Spaghetti Arms

2012-01-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

I have been a poor blogger. Besides the excuse of the holidays, I had an intense, 7-week, out-of-the-blue freelance assignment (Yay, money! Boo, poor timing!) that just swallowed me up over Christmas and through the new year. I feel like I just came up for air last week. AND in addition to all that crazy business, I offer you this poorly written story.

Once upon a time there was a young couple who bought their first home.

It was modest, but they loved it's blank-slateyness, and they especially loved the neighborhood it was in.

They tore up lots of green carpet, painted and repainted (and repainted) the inside, and sort of neglected the landscaping.

Somewhere along the way, they also acquired two elderly chihuahuas and had two little boys, and the tiny house felt positively miniscule.

The little family began to trip over each other in the hallway and the bathroom.

The couple considered their options:

Move out to the suburbs, where they could afford double the house but miss their neighborhood and their three-minute commute terribly
Try to find a bigger house in their own neighborhood that they could afford (also known as the Imaginary Option), or
Expand the teensy house to accommodate their growing family.

After YEARS of ~~fighting over the toilet and keeping their clothes in their children's bedroom closets like animals~~ considering these options carefully, the ~~wife~~ couple ~~demanded~~ decided to dig in their heels, stay in the house and neighborhood they so loved, and BLOW THE ROOF OFF THE SUCKER.

That's right--we're going up! Our attic, which spans the entire length of our house, is being built out to become a big ol' (well, by our standards) master suite! We are the MASTERS. What what?

This is what we used to see when we climbed the stairs to our attic:

And this is what we saw for a couple days back in December:

And now here's that same corner:

My usual apologies for the iPhone pictures, but I have no decent camera, and with the money we are bleeding into this upstairs, momma ain't gettin' one anytime soon, mmkay?

Anyway, that is about what it looks like right now. I'll share floorplans soon, and we have electrical and plumbing in, but that doesn't look like much. We passed our HVAC, plumbing, and framing inspections this week, so onward to insulation and drywall!

We are beyond excited because this will completely change the way we live in our house.

My Little Turkeys

2011-11-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgivin', y'all! Man, do I have a lot to be thankful for.

Photos: Niki Cardwell, Stella Dolce Photography

Bowl-O-Rama Bits and Pieces: Food Labels

2011-11-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a month since Graham's Backyard Bowl-o-Rama party, but I wanted to touch on a couple of the details. I am nothing if not punctual. Today, dear readers (Mom), let's talk about that problem that keeps us all awake at night: food tags.

I know I've touched on my themed food disease before. I can't help it. Graham's party was no exception--if I couldn't think of a dorky, bowling-related name for it, we didn't serve it.

I made little tags for these treats based on the image from Graham's invitation (it reminded me of a strike or something; I'm not really sure why I chose it. There are only so many Microsoft Autoshapes, people).

But! Then I was faced with the issue of how to display these little . . . strikey-starbursty things. So I scrounged around my kitchen because that's how I roll. I'll be danged if I'm going to buy place card holders for some four-year-old's rice krispie treats--excuse me, "peanut gutter balls."

I had lollipop sticks left over from my attept at cake pops, so I just needed something to jab them into. My solution was . . .

Play-Doh! I have no shortage of the stuff, so I just rolled it into balls and used the lolly sticks to poke some bowling-ball-esque holes into it.

My attempts at bowling pins were a little less successful (I'm no sculptor, OKAY?), but we live and learn (and we still should not buy placecard holders for four-year-olds. Please agree with me on this).

Anyway, there you go. Play-Doh and sticks. Another solution for the crippling combination of theme-OCD and poverty.

Halloween Hangover

2011-11-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

Man, Halloween is exhausting. And we didn't even go to any grown-up parties or bars; we just stuck with kid-friendly trick or treating and wholesomeness. Still, I am worn out. But I wanted to share these pictures of my little nerd goblins before too much time passed.

Graham was the solar system. I spray-painted a bicycle helmet bright yellow, then I painted styrofoam balls as planets and attached them with floral wire. I found inspiration here and just kind of tweaked their design to fit my kid's OCD issues and big head.

We ended up having to put a ski cap on under the helmet to keep it stable. It had been sliding around on his head and endangering the planets.


This is the creepy face he makes when he knows he's being photographed.

I kept with the spacey theme (not Kevin Spacey, but maybe that will be our theme for next year) by dressing Dean as a rocket. This costume cost less than a dollar. I used an old car windsheild shade thing we had lying in the basement. I just cut out the shape of a rocket and affixed red felt to it. We pinned the cutout to Dean's Baby Bjorn, and he peered out of the little window cutout. Easiest costume ever.

He actually kind of loved it!

This was only Graham's second time to trick or treat, and he was really into it this year. The costume held up okay (Uranus fell off, har har), but he was happy to remove the helmet by the end of the night.

Graham got a bag (well, an alien head?) full of candy, so he was thrilled. He kept sneaking more and more candy, as well as these eyeball cake pops I made.

By the end of the night, Seth and I were just happy he hadn't thrown up. Yay, Halloween.

Bowl-O-Rama Breakdown

2011-09-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

Well, another birthday has passed, along with another promise to my husband that we would just do Chuck E. Cheese's or some bouncy place next year. But Graham had a blast, and all the kids there seemed to have fun, so all the hard work was worth it.

Enough blather, on to the pictures!

I made a little sign for our mailbox to point guests toward the back yard. I tried to base it on the vintage sign at the local Madison Bowling Alley. I really wish I'd had time to make some nice cardstock letters for this, but time was running out (literally, we had about 20 minutes until the party started), so I smeared some paint on it and called it a day.

I borrowed my in-laws' cute vintage table for the snacks. I hung the banner over it. My mom hung some sheets on either side to cover some of the grubbiness of our garage door. One year I'll make a backdrop, but this wasn't the year. "We" (meaning Seth, 100%) had a swingset to put together this time.

Some of the themey food. "Turkey" wraps, veggie "pin" wheels, peanut "gutter" balls, and "strike" sticks in ranch dressing cups.

My humble attempt at cake pops. They sort of looked like bowling balls. I think? Anyway, they tasted goo-ood, and I totally see why bakers charge $2-3 a pop now.

The pinata, may she rest in peace. This was a messy job, one I wish I had started a couple weeks before the party. I'm going to act like I meant for it to be vaguely mummy-esque.

Bowling pin and ball candles! My mom made the adorable cake. That bowling lane is fondant!

Favor bags--more on these later!

The kids attempted to actually bowl with the giant bowling set for about 5 minutes. Then, just as all of the reviews warned me, the kids went all Lord of the Flies with them and began chasing each other with them, and then (thankfully) just chasing and whacking the ball with them. I must say, this set was sturdy!

Graham had more sugar that day than in the last year. But that's what birthdays are for.

Photos courtesy of my sister, Laura Covington, and my sister-in-law, Kara Knox.

Countdown to the Bowl-O-Rama

2011-09-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Graham will be four years old in TEN DAYS. SOB. I don't even understand where the time went.

His party this year is Graham's Backyard Bowl-O-Rama. I haven't gotten everything (well, actually anything) completed yet, but here's a peek at the banner I'm putting together.

It's horribly photographed, in my longstanding tradition .Ooh, and horribly "stitched" together with my useless panoramic feature. All stitched up like Frankenstein's monster. Luckily, my talented sister and sister-in-law will be present for the actual party to get non-horrible photos. You'll have to trust me that it actually looks quite cute in person. There will be a bowling pin on each end, and the circles are glittery, like bowling balls.

I made his invitation in Publisher, and I was pretty pleased with it, considering it's all just text boxes and clip art.

More pictures to come, whether you care or not!

Table Fable

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, not really a fable. There are no lesson-learning animals or anything, but it rhymed, and I like a rhyme.

So, I showed you my little plasticky, grime-coated orange chairs. When I positioned them in Graham's room, the only place they'd fit--under the window beside his bed--required moving his toy box (which also functions as a bedside table) somewhere else, which meant moving his bedside lamp, unless I could find a little table to squeeze in between the chairs. Whew, run-on sentence! Are you still with me?

Anyway, I needed a tiny table in somewhat of a drum shape, one that would come in a bit in the middle to allow clearance for the chairs. Every centimeter matters in this tiny bedroom. In my head I wanted something kind of like a mini Saarinen tulip table, but oh, my God, seriously? Six HUNDRED dollars for a kids' table?

Um, I didn't spend six DOLLARS on the two chairs to go on either side of it? Oh, but wait! You can get the kids' version of the oval tulip table (you know, for craft time or Legos or scraping boogers out from under--sorry, just keepin' it real) for just $1519! That's one thousand, five hundred nineteen dollars. But they'll throw in free delivery, so it's really quite the bargain. I think it goes without saying that this table won't be coming to my humble home.

I liked the looks of the Sasha Stool from Italia Modern, and when I was pricing it, it seemed reasonable at $39.99 (it's since gone up on Amazon).

It had the right hourglass shape, it's made of durable plastic, and it could double as a stool (I always appreciate double-duty furniture). One of the reviews even mentioned using it as a shower stool, which I thought was clever. But after shipping, the cost topped fifty dollars. I'm not saying fifty dollars is unreasonable at all, but for something my crazy three-year-old is inevitably going to climb upon and hurl himself from, I thought I could do better.

I looked around at eleventy million online shops and blogs, and then I just Google-image searched "drum stool" and "barrel stool," among other shapes that seemed similar to what I wanted. The results, however, included a stool from Crate and Barrel. Well, looky here:

Cute! Strong enough to be a stool, and according to the reviews, a great height for a side table! Also? UNDER SEVENTEEN DOLLARS. FIVE PERCENT of the cost of the first one. I know, I know--one's iconic and sculptural and the other is mass-produced and blah blah blah. But again, let's review:

kid's room
hurling and jumping
boogers (Graham is really quite considerate with his boogers, wiping them in tissue and putting them in the waste basket, but he does sometimes insist on showing them to me first. Ah, boys.)

The Flamingo Stool is on its way to my house as we speak, and I'm really excited to see how it works in the space. And you know what? If it doesn't work in Graham's room? We can use it somewhere else. Even if we only use it for extra seating the 2.1 times per year that someone visits us, that's okay. Because it was $16.95, yo.

Plastic Fantastic (nothing rhymes with orange, so . . .)

2011-08-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

This all began when Seth and I took Graham to a birthday party at one of those crazy, inflatable, bounce-overload places. Seth walked Graham in, and I stayed in the car to feed Dean. My eye began to wander along the sidewalk of the strip mall where the bouncy place was located, and I spotted a Goodwill. Sitting on the sidewalk in front of Goodwill were some grimy-but-cute chairs, the molded plastic kids' kind.

They were pretty gross, but they were cheap, so I hauled the baby over there, bought the chairs, and maneuvered the stroller back to the car while carrying two chairs. (Side note: I am determined not to buy a new minivan or SUV, but damned if it's not hard to fit two adults, two carseated kids, and ANYTHING ELSE into a Honda Accord).

Somehow we got them home (I think one fit into the trunk, and I had to hold one, upside down, in my lap). Yep, still grimy.

But again, super cheap:

I busted out the soap and water, followed by my beloved Magic Eraser and some elbow grease. After that, they looked . . . slight less grimy? But I like them. I knew I wanted to put them in Graham's ever-so-slowly-coming-together room. We're hanging maps in there with lots of orange in them, and he's outgrown the chair that's currently in there.

I also want to do something about these nastay legs--either spray paint them or take a Brillo pad to them and scour off all the remaining peely black paint. But I'm excited to show you how they'll look in Graham's room.

The Closest I'll Get to Sewing

2011-08-12T04:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a total shock yesterday to find my hallway featured on Apartment Therapy! I totally felt like doing the "We're Not Worthy" dance from Wayne's World (and some of those commenters would probably agree, ha. But I can't say that I care. It's just a floor, folks). Anyway, welcome! If I got three new readers from that, then my subscribers have doubled!

So. I am still working on happying up the hallway (remember, these things take ~~eight years~~ time), but my mental home-project checklist is very all over the place right now. I was hunting for picture frames at some neighborhood thrift stores last week, and I spied a super-cute sewing table. I haven't bought it (yet--I'm waiting for half-price day and hoping it's still there), but it reminded me of this genius idea I saw on the Nate Berkus show a while back:

The object of my affection is around 3/4 of the way through. Did you see it? (Smudgy screencaps to follow, but if you've read this blog for any length of time, you are no stranger to smudgy photos.)

Nate (or one of his production assistants) took this sewing table

And made it into this adorable, handy workstation!

When the little file box hinged and folded into the spot reserved for the showing machine, I squealed. (Seriously. I'm not proud of that.)

The whole thing folds up to a teensy little table that is just begging to go in my guest room..

The only problem is, I gave up that guest room for Kid #2 (gah, babies are so selfish, taking away my extra decorating space and stuff). BUT! Seth and I just made a Very Big Decision to dig our heels in and stay in our teeny house in our beloved neighborhood. We decided that if we were going to live there a long, long time, we would invest in making it work for us. Last week, we closed on a refinance that will allow us to convert our unfinished attic into a master suite (waaaaay more to come on this, whether anyone wants to hear about it or not).

After I got over the initial shock and delight that we would have TWO bathrooms, and that my closet would actually be in the SAME ROOM as my bed AND would be larger than a phone booth, I also realized that our current bedroom (and its miniature closet) would be all freed up! The return of the guest room! Well, we typically have two guests per year (hi, Marianne), so it will be used for a little more than that--probably a combination guest room/office/playroom/place to pass out when the kids wake us up in the middle of the night. But I have already been dreaming of what to do with it. There may have been Orla Kiely fabric purchased.

I'm adding this little sewing table project to the Adorably Decorated Guest Room in My Head.

Walkin' on Sunshine

2011-08-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Ah, everything always seems so simple in the beginning, doesn't it? Before the third coat of primer, and the fourth re-application of tape? And the running out of tape? And the incorrect combinations of oil and latex paint, in an attempt to save money? And the yelling at the husband and son that "NOBODY GOES TO THE BATHROOM FOR ANOTHER HOUR!" Ah hahaahhaa haaa HA.

Anyway, it turns out that no, it's not easier to use the natural pattern of the floor, and that yes, stencils would have been a hell of a lot easier. But, after approximately 31 coats and nine hours of my life, there was no turning back.

First, I painted a couple different stripes with primer, just to see which width I preferred. After I decided on the narrower stripe, I marked off those widths down the length of the floor with sharpie.

Then I thought I would "paint" alternating zigzags so they would show through the primer, helping me keep track between coats.

Then I primed over those zigzags. They showed through as I hoped they would.

Then I planned to paint the white zigzags over these primer stripes, tape off the rest, and fill in the empty stripes with a marigold color. But using a brush wasn't giving me the smooth result I wanted, so I did the thing I'd been trying to avoid the whole time: taping everything off.

At this point, I was so hunched over from putting down tape that I looked like this:

And because of that, and because I was honestly loving the Painters Tape Blue with the white, I suggested that we just polyurethane over the floor as-is and be done with it. But I couldn't convince anyone else of this. (Will someone else paint their floor blue and white for me? Because I really, seriously love it.)

