Cowboy Picnics and Doris Day

One of my absolute favorite movies is “Calamity Jane”, with Doris Day and Howard Keel; the cowboy version of Cinderella, comes complete with a dashing hero, a pretty transformation and lots of recycled calico. After sweeping out the dust, curtains become a tablecloth, a painted door welcomes you in, and a few wild flowers become a centerpiece. Life never felt so easy.

With Summer almost here, we crave a little simplicity outside. We want to entertain, and have friends over, but we don’t really want to try so hard. In the final hour, we don’t want to run back to the store (again) for fancy decorations and that special, organic iced tea that only Aunt Matilda will drink. So, why not take things slowly, enjoy the time with your friends, and borrow a few, home-spun ideas from my hero, Calamity Jane…

- Plan the simplest menu that you can get away with, and buy everything the day before. If in doubt, go with picnic food that can be served at room temperature (fresh bread, real butter, cold meat/chicken, cheese, apple pie, quiche, fruit, vegetables etc). If you have extra time, and feel inclined, bake something for dessert, or make a homemade drink (iced tea, lemonade, punch etc).
- Check that your picnic area is relatively clean. Sweep the patio/deck, mow the lawn, throw away any dead plants/twigs, and hide any broken/damaged items.
- Grab a tablecloth, blanket (or sheet) from the house, to put on the main table. Use something colorful,  unexpected, or just go with plain white or lace.
- Pick a big bunch of anything –  flowers/twigs/branches/buttercups – and put them in a vase or a glass on the table.
- Light some candles if you have them (again, just grab ones from the house – even a silver candelabra would be lovely).
- Use your regular (or fancy) cups, platters, bowls, glasses, plates, napkins and cutlery for everything.
- Bring chairs, pillows and blankets outside for extra seating and comfort.

Curl up, eat, have fun, and enjoy!

Wendy E. Wrzos http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

Picnic photograph borrowed from Better Homes and Gardens

Kitchen Cabinets

Nah… kitchen drawers are it. If you’re considering re-doing your kitchen anytime soon, reconsider the cabinet. Drawers are not just for silverware, they’re for spices, towels and linens, and lots and lots of dishes. I only have one large bank of drawers in my kitchen, and I can still remember the installer wondering why I chose these because he thought I was wasting space. Au contraire… you actually gain space and organization, not to mention the ease of transferring clean dishes from the dishwasher to drawers instead of hard-to-reach cabinets. And you can actually see what you’re looking for. Viva la drawer!

 

Kim Merritt – http://beautifullivingstyle.blogspot.com/

A Makeover and a Gift

All the parenting books in the world, can’t prepare you for being a Mom. It is indefinable, confusing, simple, difficult and beyond wonderful. They say it goes quickly, and it does; before we know it, they are suddenly their own little beings, trying to decide what to do, then running off to throw themselves head first into a new adventure. In between the chaos, we try to remember what it was like, and we adjust to our new normal – we feel almost redundant, but secretly know that we are needed even more.

And, as emotional as the roller-coaster can be, one of the frivolous benefits to having a child is giving myself another excuse to decorate. Not very deep and insightful, I know, but it gives me pleasure, and it gives my daughter a “new” room every couple of years.

Our recent endeavor was to make it a little more of a teen room, instead of a girls room. A bigger bed meant less room for “stuff”, and more room for negotiation. Being a child who keeps everything, I knew it would never be a House Beautiful photo-op, but I knew I could make it perfect for what she needed right now. With a lot of patience (and some extra-strong glue), her room was re-done, re-designed and creatively organized.

I won’t pretend that it didn’t take a lot of time, but the time it took was worth it. We didn’t spend a lot of money (just new bedding, and the bed, of course) everything else was sourced from her room, or other rooms around the house.

One of the items we re-used, was her old day bed. After eliciting a promise to not throw it away, I decided to indulge my romantic side, antique it, and use it in the Living Room. Who doesn’t want a bed in the Living Room? As it turned out, re-doing her room was a gift; it gave me this wonderful bed to play with. I used all sorts of leftover paint to distress it – copper spray paint, brown house paint, craft paint, and a few speckles of blue-something paint. I then sprayed it with vinegar (not sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time) and left it outside in the rain for a few days.

When I put it in the Living Room, unfortunately, it looked like a “Bed in the Living Room”, not a romantic thing at all. It was the sheets that were its downfall. So, I went on-line, and found a place that specialized in custom made Slipcovers for Daybeds. For less than $50, I found an elasticated, durable, patterned fabric in all sorts of warm tones. When it arrived, it was perfect! That, and the distressed copper, reminded me of one of my favorite childhood movies – Bedknobs and Broomsticks. (We even have the knobs that turn, on each corner – if you remove them, I wouldn’t even mind if you decided to drop secret notes inside …)

What this bed taught me, was that changing with your children, is a damn sight easier than digging your heels in and complaining; part of the fun is creating your own new adventure, indulging your own childhood dreams (and discovering that you really always wanted a bed in the Living Room……).

Wendy E. Wrzos http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

Perfect for Mother’s Day, these Kindle covers by Klevercase will disguise your e-reader in style. I’m thinking they might make excellent notebook covers, too. Hmmm. I was in the bookstore just the other day thinking about the merits of e-readers versus books, but I’m still firmly planted in the has-to-be-a-real-book category. Still…

 

Kim Merritt – http://beautifullivingstyle.blogspot.com/

Instant Happiness for your Home

Did you know that certain shapes, colors and scents will automatically make your home happier? Why not include some of these ideas next time you decorate, or, just for fun, incorporate them into a very small area of your life and see if they make a difference.

