Garden Hose Wreath

I have been wanting to make one of these for so long now.  For years I've been looking at several hunks of old garden hose hanging out in the shed.  But, like most projects I have filed away in my brain, I just never got 'round to it.

Today, finally, I got 'round tu'it!

I wanted to use old, weathered items to adorn my garden hose wreath.  So I gathered up a couple old, rusty garden tools out of my collection of old, rusty garden tools, and a pair of crusty dirt-stained canvas garden gloves I wasn't using anymore.  I wired everything to a small, twig swag thingy and then wired the whole shabang to the coiled garden hose.  

Something was missing, so I added a faux sunflower right to the middle.

This is just that kind of rustic junky stuff I like in my gardens.  I think gardens should be fun, whimsical with a few unexpected adornments here and there. 

  

My garden hose wreath will greet me every time I'm outside at my potting bench playing in the dirt.  

Ya know, my Mom's an avid gardener with lovely gardens in her yard.  I bet she might like one of these for Mother's Day . . . 

Proudly linking up to Kim at Savvy Southern Style's
Wow Us Wednesday

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Moving A Mountain

That's what I've been doing this past week.  

Moving a mountain of mulch.  

Hubby helped a bit, but I did most of it.  No complaints, though.  I don't mind a bit doing hard work outside.  I consider it a "workout".  

We've kind of neglected our landscape beds lately.  We never even got around to mulching last year, so this year it was a must.  

That pile started out as 5 yards of mulch.  As of today, it's been totally spread in all the necessary areas

I also got my perennial bed cleaned up and mulched too.  It looks soooo much better.  

I mentioned in a post a while back that I was "dissolving" my herb garden.  So, I've decided to devote the back section of the perennial garden to herbs.  I'm using the old bottom of my bird bath to hold a pot of mint, hoping as it grows it will trail down creating a kind of sculpture in the garden.  Better that way then to plant it in the ground.  Gardeners know you really don't ever want to plant mint in a garden if you don't want to take over everything.  Cause it will!

I've also decided to add some pavers to the pea gravel area of the perennial bed.  

I have the hardest time keeping the weeds down in the gravel.  

I'm hoping adding the pavers will help. . . that and keeping plenty of weed killer on hand!  And I think it looks a whole lot better too.

It's a little early around these parts for annuals, but I couldn't resist buying a few packs of flowers.  They're for my window boxes on the front of house, but I've been so busy with the beds, I didn't get them planted.  Still wanting to enjoy them, I plopped a couple of the packs in a basket and put on one of the tables on my deck.  I love petunias.

I just love how all the plants and gardens look this time of year.  All the new, fresh green.  Everything looks so healthy and ready to show off their blooms.  

Later in the season, that rustic piece of fencing behind the garage will be filled with morning glory vines.  They self-seed every year.

The flower bed around our little pond is starting to pop.  Still working on getting the water clear.  As the weather warms, and there's more sunlight, the algae grows causing the green color.  I've been treating the water, and it should clear up soon.  I miss seeing my fishies in there!

Very soon the peonies will start blooming.  They are my most favorite flower.  I love their shape, their smell.  I just wish they bloomed longer into the season.

Some hostas I dug up and divided last spring, but didn't get a chance to replant came back in their pots this year.  Yay!!!  I should probably get around to replanting this year.  But for now, they look good on the chippy bench on the deck.

 The shots below are the view from the bay window in our family room that I took this morning.  Today's going to be a chilly, rainy, windy day.  A nor'easter is blowing through, and we're expecting lots of rain the next couple days.  I'm actually looking forward to a few rain days.  I can use the time to get some things done indoors that have been on hold with all the outside work being done.

The winds are blowing the blossoms off the kwanzan cherry tree making it look like pink snow on the ground.

Hope you all have a peaceful Sunday.  

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Sharing Some Blog Love

I recently stumbled onto a new blog . . . well, new to me, that is . . . while perusing some pics over at Pinterest. 

When I clicked on the link attached to the picture, and it took me to Holly's blog, 

Down To Earth Style

I was instantly in love.  Or maybe more accurately, in lust!!! LOL 

All I can say is I love everything she has shared on her blog.  Her home decor style is one that I would love to totally emulate.  

Besides having a real talent for decorating with reclaimed elements, she also builds, paints, crafts, consults . . . you name it.
This girl's got the stuff!!!  

Holly constructed that kitchen island and painted the faux rug on the floor.

That's her kitchen pantry door up there.  Love it!!!

She gives a tutorial on her method of glazing like she did on her bathroom vanity below.  I'm definitely trying that one when I paint my bathroom vanity.

If you've visited Holly's blog, you must pop over and visit.  And if you don't have time right now to check out her blog, at least click here and take her quick home tour.  But, be sure to bookmark her place so you can spend some time there.    You'll be sure to leave with some inspiration for sure!

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Finally! New Desk Chair

I've almost lost count how many chairs I've had at my computer desk here in my craft room.  Most ended up being horribly uncomfortable.  And I don't even sit at the computer for long periods of time.  Admittedly, I've been cheap when it came to buying a desk chair.  That, and I really didn't want some big, dark, faux leather, clunky thing in here.  I really wanted a wood banker's chair type, but didn't want to pay the price.

Of course, I loved Pottery Barn's wooden swivel banker's style chair, but at $399 plus $15 in shipping, I just couldn't do it.

Pottery Barn

Home Decorator's Collection has their Oxford Office chair at $199 plus $30 shipping.  