Then, nine hundred more coats of white (which messed up my pretty blue chevrons). In an effort to save money, I used some semi-gloss latex that we already had--Behr Elegant White. This is what's on all the trim in our house.

Then MORE taping (and my second tearful apology to my husband for "always messing with everything like this. But I just want things to be pretty."

And three coats of yellow paint, FOUR rolls of painters tape, and countless leaps from our bedroom doorway to the vent cover to the bathroom door later, I'm done. Kind of.

I have lots of touching up to do, I need to paint that return vent white (I think?), I need to coat the whole mess with a layer of polyacrylic or polyurethane or something, AND I need to put quarter round trim on. But the hallway is already so much lighter, brighter, and happier.

And now for some good ol' before-and-after (well, before and during?) action.

I'm also hoping to get a real, non-prison-issue light fixture and hang some photos and artwork, but let's remember that this part took me a year (well, eight years since we bought the house), so let's be realistic.

Slightly Less Miserable

2011-07-28T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I shared my disgusting Hallway of Sadness a ~~while back~~ a YEAR AGO. And then I hemmed and hawed over which stencil to choose, and then I was too cheap to buy the one I wanted. AND THEN I decided, why buy a stencil, when painter's tape is so much cheaper, and stripes only require tape and patience?

I mean, that is a good-lookin' floor. Via Little Blue Chairs.

I was looking at my nasty ol' fake parquet floor, trying to decide how far apart to space the stripes, what colors, etc., when it occurred to me that the parquet pattern would lend itself to something kind of awesome.

Do you see it? No, not the filth and sadness; the pattern that finally jumped out at me. Let me back up a bit.

I am fully on board the chevron/zig-zag love train. Half of my pins on Pinterest reflect this.

From Chez Larsson. Swoon.

And I wanted to buy this Urban Outfitters light blue zigzag rug for Dean's nursery, but as with all things Urban Outfitters, it sold out in the thirty minutes between the time I first saw it and the moment I decided to purchase it.

So, when I was looking all cross-eyed, magic-eye-style at the Hallway of Shame, I was delighted (well, as delighted as one could be in the Pit of Despair) when this occurred to me:

Eh? EH? And would you believe, I am NOT a graphic designer? Seriously! I know--It's some sort of innate gift. Anyway, I know you thought there wasn't a way to make that hallway look sadder, unless some tool put Paint lines on it. But you get where I am going, I hope.

Then I consulted the wise and powerful Internets, because there is nothing new under the sun, and I knew someone would have already painted yellow and white zig zags/chevrons/Charlie Brown stripes/whatever the kids are calling them these days on a floor, and lo and behold this prettiness:

From Ish and Chi.

So yes. YES. Sign me up. I am sanding tomorrow, priming tomorrow night, and then making everyone leave the house on Saturday while I close off half of the rooms to paint these suckers. And hopefully by Monday (or perhaps July 2012) I will have a new floor to show you.

Backyard Bowl-o-rama Birthday

2011-07-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost a year since Graham's Mappy 3rd Birthday party, but in a couple months, my little guy will be FOUR. I still don't understand how that happened. While Graham still enjoys his maps, he's picked up a few more obsessions in the months since his third birthday--mainly bowling, Legos, and watching Monsters, Inc. over and over until I want to put my fist through a wall. So in preparation for birthday number four, I thought I'd explore the themes of bowling, Legos, and a more generic monster-themed party. First up: bowling!

I'm not sure how this obsession started. Graham received a toy bowling set for Christmas when he was two, and he liked it well enough. Somewhere along the way he rediscovered it, and in the process, he tried to make everything into bowling pins or bowling balls. For example, rolling a marble into crayons standing on end. Or rolling a lemon at Mommy's collection of postpartum medication bottles (saddest. game. EVER). As a potty-training reward recently, my mom and I took Graham to the actual bowling alley, and it seriously BLEW HIS MIND.

Most of the bowling alleys I've called limit groups to six bowlers per lane. That would get pretty pricey for a lot of kids; plus I'm not sure all of Graham's classmates can handle the bowling alley just yet. Instead, we'll be relying on the backyard again for our Backyard Bowl-o-rama.

Activities. I am not about to construct a replica bowling alley on my lumpy, weedy lawn, but I thought this giant inflatable bowling set would be a great game for the kids (and um, the adults too). I'm a little concerned that all of the reviews mention the kids inevitably growing bored of the bowling and using the giant pins to beat each other? Only a little, though.

We'll also hook up the Wii to my dad's giant old big screen (currently living in my basement, where my parents like to store things indefinitely), and play Wii bowling in the shady under-deck area.

Lastly, if the kids are enjoying beating each other with the giant bowling pins, maybe they'll enjoy beating this bowling pin pinata? I don't know. There are only so many things you can do with bowling balls and bowling pins, people.

Food: Graham's Snack Bar. I could go in one of two different directions with this, either copying food you'd normally see at a bowling alley snack bar (pizza, nachos), OR giving into my aforementioned disease and creating themey food just for the sake of its dorky naming opportunities. SUCH AS: ham and cheese PINwheels, SPARE ribs, TURKEY wraps, banana SPLIT bites, peanut GUTTER BALLS . . . Oh, I could go on and on. One thing I know I want to attempt are these bowling cake pops. Amazing!

Invitations and Decor. As I was digging around online for bowling party inspiration, this little gem popped up in my Google Reader. I am a sucker for red and aqua, so I will definitely be considering those invitations, as well as the one in my mood board, both from Just Click Print. I will keep dredging up the red and aqua, relying on my ol' reliable red paper lanterns, which will be reimagined this time as bowling balls. I'm thinking maybe I can tape some little black circle trios (holes!) to them? We shall see.

For favors, I like these mini bowling sets (you're welcome, parents! Enjoy stepping on those little gems!) or these clever bowling-themed crayons.

Fourth of July Fun

2011-07-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Have I talked before about how much I love my neighborhood? What we lack in grand homes we make up for in awesome neighbors and proximity to all kinds of fun stuff. Our location is the one reason my husband and I can't imagine selling our teeny-tiny house.

My sweet little street has the best traditions: a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, an annual Memorial Day kickball game, and what has to be the cutest of all: a 4th of July bike parade. We got the kiddos all decked out for the parade, and I decided to set up a little "tailgating" station under the giant oak tree in my front yard, for all of our family members who came to watch the parade.

I mostly just scrounged up things from around my house that were red, white or blue. I did splurge and buy a blue sheet at the thrift store (don't worry, I washed it!) for a whopping five dollars, and some little metal buckets from the Target dollar zone for my citronella candles. (Honestly? I think five dollars is a bit high for a used flat sheet. I don't know what that says about me.) I hung some red and white lanterns (leftover from other parties) from the tree branches, made a quick bunting out of some leftover scrapbook paper and ribbon, and called it a day. The family appreciated a shady spot to sit and some treats to enjoy in during the parade.

Yard Sale-ing Away

2011-06-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

I enjoy a good yard sale, but my husband is the real yard sale king in our family. He has some sort of weird yard sale mojo, where he sort of decides what he is looking for and comes home with it that day. His best yard sale scores have been of the practical nature (shop vac, weed eater, seed spreader thingy), where mine have been more happenstance-things-I-like.

My favorite yard sale find is not my cheapest, but I must share it here (as part of the linky party over at Nesting Place today) with some poorly-lit photos. YOU'RE WELCOME.

This is a vintage 1950s floor lamp from a Miami hotel. I bought it from a collector in my neighborhood who was moving. I paid $35 for it--a princely sum in yard sale world, but a major steal by any other standards. It works great, it's in pristine condition, and I'm constantly getting compliments on it.

Not that you can see it that well in the photo above, but it totally fits with the vibe of my living room. Plus it's turquoise, which is always a plus for me.

Cost-wise, our biggest yard sale score was our dryer. We had just been forced to buy a new washing machine because our old one (which came with our house) was twenty-plus years old and finally gave out. We had a feeling the old dryer wasn't far behind, when lo and behold, we saw the dryer that matched our BRAND NEW Whirlpool washing machine at a yard sale. FOR FIVE DOLLARS. The homeowner was buying a new set and just wanted to get rid of it. I will spare you a photo because my washer and dryer are in my basement, and good Lord, nobody needs to see that mess. Just know that Seth and I are still high-fiving over that deal. Well, we would be if we were the high-fiving type.

Lil' Dee Dubya--Artwork in the Nursery

2011-06-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Graham, I tried to think of some fun way to display his name in his room. Then I gave up and went with the ubiquitous wooden letters over the crib solution. I think it's cute but nothing new.

With this new little nugget, I thought I might try initials instead. I had seen a few typography posters here and there and on Etsy, but none offered something I liked in the letters and colors I was looking for. I thought I might as well try my hand at creating something with whatever s(crap) I had lying around--it's free, and if I ended up not liking it, I could still go buy something else.

I had a lot of scrapbook card stock left over from Mimi's baby shower, some of it conveniently in red and turquoise. I searched online for silhouettes of images I liked, a deer (well, a fawn, because baby animals are cute. Except baby scorpions, which I learned last week. Thanks a lot, Zooborns.) and a wagon (being pulled by a little boy! Or a girl with kind of a mullet, whatever), to correspond with D and W. (New baby's name is Dean--have I said that here? Probably not, since my mother is the only one who reads this, and she already knows his name. Anyway, welcome, Dean Eliot!) I printed them out, cut them, traced them onto the white card stock, cut them again, swatted Graham away when he kept trying to take them, cut out some more for him to play with (of course he had lost interest by then). I then did the same thing with the upper- and lowercase letters for D and W (you could do this with a die-cut machine, if you have a font you like, but I just wanted old-school Times New Roman and I didn't want to pay $50 for a Cricut cartridge for four letters).

Card stock tends to come in weird sizes at the craft store. My sheets are all 12x12, which I thought I would need to trim to 8x10 to fit a standard picture frame, but then I remembered that we had some random LP frames lying around the basement that might work!

This is the LP Seth had chosen to frame. Hmm, I can't imagine why this never made it up on to any of our walls.

I spray painted them white. Then, I pieced together some pieces of white cardstock to fill the gaps around the edges--fake matting, if you will.

For the space behind the glider, I commissioned some lithographs from a local underground artist. I'm totally kidding--I found these for 3.49 apiece on clearance at Target. I am so lame. But look, a scooter--we have one of those!

And a bike--we may even have two of those. It's been a while since I've visited that corner of the Hoarder Basement beneath my house. Sorry, bikes. Anyway, I pretty much had to buy these at $3.49 apiece. I couldn't have made anything that cheaply.

The other little piece of artwork currently in the nursery is an adorable painted canvas from my sister Mary Ruth--a cute take on "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" featuring sock monkeys, hanging over the dresser/changing table. (Better picture of it to come soon.)

I have a couple other art-y things to put in the nursery, and if I ever get around to finishing them, you'll be the first to know.

Nursery: As Good As It Gets

2011-06-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Or rather, as good as it's going to get. I am out of time and patience and funds. Here's Baby 2.0's new digs!

Sources.

Crib: Ariel Stages crib, originally from Target 2007, hand-me-down from Graham

Bedding: bumper and skirt made by my mom with Moda Funky Monkey fabric via fabric.com; sheets from Koala baby

Bookshelf: Dolce shelf from Target, circa 1998. Has followed me around since college. Painted white. Red fabric bins are Closetmaid, $6 apiece, available at Target and Lowe's.

Glider/Rocker and ottoman: Dutalier via Craigslist three years ago, $60. Painted white; cushions recovered with red microfiber from JoAnn.

Robot pillow: gift from sister-in-law, handmade by via Old Made Good shop in Nashville.

Dresser: vintage Bassett via Craigslist, $30. Painted with high gloss Candy Apple Red from Glidden.

Rug: Ikea Sveje, no longer available, $12. (If anyone spots another one, please tell me! I want one more because just one is really too small for the space.)

Window valances: Target, $11 apiece.

Roller shades: KMart, $10 apiece. I hate these, by the way.

Lamp: Adesso Millennium Wood Spindle lamp, originally in our living room. Shades replaced (after Graham shattered the original ones) with JC Penney drum shades.

Corner table: Lowe's (?), circa ten years ago. We used it in the kitchen of our first apartment after we were married. I think it may have been $18 back then. It has lots of random paint splatters on it that I try to hide with books or lamps.

Light Fixture: Lowe's, $42.

Artwork (more on this later): various--made by my sister, made by me, purchased from the Target.

Lulu's Rainbow Party

2011-06-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

Rainbow parties have been making the rounds in the ol' blogosphere for a while now, and it's a charming theme I really love. When my friend Marianne, co-writer of the hilarious and adorable Looks Good from the Back, decided to go with a rainbow theme for her daughter Lulu's second birthday party, she did what she always does with her clothes: takes a trend and makes it look effortless, chic, and better than most people do it.

I love this giant "2" balloon:

What a clever and easy (though I'm betting time-consuming) way to dress up some plain wood columns:

Marianne made the cake herself and painstakingly placed every M&M to make the cool rainbow stripes.

Taste the rainbow! (Sorry, I just wanted to say that. In fact, I probably would have said it multiple times if I had been at the party. I guess this is why I don't get invited to things?)

Food included M&Ms, rainbow goldfish, multicolored tortilla chips with salsa, and this awesome fruit rainbow.

Activities for younger guests included bubbles and finger painting (activities for older guests likely involved that box of wine I spy in the background above. That's what I'm talkin' about). The kids also enjoyed feeding the fish in Marianne's parents' koi pond, and taking "fairy walks" in the woods. Favors were fun rainbow crayons individually wrapped in wax paper.

Rainbow tutu?! Stripey babylegs? Sponge painting? PIGTAILS? I think I just died from cute overload.

Happy Birthday, Lu! And great job, Marianne!

"How Does Your Garden Grow?" First Birthday Party

2011-05-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Camilla Drew, you darling you,

How does your garden grow?

With sunny skies and butterflies

And cupcakes all in a row!

Hi it’s me. I have been lax about updating, but it’s not for lack of stuff to write about. Plus, I was sort of busy having a baby (more on that later)! Speaking of that baby, three days before he arrived, my niece Camilla turned one. I was so excited when my sister-in-law Kara asked for a little help with her daughter’s first birthday party. As the mom of two boys (wow, that will take some getting used to), I really don’t miss girly things that often, except when it comes to sweet girly parties. Okay, and I might have a twinge of longing when friends post their daughters’ ballet pictures on Facebook. I mean, come ON. And I never even took ballet as a kid! But I digress.

Kara wanted the party to be relaxed and garden-themed, with an eclectic, flea-market feel. I think she did a great job!

Kara and I made the banner with a patchwork quilt in mind. She cut out different squares of patterned scrapbook paper with scalloped-edge scissors, and I matched them up with solid background pieces, put letters on them, and sewed the pieces together. We kept all of the words as separate banners, in case she wanted to put the "Camilla" banner in the nursery later.

