Design Project: Bringing it In…

How fun to be invited by designers Cindy and Maryann  to take part with other bloggers in a Project Design

The object: To inexpensively refresh your living room.

Ok….here are a couple that I do pretty regularly

… involving  bringing the outside in.

I am often in the jungle garden with a machete in hand…by necessity

But dayum the cuttings…the strays…are often gorgeous! Not all. But many.

I don’t want to just compost their green and trying so hard…and maybe choking out the other plants souls.

so years ago,  have taken to having a big Talavera jar in the courtyard that happily holds  the cuttings savings…strays of the day or week…or month.

Happy. but more importantly it is a holding area of ever changing greenery I can bring into the casa.

It beats buying house plants that inevitably bite the dust. saving, re-using.

These guys can be happy for weeks in fresh water. Dare say months.

ok…agreed I can get carried away…and it can sometimes look like a bohemian florist warehouse.

A different leaf shape can create a whole new feel in your room.

And I am NOT shy….I manhandle tall limbs and fronds into tiny pots.

everyone lives. everyone happy. keep moving, folks.

 

 

 

I am not beneath bringing in actual pots from outside…moss draped and earthy…they have their own feel.

But….

inevitably…they, too, get filled with the cuttings and seeds

 

Another freebee with character are collections from nature or gifts from the sea…Rocks, twigs, hornets nests…whatever floats your boat. Amazing how it can serenade the seasons…or remind you of where YOU live.

I am always just plopping these gifts down on a coffee table…

and rearranging again and again. Calorie-free and FREE.

Best game ever.

sometimes the green foliage pulls out a color I had never noticed in the room

…often it is a replica to a color in the house

dog wags tail…tail wags dog?

Another easy fun for the kids one…bamboo grows in our yard out front you may have tree branches…

and it BEGS to be painted once it is cut and dried.

Didn’t know that it begged like that, did’ja?

House paint… acrylics…It’s not fussy.

Never needs to be perfect. Like everything in this house…it just needs to try.

See that piece of wood co-mingling with the flamboyant Liberace  bamboo?It was found a decade ago by my youngest…she would wear it on her shoulder and pretend it was her pet snake.

Hard to let go of THAT kinda friend. So…he joins the happy stray family.

Painted bamboo can move throughout the house and room at whim…perhaps it even does while we are sleeping.

But by far….the most cherished outside in…and inside out stray…

happens to like cookies…and cheese…and chicken wings.

and orange chesterfields…

Now go find the REAL talent….and check out how these lovely bloggers have refreshed their rooms:

classic•casual•home

Don't Disturb This Groove

Little Black Door

My Sweet Savannah

Rough Luxe Lifestyle

Roses and Rust

Stone Gable

and go bring in some strays from your yard….

They’ll thank you.

Blue skies…

The skies are blue….the water is turquoise

the broom is in hand…and the spring cleaning continues

and continues…

and….

nevermind.

Dog days.

It ain’t happening.

This time…a ONE minute lamp re-do.

I tell ya.

Getting faster and faster at this.

:: Lamp re-do weekend in the ole casa ::

Added some grass cloth wallpaper to these lamp shades

 

And

well... you know.

Big Black Dog approved.

Another 3 minute re-do…'cause that is all the time I can afford...

So…I found a  reading lamp

for 30 clams

Nothing exceptional….but wanted the warmth of brass.

Enter this paint

and about two minutes of my time

 

Voila.

Now the dog can read

On HIS couch

::sigh::

I’ll let you know how it works….

So… it was claimed to be a

Chinese Door guardian

claimed also to keep the evil spirits out.

Sold.

Take THAT evil spirits.

{ cue: neighing }

Our private War Horse.

Habitat lamp find for Father’s Day….

We have a room in the casa

that has been relegated to the office. His office.

I found a fantastic lamp the other day….well not the whole lamp. The base was blah…but the shade was a keeper

Heavy made of brass…shiny inside.  Dusty out.

I paired it with a hatless base

also from habitat….it was hanging out in the garage up to no apparent good.

Voila…Happy Father’s Day.

wait…

We also found these great think madmen Old fashioned glasses for the Dad.

Okay, friend, name your poison….

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.  ~Mae West

A pool story…To be continued

So…a few days after we got out of the hospital

a bus pulled up to our casa

and out poured several Hispanic men…clad in white.

to work on our pool.

Which DESPERATELY needed their help…

eeeegads. cannot believe I am showing you this.

we let it get green because we knew we were going to empty it

and refinish it….

But SCARY it was!

It is a vintage rectangular simple pool…and although I had LOTs of plans and ideas

we decided to do it as simply (read:cheap)

as possible.

As much as I wanted to do some cobalt and white chevron tile…

it would have been a few thousand clams more…sooo we kept the vintage baby blue

::plus my brain was still fuzzy::

It fits just fine in our funky/ unstyled/ a little bit tropical jungle/

abode

No…I actually am not sure WHAT that is climbing the pool wall…

But these are bananas…happily fruiting.

AND most importantly….

Felipe loves it.

Don’t ask.