My Garden "Friends"

 My collection of bust or statue planters get a lot of attention when I post them on Instagram. And my collection is "growing!" I started out with just a couple but I keep finding more "friends" along the way.

They are a LOT of fun year round. 

Right now they are filled with all kinds of beautiful plants for Summer. 

Some of these guys are going to need haircuts soon!

Back in the early Spring I found forced bulbs at Wal Mart for $1.00 per so I filled the planters with lots of blooms. It was so much fun to have all of those blooms in the early, early Spring and since they were up on a table I didn't have to worry about Cooper eating something harmful! Always something I have to consider when choosing what I plant.

At Christmastime I used my extra clippings of magnolia, holly and a few "faux" evergreen trees and topiaries to decorate my garden friends. (And the weather had been mild so far which meant my native, perennial ferns were still green and full!)

I never got a great evening shot with the lights on (and there were some things on the porch draped for the Winter so it's not an awesome image) but it was fun to have all the greenery during the Winter months.

This angel is actually something that used to hang on a brick wall but I added her to the mix.

I didn't do anything in the fall with pumpkins or mums for my collection of garden friends because I was all about my chinoiserie pumpkins and my collection of terra cotta jack-o-lanterns! I think that might change this Fall! 

This guy (Socrates, maybe??) isn't a planter but he hangs out on the porch surrounded by plants!

This little gal lives inside.

This large bust planter hangs out in our downstairs powder room.

She got a little seasonal change for the holidays as well.

Real magnolia but faux poinsettia because it was low enough for Cooper to reach it (Poinsettias are poisonous to dogs!)

These bust planters are great "Garden Friends" but they are a lot of fun inside the house as well. I have gotten feedback that they seem 'creepy' to some people but I like the 'classic' vibe I think they give off - think Roman and Greek statues in the garden. I am enjoying them each season and it's fun to add to the collection. What do you think? Like them or pass?

I've found mine in a lot of different places but here are a few I've found online if you want to find some "Garden Friends" of your own!

This one is just like one I have and if you have Prime that helps with the shipping on something this heavy!

Another bust planter for a good price from Amazon.

I love this one from Breck's. I'm very tempted!!

And this one is from Kroger!! Who knew!

Those are all great options if you don't find any locally but be sure to check out thrift stores and local garden centers and concrete "yard art" places! 

One Room Challenge Week 8 - The Hall of Mirrors Reveal

 I'm back! I was determined to finish up this ORC despite all of the unexpected delays that came my way - being hit on Memorial Day, a totaled car, wearing a walking cast, dealing with insurance, 3 sick Cooper visits to the vet in one week plus all the normal stuff we do like eat, go to work, grocery shop, water the garden... you know! I hate to admit it but all that "stuff" messed with my mojo and momentum!! I thought I was going to wrap up the details on Friday and Saturday of Reveal Week and post a completed project but that is not the case!! More bumps in the road and I refuse to stress or rush through the curtain project - If I messed up my gorgeous pagoda fabric by hurrying I might cry!! 

A few progress shots:

 This wasn't going to be a big big splashy ta-da anyway,  like so many of the ORC reveals (and I have my favorites) but the thing that is important to remember in all of this is that it isn't a competition and everyone who has participated has been motivated to improve a space in their home. That's a big W in my book. We never really thought much about how dingy and uninspiring this space was - we just walked through on our way to whatever room. Now we have each said, "Wow! This is so much nicer!" It's definitely prettier - and healthier too. We removed the old, old carpeting that retained so much more dust than I realized. 

I like how bright and fresh it is. I think it makes a great transitional space for all of the rooms that feed off of it and I love the fabric we used to hide the laundry closet. You can read about the awful janky bifold doors that used to be there here. The details of the flooring project are here and  here. 

So even unfinished we are glad that it is as improved as it is. I will finish, post here and on IG and hopefully you will give it a look!

Thank you to Linda and Better Homes and Gardens for hosting the best motivator for me in all of IG Land!! 

Check back soon :)

One Room Challenge Week 5 - The Hall of Mirrors

 

As stated above, it could have been much worse and we are healing but... now I'm dealing with the business end of being in an accident. I want to say that my agent/insurance company has been very helpful but the insurance agency that needs to take care of our needs on behalf of their driver has been awful so far. 

So, no fun ORC stuff going on this week. See you next week with a Week 6 update!!

I will be checking in to see what everyone else has accomplished here.

Summer begins...

There is a well known quote by Charles Spurgeon: "Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began, and let the Lord be all in all to you." It is usually reserved for New Years greetings and for "big beginnings" but it popped into my mind when I was thinking about the start of Summer this year. 

