House design

I live in a 1980s ranch-style house that needs a lot of work.  So far, we have changed the carpet, roof, windows, a/c and heating unit, fenced in the pool, draining and acid washing the pool - basically, all the big-ticket items.  We have been working on the backyard, getting it up and running for the summer and with the warmer weather, getting ready to move inside and start work there.

I thought I had my color palate chosen - mostly earth tones with lots of greens, tans, and rusts.  But, one afternoon while watching HGTV, I saw Sarah's House and found the most beautiful color palate. 



It uses cream and gray - something I would never have thought to use.  I love the marble backsplash!



The colors allow other colors to blend beautifully with them: a darker blue...



... a taupe....




... a mint green....



...yellow...
       
                                            

...and a lighter blue.




Even black accents have a place:



One of the decorating tools she uses is wallpaper.  Not sure if I can do that.  Wallpaper is a pain to remove and can look dated very quickly.

I'm not sure how all that white will look with a toddler's fingerprints all over them but he's getting older.  Perhaps I can teach *him* how to clean it up.  Yeah, right!  heheheheh.

My Patio - on a budget

After doing so much yard work these past few weekends, I decided it was time to spruce up my patio a little.   We were spending so much time outside that we really had no where to sit. 

I had planned on re-purposing our old patio furniture but never got around to painting and replacing the cushions so we picked these chairs up for a song and with some pillows I had purchased months ago (on sale for $5 at Burlington Coat Factory), I put together a nice little seating area.

I used an old table we got years ago (and was going to be in our next garage sale) and put a placemat on it. 

The yellow pitcher was a frugal buy from Big Lots for $2 and the smaller garden pitchers, from Ross for $2.  Don't 'ya just love bargains!

Everything is coming up roses on my patio:

This - thing (sorry, but I have no idea how to spell it) belonged to Mr. Bam's mother and had been sitting neglected in her yard.  After some bright yellow paint, it has become a nice place for flowers and an herb garden.

A little paint on some old pots to really bring in spring.  I don't normally do so much color, preferring to stay to neutrals, but the warm spring days were beckoning and I've been inspired by so many bloggers who are unafraid of color that I just couldn't resist. 







Beauty

Yesterday, I went to Barnes and Noble at lunch to look for the latest decorating magazines.  As I walked over to the interior design section, I saw Barbra Streisand's book,  My Passion for Design.  I had heard about the book and had seen a picture or two but didn't think about it beyond that.

Now, I may be a little late with this but I tell you, if you have the chance, pick up this book!  Her house is breathtakingly beautiful.  I gasped at every picture.  Of course, it was decorated with a million dollar budget but I was more in awe of her taste in art, color and form.  Her attention to detail is impeccable and her creativity show through in every room.

Here is a sampling....

Upholstery Fabric

JoAnn's is having a 50% off sale on home decorating fabrics this week so I took the opportunity to pick up some of the accent fabric I've been planning for my living room.

The red fabric is going for these stools

The mulit-colored fabric is going to be my drapes

The green will be used for pillows and I'm hoping to have enough for a window seat cushion.

We have to finish the backyard before it gets too hot to work out there so for the next few weekends, the backyard will take priority.  After that, I'm moving inside to begin work on the house but I'm not sure if I can wait that long.  I have something planned for each room and I'm so excited to begin - I just don't know which room to start in! Decisions, decisions.

It's been a long time.

Hi Everyone!

I've been horribly absent the past few months.  Spring has certainly sprung here in the desert and I've been busy working in the yard, getting my vegetable garden up to snuff now that the frosts have gone.  Spring break vacations, family visiting from out of town, my own vacation, etc., etc.  Not a very good start for blogging.

Here are some pictures of our small vegetable plot. 

We have a huge yard that I just hate to see go to waste.  I've gotten into organic eating and urban gardening of late so my husband and I decided to begin our own urban vegetable garden. 

The birds however, had other ideas and decided that our vegetable garden was their buffet.

One idea I read about online to scare the birds was to put fake snakes in the garden.  It didn't work and we found many peaches on the ground with holes in them.  Next, I read that hanging old CDs in the trees scared the birds away.

Success!!!

We will be making a CD sculpture for our veggie plot.  Keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

I've joined the jeans sew-a-long at Male Pattern Boldness here.  Peter is wonderful!

I've also joined Debbie Doos chalk paint giveaway here.  I hear this paint is the best!

In addition, I've joined the Bella Inspirations giveaway here. at No Minimalist Here blog.

Whew!

Sorry, friends.  We've been battling colds and flu for the past week or so and its been extremely busy trying to keep everything up and running.  But, it looks like things are getting back to normal.

I've been working on my Kay Unger dress from Vogue Patterns and I will post picks of my muslin later and give you updates on my progress.

Have a great day!

The Sartorialist

One of my favorite fashion blogs is The Sartorialist which shows pictures of fashionable people around the world.  I used to think that all the pictures were of models because they were all young and skinny and this guy was a fashion photog but according to his profile, that isn't the case.  The more I visit the blog, the more pictures of older people I see. However, I've yet to see any overweight people.  Then, I had an awful thought - what if all the fat people are in America???  I've heard recently that the U.S. is now the fattest nation on the planet.  I keep having visions of the movie Wall-e.  For those of you who have seen it, you know what I'm talking about.


Egads!  I can either go drown my sorrows in a chocolate cake or I can spend a few minutes on the treadmill.  Hmmmmmm.