We did so much with a couple packs of scrapbook paper! Kara made these adorable paper chains--definitely one of the easiest, least expensive ways to add some color to a party.

The centerpieces of the party were two gorgeous dogwood trees in full bloom in the backyard. Kara took advantage of this by using them as a place to display Camilla's monthly photos from her first year of life. She made little paper "frames" for each photo with cardstock backing and, you guessed it, scrapbook paper, and hung each photo with a simple ribbon. So cute!

Kara set-up a "photo booth" in one corner of the yard by simply hanging up a pretty vintage quilt and providing flower- and bug-themed masks and props she found in the Target dollar zone. She made a few signs for guests to hold.

The entire party was adorable, and the food was no exception. Kara displayed little tags for all the food in miniature flower pots. We made collars for the cupcakes out of--what else?--scrapbook paper, using a template we found online.

Kara made these little dessert stands out of vintage china from the thrift store and "crystal" candlesticks from the dollar store.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are so much cuter in flower shapes!

Sources

Cupcakes, cake pops, meringues: The Almond Tree

Banner, invitation, paper decorations: all handmade

Photography: Stella Dolce photography

Coming soon: the nursery, a work in progress.

4 weeks to go! Nursery Sneak Peek

2011-03-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well, the clock is ticking. In 4 weeks (at most), we will have a new little family member. I have been having fun putting the nursery together, with lots of help from Seth and from my mom. It's not done yet, but here are a few blurry, hastily-snapped sneak peeks.

Smudgy iPhone photo, apparently taken as I was falling down or running through the room with my eyes closed.

Bedding. My mom made this bedding to my annoying specifications with some fabric I bought on fabric.com for $40, some red bias tape from JoAnn, and a clearanced bumper from Target underneath. She did a fantastic job. We still have to add the ties to secure it to the crib. Wow, that's blurry. But that will just make the final reveal that much more special. Or something.

When we reassembled Graham's old crib, I was amused and a little horrified to see all the teeth marks on the back of the railing. I didn't even realize he had been gnawing all up and down the front of his crib. Sorry, buddy!

Dresser. Sigh. It's not perfect, but after seven million coats, a girl has to know when to throw in the towel and accept "good enough." Overall, I love it (if I don't look at it too critically). I'm pretty sure my newborn won't care at all. It will be a little low as a changing table, but that's okay. Here's a blurry iPhone photo with the promise of a slightly less blurry picture to come.

Please excuse the crap leaned up against the wall, including but not limited to: shattered picture frames, mop handles, curtain rods, and an Ikea twin mattress! Believe it or not, I am not a professional prop stylist.

I totally dorked out and busted out the label maker for inside the drawers. This is helpful if you have lots of sweet folks over watching the baby (or if you have a Virgo OCD streak and don't want your husband putting a sleeper in with the onesies--heaven forbid!) (or maybe if you got a label maker for Christmas and haven't yet had time to flex your OCD muscles with it). Sidenote: I am only OCD about things that don't matter, like labels and how towels are folded. The rest of my house, particularly my floors and my bathroom, could benefit from this kind of attention, but they do not interest me.

Rocker(s). Oh my gosh, you guys. I am so spoiled. My very sneaky, very sweet family and friends surprised us with a baby shower at brunch a couple Sundays ago! I thought we were going to meet my sisters, mom and grandmother for brunch, but I was shocked to find about 20 of our friends and family waiting for us!

Our varied and hilarious reactions as we rounded the corner into our surprise shower. Me: beginning of the Ugly Cry. Seth (who knew)--well, that's about as excited as he gets. Graham just loves any kind of a surprise and a chance to work the room. Also, I think he may have just spotted the tower of cupcakes from across the room.

And if that weren't insanely sweet enough, some of them pitched in and bought us the super-hip rocking chair of my mood board dreams!

This rocker looks SO CUTE in my living room--note how it perfectly matches the round throw pillows on my sofa. I dug up this random yard of Amy Butler fabric I bought a couple months ago to see how it might look as a throw pillow, and it and the rocker became fast friends. Pillow to come soon!

My first impression is that it is quite low to the ground (seriously, about 8" off the ground) and might not work in the nursery for overnight feedings those first few weeks after a c-section (it is so hard to get up and down from a seated position, especially carrying a sure-to-be-giant baby, when your abdominal muscles have been cut all to hell), so we're still going to put Graham's old glider in the nursery, maybe just at first. After I'm all healed up, we'll swap it out for the hipster rocker. Maybe. I'm really getting attached to how cute it looks in my living room! Who says you can't have a couple different rocking chairs, right? Mom stitched me up a red microsuede cover for Old Reliable to match the new nursery.

Graham's old rocker--the sweatpants of the glider/rocker world. Neither fancy nor hip, but comfy and dependable. Also, like sweatpants, good for just after surgery. Robot pillow from Aunt Kara.

That's all I have for right now. I still have to (have Seth) hang the new light fixture to replace the glamorous bare bulb that's there right now, finish the window treatments, and make a little art project for over the crib. I'd like to get a little more done on Graham's room as well before his baby brother joins us, but we shall see.

I can't believe I only have four weeks left! Hopefully that will be enough time to finish the room and take some blurry (but less so) photos for you.

Penny Carnival Baby Shower

2011-03-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

We finally had Mimi and Kevin's long-awaited Penny Carnival baby shower over the weekend, and it was an adorable success! My friend Sharon graciously offered up her home, which has a great open layout for parties (plus no toddlers or chihuahuas to disrupt the fun), and along with Jessica, we hosted a fun and memorable shower to celebrate little Penny's impending arrival.

The mantel sort of served as the centerpiece of the event, with Penny's big name banner (made from scrapbook paper and cardstock, sewn with grosgrain ribbon, and lettered with the help of my Christmas present--a Cricut Expression, using the Carousel Lite cartridge). We flanked the mantel with big jars of animal crackers and circus peanuts. Underneath we pinned photos of the happy couple to some leftover red ribbon. We left the hearth open to collect all the gifts as guests arrived.

Over the food table, we covered Sharon's chandelier with poms and lanterns, making sure not to let any of the paper touch the hot little bulbs. I actually "borrowed" the fabric we're using for my own baby-to-be's window treatments to make a quick table runner. You will see it again in valance form (hopefully soon!).

I wanted a fun backdrop (to cover Sharon's lovely but non-theme-specific curtains), and I had been searching for striped fabric or something else to use, when I decided just to use white sheets I already had, and make the stripes out of red crepe paper. I tried to steam the sheets (I promise!), and if I had it to do over again, I would have ironed them, but whatever. Total cost: $1 for a roll of red crepe paper.

I made silly, carnival-inspired signs for the food: "Hot Dogs! Peanuts," "Cake Walk," and my personal favorite, "Food on a Stick."

Amidst all the junky fair food, we wanted to work in a couple of healthy options, especially for the pregnant ladies, and we figured putting it on a stick kept it theme-appropriate. I made little flags for the skewers out of leftover scrapbook paper. My collection of Fiesta Ware came in handy here because it matched some of our decor.

My friend Jessica made delicious sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting tinted to match the shower decorations, as well as some fantastic chocolate cupcakes topped with animal crackers.

I made the "popcorn" cupcakes (tutorial here), and displayed them on a red tray I scavenged from my kitchen (my coffee maker usually sits on it--picture here). I ordered the cupcake collars from Oriental Trading to save myself a little bit of time.

Jessica's little niece received a popcorn machine for Christmas, and she was so sweet to let us borrow it, even writing out some too-cute instructions on how it worked.

We placed some different seasonings and some plastic popcorn boxes (snagged on clearance in the Target dollar zone a while back for about twenty-five cents a pop!) nearby and let people help themselves.

Candy tables/bars are everywhere, but the "penny candy" idea was just too appealing to pass up. We kept it small since we already had other sweet treats available, but we made sure to include some penny-esque chocolate coins.

Guests used the remaining popcorn boxes to fill with their favorite sweets-to-go. We added a little color to the table with one of my pashminas--how's that for cheap and cheerful?

We had big tubs of bottled water, sodas, and beer outside, and we offered up lemonade inside as well. The "Test Your Strength" version contained alcohol; "Kiddie Rides" was nonalcoholic.

We didn't have any traditional shower games (I think I've been pretty clear on how I feel about those, so I was relieved Mim felt the same), but we did have one optional guest-participation activity: guessing Penny's "fortune." I made a goofy fortune teller "booth," inspired by the machines I'd seen at arcades and carnivals, and let guests write down their predictions. The base is actually part of a hat box I bought to go in my little one's nursery.

At the last minute, I worried that we didn't have anything to hang on the front door. I grabbed the box lid from the striped base of the "fortune teller" booth, stuck a Cricut-styled "P" to it, and hung some leftover bunting over it.

We hopped on the popular "photo booth" party trend, setting up Jessica's tripod in Sharon's back den and offering up some goofy props for the guests. I can't wait to see how those photos turned out.

Kevin and Mimi passed out some fun, creative favors: scratch-off lottery tickets, complete with a "lucky penny" for each guest.

Kevin and Mimi had a great time, and I think all the guests did, too. I was so happy to be a part of celebrating their baby-to-be and her awesome parents.

Sources:
Poms, bunting, banners: handmade using the Cricut "Carousel" cartrdige for all lettering and die-cuts.
Cupcake stands, striped cupcake collars, some candy: Oriental Trading.
Lanterns: Asian Ideas (repurposed from Ruby Anniversary party)
Beverage jars: Target (snagged on clearance last summer, but still available at full price--$20-ish-- in the glassware section)
Photos: My charming sister-in-law, Kara Knox

Dulcie's Winter One-derland

2011-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

My sweet niece Dulcie turned one at the end of January, and we celebrated on a sunny Saturday afternoon. For weeks prior (and the week after), however, the weather had been snowy and freezing. The surprise sunshine didn't keep the popular Winter "One"-derland theme from being completely adorable. Her mother (and my baby sister), Mary Ruth, is fantastically talented at creating charming, whimsical decorations for next to nothing, and this party was no exception. Many of the snowflake- and winter-themed decorations she snagged after Christmas for 75% off!

Everything was sweet and charming, and Dulcie had a fantastic time (and her first taste of cake)! The turquoise and red color scheme (which everyone knows I'm obsessed with) was tailor-made for their cute house.


Our sweet friend Jennifer (whose shower I featured here) made a gorgeous banner with the new Cricut she received for Christmas.

Mary Ruth made a smaller banner to go over the food table. Please ignore my son's fistful of bread in the bottom left corner. Once that kid spots a plate full of rolls, it's all over.

Sweet and salty goodness: white chocolate-covered pretzel rods with color-coordinated sprinkles.


Some snowy blue and red treats. I got to make the marshmallow pops, which were super cute, but does anyone actually eat those things? It's like an adorable diabetic coma on a stick.


There were "snowy" coconut cupcakes for the guests . . .

And a "giant cupcake," expertly decorated by my mom, for Dulcie's smash cake.

A smash it she did!

The guests enjoyed coffee and hot cocoa with wintery fixin's, like giant marshmallows and candy canes.

The gifts were placed on some smartly coordinated fabric that Mary Ruth happened to have.

Happy Birthday, sweet Dulcie Lou! Thank you for letting us share your special day!

T-minus 12 (11?) Weeks and Counting

2011-01-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

So! Here I am (Mom, and my one sister who might be reading this?). I didn't mean to stay away so long. I don't have much of an excuse beyond being busy and pregnant and kind of wimpy. Speaking of which, I'm having a baby in um, 12 weeks. At the most. I'll probably have to have an early c-section in 11 weeks. I'd better get this nursery business wrapped up so this child won't have to sleep in a drawer.

(My friend Mimi is having a girl at almost the same time, so we're going ahead with the Penny Carnival shower theme, and oh-em-gee, is it going to be cute. I can't wait to share pictures.)

I am having boy #2, and I still like most of the red and blue nursery I posted before, so I've forged ahead with that. A few things have changed my original ideas. The first: lack of space in this tiny room (9x10) means I can't fit a changing table AND a dresser in, so I decided to try to find a low and long dresser, the top of which will double as a changing table. I got a crazy deal on a mid-century-esque Basset dresser on Craigslist (thirty dollars!), and the finish was beat up enough for me not to feel guilty sanding and painting it. It currently has 5 coats of red high-gloss on it, out of the 342 that will apparently be necessary. Sigh.

(The dresser in the picture is not mine, but it represents what I hope mine will look like!)

The second thing that changed my plans around a bit was my discovery of the baby bedding virtual designer at Carousel Designs. After fiddling around with the fabrics, I realized I didn't care for all the brown and cream in my first choice of sock monkey fabric, but I loved the blue option. I tried breaking up the print of the bumper and the skirt with a red crib sheet, stuck everything in a crib that looks pretty similar to the one we already have, and I loved it.

Rather than shell out $500 to purchase everything custom, I found the Moda Funky Monkey fabric on fabric.com, ordered $40 worth, and ~~set my mom to work~~ worked with my saint-like mother to make everything. So far, we've (SHE'S) finished the bumper, and it is looking fantastic. I will say that the fabric is a little more vivid than it looked in most pictures I saw, but I'm going to temper that with a super-pale aqua on the walls, so the room isn't too monkey-crazy colors-frenetic.

So, the bedding and dresser are almost ready to be checked off the to-do list. One of the rugs has been purchased, but it's tiny, so I hope to find an identical one to put next to it. The rocker is probably a no-go (too expensive), so I'll need to recover the cushions from Graham's glider (probably in red microfiber), and the $100-plus light fixture will probably end up being some sort of DIY effort (hold me). The book shelf pictured is similar to one I already have (that's followed me around since college), and I have bought the little cube bins to go inside. I'll feel better when I slap some paint on the walls in there.

1. Light shade, Schoolhouse Electric. 2. Bookshelf, generic image via Google to match my ancient Target Dolce bookshelf. Storage cubes, Closetmaid via Target. 3. Mid-Century Rocker, Urban Outfitters (on sale!). 4. Rug, Ikea Sveje (out of stock EVERYWHERE, but I managed to find ONE on eBay. Still hunting for a mate). 5. Crib image generated via Carousel Designs' virtual baby bedding designer using Moda Funky Monkey fabric in blue. 6. Alphabet prints, FinnyandZook, via Etsy. 7. Dresser inspiration from Red Modern Furniture. Lamp inspiration (similar to old Target lamps I already own), Robert Abbey via StyleCaster.

Harry Potter and the Nerdly Hallows

2010-11-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Because I am insane, last Thursday night/Friday morning I went to the midnight opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (which, side note, Oh Em Gee! So fantastic! And then I saw it again over the weekend!).

I have a few friends who are as much in nerd-love with the HP series as I am, and we met at my house at 10:00 (P.M.! As in, night time! This is very wild and crazy for me, now that I am old and a parent and pregnant) for some pre-movie caffeine and snacks and general geeking out like crazy eleven-year-olds.

Of course, I couldn't just have snacks and let that be that. And of course, I ran out of time before everyone got there, so I couldn't take proper photographs. Here are some blurry, but hopefully decipherable, pictures of our little dorkfest.

