HELP NEEDED FROM CREATIVES (OR WOULD-BE CREATIVES):

I am trying to reimagine our front yard. My imagination is currently hovering somewhere between art garden and/or courtyard found in San Miguel de Allende. And frankly, I don't believe they're mutually exclusive. Why San Miguel? Color, color and more color, natch.

A few inspiration photos:

Sort of art garden meets the casa. Our house style is Monterey Colonial, which is already kind of a mash-up, so I figure let's mash some more. We obviously have a long way to go...

The old yard:

It's okay. But the boxwood and the camellias bored me to death. And I wanted a front porch somethin' fierce. So, after putting the camellias on Craig's List (free to whoever came and dug them out-3 offers within 2 hours), I built me one.

It hard to see, but I've got some great slate-like tiles, bordered and sectioned by railroad ties. The front tie, 15 feet long, I drove to Modesto for, had them load it on top of Scott's ski racks, and pushed the sucker off the car myself into the front yard. I don't mess around when I want something done.

(Oh, and did you notice the lovely carpet of leaves is basically unchanged? Yes, that's my solution to the drought....never let them see your lawn - or lack thereof.)

The loveseat and chair are an Ohmega Salvage purchase, for which I have the cushions and fabric for recovering. I finished one since last summer.....speed's not my middle name.

I also made these end tables, inspired by a french pigeon basket coffee table I saw (for $1200!), and I love them with the loveseat and chair.

Also note the hanging lanterns purchased a separate time from Ohmega, as well as the wall lantern, for which I am still looking for a mate.

So in the casa-inspired version, all the brick comes out, the gate moves to the corner, there's some kind of pavers curved to the front door, the house gets painted, there's a cool-ish new fence and a fountain.....somewhere.

So now you're mostly you're up-to-speed. Oh, well, except for the piece of....ummm....art?.....that I bought at Urban Ore. Some employee had put it together as a display for their area, and I happened to come in on a day she was gone, and they sold it to me. The best shot I have of it is from behind Ryan and Sierra's heads. It's a frame, built from leftover electrical components and such, and I'm still figuring out how and where to place IT in the front yard.

OK, now to the part where I need some help/ideas/suggestions. Here is my latest Ohmega Salvage purchase:

It's galvanized steel, and it's former life was as a floral display used with individual pots. For those not familiar with Ohmega, they have lots of great architectural salvage materials, and then lots of just plain WTF? stuff. Not sure into which category my new purchase falls, but that's neither here nor there. I don't intend to use it the way it was originally intended, and here's where I need your help.

I envision putting it upright (full upright-not slanted upright like in the photo)......

But then what? What am I not thinking of? What could it do? What could it look like? What could it represent? Would love your input.....just comment, e-mail, or Facebook me. Thanks!

Time to praise Craig's List again. In this economy, I can't imagine how or why anyone buys anything new. Of course, there's the whole argument about needing to stimulate the economy in order for businesses to make it through these times....so if you're of that mind and able to do so, go for it. But the environmentalist in me (and we all have some of it in us somewhere) says, reduce, reuse, recycle - and of course Craig's List satisfies that particular need in me.

Ryan loves model trains, and has wanted to put together a track plan. We have absolutely no space....but figured out how to put together a 4 x 8 space in his room if we cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and then moved everything around. So we thought about how to create even more space, and a loft bed seemed like a good option. If you look around at loft beds, they can be really flimsy....and expensive for what you get! But then I went to CL, and found this:

