Weekly Calendar Printable or It's A Struggle Without It

I try to be as tech savvy as possible. If there is an app for my phone I use it. I love how tech has made life so much simpler (in some ways... when it works) and in future posts I'll share my foray into home automation. Meanwhile, I would like to take a step back to the 1990's and show you how I still keep some things on pen and paper. As much as I love my iCal, sometimes I forget to look at it or my phone altogether for a while and I forget things. Writing them down helps me remember and then I can tack it on the fridge so every time I stroll through the kitchen I can easily take a quick peak. Nowadays I try to put everything in my online calendars and write it down too. Doesn't hurt to have backup.

I thought I would share a little weekly calendar I made up

Check back in throughout the year for seasonal calendars and let me know what you think or ways to improve it.

Enjoy,

My Hummingbird Feeder or Sweet Spring

Favorite bird- Hummingbird. BB King gets where it's at.

I needed some in my yard. I think this swarm would be ridiculously cool. Is it called a swarm? Are hummingbird groups still flocks?

But for now I will start with one. This one:

 Perky Pet Mason Jar Hummingbird Feeder

It is in no way necessary to buy the premade hummingbird food with the red dye in it. Hummingbirds are attracted to red, but some red on the feeder should lure them in just fine without the unnatural dye. An easy food recipe is basically the same as making a simple syrup. Take one part sugar to four parts water, boil to kill bacteria and dissolve sugar, let cool, and BAM! (yeah, I'm channeling Emeril).

I used 1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of water

Boil the 4 cups water with sugar stirring occasionally

Let it cool, pour into feeder, and watch the hummingbirds fly in and drink your homemade nectar you worked so painstakingly on.... we hope.

I put my feeder on a shepherd's hook and placed it in my wood barrel planter. In the planter I have basil that thrives in it every year and some red petunias that will hopefully draw in more hummingbirds. If you look very closely at the hook you can see I have already lured in a lizard friends. He is sneaky. I did not even notice him until I was looking at the picture.

If I get some pictures of customers I will be sure to share.

Have a great day,

Things I Love or Finding My House Style

I have said it before and I'll say it again. I'm always trying to find my home style. In college I got a minor in art and architectural history and it was hard to ever say I had a favorite period because I respected and appreciated almost every style in the right context. Here are some of my current faves, kind of a contemporary eclectic. If you have a better name for it please let me know.

HGTV

South Shore Decorating Blog

homedit.com

Preciously Me Blog

I like the bold black and white color schemes with the gray. The brass accents are a great touch too. The brass chairs in the last are stunning. I also love that all of them feel contemporary, but still cozy, which I feel gets lost easily for the sake of style.


Thanks for checking in,

Granite Is In or Backsplash Is Not

My new yellow sunset granite counters look gorgeous and definitely add value to the home. The best part, for me, was someone else put them in for me. Don't get me wrong, I love to DIY, but sometimes it's just nice for a project to be done. Here are some delicious pictures. Of course the kitchen is still a mess. The sink make look done, but right now the garbage disposal drains to the floor...got to make a quick trip to the hardware store.

I'm really loving this one huge basin for my sink. The undermount is always a plus. If you're wondering how I came to this decision - 1. Undermount makes kitchen cleanup easy. You can wipe all of your crumbs and spills right into the sink. 2. The struggle with oversized pots, pans, cookie sheets, you name it will hopefully be quelled now. 

The faucet is from Pfister and has a pull down sprayer. My last kitchen faucet had the pull down sprayer and it's pretty much the greatest kitchen invention since the dishwasher. I also like the clean look of one fixture instead of a spread. 

So shiny that it reflects the ceiling light fixture. Loving the veining.

Now of course this has left me without a backsplash and I would like to replace all of the outlets and switches. The current ones are grimey and yellowed...ewww.

Check us out soon to see how deciding the backsplash is going and to learn how to switch out outlets and switches... Wow, that's a tricky sentence. If you have any ideas for the backsplash I would love to hear them, just leave a comment at the bottom.

