outdoor furniture update

My outdoor furniture is installed and has been in use!

I have my two turquoise Adirondack chairs and an end table in between.  This picture makes them look almost green, but they really are very blue.

Underneath I have a brown and tan zebra print rug.  I adore this rug.  It really makes the space.

To the left (as you're coming out of the house), I have the dining table and motion chairs.  I bought tan cushions for the seats and turquoise and green print pillows for the backs.

It all fits, but with the Adirondack chairs on the deck, the table has to be squished in the corner for there to be enough room to walk between it all.  Not really an issue if it's just one or two people eating out there, but it would be hard for someone to get to the chairs in the corners.

I really like this dining set because I can add pillows and cushions to add color, but it's also comfortable without.

Yesterday was Mother's Day and my sister and I took our mom to a Nationals game.  This has become a tradition and we all love it.  But we also like to have brunch beforehand, but restaurants on holidays are a mess so I had them over to my house instead. 

To make enough space, I moved the Adirondack chairs and end table to the yard and moved the table to the center of the patio.  I actually really like them out there and may keep it that way for a while.  At least a few weeks while there's still enough grass to keep the yard from becoming a mud pit.

I just got this tablecloth from Ross ($7!) and I love the yellow on the various blues.  Very Provencal.  It doesn't go with the pillows so I just used the cushions.  See how useful it is to have comfortable-without-cushions chairs?

I ran over to the Bagel Place for 1/2 a dozen bagels (2 everything, 2 Old Bay, 1 plain, 1 blueberry) and a tub of cream cheese. The day before I bought some lox and raspberry lemonade to mix with raspberry vodka I already owned. My wine glasses are polycarbonate ($2.99 at Target), but the plates, water glasses and serving dishes are my everday stuff. They're sturdy enough to survive being outside.  The napkins were my great-aunt's or great-grandmothers.  They're monogramed and incredibly soft from so many washings.  I did have a plastic plate and dish rag for my 16 month old niece, but she likes drinking out of real glasses (with adult help) so she also got one of my bee glasses.  The bottle for water was also bought at Ross for $1.99. I love that place.

Once I was back in my house from getting the bagels, the whole table took about 15 minutes to assemble, which was great.  I love super simple entertaining where it's more assembly instead of cooking.  Brings out the decorator in me.  I love cooking, but I love decorating more!

update on my spare room

I organized my spare room some more this weekend.  I took all of the empty boxes to the recycling center and rearranged the closet.  The biggest thing was putting all of my old throw pillows in a Space Bag and hauling it up into my attic.  I have so many that they took up half the shelf space in the closet.  That space now holds my box of gift wrap, my old VCR, painting supplies and some other random items.  But all organzied and easy to find, remove and put back.  My old computer that I keep meaning to take to the electronic recycling day in my town is now tucked under my out-of-season clothes.  It all just opened everything up.

Side note: I LOVE Space Bags.  I'm such a convert.  They hold so much and you don't even need to use a vacuum cleaner - I get out most of the air just by lying down on the bag and then zipping it closed.  Or for smaller bags, rolling it up as you go.  Doesn't get it as flat as I'm sure it could be, but it's pretty darn close.

And now I have space to start a pile of Bonnaroo supplies!  Cooler, sleeping bag, fans, lantern, camp chair, floppy hat, air mattress.  I love being able to lay it all out like this!

In this picture, you can also see the air conditioner beast that I had borrowed from my brother-in-law when I moved in, thinking I would then buy it from him.  But it's way too large for my house so now he's going to sell it on craigslist or something. 

I also have my ever-expanding collection of books.  So expanding that I took a crate and have books stacked in it as well.  I really need to get a real bookcase.  My current set-up is really sad and messy.

But the most exciting part?  Floor space!  You can see the rug!

Not that you'd really want to.  The carpet is a dingy blue and so very old.  I also don't own a vacuum cleaner and don't really want to.  So this weekend, I'm going to tear it up.  Or at least start and keep my fingers crossed that it will be relatively easy.  I know there's padding underneath and I'm a little worried that it would have stuck to the floor (which is hardwood like the rest of the house), but maybe it didn't and was just protecting the finish.  A girl can hope!

