Spring Planting

It appears we have our spring deck and porch plantings done.  There are a couple of things coming in the mail that will be fit in, but the "mandatory" (ha!) work is done.  Here's how things looked today in early morning light.

A view from the loft door, looking west:

For several years, we've done a potted palm near the laundry room/pantry door.  This year, we got a new one; they seem to add so much to the space:

Love the petunias in this purchased mixed pot - look at the pretty purple centers with green edge:

In the back corner, a cape honeysuckle; on the table between the chairs are a mixed pot (purchased) and a pot I planted with coleus and sweet potato vine:

This mixed pot was just too glorious to pass by at the nursery last Sunday:

A couple more pots that I put together.  We've bought the bulb for a big elephant ear plant to go in that porch corner:

The mixed pot in oranges under the sun was purchased, I put together the others.  They will fill in sooner than you realize:

My little herb pot (the grill is to the right, out of the photo).  Molly has already "trimmed" the basil with her killer tail:

The lower deck; succulents on the little bistro table, some mixed pots to the right:

Purchased hanging pots above the deck garden:

Another view.  It seems we always do moss roses in the low pot on top of the hose reel.  This year, I really do plan to separate those hosta:

The succulents:

A view of the lower deck, looking toward the upper deck, complete with Cosmo and Molly in the photo:

At the east end of the house - a New Dawn rose, through a shabby painted bench, and a couple pots on either side:

The low garden outside the sliding door has one of my mother's sugar pots with a new yellow brugmansia, sweet potato vines in two colors, and some coleus:

Also on the east side of the house, out in the lawn - another of my mother's sugar pots, planted with a palm, a bunch of lavender, and a few petunias:

On the front of the house, another New Dawn rose, with a new-to-us trellis.  The rose put out so much new growth this spring, we had to get something to hold it up:

Another view of the lower deck, with the enhanced stone wall:

Pots and rockers on the front patio and porch:

Reno Retreat Piece - In Progress

Here are a few in-process photos of the piece I worked on at the Reno Retreat with Jean Bernard & Sherry Goshon. Three full days of fun, art, and inspiration - not to mention good eating. It was marvelous.

Change in the China Cabinet

It was time to change the china cabinet display from Winter Birds to something more seasonal. I got it emptied before I remembered that I'd given away the pink and white dishes I was going to display. In a moment of inspiration, I moved all my cookbooks from the shallow pantry cupboard and into the china cabinet. I used some blue mixing bowls and a heavy Le Creuset pan for bookends.

The benefits were two-fold: a non-seasonal and very functional use for the china cabinet, and free space in the pantry for less-used appliances and such.

Lovely Spring

Ahhh, Spring. The epitome of hope. Sunshine and warmth, birdsong, flowers - I love it all. (Well, I don't love the mud, but I can ignore it in order to have the birdsong, flowers and warmth.)

We've had an extraordinarily early spring here this year, and I am loving every moment. I do seem to have spring fever, however, as I spend great chunks of time gazing out the window and dreaming of what I would be doing if I wasn't attempting to focus on what I *should* be doing. That last sentence may not make sense to you - if it doesn't, chalk it up to my spring fever, ok?

As we pull up the shades, let the light stream in, and sweep out winter's cobwebs, the house is getting a bit more freshening, inside and out. Yesterday, we used our Groupon for a bedroom floor brightening from Fabulous Floors. What a painless way to get your wood floors looking good again. We only had to stay off them for about three hours, but during that time we had to make sure we kept three sets of paws off the floor, as well as our own. We took advantage of the bright spring weather to take the two dogs to Headwaters Park and let them explore. Cosmo was content to stay home in his bed, thank goodness. Here's what the floor looked like when we got home from our excursion:

This was the easiest wood floor re-do ever. It took very little time, was dry enough to walk on in three hours, looks great, and didn't create a bunch of dust. Tonight we'll put things back together and see how it looks.

Anniversary

Fifteen years ago today, I married my best friend in an intimate little ceremony near the cash register at Turtle Bread. That year we honeymooned in North Carolina, and bought a house there for good measure.

Four years later, we celebrated our anniversary on the Eiffel Tower, and ate chocolate waffles.

The next year, we owned a store, and celebrated our anniversary dining on fried chicken from the gas station.

Last year, for the fourteenth anniversary, we sat by the creek and dined at L'Auberge in Sedona, AZ.

This year, we had Chipotle and cake from DQ.

I'm thinking the years with the fours in them are a little fancier than the fives, don't you?