This was custom-made for a boy by his dad. The boy is now off to college.....and we get the benefit of being the second owner. This guy knew what he was doing....the craftsmanship is beautiful. By the way, he's moved on from woodworking....currently he's building an airplane in his garage....not a model airplane.....an actual airplane. We got to see the wings portion...very cool. Anyway, we paid way way way way way less than other beds that are out there - and they gave Ryan a deal because he was paying for it with his own money. It has 6 drawers - which then meant we could get rid of the huge dresser in his room as well....hooray! And the other side has a bookshelf - which meant we could get rid of a book shelf in his room....and mom and dad gained a bookshelf in their room....double hooray! So then, a small desk was needed. And where did I turn? CL natch. And in the small world category, the desk I found (which is identical to the one we already own in our office but in a different color) was being sold by a woman in my book club who then lowered the price by $10 when she found out it was me. So a desk that we paid around $200ish for a few years ago, I picked up for $70. Oh, and that drum stool under the desk? That was a bonus stool from the drum set Ryan bought off CL last year.....for some reason the kid had two drum stools (which we didn't originally know) so it's the purchase that keeps on giving.

FREE STUFF!!
Ah, the power of the free. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Craig's List. I love the buying, I love the selling, I love the friendships I've made (oh yeah....really) and I love the best book ever about the sheer power of it - One Red Paperclip - who the heck can beat trading a red paperclip for a house? And now apparently he's looking to trade the house! I don't peruse CL for free stuff normally, however, because it's too time-consuming, and frankly, anything good goes within about a second. Even the for sale stuff goes with lightening speed. I've been looking to purchase a small desk for Ryan's room for a couple of months, and the 3 or 4 I've replied to were within hours of posting and I missed out on all of them. When we bought Ryan's drum set I had vowed to sit in front of the computer one Sunday morning and just keep hitting refresh on my "drum kit" search and guess what? The seller was shocked that I responded within 20 minutes of their post....and it takes CL at least 10 minutes to get it up there after you list it! But if you really really really want something, that's what you need to do.

However, when you're not in the market for something in particular, that's when free and happened-upon is the best ever. I have two very recent examples. First, Sierra and I were hiking back down from the ridge above our house along the streets, and lo and behold someone had set out bunches of free stuff. The usual suspects....old lamps, chairs, furniture, children's stuff.....and this true treasure - Mancala.



Look at the beautiful glass pieces. Sierra was beside herself with joy....she has wanted a Mancala game for a couple of years but it's one of those things that we just forget about at gift-giving times because it's not the big, showy thing. We brought it home, cleaned it up (although not much cleaning seemed to be required) and now she literally plays it at least three times a week....often by herself. In fact, we had a few guests over recently and one little girl's mom set out to find her - and happened on her all alone in Sierra's room happily playing by herself. There's something mystical about it somehow because I often find Sierra doing the same thing.

And the next free treasure? It's what the Mancala is sitting on. Stressed about cleaning my house up for same said guest get-together, I was really thinking about how to have our games in a really accessible place that didn't look too cluttery. A bookshelf would be good, but not a likely candidate for long-term because one day I vow to truly have a "put-together" living room, and this would not be included in that plan. As I was off to do some last minute errands that day, I drove to the end of the street and - AHA! - saw some furniture left out with the always-exciting FREE STUFF sign. I was on my way out so I called home and asked Scott to go to the end of the street and check it out. When I returned, both he AND both kids reported that none of it was any good. I said, "hmph, y'all don't know what you're talking about" and stomped to the bottom of the street (which can only happen if you live on hilly streets). Ryan decided to come with....probably to watch what it looks like when a crazy lady inspects free stuff....and the minute I saw this bookshelf I knew it was perfect. Again Ryan tried to talk me out of it...."it's paint is peeling"...."Sierra didn't like the color" (and by the way - where did I get this daughter who shuns most colorful stuff in favor of restrained, earthy tones - so not me)...."blah, blah, blah." "Yeah, yeah - help me carry it home." So up the hill we went carrying this thing and then I got to show Ryan the magic of a power sander. "Look!" "Watch this!" "Magic!" And there it was.....a bright, beautiful, appropriately-brightly-hued-to-highlight-a-fun-game-collection shelf. Bring it inside, place it with care, line the top with Ipus
homemade by me and Sierra, and now we're happy.

