Under Construction

Little by little

I'm not what you would call a good housekeeper. I actually suck at it. But one of my birthday resolutions was to freshen up the house and do a photoshoot pretending that Design*Sponge was planning to feature my home ;).

Progress has been slow but I've cleaned out our coat/game/medicine/luggage/snow gear/outdated textbooks/shoe polish/tent (some might call it a junk) closet and that felt really good. Then I started moving around nightstands and making tiny bits of progress.

This is my current crowning glory of baby toy organization.

From walking in the front door to see this:

To this:

Mr. H built that shelf.

Oscar is primarily obsessed with the top shelf. Once he's conquered that.

It's off to check out big sister's room.

As you can see from the wide angle, still a good bit of work to do around here. But it'll come together. Someday.

P.S. Still time to enter to win a quilt--just tell me your favorite color on this post.

Paper on the wall

Yesterday Biscuit and I "wallpapered" the computer nook area.

From this (ignore the mess):

To this (I just moved the pile to the couch):

100% inspired by this real wall paper.

All we did was use two strips of my endless roll of white paper.

We drew "frames" with a Sharpie large enough for the art we have lying around. I drew the rectangles and Biscuit and I shared responsibility for decorating the frame borders.

The whole thing is hung with tacks and scotch tape.

All art is by Biscuit from age 2ish to nowish. It was fun to go through my "Biscuit's Art" file and see what she's done over the years.

So far I'm really liking this.

Ode to a green leather couch

Sometimes when a woman loves a man very, very much, she is able to overlook minor flaws. For example, his taste in upholstered furniture. And sometimes when a man and woman love each other so much they decide to spend the rest of their lives together they realize that they bring to their union many duplicate posessions. Such as a full set of Le Crueset and a full set of Calphalon pans. And so, the man and woman will learn the art of compromise and the fact that, yes, two full sets of pots and pans can be sqeezed into a tiny kitchen. And the woman, being a cheapskate, will realize the logic in keeping the (oh gosh I don't even want to KNOW what he paid for it at Macy's) high quality green leather couch over the (I'm pretty sure I bought stolen property out of a storage place off the side of the highway) inexpensive denim couch. And they will enter into a wonderful and loving marriage complete with bachelor pad living room furniture.

Years will pass.

Over the years the woman may recognize and appreciate the durability and wipeablity of leather. Especially when child number 2 turns out to spit up a lot. And she may conceed that the couch is indeed incredibly comfortable and serves admirably as a resting place for houseguests. And yet, she will never love this couch and will always wonder how many green cows were reqired to cover its every surface.

And so, on the 12th anniversary of the very day the man proposed to the woman, the woman will list the couch on Craigslist (in pretty darn impressively good condition she might add). She will note that the couch has many features:

• the aforementioned comfort and ability to double as a (narrow but comfy) guest bed
• the wipeability and fact that it has withstood 1.2 childhoods (give or take) with nary a tear or scratch
• the fact that it can hold 5 loads of laundry, three adults or approximately 6 babies without any trouble at all
• the ability to rest up to three remote controls on it's wide, curving arms
• bottom cushions that can be removed to dig for lost change (or remotes) but which velcro into place for secure sitting
• The fact that this couch is available immediately and comes with delivery in the Sacramento area

What do you think this piece of furniture nostalgia is worth? I need a price to put it on Craigslist.

This and that

We spent the last few days at the beach with my family. Kind of a random trip but fun to hang out with my parents and sister and the weather and scenery were amazing.

Before the beach, Christmas was fabulous. Biscuit outdid herself with beautiful gift making (mini "art" quilts for the grandmas, painted ceramic mugs for the grandpas and dad) but the funniest were the painted, wood flags.

She painted these over the summer on leftover wood plaques. They've been in a drawer for months but apparently she pulled them out and wrapped them up for gifts. I had no idea till they got opened and it was hilarious. Especially all of us trying to identify the state flags. "This is Ohio," she'd state confidently. "Ummm, I'm pretty sure that's New Mexico" I'd suggest. We were probably both wrong. My mom's was labeled on the back "I think this flag is Texes." It wasn't.

These are the things I brought home from the beach. I'm almost as obsessed with seaweed as I am with lichen and moss.

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I've been in the mood to go running/jogging. This morning was super foggy and perfect for a run/jog so I went. I think it's time to get back in shape. Perfect with the New Year.

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While I was running (jogging) I imagined a project I'd like to make. Jogged to Michael's but they were sold out of the supplies I needed. Typical, right? Jogged home and Mr. H had precisely what I needed and I was able to make a prototype in about 15 minutes. It's exactly what I had in mind. Don't you love that? Photos once I've got it perfect.

