You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘HOME’ category.
How do you like to organize things? If it has an alphabetical option, I will take it. Spices, DVDs, anything really. Although I stopped at books, because it looked terrible and I am not running a library … plus I don’t need to access them on the quick (that is what the Kindle is for).
But I when I found myself reorganizing a friend’s spice drawer on Friday (took me too long to find the chili flakes) I realized perhaps I had gone too far. What is worse is I asked if I could come back and tackle the pantry.
Anyone else OCD on the ABCs?
For the Monte Carlo party on Saturday, we picked up these coasters as a little hostess gift. I got a chuckle out of them, and knew the hosts would too.
If only we had remembered them in the get-out-the-door shuffle … but bonus is I can share them here, and they’ll get a little extra something by mail.
What are your favorite hostess gifts — not counting wine or a candle? 
When I spied these cornflowers at the market, I couldn’t help but throw a bunch in the cart. The bright blue flowers with the wild stems seem like the perfect embodiement of the overgrowth of summer.
I’m not usually too matchy-matchy, but I particularly love them in this blue and white vase … they were made for each other!
Vase: Spode Blue Italian 8″ Square Vase
As spring has truly sprung, I am really starting to dig this backyard business. It isn’t laid out and “styled” in a way that it gets much use {yet}, but it is fun seeing things come into bloom.
First we had camellias, and now these awesome huge pink clustery-flowers, rhododendrons. A quick google search leads me to believe they are from a Pink Trumpet Tree, but if you know for sure what they are, please let me know.
Regardless of the name, they make me happy … and that’s all that matters, no? Who knows, I may even be inspired to start planting something.
Anything growing in your garden? For beginning gardeners, where is a good place to start?
–
–
As much as I love flowers, blooming branches may be my favorite. Extra height and stature makes them err naturally on the side of dramatic, but couldn’t be simpler to keep or “arrange.”
When I spied these spiraea branches at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday, I couldn’t help but snatch up a bundle.
Spring naturally has lots of pretty branches, but these white flowers may win my heart. For now, at least…
And as the blooms fall, they leave the prettiest little confetti – which makes even midweek feel like a party!
What are your favorite spring branches?
I am embarrassed to admit that I often only think of buying flowers, never picking them. Years of city living will do that to you – mentally train you to forget about things in their natural state.
But our current apartment has a cute little backyard with a few camellia bushes, that have been blooming in full force lately. So I am happy to say that I have flowers all over the house from our.own.yard. This, for me, is quite a treat!
Anything fun growing in your yard? Street? Neighborhood? Anything is fair game!
–
–
I wish I could say my home was always teeming with beautiful blooms, but alas that is not the case. I pick up flowers from my favorite florist entirely too rarely, occasionally make it to the flower mart, and truth be told, many days they only thing living here is eucalyptus that seems to hold on forever.
But I do notice that I simply feel better, and the house obviously looks better, when fresh flowers abound. Most often I pick up stems at the farmer’s market or grocery store and do little to style them up.
I thought it would make for a fun series to check in now and again to see what’s blooming in our home.
This week brings some gorgeous purpley-blue hyacinths (picked up at Trader Joe’s) – and are the perfect precursor to spring (which feels close, at least here is SF).
Any fun flowers in your home right now?
In a departure from my usual manuevers, the house was decorated by December 3. This may be a new record for me.
Being a Thanksgiving baby, I am not one that gets excited when Christmas songs and Santa figurines start popping up mid-Novemeber. I take it as a personal slight. Therefore, I usually don’t get out the Christmas goodies until Thanksgiving has long since past. (At least that is the reason I am claiming – being lazy about it or a slow-poke could never be the real reasons.)
But this year, as a way to continue to make the season last, we decked the halls with plenty of time to enjoy it.
And in another departure from my usual antics, the decor is merry and bright! Glass balls and ornaments in pink, purple, green, blue and red – of course with a few of my old gold and bronze ones tucked in for good measure. And glittery-striped and package-shaped ornaments too.
