll be happy because the netting and twist ties are not the most aethetically pleasing thing to see when I look out my back window! ; )

The strangest thing to me is that no other pot, container or plant in my garden has been nibbled...but these two have been munched on. The petunias have been eaten down to the soil!

I did snap a picture of the top of my ornamental grass. I think this is too cool! The plant is called Egyptian Papyrus 'King Tut.'

The garden store also had a dwarf variety that could look really cool in a small container planting. If it looks as good at the end of the season, it will make my list for sure.

Here's hoping those critters leave my plants alone now....

What's in bloom?

Whew....it has been a fast and furious few weeks here. We took two weekend trips, two weekends in a row. First off to the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend....

Then, we traveled to Huntingtong, W. Va. for a family trip to take in the sights of my husband's and in-law's hometown.

In the meantime, my last day of school with students was yesterday. Woo hoo! Today I am going in to put away the rest of my room and then I am outta there. So, my blog has suffered a bit from all of that craziness, but lucky for you, it's summertime and I've got lots of things going on around the house...: )

What's in bloom right now? Perennials, baby! I've got some annuals going, but they are just starting up and not ready to show off quite yet.

The first pic is a daisy variety called 'Crazy Daisy.' I really prefer the tall daisy 'Becky,' but it's way too big for my front garden. This low-growing variety works great in that spot and I think all of these plants were free with a coupon at a garden store!

Next up, yarrow.

I have had a long love affair with yarrow. I planted a bunch of it at our old house. It is the easiest plant, I swear. It likes it hot and dry. My kind of plant! I also used to like that it bloomed "first," although now I have other things that bloom before this. :) My variety is called something "apricot," but it looks more red in the pic.

Here are some pretty hosta blooms. These hostas were transplanted just this spring.

Typically, the hostas bloom later in the summer. I personally prefer hostas without the blooms--I chop them off, I think it detracts from the plant and usually I put them somewhere where I don't want tall flowers. These flowers I cut and put in a vase inside. I do think these flowers are pretty with the white against the green.

Last....Asiatic lilies. I love these flowers. They are so easy!

I like these blooms with the maroon and almost black in the petals.  I have another variety that isn't blooming yet.

As you can see, things are hot and heavy in the garden here....

Office before and after!

In the last several months, I have had many house projects that have manifested in our office. As the projects have come together, I wanted to share the room's humble beginnings and what we have today.

As I have mentioned in my blog, our house's previous owners were a corporate transfer and so most of the house had been repainted by the relocation company in a very bland peachy off-white.

This paint color has become my nemesis. I seek to eradicate it from our home.

Before....

We had some nice furniture to work with and some items that needed to stay. My main inspiration was an Oriental-style rug that had black, maroon and taupe as its main colors. From the rug, I chose a taupe color for the walls.

This did wonders for warming up the room. Along the way, we added black fabric cornices:

I created a gallery wall with a variety of art and memorabilia pieces from around the house. This photo shows how I figured out the placement of the frames.

I reupholstered and repainted a chair:

And my favorite piece in the room? A $10 Goodwill end table that got a brushed nickel spray paint finish. I could not pass up the shape and wanted a shot of metallic in the room.

The finished product? A cozy room that we enjoy spending time in....plus a comfy leather chair and ottoman that my inlaws passed on to us. Both dog and husband have been known to nap in that chair.

Here is the chair....and the afters.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. A lot of design ideas I've had have come to light in this room. I've played a lot with mixing patterns--like the Oriental rug, leopard print throw and black/gold print on the chair. I've mixed some old furniture with some new ideas (like the metallic table). It's also the first time I've incorporated black into any of my rooms.

Of course, there are still improvements to be made. I'd like to add some long curtains under the cornices, as well as add something to a blank wall opposite the chair. I'm thinking of a huge mirror leaning against the wall...but it does take time to get the right things in the right place (and for the right price, if ya know what I mean!!). And see the cool old radio above that is pretty cool, but missing something? We'll get there.

For now, I'm happy to have a few mostly finished rooms. I'm pretty sure as soon as I finish up the other rooms, I'll need some more projects, you get? : )

Book of plant labels

 I've always been somewhat Type A when it comes to things around the house. A few years ago, I had an epiphany.

About what?

Plant labels. The little plastic labels that come with the plant when you buy them. In addition to being Type A, I am also really into gardening. I like to say it was was my first "home love." And because I am a gardening nerd, I actually save all of those little labels because I want to know how big the plant will get or what the Latin or varietal name is. It's also helpful if you have three of one kind of plant....and then one dies and you have to replace it. Unless Iwant a different sized plant or a different bloom color, I have to make sure I get the same variety.

(Confession: I really do know the Latin names of most of the plants in my landscape. Lamb's ear? Stachys. Virginia sweetspire? Itea. Yarrow? Alchillea. Bee balm? Monarda.)

See? If you haven't been reading my blog long and had not yet been convinced of my nerdiness, I am sure you are now. Or perhaps the following will be the killing blow....

So...as I kept all of these plant labels, I had no idea how to organize them. I decided on a three-ring binder and I chose business card-size page protectors. Check it out....

I like it because you can see the picture on one side and the other side is also clear, so you can read the back without taking it out. I do have tabbed dividers that section them out into these categories: Annuals, Perennials, Trees/Shrubs, Herbs.

I also have one called "Eagle Creek Notables." This is where I put the tags of plants I liked that we had at our old house, but have not planted at our new house.

Also, I sometimes write other info on the plant tag with a Sharpie, such as where I planted it and what year.

I also bought a zippered case that fits in the binder. I keep my gardening receipts in there....so if I have a plant that does not make it, I can take my receipt back to get a new one. Most of the garden nurseries around here will guarantee a shrub or tree for a year.

 

I also like being able to keep tags of annuals, so I can remember what kind I bought if I ever want to get them again. The plant breeders are coming out with so many new varieties. The below pic shows my front step plant choices from last year.....

And this year....

 I'll post more later on how I choose the plant combinations.

See? Totally nerdy. But at least I have a really cool plant tag book.

Bookshelf details

I can't believe it is the week before Memorial Day weekend....this year is flying by! I so excited for this weekend (more on that later). I think of this time right before the end of the school is kind of like the build-up to Christmas.....sometimes the anticipation of Christmas and/or summer vacation is just as good as the actual thing!

We had a great weekend...I took Charlie out to my mom and dad's lake cabin and we did some fishing! The weather was great and it really felt like summer. I didn't want to come home on Sunday....: )

Here are some pics of the details up close of our bookshelves. This first picture shows the little can lights at the top of our bridge piece over the television.

Next, the picture ledge over the television. This idea we also stole from the IKEA room where we got the idea. I like changing out the photos when we get new ones made of the kids and that is Charlie's artwork, which can also be changed out.

The candid shot in the center is one of my favorites of my children! Here is the magazine shelf. We have one on each side of the TV (check it out here). I love these shelves because the covers are so artful and it's a unique way to display the covers. I am definitely a magazine-aholic!

Fred likes Time and VF...and the rest are mine. The other side of the TV has all of my favorite home dec magazines.

Last, some pics of the overhead lights. We bought these at IKEA. They look so library-like and I love the way the room looks with just the lights on. They throw off enough light  onto the floor that you don't have to have the other lights on, unless you are reading or something.

All of the lights are on timers. I love timers. I think I must have about 10 timers going during the holidays!

Hope you are having a great week!