Home is where the art is

when I wasn't being sick over the xmas weeks, I was cleaning out my house. I pity my poor kids...if I died tomorrow, they would have to sift thru 55 years of crap valuable things to list on ebay.
One of the home projects I've decided to complete after laying dormant for only 14 months...my dining chair seats! I've completed one ! I only have one left to do!
 here's the after....and then the before....and then the easy-peasy step by step...

(before) 

 Choose a sturdy fabric like...upholstery fabric or duck or sailcloth or denim.

1st, Unscrew the seat cushion (turn the chair upside down, and look underneath at the 4 corners for the screws), remove the wood and foam and fabric sandwich from the chair frame and disassemble. Toss the old fabric away. I reused my foam, but if yours is flat after years of butt, go buy new. Like at Joann's or a local foam shop. It's in the yellow pages, ie...411. or ask Google or Siri. 
Then lay the foam on your new fabric, and cut your chair fabric about 3 - 4 inches larger than the foam and wood seat. Yes, save and reuse the wood under the foam. (don't lose those screws!)

2nd ... Be sure to lay the foam on the Wrong Side of the fabric first, evenly with 3 -4 inches all around. Lay the board on top of that, fold an edge of fabric about an inch and gently pull it up to the wood ...start on any edge of the wood, about 1.5" in....and staple. Put a staple about every 2".  I love my new yellow Staple Gun!

3rd...Go all the way around the seat. Start on one side...go to the other side, then the 3rd side, and finish the fourth side. Pull and smooth as you go. You want the foam slightly compressed....but not tight, or the staples will pull out when you sit down. Bad. You can always pull the staples out and start over if you aren't happy when you turn it over and check it.

4th.... the corners are a bit tricky. Pinch the fabric together and artfully fold the corners flat and staple. It is OK to chop a bit of fabric away....but be careful! don't take too much. Be sure you have about 3 - 4 inches to fold over and staple. This is tricky, but you can do it!

Check it out !!
lastly, put it back on the chair, and screw the screws back into the 4 corners underneath the chair. You may have to unscrew the screws a bit so they don't poke you when you sit down. As long as they bite and go thru the wood under the seat, you'll be fine.

My house is simple.

In a working class neighborhood. Just the way I like it. The life-destroying Investors are on their way to destroy Hilltop by installing corporate coffee shops and bland and tasteless restaurants like Olive Garden, PF Changs, Johnny Rockets and Cheesecake Factory. Oh, and condos. Lots and lots of faux Tuscan condos.
I arrived to....Grass with Cyclone Fence. I've added some flowers and displays......I'm not investing a lot of $$ since I rent. I'm leaving in about 2 years, but since this is our daily life, we'll make it simply attractive for us.

So, open the gate, you've been invited to look at pictures!

In a few years that bamboo will be magnificent! I love these dahlias....I'll add the name later...
The color is very very happy...

Golden eumonyous. This is one of the 4 shrubs in the rental yard. Besides the beauty bark/junipers.

These guys are in a patch of weeds/yarrow that I'm developing into a tiny meadow. As I was mowing and mowing last spring I noticed the yarrow had populated the grass...so, I surrounded it with chunks of old concrete and bricks I found in the alley. I'll put in some bulbs this fall and ....let it go.

Autumn Joy sedum. It sure is!

My Mothers Day Flamingos, and junk I found.

I don't think this will stay up all winter......Lots of snow is predicted.....waaaaaaa. I hate Snow.

ooooooo Darknesss....

Lamp like a Harvest Moon......

Orange...Rust...Custard...

Pumpkin....Purple...
autumn...deep blue endless sky....
galvanized buckets.....
apple cider and caramels...persimmons and pomegranates...
squash and indian corn.....

Gotta Have an Idea

of what you want, but you don't need to know everything when you decorate.
frinstance....
I don't want no....
1). Gimmicks.

see that bowl-used-as-a-sink thing? Gimmick. Just buy.A.Sink.
what a pain in the ass to clean, I guess. I don't have one. I live in a rental. But, if I owned my own trailerhouse, I wouldn't do that. Dumb and tricky.
pic stolen from My Favorite and My Best....

Also. The Red Wall. So sick of that gimmick. It went something like this: "Look, I have nothing going on in this room, so I'll paint it a wild bold color!!!!!!"
I had one. It was a huge mistake. If your house is just a big blah box, so what. Choose good stuff and get on with life.
I'll revisit this "box" topic again in another post because my new house has very little architectural interest, being a WWII working class starter home...but, still it does have charm! You just have to "seeee" it, and get past the idea of rich-people envy.

Yes, I am gonna paint one of my walls brown. Because. Someone painted it RED. Brown is pretty and a sweet basic color, and it will cover the RED. I really want dark grey but in my cool grey climate...it will just be cold. So a nice brown (with some grey).

2.) Trends.

