Under a Blue Moon

Sow’s Ear

Back when were house hunting there were several things that drew me to this house. The era (built in 1940), the hardwood floors and the light fixtures. The previous owner had a thing for chandeliers and while I liked most of them, I wasn't completely on board with the one hanging in the kitchen. Grainy evidence below:

Those are chickens on the shades, by the way. Cute, in the right surroundings, but just not to our taste. I had an old chandelier a friend gave me that we rewired and hung in its place. We never got rid of the yellow, poultry themed one. Actually I did try to sell it on Craigslist but didn't have any takers so I hung onto it thinking I would re-purpose it in our garden.

And I came up with an idea…

We don't need an umbrella for the table because it is under the shade of a huge tree. The tree is too tall to hang a fixture over the table so I though why not put a chandelier on an umbrella pole? Why not indeed.

The first step was to completely take it apart and clean it. I knew I wouldn't need it to be electrified so we (and by we I mean Rick) stripped out the wiring. I replaced the amber drops with clear ones and painted all the metal bits. First with a dark brown base and then with antique gold that I slapped on haphazardly. I painted a plain, wooden pole to match and, as luck would have it, the chandelier fits snugly on top of it. It can be removed easily so we can put it away when the weather turns.

I added some extra sparkle to it and placed votive holders where the lights originally were. Rick added a glass doorknob to the top which was the perfect finishing touch.

At first I had it too high on the pole and you didn't really get the full effect. So I moved it low enough to be have impact but not so low as to impede conversation with the person sitting across from you.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It feels good to have an idea in my head and actually pull it off.

Friday Favorites

Atelier à Paris, ◊ Dior Evening Dress, May 1950., ◊ Night Dreaming, ◊ painting glimpse 3

We are getting closer to one of my favorite holidays: Halloween. We do a family Halloween party every year and I would love to have this mirror as part of the decor. Not going to happen at that price. I wonder if I could make it…This is probably more my speed
Speaking of the Halloween party this tablescape has me all inspired for this year's theme. These black and gold paper plates would go perfectly
This article reminded me of a story my mother would tell about how she was in a wretched mood because she and her younger sister were late for school and she threw her sister's crayons in the snow. I felt that clueyness about my aunt, thinking of her crying, picking through the snow with her bare fingers for her scattered crayons
I find myself just fascinated with Linda Rodin. Probably because she figured out at a young age who she was and what her style is. I'm still trying to sort all of that out. Take a look at her apartment, wouldn't it be fabulous to just poke around? But not have to dust.

Oh happy Friday! We are having a little dinner party tonight and we get to show off our garden. The weather is completely cooperating with us too. That perfect evening temp of not too warm but not windy or cold either. We have candles strategically placed along with the outdoor lighting we have done. Other than a few more shrubs that need to be planted our garden is exactly how we envisioned it. I wish you could all stop by for a visit and a drink.

Happy weekend my friends!

Office

It's seems rather insensitive and trite to post anything as trivial as my messy office in light of all the recent tragedies. I write my posts ahead of time and schedule them to publish so this was written before the senselessness in Las Vegas. I thought about postponing it but good lord if I held off posting because of all the astounding crap going on lately I would never blog. I seriously would like to get through a day without shaking my head in mute disbelief.

So in the spirit of providing distraction, however brief, I'm just going to carry on posting.

"We're all just walking each other home." ~Ram Dass

I showed a few pictures of my office in the house tour but I thought I would show a few before and afters because I spent the better part of Sunday cleaning it up.

My space can best be described as semi-controlled chaos. My space is used for whatever artful whim I am feeling at that moment. And, truth be told, there might be several going on at once. I'm also not a tidy as you go type – just ask my husband who cleans up after me as I cook.

So most days my office is a disaster. I'm going to show the pretty pictures first and then, just for giggles and a dose of reality, I'll show you what it REALLY looks like. You've been warned. Before=95% of the time. After=5%.

Yeah – I did that rainbow things with my books. I was so derisive when the trend showed up, what? Five years ago or so? Pfft! Everyone knows books should be arranged by HEIGHT. Show me a bandwagon and I'll hop on eventually.

I am very fortunate to have a dedicated space that I can call my own. I normally go into an actual office for work but I do work from home a couple days a week so it is used both as a proper office and as a craft room. I always refer to the space as my office rather than a craft room or studio. My personal particularity – craft room brings to my mind tempera paints, popsicle sticks and potholder looms. Studio sounds too lofty for what actually goes on here.

No avoiding that cat pan.

I have had the Ikea Expedit bookcase since 2010 and it has served me well. I had the square baskets/bins that Ikea sells in the bottom cubbies but swapped them out about a year ago for drawer units. Game changer. So much easier to find things now.

I have labels on each drawer; tapes, glues, paints, sparkly things…(it will surprise most of you that I only need one drawer in this category…)

I seemed to have forgotten to tidy my linens. I'm always rifling through the stacks to find a particular piece. I have eight million vintage hankies. I've counted. Last year I sent everyone I know a hankie. They must multiply when I'm not looking.

We've seen the good – now for the bad and ugly.

There are the remnants of about five projects going on in the above picture.

Even the unfinished dollhouse is a disaster.

To be honest it's hard to be productive at this desk when it is out of hand like this.

Tea mug build up.

Okay enough of that. I have to say I think, for me at least, a creative mind needs a bit of clutter and chaos. I really struggle with the hyper organized part of me and the creative part of me. I love nothing more than a perfectly organized space but at the same time, when I'm in that creative mind space, I can't be bothered to clean as I go or follow any kind of routine. The balance I've found it to have an organized house with the exception of this office. Then every few months I have a go at it and clean it up.

