Step 1. Plan beautiful, luscious flower beds. Balance colors and peak blooms so it looks lovely all season. Save internet and magazine photos, consult gardening co-workers.

Step 2. Invest a fair chunk of money in blooms. Spend an entire Saturday planting. Avoid insects at all costs, make best effort to prevent any dirt from staining hands {an outdoor girl I am NOT}. Book manicure appointment to fix the damage.

Step 3. Water and weed religiously.

Step 4. Get tired of watering and weeding religiously {generally by the end of June}.

Step 5. Cease all watering and weeding. Let nature take its course.

Need further proof of my decidely NOT green thumb? Here is a photo of one of my window boxes last year, I’ll date it between steps 4 and 5:

However, we are currently in the midst of step 1 and this year, THIS YEAR, I am determined to succeed. I know I am capable of nurturing. So, without further ado, here are some blooms I am determined to coax into a state worthy of Better Homes and Gardens.

allium {I love the color AND the fun shape}

phlox {I actually have some of this already, but for some reason it refused to bloom last year…..}

peony {I also have several of these, but I transplanted them and, yes, they refuse to bloom.}

hydrangea {I would love a row of these in front of our house…..perfection}

J is a master gardener, perhaps she will come to my aid…..

How about you? Do you prefer to plant flowers or vegetables {or both, you over-achievers}? Green-thumbs, help a girl out! What is the secret?!?

Gratefully,

 {an admitted plant-murderer}

If you’re like me, you have a dark, distant basement corner stacked high with paint cans from previous projects. You’ve let the pain run all the way down the side of the can, and have no way of keeping track what the lovely hues were used for. Don’t worry, lovelies, no need to cower in shame anymore! Brooklyn Limestone (check out this site – it’s completely fabulous) came up with a fun way to keep paint cans organized and lovely.

Before (this isn’t my basement – trust me, it’s much worse….)

She created these labels

And painted the lids for a larger swatch

Click {here} for the original post AND to download a free template! Thanks to Bryn Alexandra for spreading the word.

Do you think I can bribe G to tackle this project over the weekend? I’ll keep you posted……

Happy Friday!

Love,

Well, loves, it’s almost noon and I’m just getting around to deciding what to do with my day. What I NEED to do is something about my front door. It is currently bare. Yes, BARE, for the whole neighborhood to see. It’s not that I don’t have holiday spirit. I have just focused my efforts on the interior. I tried to re-create this last weekend:

(Note: I saved this on my computer without the source. I saw it in a blog, that I know. However, my blog-reader currently contains 588 unread posts. Yes, you saw that right. I’ve searched and searched but can’t find the original post. If this is your front door, PLEASE send me the link and I will credit you.)

Many thanks to my good friend, Jamie, for sending me the link. The fabulous front door belongs to Becca. Stop by, say “hi”, and get inspired!

But it looked TERRIBLE. My ornaments aren’t nearly that cute, I don’t have an empty frame on hand, and the bow I tried to make looks like an uber-tacky floral shop cast-off. And now that Christmas is less than a week away I think I may have missed the boat this year.

What’s on your door for the holidays?

Bah-Humbug,

1. I am a slacker.

2. We had a blizzard. I know, technically this affects J too. However, she and I used to suffer through the same thirty-miles-through-the-open-country commute, but she got a new job closer to home. And left me to make the treacherous drive alone. My commute this week has been epically horrible. Two hours of white-knuckle driving to go thirty miles is NOT my style. I may have said some curse words, and I definitely cried. Lame.

3. Last weekend the SECOND iBook G4 charger we have used started on fire. Yes, this has happened twice. At least this time it wasn’t sitting on my beautiful bedspread. Just my leg. You know, priorities. Hence we are down to one computer, and it is G’s work computer. He doesn’t share well. Something about having to do actual work…..

I could go on, but I won’t subject you to that. The point is, I’M BACK BABY! Let’s decorate something. Stay tuned, I’ll dig up some eye candy for you….

Love,

Yes, that is the persistently elegant capiz chandelier that both K and I have in our homes. The only difference is that mine is a beautiful muted green color and hers is a lucious white. Oh, and there’s the whole giant bulldozer thing in my yard. Putting in apartment buildings. Right. Behind. My. Home.

