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Busy little bee

August 23, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Found this little cutie taking advantage of my laziness and getting the pollen off my flowering basil. I have a kid-free evening, and decided to throw together a quick garden harvest meal (roasted eggplant, tomatoes, and fresh basil drizzled with some garlic olive oil, served over some pasta… it smells amazing so I’m hoping it tastes just as amazing), so I’m thrilled that coincidence of it all led to getting to watch this little one work for a bit and take a few (blurry) photos. ♥

I can’t decide if I want to curl up with a book and read, or watch a show and knit with this alone time. There are too many possibilities to choose from!

Longing for the woods

August 22, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

The local kids are nearly all back in school, and this afternoon, after pre-schoool open house, there was the distinct feel of autumn. Just a slight hint of it, mind you, but there it was – hitting me all at once and, yet, as slight as a whisper. Autumn – the time of sweaters and apple picking (and, subsequently, apple everything in the canner and oven), warm woollens being brought out for wear, the heavy blankets/quilts making their return…

We’re still much too far away for proper fall. Leaves won’t even begin changing until late September/early October, and by the time my annual knitting weekend comes in November everything will be drying up as winter creeps in. That brief moment, though, made me realize how much I’ve missed the woods. We haven’t gone camping since before we had the kid (over 3 years now). The woods, and nature, are like a spiritual need to me – just sitting in a quiet place and listening to it breathe fills me up in the way I imagine religion feels to those who believe in a god. I can’t really explain it better than that, if it even makes sense. I used to get my fill when we’d go camping. I could just sit and sit and sit and listen and knit and just… be.

Now, my fixes come in smaller bouts – mostly at my yearly knitting weekend. But I feel a bit self-conscious stepping away from the group to go sit alone and close my eyes and listen. I love my friends, but I’m pretty sure they might think I’ve gone off the deep end if I tried to explain it.

So, today, with Autumn ever-so-slowly creeping closer, I’m missing the woods. And living vicariously through everyone else I see who is brave enough to camp with little ones.

Spinner in training

August 13, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Whatever I do, he wants to do. I had been pressing some water out of a handspun yarn so it could dry before I knit it up, and he asked to spin some of his own yarn. I don’t want him messing with my wheel (too many moving parts for him to get hurt on right now), so I dug out my 3D printed spindle from TurtleMade and let him play. For the record, it took him all of about 2 seconds to figure out how to flick it and put twist into the fiber. Proud mama, right here. I can only hope he continues to love to make and do things with his hands.

Let’s all embrace our shitty decor style

August 13, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

I have spent countless hours on the internet, scouring for ideas for my house. What bathroom colors should I go with? What’s on trend? What goes with the age/style of my house? Do I even need to stay with the style of my house? After all, I see so many people modernizing older homes and it looks fabulous… but can I bring myself to do the same?

What about my bedroom – wood floors or carpet? Do I attempt to strip and salvage my oak floors hiding under carpet? Do I leave them their honey-colored original hue, or do I stain them darker because it’s trendy? Do I go with a light, airy vibe like I see so much on various home blogs? Or do I stick with darker, more grown-up shades for the walls and bedding? Would I ever be willing to paint my gorgeous antique dresser (the answer is always no – I hate when people paint perfectly good wood furniture, especially antique stuff).

I’ve agonized over all the stupid little details. Worried about whether my updates are appealing to other people, even though they’re not the ones that live here. Worried that I can’t choose certain colors for rooms because it doesn’t go with the rest of the house. I’ve spent so much time thinking about all the options instead of just going with my gut and what I like and want to live with.

My contractor, when we first began talking about the renovations, mentioned somewhat hesitantly that my house was “eclectic.” I remember feeling a bit put off by that assessment, because I felt it implied that my decorating style sucked. Eclectic, like it was a bad thing. I’m sure he probably didn’t mean it that way at all, but I’m a woman after all and tend to jump to the worst conclusion.

But in a (virtual) sea of perfectly decorated, on-trend home inspiration and every room “flowing” together, eclectic means my house is my own. I reached a point over the weekend where I gave the middle finger to the internet and the trends. I reached a new level of fed up and decided to stop making myself feel shitty about my home and embrace my “eclectic” style. My home isn’t decorated magazine-perfect. You’ll probably never see photos of my house used in advertisements anywhere. But it’s ours. It makes us happy.

The walls, with all their imperfections of a 100 year old house, display family photos, artwork we love, and a Doctor Who poster. The furniture doesn’t all match, but it’s what we’ve got until we find something we like enough (and money) to replace it with. My antique dresser has been with me since I was a kid, and every time I polish it up with some oil the rich colors come out in the prettiest way. My craft room houses my favorite pieces: my grandmother’s sewing machine/cabinet and my mom’s rocking chair she was given by that same grandmother when I was born. My quilt rack was made by a coworker’s wife for me, and displays the quilts we’ve been given, we’ve inherited, or I’ve made. My piano was free from a relative, and we get to enjoy the sounds of Declan playing it and making up his own songs from time to time. The kitchen isn’t perfect, but I fell in love with it when we moved in and it has been home to many culinary adventures, not to mention hours spent there dancing and singing and playing with Declan.

All the rooms have their own personality, and we’re the ones that tie it all together. A house is made by the physical structure – the wood, the siding, the roof, etc. A home is made by the people and things that live there. And no one cares that your decor isn’t up to date enough because they’re not the ones living there. And your kids aren’t going to care that your house is dated, because they’re too busy being kids (or moody teenagers who probably don’t even want to be home, anyway) to say anything.

My point is, let’s all embrace our shitty decor because the things that are in our home aren’t nearly as important as the people, the moments, and the memories.

Slowly coming together

August 12, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Finally, after 2 weeks, we have a somewhat finished bathroom. There’s lots to finish still, of course, but we’ve moved past just a shower to a working sink and toilet. The walls still need finished painted, the mirror and sconces hung, the trim finished, etc etc etc. But I feel like we finally have some major progress. I’m so in love with how bright this room is, now. When it’s all done I’ll show you a before and after – the bathroom was seriously awful. Just awful. And we lived with it for so long, so it’s nice to have something lovely now.

Today I DIY’d some mercury glass dishes for the bathroom. Since everything is so…. new, I wanted old-looking touches without it looking too farmhouse. (I really don’t like the farmhouse trend, and it’s hard to get away from it because everyone and everything you find at the stores is farmhouse now.) I picked up some candy dishes at the local thrift store – two, just in case I screwed one up. Have to say… I’m pretty much in love with them. SO PRETTY! And so easy, too. A can of “Mirror Effect” paint, a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of water and white vinegar in a spray bottle, and some paper towels. Spray a coat of the mirror paint on, let it sit for about a minute, spritz a light amount of water on it and dab gently with the paper towel. Repeat until you get the look you want. I coated the inside of them after they dried with a crystal clear spray to seal it up.

The dishes will most likely go onto a shelf – either a floating shelf above the toilet, or I’m hoping to pick up a white cabinet to go in a corner to store our towels now that we’ve lost our linen closet to make room for the 2nd floor laundry. I’ll probably use them to store my makeup remover pads, so they’re functional, too. I have another one drying right now that is a round vase – I saw this gorgeous mercury glass vase with white faux flowers in it that I loved, but the $100+ price tag was a big fat no. So I’m hoping to recreate it, too. I paid about $9 for the mirror spray at Lowes, and the jars were $3 each. The round vase maybe $2. So less than $20 and I’ve got my own DIY’d version :)