The (blurry) picture above is of the broomsticks I made, based on Martha's now-famous witch's broom favors. These were full of popcorn for the movie, because we are klassy like that. We pulled out the sticks, shoved the bags in our purses, and voila.

Closeup of my dorky little tag (yes, I burned the edges. Shhh.):

The most important element of the pre-movie gathering was caffeine. I put the coffee into a teapot (which is way cuter than my cheapie, half-broken coffee carafe), and cutesified its name:

To go along with the coffee, some donut holes, or (since the sign here is illegible) Hagrid's Rock Cakes:

Some other snacks: pretzel wands, water, chex mix, and little cauldrons of peanut-butter M&Ms. Healthy!

The snacks were fun, but they were nothing compared to the awesomeness of the movie. If you haven't seen it, GO NOW.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

It's a Girl! Penny Carnival Baby Shower

2010-11-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I revealed my plans for my friend Mimi's baby shower in the event she has a boy. Today I'm getting a little more girly. I think the vintage toy theme works well for either gender, but Mimi has given me such cute (and theme-friendly!) names to work with. Since her chosen girl name is Penny, I decided to take the vintage style in a different direction and came up with a "Penny Carnival," complete with popcorn, pennants, and a "penny candy" buffet.

The aqua and red theme remains from the boy shower, but I'm adding a few other colors for that carnival vibe.

Images courtesy of (clockwise): cupcakes, Cake Central; tissue poms, Pom Love; popcorn favors, Candles and Favors; dessert table, Amy Atlas Events.

Now comes the hard part: waiting to find out what she's (and I'm!) having.

Jack's Vintage Toy Baby Shower

2010-11-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

My friend Mimi is pregnant, and I am so excited to be going through my own pregnancy with such a good friend. I feel a little bad that my memory has turned to such mush (see: pregnancy plus child #1) that when she asks me pregnancy-related questions, my response is usually "Uhhh, I don't remember." What better way to make this up to her than to plan a baby shower?

As this is my second go-round with the baby-having, I do not expect to be showered with anything. Well, other than spit-up and all of the other unmentionable fluids that newborns entail. Baby gear-wise, however, I have everything I need. But this is Mim's first baby, and a bit of a wonderful surprise at that, so our friends want to give her and her husband Kevin a fun party to celebrate.

Mimi has already decided that no matter the gender, she wants to decorate the nursery with vintagey toys and retro-inspired prints. I like to incorporate the nursery's colors or theme into a baby shower when I can. We'll both be finding out our babies' respective genders in the coming weeks, but the planner in me can't wait until then to dream up party plans.

First up: the boy theme. Mimi's chosen boy name is Jack, which is a perfect match for vintage toys! Hello, there's even a game called JACKS.

I have red, round lanterns that I want to use. Paired with giant hanging "jacks" (note to self: must figure out how to make giant hanging jacks), I'm hoping they'll be reminiscient of red rubber balls. I think this grouping would look stunning hanging over food and gift tables.

Most of my other inspiration comes from Bella Grace's Vintage Toy Party and Party Love's Vintage Toy Baby Shower.

I also love the idea of including Cracker Jacks, either as favors or snacks, because of their retro quality and especially because of the Jack tie-in. Retro-inspired bunting and little pennant-style flags on the cupcakes would be adorable finishing touches.

I have a strong feeling Mim's having a girl, though, so I'll post my ideas for a girlier (but still retro-inspired) shower tomorrow!

Happy Chic: Jonathan Adler for HSN

2010-10-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

I literally squealed when I saw Jonathan Adler's new line of housewares for Home Shopping Network. When I emailed some of the items to my friend Marianne, she said, "Emily, it's like that stuff was made with you in mind!" I KNOW, RIGHT? MUST PURCHASE.

I even love the name of this line: Happy Chic. Style doesn't have to mean snooty, and chic doesn't have to mean cold and austere. I do admit, though, that my fondness for bright colors and happy patterns, like these and Orla Kiely's, does have me concerned that my house is slowly turning into Pee Wee's playhouse. Oh well. Pee Wee seemed happy there, right? I can appreciate minimalism and all-white rooms and breeziness, but I need a healthy dose of cheery pattern around to keep me in a good mood.

Happy Chic is priced more affordably than Jonathan Adler's other designs, but not quite at Target-level cheap. I will have to save for some of these things or hope for them as Christmas gifts. Some of my favorites:

Peacock Pillows. At just under $100 for two, these are the priciest items in the collection, but I must have them. Still, when I drop $100 on pillows, especially ones with beading or other damage-able features, I really stress over anyone touching them or even leaning against them, which is quite counterproductive, considering they are pillows. These are just awesome enough for me to get past my issues, though (or maybe I would put them on my bed instead of on the couch, where they are in danger of Graham's peanut butter hands). I love that they are a set, and the peacocks face each other. Drool.

Pop Canister sets in red/orange (Caffeine and Carbs) or blue/green (Calories and Candy). Like I need anything else cluttering up my already teensy kitchen, but I am powerless to resist these. The fun font makes them feel sort of Christmassy to me. I might put them on the shelf on my back wall, or even in the glass-front cabinets.

Apple and Pear Tidbit Trays. Oh, my. So cute. Also candidates for the ledge shelf on the back wall, or perhaps to liven up the drab spot on top of the fridge?

Tea towels in blue and green (also available in orange/pink). I have lots of fun tea towels: Orla Kiely's towels for Target, some Anthropologie clearance finds, and a few really cute patterns from World Market. I think hanging a pretty tea towel over the bar of my janky oven is the fastest way to make it look cuter and bring some personality to the kitchen. And even though I have a ton of tea towels (some might say--some being my husband--too many tea towels), I can always use more because they get dirty and need to be washed and replaced and cycled through pretty often. These are pretty reasonably priced at under $20 a set, and they'd make great hostess gifts (especially if I happen to be your hostess, har).

Mug Set in blue and orange. Okay, if I have too many tea towels, then I have waaaaay too many mugs. You can kind of see them in this photo, all stacked up in the upper right cabinets, threatening to fall on my head at any moment. But these are so great that I would probably use them on my desk at work, one for tea/coffee and the other to hold pens. My work cube is tragically greige and cluttered, and having these snazzy mugs would make a big difference.

I like plenty of other items in the line, but these are my must-haves. I'm sure the Happy Chic line will be a big seller, and I hope that Jonathan Adler expands it later.

Ruby Recap: Joel and Katrina's 40th Anniversary

2010-10-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

I never meant to take so long to recap the Ruby Anniversary party. However, a lost SD card reader and my old, janky computer conspired to shut the ol' blog down for a month! Luckily my sister sent me some pictures of Graham's party so I could recap that. So sorry. Let's begin with how I spent my birthday: watching other people open presents. Just kidding! (Well, not completely, but at least sharing a birthday with your in-laws' anniversary means they'll never forget your birthday?)

I pretty much followed my inspiration board to the letter--in fact, right down to the tissue paper monogrammed letters! I ended up buying big cardboard letters from JoAnn (with 40% off coupons, of course), cutting tissue paper into 1.5" squares, twisting the squares, and hot-gluing the center of each twist onto the letters. Joel and Katrina loved them so much, they took them home!

On the interior table, I made a few centerpieces using white spider mums and pink gerbera daisies. Take a look inside the vases--those are RUBY (well, plastic rubies) vase fillers I found at Target on clearance!

The dessert table maintained the pinky red theme, with a strawberry-topped angel food cake (Joel's favorite), some chocolate-covered strawberries, and a delicious birthday cake for yours truly, thanks to Seth's super-thoughtful sister.

[I sure wish I had gotten pictures of the food, especially the caprese salad and the melon balls that took For.Ever to scoop, just to prove how accurately I stuck to the inspiration board, but no such luck. We even had pretty jars of raspberry lemonade and sangria! I'm sure I was too hungry at that point to remember to snap pictures.]

Along the mantel and on some tables, we decorated with pictures of the happy couple from their courtship and their wedding ceremony. We included a copy of their party invitation, too, since it matched everything so nicely. I used white frames I already had, and I covered their normally black mats with red crepe paper so they would match. We scattered some spare "rubies" along the mantel for fun.

Outside was more festive red, orange, and pink, with the lantern-pom combo and Kara's handy tablecloth. We also had Izze juice drinks (in color-coordinated cans, naturally), plus water and juice boxes.

The party was a big success. All of the grandkids, including my Graham, contributed to some handprint art for Joel and Katrina, who loved the surprise.

boy

2010-10-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

So we discussed a hypothetical girl nursery earlier (something I'm still fine-tuning). In the meantime, however, this hypothetical baby number two has become a reality! We won't know the gender until almost Christmas, but of course that hasn't stopped me from obsessively planning and replanning nurseries for any scenario.

I love red with light blue, so I dreamed up this little retro toy-inspired nursery.

I would try to make (okay, have my mom make) a crib skirt and maybe a bumper with the ticking and sock monkey fabrics. I think I'm going to opt for a real changing table this time around--Graham's makeshift bookshelf-turned-changing table is seeming awfully creaky lately, and there are plenty of options on Craigslist most of the time. Graham's green fabric cubes served us well under his changing table, so we'll just swap those out for some red ones.

I want to re-use Graham's crib, but I'll need to find a new (old) dresser (Graham's still using his), which I want to paint red. This Ikea rug was the only red and white striped option I could find under $200 (way under, at 12.99), but it's small, so I would need two together. Also, it seems to be sold out everywhere, so I have to keep my fingers crosssed. I love the retro light shade from School House Electric; in fact, I've been eyeing it for my kitchen for some time. The size of it makes more sense in the nursery, though.

The room we're eyeing for the nursery (our current guest room) has two large windows side by side, which I'd like to either dress with red roman shades, or with roller shades painted like this, but with a red stripe and lettering:

(Image originally featured in Cottage Living, from MyHomeIdeas.com)

I think my next nursery attempts will involve shared room scenarios. My only fear with this is conflicting sleep schedules, but friends of mine have made it work okay. Either way, it's fun to plan!

Graham's Mappy 3rd Birthday

2010-10-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

The map-themed birthday was a big hit, especially with the guest of honor. We set up almost everything while he napped, and when he woke up and saw everything, he just kept saying, "Wow." It was the best reaction I could have hoped for. Although I like themes (okay, I have a theme sickness), I generally think super-specific themes are not worth the trouble and expense for toddler parties, but Graham is so OBSESSED with maps, flags, and globes that I felt like this theme would be worth it.

For decorations, we used (of course) tissue paper poms in lime, aqua, and orange, as well as hanging globe-printed beach balls. The colors were inspired by the bright map colors of his invitation. We placed some earth-printed and other solid-colored balloons around the yard, too.

Never one to miss an opportunity to beat a theme to death, I made little state maps for the food: Iowa (Caramel) Corn, California Grapes, Wisconsin Cheese, Idaho Potato Chips, and Georgia "Peanuts" (um, actually Nutter Butters, but you get the idea). We stuck to snacks because the party was at 3:00, between meal times.

My mom made the fantastic caramel corn, which we put in some DIY paper cones that I cut and stapled in coordinating paper.

We went a little overboard on cake: Mom made a Tennessee-shaped chocolate cake, and I made cupcakes decorated with tiny state flags. Just about everyone had a serving of each.

The beverage table is covered in a fabric remnant my friend Mimi left at my house (thanks, Mim!). I think she had originally planned to recover a chair with this, but it made a perfect last-minute tablecloth. The beverage signs here (Tennessee Tea and Florida Key Limeade) didn't turn out quite as planned--I had intended to tape them to the beverage jars but didn't think about condensation. Oops. I ended up slapping them onto the lids, which I guess was okay.

We denoted the boundaries of the party (and of our yard) with some lines of flags (international, since I couldn't find any state flags like this and ran our of energy to make much more stuff). However, that didn't stop some Graham and his cousin Caspar for trying to ambush the golf course. Luckily, their dads intercepted them.

We got so lucky with the weather (70s and overcast!), so for activities we just put out lots of outdoor games and random seating throughout the yard and let the kids help themselves. We have a small cornhole set and a cheap ladder ball game (found at Aldi, of all places, for $5). We also left Graham's teensy Kangaroo Climber out, and we drug out his castle-shaped tent. All of these options made it easy for us to be fairly unstructured and just let the kids run around and be kids.

I resisted the tent at first, but Seth insisted, and it ended up being the hit of the party. We stretched the theme, figuring it was loosely related to the Grahamville idea, so we decided that Graham was king of Grahamville, and we stuck Seth's old prom king crown on him.

Oh, and a couple days before the party, I worried that there wasn't enough to do (ah, last minute freakouts) and ordered a parachute. The kids seemed to really enjoy it.

For favors, everyone left with a little bag containing an earth punch ball and some geography-themed treats: a Charleston Chew, Boston Baked Beans, and some flag-wrapped Tootsie Rolls.

Everyone had a great time, especially Graham. He's still talking about his "states party."

Shower Power Weekend: Part One

2010-08-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived the Weekend of a Thousand Baby Showers. Okay, just two baby showers. But they were at the same time! I felt like I was in some stupid movie where I would jump up during my date and pretend to go to the restroom, only to rush off to a second date, changing bridesmaid dresses, hiding behind menus and wearing fake mustaches and whatnot. Perhaps I am mixing up my movie plot devices (we don't make it out to the movies much), but you get my point. There was a lot of running back and forth, and enough tissue paper pom poms to choke a horse.

You may remember the gender-neutral, "shower" mood board I suggested for my sister Laura, co-host of her dear friend Jennifer's baby shower. She loved the theme, and so we ran with it!

The adorable "Shower of Love" invitations from Paperspring fit our theme perfectly and set the tone for the shower/raindrop motif. The mom-to-be loved the invitations so much that we framed one to display at the shower.

We hung green and white tissue poms with raindrop garland over the food and gift tables. I made the garlands by cutting raindrop shapes from textured, shimmery cardstock in blue and green, and then sewing (read: begging my sweet mom to come over and sew) them together with blue thread, leaving a couple inches in between them.

Can I just go on the record here and say it: I hate almost all shower games. Especially baby shower games. Who thinks of these things?. Sniffing chocolate candybar poop? Guessing the poor, swollen mother's girth wth toilet paper? Sucking a plastic fetus out of an ice cube? I can't think of many less pleasant ways to pass a couple hours with distant relatives. And my disgust has nothing to do with baby squeamishness--I say this as a mother myself, who has dealt with plenty of real baby poop, and with my own enormous pregnant stomach, and --well, I have never unfrozen a tiny fetus with my mouth before. I can't even begin to understand where this "game" came from. Luckily, the only "game" we played at Jennifer's shower was to guess how many diapers were in the adorable diaper cake my sister had made. I didn't even come close. Jennifer, who has made probably 20 of these diaper cakes herself, guessed the number right on the nose (56, I think?) and won the Panera gift card.

We decorated the sweet candy buffet with a name banner. Jennifer and her husband are keeping the baby's gender a surprise, but somewhere along the way, they began referring to the baby to be as the bean, and finally as "beaner." We liked the idea of a pretty banner with the goofy nickname written across it.