Anyway. Just focus on the pretty chandelier. That’s what I’ve been doing.

All that to say – sorry for any inconvenience yesterday if you had trouble navigating the site. We were semi under construction. My ultra-talented bro-in-law moved Homage to a fancy new server. While the posts may not improve, everything will move faster now!

And, for your troubles, here’s a picture of Murray as he snoozes on his couch corner:

Much love and no bull(dozing),

out of scraps of fabric. Maybe she will get me a sewing machine for Christmas. ***Hint, hint*** And then teach me how to use it.

The first thing I will make is this:

Doesn’t it look so very Anthro? And at a teeny, tiny fraction of the cost!

How about you – are there any skills you wish you had? (Not that I want you to feel inadequate too….)

Don’t prick your fingers,

A few years ago, after I had finally escaped the horrors of dorm living, I moved into an apartment with one of my older sisters. She is kind, funny, and generous, and she is also extremely pragmatic and organized. While I am not an unclean person, I have my own version of “organized” that might not adhere to strict definition. (My sister, on the other hand, used to color-coordinate her neatly penned notes for pharmacy school and mount them on appropriately colored construction paper.)

After moving in together, we made a list of the things we would need to decorate and round out furnishings. We wanted end tables for our living room. For my bedroom, all I needed was a calendar to hang on my wall. That was it. My sister wanted accessories for her bathroom.

After many trips to Target, Wal-Mart, and a furniture consignment store, Amy walked away with matching rugs, hand towels, and a coordinating sparkly purple shower curtain. I ended up with this:

… and then I scratched my head and wondered why it wasn’t a calendar.

But, really, I was in love. I had yet to meet A., so my heart was more or less fulfilled by this sweet slip of oak and lacquer, this elegant writing desk for a wanna-be writer. It may have elicited an eye-roll from a certain pragmatic sibling, but it had called my name and whispered passionately, “Darling, I’m only $30 dollars!”

Somehow, we stuffed it into my sister’s car and managed to get it safely into my bedroom, where I probably petted it for a while.

Over the next few years, I diligently pounded out hundreds of pages of papers, screenplays, and articles at the desk. It traveled to two new rooms with me and always fit right in.

And then, slowly, as some lovers do, we grew apart.

As in, A. and I wedded, bought a house, and shoved it into “the office” as our sole piece of office-y furniture. And then we started hanging out only in the downstairs living room with our computers on our laps like typing zombies. Okay, I type, and A. plays video games. (Like a zombie.)

Anyway, this is getting long we recently acquired a larger desk from some friends that fills up the office bedroom. And so, with a warm wave of nostalgia, I moved my estranged writing desk into our bedroom. It felt so right. But…it looks so wrong. Or does it work? I can’t tell. Clearly, I’m partial.

Please, tell me your thoughts. Is it weird to have a desk facing you as soon as you walk into the bedroom? Are you put off by the lack of chair? Me too. Should I paint it? (Maybe that would be wrong…I’m so confused!) Should I move it elsewhere in the house?

I do love the dainty details, and the long skinny legs. Maybe I’m projecting other desires….hmm….

All I know is that I still have feelings for this desk. We’re just on a break.

Looking for some direction (and probably a chair),

Perhaps it is the gaping hole in my basement window caused by a massive windstorm. Naturally it’s the window that faces the street so the neighbors (and any potential criminals) can enjoy it as well.

Please note the wicker pumpkin, Target clearance tag still intact, waiting patiently on the top shelf for its starring role in my fall decor. And kindly disregard the filthiness of the surrounding window. Maybe it shattered in protest.

Or it could be how disastrous my attempt at window box gardening is proving to be. Lush and flowing it is not.

The overflowing mess in the corner of my bedroom certainly doesn’t help.

At least I am blocking the view from the neighbors with the heinous powder blue mini blinds we inherited from the previous owners TWO YEARS AGO (I’m on the hunt for white roman shades…..)

Speaking of the view, could it be more lovely than this?

No, this isn’t the dump. It’s my backyard, mid-renovation (more to come…)

And finally, yet another way this yard betrays me. My peony bush, the flower I love more than any other, REFUSES to bloom. This is its second season post transplant and, despite looking more lush and healthy than ever before, not a bud in sight the entire month of May.

Just keepin’ it real, people.

Love,