Not too bad, but I was hoping to do a bit better.

Home Decorator's Collection

Walmart to the rescue!

On their site, I found just what I was looking for.  Their wood banker's chair is $139 and shipping is free if you pick up at the store.  As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it's the same exact chair HDC was selling at $199.

The chair arrived very quickly, less then a week, and it was very easy to put together.  It's comfortable, height adjustable, swivels and tilts, and the casters roll very easily on my pink shaggy rug I have in here.

I'm super-pleased with this chair.

While I was in here taking pics of the chair, thought I'd share the new counter skirt and window valance I made.  I love the black and white print with the green apple walls, along with the pink shaggy rug I grabbed up at Lowes for a steal - twenty bucks on clearance.  

I may use some of the left over fabric to make a chair pad for my new banker's chair.  

Add it to the list! ;o)

Puppy Update

The new member of the family, Xena, is keeping us busy for sure.  We're still working on housebreaking her, and so far we've only had one day accident free since we brought her home.  Oh, it's driving me nuts!  We try to take her out every couple hours, but she still has accidents.  We can't seem to read her signals all the time.  

She seems to be getting leash training down.  I've been adamant about that.  Our last dog was terrible on the leash, which I'm sure is our fault for not training her properly.  On the subject of training, The Dog Whisperer is now my favorite show.  I DVR it and watch at least a couple episodes a day until I get caught up to the current season.  I really like his philosophies on dog training. Watching his show has also made me understand more about dogs and how they think, so-to-speak.  I feel myself being much more calm with Xena then I was with our first Boxer, Coco.

Another problem I'm having with Xena is getting her to "come" on command.  When I take her out to do her business on the leash, as a reward I unleash her and let her chase a frisbee.  She loves to retrieve it bring it back to me.  But when it's time to go in, she won't come.  I think she thinks it's a game to come close then dart off when I get near her to put leash her.  This morning, after we danced around the back yard for about 20 minutes or more,  I had to quick grab her and wrestle her to the ground to get the leash back on her.  GRRRRRR!!!!  That just will not do!  I think we need to work on the come command a lot more in the house.

See that white thing there on her collar?  It's a very cool device.  It's a GPS tracker.  Hubby found it at Amazon.  It's called
Tagg the Pet Tracker
and the cool thing is there's an app for that . . . hehe.  You download the app to your iPhone, iPad, smart phone, computer, etc., and if the the dog leaves your yard perimeter you can use the app on your device to track her location no matter where you are, with directions if needed.  It will even send you a text that the dog has broken the perimeter.  

Pretty cool!

As you can see, she's starting to love her crate . . . her space.  Unfortunately, that big, ugly cage is in my family room.  I have a small quilt draped over the top cause ya know they like to feel like their in their own den, but the quilt's just not working for me.  I've already purchased a painter's drop cloth and I plan on making a more fitted, hopefully attractive crate cover.  

Other then those few issues, I think she's a terrific dog.  And when we get those worked out, she'll be the perfect pet!

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Petite Paint Pots

We're still working on the small redo of our master bathroom.  Funny how a small reno project is taking so much time to finish.  The work officially began in this bathroom way back in July of 2010 when we had some drywall repair work done.  We're coming up close to two years of my bathroom being semi-torn apart.  

It's time to "git-r-done", don't ya think?!

Well, I guess it's not that small.  We're doing quite a bit of tiling around the whirlpool tub, the backsplashes around the tub and vanity countertop and tiling the vinyl floor.  We ordered a new vanity counter top, and I'll be painting the vanity cabinet base white.  Of course the walls will need to be painted, and for that I've had some trouble picking out a paint color. I want the colors in there to flow with the fairly new bedroom colors.

The bedroom colors:
Ceiling - "Tranquility"
Walls - "Juniper Breeze"

When describing the colors I'm going for, think of a spa feel or beach glass.  

 Those restful blues, greens, greys, light browns.

In doing this small reno of our bathroom on a tight budget, we're leaving the main fixtures - toilet, tub and shower stall. When we had this house built back in 1993, we choose a color called Dove Grey for those fixtures, which is a pale grey, and I can live with that color.  Unlike the rose, laminate countertop I picked for the vanity.  Yuck!!!  As I mentioned, we've ordered a new solid, granite-like countertop with  molded sink bowls.

What was I thinking with that rose?????  

Guess I was still influenced by the decor colors of the 80's.  

Anyway, in trying to find the right color, I used Lowe's Valspar sample paints. {I love Valspar paint!  Especially the "Hi-Def" which has a primer mixed in.  It's a good quality paint at a good price.}  

What a wonderful thing!  

Instead of committing to a gallon, you get 7.7 ozs of paint that will cover a 4 foot square area for less than $3.00.  And whatever's left over, can be used for small craft projects, etc.

The pictures below are "swatches" I painted on different walls of the bathroom where the light hits differently at different times of the day.

I really thought I wanted one of the blues up there (Blue Sail and Peaceful Slumber), but I was afraid it would like too much like a little boy's room blue, know what I mean?  So, I ditched the blue idea and I'm going with Beach House, that color in the center.  It's actually close to the color of the walls in our bedroom.  I wanted a depth of color in between the pale grey walls and the maroon accent wall I had painted umpteen years ago.  

I bet you can make a good guess on what I'll be doing this weekend!  

Or at least I better be doing ;o)

Keeping my fingers crossed I've picked the right color.

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