The Mothman Prophecy Monday, Jan 23 2012

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After Jed discovered three holes in one of his favorite sport coats, I decided it was time to take action. Although we cannot be certain that moths are the culprit, I am not taking any chances.  As we are not fans of smelling like 80-year old ladies (a.k.a. mothballs), I decided to do a little on-line research. I found that cedar and lavender are both natural moth repellents.

And now a word on lavender.  I was so excited by this news because I personally love lavender. Not only is it easy to grow, it is a beautiful addition to any garden, AND it is a natural mosquito repellent. Lavender also smells divine and tastes wonderful, especially in the form of  lavender crème brûlée and lavender martinis.

Anyway, back to moths. As I stated before, I am not taking any chances.  Therefore, I made sachets using both cedar and lavender. I used scraps of burlap and fabric to complete this simple project and placed one of each in all of our closets. Take that moths!

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Eddie gets an Upgrade Sunday, Jan 22 2012

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Eddie is the only houseplant that I am able to convince to live.  Therefore, you must understand my all out desire to make sure he continues to thrive.  As it has been almost a year since his last pot upgrade (see Eddie and Fern).   I knew I could not put it off any longer.  So I chose to bring the outside in and used one of my favorite concrete planters that I picked up at a yard sale years ago.  At only $5, it was inevitable that I was going to bring home this behemoth vessel.  The planter has made many moves and housed several plants and is now ready to take on Eddie.

As a a little insurance, I am currently rooting a couple pieces of Eddie.  It is always important to plan for the future just in case my green thumb turns brown.

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New Additions Saturday, Jan 21 2012

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Not everything has to be a project. Sometimes it is nice to buy something, bring it home, put it in its rightful place, and go read a magazine.

Anyway, here are a three examples of new additions to our home that I bought at a few of my favorite places – thrift stores, consignment shops and craigslist.  I have to confess that the little black chair needed to have one bolt replaced to make it like new and the tulip table required a little reassembly. But as you can see, Jed and Mattie Windsor completed this task with absolutely no help from me.

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Be our guest! Friday, Jan 20 2012

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There was one room left to paint on the second floor of our new house, so it was only inevitable that our guest room was going to get a facelift in 2012.  Once again we chose Silver Satin by Benjamin Moore to brighten up the walls and to cover the pre-existing drab olive green.  (It is amazing how many rooms and hallways you can paint with one five-gallon bucket of paint.)  Priming and painting this room truly was a family affair resulting in all three members of the Hurt family yielding rollers and paintbrushes.  At less than two years of age, Mattie Windsor has already taken an interest in all of my projects and is quite the little apprentice.  We entrusted her with her very own paintbrush and her skills were topnotch.   She followed instructions well and actually painted the walls and NOT the furniture, the floor, her stuffed animals, etc, etc.  In fact, I think she may have managed to get less paint on her clothes than I did.

After the monumental task of painting was over, I sat down to my sewing machine.  The twins beds got new bed skirts made from burlap as well as new toss pillows.  On the walls, I hung a pair of glass doors that we discovered in our basement and think may have originally gone to the bar in our dining room.  I also incorporated the ladders from Climbing Papa’s Ladder  and used them to hang a vintage tablecloth and various other small items.   Last but not least, I stacked books everywhere, so it was only appropriate that I also add a cozy chair by the fireplace (see There is more than one way to crack an egg.)

We are expecting our first guest next weekend (Jed’s Mom) and hope she finds the updated space to be a serene home away from home.

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Climbing Papa’s Ladder Thursday, Jan 19 2012

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Lately I have been pretty obsessed with getting my hands on an old ladder. Ideally I would love one of those vintage industrial ladders on rollers that you sometimes see in libraries. Low and behold, they are not only hard to come by, they are also rather pricey. Not to mention, the walls of our house are not exactly lined with built in bookshelves to accommodate such a ladder.

This brings me to my next ladder idea. Perhaps it would be nice to have a rustic ladder to simply prop against the wall to hang vintage linens. Sadly, the cheapest option that I have found to date was around $50, and I could not quite justify the cost.

And then a few days ago, I was checking out http://youresojane.blogspot.com/ where I came upon a photo of a ladder hanging sideways on a wall in order to be used as a shelf. When I showed this to Jed, he immediately gravitated toward the idea. Then he went on to suggest that I use his grandfather’s old wooden ladder which happens to be broken and sitting down in our basement collecting dust. Why hadn’t I thought of this? And better yet, it was a standing ladder that could be sawed into two pieces, so I could have TWO ladders. And you guessed it – one is now standing up holding a vintage tablecloth and the other is hanging sideways from our picture molding waiting to be adorned with various small lightweight objects.

Not only did I upcycle an old broken ladder into two, but I did not have to spend a dime to get the look I wanted. Papa would be proud.

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There is more than one way to crack an egg. Wednesday, Jan 18 2012

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I stumbled upon this chair at Downtown Thrift and immediately saw its potential. Despite its not so appealing appearance, I was drawn to both its egg shape and swivel base. Once I haggled the price down to $10, I could not walk away from the chair. In fact, I was already formulating images in my mind of the miraculous transformation that was going to take place before we could even get it loaded into the car.

Within hours of bringing it home, I stripped off the unsightly back and arm cushions. I decided to keep the vinyl exterior and give it a thorough cleaning. My original plan was to reupholster the inside back and recover the seat cushion. Upon further investigation, I determined that the majority of the chair was made of a hard styrofoam, and there was very little existing wooden frame. Unfortunately, it is next to impossible to get staples to stay in styrofoam. My first reaction was to take the whole chair outside, set it by the trash can, and give up on it altogether. After a couple of days of watching it sit there (luckily it did not rain), I welcomed the chair back inside and was ready to plan my next attack. After a little brainstorming, I opted to conceal the inside back of the chair by draping it with my Dad’s old army blanket. Afterwards I recovered the seat cushion and added a burlap toss pillow. Perhaps it was not my original vision but sometimes the best results occur when you have to change your strategy.

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Winter Wonderland Tuesday, Jan 17 2012

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During the brief lull between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, I have still managed to find a way to incorporate some seasonal decor into our home. I brought the blustery winter weather indoors by adding a few vintage pictures of snowy landscapes that I picked up at antique shops. None of the pictures cost more than $10 a piece, but they all make me long for a snow day.

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Hermes does our laundry, who does yours? Monday, Jan 16 2012

After taking a short hiatis during the holiday season, I was ready to get back to work in the new year. My first project for 2012 was actually completed on 12/30/11 before the ball even had a chance to drop in Times Square. I was totally inspired by the official pantone for 2012 (tangerine) and my favorite shade of orange … the classic Hermes. Those of you who know me best are very aware that I am not one to throw all caution to the wind, so I chose the walls of our petite laundry room to get the orange treatment. While I was at it, I moved out the smorgasbord of extra chairs, outdoor cushions, bike trailers and strollers in this 6′ by 8′ room and created a place solely dedicated to washing clothes. While I was at it, I added few hooks for Ikea shopping bags (the best laundry bags ever) and reusable grocery bags. I must say Hermes inspires even me to do laundry.

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