School is out here and, to me, that signals the beginning of Summer. Some consider it to be Memorial Day weekend and some wait for the "official" Summer Solstice. However you calendar Summer is on everyone's mind. I am always a Summer girl - I love the heat, the beach, working in the garden. All things Summer. This year, and I think the reason that quote has been bopping around in my head, is that I've felt the usual excitement and retrospective as well. 

I want to begin this Summer as I mean to go on. I want to remember to celebrate the ordinary and to not forget the parts of last Summer that were important. It was an out of the ordinary Summer but there were good things about being home and not being "busy."

The pace of last Summer was more Summer-y than I can remember in years. It reminded me of the Summers I spent with my Charleston grandmother and endless days at the beach with cousins. Time had no meaning. I am not romanticizing the Summer of 2020 at all. It was hard, devastating for some, but there were small joys to be found and we gave them importance. I don't want to lose that by going back to busyness in our excitement to get back to "normal."  I also still feel, as many of you do, unsettled, unsure, concerned about so many things in our world but I'm going to go on as I began last year - I will keep the faith.

This is my public reminder to myself to start the summer with time well spent and to continue it through the Summer. To appreciate looking through design books surrounded by backyard blooms. To pour my grapefruit juice in a pretty glass and add a sprig of mint from the herb garden. To burn a candle. To use my great-great grandmothers tatted (and tattered) tablecloth to make the table look pretty even if it is just me (and James Farmer, Bunny Williams, Celerie Kemble and Mark Sikes! And lets not forget Mrs. Whaley!)

I mean to go on as I have begun - looking forward to the Summer and planning to find small joys and celebrate the ordinary.

What are your Summer plans?

SOURCES:

Plastic Wine Glass - World Market (highly recommend)

Beautiful by Mark D. Sikes

Celerie Kemble's new book, Island Whimsy

A House by the Sea by Bunny Williams

A Place to Call Home by James Farmer

Mrs Whaley and Her Charleston Garden which I reread every year. At least once.

Gingham cloth napkin/dishtowel - similar item

Dog statue - Wal Mart garden center this season

Vintage or thrifted items: tatted tablecloth, bamboo tray, scalloped terra cotta pot, blue and white flower pot and small pitcher, pagoda lantern

Variegated zonal geranium - Home Depot

Lavender topiary - Wal Mart

Sweet Mint -f rom my garden but I saw it at Lowe's this season

The iron garden table and chair were purchased over 20 years ago.

One Room Challenge Week 4 - The Hall of Mirrors

I hung another mirror.

(still reflecting a messy work zone!)

 I finished painting everything white (except the doors- more on that below!) I feel like I need applause! It doesn't seem like that much to paint but, whew!, it took a while to do it all, top to bottom!

I wanted to change thing up a little when it came to my light fixtures. (The builder "boob" lights were still up there. I know.) I decided I wanted to go a little modern, bold, punchy and not expensive at all. This is an upstairs hallway. I want it to look nice but I was not willing to spend a lot for lighting. Then, I decided on black to make a statement in the sea of white. 

I searched Amazon, Lowe's and HD for affordable options. I ordered one style from Amazon and it had to go back. A poster child example of "you get what you pay for!"  But I hung in there and ordered another one that popped up when I started searching again. I had some space restrictions on size because of where the second light was located in relation to the drop down attic door.

This is the one I decided on and it looks good in the space. It is not the most quality light out there but it works for my vision and what I wanted to spend. And I'm definitely glad I went with a black fixture. It has some oomph in that all white space.

There isn't any natural light in the hallway so all of my pictures will be lights on. Sorry :(

I also ordered a Loloi Rug to place at the top of the stairs to hopefully catch some of the dirt and dust tracked upstairs to the white floors. I like Loloi because they are affiliated with GoodWeave and are socially responsible in their company policies. I may find I need to go with a runner down the hall later on but for now I'm going with this. I like the muted colorway with my curtain fabric.

(It was on sale for about $30! Great price for size and their quality)

Next up is deciding on curtain rods and mounting hardware. I have some rings, a couple of rod choices  and some assorted wall mounts that I purchased for pennies at a REstore a few years ago. It was a box full of designer window treatment paraphernalia and I have used it in multiple ORC's by now! I'm going to see if I can pull together what I need from what I have on hand! Then I will sew my curtain for the laundry "closet" opening. 

What's left to do:

1. Finish painting. Replace switch plate covers, etc. Any touch ups. 

2. Doors- I painted all of the upstairs doors black several years ago and now they are going back to white. This  is the story of my life: I tend to go from one extreme to the next when painting. Black to white and back to black. Then white again. It's never covering one soft color with another!! I should learn. Also, it doesn't help matters that there are 6 doors in this hallway!! OY!

3. Purchase correct light bulbs. One bulb in the box of 8 blew immediately. I bought a 2 bulb replacement pack and ended up with a "bluer" bulb. Rats.