Friday Favorites

Peek-a-boo….I see you~~♥ 151/365 ◊ Pretenders ◊ Mason, ◊ Figs from the Garden

I think these are the perfect pair of flats. Feminine. Velvet. Which is so totally on trend. Not to mention millennial pink. Dress up or dress down. Is is just me or is there something about Fall that makes you feel like you need to update your wardrobe? I'm thinking it is a throwback to back to school shopping.
This is just a lovely studio apartment. I feel it's not really fair to give it the generic "studio" moniker. The designer has really elevated his space to something that looks so much larger and so much more functional than your average joe studio apartment. And I just love seeing how people manage to live and thrive in a small space and having to limit their belongings.
I love Wes Anderson movies. The sets and his attention to his color palette for one, and there is just a certain rhythm to the delivery of the dialog that is so familiar and consistent with him. Isle of Dogs is his latest endeavor, and even though it is animated, it still is true to his nostalgic feel, symmetry and his usual roster of actors
Pretty much how I feel lately. Is everyone going mad? Warning: Crude language. But appropriate. And technically inaccurate since Mercury isn't currently in retrograde but something is going the heck on

Do you know what is happening this weekend? Nothing! My very favorite kind of weekend. We are enjoying an Indian Summer right now, and enjoying the garden as much as we possibly can. We just re-purposed a bright yellow, farm-chic chandelier outside. I'll share what before and afters in the upcoming weeks. It was a great lesson in never discounting something because it wasn't quite your taste in its current form.

Enjoy these first days of Autumn. While my heart belongs to Spring I will always have a soft spot for Autumn.

Incarcerated dolls and pique assiette

That title ought to garner some views.

This will be a this and that type of post. I have a table I want to share with you and we can also chat about antique faires. Most of my posts have a specific topic and this one may be a bit all over the place so hang on and let's get started.

The dolls can wait, first the table.

"Pique assiette" is a type of mosaic made with broken china. It first made my notice about 15 years ago and it has been my intention ever since to create a small table using the technique. We have a small, wrought iron table my mother in law gave us that is probably about 75 years old (or older). It has the perfect chippy, rusty look going and the top needed replacing.

I had Rick cut a piece of cement board the size of the table top. My initial plan was to collect china from thrift and antiques stores, hoping to find chipped or cracked pieces at a bargain that I could cut up. That turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. I scoured local shops and only found a couple of plates that would work. I ended up ordering pre-cut pieces of china from Etsy and e-Bay.

The process is actually very easy. I haven't laid tile before but I have done one other mosaic piece. The trick is to get the varying thickness of the pieces to be a smooth, fairly flat surface. I used blocks of wood as guides and as I placed the pieces of china I would lay a longer piece of wood across the blocks of wood to ensure the pieces were all the same level.

I started by doing the border first. I wanted to have a few focal points so I created circles using a larger piece of china and surrounding with a couple of layers of pieces from the same plate. I've seen examples where an entire plate was reassembled and I wanted a similar look but using pieces from a few plates rather than just one plate. Once the circles where in place I filled in the background.

I will say this is one of those "do it once and never again" type projects. It was fun and I love the outcome but it was tedious. I would work on it for a few hours and then leave it for a week or two.

Grouting was a simple process. I've only done one other mosaic piece before but the process was exactly the same. Just smear it on and wipe off the excess.

It's a nice addition to the garden.

This past Sunday Rick and I went to the Petaluma Antique Faire. My very favorite antique store, Summer Cottage Antiques, is in Petaluma. I'm always up for a trip up that way to pay them a visit.

I have come to the conclusion that, for the most part, antique faires are a waste of time. Maybe one out of 25 vendors has a booth that draws me in. The rest seem more like flea market fare than antiques. We didn't find anything we had to come home with.

We do go with a mental list of a few items we want to look for while still being open to the that "I didn't know I needed this" type item. And we always bring the truck, just in case. :)

I did come home with a few ideas of ways to re-purpose items I already have. So it wasn't a total waste of time. Plus it is always nice just to spend the day with Rick. We had a leisurely lunch and hit up another great antique store in Sebastopol, Antique Society where I found a sweet little plate. I just need to remember to skip the antique faires and just go straight to my favorite shops.

Friday Favorites

Summer Dreaming ◊ dress1 ◊ Hello, Dahlias ◊ lace1

The perfect gift for that person in your life that is always freezing (um, that would be me…). Rick and I go for a morning walk every weekday at 6:30am and I am pulling this on more and more frequently.
I usually don't go into beauty products on the blog (surprising, considering the junkie that I am…) but I have to rave about this sunscreen. It doesn't leave that weird sticky feeling most facial sunscreens tend to do. And it works really well under makeup. It's ever so slightly tinted but not so much you really notice. I bought mine from Amazon
Well crap.
Gorgeous Instagram account: @theslowtraveler Those windows in her bedroom are bananas
Will anyone be watching Our Souls at Night with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford? Jane sure is busy with her Grace and Frankie series (which I LOVE) and now this

My goodness – what the heck is going on with this planet of ours? Earthquakes, hurricanes, lunacy all around? It is nuts. My heart absolutely goes out to everyone trying to dig out from under rubble and pick up the pieces.

It's at odds with what I feel is such a gentle time of year. The days are getting shorter, the light has a beautiful, soft golden quality to it and everyone's focus shifts to coming indoors and getting cozy. My Flickr mosaic above perfectly captures how I visualize the last days of Summer and the beginning of Fall.

Happy first day of Autumn my friends.

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