In Case Four Blogs Weren't Enough. . .

It has been a bit of a joke around here that I haven't got a lot of focus.  This collection of blogs is sort of the proof of that.  I have a lot of interests. And my latest venture may not prove otherwise!  For years it has been my goal to become a published author, and I while I haven't given up on that goal, I have certainly set it aside to pursue something else.

This section of my blog represents my love of projects and home decor, as well as gardening. But it might have a little competition in my new blog. . .

I have taken one of my hobbies and have turned it into a little business venture with the aid of my good friend Lisa.  It is small now, but we have big hopes for our little company.   Feel free to follow our blog, House of White, as we document our adventures into the wide world of employment.

Paper Pleasures

I have never been a big scrapbooker.  I have, in fact, completed three scrapbook pages ever.  But, I do like paper crafts on occasion.  It really is amazing what you can do with paper.  For instance, have you seen the things in the gallery at Anthropologie.com lately? My aspiration are much lower.

It really started when I bought a paper wreath at an antique store on my birthday.  

Then I saw a picture of a wreath like the one in my last post and I decided to make it.

Yesterday I attempted to recreate the one I bought.  It didn't really turn out the same. . .

But I sort of like mine better!

I started with a foam wreath again.

Then I rolled pages out of an old yellowed dictionary.

First one row all lined up around the ring, attached at the back.

Then two more rows glued down over the top.

Then I felt like it really needed something.  So I added some tissue paper rosettes.  Just like the fabric ones I made for Hannah's friend's birthday necklace.  It's all a matter of twisting and twirling and periodic/strategic gluing.  

I have to say I quite like it.  

Who knew books were so much fun without actually reading them!

Spring Mantel

I have issues with my mantel.  It has been barren for some time now.  Just four lonely mirrors to reflect the empty room.  Well, maybe not empty, but since the puppy's arrival when we had to rescue the rug from potential desecration, at its perpetual lack of any occasional tables, it feels pretty empty.

And due to my impossibly slow decorating technique, things don't change quickly. . . until today.  Here is what I had this morning. . .

A few months ago I added the finial on the left. . . then on my birthday eight days ago I bought the little dove and put it next to the finial, and the wreath, which I hung on the nail still there from my Christmas wreath. . . then a few days after that I decided the other side looked empty so I added a pitcher.  It didn't really help.  But I knew I just needed to think up more stuff to add that didn't look like I was just adding stuff.

Then the other day I was at the Good Will looking for more pitchers and some frames I could make over for another project--and I scored the second pitcher (the one on the inside left).  It is Ironstone. . . and I got it for $3. Yea!  (Signe is demonstrating my joy with a twirl--decked out in St. Patrick's Day green.)

Then I spent part of my day painting and lightly distressing the frames (I will show you what for tomorrow).  But when I got done I suddenly got an idea. . .

And I went crazy on my mantel.

 I "borrowed" the frame I had just painted and found another in a storage closet that I WAS going to paint white, but I kind of like it not white in this case.

And then I nabbed three of my herb pots from my kitchen window--making that little arrangement of five pots in various height glass pedestals look a little thin :).

Does it work?  Is it too busy, or just ugly?

I mentioned to Rob the other day I was contemplating layering some frames on the mantel and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Why would you mess with the mirrors? They look good."

And they did--not that he is partial, seeing as how he made me those mirrors six or seven years ago. Besides, they STILL look good. And the combination of black, white and tan fits the aesthetic that the room has going already--only with green accents instead of the blue (which is fitting since it is St. Patrick's Day!).

It will probably change again soon.  I had another idea in mind that included some of the blue I have used as an accent in the family room and kitchen.  Plus the frames are going to be serving another purpose tomorrow. . . and the herbs might need to go back to the kitchen window.  But I kind of like it.

What do you think?

