Skagit Valley Tulip Festival



TulipFest 2011 Poster



Lots of Old Barns in the Area



Dahlia Bulbs &  Fuschias From Christiansons

Diana - Birthday Gal

Bringing Home Bunches





Tabletop Tulips

One of the great perks of living in the NW is being able to enjoy the world reknown annual Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley.  Located about an hour away, the Tulip Fest is a showcase of thousands of acres of blooming daffodils, tulips and irises set in scenic Mt. Vernon, WA.  Weather plays the biggest role in what you will see when visiting the fields, however, there area offers much more than the incredible scenery.

Last week, after a three years hiatus on the annual Tulip trek, we gathered a group and set out for the day. The day was planned with pot luck lunch items, rain boots and lots of layers. It was so much fun to leave town for the day, have a change of pace and a change of scenery.

Here are a couple of must stops in my opinion:

Roozen Gaarde - Gorgeous specialty display garden with picnic benches for lunch and relaxing
Christiansons Nursery - Rustic Nursery with wonderful plant and gift selections
Snow Goose Produce - Giant, homemade waffle cones with your choice of specialty ice cream (HUGE)

I hope you enjoy some of the photos from our outing!

BGGF

Best Garden Girl Friend

Arrange Selections, Step Back and Evaluate

Copy Nursery Display Containers

Love the Color Contrast

New Use for Tires

Smaller Pots = Better, Less $

We Mean Business!

Ah, Spring!

I usually consider myself very lucky to live in the NW. Our weather allows us the option to grow so many amazing plants and edibles. After last nights' snow in April, forget it! I would like to move now please!

That won't be happening though, instead, here's a trip down gardening lane, photos from a trip to Wells Medina Nursery last spring.  Something I hope to be doing again very shortly.

I have a BGGF: Best Gardening Girl Friend. They are good to have, I tell her to put stuff back and she tells me that my container combinations are not so hot. We make a good team, sifting through our favorite nurseries, finding our favorite plants and bringing a little spring home.

Here are some of our tips:

• Make a list the containers you need to fill, the glee of plants galore can easily lead to overbuying. If you don't make a list bring a practical/mean friend like me that will say:  "STOP".
• Call the nursery ahead of time to see when their shipments come in. You want first dibs on the newest, healthiest plants.
• Gather up the plants that catch your eye and arrange them on your cart to visualize how they would look in your container. Go for big impact, lots of contrast! If you are uninspired, just copy the nursery containers. No one will know and your containers will look genius!
• Always pick the smaller, less expensive plants. They are happier, easier to plant and will grow to the size of the bigger plants quickly. 

I always look forward to our nursery outings. The exchange of ideas, inspirations and creativity mixed with the anticipation of warmer days just makes me giddy with happiness. Thanks BGGF!

Do you have any other container gardening tips for the spring season?  Who else has a BGGF?

The Story of Stuff

Have you ever seen this video or heard of the Story of Stuff Project? It's really worthwhile to spend a few minutes watching the video in its entirety.  Pour a cup of coffee or glass of wine (depending on time of day, or not) and just watch, it will change your view on "stuff".

Now I enjoy, have and buy a bunch of "stuff".  I am not proud of some of my attachments to stuff and thus I am continually streamlining.  I hate the idea that:

Thinking of time brought me back in time, college days to be exact. Here's my story of "stuff":

College Student-Athlete meets another College Student-Athlete, fell in love.  We had no money, we had no "stuff", we were (and still are) so happy:

Love This Guy

We lived in an adorable 500 sq.ft Mother in Law house in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. It looked kind of like this:

Adorable!



Beatrice and her husband owned the front home.  They had a huge canary aviary window that we would pass on the way to our unit each day.  I think she had over 50 birds:

Hello to Yellow Every Day



For some strange reason, Beatrice also had 2 pet tortoises that lived in a dog house behind our unit:

Tortoises as Pets?