A little trick to help make sure all the colors are evenly dispersed – start with groupings by color, so you can see what all you have (a la Eddie Ross).
We skipped a traditional tree this year in favor of several small tinsel versions, but added some garland and wreaths – gotta have something that smells good and fresh!
Also in the mix are lots new and vintage candlesticks (some unpolished on purpose, to add more color and depth – I am partial to the almost black tarnish on occasion), silver bowls, a bold-print fabric remnant, dozens of budding paperwhites and those flea-market find milk-glass footed compotes.
I gotta tell you, I’m kind of in love with all the bright colors – it is, dare I say it, bringing out the kid in me. And isn’t that what the season is all about?
How is your decorating going? Are you trying new things, or sticking to your favorites?
xxo
Growing up, we always had advent calendars throuout the house. I ususally had a cardboard one on my dresser – the kind with little squares of chocolate. And sometimes they had Bible verses (which as a kid were even less fun than the stale chocolate I didn’t eat) or other little messages hidden behind the doors. In the kitchen was often a bigger interactive one, where we moved a little stuffed package to a new envelope each morning. I love the traditions and feelings evoked from advent calendars.
So when Jordan {Oh Happy Day!} mentioned how she usually comes up with little activities to do on each of the 24 days preceding Christmas, I immediately wanted to follow suit!
It is the perfect way to savor the holiday season and not have the realization that is is Christmas come crashing on you like a ton of bricks come the 22nd.
So here’s to this form of an advent calendar. And unfortunately, I don’t have a cutesy calendar hanging on my wall, but I will do my best to share everything here.
(Sidenote, I have also been wanting to post more frequent, shorter posts {with the occasional longer recipe too}, so this may just be the ticket to get me started.)
1. Make an old-fashioned paper advent chain, to help count down the days until Christmas.
This one just involved construction paper that I had in my desk, a paper cutter (because I have never been able to cut a straight line with scissors) and double sided tape.
As for the bright colors, well let’s just say that this year’s Christmas decor is a distant cry from my traditional neutrals. More to come during the month.
Are you doing anything fun for any of December’s holidays?
There are plenty of pros and cons to moving.
Pros – learning a new neighborhood (particularly the wine & cheese shops across the street), making your furniture work in a new space, decorating, shopping & finding the new things you need and getting to play with all your fun things (particularly if they have all been in storage for the last two years).
Cons – actually moving, unpacking the 1,000th box and realizing you have umpteen million more to go – even worse if you just packed them too, and having to wash everything once you get it all out of the boxes.
Then once you get settled, and think things are coming together, there is a huge mess of cords and wires just taunting you. Or at least taunting me.
For a television stand, we are using an open bookcase – which is great because with books, picture frames, vases, lamps and the like, the TV doesn’t command too much attention. The bummer is that it is doesn’t offer an option to hide all the cords required for the television, DVD player, router, etc.
So here was my quick fix.
Since the wires were too numerous and thick to simply tie up and tape to the backs of the shelves, I had to be a bit more creative. And I wanted it to be a cheap solution too. I simply taped construction paper to the back of the shelves.
I happened to have some cream colored construction paper that more or less matched the color in our (rental) apartment, and so I taped that to the back of the open section where the cords were visible. In this case, the paper was a bit shorter than the height of the shelf, but the books covered the bottom part.
As for the top part, where I wasn’t able to use the paper trick, I just tucked a frame on top of the DVD player, which also hid the router, that doesn’t need to be visible to send a signal.
For a fancier, and admittedly more stylish look, you could line the back of all the shelves with a fun wallpaper. And seeing as how it wouldn’t take much, still a pretty reasonable priced alternative.
So what do you think – not bad for a no cost, 5 minute fix, eh?
Do you have cords that you have to hide? If so, what are your solutions?
P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts last week. Moving, work and a broken computer slowed me down a bit. But hopefully we are back up & running!
P.P.S. The bookcase is (obviously) not finished and styled, but it’s a start… 
Oh, and while the color difference is visible in this picture, it is not nearly as noticeable in person.
