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The Garden

Since it was about 194 degrees out this weekend I thought I would stand outside and take some pictures for you. It was weirdly overcast which does make for good outdoor picture taking.

Our property is very shallow but wide so we have a long, bowling alley like backyard. We have tried to divide it into a few distinct areas to break it up a bit.

Let stand back and get the full effect:

The door you see leads to the garage and the sticky out part of the house is the sitting room. We had new French doors installed that lead out the space you see in the first picture.

We also had a pergola built for us and we just had a new fence built. The old one fell down in a storm a winter or two ago and was propped back up with a lot of metal posts and optimism.

When we first moved into the house four years ago there was a deck right off the sitting room. We removed it and had a step put in instead and a walkway that you see along the garage. The area from the lawn to the fence (waaay back there, behind the pine tree) sloped so we terraced it and put in a step made from some old railroad ties. It helps with defining the different areas.

We also laid some gravel that looks like pea gravel but actually has sharper edges so it packs down better. I wanted the look to be very organic and vaguely European.

I have had this wall fountain since the mid-90s. I paid $65 for it which seemed extravagant at the time.

If you'll follow me up the step we'll enter our outdoor dining room.

That concrete table weighs a ton and took four or five men to set up. It's not going anywhere. I have plans to put a chandelier on a post in the middle of the table. Stay tuned for that. I haven't figured it out yet but I will.

I decided to see how impatiens would do at this house. I think they are happy here. The chair used to be planted with succulents but they outgrew it so I repotted them in two urns and planted the chair with more impatiens, a fuschia and lamium.

That section of fence and gate wasn't replaced when the rest of the fence was put up. It was in decent enough shape and staining it to match the new fence gave it a much needed face lift. My birdcage stands out now where before it just blended right in. We have had the best luck with statice. It just blooms and blooms and blooms.

Hi Mr. Squirrel.

Okay let's head back to the other end…

I do wish the hummingbirds would actually eat out of the pretty feeders that are out there. They refuse to, though, and insist on the ugly red and yellow ones. That tree is glorious in the Fall. Well I think so because I just enjoy the gorgeous reds, pinks and golds the leaves turn. Rick, on the other hand, is in charge of raking…

Tucked just past the garage is the garden shed and a bench so I can sit comfortably while I watch Rick rake. The lawn is looking a little scrappy here but like I said it has been eight bobillion degrees here lately.

Oh hi again Mr. Squirrel.

(Crap picture taken with tablet, through the sitting room window…)

So there you have it. The back garden. We had a vision and this year it finally all came together. Now we can just sit out back and enjoy it.

Friday Favorites

1. Texas treasures, 2. Vintage velvetish Love, 3. Buttons in Vintage Lucite Box, 4. Gown

Where would you put this sign?
I love all white and pale neutral decor (I'm slowly trying to redo our house without Rick noticing…) – Lots of Instagram inspiration at @farmhouseonboone and on Lisa Bass's blog: Farmhouse on Boone
For Alice Hoffman lovers – she has a new book coming out in October. The Rules of Magic is the prequel to Practical Magic and it is at the top of my book wish list
A little levity in all the tragic and heart breaking news coming out of Texas. On a more serious note – NPR has a comprehensive list of organizations you can reach out to if you want to help

Our weekend plans are to stay perfectly still. It is supposed to get to 112° F today. What the actual heck (not the word I really want to use…)? So indoor activities it is. I'm working on a "Pique Assiette" project that I really need to finish. Details will, of course, be shared when it is done. It's turning out very pretty, if I do say so myself, but it is soooo tedious. Perfect project to work on when you are trying to just stay put for the weekend.

I hope yours is lovely!

Distressed pots

This is going to be a crafty post. As it so often happens, I was browsing YouTube videos and went down a rabbit hole of paper clay and baroque molds. I found the Prima Iron Orchid Design molds to be so beautiful and very versatile. I saw videos where they were used to embellish boxes, books, jewelry – pretty much whatever you can imagine up.

I imagined up some pots.

I've never used paper clay or the IOD molds before and there was a little bit of trial and error until I got the hang of it. There are plenty of videos out there demonstrating how to use the paper clay and molds. One thing you will want to do, if you plan on using on a curved surface, is to unmold your design while it is still pliable. You can see I taped a couple of them to the pot so I would get the proper curve and it would fit flush. The clay will want to warp as it is drying so I left it taped overnight. I then glued the design to the pot using good old tacky white glue.

