The Colors Of My Day

When you peek into someone’s home, you pick up on so much of what that person is about. You get insight into their personality by the colors scattered about the house. The way things are arranged.

What they choose to leave out for all to see. And what they hide behind cupboard doors.

What they read.

What holds their treasures.

What they choose to display on their walls.

And what color those walls are painted.

These objects I scatter about the room are all precious to me in some way. This is what surrounds me on this Saturday. What colors surround you?

Technorati Tags: Decorating with color,patchwork quilts

Welcome Wagon Friday & Another CSN Giveaway

This giveaway is sponsored by CSN, which has over 200 online stores where you can find almost anything you need, whether it be a sofa or a suitcase, a crib or a cookie sheet.

I recently had a giveaway sponsored by this company, and now they’re offering my readers yet another. This giveaway is available only to the US and Canada. (Sorry about that, my friends in other locales. I don’t make the rules.) This time the gift certificate is for $100. All you have to do is comment on this post between now and Saturday night. On Sunday I will use the Random Generator to choose a winner. I will then contact CSN with the winner’s name and email address. And they will be sent a one-time-use $100 gift certificate to be used at any of CSN’s 200+ websites. So please don’t forget to add your email address at the bottom of your comment.

The lazy days of summer are here,folks. I’m staying inside much of the time now, except for early in the morning and late in the evenings. I sit here in my little dining room and stare out at the gardens, viewing them through the glass doors from the luxury of central air conditioning.

So here are my picks this week for Welcome Wagon Friday.

Sixty-Fifth Avenue is written by a blogger who lives in a suburb of Chicago. I was immediately entranced by her fairy gardens. She has the same little plaque I do out in the yard, which says, “Where you believe there is magic, you will find it.” She built one fairy garden on a bench planter she found at a flea market. (It is extraordinary!) And she says that Craig’s List is a great place to find avid gardeners giving away their extra plants. Good thing to know for you gardeners out there!

My French Country Home is written by a blogger in Normandy, who loves interior design, writing, and painting. She describes her blog as highlighting good food, beautiful countryside, and bits and pieces she finds in local brocantes. All this, along with children, dogs, and horses, found in a deep green valley in the heart of Normandy.

A Tree Lined Street is by a blogger living in a 1940’s cottage on a tree lined street. When she was first married, her mother gave her a painting she had done of a beautiful lone tree. With the advice: “Grow where you are planted.” She has taken this advice to heart. They just returned from Paris, which she says is the most inspiring place on earth. (Great photos of their trip, as well!)

You will enjoy the wonderful photography and well-written posts on all of these new blogs. And get to know three great women who’ve joined our ranks.

So send the Welcome Wagon their way, and give a warm reception to these newcomers who have become part of our ever growing community. Blog Land is such a great place to make new friends!

Technorati Tags: CSN Store Giveaway,Friday Featured Blogs,Welcome Wagon Friday

Going Nautical For Summer

It’s already incredibly hot here in Texas. So I decided to add more blues to my indoor landscape. I started with my bedroom. Now I've moved into the garden room. The last couple of days I’ve been working on these seashell terra cotta pot projects. I totally stole this idea from Andrea of Opulent Cottage. You can see hers here. Great design, Andrea!

I had all sorts of nautical paintings and such out stored out in the garage. So I hung them in the garden room.

Last week I brought this mirror out of the garage storage room and hot glued sea shells to it.

I changed quilts behind the couch. For summer, I thought I’d go with a blue-themed one I sewed years ago. And then changed out the quilts on the couch and chair.

I was inspired by Barbara Jacksier’s book Waterside Cottages. This one is signed by the author herself. A wonderful book!

I’ll always have red in my decorating, I believe. Just love it too much to change now!

Small change over here in the “library corner.” I used the centerpiece glass jar for storing ribbon. But added some vintage images inside also.

I happened to also win this Cath Kidston book from Andrea that I received last week. So I put it next to a basket of seashells with a coffee-scented candle in the center. Yummy scent!

The seashells glued to terra cotta pots is fun, easy, and cheap. A good project for a hot summer day.

