#529...a peek in Marie's room

We spent last night with my cousin in San Francisco. This morning she is off at work in the midst of a liver surgery, and I am sneaking around her bedroom taking pictures...

Isn't her dresser so pretty? We got it for $50 last year at a local goodwill store. Marie painted it a bright blue and cleaned up the existing copper pulls.

It looks really good.

On the opposite side of her room she has a photo gallery of family wedding photos from both hers and her husband's families. They are framed in soft metallics with gray, cream and linen mats. They are hung over a wood and white mid century inspired dresser from H.D. Buttercup. It's a really pretty gallery wall example.

#528...shout, shout

I've been working on design boards for the past week, and had no time for crafting or home improvement projects. I just came across this quirky gem on etsy, and immediately bought it for me. It is from this shop. There's nothing like a little Tears for Fears done in a vintage embroidery hoop to make my day better.

#527...etsy lighting find

I stumbled upon this desk lamp on etsy this morning. It is made from an old folding ruler....pretty clever...sold here.

#526...birthday booty

Monday was my birthday, and I got some super, awesome, great, thoughtful birthday gifts that I am pretty excited about....

...a yummy, yummy chocolate beet birthday cake

...a new cook book that will come in handy this Friday when Trader Joe's opens near me

....a new set of perfectly sized cocktail glasses that hail from this boutique hotel in Austin

...some homemade pimento cheese spread

...and my very own Rody to ride around my kitchen

#525...sidescape switch-up

For several years I played manicure slave to some creeping fig growing on my chimney. You can read more about it here.

The constant maintenance and the realization that the fig was damaging the chimney and house siding finally got the best of me.

We had the creeping fig ripped off the chimney last year, and low and behold, half the paint came off with it. It also did a number on the siding, where the fig had overgrown onto it.

In addition to the creeping fig issue, the gardenia hedge next to it also grew out of control, and I hit it with my car every time I pulled in the driveway.

...and the pond pot we put in a couple years ago became a nightmare to keep up too, constantly needing water, and continuing to grow some weird weeds that choked out the lilies.

This area has been sitting unattended for months, so a few weeks ago I decided to tackle cutting down the gardenia. Unfortunately, it had a huge yellow jacket hive inside the bush, and it took several cans of this stuff and a week of waiting to rid it of the yellow jackets.

In the interim of waiting to kill the hive, I decided to tackle the rotted wood attic window cover. 

We really need a pretty window or vent for our attic, but I decided to go the cheap route, and use some aluminum sheeting cut in a vintage pattern that I got at Home Depot.

It's not great, but it looks a lot better. After finally getting the gardenia cut down, we  used landscape rocks to fill in our sidescape, and moved some plants around.

We are waiting for some metal planters to come to house the snake plants. We removed the pond pot and put a pencil cactus in its place.

To the left of the chimney, we added some potted herbs

I added a hanging ceramic planter with a trailing cactus under the porch eave...

...and I brought my pet metal goat outside, and Tyler attached him to our porch railing so he could get some fresh air.

We need to get some of our roof eaves repaired, and then have the house and chimney repainted. Hopefully, we will accomplish that this fall.

#524...sheep pelt winning

About 8 years ago, I was taking fashion design courses through the local community college. At the urging of one of my professors, I decided to enter the National Fashion Design "Make it With Wool" contest. The contest is sponsored by The American Wool Council, which is primarily made up of ranchers from across the nation. I designed and sewed this bubble skirt mini-dress and jacket, which I embellished with hand-painted silk critters. I modeled the garment myself for the competition.

I was the winner of the contest, and got to go to the Wool Council's National Convention. My garment was on display, and I helped judge the national competition for high school students who had won their state competitions, and were competing for the national title. I met a ton of ranchers, who owned thousands of acres in Montana and Wyoming. It was such a different world than my city life. My winnings from the contest included: money for school tuition, several yards of Pendelton wool, some sewing text books, and a sheep pelt.

The sheep pelt sort of disturbed me at the time, and I shoved it in the back of a closet. I came across the pelt while cleaning this summer, and decided to try it out draped over my front entry room couch. Even though I still feel bad for the sheep, I figure that it is not doing any good stuffed in a closet. I'm on the fence about animal pelts used decoratively, but for now my sheep is prominently out for people to pet.

#523...painted cole haan oxfords

I hand-painted these Cole Haan vintage oxfords with gold and black paint, and listed them for sale here on ebay because they are a tiny bit too big for me.

#522...rolling ottoman

We've used a large, vinyl-covered rolling ottoman as our coffee table in our back family room for many years....you can see it here. We love the function of it, but lately it has felt big and annoying to me. I remembered that I had this smaller foam block in my attic that I got from a client who was giving it away last year.

This past weekend, I recovered it with scraps of black and white upholstery fabric that I had in my stash. I did not have enough of the circle pattern to do the whole block, so I paired it with a herringbone pattern on two sides. I added vinyl to the top of it so that I can wipe it clean, as we often eat meals atop it. I cut a piece of wood to fit the bottom of it, and added these wheels to it. It's smaller size makes my floor space feel bigger, and  it is a lot easier to push around, so I'm happy with it.