Is it stately? Well-appointed? Heck no. Does it represent me and my personality? Heck yeah. And it doesn't overwhelm the room too much, as evidenced by the above photo. And you know I had these pillows WAAAY before I got the bookshelf.....the whole beige-on-carribean-blue thing works kind of well, yes? I think Ryan's now a convert (power tools go a long way in making something cool to him). Sierra? Well, who cares - she can be in charge of her own room.

Planted pot of lettuces, chives, basil and flowers on our deck - easily accessible from the kitchen

I've decided that unless I can eat it, I'm not planting it. So if you've seen my lawns lately, well, actually, what lawns? The front lawn was a goner awhile back when I decided to stop trying to water the dead grass. And the back lawn has been claimed by the water shortage. And they're not going to be replaced with grass. It's just too maintenance heavy and not environmentally sound. But what to do? That's the eternal question. I like this Synthetic Grass website, but it's a pretty pricey option and I'm not that big a fan of the lawn look anyway - it's fairly uninteresting. There's also the Edible Front Lawn option, which I personally love, but the fact that our front lawn is on the North side of the house, and mostly completely shaded, doesn't fare well for that option. And the back lawn is subject to Comet's wanderings, so not a good choice either - and we already have an entire terraced garden where he cannot trespass.

Our house style is considered Monterey Colonial - already a mash-up of styles - and so more of a Spanish theme seems to be appropriate. So that would be a fountain, crushed rock, curved paths and either terra cotta colors or perhaps some brighter hues. But I'm also not that big a fan of that look. A pond of some sort would be nice, with natural rock all around....but sounds expensive. So for now, I believe that the fallen leaves from the four trees shall be my front lawn....and by end of winter they'll be perfect to scoop up and put in the composter that Scott got going again in the garden. If anyone knows of edibles that thrive in shade, let me know!

It's project time around here....the last couple of weeks before back to school, and I'm feeling the pressure to get things done I've been wanting to do. I didn't know this was going to be something I wanted to do. This is called a French Pigeon Basket Table, and it seems to be the rage right now. Apparently it has been used in the 2008 Coastal Living Idea House in WindMark Beach, FL, which you can apparently enter a sweepstakes to win through September 30 (the home and all its contents).

I actually first saw it on some blog, and my apologies to whoever I'm not crediting....I think I'll just throw a few out there that I like just to cover myself - shelterrific, Etsy, Apartment Therapy, More Ways to Waste Time....okay - I think I'm covered. ANYWAY, it made me a little crazy that it actually costs $1385 + $150 shipping....yup, that's right folks....$1,535.00!!!! Don't believe me? Check here. So you know what happened, right? Yup, that's right....a do-it-yourself project. And here we go:

Okay....so let me explain the differences. I really wanted these for outdoor use for our new patio (more on that in another post)....and I really wanted two, as we now have a loveseat and a chair, where we'll want people to be able to sit and sip a cool drink. I gave Craig's List about 10 minutes of my time, then decided I needed to head out for Cost Plus World Market. While I really would have loved to do it all as a recycle project, it wasn't to be. I found these baskets at Cost Plus on sale - they were originally $36 each....I picked them up for $8.75 each. Since I saved so much money on them, I decided to splurge on two wood trays to put on top to finish the look, instead of the glass on the original. I got two different shapes, because I don't like it to all be matchy-matchy.

Then it was time to go to Home Depot and OSH to get a nice piece of 1" thick wood to mount to the bottom, as well as big castor wheels and hardware to attach it all together. Fortunately we already had some wood stain in the garage for the wood we attached to the bottom, which seems to match the trays pretty well....I kind of like that look!

So in all, how much did my two side tables cost? Surprisely, $199.57 for everything, which breaks down to $99.78 per table. I actually thought I would spend a little less, but the castors are kind of expensive, and of course, the big outlay of $19.99 each for the trays was a lot. Oh yeah....and of course I wanted finish nuts for the inside of the suitcases on top of the bolts just in case I want to store stuff inside and I want it to look pretty (in unison with Scott now...okay-Crazy [crazy being a noun in this case]). Anyway, I did save $1,335.43 over the French Pigeon Basket Table, and frankly, I'm just as happy with the results. What do you think?