Re-do Done! (For photo purposes, at least)

This is as good as it's going to get. There are still more things to move back into the treehouse, but as that happens, it's never going to look this good again, so - this is the ideal. Of course, it will be more cluttered in the VERY NEAR future. (All photos should be clickable, for larger viewing.)
Above: The east wall, the abundant work surface, and under desk storage.

Above: The west wall, with plenty of bins.

Above: The south wall, where the hooks full of fibers and ribbons used to be.

Above: The north wall bins. Same wall as my one window.

Above: Detail of the north wall - between the bins and the window.

Above: Credenza detail (south wall).

Above: The northwest corner, showing all the bins.

Above: The northeast corner detail - on top of the work surface.

Above: More credenza detail, showing the storage.

Above: I even have a glitter drawer! Who ever dreamed I would have a drawer full of glitter?

Ready to Re-Stock - One Last "During"

Will I fit everything back in the treehouse? We'll soon know - the room is ready to re-stock, at last. The guest room is ready to receive final touches and house guests, as well. My Oldtimer did an amazing job of persevering through all the allen wrenches and MDF that is Ikea. My treehouse now has storage and work surfaces galore. One last look before I fill it up again with fabric, paint, thread, beads, glitter, and patterns:

Above - the west end, the former wall of shame.

Above, the east wall, the former inspiration wall. Note the large L-shaped desk, the credenza on the right, and the two floating shelves above the credenza.

Above - one end of the desk, showing the extra storage drawers and the window. I love that little wire drawer set.

Above - storage cubes all the way into the corner, with added drawers, bins, and doors.

Above - dining room sideboard or credenza, to be used as additional work surface and storage. The black boxes will store patterns.

Here are a few shots of the guest room as it looks right now. It's also ready to be re-populated, though the bed, blanket chest, and wardrobe have already been put into place. I hope to uncover the pillows for the bed soon.

Here's that same view I posted a couple days ago - no more Ikea boxes on the bed, and it DID all fit into the treehouse! If you look closely, you can see the difference between the two shades of green. The guest room is cooler, kind of a pale sage-y green, while the treehouse is warmer and brighter.

Upstairs Re-Do; Still in the During Phase

Friday evening, in front of the threatened winter storm, we made the "quick" run to Ikea in Pittsburgh for the rest of the things needed to put together the sewing room (my treehouse). Here's a look at what was in the back of the Edge, now stacked up in the guest room:
See that little room across the hall with the bins? It's all going in there!

Another view of the guest room (also in a "during" phase) and the boxes of stuff from Ikea:

Here's a during shot of what will be my new work surface for sewing machine, embellisher, serger, etc:

Storage bins!

This little treetop room is just 6 1/2 feet wide, but 15 feet long.

Here's my poor lone window - but the view is good:

We left Ikea at 8:40. Normally, the drive home is about 2 hours, and we had high hopes of beating the approaching snow storm. About one hour into the drive, traffic came to a complete standstill on the Turnpike. When we finally started moving again, this was the dreadful scene:

Another view - a tractor trailer on its side, and that happened before the snow started. After we cleared this accident, we saw four other accidents and people off the road.

We made it home intact, thanks to my Oldtimer's beloved Daisy (the Ford Edge). She really hauled a lot of stuff home the past few weekends!

We Interrupt our Re-do...

...for an important message.
Having just achieved my 61st birthday, I was delighted and inspired by this presentation by Jane Fonda:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/1313

Forget your politics and your movie reviews for a while. If you are jealous that Jane can afford a facelift and you can't, put it behind you. This is such a worthwhile message, not just for women my age, but those coming up behind us.

Upstairs Re-do - Getting Closer

The carpet was installed yesterday! Now we get to do a few touch-ups, and then begin the repopulation of the rooms. Hopefully, we'll (I'll!) be able to edit what returns to the rooms. The first thing we bought last night to help with the look was a new window shade for each room. They are nice, white slatted blinds, and will tie in well with what we have in the rest of the house.

Here's a view of the guest room, complete with empty closet:

Another view of the guest room, including the empty wardrobe that needs to move back into place and return to its storage duties:(Please notice the carpet is Molly-approved.)

A view of the treehouse wall, formerly labeled the wall of shame:

And the end of the Treehouse that had the overloaded bulletin/inspiration board:A view down the steps:

The metal handrail in the stairwell had been painted the same flat white-beige as the walls. It seemed very strange. When we took it off the wall to paint, we could tell that it had been black metal originally. We used the leftover copper metallic paint and glaze from the front door, and turned the handrail to copper.