It's New to Me

For a change, this year on my birthday I decided to forgo the annual trip to Banana Republic.  The BR trip started a few years back as a retaliation tactic that became a tradition.  My wonderful husband had this habit of taking business trips on my birthday.  Apparently he still does.  In the 12 years we have been married he has only been home for four or so birthdays.  So one year I got fed up and decided to go to BR and buy myself a VERY generous birthday present. . . or ten.

Only he didn't really object.  Which proves he was guilty, right?  

Anyway, it became expected that he would go out of town and I would go shop--and then even when he was in town I would go shop, he would just come with me.  But after maybe eight years of birthday shopping sprees I decided to change things up (Plus I was having a hard time finding much I wanted to buy at BR--I hate when that happens).  

So I decided to feed another passion.  My house.  It needed accessories more than I did anyway.

I called a friend and made plans to hit the antique district in Portland. With the kids in school and 30 antique shops on a single street in a matter of a few blocks I sensed fun in my future.  

I was right.  Though I honestly thought I'd buy more.  I might have to work up to the big purchases.  Because there were plenty of great things to be purchased.  

None-the-less, I returned from my maiden antique shopping excursion with a few fun items.

This cute chippy dove that is sitting on my mantle.

A fun and fabulous paper wreath made out of an antique shorthand book.

I love the way the light plays off the rolled paper. . .

and how it reflects in the mirrors that hang above my mantle (try not to notice the dust on the mirror.  Jeez you'd think I don't dust. . .hmmm, when was the last time I dusted those mirrors. . .?)

Can't you just picture this chamber pot filled with peonies, or hydrangeas?  I can.

And this crate gave me visions of summer barbecues.  I have plans to purchase a soda making machine and thought it would be fun to buy bottles to put the homemade soda in and then serve them in this crate.  Want to come?

I may not have bought much, but there is always fun in the hunt.  My biggest purchase I actually found a couple days ago at the Good Will. . .

When I get done with this dresser it will be lovely.  I plan to paint it antique white and buy it some shiny new glass knobs.  It's new home is my guest room, whose transformation has been slow and minutely incremental.  Isn't that always the way?  Always a work in progress.

What projects are you working on?

Bathroom Sneak Peak

Did your mother ever tell you "Slow and steady wins the race."?  I like to think it's true.

It gives me an excuse for the dreadfully long time each of my projects takes.

Take my master bath for instance. . .

I have been painting my room and bathroom (I believe I first bought paint last November).  It's still not done.  I ran out of paint. . . twice.  I clearly don't plan well.  Actually, I ended up painting the laundry room and powder bath the same color so I needed more paint than I thought.  But somehow the master bath ended up getting painted last, so I still need to finish up the main area of the bathroom--just as soon as I get a couple unclaimed hours (and another bucket of paint). . . whenever that might be.

But since the little toilet and shower room got finished I decided to update it a little.  (Rob's ADD is rubbing off on me).   Ultimately the whole room will get remodeled (new tub, shower, vanity, lights and mirrors, and tile floor), but in the meantime I did an inexpensive little touch up. Because it makes the morning more fun.

We put up new hardware.

And one of those hotel towel racks I love.

And I printed some flower pictures I took last spring.

And put them in silver frames.

One day the whole room will be as fresh as those flowers.

For now I will just close the pocket door and pretend it already is. . .

A Place to Play

My girls are lucky enough to get a whole room just for playing in.  And over time it has become quite filled with toys.  When it is clean all the toys fit nicely into three tubs, the barbie house, and stow away in the dress up chest. . . but they usually aren't stowed away.

They usually seem to multiply like rabbits and mysteriously clutter up the place.  How do you suppose that happens? No one is ever willing to fess up.

 I need a better system.

One that includes a shelf for all their books. . .

Too many toys go "hiding" in the house when it's time to pick up.

And the dress up chest wears as much fancy finery as it stores.

Maybe the barbies are doing it. . . all 36 of them.

Certainly not these two. They don't seem to notice the mess and chaos. They get really excited to play in the room when it is clean, but they certainly don't like to clean it.  I don't really blame them.  Things need a place to go.