But since I was able to throw out so much and get so much into the closet, there's less that I'll have to remove from the room.  And then once I get the carpet out, I'll get started on painting and making the room pretty and usable as an actual room, not just storage space.  I know, I should probably paint before removing the carpet so I can just use it as a dropcloth, but I want to take the old carpet to Bonnaroo.  The grass in the camping area is really rough and high so we like to put carpets down.  And while in my head I'll paint Memorial Day weekend, it's likely that I won't actually get around to it.  One step at a time!

clutter

I need to deal with the clutter in my house. 

It's a Polly Pocket sized house with very little storage space and the clutter is quickly taking over. 

I have a good amount of surface area in my living/dining room - and it's all covered with paper.

Bills
Catalogs
Magazines
Notes
Receipts
Coupons

It never ends. 

I try having different piles - this one for bills to look at, this one for junk mail to be recycled.  But then it all gets mixed up and all of a sudden, I forgot to pay that parking ticket and now it's doubled.  Or last month's House Beautiful never gets read.  I need a system and I need an attractive one that I don't hide when I have company.  When that happens, the box/bag/pile ends up staying hidden for a few extra days (or weeks) and then I'm back where I started.  I also can't have anything closed because in my house, out of sight definitely equals out of mind.

Here's my current thought: on my little chest, I could have a letter sorter to put bills to be paid, coupons and catalogs that have items I actually want to buy.  Behind that, I could have a small file box where I put receipts, bills that have been paid and other things that are to be filed with the idea that every few weeks I'd transfer them to a file cabinet upstairs.  Next to this, I can have a magazine file for current magazines (old ones get recycled or put in a bookcase upstairs).  Finally next to the chest, I can have an attractive waste basket or regular basket for paper recycling.

And The Container Store has all of these pieces in an attractive woven wicker (though I'd want to see in person to see if it's really attractive).  I like the idea of something neutral because with all of these varying pieces of paper, there will be enough visual noise.

I may start out with the file and magazine boxes and the waste basket.  I worry that having empty slots in the mail sorter will make me fill it unnecessarily and then things will get hidden. 

So added to my list of trips to take is The Container Store!

lamp project

I painted my living room lamp the other weekend.  My mom got this lamp at a yard sale when I was little - little enough that I don't remember not having this lamp in our house.  I was at her house last fall and it was just hanging out in the hallway, on its way to the basement to be stored.  So I asked if I could have it and she said sure.  It felt very 70's to me - an oatmeal colored urn-ish base with a burlap tall drum shade.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it - paint it white and swap the burlap shade for one in white so it would brighten up that corner even when not lit.  Originally, she didn't want me to paint it in case she wanted it back, but she eventually relented.  And I finally got around to painting it.  Three coats of glossy white spray paint later and I was done!

It even felt a little Jonathan Adler-esque due to the tone-on-tone design around the middle.

And I had bought a black and white floral drum shade from Target - part of their Liberty's line, natch.  I mean, look at how freaking pretty this is!

I put it all together (forgot to take a picture) - and - hated it.

The white of the shade turns cream when turned on and isn't designed to go with a harp while my lamp base is so it's not very sturdy.  And then the base is just too flat of a white.  It looks awkward.  And as much as I tried to talk myself into the black and white print and how I have lots of other black and white accents in the room, I knew that it just didn't go or fit my vision for this room.

So I went back to the burlap shade, thinking I would recover it in a pretty color.  But...hmmmm...now the white base doesn't seem as stark.  And I could always paint the end table in the same shade.  I've wanted to paint it for a while anyway...

Then I figured it out!  I don't need to fully recover the shade, I just need to add some ribbon trim.  Maybe Greek key in green and white?  A formal detail in a funky color, which is exactly my style.  Off to scour the earth for ribbon that blends these two pictures!