I used terracotta pots that had a slightly different lip than the usual big box home improvement store offerings. I thought it gave them an older appearance. I'm going for an aged, distressed look here.

Because I wanted a bit of the terracotta to show through I painted the design to match the pot (well, as best I could). I used raw sienna acrylic paint with a bit of white to lighten it up a shade.

I then very un-artistically started layering the paint. I used white chalk paint (Annie Sloan chalk paint in Pure but any white chalk paint will do) as my base and tinted it a couple of colors to achieve a more layered, textured look. I used just a drop or two of black mixed in the white as my first layer and then went in with some tinted with a drop or two of raw umber. I finished it with untinted white. The whites are all very close in color but give a lovely subtle shading effect.

I picked up a small amount of paint on the tips of an old paint brush and just kind of bounced it on. Chalk paint dries so quickly I only had to wait a few minutes between coats. I'm planning on using these pots indoors but if I wanted to use them outdoors I would spray with a matte clear coat.

Supplies*:

Terracotta Pot
Prima Iron Orchid Design Vintage Art Decor Moulds
Creative Paperclay
Chalk Paint
Tacky Glue
Acrylic Paint to tint

*I purchased all supplies for this project

Friday Favorites

Window of memories…, ◊ Life is hard when you have a lamp as a tail, ◊ Walk at Portwrinkle, ◊ Apothecary Jars

I confess I bought these playing cards just because they are so pretty. Now I'm wondering if I should have gotten the white (how cheeky is that Ace of Spades?). Makes for a perfect stocking stuffing (too soon? Nah.)
Would you drink rosé out of a can? I might just because of the label and heck, if it's good enough for Gwyneth, it's good enough for me
In part deux of my house tour you might have noticed the jewelry box on my vanity. It is the five drawer acrylic drawers from Muji. I added some pale grey felt to the drawers and it is the perfect storage for my earring obsession
What do you think of Amazon buying Whole Foods? Sounds like it might be good for our wallets but I'm wondering what it will do to the quality

I am officially on vacation until after Labor Day! I plan on catching up with old friends, taking a mini road trip or two and just plain old relaxing. I hope you have a fabulously relaxing weekend planned yourself.

The Tour, part 2

Welcome back to the tour. I hope this is interesting for you. It's starting to feel a little self indulgent at this point. But soldier on, shall we?

There is Grace in the window, watching the world go by from our master bedroom. I haven't introduced you to Grace and Rosie yet but I will. They came to us after Belle passed away.

This room is really hard to capture in a photo. because it is on the North-East corner of the house where the lighting is always a bit low. It is a very calm and peaceful room, all done in greys, taupes and white. We used to have a massive mahogany sleigh bed but it overpowered the room so we replaced it with a white iron headboard. Because the light is low we added several mirrored pieces to help reflect as much light as possible. I've had the mirrored vanity for a decade but the mirrored dresser (just visible on the right) is a fairly new addition.

I'm really wishing I had turned the white chair to the right a bit. It gets pushed over every time I open the blinds.

The chair is the Jennylund from Ikea. Not super comfortable but it is a perfect size for a bedroom. It does make for a nice spot to sit and put on your shoes.

Next up is the guest room.

If you come visit us I can promise you a comfy bed with freshly washed linens and a cat or two for company.

The champagne button doesn't always work though.

Next up is my office. Brace yourself – I don't keep this space very tidy.

Okay that's not so bad. But for full transparency it doesn't really look like that for more than 10 minutes after I've tidied it. Not entirely obvious in this picture is the fact I still haven't painted this room. It is a pale pink except for a small portion to the right of the door where I was testing out a more neutral color.

If I was a more thoughtful photographer I would have removed the cat pan but it is what it is. And there is the mess on my work table. If it weren't for the branches painted on the walls I would just leave the room pink but I have to paint over those so I might as well paint it a color I really like. That Ikea Expedit sure has served me well (now replaced with the Kallax. And no, this post is not sponsored by Ikea. Although it should be…). I've had it for about a decade too. I recently added the drawer units to corral all my fleeting crafting phases. So at least I have one place in my office that is nice and organized.

And there you have it. Our humble abode. I haven't shared either bathroom but I'll do that in a separate post. We did a major update on the main bathroom so I'll show the before and afters.

I hope you enjoyed this tour around the house – thank you for indulging me.

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