Spook House

Not too long ago, I posted the Halloween decorations I put up last year.

This year I had a lot less time since I've been at work non stop and haven't had a full weekend in weeks. I finally got my shiz together a couple of weeks ago and got to decorating... I only got around to taking photos today.

I like to keep it simple...

I get out my collection of milk glass, light some candles, get out my skulls, spray paint a few rubber critters and enjoy.

(Oh that? - I was watching the Law and Order marathon today..)

The mouse and bird cut-outs are from Martha Stewart. The Happy Halloween sign is also hers. That lady makes some cool stuff.

As you can see, I kinda like the white and black color scheme. I usually take all of the other decorations left over (those with color) and arrange them in the dining room on the sidebar.


One of my favorite pieces is my snake wreath. I totally copied Martha again on that one.



Happy Haunting!!

Pumpkin Carving

Today I carved pumpkins... I have a couple of faces I like to do every Halloween, but I always try to do at least one new design each year.

I didn't go all out this year (usually I can't control myself and carve like ten pumpkins!)

I started with my trusty tools: newspaper, bowls, a strainer (to save seeds for roasting), knives, a cat, a remote control (for the Law and Order marathon) and of course pumpkins!



The large pumpkin had incredibly thick skin. (See what I did there?) No but seriously. That pumpkin was a biotch to carve. The others weren't so bad, but I made the mistake of carving the large one first so I was exhausted after stabbing that one for a hour.




I dried out the seeds immediately and put them on a baking sheet with spray butter, salt, pepper and cinnamon. The results (sorry I don't have a photo) were AMAZING. Yum.

Anyways, here are the results of the jack-o-lanterns.

Make It Spooky

Here are some photos of my Halloween decorating from last year.







Stay tuned for some shots of what I did this year...

I love this...

... but it makes me so bummed.

(from Apartment Therapy)

We got rid of our old windows about 9 months ago and we were desperate to re-purpose them in a creative and useful way. We couldn't think of anything at the time and they were crowding our already over-crowded garage.

Boo hoo.

WHY WHY WHY didn't we think of this?

Out of the closet...

Our upstairs hallway closet is a MESS. Believe it or not, these photos were actually taken after I took half of the stuff out!

So I decided to do some cleaning up this Sunday (my only day off) because what's more fun than taking everything out of the closet, cleaning it, re-organizing it and then putting it back? Nothing. Okay- lots of things but the closet really was getting out of control.

(notice the cat?)

Sty tuned for the progress....

Should I Paint These Chairs?

To paint or not to paint. That is the question.

No seriously- that's the question. I'm asking you to vote. (Take my poll!)

I love the look of dining sets that are not sets... nameen? Or no, maybe you don't know what I mean. Let me enlighten you.

Similar to pickles and peanut butter, mixing patterns, chihuahuas and sombreros....... there are some things that don't quite match, but together make a sweet, sweet love child.

Take a look at what I mean:

(from the brick house)



(from apartment therapy)



(from modern nests)

(from doorsixteen)

Let's take a look at my dining set:

(The cat loves photos!)

I just think it's all a bit boring and doesn't have much style or color or pizazz! (ha. I said "pizazz". Can you really type that word without including an exclamation point? No. The answer is, you cannot.)

I've been thinking about changing the chairs for months. I was torn though. I like the chairs. I like the texture. I like the comfort. I like that I can use them in my studio and other parts of the house.



So then I thought about changing the table. But with a different table, would the chairs feel out of place. And would changing the chairs make the table out of place? I wouldn't want my dining room furniture to laugh and call him names. Wait. That's Rudolph, not my chairs. GAH! Life is so hard.

But it just came to me the other day- why not paint the chairs I've got? Duh. Or maybe dumb? (See what I did there?)

Ideally I would have six or eight authentic vintage Eames chairs just laying around and could use them. Or hell, while we're wishin' over here why not $1000 to buy any chairs of my choice. Or $3000? (I'd probably still choose the Eames chairs.)

But I don't have $3000. Or Eames chairs. Or $1000. Or $50 for that matter.

What I do have is six existing chairs that are nice, but a little too matchy-matchy for my taste.

So I leave you with the question, should I paint these chairs?

Should I paint these chairs?
	No! Are you fucking crazy?! These chairs are awesome the way they are!
	Yes! Get painting!
pollcode.com free polls

I know what you're thinking. But Heather, what color? Slow your roll, folks! That's for another post.

Yard wants

I had off work today and couldn't stop reading The Brick House blog.

It got me thinking about all of the things I want for our yard. Both front and back.

Remember this little landscaping update I made this spring? Well. I'm not really into it anymore.

That brings me to want number one. Gravel.

I want a place to sit in the front of the house like the rest of the neighbors. I want gravel. Tiago wants concrete. Whatever. Both would be great. (Though, I personally think gravel would be cheaper and faster, but also give us some nice texture in the front of the house.)

And I also want gravel in the back. Here's a mock up I made on floorplanner.com.


Want number two? Well, we have this wee little hammock currently in the back, but it's just not working for me. I want this one...




Know what else I want? Some nice ornamental grass. All over the perimeter of the back and maybe some in the front too. I love me some ornamental grass.

(Source)

Want number four is butterfly chairs. I used to have some years ago but I sold them when I left south philly.

(Photo and weird frame courtesy of amazon.com)

There are so many many many other wants that I have for the exterior spaces here at Casa 301, but the last one that really stands out for me is a fence in the back. I'll be honest. Not only does it look like shit back there, but I hate the neighbors behind us. They're rude, crazy and messy (well, their yard aesthetic is messy). I want a nice modern cedar fence that blocks all of their crazy landscaping and overgrown weeds from view. Plus I kind of want to annoy them.

Here's the kind of fence I would really like.

(Source)

Hmmmm. Big dreamy sigh.