The Back Forty!

Those that know me well, know I have a black thumb instead of a green thumb when it comes to gardening!   It's not that I can't do it, it's just that I've never had much of an interest in it - what with not being able to paint the flowers or make them out of craft material...   When our family moved into our house, there was an area in the backyard with no grass and covered in about two foot weeds that we affectionately called "The Back Forty".  I'm sure the family that owned the house before us had that area earmarked for something, but then they had a baby, and, well, babies have a way of putting off projects around the house.   Once the weeds grew high enough to actually hide a car, I decided to try and venture out and try my hand at growing something.

That was back in 2011 and here is what it looked like back then after I finally got rid of (most of) the weeds and covered the ground with ground cloth and mulch.

The only purpose for the garden at this point was for my son to use it for his baseball net!

 I chose as the centerpiece of the garden a birdbath that my father made for me (my whole family is artsy fartsy, we get it from Mom and Dad!))

 We had some irises at our lake house that we had never seen in bloom (spring is baseball season so we needed to stay close to home) and so I brought some of the iris bulbs, and some separated pieces of the ornamental grasses and the daisy bush back to Northern Virginia to see if I could make them grow.  So far, the cost is free, right within my budget!

Admittedly, I felt rather please when I noticed mud clumps following me through the house.

Fast forward to 2013.  I have definitely made a few mistakes along the way, but I am happy to say that the garden is still coming along and I am starting to enjoy it.  Now that you have seen the "before",  I am going to wait until next week to share photos of the garden today because I have a few things to do first.  Make no mistake, it is still young and not professional by any stretch, but I finally feel like it's heading in the right direction!

Onto Craigslist again.  To make the garden less overwhelming to a novice like me, I've decided to break it into smaller areas.  I've been looking for a wrought iron bistro set that I can put out there and set my coffee on and maybe take a moment to sit and enjoy my work...finding one and being the first one to get it is no easy task this time of year and I tried and missed on several before I found this set.  Once again, the nicest young lady was cleaning out her shed.  I had been checking about 3 times a day and was able to get there first this time!  $25 where a new set would cost much more!

Perusing Pinterest, I am trying my hand at growing herbs.  Baby steps remember and so far they are doing well.  I am interested in how often you need to water when it's inside.

 Next week I will show you how the garden is coming along today with the furniture in place and some of the plants growing up a little.  I've made a few mistakes, but so far, no disaster and I have only lost two forsythias!

Boston on My Mind.

Like so many this week, I was riveted to the TV watching the events in Boston unfold.  I am so grateful to the men and women, both in uniforms and out, who raced toward the blasts to help the injured. I am also amazed by the heroic teams of police and swat who were eventually able to capture the second suspect alive, and all the citizens who provided information that helped to identify and capture the suspects!

Now on to business!  Summer time is coming and I've started seeing some watermelon coming into the grocery store.  I thought that this week I would share my one and only YouTube video on how to make a watermelon rose garnish.  It is a very easy project and I would love to hear if you give it a try! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hLUEwJWQMM

 This week I've continued with new orders for my son's ornament fundraiser.   I am so happy the orders keep coming in and they've been so well received!  In between painting, I was able to clean and switch out my china cabinet from Fall/Winter to Spring/Summer.   You can see my dining room as soon as you walk into my home,  and the floral dishes really brighten up the place!  Excuse the photos, the china cabinet actually sparkles!

In other news, I'm still on the look out for a triple dresser for my son's room.  Craigslist has a million of them, but I'm waiting for that perfect one to paint.  Wish me luck!

Springing into Action!

Is it possible that I missed writing my blog last week?  The change in temperature must have given me a burst of energy because I have been one very busy lady!

It started with a fund raiser.  My son plays baseball for his high school and each player was tasked with raising $300 in some kind of fund raiser.  I didn't want to poison anyone with trying a bake sale so I offered to hand paint ornaments of the high school logo, personalize it with the students sport and donate 100% of the fee to the team.  What a wonderful response we received!  With the help of my amazing neighbor who put the word out for me, I painted 25 ornaments last week and am waiting for more ornaments to be shipped to me so I can finish at least 12 more!

Here is the first batch of ornaments that went out Go Cougars!

I also decided last week that I need to finish some projects around my house.  Namely, my upstairs hallway.  I hired a painter to paint the top part of my two story foyer and stairwell quite a while ago (I did the main floor and the lower half of the foyer) .  It killed me to write the check because I like to paint, but I just couldn't risk climbing a ladder up so high - it just wasn't worth it.  So I  had the painter paint it from yellow-gold to beige.  My thought was that I would paint the rest of the upstairs hallway shortly afterwards.  Jump ahead four years and here I am, still with the yellow hallway leading to beige stairwell and foyer!  Sears doesn't even make the paint I used anymore (yes, 4 yeeeeeaaarrrrrssss Andie!) so I had them color match and I finally painted the rest of the hallway.

Before - Two toned.

After - Ahhhhh!

As I was painting, I realized just how much the door to the Master bedroom was not centered.  I decided to round it out with a bookshelf and painting that my son did for me.  


The bookshelf from the family room and my son's painting of Okinawa that he gave to me.

I've always wanted the stairwell to be an art gallery of sorts so I put together a collage of paintings that we've all done.  When I want to hang alot of pictures,  I cut newspaper to the exact size of each of the frames.  I then lay the newspaper on the back of the framed picture and put a hole exactly where the nail needs to be. (you can feel the wire or hanger through the paper).  Making sure I turn it over so the correct side is against the wall, I tape them all up and move them around until I find a composition I like.



Newspaper cut to the size of my pictures!

Using a level to make sure the newspaper is straight, I put a nail in the hole and replace the newspaper with the pictures.  Easy peasy!

After - The family art wall!

During all of this craziness, a very dear friend of mine was moving and needed some help.   As we unpacked her kitchen, we realized that she needed more storage.  Craigslist Baby!!  I surfed around and found a dresser/hutch a few miles from her house that was perfect. For $50!!  The nicest family was selling it and even helped us pack it up.  It was slightly longer than my friends SUV so I had to sit in the back and hold it so it wouldn't slip out the back door of the car!  (On a side note, if you are going to hang onto a hutch by sitting with your butt pressed against the side window of an SUV, do not wear low slung jeans!  Just sayin' and my apologies to the residents of South Riding who had to witness  the horror!)


Before - very nice for her little girl's room.

After - Perfect for my friend's new kitchen!

A coat of paint makes this perfect storage that matches my friends decor!  A bonus was being able to use some leftover paint from one of my other projects!

My friend wanted to discard the knobs and buy some nickel ones to match the rest of the kitchen.  I thought we should try spraying it with some nickel paint first and see how it goes.  My base primer was apparently oil based because when I sprayed the metallic paint over it, it puckered and buckled!  I found that I loved it!  I think it adds a little something.   I sprayed it with two coats of sealer afterwards.  Not sure how they will wear, but worst case, she can buy the new ones. It's fun to try something new in the meantime!

So now you can see why I missed last week's post.  There are more projects are coming up as I work on the house!   Have a wonderful week everyone!