I don't have a fancy die-cut machine (someday!), so I just make stuff like this freehand. I cut sheets of cardstock into triangle pennants. Ordinarily I would print the letters on plain copy paper then trace them onto cardstock to cut them out; HOWEVER, our old janky computer hates me right now. Seth had to install an entirely new hard drive, and he's in the process of installing software, so right now we don't even have Microsoft Word. (I like to pretend this is all an elaborate ruse to surprise me with a new Mac Book on my birthday. THIS WEEKEND.)

Ahem. So, with no technology at my disposal, I got old school and used A CUP and A RULER to trace circles and lines, and I freehandedly (did I make up a word?) formed letters from them. I think it worked. Just don't look too closely. I glued the letters to the pennants; then, I sewed (okay, my mom again) a rick-rack border across the tops to hold everything together. Total cost: about $2 for the cardstock, and $2 for two 4-foot spools of rick-rack trim (I already had the glue. And the cup and the ruler, ha). Holla!

Also on the candy buffet were these adorable favor bags for guests to fill with treats, and some super-cute Kate Aspen "bun in the oven" candles.

In addition to candy and various other sweet and savory treats, we had beautiful and delicious petit fours. I cannot stress how adorable and scrumptious these were.

This was my first experience with A Perfect Bite, and I assure you it will not be my last. Owner Katie Winstead makes the most intricate, detailed treats that seriously melt in your mouth. Laura liked the tiny baby bootie petit fours Katie featured on her site, and when she mentioned the shower/raindrop theme, Katie was happy to come up with some designs in that motif as well. I can't wait for an excuse to order up some more treats from her. Nashvillians, take note!

Man, I could go for some more of those right about now.

All in all, I'd say the shower was a huge success! We wish Jennifer and Kevin all the luck and happiness in the world with their little bean-to-be. Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day.

My sisters Laura and Mary Ruth, my niece Dulcie, and me (left) at the shower.
Note the weird, Vanna White arm and head tilt.

Graham's Big Boy Room

2010-08-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

So, as I keep telling everyone within earshot, Graham is turning three next month. His room has stayed pretty much the same since he was born, with the exception of a lighter, striped rug, and a stupid toddler bed that is both too large for his crib mattress and too small for a twin mattress. But I digress. He's outgrowing the toddler bed, or at least the too-small mattress that's stuffed in there with what's left of his crib bumpers, very attractively and safely. I think it's time to find a twin bed for him, and to transition the room from a nursery to a little boy's room.

I found the Circo robot twin bedding on super clearance at Target--16.99 for the whole bed in a bag! (It's pretty cheap online now, too!) The robots are adorable, but I don't want to make the room too themey. Graham hops from one favorite thing to another constantly; plus, in my experience, any theme in a room invites relatives to pile every known item within that theme upon you. ("Oooh, I brought Graham some more robot toys! And a giant inflatable robot slide! And robot curtains!") No thank you. I chose the bedding primarily because the colors work so well with his existing wall color and rug. Well, and because it was cheap.

Excuse the shoddy makeshift Publisher graphics, but here's what I'm envisioning . . .

I'm trying to use as much of his existing stuff as possible to change the room around. We'll keep the wall color and the rug (Dwell for Target, no longer available), and we'll bring in some oranges and reds to go with the bedding. I'm excited to spruce up his room a little, and I'm currently on the prowl for a twin bed (preferably with drawers underneath) and a big ol' Ikea bookshelf.

Bookshelf: Ikea Expedit, photo via Ohdeedoh. Fabric drawers: Closetmaid and Circo, from Target. Lamp: photo from Good Housekeeping; similar available at HomeGoods. Child's table: Target. Stool: Ikea. Posters: Etsy sellers sugarfresh and cutpasteprint. Robot pillow: Branch Home.

Shower Power

2010-08-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

Somehow I'm decorating not one, but two baby showers this Saturday. Somehow, they're at the exact same time! Luckily, though, they're also about 15 minutes away from one another. I will be doing some serious running back and forth, but I think the results will be worth it.

I've already talked a bit about Jennifer's shower, which I am excited to show you next week. The second shower is one that my friend Niki had planned to host for her sister-in-law, Erin. Unfortunately, Niki was in a serious traffic accident (on the way to a different shower for Erin, oddly enough) a few weeks ago, and she fractured two vertebrae. She BROKE her BACK. Because Niki is Niki, she was more worried about this baby shower than her three months of bedrest and rehab. My friend Sara and I offered to step in and take care of the decorations, and our friend Jenny from Pied Piper Creamery and her family at Pied Piper Eatery in East Nashville are taking care of the edible side of things.

I don't really know Erin, but Niki had some ideas that Sara and I were happy to run with. Niki wanted to plan the decor around her niece-to-be's bedding, the Love Birds set from Bananafish:

Sara and I are drawing from the bedding's cheery colors, the birds and the branches for our inspiration. This shower is being held at Niki's family's church, in a reception room. On the one hand, thank goodness for these kinds of rooms--they're often free or inexpensive, and no one has to deal with the stress of having an event at her own home. On the other hand, they're usually very beige and boring, so it takes a bit of creativity to liven them up. Sara and I are employing a "use what you have" mentality to create a cheery party on a very tight budget. Here's our plan, with real pictures to follow after the event:

We want to do something branchy as a nod to the branches in the bedding, so Sara thought of tissue blossoms on real branches. We'll put them in her adorable blue mason jars. I have made a pennant style banner or bunting to hang over the mantel. Tissue paper poms are a given here--they cost about a dollar apiece to make, and they take up a lot of vertical space and bring color and texture to the ol' greige church room. Between the two of us, we have several pieces of Fiesta, McCoy, and other colorful pottery that fits into the shower's color scheme, so we'll put the food on those pieces instead of fussy silver trays. We'll also try to bring in birds in other ways (read: scrounging up bird figurines from friends and family).

I'm a little exhausted from folding and cutting tissue paper every night this week, but I am excited to see the results on Saturday!

Mappy Birthday!

2010-08-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well, Graham's map obsession continues, so we are moving ahead with the map-themed birthday party!

I've had a few fun ideas so far, and if I don't document them, I'll forget them completely, so here we go.

1. I had originally been looking at all kinds of vintage map textiles, but that was getting a little cluttered and expensive. I decided to back up and just use the map of the US, which Graham knows inside and out, as the backdrop for the dessert table and the starting point for the color scheme. In addition to the ubiquitous tissue paper poms, I'll be hanging some inflatable globes over the table. I happen to have an orange beverage tub (grabbed on clearance at Target for $1.14!) and two white tubs (they're reversed in the picture, oops).

2. In the favor bags, I'll have an earth punch-ball (which is kind of messed up, if you think about it. Punch the earth! Hit it!), and some nerdily named geography-themed candies. I have no idea what these candies taste like. Please tell me if they're gross.

3. On the cupcakes, would you believe, tiny toothpick flags for each state?! It was meant to be, right?

4. Our backyard backs up to a golf course, and it's not fenced. I need some kind of demarcation to keep the little ones wrangled and contained, so I think I will put up some stakes and hang a line of state flags, bunting-style, from them. And every few stakes or so I'll tie a group of balloons.

5. I am the queen of Beating a Theme to Death, so I'm carrying it over into the food. We're just having snacks (in addition to our ice cream and cupcakes), and so far the menu includes Buffalo Chicken Wings, Idaho Potato Chips, Hawaiian Tropical Fruit Skewers, Floriday Key Limeade, and Tennessee Tea. And Sierra Nevada beer for the grown-ups. Each item will have a little map-themed card, because God forbid anyone miss out on what a dork I am.

6. I can't decide how many games to do--a lot of these kids are three, and I don't know how long I can hold their attention--but I have to get one of these giant inflatable globe beach balls for them to throw around. I'm also considering Pin the State on the Map, and maybe a globe pinata (again with the violence against poor ol' Earth).

I'm quite sure I'm more excited than Graham is for his birthday at the end of September, but I know he will love the party.

Mapping Out a Great Party

2010-08-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I had my soon-to-be-three-year-old's party all figured out. But his recent obsession with U.S. geography has me considering other options.

This all started in June, when my husband and I took our first trip without him, to Florida for our friends' wedding. My mom watched him for part of the time, and she bought him a Melissa and Doug U.S. map puzzle to help him understand where he was (in Tennessee) and were Mommy and Daddy were. By the time we got home, he knew about ten states on the map. Two weeks after that, he knew the name of every state and where it went on the map (he may have, ahem, corrected my placement of a couple states), then the state flags. Now we have moved on to capitals, of which he's learned over a dozen. Did I mention he's NOT YET THREE YEARS OLD? Okay then. (I'm genuinely not bragging--well maybe just a tad--I'm more bewildered than anything.)

Anyway, he now has a giant atlas, two diferent map puzzles, and state-specific flash cards (all at his request--I am the opposite of a pushy mom when it comes to things like this).

I fooled around in Publisher and made a draft of a mappy invitation, above. I thought it might be fun to try a map-themed party, which sounds a lot easier than it is. Try googling "map party" or similar terms, and you'll be met with a deluge of pirate maps, wedding maps, and a host of other unrelated mappy things. I broadened my search to school supplies, vintage and repurposed maps, and map textiles and that's when I hit the jackpot.

I'm hoping to score one of those giant globe beach balls for a game for the kiddos. I have a paper bunting project in mind involving state flags. I'm envisioning a "pin the state on the map" game, instead of a tail on a donkey, map fabric or wrapping paper as tablecloths, and maybe some of those globe punching balloons for favors.

This idea just popped into my head a couple hours ago, so the planning is in the early stages to say the least. I'm getting really excited about it, though, and I think Graham will really love it, so it may be the theme we stick with. I would appreciate any map-related (especially United States maps) ideas anyone can offer!

Hypothetical Nursery for a Hypothetical Girl

2010-08-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a couple posts back that we had been considering having Baby #2 in the Spaghetti Arms house. We have no concrete plans yet; it's just an idea we're slowly warming to.

Before I had Graham, I thought that I always wanted a little girl. Now that I have him, I've found out how great little boys can be, and I realize I'd be happy either way--if Baby #2 (who is, I must remind you, hypothetical at this point) turned out to be a boy, we'd already be so prepared with all of Graham's hand-me-downs. If we had a girl, we would get to have a totally new experience this time around. If we have twins, well, we'll have to sell our house, so let's not think about that just yet.

In my typical fashion, I have begun to plan for this hypothetical baby. Of course, none of my planning involves anything practical--finances, for example. But boy, do I have some ideas for a girly nursery, should the need arise.

Since I first stumbled upon them via Ohdeedoh, I have loved Baby P's nursery and Norah's nursery. Big surprise there--I love almost anything that combines turquoise and yellow. I have been thinking about how to create something similar in our guest room, the last "available" bedroom, using mostly what we already have in our house. Much like our next baby, this room is in a very abstract planning stage, but this little Polyvore mood board is a good start.

We already have the StorkCraft Ariel Stages crib from Graham's nursery. We had originally bought the Pottery Barn Kids Sadie rug (no longer available in store; it does pop up on eBay from time to time) for our living room, but decided against using it becasue of our two elderly dogs who don't seem to understand that rugs are not for peeing on. Graham's changing table (actually an old bookshelf) would get a makeover by simply changing out his lime green bins for bright pink ones, and the armoire I have in mind is the one my sweaters currently live in (an $85 find on Craigslist a few years back). All that's left to buy is a can of paint (Benjamin Moore's Robin's Nest) and some fun floral fabrics.

Obviously, the room (and the baby plan) need some more work and consideration, but it's fun to daydream sometimes!

Weekend Plans and Giveaway Results

2010-07-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

Happy, happy Saturday! I'm headed off to buy stenciling supplies for my neglected little prison hallway. I found a free downloadable template for a Morroccan/Moorish tile stencil, and all I need to buy is acetate. I figure if it looks horrible, I'll just paint over it and try again. Any home improvement plans of your own this weekend?

And the winner of the Paperspring.com $50 gift certificate is commenter #9, Sara, aka "byrdhunting" on Twitter. Sara, please check your email for details about your prize! Please let us know how your save-the-date cards turn out--I'm sure they will be gorgeous. Thanks, everyone, for playing, and thanks to Paperspring for the great prize. Happy weekend, all!

A Peacock-Inspired Wedding (on a hummingbird-sized budget)

2010-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

My sister Mary Ruth is the youngest of us three girls (I am the, ahem, wisest), so like it or not, she will always be the baby. When she announced her engagement last summer, we were all thrilled for her. When she announced that she wanted to get married in eight weeks, we were surprised, but not much. She's always been a little impulsive. When she decided she still wanted a bit of a to-do for her wedding even though she was on a very tight budget, we sighed (but secretly began planning and charting and making a little folder of wedding goodness for her). I got to help her find the dress, order and arrange the flowers, make the programs and invitations and cupcake flags, and do all the centerpieces.

Somehow this girl got lucky enough to find not one, but TWO perfect locations that had openings. She chose Two Rivers Mansion, a beautiful antebellum home nestled between the Cumberland and Stones rivers, with a rich history. Two Rivers is owned by Nashville's parks system, and it's much more affordable than private mansions, if you are lucky enough to find an empty date (and Mary Ruth was!). She found herself drawn to peacock feathers, so we used those along with the mansion's history as inspiration for the wedding's subtle theme.

I designed the invitations in Publisher and the program in Word, using a homemade stencil and cardstock for the program's cover. Oh, if only I had known about Download and Print back then! They have a peacock feather invitation, just ready to print! That would have saved me hours of my life.


Programs before I tied silver ribbons through the holes.

Me and my little guy.

The ceremony was a family affair. Laura and I were bridesmaids, and my husband's band provided the music. My mother and father walked Mary Ruth down the aisle; then, my father climbed the steps to officiate the wedding. My mother made the beautiful monogram arrangements on the front columns with some cardboard letters from JoAnn, some floral foam, and flowers and magnolia leaves from her own garden.

This was probably the best Graham behaved during the ceremony, the chance you take when your ring bearer is two.

After the ceremony, my father threw open the mansion's doors and invited everyone inside for the reception. The peacock motif coincidentally worked incredibly well with the mansion's decor. The "gift room," one of four parlors in the front of the mansion, actually had peacock-blue walls, and the foyer had a wallpaper mural that happened to feature a peacock.

We saved money by using vases, chargers, and candlesticks that we already had among family members, and we reused the bridesmaids' and mothers' bouquets in arrangements during the reception.

The mansion's two left parlors are rose-colored,which let us depart a little from the teal and metallics and introduce some pinks. We used some vintage pottery from the bride's and groom's families that coordinated with the rosy colors, and hydrangeas from our grandmother's garden.

Mary Ruth wanted a cupcake tower (from Nashville's incredible Cupcake Collection), and she made her own "giant cupcake," which we topped with a little wooden bride and groom. I bought them unfinished from etsy seller goosegrease and painted them myself to save a little money.

It was a beautiful, fun day for everyone there. Mary Ruth looked beautiful, and we wanted the old mansion to reflect her own infectious charm and loveliness.

Congratulations, Mary Ruth and Dave!