Have a great day and thanks for checking in,

How To Make A Planter Worthy Of A Magazine or I Am So Fancy

While browsing through Pinterest, as any Pinterest addict does, I fell in love with some gorgeous indoor planters for adorning equally beautiful rooms. You can check out my Pinterest through the bar at the right or HERE.

These are my absolute favorites

 DrivenByDecor loves clams shells as much as I do

 Beautiful and can be purchased HERE for about $2,000, which is a bit more than I intended to spend and I don't think it comes with the plants.

This one is definitely my favorite, I'm a sucker for Orchids, clam shells and succulents. Amanda Carol does so many beautiful things and can be found near me in Houston! She does hers with faux plants, which still looks fantastic, but I wanted the real deal. I know I am asking for heart ache but a room full of greenery just makes me happy.

I have a pretty good idea of what I want and a clam shell purchased from ZGallerie a while back, with a coupon code (I love a deal). Of course seeing her beautiful gold one I wish I had opted for the upgrade. Live and learn.

I went to my local big box store and bought some supplies:
Orchids
Succulents
Sphangum Moss
Orchid Soil - it will work for succulents too.
Planter or container of some type

Supplies

 Sometimes the orchids can be a bit root bound like any other plant, typically with an orchid that mean it's time to repot, which we're doing so we're great. The light green/whitish roots are healthy so try to leave them undamaged while you gently remove it from the pot. If there are any ends that are brown, flat, or just plain dead looking you can trim them off.

 

Then I just sort of squished all of the orchids and then the succulents in where I wanted them.  Here they all are, packed in. You could stop here, but a layer of moss will be good for the orchids and I just find it more aesthetically pleasing.

 Here I layered it with moss and then carried it outside. Yes I probably should have started outside, but I didn't.

 

I gave it a light mist to dampen up the moss so it laid down how I wanted it and to water the plants. Be careful though, orchids and succulents are not big fans of water, especially standing water. That's why I misted, just a light spray for a minute or two to get things damp. 

 

 There she is, all done and beautiful. The more I look at it, the more I think I might add a few more small succulents, but I'll let it sit for a while. Then I found it's place in my living room, where it made it a touch classier.

 Special thanks to my helper Harley.

 Thanks for stopping by,

How To Prep For Granite or Good Bye Faux Green Marble

After years of waiting... two years. I know it doesn't sound long, but it felt like an eternity because you could not scrub the ugly or the cracks and damaged surfaces off of these hideous things. Was there ever a time where people honestly thought this looked good? I don't buy it. 

I had lots of thoughts on countertops. I really wanted to try diy concrete counters or something more exciting like quartz, but for the sake of resale value and predictability (and my sanity with all of my ongoing projects) I went for granite. I wanted it to be something warm and light as the kitchen seems dark to me at times. Yellow Sunset was the granite I landed on 

I like the veining. It gives it something a little special. And speaking of special this particular granite was on "special" so it was hard to say no to. I went to my local granite supplier - Simmons Custom Granite in Conroe, Texas. Gary, the salesman, was very nice and came over to my house the very next day to measure and quote me a price. I originally asked if they could remove the countertops and install the decking too, which they would, for a price. Then my DIY mindset kicked in and I thought I could save some serious cash doing it myself. 

Check out Simmons Custom Granite HERE. They're not paying them, actually I guess you could say I paid them since I paid for the granite and install, but I really liked the job they did so if you're anywhere in the Greater Houston area they can help you out.

Meanwhile, thanks to a couple of good friends and a little elbow grease/pry bar/hammering the countertops were gone in an hour. Adios faux green marble, you will not be missed. I'm still trying to get in the habit of taking photos so little old me got carried away and ripped the old countertops out without taking a picture. But picture this on the countertops AND the backsplash and scratched to all heck with some cracks and irreversible stains. It's an overwhelming finish.

