Boys Are Different

I have returned home , after delivering a dresser,

visiting Canton and various locales therein,

with my

grandsons in tow.


Correction.

I am in tow.


Boys are different.

Lantana bed after gecko hunt.

Popsicle eating and meditating.

Muffin eating and thinking.

Constantly missing flip flop .

Battle tools.

Dining room table.


All decorating projects are on hold for a week.

It is just a list after all.

I would much rather sit on the couch watching National Geographic’s Strike Force,

a season’s collection of Swamp People on Netflix,

and all things Animal Planet.

As my youngest grandson just said,

after drinking all of my ice water,

Tanks.

 

all over the place

I delivered the turquoise campaign dresser to my daughter in Dallas last night.

Seeing it in her home made me crave color.


Clear Colors.


Is there such a term?

I woke up this morning (at her home)

thinking I need raspberry in my living room.


(Yes, I really woke up thinking that.)


Yes, I said raspberry.

I’m all over the place folks, but this funky color speaks to me.

Aside from the fact that I haven’t finished the Nap Room.,

and the fact that…

after visiting the Wisteria Outlet,

I want to move this hutch to one of the bedrooms (after I paint it) and after I paint the bedroom Kilim Beige.

Then I thought I’d get the Rachel Ashwell burlap looking linen bedding from Target (that Daughter #2 found) and use mercury glass and hotel silver.


Then the entire house will be in chaos!

Would anyone like to invite my husband over for a week’s visit???

(Three pieces of my daughter’s black amethyst collection.)

 

Chairs

 

I think it is time to stop buying random chairs.


I bought 2 of these in Goliad, Texas

on the side of the road.


I made an illegal U-turn,

bought them,

and then

somehow fit two of them in the back of Hauler 2.

I love dining table chairs with

shield backs.

I can’t seem to stop buying them.


I may have to start hanging them from the ceiling.



And so the heat and my projects continue,

including:

*delivering the turquoise campaign dresser to Daughter #3

                                                                  *hanging the gallery wall of botanical prints

*painting my dining chairs white and seeing how they look with a dark dining table

and

*finishing the Nap Room’s arrangement and accessories.


Sigh…

Botanical Prints

I have collected these prints for a while now,

even though some of them I found on my searches

started out looking like this.

Having each print represent a month

makes them particularly special.

So one day,

I piled them all in Hauler 2,

headed to Michael’s with my framing coupon,

and had all of the mats changed.


All. 10. OF. THEM.

These will ALL

be hung in the study,

recently re-christened the

NAP ROOM,

gallery style.



As a slinger and an eye-baller,

creating a mathmetical formula of perfect

print placements

for said gallery wall,

with

brown paper, tape, a step ladder, a hammer, my husband spotting me,

and a level will be great fun!

If my daughters are reading this,

they are thinking…

‘please don’t make me help, please don’t make me help,

please don’t make me help.’

 

***

 

Linking to

This Used to Be This

This used to be this.

Raise your hands if you ever opened your eyes one day

and asked

“Who does that belong to?”



Now raise your hands if it is 2011 and said object entered your home in 1990?


This is like the Sci Fi network, right?



Side note:  What was so wrong with the 90’s?

I LOVED BEDAZZLED T SHIRTS.

My main goal was to accomplish the following:

create a soft place for a nap…check

create a cooler (as in temperature) color scheme… check.

I have just been playing with things so far.

I wish I could figure out how to change the stain color of those chairs without

re-upholstering.

Now to the advice:

In order to modernize the lines of the couch,

I had the upholsterer remove the buttons on the back cushions.


I also had him ‘raise’ the cushions about 2 inches higher than the back of the couch.

And now back to the drawing board.

Sherwin Williams’ Reflection is too blue.

Even though I plan to use my very favorite blue and white pieces in here,

I want a softer gray that is just gray.


So far I have looked at Gray Clouds,Stamped Concrete, Silver Mist,

Zircon, Evening Shadow,

and Front Porch,

to name a few.



Next bit of advice.

When looking at color paint strips,

look at the darkest shades on the strip.

That is the real hue of the color you are selecting.


I am off to stare at the paint store.

***

 

I am linking to:

Friday Night Lights

It is rare in today’s world of

television programming

to find a show so authentic in its portrayal,

it is hard to watch.

Friday Night Lights,

a show based loosely on the book and film of the same name

and centered around Texas high school football, is such a show.

This is not the train wreck television reality show

that I admit

I have been guilty of watching.



You know what I mean-

the Housewives of Wherever-

that I admit I have guiltily watched.



Friday Night Lights is instead a tragedy of the Greek kind

that recognizes the struggle,

the flaws that human beings of all ages possess.

It is also about the sweet victory of redemption.



It is the exchange- the back and forth of the consequences of these flaws

that makes this show unforgettable.

 

From teacher/coach to student,

parent to child,

and husband to wife,

it is these tragic flaws that made this show hard for me to watch.


It is also why I loved it.

 

 

 

A Choir

 

I am now collecting (in a small sense and selectively),

wind chimes for one small area of my garden.



It dawned on me,

while sitting in that new space early one morning,

with my coffee,

that

wind chimes

should be near each other.

By clustering them together,

underneath the back porch of the little house,



I now have a

CHOIR

of chimes.

***

 

Linking to:

The Anti Paint Tutorial

Today I opened door number 3

and joined the world of painting bloggers,

whose work I completely admire.


Now granted,

this admiration  usually occurs from afar, while sitting in my chair

with the AC blasting.

These painting bloggers are amazing in their talent and knowledge.

I am the Anti Paint Tutorial Blogger.




I was part of a DIY team today (with two of my daughters),

who have become very, very

BOSSY.

Five minutes in,

I was quickly demoted to third string painter,

and I was even accused of

“…trying to get out of things,

or skipping important steps in the painting process…”


Well, I never!

My first task was to

apply the primer to a campaign dresser that will

belong to Daughter #3,

once it is painted in a turquoise color called Beach Towel

and its brass fittings are all shiny and gold.



Easily distracted, I wondered if Zinsser makes

under eye concealer.


I am a slinger by trade, and when I complained about the primer,

I was then told to work on the campaign chest hardware.

This was a very hard job.


The previous owner of said campaign dresser

had spray painted the hardware with black paint.

(Truth be told,

I don’t blame them…

I feel their pain.)


This job involved dangerous,

toxic chemicals,

capable of removing layers of paint and skin.

Daughter #3 had started this job,

all while I shouted out non-stop, possibly irritating warnings of

“Danger! Be Careful! Wear those gloves!”

I was demoted from this job

when they caught me trying to dip said hardware in my silver cleaning

liquid in the kitchen

(with the AC blasting).

Stay tuned for the big reveal.

There really is a plan.

I’ll let you know

when they

let me know…


I wonder what my job will be tomorrow?

Keep It Small

My exploring this past week

unearthed another ironstone soup tureen to add to my collection.

The price was right ($15),

it was from Pottery Barn,

and it was

BIG.

I also fell in love with the detail.

I have a fresh, new philosophy on managing a collection.


Keep it small.
Keep it selective.


I love my new collection of soup tureens because

I can

SEE

each one and enjoy its special lines and shape.

Each one of these was a thrifty treasure.

 

I realize most people

might think a collection of

7 ironstone soup tureens

is

NOT

a small collection,

but

by my previous standards

it is…

(true confession)



Somehow,

having

only

seven makes me love them more.



Just remember.

Keep it small.

Keep it selective.

 

***

Linking to Rhoda’s
Thrifty Treasures.

.