Photographs courtesy of the very talented Katherine Sloan, KRSloan Photography.

2010-07-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it says about me that I get excited to see Better Homes and Gardens in my mailbox. I used to view BHG as a more pedestrian, suburban shelter magazine. Also, not long ago, I couldn't have cared less about the whole "and Gardens" part of their content. (I'm still not much of a gardener. Okay, I'm not a gardener at all, but now I can appreciate a pretty garden, even if I'm too lazy to plant one of my own.) Either they've stepped up their game or I have moved into their demographic, but it has become one of the magazines I most look forward to receiving every month.The sunny, cheerful August issue was right up my alley.

The cover had me at the turquoise, yellow and apple green color scheme. Ninety percent of my house is made up of these colors, so when I opened my mailbox yesterday, I felt like this issue was made just for me. I am only slightly less obsessed with all manner of blue-green blends than House of Turquoise.

The feature on tiny bathrooms hit close to home, too! (Tiny anything relates to my house, but our teensy, lone bathroom especially needs help. Well, really, it needs another bathroom to keep it company, but that's not happening anytime soon.) Also, "Fifty Ways to Eat a Peach"? I will take that challenge. Bathroom storage, hydrangeas, peaches and turquoise = a good hour of reading enjoyment for me.

Sure, I still like to dream and drool over the spreads in House Beautiful and Elle Decor, but I think good ol' BHG offers some fantastic inspiration for affordable, attainable design. View the digital edition of the August issue here.

Don't forget to enter my $50 Paperspring.com giveaway! Remember, there are three ways to enter, and make sure you leave a comment for each method of entry!

Showering the Mom-to-be

2010-07-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Jennifer and Kevin have been two of my sister's best friends since high school. In fact, Laura takes credit for setting the two of them up in the first place! They are so excited to welcome their new arrival this fall, and they want the baby's sex to be a surprise.

I was so excited to help Laura come up with a gender-neutral baby shower theme. Jennifer and Kevin have already gotten started on a pale green nursery, so we used that as a jumping-off point. I love all the literal translations of a baby "shower" I've seen lately, so I suggested that as a theme and came up with a little inspiration board.

Another free printable invitation alert! I found the downloadable template on Parents.com via the adorable Craftiness is Not Optional, where the adorable umbrella/raindrop decorations and custom welcome sign also were.

I liked the idea of my trusty ol' tissue paper poms serving as "clouds" in this case, and I expanded that cloud idea to meringes, white cotton candy, and airy macarons. The pistachio macarons bring us back to the light green theme, which is echoed in the raindrop garland, the green candy buffet, and the bells of Ireland. I added some daisies to bring in a little sunshine. The umbrella and wellie-shaped cookies just made me squeal, so I couldn't not include them.

If Laura and her co-hosts want to keep the non-dessert foods in line with the light green motif, accented by some sunny yellow, they're in luck. These two colors actually make for a spread that's not only visually pretty but appetizing as well (as opposed to, say, blue and silver?). Cucumber water, lemonade, prosciutto-wrapped roasted asparagus, a variety of deviled eggs, cucumber sandwiches, lemon and lime squares (oops, there I go venturing in to desserts again. It can't be helped) would all look and taste divine.

I have some other options for this gender-neutral shower to share later. I can't wait to see which one Laura choses, and I can't wait to meet Jennfier and Kevin's little one!

Don't forget to enter my $50 Paperspring.com giveaway! Remember, there are three ways to enter, and make sure you leave a comment for each method of entry!

How Can it Be? My Baby is Three? (plus my very first GIVEAWAY)

2010-07-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Ruby Anniversary party for the in-laws is not the only big event coming up in our family. My son Graham will be turning three at the end of September, and I can't wait to throw a fun party for him. Last year his birthday got rained out. TWICE. We called everyone frantically to postpone the party that first time, moving it to the next weekend. When the rain-out day was also filled with thunderstorms, we canceled everyone but family members and just squeezed them into our teensy house. We are hoping for good weather this year so Graham can actually have friends his age around.

I recently received some sample invitations from Paperspring, and I was so impressed with the designs and quality! The cardstock was nice and heavy, and the images were not only adorably designed but vivid and crisp to boot. I particularly loved this birthday invitation, probably because I love red with light blue.

I decided to use the colors and the vintagey feel of the invitation as inspiration, and not so much the airplanes. (I don't want to tie myself down to a strict theme unless its something Graham's obsessed with.) One thing that is so great about this color scheme is that I already have so many things in my house that work with it! In fact, my entire kitchen is pretty much red and turquoise, so I will be "shopping" there first.

I collected some images in that red-blue-vintage vein that inspired me for a little mood board. Lots of bunting and balloons and cheerful color!

And in honor of Graham's birthday, a present for YOU! Paperspring has graciously offered to give one reader a $50 gift certificate, good through August 31, 2010, so you can indulge in their gorgeous stationery. They offer so many lovely options, from birth announcements (I was stunned at how great the baby photos looked on the cardstock in my samples--I may have already picked out announcements for hypothetical baby number two? Shh, I didn't say that) to party invitations to personalized greeting cards.

They offer free shipping, and their customer service is seriously top-notch. In addition to their products' high quality and rich feel, they are also green! I was impressed to read that Paperspring uses all post-comsumer recycled products and employs chemistry-free, waterless digital printing to deliver the greenest product possible.

You can earn up to three entries:

1. Visit the Paperspring site, then come back here and post a comment telling me what you'd buy with your gift certificate.

2. You can earn an extra entry by mentioning this giveaway on your own blog or on Twitter (leave a separate comment linking to your Twitter page or your blog's mention of this giveaway).

3. You can earn another entry by following me on Twitter. Leave me a comment telling me you've done so, and don't forget to tell me your Twitter handle.

Contest closes at midnight eastern time on Friday, July 30. A winner will be chosen using random.org. This giveaway is sponsored by Paperspring.com.

Oh, Ruby Ruby! An anniversary mood board AND something free!

2010-07-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

I am lucky to have some great in-laws. Joel and Katrina were married forty years ago on August 29th, and all of us kids and kids-in-law wanted to honor that this year. Seth's sister Kara offered up her adorable house, and in return I offered to decorate, do the invitations, and make a lot of the food. (Ha, little does Kara know that this is not a bargain at all because I am a freak for party decorations and would have begged to do them no matter what!).

I learned that forty years is the "ruby" anniversary, which set me down the path to a red color scheme, complemented with summery pinks, peaches and yellows. I was trying to make some sad excuse for an invitation in Publisher, since we only had to send out a few to extended family and I wanted to save a few dollars. Somewhere in my clip art searches, I stumbled across Download and Print, and holy cow! Anna Skye is not only a talented designer, but a generous one as well: she offers many of her adorable, modern invitation and stationery designs FOR FREE. You literally download the design template, input your own information, and print in good ol' Microsoft Word. How easy is that?

I wavered between the love birds design and the modern chrysanthemums, but when I realized I could have the chrysanthemums printed in the colors of my choice, the decision was easy. I emailed Anna, who graciously sent me a printable color chart so I could pick my ideal shades of red, pink and orange. A mere few hours later, I had my template, which I just printed out on some spare card stock and cut down to size. Incredible!

The invitations went out today, and I have been collecting a few images here and there to amass a little mood board.

And here's how you know how much I enjoy planning a party: their party is on my actual birthday, and I don't even care. Pictures to come!

Luau Party!

2010-07-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Stephanie is my oldest and dearest friend. We met on the first day of fourth grade and have been best friends ever since. She and Eddie got married in Cocoa Beach, Florida, last month. Before they tied the knot, my friends Brandon and Sara and I wanted to give them an engagement party/wedding shower for all our local friends who couldn't make the trek down to Florida. To bring some of that fun beach vibe to Nashville, we chose a luau theme and had the party at Brandon and Frank's fantastic bungalow.

I know the tissue paper poms/flowers have been done to death, but I really think they can't be beat for adding cheap, colorful drama to any party. In this case, they kind of served as giant tropical flowers. We hung them across the porch with a strand of tiki lanterns and over the food and favor tables.

The menu was (loosely) tropical. We had pulled pork, sweet potato salad, black bean salad, key lime cheesecake, tropical slaw, fruit served in a hollowed out melon, and my personal favorite, bacon-wrapped pineapple (that would be the almost-empty platter in the foreground. Must make more of that soon). And margaritas. Lots and lots of margaritas.

I also made some beachy cupcakes but failed to get a good picture of them.

For favors, each guest got a margarita glass (with his or her name on a ribbon around the stem). Inside each glass was a lei to wear for the evening. We also had some Hawaiian shirt beer cozies for the non-cocktail-drinkers among us.

This doorway picture provided entertainment for everyone (especially after margaritas were consumed). Best ten dollars we ever spent!

We had a great time, and this is a fun, easy party theme to work with. We loved doing something special and memorable for Stephanie and Eddie. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Hallway to Hell

2010-07-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Well, hell is a bit dramatic (but only a bit). I apologize; I'm just a sucker for a titular pun on a goofy old AC/DC song. But my hallway is the saddest "room" in the house. It's dark and dreary, even though I've painted it the palest, cheeriest light yellow I could find. The bare bulb in the ceiling is just the prison-flavored icing on the sadness cake. I'm hoping to remedy the lighting situation soon (I mean, we've only lived here SEVEN years, cut me some slack), but I really think it's time to address the floor.

Real parquet flooring is cool, but this. This is not real anything. It's two sheets of veneer that bears the traces of old carpet glue and scratches and paint splotches, and the faint remains of a blotchy wax finish. I thought we'd be able to just pry it up and find hardwoods underneath, like we did in the rest of the house. We'd refinished the living room and dining room floors for continuity at the same time we installed our kitchen floors, and this was the plan for the hallway, too.

Alas, what lies beneath is not matching oak hardwood, but the angled pine boards that serve as our subfloor throughout the house. Too gappy and flexible to leave on their own. So, eventually we'll run matching oak flooring through the hallway, probably when it's time to refinish the bedrooms (I can't even imagine how fun that will be). Until then, I want to try something a little more creative and a lot less expensive.

I used to dismiss stencils as country-craftsy, Becky Home-Ecky. But I've seen so many adorably stenciled floors lately that have totally changed my mind. Look at this green gorgeousness, from Apartment Therapy LA:

And this happy yellow from Design Sponge:

How sunshiney and un-prisonlike is that?

I knew I wanted something graphic, and in a similar yellow and white scheme (but a darker yellow than the walls).

At first I looked at Greek key designs, chain patterns, and knot motifs.

That didn't seem quite fun enough, and I wanted more curves, so I moved onto damasks and floral medallion-type stuff.

But that felt just slightly too foofy, and I only liked the very large scale medallions, which would overwhelm my teensy hallway.

Then I stumbled upon Moroccan-inspired stencils. Jackpot! Curvy yet graphic, classic but not stuffy or fussy. I considered this Moroccan lattice one, but again, the large scale was a problem. I was definitely on to something with the Moroccan theme, though.

I finally decided on this Moorish-tile pattern, which reminds me a lot of the ubiquitous Pottery Barn (no longer available from Pottery Barn, but often found on eBay):

So come this Friday (gotta wait 'til momma gets paid), I'll order this stencil and get down to business. I'm sticking with my yellow and white idea, which will look a whole lot like the PB rug, but topped with lots of shiny, happy polyurethane. Stay tuned! It will soon be the swankiest prison hallway in town.

Half-assery

2010-06-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, readers! And by “readers,” I mean my husband and whichever friends forgot to purge me from their Google Readers. My idea was that, by committing to blogging about our home repair adventures, we would actually FINISH some of them, so the blog would serve to keep us accountable and on-track.

I was wrong, as I so often am. And because we were never actually FINISHED with anything, I never had “after” photos to post. The shame.

Anyway, it’s 37 years later, and here sits my kitchen, stalled out at 80% done. Maybe at some point, Graham will be old enough to take on some of these projects and finish them for us.

So to keep it real or whatever, here are our “during” photos, complete with my whiny commentary on what is yet to be done. To refresh . . .

Before

(and I mean, before we even moved in. We slapped some paint everywhere just to be able to make food in here without killing ourselves):

During

(The grimy floor stayed, as did everything else, but we put some happy paint on the walls and hacked into the cabinetry like wild animals to accommodate a mini dishwasher.)

(There's my $200 Craigslist fridge! And my cute old oven from 1962.)

(Note the dishwasher hole. And also the empty wine bottle, which you tend to accumulate a lot of when you've got a sparkly gold countertop and a dishwasher hole.)

My mood board, for a little guidance (this mood board will not center, no matter what I do. Halp? Also, I love that on Polylvore, it's saved as my "itchen remodel." Even Polyvore knows it's not finished enough to be called a kitchen.):

And away we go. Now we come to the part where I sheepishly reveal what we've managed to get done in THREE YEARS. Holy. I mean, if I were my boss I would fire myself.

As you enter the kitchen from the dining room. Please note the TV with the giant Dish Network box and cables strewn playfully about. This is my attempt at "steam punk" or "industrial sadness" design. Or not. But here's something fun: we had a gap to fill because the lengths of our stock Ikea cabinetry didn't quite fill up the space on this wall, so we had our cabinetmaker friend make a little wine rack for us to use every inch of space. Also: hardwood floors!

Turning toward the back of the kitchen. I love the tall pantry we put here. Please excuse the childproof locks, which are also Emily-proof, as I can't seem to remove them without chopping at them in a fit of rage.

The back of the kitchen. We couldn't really put cabinetry on this wall because of this stupid door that we don't even use. Now I wish we had just turned that door into a window and really rearranged the footprint of the kitchen. Also, this is really the best view of the mangiest baseboards ever to grace the internets. That's not dirt on the bottom part (I mean, not extra dirt); it's where our quarter round is still missing, three years after we replaced the floors.

Why is this part linking to something? Why does Blogger hate me? Hold me.

The appliances are pretty much in the same spot they were before, except now with a microwave and cabinetry mounted over the stove, and a slim cabinet in between the new (well, used, but newer than 1962) stove.

I still plan to buy a large matching cabinet door from Ikea to put on the side of the stove to make it look more built-in. Actually, I would like all new appliances, but that's another post for another, rage-filled day. Also, my son is obsessed with his letter magnets and shrieks like I am stabbing him whenever I try to take them down, even temporarily.

And finally . . .

The sink wall has the most unfinished stuff remaining. You'll notice our "temporary" beadboard backsplash instead of the mini subway tile from the mood board. You may also notice scary dangling wires everywhere for undermount lighting that does not exist. You may even spy some unfinished trim work, window casings, and spackle that needs to be painted. AND you may have been grimacing at the peeling, gray Ceiling of Despair. (Also, you will notice that my blogging mastery, particularly my formatting skills, are just as half-assed as my home repairs. This is because I am being all meta and employing my Cormac McCarthy-like writing skills to evoke kitcheny feelings of some sort. Despair? Frustration? Pity?)

You might think fixing these issues would be the next items on the agenda.

You would be wrong! I have a quick hallway project that I'm doing this weekend instead. Pfttth.

