LOVELY SIDE YARD

We were down in the Frisco area the other day, which is a town just north of Dallas. 

As usual, Wild Bill was trying to take a "point A to point B" route while I was pointing and asking to turn around and go back. I was completely taken by the plantings on a corner house that has a side yard like ours. Well... the size is similar, but we don't have anything but grass in ours.

Our side yard slopes down too and I've been trying to get across the idea to my better half that we should put rock planters in to hold back the top of the yard.

Mondo grass like this is big in the South. I'd like to put ground cover or mondo grass below my imagined rock planter and a walkway above it. Putting in rock planters, a walkway and ground cover would do away with mowing that section of the yard and cut down on watering too.

These pictures are going in my "outdoor file" binder. Unfortunately, it will be a while before we get to the outside as the priority list inside is getting really long!

I'm sharing this post at the following:

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com
http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

MANTLE CHANGES

The fireplace mantle got a make-over last night. I added some frames, chickens, darker flowers, and some candles. I also put Little Mary's picture back up.

If you remember from an earlier post, Little Mary is my father-in-law's older sister, who died when she was not much older than the age in this picture. Little Mary would be over 90 now if she had lived.

I couldn't find my new camera, so I got out my old one. Sorry for the flash in the corner of the picture. I tried using PicMonkey to edit it out, but I need more practice, or at least to read some tutorials.

This is my favorite chicken. I like the way its head is cocked to one side, questioning what in the heck it's doing up on the mantle no doubt.

And, as always, I love the dust on Little Mary's feet. There's just something about this picture that tugs my heart.

Trying to determine what color we should paint the living room. The ceiling is 12 foot tall and, so far, neither of us wants to get up on a ladder to paint. I have a few samples, but can't decide. The current color on the walls is a yellowish shade with green undertones. Just another reason not to buy a spec home. I regret we (and by that I mean Wild Bill)   did not build a forever home. I lean toward taupe-gray-browns, so this color is driving me nuts.

I'll gladly take all the decorations down and put them back up, if someone else gets brave enough to climb the ladder!

STILL STUCK ON WINDOWS

I've been "window shopping" at lots of blogs this week, admiring their curtains mainly.

If you remember, a couple posts back I blogged about the ugly situation of our tall french doors and the short window next to it. I posed a question on Betsy Speert's blog and even posted some ugly pictures.

If you're interested in seeing what a famous interior designer recommends for my situation, click on the link below:

http://betsyspeert.blogspot.com

FRONT PATIO UPDATE

Remember the front patio we put in last year to control a water problem we had? Here's what it looks like now. It's on the right side of our entryway.

Here's the front door. I'm fixin' to get out the Fall decorations and spiff it up a little soon. My goal was to decorate for Fall on August 1st... which means I'm a little behind schedule as usual!

We're still planning on re-doing the front walkway when it gets to the top of our Fixin' To Do List. For now we're stuck with these cement blocks, but in the future I picture tile inside the entry and a curvy flagstone walkway leading up to the house and around the sides.

Now that it's the end of Summer and cooling down a little (or will be soon), we thought we'd put some vincas in to put a little color in the front yard.

We're going to re-do the front to get rid of a lot of the lawn and to install drip irrigation in the beds so, for now, we're just adding some color. The yard and borders have irrigation (sprinklers), but it misses some areas and needs to be re-done.

Wild Bill tends his orange and key lime trees daily, so he's designated as flower bed water-er too! My job is to watch, which I do well...

Here's a picture of the front without the patio. This was when we closed on the house during Winter 2011. There's still a little snow on the roof.

And here's another shot of the patio now. Slowly we're reducing the area of yard that has to be mowed.

We've put a patio in the front of our last two houses because they both faced East and West. The front patios get the morning sun and afternoon shade, while the back patios bake in the late afternoon sun.  Living in Texas takes a little planning to keep the sun at bay!

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon. We'll be hanging out in the shade waiting for you.



Dear Betsy...HELP!

Betsy Speert is a designer who has a blog called Betsy Speert's Blog. She is way better at designing than naming blogs. She just might have the best blog in the blogaspere...and I'm not just saying that because I'm going to beg her to pick my question to answer, altho I'm hoping it will help (a little), but knowing her maybe $%#@ not!

If you read her bio on the blog, it says "I've been designing longer than some of you have been alive..." . Well, if that's true in my case Betsy, you're pretty damn experienced!

Maybe I should just get to the point. Betsy answers design questions on the first Tuesday of the month. That's today. Betsy, if I haven't already made you %&*@# mad at me, please answer this question for me.

First here's some ugly pictures of the wall of my great room and the temporary curtains (I read your blog Betsy -- I know not to call them drapes now). I plan to change the furniture, paint, curtains, maybe even the door. So don't limit your imagination.

Betsy, what can I do to make the door and window look like they should be in the same room together? To the left of the door is a corner fireplace so there's only about 3 feet between the door and the fireplace. The floor will be wood. The ceiling is 12 feet high.

Please pick this pathetic situation to correct. I will be forever grateful.

You can see Betsy's answer and other requests at:

http://betsyspeert.blogspot.com

Fixin' To Do List: End Table

I'm back to painting things white again. Here's a little end table that I planned to put in the guest bedroom, but for now it's in the front room until I get around to banging it up a bit and aging it down.

 Opppps...forgot to take a "before" picture of course!  Before I started this project, Wild Bill sanded down the table top and stained it with a dark stain from the garage stash.

First coat of paint using Annie Sloan's Old White. Here's a shot of the table after the second coat of paint and a good view of the top. The table is sitting on the new kitchen floor. So much prettier than the ugly cement floor that came with the house when we bought it.

Final coat of ASCP. This can of paint has been sitting for about 3 months and hadn't been used before. I turned it upside down for a while, then stirred it up and did the usual stuff, but it didn't go on very well. I read recently that some of the paint wasn't up to Annie Sloan's usual standards, and I have to say this can did not go on as well as the other cans I've bought.

The knob is from Hobby Lobby purchased during their 50% off sale. This picture shows the ugly cement floors we still have in the front room. The builder scored and stained all the floors in the house, but they are still ugly and are so hard on your feet.

Oppps again...I think I put the knob on upside down. Yeah, you guessed it, I'm too lazy to turn it up and take another picture.

Total cost of this project is $7.50. I spent $5.00 for the table at a garage sale several months ago, the knob I took off a dresser temporarily - but it was $2.50 when I bought it last summer, and I already had the paint and stain in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting. I love it when you drop in so come by often!