 

She also had a lovely fountain in her garden that sat right outside our front entry:

The Sound of Water

I will always remember our simple life at 3630 1/2 Seneca.  We had a lot on our plates as full time student athletes putting ourselves through college. But we also had a lot of time to enjoy: 

• Dates at the Par 3 down the street,
• Runs in Griffith park
• Afternoons in Long Beach
• Day trips down to San Clemente or up to San Luis Obispo
• Time with great friends in our teeny backyard (with the tortoises)

Married with children has added more demands to our time, but I try to remember and emulate the bliss of the simple days we had. Our lack of "stuff" did not amount to lack of quality of life.  Because we had no money we never spent time searching, shopping or accumulating stuff.  How archaic!

What's your story of "stuff"? I would really love to know!

Thanks for visiting and thank you for commenting!

Take the Plunge?



Distressed Pine Dresser - Grey Patina

 

Danish Industrial - Salvage Wood Coffee Table

  

Grey Washed Wood

  

Living Room/Coffee Table Current





Lots of Crevices and Bad Knobs

 

Coffee Rings Everywhere - Thanks Daughter!

I have been contemplating this coffee table project for months. It involves taking the plunge which might literally have me also taking a dive....off a bridge, into some icy waters where I would be saved from stripping/sanding. 

The good: 

• solidly constructed
• giant and utilitarian
• drawers to hold games, knick knacks
• perfect size for our living room
• we own it

The bad and the ugly:

• the color
• the knobs
• the coffee rings

The inspiration:

I have been obsessed with the grey washed patinas seen in recent months in catalogs (restoration, room and board) and shown in above photographs.  This is a classic wash that can looked weathered yet clean. Light but not white.

The problem:

Stripping and sanding. Need I say more. Once I start, I have to finish. There are details, crevices and mouldings all over this piece. It won't be easy.

Shall I take the plunge?  Any thoughts on this distressed grey washed patina?

White Denim is Always In



2 Ugly & Armless Club Chairs



After White Denim SlipCover Treatment

Yes, this is bad. The frequency of my posts have matched the frequency of the appearance of sunshine in the NW.  It's been a brutal start to spring with more on its way. Yikes!

Slipcovering is a great rainy day project. I actually wish it took me longer than it does to finish slipcovering chairs because the rain is still here.  Anyway, my husband and I came across these "cute in and ugly way" chairs at an antique auction. They were roughly $60 for the pair.  I invested another $60 in white cotton denim and piping.  I love the way the crisp white denim looks. These 2 smaller chairs replaced the larger similar one:

Now in Upstairs Guest Room

Can you spot the partridges in the after photos?

 I am now itching to recover my large sofa now too.  The California gal in me is ready for a  summer beach look to compete with the gray rain outside.

What do you think? And also, thanks for visiting even though I haven't posted in so long!

Rainy Days and the Anthropologie Catalog

Anthro Inspired Peacock

Pavo Bedding - Anthropologie

Rainy days and the always artistically inspiring Anthropologie catalog have transformed my dining room chalkboard. 

I love getting the Anthro catalog in my mailbox. Their artistic direction always reminds me to think outside of the box.

I guess the peacock is here to stay until further inspired or until urgent to dos need to take center stage.

Just thought I would share, thanks for checking it out.

Mini Guest Room

Mini Guest Room

Notice "Lola Van Gogh" by Grammy Brookes

Office Area in Mini Guest Room

White Faux Leather Chair - $130 at Marshalls



White Faux Leather Chair - $249 ZGallerie

The Mini Guest Room (twin bed only):  good for teenage sleep overs, nights when your husband is coughing too much, and for Zoe, the cat, to lounge in the sunny window.  We do have another regular guest room downstairs that can be used while son is away at college. 

A little background on this room that used to be my daughters':  picture 500 tiny tack and nail holes everywhere, tape, stickers and nail polish on the windows and window sills as well as dinged and damaged baseboards.  (There are no before pictures because it was too hideous).  She has since moved to her brothers old room, which is now undergoing similar treatment.  For the new mini guest room, my husband and I cleared out, patched, repainted and installed new trim.

We used the twin bed we already had although it would be more practical to have a full.  On the opposite side of this long, narrow room is the computer desk/chair.  I have tried to keep this room very clean, streamlined and simple, in furniture and color choices.

What do you think? Any thoughts on the "accent" wall. (Not my favorite but I had the paint).