Make it Mobile

This is one of those projects to be filed in the "Why didn't we do that sooner?" folder, which is stored right next to the "Why didn't we think of that?" folder.

We have this lovely old sideboard on our porch that has a long history. 

It was in the basement of the house my family moved into in 1974, where it was used to store half-empty cans of paint.  It served that purpose for many years in that house, and the next, until my sister painted it red and used it to store records.  When she was done with it, we received it in pretty rough shape,
but figured it would be perfect for the porch if we fixed it up.  We've used it there for a couple of seasons, where it serves a couple of purposes.  First, it holds some outdoor glasses and dishes.  I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that it also holds a cable box and TV.  We had mixed feelings about putting a TV out there, but decided it was okay if we had limits on what we watched on the porch. It's for Red Sox games, the Kentucky Derby, golf tournaments, and the occasional tennis match.  Outdoor-friendly programming.  There's no sitcom or reality television watching.  That habit is restricted to the family room. 

Anyway, the cabinet is useful, but sometimes we want to angle the TV, and it's hard to open the cabinet doors to get dishes out with the settee in the way....

So, we put wheels on it. 

The casters came from Home Depot, the motivation came on a day when we were desperate to cross something off our list.  It took ten minutes, a drill, and some screws, and now the sideboard has wheels.

I couldn't just stop there.  Wheels can make lots of things easier, and I immediately thought of the tremendously heavy shoe storage thingy in my "off-season" closet.  It's more like a crawl space with an angled ceiling.

Now that there are wheels on it, I can roll it out of the closet, pick out my shoes,

and then roll it back in. 

It also makes it easier to clean in there.

What have you got in your house that would benefit from being mobile?

The Land of Misfit Plants

There's an area at the back of our yard where we've been putting plants over the last few years that, for one reason or another, did not stand much of a chance.  They're in the back of the yard because they won't be unsightly to anyone but us while they struggle to succeed.   

In the spring we split a hibiscus from my in laws, which did quite well in another part of the yard, but a little nub that fell off the root base of the transplant went into "The Land of Misfit Plants," and yesterday it bloomed.

If you look closely at the bottom leaves, you can see that this success is despite a caterpillar attack earlier in the season.  The other plant is a 4 x 4 shrub already, so I expect this will grow to be the same size.  This is a photo of the other plant from about a month ago, as it was just starting to bloom.

That would really help to fill out the right side of the Land of Misfit Plants.  The left side is thriving.  There's a hydrangea over there that came to us two years ago as a short stick with no leaves on it, the remains of a potted plant my sister received as a gift.  We figured we'd plant it and see what happens, and this year we had dozens of flowers.

That's apple mint guarding the hydrangea, with some other perennial herbs we moved from the vegetable garden at the beginning of the season.  Things are actually getting a bit crowded over there.  Here's the left side of The Land yesterday.

To the right of the blue hydrangea there are two pee gee hydrangeas, which we only discovered when we cut down a couple of stumps in a shady area, and one of them produced a flower.  Off to The Land of Misfit Plants they went, where they have been making steady progress, despite the deer's fondness for their buds.

The right side of The Land is still struggling to fill out.

That's sedum flopping over in the middle there.  How on earth do I get it to stay upright?

And, just behind the rock wall, there are three lilacs we moved last fall from a shady spot, hoping that they'll flower some day. 

There were actually two lilac shrubs, and another nub that fell off, but seems to be making a go of it. 

This year all they did was accumulate a mold problem, but next year should be better.  The goal is for them to fill out enough to conceal the compost behind them. 

It's The Land of Misfit Plants that keeps me going.  When flea beetles eat the arugula and the holly is covered in a black sticky film, I look to these little nubs that turn into plants and I remember that plants want to grow, and they will if you give them time, and a little attention. 

Living Room Decisions 2011

This feels like it has been an epic project and I haven't really done anything yet.  I bought the new blue velvety sofa and seagrass shades, finally.

I love them both.  But, I am having major decision paralysis when it comes to working on the rest of the room.  I am going to paint these side tables and lamps. (If the idea of painting wood upsets you, I hope you'll be comforted by the fact that the tables have damaged veneer, and the lamps are actually cheap metal made to look like wood.)

It was the shape of the tables that I fell in love with, anyway, and the $25 price tag.  I am thinking of painting the tables a darker color than the lamps, but I'm not sure. What do you think?  I am sure that I'm going to order some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to get the job done.  Everyone in the home/diy blogosphere is talking about this stuff, because  it's so easy to use- no sanding or priming- and it distresses nicely.  You can thin it with water, or thicken it by leaving the lid off for a while.  There are 24 beautiful colors to choose from, but I am looking at these four. 

Coco

French Linen

Country Grey

Old White

Of course it's hard to tell what the colors really look like here.  The Country Grey is actually more beige-y than grey, which goes nicely with the seagrass shades, and the Old White doesn't have the pink tone it has on my computer screen.  It's a nice off-white.

That's Country Grey and Old White on top (Cream and Old Ochre below that).  I was going to use those two colors before I found out about French Linen and Coco, which are just coming out this month.  I have requested swatches, and have high hopes for Coco, described as "a warm greyed brown, the color found on old French woodwork."  Coco tables with Old White lamps?  Or Country Grey tables?  with darker lamps?

Because it's starting to feel a little crowded in the room, I am going to swap out this larger roadside-find table

with this smaller one, another roadside find that has been gathering dust in the basement for four years.