I'm completely infatuated with creating a new space for projects. Projects being sewing or whatever thing I happen to be obsessing over in the moment. For many years I've being eyeing the space in our backyard that is currently occupied by the chessboard (young Ry and Si, huh?), because it's a nice square that would be a perfect location. It needs to have electricity....but plumbing is not really necessary, although that would be nice. This all started a few years back when I spied what looked to be the perfect type of shed/office/whatever room in a Sunset magazine. Of course, the owners had had it built and it was great. Now, prefab is all the rage. The top photo Kithaus actually comes pre-wired, and you can call about a solar option. Of all the prefabs out right now, it seems to be the most ready-to-go. You can also take a look at options by Modern Cabana (photo right below chess), as well as Modern-Shed (photo below right). If you've got the contacts, cash, and time, you could definitely go the architect-designed route, as is often highlighted in Sunset. Or half the time the ingenious owner spent a weekend and put it together....how does that happen? And if you want to take another approach altogether, the Yurt option isn't half bad! You'll just have a circular space.....and the outlet must go in the floor? Sigh.....I'll just have to dream about this space.

I must sing the praises of Craig’s List. I've always had great success both selling and buying, but this really takes the cake. I'm doing a little home improvement project in the front yard, and I really needed to get rid of my two 13 foot tall Camillia trees. Frankly, as I looked around, I realized there are 9 Camillias total in the front yard, so they really won't be missed. So I thought, what the heck, I'll put them on Craig's List....."Free if You come dig them out". I thought maybe in a couple of days I'd hear from someone. Not true. Within 20 minutes I had my first taker. Then #2-8 lined up after her within hours. Seriously. 8 people wanted to come and do the manual labor of digging out trees. Okee dokee. So when the appointed day came for #1 to come get the trees, she called an hour or so before before she was supposed to arrive and said her husband's truck wouldn't start. When dealing in "Craig's World", you always expect flakes, but I have to hand it to her for calling....it can often happen that they don't. No problem. I called #2 and left a message. He called back within 5 minutes, came to see the trees 15 minutes later, went home and started calling around for a truck, and came back 30 minutes later to dig them out. So let this be a lesson.....if there's something you want to get rid of, even if the person who gets it has to work for it, try Craig's List first. Because you just never know.

I have a new love of my life. No disrespect to Scott, but I swear I could marry this thing. Scott's mom Pat gave us a Roomba for Christmas and it has already changed our lives. Mostly we wanted it for the family room, where Comet spends his time. Pet hair needs to be vacuumed a lot. Roomba can be scheduled to vacuum, or you can simply push the button and off it goes. It takes about an hour or so, and at the end it finds it's docking station so that it can recharge itself for the next go-round. So in the family room I've scheduled it for every other day at the same time. However, since Ry and Si seem to be building some kind of super-railroad project in the family room right now, I decided to move it to our bedroom today. Wow. Not only did it find every corner, go from area rug to hardwood floor and back with no problem, it even went into the bathroom and went between toilet and vanity, under clawfoot tub, into all corners, and even tried to climb the toilet (must have thought it was really dirty). At first Ry, Si and I layed on our stomachs watching it go under the bed, the chair, the table, etc., then after awhile it was just me.....it's oddly mesmirizing to watch this robotized thing zoom round and round and back and forth and just when you think it's not going to pick up that piece of lint, zoop....there it goes.....back to get it (zoop is officially copyrighted by me now....don't even try to steal it). And there is some wierd high you get from cleaning out the lint filter and brushes.....all that dust and hair and yuckiness.....there it is....gone from your floor! This is as life-changing as TIVO. Run, don't walk, right out and get yourself one.