Appliances: The Gathering

2009-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

I mentioned earlier that we remodeled our entire kitchen for under $5000, and that included appliances. We scored some crazy deals on a dishwasher, range, fridge, and over-the-range microwave on Craigslis t--all of these appliances together cost us a whopping $500!

I had originally wanted stainless appliances, but I don't like how many of them (the smaller refrigerators, especially) are black on the sides. I didn't think that would look nice with my bright, white kitchen. My cabinetry would cover up most of the black siding on a range, but not on a big refrigerator. I lust after Fisher Paykel fridges--they're stainless all the way around. Swoon. One day I'll scrape together enough cash to get one of my very own. When that time comes, I'll also upgrade the rest of my appliances. Until then, though, I decided to get some budget-friendlier white appliances.

Lucky for me, plenty of people sell white appliances on Craigslist all the time (presumably while they're updating their own kitchens to stainless! Ha!). I got the dishwasher ($100), smooth-top electric range ($125), over-the-range microwave ($75) all from the same seller who was remodeling his own kitchen. Everything was in great condition, though the dishwasher and range needed just a little touch-up appliance paint.

The refrigerator was my best find. I needed a very specific, small size, with a door that opened to the left, AND I was really hoping for a model with the freezer on the bottom. I had pretty much decided to pay retail for this ideal fridge, when I spotted the exact thing I was looking for seconds after it was posted on Craigslist for $200. I dispatched my husband immediately to get it. The man selling it had used it as an extra fridge in his garage for beverages, and it was practically brand-new, the energy saver sticker still dangling from the shelf inside. SCORE.

Not only were these appliances a complete steal, but I further offset their cost by selling my own old range and dishwasher (on Craigslist, of course!) for a total of $200, making my net total for new appliances a grand $300. This method doesn't work for everyone--maybe you don't have time to wait for the right deal, your kitchen requires very specific appliances, or you don't have access to a truck to collect your menagerie of cast-off appliances. But if you don't mind exercising some patience, using some elbow grease to clean things up, and acting as your own delivery/installation person, you can save hundreds on your appliances.

Something New Underfoot

2009-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

Another installment in the thrill-a-minute (or, on our timetable, thrill-a-month) tale of our kitchen remodel.

Once we emptied all of the old ~~crap~~ cabinetry and fixtures from the room, it was time to begin on the floor. To remind you, here is a shot of our old, skanky vinyl:

And after pulling that business up and chipping away at the ever-filthier layers of crumbling linoleum beneath it, we were down to the layer of paper over the kitchen’s floorboards.

After we decided that we not only wanted to lay hardwood in the kitchen, but also to refinish the floors in the adjacent rooms, we decided to integrate the new kitchen floor with the adjoining dining room. (If you’re putting down a new floor in one room and would rather not deal with the floor in the next room, you can always install a threshold or other piece of flooring to visually separate the two spaces.)

How do you lure your friends and neighbors over to help with floor installation? Sometimes the lure of working with pneumatic tools is excitement enough. A promise to return the favor is always good, but barbecue sure helps.

Here is a shot from the (red! It looks so different!) dining room looking into the kitchen. That nasty black glue shows where the kitchen's vinyl floor and metal threshold had previously been adhered to the floor. Note the staining on the wood floor in the dining room.

We replaced the stained and well-worn boards in the dining room entrance, allowing for a seamless transition between the two rooms:

Integrating a floor like this has to start with the pieces that fit into your old floor. As you work your way into the "floor-less" room, because of the nature of tongue-and-groove flooring, you also have to have a piece of wood called a "spline." Or you can call it the much racier-sounding "slip tongue," if you want a saucier way to talk about floor installation. A spline is tongued on both sides, allowing you to work in each direction toward both ends of the room. E-how has a better explanation of this process.

It's looking better already, don't you think?

Demolition Derby

2009-02-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

The kitchen saga continues!

So, after our big whirlwind trip to Ikea to order everything (keep in mind we couldn't actually take anything home with us--that would require another 5-hour trip. Well, actually several trips, but that's no fun to read about), we waited weeks and weeks for our truckload of flat-packed goodies to arrive in Atlanta. We didn't want to demo everything too early because we needed a functional kitchen.

Eventually, most of our cabinetry arrived. We assembled it in our basement, moved our fridge and stove into the dining room, and began demolition.

The first thing to come up was the floor. We scraped up a little chunk of the three layers of linoleum and sent them to a local lab for asbestos testing. When everything came back okay, we spent days scraping and chipping and tearing away at the linoleum until we got to the 60 year-old paper that separated all the linoleum from the angled floor boards underneath.

Somewhere in this process we learned that ceramic or stone tile was not an option for our kitchen. Angled floorboards that sit over an open basement like ours, not a concrete slab or subfloor, are too flexible to tile over. So our options were wood or vinyl. We decided on hardwood since that's what's in the rest of our house.

Our existing hardwoods were in dire need of refinishing. When we had ripped up the glamorous forty year-old avocado shag, we had left the hardwoods with their old wax finish from four decades before. I wanted to give them some a darker stain and some polyurethane protection, but first we had to get the rest of the kitchen removed.

Au revoir, upper cabinets! You weren't even deep enough to hold a standard twelve-inch dinner plate!

Bye-bye, bespeckled backsplash! I will not miss your sassy gold flecks, but you were very easy to clean.

So long, sink. I will not miss your paltry nine-inch depth.

And finally, farewell to the base cabinets. I am sorry my husband saw it necessary to hack at you with random tools to accommodate our temporary dishwasher. Apparently I didn't think enough of you to take a picture of your departure, or of your charming temporary residence on our front porch before your trip to the dump. But you will be remembered all the same.

Kitchen Bitchin'

2009-02-25T12:04:00.000-08:00

Oops, I really did intend to keep up with this blog better. I am trying, though. Paired with my sporadic posting, the story of my long and lazy kitchen renovation reveals a lot about me, I guess.

Well, two years after we started our cheap and cheerful kitchen renovation, we're almost done. You would think we were remodeling the Biltmore's galleys and dining hall, not just slapping some Ikea up in a 9X11 room. Oh well, that's sort of par for the course in our DIY history, and having a toddler running around isn't doing much to speed up our progress.

The new kitchen is pretty cute, but to really appreciate it, you have to look at what we started with, and then you have to remind yourself (or I have to remind myself) that we did all of this work ourselves.

We bought our house, which was built in 1942, in 2003. The kitchen was updated sometime in the early 60s and then left untouched for the next forty years. On moving day, we wer greeted with glittery laminate countertops, tragic and stained linoleum, and cabinets painted in a color scheme that I call "dirt and dust."

We did not want to take on any debt to renovate our kitchen, so we made do for a while with some cheerful paint, and later, a poorly rigged up dishwasher that lived in a hole my husband hacked in our cabinetry. Charming!

In January of 2007, we decided to take the plunge and begin our renovation. Using the Ikea home planner program, I figured out what would work best in our oddly-configured space, and we ventured down to the Atlanta Ikea on MLK weekend to place our big order. Two weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. We had a lot of work to do, and we didn't get it all done as quickly as we wanted, but it's done, it's paid for, it's ours, and it's cheerful and functional. I think it's pretty adorable, myself, especially considering we have a completely new kitchen for under $5,000.

As a preview, here is a Polyvore mood board of our renovation:

Stay tuned!

Ballsy.

2008-12-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

I’m all about adding touches of holiday sparkle all over my little house, but my budget forces me to be creative. Luckily, there are plenty of easy ways to deck the halls without depleting my checking account. So, without further ado . . .

Balls. Or rather, ornaments. They’re not just for the tree anymore! Sherry and John over at This Young House have some great posts about creative ways to work ornaments into your décor. I especially love their use of silver ornaments with moss.

My favorite Christmassy thing in my own house is still the ornaments in my kitchen window.

I tried to bring some ornamentation to the dining room by hanging a little cluster of them from the chandelier, but I’m kind of back and forth on whether I like them this way.

It’s a little reminiscent of a cluster of grapes. Or a uvula. What do you think? If I get bored (or if I get insomnia, which is more likely these days), I’m going to try re-hanging them individually from different spots in the chandelier, like I saw on the Domino website.

I also use ornaments in baskets, bowls, vases, and in large, lidded cylindrical vases on my mantel. (Side note: in my experience, TJ Maxx and Marshall’s are the best places to find glass vases and hurricanes, even cheaper than you’ll find them at Target or other discount stores.)

And the mantel brings us to our second cheap (free, actually) method of holiday décor: nature! Can’t get much freer than crap you pick up in your own yard! Stay tuned . . .

Like Oprah's Favorite Things, except no one cares!

2008-12-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Sigh. My skin has reverted to its thirteen-year-old pimpliness, I have some monster pinched-nerve issue going on with my back and neck right now, and I have a sneaking suspicion that both of these things are at least partly due to holiday stress. I think it's pretty lame of me to let something as happy as Christmas make me all stressed out, so I'm going to take a moment to reflect upon some of the simple, non neck-pinching things I love about this time of year.

Seasonal Fruit.

Sure, summer's bounty is long gone, but there are some great things in season in winter, too. Like pomegranates (kind of a pain to actually eat, but so healthy and tasty), and my personal favorite, clementines!

Clementines are the ultimate winter treat for me, especially when I've been over-indulging on all the turkey dinners and baked goods we're inundated with this time of year. They require no silverware, they are sweet and (usually) seedless, and they add color and cheer (and their citrusy fragrance!) to your kitchen.

Trader Joe's Goodies.

No longer do I have to beg and bribe friends from out of state to send me Trader Joe's care packages, or drag my poor hapless hosts in other cities (sorry, guys) to grocery stores when I visit them. Nashville finally got its very own Trader Joe's last month, and I have already patronized it much more than I should.

Trader Joe's has its own version of Oreo sandwich cookies, the adorably-named Joe-Joe's. At Christmas, they stock limited quantities of Candy Cane Joe-Joe's. People, the creme filling is sprinkled with pieces of candy cane! So good.

I prefer to enjoy my Candy Cane Joe-Joe's with milk (the dunking is very important), but to accompany other cookies, I enjoy a nice cup of TJ's Wintry Blend Coffee, which has a spicy holiday kick to it. I need to get over there and snatch up another canister of this before it's all gone!

Starbucks Holiday Drinks.

I know, I know, times are dire and five-dollar drinks are frivolous. I agree. In fact, I've only had one peppermint mocha this year. I'll probably indulge in a couple more, plus a gingerbread latte. These goofy sweet drinks are a nice pick me up in the midst of all the holiday craziness.

For a cheaper treat at home, I indulge in the somewhat trashier. . .

Coffeemate Seasonal Creamers.
Look, flavored non-dairy creamer is seventeen kinds of wrong, and most of the time, I stay clear away from it. But something about these holiday flavors makes it all okay in my mind. I don't ask you to understand, but I do suggest that you try the gingerbread flavor.

As for the eggnog, that just seems too gross, even for me.

(Surprise: a non-edible item!) A Charlie Brown Christmas.

I love all kinds of Christmas music, and just like my wallet makes allowances for goofy coffee drinks and my conscience overlooks the nastiness of oil-based coffee creamer, my snob-o-meter lowers a few notches around the holidays. This is why Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" will always be on my holiday playlist.

But even the most severe music critic has to admit that the music on A Charlie Brown Christmas by The Vince Guaraldi Trio, stands the test of time and taste. It's beautiful music that awakens the nostalgic, warm and fuzzy dork within me. Give it a listen while you're wrapping gifts, or play it in your car to lessen the stress from holiday shopping traffic.

Haul! Out! The Holleeeee!

2008-12-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Did everyone else have to squawk out "We Need a Little Christmas" in an awkward holiday musical program? No? Okay. The point is, I got all of my Christmas crap put up! My halls are decked, my stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and all that jazz.

I love the smell and look of a real tree, but space constraints and a lovely skin allergy (think welts and hives) to evergreen sap means that we go the fake route. Our tree is tall and skinny, and I kind of love it. It’s pre-lit with white lights (though I confess to preferring big, cheery colored bulbs), and we add some big bubble lights of our own.

My favorite thing on our tree is the vintage Bradford star, passed down to us from Seth's parents, who inherited it from a friend's parents. It has a little tin-can type thing inside it (with colored cellophane inserts) that fits over the bulb. The heat from the bulb makes the can spin, throwing crazy colored squiggles and W's on our walls. LOVE.

I’ve never been much into themed trees, choosing instead to accumulate ornaments over the years and not worry whether they match or not. Hey, if nothing matches, then everything does, right? Or something.

Anyway, this philosophy has resulted in some wonderful ornaments, and some not-so-wonderful ones. One of my favorite ornaments ever is this totally hideous thing made of plastic-wrapped satin floss that Seth’s kooky aunt and uncle gave us the year we got married.

Wacky 1982 hair? Check.
Cheesy sipping of brandy snifters in front of the fire? Check.
A properly supportive bra for the lady? No check. Tsk, tsk.

Sorry, I got lost in the beauty of the ornament there for a second.

Big packages of glass ornaments are the cheapest way to liven up any room, tree or no tree. Inspired by a Martha Stewart Living cover from two Christmases ago (apparently this was an alternate cover, so sorry for the image. It was hard to find even a blurry image!), I like to hang ornaments in my kitchen window.

Martha suggested fastening eye hooks into your window casing, but my old, rickety windows have enough issues without screwing extra stuff into them. Therefore, I use a tension rod. This is a little more awkward-looking, but I like to think no one notices it because they're distracted by the ornaments. The ornaments are hung on pieces of ribbon collected from gifts, and strands of beads snipped from a roll of bead garland that we used on our Christmas tree a few years ago.

The best thing about the tension rod is that I take the whole thing down--rod, ribbons, ornaments and all--fully assembled, and just hang it in the attic until next year. All I have to do is give it a good dusting when it's time to re-hang it.

More cheap and cheerful uses for ornaments to come soon!

Thanksgiving in My Teensy House

2008-12-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

I offered up my miniature house for Thanksgiving dinner festivities last Thursday night. It seemed like a good idea in my head. As Thanksgiving drew near, and both my sisters confirmed that their tall-tall boyfriends would be in attendance, in addition to my not-so-short father, my house felt like it was shrinking by the minute. My little pedestal table normally seats four, six with a leaf inserted.

We had to pull out the old dining room table from the basement, since it has two leaves and is crazy long. We borrowed some chairs from our friends Frank and Brandon, and their slipcovers just happened to merge perfectly with our decor! We also moved the buffet to avoid the situation of having guests with their backs pressed directly against dishes of sweet potatoes and cornbread dressing.

It turned out really well! I loved getting to use my china and crystal and gigantic tablecloth. It was still a tight squeeze to get to the buffet, but I was the only one who had to move, instead of one whole side of the table getting up and shuffling around every time someone wanted seconds.

I tried to add a little more fall color with some mums, a lucky find at Kroger on the manager’s special markdown table. All they needed was a little water and they perked right up. In fact, they still look pretty good. I stuck the cheap plastic pots down into my enamel flower pails to dress them up.