4. Decide on curtain rod combo and hang. 

5. Sew curtain for laundry "closet" opening. 

6. Hang remaining mirrors.

7. Cut carpet at door openings and install carpet strips (until additional rooms are floored.)

8. Here's the biggie - figure out how to photograph an awkwardly shaped space that is full of mirrors.

Be sure to check out everyone else's progress here.

I have some "favorites" I'm following and I'm excited to see the updates each week.  What about you? Are you doing the ORC or just cheering everyone else on this round?? This is ORC #11 for me so I may just be cheering from the sidelines next time. I guess you can tell by the fact this is ORC 11 for me that I find Linda's challenge to be agreat motivator!

One Room Challenge Week 3 - The Hall of Mirrors

Put a Pagoda On It or #putapagodaonit

Do you remember a few years back when the whole "put a bird on it" thing was an ongoing joke in the home decor/DIY/Pinterest world thanks to Portlandia?

Well, I think my underlying ORC theme might just be "Put a Pagoda On It" :)

Case in point:

The pillows on my vintage wicker couch from the Fall 2020 ORC -

#putapagodaonit

The pillows from my Spring 2017 Guest Bedroom ORC - 

The desire to #putapagodaonit was so strong that 

when I couldn't find pink pagoda fabric I painted my own!

And the pillows from the Spring 2016 ORC (our Library) - 

              The entryway has had a few changes since it was an ORC  but still...  #putapagodaonit

Anyway, last week I shared that I found the fabric for the curtain that hides our laundry area. I could definitely refresh that area and make it better looking but the bottom line is that I'm never going to want it open to the hall. I want to be able to hide it from sight - even when it's just us. 

Plus I love the addition of the softness of a textile in this space. There is a lot of white, which I love, but it's still "hard" in appearance and the mirrors, which I love for the light they will bring to a windowless space, are "hard" as well.

This hallway is going to be very neutral so some texture is necessary. 

Anyway, I love this fabric and since my textile mantra seems to be "put a Pagoda on it" this one fits the bill.

It looks much darker in these pictures but it's actually a very soft greige - it isn't beige and it isn't gray. The background is off-white instead of bright white so that will be a warm note against the bright white walls.

#putapagodaonit

I still have to make curtain rod and curtain hardware decisions but that's for another day. Finding the fabric was the fun and exciting part.

Be sure to check out the progress on all the other ORC projects here.

The Painted Rug from #thethriftedporch

 I'm sure there are a lot of tutorials out there on the web for painting floors so I'm going to quickly share how I went about mine and what I used just in case you are thinking about giving it a try.

I used the same materials and process to paint my Powder Room floor last Summer. 

Your floor needs to be clean and if it has a glossy surface I recommend lightly sanding.  I mopped my porch floor to get off the pollen and dirt tracked in.

The first step is to tape off your rug shape or if it's the entire room just tape off your baseboards. Then you prime. I use oil based primer and I did two coats- possibly overkill but my Powder Room floor has shown no signs of wear and it's been 10 months of heavy traffic. 

I let my primer dry overnight, painted the entire "rug" area white, let that dry and then I taped off the stripes lengthwise. I always put a tape dot in my "no paint" spaces while I'm in progress. It keeps me from making a mistake. You may not need it!

This is definitely a project where you want to measure twice before painting!! But if you make a mistake you can just paint over it and go again!!

I use Sherwin Williams Exterior Super paint on my floors. I've had great luck with it. #notsponsored

Because I was doing the checked pattern I mixed the Anjou Pear at about 1/3 AP to 2/3 white to get my lighter tone. Depending on your color choice you might have to adjust this ratio to make it work. 

Two coats of my lightened stripe color lengthwise. I let that dry overnight before taping off the horizontal stripes and giving them two coats of the same lightened AP.

After they all dried I taped off a "test" square where the stripes overlapped. I painted two coats of the full strength Anjou Pear to be sure the contrast was correct. I didn't want to do all the squares and then be unhappy when the tape came off!!

I liked it! It looked like gingham or buffalo check.

So I taped off the rest of the squares and painted them full strength AP.

Now for a confession. The furniture placement in this section is not perfectly balanced and the smaller rug I had in here before was off center so I knew the "rug" placement was a bit tricky. I debated forever about where I started it in relationship to the opening to the rest of the deck and the glider, etc. I should have gone with my first instinct because I ended up adding another 'row' of checks to that front edge after pulling all the tape up!!

Before the added row:

More measuring and taping to add the extra row of checks.

All of this taping and painting completely wore Cooper out!

 I think the proportion of the finished rug is better with the added row. I made the first outline 5 x 7 feet which is a traditional rug size. But that's the beauty of painting my own rug - I made it the size that "looks" right! 

It's a great, inexpensive way to brighten up a space! And it's just paint - if you want to change it then simply paint over it!