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making laundry happy

Published April 18, 2011 crafty , decor , home 8 Comments

Do you guys know about the Fly Lady? I sucked at and despised and dreaded cleaning my house until I started the Fly Lady’s cleaning regimen three weeks back. And seriously, no irony here — I’m finding now that I love cleaning — look forward to it, even, which still weirds me out a little.

Anyway, one of the cleaning missions this past week was to put a family picture in the laundry room. When it came down to it, I couldn’t pick just one picture but also didn’t want to monkey around with frames and nails and stuff (shudder. totally man’s work in this house. anybody else, or am I the only unempowered non hammer-wielding woman around here?).

So, with the view of making it a quick project without any fuss or hauling out the sewing machine or anything, I grabbed some bias tape scraps, knotted them together, and clipped on the pictures along with some of my Grammie’s hankies. Ta-daa!

Laundry room = happy place. Except that the laundry room is also the one room in the house that we still haven’t unpacked. All in good time, all in good time. Anybody else have a fun happy place decorating idea to share? I’m really happy that I don’t suck at cleaning anymore, but not sucking at decorating… let’s just say that won’t be such an easy fix.

home’s heart

Published January 14, 2011 home 17 Comments

The three main rooms in our home — kitchen, sun room, living room — are all connected yet distinctly separate. We love this for 3 reasons:

:: The chickies can run in circles. And run. And run. And run.
:: It feels bigger than it really is.
:: One room can look like a war zone, but you can’t tell from the other rooms.

Sunny afternoons in this house are so happy. I’m off to soak this one up.

So what are you up to this weekend?

succulent sunday

Published December 19, 2010 family , home , relaxing 2 Comments

It’s darned near impossible not to fall asleep in this room on a sunny day.

More on our dear little sun room another time — I hope you’re having a gloriously peace-full Sabbath!

scissor therapy

Published December 14, 2010 crafty , decor , holidays , home , seasons 7 Comments

{Looking for the giveaway? It’s below!}

I was feeling a little bit grumpy today, then got mad at the Big Miss for something stupid, then cried, then the Big Miss brought me one of her blankies and a wind-up mouse to help me feel better, which more or less made me feel worse, then I sat by the fire with a cup of tea and whacked and hacked at some old dictionary pages for a while.

Then I felt better.

Amazing what some time, warmth, destruction/creation, and baker’s twine can do for a body. Fab snowflake how-tos here and here.

1980 + echino

Published December 11, 2010 home , sewing 4 Comments

One thing I like about moving frequently is that I get to practice decorating, which is not one of my natural talents. When I do decorate, it’s usually with fabric — I’m not really a willow-ball-in-a-glass-jar kinda gal, though sometimes I wish I were; I inherited my mother’s freakish aversion to clutter (did I just call you freakish, ma? sorry bout that, love you) and things that look like they might someday turn into clutter are fastidiously avoided. Whew, how’s that for a run-on sentence?

Anyway — our new kitchen is straight outta 1980 — bright orange counters and brown-and-cream gingham wallpaper. It’s cute in a kitschy way, and I was really delighted to find that the new Echino line is a perfect color match. So I’m working on a table runner in this, along with curtains in this and chair cushions in this. We don’t really need chair cushions, but dang, any excuse to buy and frequently look at Echino works for me.

advice, please

Published October 3, 2010 home , refashion 14 Comments

Meet Lizzy’s dresser. And Lizzy. But you already know her.

I got it at the DI — before Lizzy was even born — with the intent to refinish/repaint it before the baby came. Ahem.

It didn’t happen then, but I’m feeling up to the challenge now — especially since I’ve got some pretty paint leftover from painting Lizzy’s chair. I have basically no experience in this realm, though, so I’m hoping you guys do. I’m not sure how to describe the finish on the dresser, other than that it’s really shiny. My question is this: do I really have to sand it? Or will a good coat of primer suffice?

postcards from california

Published August 7, 2010 family , field trips , home 6 Comments

Sisterly shenanigans at our favorite park.

Window shopping at the outdoor mall (and a little real shopping at H&M). I feel like the current offerings at Free People take clothing beyond fashion and function and into the realm of art, to say nothing of the shop’s decor. So much juxtaposition between contradictory textures, femininity, and utility. I have so many new ideas.

Breakfast with my big sissy at La Boulange, our hometown’s newest bakery that is the most freakingest awesomest amazingest bakery evah. (Except Crumb Brothers. Of course.)

Betz got the chocolate-hazelnut croissant; I got the almond. Seriously. To. Die. For. Besides, any establishment that provides a jar of Nutella next to the napkins for complimentary consumption has my undying and eternal devotion. This is what my sister looks like when she’s eating something really good.

Today there was playtime and swimming with the cousins.

Tomorrow there will be thrifting galore. And right now, right this very moment, I am noshing on my yearly infusion of Humboldt Fog goat cheese. It has taken me many years to cultivate an appreciation for strong goat cheese, but hooooo baby, here we are.