This is so trendy... white (painted) objects, pastels, hipster art, weirdly mcm/orla keily-type print pillows. So much of decor today is taking old furniture and covering it in wack print fabric, or pastel velvet. Since I have only ever bought 2 new pieces of furniture in my 55 years, I fully understand the before/after thing....but I also think sometimes the old shit needs to be "respected". Not everything needs a wack print...not everything needs a new paint job. Sometimes a simple respectable print or solid is nice enough, and a wood item just needs a damn good cleaning and wax.


stolen from My Favorite and My Best....
and where Decorno left a comment about.
(Decorno only ever "allowed" one comment I ever left there...fascist)

this is what Decorno said:

"Dear Angie,

It's too cutesy, indeed. In fact, it looks like "blogger decor" to me. Totally well-executed and more mature, but it has all the signs: pops of pinky/blue color, the usual suspects for furniture style, cute art, girly to the max... cute. Cute, cute, cute. I think that room will date fast because everyone is crushing so hard on that look. That living room looks like a Polyvore mashup of every blogger's wet dream. When your reaction is that strong - run. It might mean you've been seduced by trends.

xoxo
Decorno"

And these....
come on! enough of this now. And I LOVE letters, alphabets, typography...but this is now the 2010 version of 70s owls and mushrooms. Enough of the long rolls, but OK on the framed One word (or 2).(and of course, the Keep Calm poster thing....it was boring from the get-go)

from:FrenchByDesign

Another thing that's trendy right now. Letters. Single letters from signs. Or old signs, period.
Hey, I've been using letters as decor for decades. Ever since I saw Alexander Girard in home decor in the 60s...I was hooked. And once you go look at the Girard collection, you'll see where So Many Hipster Designers are getting their ideas!
more that's trendy---

Bones. I'm goth. Go figure. I'll still be displaying my bones. And my fossils.

Old stuff from the flea market/yard sale. I've always been poor. And clever. Therefore I have always decorated with used stuff, and stuff I just found somewhere. I am especially fond of branches and dried weeds. And rust. And old frosted bottles.

update ** holy crap! The f'king Buddah Head is everywhere in home decor right now!!**
I love Buddha, trying to limit desires...for the good of someone/thing.... but are folks really trying to be Buddahlike with that head,or just following a trend? Because following trends, and buying shit just to be buying shit is very unBuddha.

3.) Clutter.
Do I need to show pics?
Yes.
from ApartmentTherapy....

It's going in its place or it's going in the garbage. Important, but I don't need to see it.....it will go in one of these:



or in one of my trunks, or suitcases....

a new house and garden 4 us

believe it or not.........
I am a voracious reader and voyeur of homes and gardens.....If it's about homes, building, decorating, or cleaning...........

if it's about growing organically, flowers, fruits, vegetables...about living outside...I'm all over it.........birds, bees and chickens....
I don't care if it is a mainstream publication...I don't care what genre of design it is.....shelter and playing with dirt...is simply a basic human desire and pleasure.
Long before Martha Stewart revived the idea in mainstream American culture that ...home is important...I just never let go of the idea that there is no more fun and happy way to spend one's life other than homemaking





Oh sure...I ain't talkin' 'bout....the mindless drudgery of a Suzy Homemaker......it's all about love and creativity and making home the center of one's life.
Nothing dumpy and dowdy about that.

other than my family and making stuff, there is nothing else that comes close to how I spend my precious time......

since a home is very important to a human beeeen, and a garden provides both physical and emotional sustenance.......this will not be a surprise....

to wit.....I now present the befores....
and here is the first list of things to do.......

I still have a couple of weeks of moving things in...but lets get this Design and Growing Party started !!

Firstly...I am choosing a color for this wall where the couch is nicely situated. Right now, it's down to a shade between Chocolate Truffle and Cloak and Dagger. A nice dark brown, not too dark, not too light, and without orange, & with a touch of gray.The rest of the walls are an nice oatmeal, and I like that...I'll repaint all the trim white again.



Yes, if you are on the toilet, and the front door ^^^^^ is open (que silly!) and the bathroom door is open......you could see someone dropping the kids off at the pool.....
wth. :-0

Nope, tiny 1943 home has no foyer...or even a front porch. How impractical and unfriendly!

I'm devising a solution for the view.....which is straight into the bathroom right from the front door.
So, I hung a wicker chain curtain at this hallway arch...and that obscures the view from the entry.......of which there is none. You open the door to come in.....and blam! there you are.
Well, a front porch awning of some type will be built and installed and one for the side door also.




The yard.
Grass. Fence. Grass. Fence. Grass.
did I mention ..there is Grass?
Because this is a rental, I can't do anything grandoise......
but I shall however, reduce the amount of grass.



All the borders and flower beds I install must contain shrubs, flowers and whatev'...that has to pass this test:
Can Live On Its Own.

That means ......
living nicely without pruning and trimming,
able to live without much watering, and,
flower and vegetable beds have to be contained within an edging to make mowing and weedwacking simple enough for a 10 year old to do without supervision.


the yard already has 2 lilacs, 3 huge locust trees, and a bright cheery golden and green leaved Euonymus Fortunei shrub, so I'll plant some purple shrubs and flowers for a great snappy color combo. This Euonymus is real tough, and can take a lot of neglect, and after established, can live on rainfall, but would look better with a bi-weekly deep soaking.

Some choices I've made already...
Several of these....purple-leaved barberries including 'Royal Cloak', Rose Glow', 'Concorde', 'Royal Burgundy' and 'Gold Ring'<<< easy care shrubs with red and purple leaves.

Sunflowers, cosmos, nasturtiums, daisies of all types, and wildflowers like bachelor buttons, calendula and larkspur.
Lavender, russian sage, and rugosa roses.
Natives like ferns, sword, lady and more for the shady areas. Today ..in goes my clumping bamboo, and purple dahlias and purple iris.


Here's a classic blend of purples....Yep, purple!
Surprise!

His Cabin in Transylvania

just a few sneak peaks at......Drac's cabin where he vacations when the Holidays are over.......even shiny plastic vampires need a rest from time to time......