For the decking I was told to use 3/4 inch untreated plywood. This is where the adventure began. At my first local big box the saw was broken. At the second big box hardware store a helpful worker told me that I should have a man handle this for me. No comments there, but lets just say I left empty handed and not very happy. Big box store number three was just right though. I walked in and asked for help, because as strong as I like to think I am there was no way I was pulling sheets of plywood off the racks by myself. Then, to make my life easier I asked them to cut the plywood down for me. Standard counter depth, such as what I have in my kitchen, is 24 inches. Standard plywood is 4 foot by 8 foot. So I have a very nice man with a huge saw cut a few sheets for me in half lengthwise. Leaving me with several pieces of 24 inch by 8 foot pieces of plywood. 

Then all I had to do was trim down the pieces to length and I was good to go. I did this with a circular saw and set the pieces in place, marking where I needed to cut to the make the plywood flush with the edges of the cabinets. Easy peasy.And here is my kitchen in total chaos, just rocking my world.

Next up - the installation. 

Check us out in a few days to see how it turns out,

Fixing An Upset Stomach or Pumpkin Cures Even When It's Not Fall

Lucy you've got some 'splainin' to do. And yes I started and ended a word with an apostrophe, or better yet Ricky did.

Lucy, the newest addition to the family has been experiencing some.... intestinal distress.... it comes with the new home and the new food. Emotional distress for a dog often means stomach distress too. I thought I would share a quick tip on how to soothe an upset stomach. Canned pumpkin. I used good old Libby's 100% pure pumpkin. Make sure you don't get the pumpkin pie filling. That will make things much worse.

I just put a heaping spoonful in her food every time she eats and we're on our way to better days. 

That makes a happy Lucy and a happy me.

(sorry, they can't all be glamour shots)

 

Thanks for checking in,

Picking A Desk or Where I May Actually Do Work

As per my usual - I'm stuck. I often find it difficult to make design choices because I love so many different styles. Right now I'm feeling a more transitional and eclectic design. I like clean modern lines with a hint of glam or some other special touch. However, I want to be careful to not end up with pieces for my home that I will be sick of in six months because they were trendy. 

Right now my design dilemna is a desk. I will be replacing a queen anne style desk that does not have a lot of character and is definitely dated. I know it's traditional, and they say traditional is just that because it never goes out of style, but this one is not for me. I inherited this desk from my grandmother who has passed away and every time I sit at it I can hear my grandmother saying to be careful with her nice furniture and not get my clodhoppers (my shoes) too close to the furniture so I would not damage the finish or upholstery. Well, sad fact, the table needs some love. The finish is scratched and scuffed and faded beyond what a good cleaning and polish will fix (I have tried). I asked my mother if she would be upset if I sanded it down and refinished it. Her response was she would be picking it up from my house in a week. I will take that as a no Mom. Ironically, my grandmother refinished her furniture often and may have been ok with an update.

Here is what I have. Ignore Harley, the black lab, in the picture on the right. She was too lazy too move and after all - it is her house, she just lets us stay here. You can tell on the picture to the left how scuffed up the tabletop is. Also, ignore messy bookshelves. That's another project, another post, another day.

Anyhow, I will be short one desk. Spoiler alert, we will be moving by the end of the year so I also don't want to commit to a massive purchase just to find the desk does not fit in the next house. Fit being either stylistically or physically.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

1. LumiSource Writing desk from Wayfair $258

2. White Glass Metal Computer Desk $297

3. Upton Home Vivica Cream Reptile Desk $240

4. Rustic Storage Desk $499

5. Glass Cross Brace Desk $399

I really liked the Jonathan Adler Channing desk, which #1 is very similar too, but that off center drawer kind of bothers me. The original is about $2,000, which is more than I am looking to invest.

Jonathan Adler Channing Desk

The metal legs of #1,#3, and #5 look awesome, but maybe chrome is too bold for my office. I have really been appreciating brass lately, maybe there is something I can do to make one of these even better. #2 has the cross leg base that I am enjoying the lines of. Lastly, #4 is a rustic modern look that may go well with my faux antelope rug.

Let me know which is your favorite in the comments & thank you for stopping by,