We lit a fire in the fireplace (well, a starter log, but whatever), shipped the dogs off to their “grandmother’s” house for the night, and had a wonderful time with everyone.

Next up: Christmas decorating. We face some special challenges this year, in addition to our usual budget and space constraints. Graham is in destroyer-mode all the time now, it seems, and we can’t figure out what to do with our Christmas tree to keep him from pulling it to the ground and shattering our ornaments.

Nursery for Next-to-Nothing

2008-07-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

My favorite room in the house is definitely Graham's nursery. When I found out I was pregnant (well, after I sent my husband out to buy 14 more pregnancy tests --"Make sure they're the most EXPENSIVE ones at the store!"--and after the hiccupping and crying jag--"I mean, I wanted to have a baby, but on my terrrrrmmmmms!"), I became obsessed with the idea of furnishing and decorating the nursery. I made dorky little diagrams of furniture placement (which is pretty ridiculous, as there are only so many ways you can position things in a 10 x 9 room). I lusted after all the chic baby furniture I spied on Ohdeedoh and Babble. I coveted a sleek Oeuf crib with Dwell bedding. And then I realized that if I bought these things, we would no longer be able to pay our mortgage, and we would all have to live on the streets, huddled under our overturned Oeuf crib, with only our Dwell bumpers for warmth.

Lucky for me, there's so much cute baby stuff out there for any budget! Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of ugly business, too. But I figured out what we needed, decided there were plenty of things we could do without, and adapted lots of things we already owned. The result is (well, I think) pretty dang cute.

I was lucky to receive a beautiful crib as a gift from my aunt. She had me register for one, so I tried to choose one from Target with basic lines that would convert to a larger bed down the road. Once I found out I was having a boy, I found some bedding I loved from Target (heck, now Target even has its own line of super-cute Dwell bedding), and figured out the rest of the room from there. I loved the Splash bedding from MiGi. I think it's cute without being too cutesy, and modern without being cold.

I had some Behr paint matched to the blue of the bedding. Although we had a spanking new crib, we had no other nursery furniture. We found a comfortable and sturdy Dutalier glider-rocker and ottoman on Craigslist ($65!), but it was oak, with a less-than-cute country blue cushion. I slathered it in white paint and recovered (okay, my mom recovered) the cushions in a lime microfiber ($9 per yard). I took inventory of our basement full of castoff junk and decided to use Seth's childhood maple chest of drawers, the tall brown Target bookcase from our former office (now the nursery), and a short bookcase that had been our kitchen microwave stand.

Seth's childhood dresser, above, got a fresh coat of paint and some chrome handles ($3 apiece at Home Depot). The shelves above the dresser are from Target's home office section, and are in the exact spot they were in when the room was our office. They just look a lot sweeter with Graham's toys on them. See, laziness works sometimes. That's our old kitchen microwave stand, cleaned and outfitted with a changing pad and some canvas bins from, where else, Target. The brown rug is wonderful--it's made of recycled t-shirts and is from Wal-Mart.

I used my leftover green and white paint for some fishy art on the walls that I tried to match to the fish in the bedding. I thought it was ridiculous to spend $20 per letter to put Graham's name over the bed, but I found a woman on eBay who sells them for under $5 per letter, plus she lets you pick your paint and ribbon color!

I think the room is so restful and sweet, which is nice since I spend so much time in there. And Graham seems pretty pleased with it, too.

More Cheap Tricks

2008-07-15T15:38:00.001-07:00

So, the dining room. To put things in perspective, you should see what we started with.

This isn't the best picture--it doesn't show you the entire room--but you get the gist, right? Please note the Pathway of Filth that leads through the avocado shag into the kitchen, and the swanky pull-down light fixture that was coated in years of grease and dust.

Okay then.

Like the living room, the dining room also went through a transitional period, during which I liked very dark, saturated colors, and also during which I had no furniture. The result was a very traditional cave/dining room with deep red walls, my mom's old uber-traditional dining furniture (which I was not allowed to paint), and some very dramatic gold fabric (with tassles! Oh, my!) twisted up over the window. The fabric was intended for curtians, but I was too lazy to make them. We did manage to put a chandelier and some crown molding up.

The red was okay, and I especially liked it in the fall and over the holiday season, but it could feel oppressive in my tiny, tiny house. It really didn't feel very "me," either. The table, even with no leaves in, was too big for a room that we have to walk through constantly, and the chairs were too bulky. Over time, the dining room has evolved into what I think is something that's brighter, crisper, and much more reflective of who we are.

The walls are now a crisp apple/pear green (Sherwin Williams "Parakeet"). The curtains are from Target, and I was thrilled at their quality: thick fabric, nice lining, available in the long length that I need for my tall windows. We found the Spencer pedestal table at Crate and Barrel a couple years ago (I think it pops up in the online outlet store from time to time now), clearanced out because it was a floor model. We had the white chairs leftover from our years as renters, when we actually had an eat-in kitchen.

I craved a different light fixture, maybe something with a drum shade, but just taking the mumsy silk shades of the chandelier has placated me for now.

The above picture shows some of our baby clutter (high chair, exersaucer), but I included it for the shot of the buffet (flea market, $150) and the sunburst mirrors that I ordered from Pottery Barn Kids, thanks to a hot tip from Holly at Decor8. I think I may paint the mirrors black.

I'd had my china and crystal and whathaveyou on a big white bookshelf that Seth's grandfather made him years ago, but when Graham started crawling, we realized what a bad idea that was. I scoured Craigslist for something with doors on it, but all I could find were massive, overpriced (and sometimes hideous) china hutches. Then, a few weeks ago, I found this simple cabinet:

I loved its scale and its cute legs. The picture didn't tell me much about the quality of the wood. I decided if it turned out to be nice (visions of Heywood Wakfefield danced in my head), I would use it as-is, and if not, I would paint it.

Alas, it was not Heywood Wakefield blonde maple; it was wood from the Ikea Tree. So I went through forty-seven cans of spray paint and ended up with something I'm quite happy with.

I still need to touch up the paint a bit, and I'd like to add some more exciting hardware (Anthropologie's clearance bins are calling my name), but I'm pleased. I love the Craigslist.

From the last picture, you can kind of see into my kitchen, which isn't quite camera-ready (and not just because of the giant playpen blocking the door). Hopefully, after over a year of painfully slow DIY renovations, it will be done very soon and I can show it off here.

Cheap and Cheerful

2008-07-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Holly's post over at Decor8 asking, "How do you decorate your home on a budget?", I decided to dredge up my stagnant, never-quite-got-off-the-ground blog to document some of my, um, "design" projects. The husband and I have modest jobs, and especially since I've had a baby and switched to working part-time, everything I do is on a budget. Well, more of a pittance than a budget, but I like a challenge.

So, I'll start with my living room. A word of warning: I'm a horrible photographer, and many of these pictures are taken with a flash because it was nighttime. You'll have to trust me that the room is actually very sunny, when the sun is actually out. Okay then.

For reference, here is what the room looked like when we bought the house a few years ago:

Nice, right? We (optimistically) saw it as a blank slate. The room has gone through a few incarnations since those photos, including a sort of Friends-esque period of overstuffed furniture, murky paint choices, and clunky armoires. Think late-90s Pottery Barn meets poverty. Poverty Barn? That look was okay, but last year I decided I needed more streamlined furniture and a sunnier, cheerier color. So here it is, in its current state:

I painted the walls a pale, yellowy cream color (Ralph Lauren "Victoriana"). (I really need to touch up most of the white woodwork, but we'll see when that happens.) I drug two knockoff LeCorbusier LC2 chairs out of the basement, where they had languished since our home office became Graham's nursery. These chairs were a crazy steal--when I worked part-time at a women's clothing store right out of college, our store was remodeled, and the employees had a chance to buy the furniture. These were our "husband" chairs, where bored men sat while their ladies shopped. I paid a whopping FIFTY DOLLARS apiece for them, and they've held up great.

Our "coffee table" is a leather ottoman that I got on clearance at SteinMart (kind of like Marshall's or TJ Maxx) that used to be at the foot of our bed. This is much safer (I think) than a hard-edged table, since we have a 9 month-old toddling around now. Plus we can use it for extra seating in a pinch. The sofa, from Macy's Corona line, was the only big purchase we made for the room. I made throw pillows out of some Waverly fabric remnants (fifty cents apiece at my favorite fabric store). I kept the old window shades, which are from Pier 1 and made of woven hemp and paper. In the winter, I hang velvet curtains over them, which adds a cozy, layered look and has the added bonus of keeping us from freezing to death. I put a couple of sturdy floor cushions from Ross in an otherwise useless corner as a make-shift bed for our doggies, as a bribe to keep them off the new couch.

The vintage 1950s floor lamp is my favorite yard sale find ever. It set me back a cool $40.

The wall where the TV lives looked so bare after I got rid of the hulking armoire. I craved some lighting and cheerful artwork, but those things cost money. I had two matching Target gourd lamps in different rooms in my house, so I put them together atop two skinny Target Hudson bookcases to flank my skimpy TV stand. The flatscreen TV takes up less space, which is nice, but it left a huge void on the wall. I ripped pages out of a Cavallini bird calendar ($10 on an after-Christmas sale at Barnes and Noble) and put them in pre-matted frames from JoAnn ($8 each after those handy 40% off coupons from the Sunday paper).

The fireplace wall is still unfinished. I have considered painting the mantel and mirror black or turquoise--I feel like there's just too much white going on here--and take that dingy, dated brass surround off of the fireplace, but I did want to share a couple of lucky, budget-friendly finds. The gigantic mirror was a hand-me-down from a friend who decided it wasn't "modern" enough for her. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked like it was made especially for my mantelpiece.

The alcove to the right of the fireplace was a real problem spot. I get hung up on symmetry (or lack thereof), so I wasn't crazy about the random, DIY brown shelves on brass brackets that were there when we bought the house. I wanted something that would sort of mirror the coat closet on the left side of the fireplace. When I spotted the Ikea Alve desk and hutch in a Real Simple feature a few years ago, I thought it could work. I was thrilled to find the measurements were almost perfect. I drove to Atlanta, found the Alve pieces, and painted them to match our woodwork. We found the small, armless banker's chair at a yard sale for $25. Its small scale is perfect for the tiny space. Finally, I find some flowers from my own scrubby "garden" (if you can call my weedy front yard that) in an old glass milk bottle to be the epitome of cheap, cheerful decor.

(Update: we had to move the little rolling banker's chair to the basement after Graham started climbing on it--and falling off of it), so we replaced it with one of our dining room chairs. We also found a great turquoise rolling storage bin at World Market, which works great for our files since that secretary is effectively our home office. And I still haven't painted the mantel or mirror. I guess the white has grown on me!)

That was fun! Next up: my parrot-green dining room and my super-cheap kitchen remodel (AKA, an ode to Ikea and Target).

TOLD Y'ALL.

2008-03-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Dang. Just as I feared, details about the proposed 90210 spinoff are emerging, and things do not look so good. Who are these Mills people and why should I care about them?!? Actually, it's worse than I predicted! It doesn't even look like ~~Belding and Screech~~ Nat and David will be making an appearance.

But wait! There may be hope yet. Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Tori Spelling has already made it known that she is ready and willing to take part in the series, should the opportunity arise. I'm sure she's catching a lot of flack for this, but I say hear her out. Not so much where she says, "Well, I am a mom now, proud to say, but obviously too young to have a teenager, so maybe I could be one of the main character's young stepmom." Uh, hi, remember when you married David Silver? You wore a pearl choker and everything! Do those vows mean nothing to you?

But then Tori starts to make sense: "Playing the funny sex ed teacher at the high school would be funny, too, considering Donna Martin was America's most infamous virgin." I am totally on board with Mrs. Martin/Silver/Whomever-Else-Donna-Married-to-Become-Trophy-Stepmom being the West Beverly Sex Ed teacher. I think we all remember the brilliant speech she gave to the room full of cranky PTA parents debating condoms in school:

"If you build a pool, and you know your kids are going to swim, you can build all the fences you want. But if you know they’re going to jump in the pool, don’t you think you should teach your kids how to swim?"

Right! What? But what if I don't build a pool? It doesn't matter; don't think about it too hard. The point is, all the kids clapped, the parents nodded with furrowed brows, and everyone got a big basketful of condoms. Everybody won.

Donna Martin works on her lesson plans.

I hope the powers that be take heed and listen to Tori (not so much about the condoms--but hey, who are we to judge?--moreso about her place in the new series). No Brenda, no Dylan, no Peach Pit? They're going to need to throw us ~~old people~~ loyal fans a bone, and soon.

It's FOR you and it's FOR me

2008-03-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

I almost fell out of my desk when I heard the news last week about the possible Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff that’s reportedly in development at the CW. My first reaction was utter glee—I was the girl who clung desperately to 90210 long after all of my friends in the dorms had switched over to Dawson’s Creek. I may have even pathetically tried to decorate my first apartment to look like Kelly and Donna’s beachy digs, even bidding on the scrolly table lamp from the set when the show’s props were auctioned off. (It sold, shockingly out of my $40 college-student price limit.)

My glee faltered a bit, however, when I read that creator Darren Star would not be involved—I guess he’s too busy suggesting insane furry athletic wear for Cashmere Mafia—nor would any of the original characters necessarily be involved. Details “remain sketchy.” Okay then. Given that information, I fail to see how this “spinoff” would be any different from The O. C. or Gossip Girl.

In order for the spinoff to really work, or at least for it to lure in the old, original fans like me along with new viewers, we need some connection to the original cast. And that connection should be in the form of relevant characters. I think we all remember what happened to Saved By the Bell (come on, admit it, you watched) when Zach Morris and company moved on, and we were left with an aging Mr. Belding, a borderline-To Catch a Predator Screech, and a bunch of young randoms. In the 90210 parallel universe, that would translate into a geriatric Nat holding court at the Peach Pit with, let’s face it, David Silver. (Sorry, Brian Austin Green, I know you’re all hot now, but you were totally the Screech of West Beverly High.) And maybe occasionally, Steve Sanders (AKA the A.C. Slater of 90210) would drop by for a megaburger and some sage advice?

So, how could this work? Maybe Brandon would be a cheesy congressman, representing the good people of Beverly Hills. Maybe Kelly would be a social worker/PR executive/AIDS hospice volunteer/boutique owner, who gets shot/raped/stalked/burned in a fire/afflicted with amnesia/addicted to coke and diet pills/proposed to by every third person she dates. Maybe Donna made good on that modeling career in Paris (just go ahead and click on that link. Trust me, it’s worth it) and has returned to West Beverly High to teach poise and confidence to a new generation of rich girls with learning disabilities?

The possibilities are endless. For now, my hopes remain high but guarded. This could be something really special, like when Donna Martin graduated, or it could be kind of weird and phoned-in, like when Brandon, Brenda or Dylan would send a video message of themselves (or worse, a letter) to someone’s birthday party or wedding. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Until then, I’m forced to get my 90210 fix twice daily on Soapnet, and count down the days until Emily Valentine burns down the homecoming float for the 47th time.

2008-02-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

Coming soon. . .