I haven’t been around Blog Land as much lately. I’m getting to know my sister. We email and talk on the phone a lot. We’re hoping to see one another next month. We’ve needed this past month to get acquainted. When you meet at this point in your lives, there’s a lot to catch up on! I will be writing about her here soon.

As you can see, I've changed my blog up with the new Blogger Designer. I caution you to start a test blog to play around with this new feature. Some have learned that you can't just change your template back as you were once able to. Then if you like it on your test blog, I'd write down what changes you preferred, then add them to your actual blog. I found the green sidebars to be a very soothing addition. Let me know what you think!

(Edited to add: Someone just emailed me that they cannot read the font on this post. That the letters and words are jumbled up together. Is anyone else having this problem?)

Technorati Tags: Seashell craft projects,nautical themed decorating,decorating with quilts

PB Outdoor Pillows & Some Changes

Here are the new outdoor pillows I ordered from Pottery Barn online. Aren’t they a pretty floral? I’m rather in love with this shade of blue.

Due to the influx of rats, I went to great measures this week. I had someone come landscape the west side of my house, which is the side by the street where I seldom go.

It was a jungle over there. Really. While I was injured and in that steel boot until around Christmas time, things got seriously out of control. Dead plants, crazed wild vines, bushes on steroids. So bad I didn’t even take a photo to show you.

Some of you may recall my clearing out my next door neighbor’s yard a year ago, and getting the most horrid case of poison ivy. So I decided to leave the vines to the professionals.

Here is how it looks now:

One crew did all this in a day and a half. It was amazing to watch them work. In case you live in my area, it was Jarrod’s Lawn & Landscaping. I just had to ask the owner of the business how old he was. I could hardly believe he was 28 years old, and had such a professional demeanor and crew working alongside him. This young man got things done. And my neighbor quickly grabbed him for her place while he was here.

Though my yard is a certified wildlife habitat, I simply can’t live with rats. So they cleaned the place up a bit. It’s a less conducive environment for vermin with beady little eyes now. I don’t want to drive away small critters that need a home. Really I don’t. I just don’t want rats laughing peeking out at me from behind my red mirror!

They trimmed all the tree limbs w-a-y back. You know, I love the long limbs of my Crepe Myrtle trees curving down lush with blooms. But so did the rats. They literally sat in the trees laughing screeching at me.

So I have a very open view full of sunlight now. I will possibly kick myself as this heat continues to climb. But maybe the rats will at least have left the neighborhood for shadier digs.

There was just no way I was going to feel serene in my yard, lounging about in my night gown on the pavilion, with rats lurking in the dark around me.

So it isn’t as full of nature’s bounty as it was a few days ago. It is a stream-lined version.

Look at Charlie staring into the flower bed. Looks like he doesn’t own a head.

And though there is no sign of our Bonnie cat, Clyde has finally this week started to perk up. He still will not set foot in the guest room, which is where they slept. Poor thing. But he is a bit more animated.

Last night I stood on the deck and stared out at the fence, watching that red mirror very closely. I didn’t move a muscle. Watching. But no rats appeared. It is a pity we can’t all live in harmony. It truly is. But I draw the line at rats. Draw…the…line.

I’ll be back next time with some indoor changes. I’ve been crafting!

Technorati Tags: PB outdoor pillows,new landscaping,Jarrod's Lawn & Landscaping,pets,gardening,rats

Blog Talk

If you use Blogger, you’re going to see some changes. There is now a new Template Designer, as seen above.

There’s all sorts of things you can now do with your template to customize your blog. You can select a variety of templates, images, colors and column layouts.

This will be fun to play with.

Then in Background (see photo above, far left) once you’ve chosen a template, you can change the way it looks.

One of the best new features of the Template Designer is the ability to change the color of your background image. This is possible when a background image has transparency. You can tell the background image is transparent because it will have a checkerboard in the top right hand corner of the image.

Once you’ve selected your image, you can then change the color of the background by clicking on Main Color Theme and then selecting a color. You can only change the color of your background if it is transparent.