Use Curves – A circle will bring you more happiness than a square or rectangle. Consider furniture with soft lines and curves for a more lovable (livable) home

Add Yellow – Even if it is not your favorite color, looking at something yellow will give you a boost of energy. What about using a yellow cup to start your day, or planting a lovely yellow rose?

Look at a Bicycle – Not sure if it is the old-fashioned shape, or the prospect of adventure, but seeing a picture of a bicycle will increase your serotonin (those feel-good chemicals that we get from eating lots of  chocolate).

Provoke a Memory – Use “things” in your home to subconsciously remind you of happy times as often as you can (a photograph, a rock, a shell, a treasured gift, anything that makes you smile and brings back a good memory).

Open Up – As often as possible, open your curtains and blinds. And, at least once a week, open up your doors and windows for as long as you can (even on the coldest days). Your home will breathe a sigh of relief, and you will feel refreshed.

Make your Bed – Studies everywhere say that if you make your bed, your day will be automatically happier than if you just left it in a big, crumpled pile.

Nurture Nature – Bring in fresh flowers and/or plants when you can, and take the time to care for them. They purify the air, release oxygen and lower your blood pressure.

A Hint of Vanilla – Anywhere you can use it, the scent of vanilla will cheer you up.

Just for Fun:
- Play loud music, and dance around the house when no-one is looking.
- Walk on your tip-toes.
- Give names to all the inanimate objects in your home, and talk to them for an entire day.
- Paint something you don’t like, with a color you absolutely adore – see how it makes you feel.
- Buy a coloring book and crayons. Keep them near for moments when you need to de-stress.

Enjoy your week!

Wendy E. Wrzos  http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

p.s. Beautiful bicycle from Lovely Bike Blog

Do or Don’t: Living Room Makeover

So… in this business of design, specifically one-day (or one-week) makeovers, I’m always fascinated by everyone else’s ”after” and how they came up with their particular solution. It seemed only fitting that the week after I’ve just completed training would be a good time to pull up these photos from House Beautiful that were featured in one of their issues last year.

Clearly the “before” room needs help. There is no sense of flow, no sense of style, and a clear lack of color, pattern, and direction. The room lacks focus and it needs a lot of attention to detail. So let’s start with flow… As you walk into the room (you can see the entrance on the left-hand side) you are immediately blocked by furniture. This arrangement doesn’t invite you into the room and it doesn’t utilize the current furnishings into any sort of functional configuration. Given, there is some texture, but the lack of color (and pattern) leaves the room looking flat. Blue and white is a good start, but only a start.

Bookcases, just like rooms, need balance. Pay attention to each individual shelf and the unit as a whole. Make sure the weight is evenly distributed and have fund mixing it up with a pop of color as they did here with this yellow vase. (You’ll notice bits of yellow seen again two shelves up.) Color, or equal distribution of color, is just one way to help balance a room.

And here it is again. The yellow is then moved around the room to help achieve balance throughout. Just remember, too much of this strong shade and you will have a room that only Big Bird would appreciate. (What do you think of the mantel?)

Here is the after. How did they do? They’ve added purple as a fourth color (mixing both complementary and analogous colors which is A-Okay in my book) and added a whole lot of pattern.

Before you answer, check out the makeover step by step over on the HB website. Tell me what you think about the after. What would you do differently?

 

Kim Merritt – http://beautifullivingstyle.blogspot.com/

Coffee Cup Confessions

At last count, I have 46 coffee cups on my shelf, and, I am the only one who drinks coffee. When I was younger, I began collecting them as souvenirs; an easy way to preserve a memory, and remember the places that I had visited. As I got got older, I traveled less, apparently needed more caffeine, and I started to search for larger cups to begin my morning with.

Even though travel was no longer a priority, I still liked the idea of having lots of different cups. Ever fussy, I decided the new cups had to have meaning – a saying, a symbol, or simply something that made me smile when I reached for it.
I don’t know if other people do this or not, but I decide on the cup before I make my coffee; do I want a large cup, so that I can keep my hands warm when it is really cold, a special one that was a gift from a dear friend, or my ugly Frida Kahlo self-portrait mug that makes me happy because she was so talented, but sad to think that she thought so poorly of herself when she looked in the mirror.

They all have a story, and they are all precious in their own way, but they also need somewhere to live.

Years ago, we used to have Mug Trees that sat on our counter. Mugs came in matching sets, and often the tree was made of wood, with little wooden arms sticking out on an angle to hold the handles (I guess that is why they called it a Mug Tree). But, they did take up extra room on your counter, and I always worried that they would tip over if they weren’t balanced right. I don’t want to think about the careful placement of my mugs when I am putting them away, so I never quite embraced the Tree.

Another thing I have seen, is to find a wall mounted, or ceiling hanging, decorative holder. They are usually made of wrought iron or stainless steel, and it is a nice way to show off a few special mugs, while adding a bit of color to your kitchen wall. Even a pot rack, with those “S” shaped butcher hooks, might look interesting filled with cups and mugs in a lovely large kitchen.

Have to confess though, my favorite of all, is the simple cup hooks with the safety tab. They easily screw into the bottom of a shelf, give you twice the amount of space, and will hold cups of all shapes and sizes safely. (I have been using the same ones for nearly 20 years, and they are less than a dollar each).

I am sure not everyone spends time thinking about their coffee mugs, or confesses to having 46, but however many mugs you may have, and regardless of how you store them, why not enjoy them as a collection of memories instead of just things?

Wendy E. Wrzos  http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/

Lovely old photograph of a Ship Mug Rack is from Wikipedia