Letting go is a bit of an issue. . . For Christmas Santa brought Signe a new barbie house--one more compact, that would sit against a wall and take up less space. . .

Apparently as parents we were thinking crazy to suggest they part with the old house.  I mean really, where did we expect the 36 barbies to live?  They need BOTH houses, of course! Nevermind the dilapidated state of the old one.

It doesn't help when we throw a never used weight set into the mix (you want a weight set? It is on the ax list.  Maybe I can sell it to help fund the "fix up the playroom" project.)

'Cause all this stuff has got to go somewhere, and I prefer it not all over the floor. . .

And it is quite clear the oh-so-attractive bin system isn't working out all that great.

I definitely need a plan. . . or less toys.  And I am open for suggestions. . .

First Impressions

We have a lot of visitors headed our way in the near future. So over the weekend Rob got a bee in his bonnet. The entryway. It needed flipped.

Just to remind you what it looked like before we did the floors last January here is a really before picture. . .

Since then, the rails have remained the orange-ish oak color. . .which I didn't get a good combination picture of, unfortunately. (I always think of these things halfway into the project.)

But here is the entryway today:

Along with the new floors, we put in new baseboards and trim around the doorway into the family room. This weekend we painted the rails black and hung picture frames up the wall.

We first made a trip to good ol' Walmart and loaded up on random frames--and Rob didn't say a word about how many I threw in there. He had suggested we hang three frames up the stairway wall. . .I had other ideas. When I got home with my loot I laid it out on the floor to show him what I had in mind. He had been skeptical, assuring me he was keeping the receipt. But this made him start rethinking his lack of confidence. . .

But of course we had to get it on the wall. I must say this was the most flawless wall hanging experience I have ever had--which is crazy since there are 14 frames--on an angle. But I measured and measured on the floor before we started nailing. This isn't a great picture, but you get the idea. Then I had to find things to put in my empty frames.

And since I take bazillions of pictures the hardest part was finding the right ones. But when you send them to Costco and only pay 20ish bucks for the lot of them, I'm no too worried. I can change them at any time. . .

I think it looks great. And the best part? Rob admitting I was right!

And now look at the view from my office. I get to enjoy our hard work all day long while I remain glued to my office chair. . . doing loads of homework. . . which I must now get back to.

Have you done any fun weekend projects lately?

Is Too Much Blue Too Much Blue?

So if you've been coming here a while you might have gotten that I love white and blue. I use them a lot in my house. I have blue depression glass dishes in my kitchen and a blue rug in my family room. My bedroom is a gray blue with white and navy blue bedding. My laundry room is the same blue gray. And, of course, I am just finishing Hannah's room which is pale turquoise blue and white.

I now need to finish up Signe's Room.

It has all the bedding I made when she was two with the furniture that she has had since birth--except the beds, which we made when she was two (notice the "H" and "S" on the headboards)--back when the girls shared a room in the last house.

Now she has both beds in her tiny room.

Which works great, because half the time both girls either sleep in the two twin beds in Signe's room . . . or they both sleep in Hannah's full bed in her room.

Now I just need to paint Sig's room and make curtains and hang things. Now the color is beige. . .kind of an orange toned beige. It's fine. It's not really working for me.

In her last room the walls were wainscoted and had a light taupey green on the bottom and a yellowy cream on the top. I loved it.

I think I want to go a different direction here.

I am thinking the same light turquoise that I used in Hannah's room. (See previous post)

I am not pulling this out of nowhere. That exact blue is in her bedding. . . (it's there--I promise!)

Plus I recently bought these cute 8 X 10 alphabet cards with flowers on them and want to hang four above each bed--framed in white frames.

Some of these have blues in them too.

And those curtains--the ones that came with the house--will likely go.

I actually have fabric that matches the little pinkish plaid pillow on the bed and was thinking I would do a pleated roman shade--you know the kind that sort of poofs a little when pulled up because of the extra fabric in the pleat?

What do you think? Can I pull off the blue? If you hate it, help me out and suggest something else.