In Layout, you have new choices as well. You can choose from a variety of layout options, from one to three columns. Hey, that’s pretty exciting! These layouts feature drag and drop functionality for gadgets. You will also have a variety of layout options for your blog footer also.

If you want to add or remove gadgets, or edit the settings, you can’t do this through Blogger Template Designer. You have to do this on the general Layout tab.

You can now change the width of your blog. And also the right and left columns, by dragging the slider for the different parts of the blog layout. Note that the options you will see correspond to the type of layout you choose. For example, if you chose a blog with left and right columns, you will see both left and right sliders. If you chose a blog with only a left column, you will that only that option.

I haven’t played with this yet. Just looked up all the information. I’ll fiddle around with it over the weekend.

Another thing I want to bring up in Blog Talk is the Comment Verification. Everyone knows by now how much I hate to type in those little numbers and letters. Yet I also understand your worries about wanting to keep spam at bay.

I for one have been blogging for over two years, and have never enabled Word Verification or Comment Moderation. If I ever have to do anything, I will opt for Comment Moderation. Then this takes the work off you and puts it on me, which I think is only fair.

I’m saying this because I think Blogger automatically enables Word Verification when you start a new blog. Because most every new blog I run across has it enabled. If you decide to try not having the Word Verification enabled, you must go to Settings, then Comments. Then scroll down. You’ll see Comment Moderation and down further, Word Verification. If you want to try turning it off, you indicate this by checking that box, then saving your Settings.

I will freely admit that when I find a new blog and type a comment, then see that I have to type in Word Verification, I inwardly groan. I am much more likely to be a reader if I can skip this step. Just being honest here.

Blogger has a delete bucket next to comments if there is a comment you choose not to have on your blog. It is as easy as that. I personally have only had to do this a couple of times.

Technorati Tags: Blog Talk,new feature on Blogger,comment moderation,word verification

Welcome Wagon Friday 6/11/10

I wanted to show you what I got in the mail yesterday from Andrea at Opulent Cottage. I won her Cottage Charm giveaway!

It is Cath Kidston’s In Print book. And it is colorful and so me!

I shall spend my weekend oohing and ahhing my way through this lovely book.

And now for Welcome Wagon Friday. I have traveled the lengths of Blog Land and found some blogs you will really want to check out.

Hampton Toes is Lisa’s blog. She is an interior designer in NYC, living her dream of creating beautiful interiors. She loves gardening and landscaping. She finds happiness near water. And of course dipping her toes in the Hampton waters.

Burlap Luxe is Dore’s blog. She uses her creative energy decorating estate model homes. She started Burlap Luxe in Southern California with her daughter. She is an artist in trompe l’oel and faux painting, and has a passion for European flea market style.

Sense And Simplicity is Grace’s blog. She lives in Ontario, Canada. Her blog is about celebrating family, decorating, photos, food and travel. All done with sense and sensibility.

Over the weekend when you have a chance, please go over and welcome these beautiful blogs to our community. I for one am so thankful for all the new blogs that join us with their personal adventures and of course their gorgeous photos. Each one gives us unique perspectives, and quite oftentimes new and lasting friendships. Not to mention getting to see inside other homes we wouldn’t get to see otherwise! (Oh, how I love to peek inside!)

Technorati Tags: Friday Featured Blogs,Welcome Wagon Friday,new blogs to read,Andrea at Opulent Cottage blog,Cath Kidston book

Loving Red For Rednesday

I’m participating in It’s A Very Cherry World’s Rednesday, as everyone knows I love the spirited vibes of red. (Above, the near eye-blasting tomato red.)

Below is the 10 foot by 10 foot dining room I’ve been trying to get around to decorating. I showed you the table and sideboard last week, so it’s not new to many of you. But I had to show you the lamp I picked up at Target. I saw it on someone else’s blog. (Who? Who was it? I keep asking myself, but come up empty.)

A few days ago I was in Target, and saw that we had it in our local store as well. And for $39.99 plus $14.99 for the shade! I think it goes pretty well in the green painted room.

Happy Rednesday, everyone!

Technorati Tags: Decorating,Rednesday meme