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Our house is in a completely unbearable state. Messy, cluttered, ugh. We spent the day after Christmas dismantling the diswasher (completely!) It works again but we never caught up on dishes. Then we went on a trip so now we're behind on laundry. Plus the holiday stuff. Tomorrow I plan to put away/clean/purge and start the new year fresh. Biscuit is freshening the windows with wintery snowflakes.

::

Oscar's a grouch. I'm guessing teeth but there's a touch of a cold and he's trying to learn to crawl and that's a lot to do when you're a baby. He's generally SO happy we don't quite know what to do with him when he fusses. Fussy babies are a lot more work.

::

Biscuit is hilarious. She's also endlessly hungry and clumsy. Growth spurt?

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I'm trying to finish up some scrapbooking projects so I best sign off for the evening.

Happy New Year!

Stocking holders

You wouldn't be able to tell by looking but Mr. H and I spent a few days going back and forth on the design for these. I was 100% minimalist. Mr. H was in favor of more embellishment. We ended up with the chimneys and they're perfect. Even better than what I had in mind.

Four holders, four woods.

Mr. H picked beautiful straight grain fir.

I picked plywood. The kids got cherry and quartersawn white oak. Biscuit wants her silver tree back.

And I made a little glitter science display. Mr. H's friend who is a science teacher thought it looked very dangerous. He knows how hard it is to clean up spilled glitter.

I love those tiny Erlenmeyer flasks.

Removable contact paper

Those pressed leaves are getting put to good use.

Inspired by the "botanical" section of the Martha Stewart Craft Encyclopedia I remembered this amazing springtime "stained glass" found via Pinterest and there you have it.

Biscuit and I finally pressed enough leaves to do all 7 of our front room windows.

During the day, they look amazing from the inside.

And at night, it's quite pretty (and quite hard to photograph) from the outside.

The windows are pretty but the walks with Biscuit and Oscar to gather the leaves were the best part. Biscuit took notes on each type of leaf (providing names like sickomore and more fanciful names like purple sunrise). It took forever but the weather was great, the baby was happy and what better way is there to spend an afternoon?

Happy Autumn!

Magnolia leaves

A few blocks away there is a magnolia tree which appears to be all green but is dropping yellow/brown glossy leaves in the gutter at an amazing rate.

Tonight we took a walk to collect the leaves. When we left, the sky was pretty.

When we got home, the sky was prettier.

In about 15 minutes we made a wreath of the magnolia leaves. I had a straw wreath form on hand and just wrapped twine around it attaching a leaf or two with each wrap of the twine. At the end I tucked the stems under where I started and called it a day. A bit uneven but it'll do. It's already hanging on my door.

Those leaves are so shiny they're hard to photograph!

Thanks for all the ideas on the white wreath...I'm mulling my options but I've got some time now since this one will be up at least through Thanksgiving!

Threaded rod and a beer box

Mr. H and Biscuit made

a leaf press.

I provided the concept and design. Mr. H provided the materials and 90% of the labor. Biscuit did some drilling and decorated the top.

Nature provided some colorful leaves and gorgeous weather.

We pressed a lot of leaves. If they work, stay tuned for a lot of leaf craft this month.

Mason jars

Because it gets dark WAY too early now and I'm really in love with tea lights in mason jars.

I decided to give a few jars some muslin cozies. Super easy scrunched fabric:

And a quilt square just like the curtain (but stitched with dark colored thread)

Here they are in their natural habitat. On the table surrounded by school paperwork and what not.

Another quickie project. It's hard to balance bigger projects that will take a few days with getting something done each day. Such is the challenge of trying to make a thing a day. But speaking of bigger projects, I'm off to knit before I crash.

Scrapbook layout on the wall

The previous photos hanging in this hallway were so old they included my ex brother-in-law and did not include 3 newer family members. Time for an update. I decided to commemerate our best summer ever on the wall with a quick scrapbook style layout.

At first I just stuck them up but it was too flat so I put in some nails and hung them clothesline style.

I like the dimension of the nails and clothespins. Theoretically it would be easy to change out photos but I sort of like capturing this moment in time in a single wall. All the images are from Instagram from Mr. H's iPhone. I took them all this summer and had them printed at Costco in the 8x8" format. Yes, they're grainy but Instagrams are supposed to look sort of rough so it doesn't bother me.

Between Oscar, my maternity leave, vacations, the new "shed" and numerous other things this really was the best summer ever. I'm savoring my last few days of it now--back to work on Tuesday.

Images from top to bottom left to right:

Tomato harvest :: Biscuit attempts waterskiing at Topaz :: happy Oscar

Toothless children :: Biscuit in braids at the lake :: giant sunflowers in the garden

Serious Oscar :: lake view :: Bodie, CA