Kathryn June

On Friday night I got a phone call so late that I knew it was going to be horrible.  It was.  My cousin died that day.  She just celebrated her 16th birthday. We are all so saddened by this unthinkable loss.  My heart is aching for my aunt and uncle.  She was so bright.  She was so sweet.  She was so loved. Rest now Kate,  I will miss you.

I will be back at a later date.

Screened Porch

The screened porch is done and I love it!  We are fading out our neutrals and going bold and bright!  These colors just make me feel so happy.

It all started with the couch.  It was love at first sight at a garage sale on the island and the tag said $15.  It was mine in a heartbeat.  It must be from the fifties or sixties.  It's steel made to look like bamboo.  The original color was green and I knew it had to be green again.  George painted it with his new professional paint sprayer along with the wicker ottoman I found at a garage sale for $2!  I knew I wanted white cushions but knew they wouldn't be practical with kids so I went with marine vinyl.  It is surprisingly soft and easy to work with!  Sewing the piping, however, caused me so much grief.  So glad they are finished! 

I was also greatly inspired by Annie Selke.  She is a designer who recently created a fabric line.  I love all of her designs  and colors.  Being on a tight budget, I ordered a little bit of each and used it to make pillows.     

(This is the couch before)

And here is how the previous owners had the porch.

We gave the floors a fresh new coat of grey porch paint and then we covered as much of it as we could with a natural seagrass carpet.  

This pair of lamps were a steal at Goodwill for $3 each.  I painted them turquoise  (thank you Magnolia for picking the right color!) and George gave them a quick coat of lacquer for shine. 

I was thrilled to find these fleece throws at Ikea for $4 each!  The chairs I've had for years.  Made in Norway, they were a steal at a church rummage sale for $7 each.   My white garden table was also a Goodwill find, for $15!  

This was the first room I had a vision for and it's so nice to have it all come to life.  Too bad fall is coming and it will all be packed up soon.  We're making the most of it with many cups of hot tea out there huddled under the blankets.  :)

1st Day of Preschool

We had one VERY excited little girl in our house this morning.  She has been waiting for this day for a long time.  And boy was she ready to go.  She had no apprehension whatsoever when we arrived.  She spoke up, she contributed, she said her pleases and thank yous and she even let her teacher take her to the bathroom.  I am so proud of her, she did great! 

George and I both went with her today but Wednesday will be her first day by herself.  

Here she is before we went in.  I didn't even ask her to pose, I just caught her in all of her excitement. :)

The After

Okay, it's my first "after" home project.  Too bad there's no "before" photo.  I thought I had one but I didn't.  Funny that this all I can post for what we've accomplished because it seems so small and we've been so busy.  We have started so many projects but this is the only one that is completely done....for the season at least.  We dug up old lilies that were in front of the garage.  We sent away for an heirloom rose called "New Dawn" that produces beautiful creamy pink blossoms and can climb up to 20 feet per season.  It was less than a foot tall when it arrived and we had to put a little gate around it because the rabbits were eating it.  Poor rose, so much pressure.  George hung the trellis, planted the holly bushes, and painted the door black.  He also hung a window box.  (I did plant the mums!)  We had an electrician come and remove the flood light above the door and put in the two sconces instead.  Since the garage is such a part of our backyard we wanted it to have a cozier, more quaint look.  Can't wait to see how it looks next season!

Our family room should have been our first room completed.  The paint was fresh and in a nice color.  We put all of our living room furniture from our old house in here.  All that was left to do was to fill the frames on the walls.  No problem, right?  I take a ton of pictures, should only take me a minute.  If you look in this photo you'll see an empty frame.   What you don't see is that all of the frames are empty and have been for a month now.   I'm happy to say that I just ordered the photos and feel like a million bucks that I will soon have something else accomplished....whew!

In other news, Nani has come to visit.  We have been enjoying cooler temps and many trips to the beach!

Mags went to her first baseball game ever!  She was so excited.  She lasted only ONE inning and came home with a stomach ache because of too much soda, licorice, and ice cream.  She said it was a lot of fun and wants to go again!  Go Cards!

These two do nothing but ride up and down the sidewalk on the side of our house.  They've even assigned an old concrete gutter tray as the parking spot for their bikes and scooters.  

 George and I are going to have dinner ALONE tonight.  For the first time in THREE years!  I don't know where he's taking me but I am so excited!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Four for a Week

We had such a great time last week with George home from work.  We did so many fun things!  One evening we took dinner down to the beach.  (Reminder not to do that again for a few years...George managed to get sand in all of the food).  Magnolia and I jumped in the waves.  We built drip sandcastles and did a whole lot of running around and burying each other's feet in the sand.  Little George, who never strays far from me, rested his head on my legs as I was shooting photos.  I had to snap it because it was just too sweet.

One morning we got up early and headed to the zoo.  

It was our second visit and Magnolia headed right for the Spider Monkey, she knew right where it was.

They love the train ride.  Magnolia also had her first pony ride!

It was a fun filled week together with a day trip to Chicago, lots of new parks discovered, long walks. and even two lunch dates with just the two of us!  We even got a lot done around the house.  It seems for all the work that we've done that it's hardly made a dent.  I honestly can't figure out why it's taking so long.  We are nearing completion on the outside and the screened in porch.  We are the middle of deciding on living room furniture and are waiting for fabric samples to arrive in the mail.  I'm starting to doubt that we'll have a living room by Christmas.  Our dining room started once we found a mid century teak table at an antique store.  Then we found 4 chairs on Craigslist.  They need to be reupholstered and we'll obviously need to find 2 or more chairs.  The chandelier in the there is horrendous as are the mini blinds.  Let's just say, we're a long ways off on that room as well...sigh.   I love this stuff, it keeps me so busy and it's my biggest creative outlet.  I love it even more that we are doing all of the work ourselves and on a pretty tight budget.  Last night I was decorating in my sleep....   :)  Be back soon.