I am planning to give that a chalk paint treatment as well, maybe some Old White with a little Country Grey.

The next big decision is whether to keep these teak chairs

 

or swap them out for these free yard-sale chairs.

While the teak chairs are unique and fun, these "new" chairs are classic, and I'm thinking they might suit the room better.  If I use them here, I'm toying with the idea of using the same suzani fabric that I used on this little bench, but then I am a little worried it's too... feminine?

Or, maybe the suzani would be better on the free yard-sale antique rocker, which will go in a bedroom upstairs.

But then I will have to choose from a whole world of fabric for the pair of chairs, and where do I begin?

I intend to recover those wing chairs someday, too, but that's not a project I'm geared up for yet.  Maybe there will be Living Room Decisions 2012, or 2013.  Or 2014.  For now, they stay as they are.

And, I'm still on the lookout for a small armoire to replace the bureau, so we can hide away a TV inside. 

So, what do you think?  If you have opinions, thoughts or ideas about paint or fabric or anything else to do with this space, please let me know so we can all move on with our lives!  Okay, maybe it's just me.  So I can move on with my life. 

I wish you a beautiful weekend filled with easily made decisions.

Shell Art, Parts II and III

We survived Irene unscathed, but we haven't had the internet (or television) for the last few days, which feels like a temporary loss of limb to me.  I'm relieved to be back, with lots to share!

My first installment of shell art is still my favorite, but I had to put the rest of the shells we picked up on the beach in Wellfleet to use, and wanted to get this in before summer is over.  

I have been saving this packaging for over three years with a quick project like this in mind.  These were some lovely cloth coasters I received as a wedding shower gift. 

The wood packaging had sort of a distressed look

and I thought it could be easily repurposed as cheap art. And, I was right.  Here it is.

I glued the shells on, drilled a couple of holes in the corners, and hung it on a nail with some twine.  Quick and easy, and I think it looks pretty nice.
 
With more scallop shells still on my hands, I picked up a grapevine wreath from A.C. Moore

and glued on the shells. 

I think it looks nice here near the sideboard in our front entryway/livingroom area. 

Note the new seagrass shades.  I'm going to share the new shades and sofa on the other side of the room tomorrow, way before the living room makeover is complete, because I still have some decisions to make, and I am hoping you'll be able to provide some advice. 

Cheers, Irene

We have put everything inside, and all that's left to do is sit on the porch while we can, drink mojitos and wait for Irene. 

We harvested as many vegetables and herbs as we could,

including two kinds of mint.  The apple mint has big, pretty leaves, but I think the spearmint makes a better mojito.  Here's how we do it.

Mojitos

1. Make a simple syrup by putting 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan, cooking until it dissolves, which takes no time at all.  Then turn off the heat and throw in a handful of mint leaves, and let it sit for an hour.  The syrup can be refrigerated until you're ready to use it.  DON'T be intimidated by the simple syrup.  It sounds like too much work for a beverage, but it's easy and it's worth it.

2. Get a pint glass, and make yourself a drink.  (This will only fill your pint glass half way.  Double it if you want... a double...)  Add the ingredients in this order:

1 ounce mint-infused simple syrup
1 handful of mint leaves (I used 15, some were smaller than others)
(muddle, or stir)
Fill the pint glass half full with ice, preferably crushed, and stir again
1 1/2 ounces light rum
juice of 1/2 a lime
stir and serve

You can top off the drink with club soda or sparkling water, but we never seem to have any around, and don't really miss it.  You can also garnish with more mint or lime, but we think there's enough in there already, and don't need to be fancy.

Enjoy! 

Making Room for Coneflowers

I finished ripping most of the orange daylilies from a bed full of them and planting new flowers just in time for Hurricane Irene's arrival.  It was a two stage process, and it wasn't fun.  Those daylilies have the most extensive root systems; I like them even less than I did before I started.  Don't get me wrong-  I think they're pretty for the few weeks they're in bloom, but this whole bed was filled with only orange daylilies (I had a before photo but I can't seem to find it), and we needed more to look at the rest of the season.  I did transplant the orange daylilies into areas with nothing but weeds on the edge of our property.

My first attempt at this project was cut short due to lack of patience, but I persevered the second time, refusing to let the daylilies win.  I hope it was worth it.  These alone may make me happy enough for the moment to make me think it was.

They are a type of coneflower called Marmalade.  I also added some purple Profusion and pale yellow Sunrise coneflower.

You can see that some of the daylilies still remain to the right, which was mostly intentional.  There's a lot of remaining cleared space in the middle, which may be filled in when everything else grows, or with another trip to the garden center.  Who am I kidding?  I'll pick up another plant or two. 

In the back there's the tiniest bit of euonymus that may or may not grow, a couple of bee balm transplants that I have just as much faith in, and a new Japanese anemone called Honorine Jobert, which will grow to be about 4'x4' and will look like this when it blooms in the next few weeks.

There's a Russian sage back there, too, and another little Russian sage, hiding behind the tree.

I hope everything is settled in well enough to survive the storm.  I'm also worried about the vegetables, of course.  This is the trellis I just built for our sprouting snow peas.

That looks like it will stand up to 60 mph winds, right?  We will pick as many tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant as are ready, and hope for the best.  I'm dreaming about making these zucchini fritters just posted on Smitten Kitchen while we're hunkered down, assuming we have electricity.

If you are weathering the storm, lucky enough to have it pass by you, or in a place where the weather is better, I hope it's a good weekend for you.  Let's take one last look at those coneflowers.

Love them!