Casey's Room

I have always loved black and white. I decorated my very first apartment in black and white. I couldn't paint the walls black because I was renting, but I had black lacquer furniture (It was the 80's) and black and white boldly striped living room furniture. I painted large, brightly colored graphic art for the walls. It was my modern period. My design tastes have long since gone away from stark modern, but I have never lost my love for black and white.

Black is my favorite color to wear, until they come up with something darker.

I have a few rooms painted black in my house. Several years ago I painted the whole laundry room with black chalk board paint. I painted the powder room and the rotunda leading into the master bedroom black too. I love the contrast with the white molding.

Contrary to what most people would think, it has been my experience that black makes the room look BIGGER! The walls fade into the background and the fabric and accessories become the star.

Last year I gave up my office and let the girls have their own rooms. They have shared a room for the past nine years.

This is Casey's room.

Casey loved the idea of a black and white room with splashes of hot pink and blue. I had a few raised eyebrows when I told people I was painting Casey's room black. I could see their minds questioning, is Casey turning goth? It's not goth, I would say it's classic and feminine. I continued the black paint on to the ceiling and cut in about 18". This painting technique highlights the molding and draws the eye up, making the room feel larger.

I did the molding myself. Much easier if you buy the corners pre-made. No mitering necessary for the long pieces. I borrowed my Dad's nail gun to make the molding job go faster.

This is a brass chandelier I picked up for cheap and painted it white. I have a chandelier fetish if you haven't noticed. I added the ceiling medallion and covered the chain in coordinating black and white fabric.



Cami's bedroom has a huge closet, so I made this closet into a computer desk area. My dad made the shelves for me. The drapes were purchased at Target and can be closed to hide the mess.



I added another piece of picture molding where the black and white ceiling paint meet.
I made the valances from the Target drapes. I could not have purchased fabric for less than what I paid at Target. Curtains and bedding purchased at discount stores is hard to beat on price and if you buy bedding, it comes in wider than 54" widths. The wider width is great for making slip covers slip.


This is a chair and a half that matches my living room couch. I made a slip cover with a bedspread quilt purchased from TJ Max. I buy just about everything on sale or at discount stores. One thing I don't go cheap on is paint. I always buy good quality paint. It covers better, with less coats, and last longer. My favorite paint is Benjamin Moore. This room is painted with Ralph Lauren Bone Black in eggshell.



I used the reverse side of the quilt for the bed and made bright pink and blue pillows for the bed and chair. The bulletin boards you see are covered in the Target drape fabric. The large bulletin board on the right hand side of the picture is made from 12" x 12" cork squares staple gunned to the wall. It's 3' x 4' and would have cost a good chunk of change to buy a bulletin board this large. I glued a 3' x 4' piece of fabric on top of the cork squares and added picture molding around the edges.




The pink bulletin boards are from Marshal's. Again covered with fabric to tie it all together.

I purchased the mirror for $10 at Big Lots and painted it white (it was gold). The picture above the bed is one of mine I painted. The dressers were mine when I was a kid. I'm currently looking for a bigger one on Craig's list that I can refinish for Casey. The book shelf is from a garage sale. It's oak and was stained brown. I painted it a distressed white. We already had the bed. This is one of the beds form a bunk bed set that we took apart. Cami has the other one in her room.

The great thing about the black and white color scheme is it's so easy to change the accent colors if Casey gets tired of the pink and blue.

Thanks for checking it out!

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all who have served our country. Especially to my Dad and my Mom too. My Dad was a helicopter pilot(the greatest one ever if you ask him). He served 33 years in the US Navy. He retired as a Rear Admiral and is now a published author. He writes young adult fantasy and his grand children are all the main characters in his books. If you would like to check out his work go to his website.

http://http//web.me.com/buctarmagicbooks/Site/About_the_Author.html

I don't know if our military men and women could do what they do without the support of their spouses back home? My mom and all military spouses serve our country too. My Mom and Dad were separated by long deployments during the Vietnam War. I think my Dad was gone eighteen months of the first two years they were married.

They have been married for 46 years.

This picture appeared in the local newspaper of one of my Dad's home comings in 1966.

That's me eating my fist at 19 months old because I didn't know who that guy was (Dad)?

Kiss a Veteran today and enjoy your day off!

Thanksgiving Tree

I know at first glance it looks like a Christmas Tree,

but it's not,

it's a

Thanksgiving Tree.

Never seen or heard of a "Thanksgiving Tree?"

This is a new family tradition I'm starting.

I'm sure many of you have Thanksgiving traditions. One of ours is to have all the kids decorate Christmas Cookies while the meal is being cooked on Thanksgiving Day. Another is we always have a baked turkey and a deep fried turkey.



Sometimes it's hard to stay focused on all the good in our lives. This has been a tough year for many of our friends and family. Deaths, home foreclosures, unemployment, divorce, illness, injury, etc. These are trying times for many of the people we love.



The Thanksgiving Tree and the Gratitude Tags are to help me remember what is important and be thankful for what we have. We are so lucky and blessed, I wanted to take the time to acknowledge that. I try to begin and end my day with gratitude for all my blessings, but I wanted to doing something more concrete for Thanksgiving.


Gratitude Tags

I started with plain white tags from Michael's
My idea is to have my family write one thing a day they are thankful for on the back of the tag and hang them on the tree. On Thanksgiving we will read them during the meal.


I used sepia, green, and black stamp ink. I "aged" the tags by rubbing them with the sepia ink and used an assortment of stamps to create the images. So Easy! I think I might have Cami's Girl Scout Troop make these for their next activity.

Here are a few of the completed tags.

Attach the tags to the tree with raffia.

I used birds, dried hydrangeas, fruit, white pumpkins, silk cabbages,

feathers, and natural greenery.

I would love to hear what your

Thanksgiving Holiday traditions are?

Costumes

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes. Casey dressed as an Eskimo and Cami went as a farmer. I'm afraid this might be Casey's last year of dressing up and trick or treating. They look so big to me! Where have my babies gone?

Hope you had a fun Halloween with your family!

What Do You Play?

Doesn't just about everyone workout these days? If you don't work out, I'm sure you are planning to start Monday. We run, walk, go to the gym, do PX90, Insanity, swim, treadmill, Kettle Bells, plyometrics, etc.

I'm not talking about exercising.

I want to know, what do you play?

It is a happy talent to know how to play.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803–1882
I play 2 on 2 volleyball on the beach. I play with an amazing group of women I'm lucky to call my friends. They are mostly moms now who played in college or professionally for years and still enjoy the game, the workout, and the camaraderie. I have been playing with some of these women off and on, with or against, for the better part of 20+ years.

We laugh out loud at ourselves and at each other. We curse, fight, whine, cry, and cheer each other on. (woman athletes tend to be alphas).  I know that even if I'm having a terrible day, I will feel better after playing volleyball with these ladies, even when I play bad.  A bad day of volleyball is still always better than housework, paying bills, grocery shopping, running errands, you name it. It's an incredible workout, but it's also a way of connecting and sharing with my girl friends.

It's a good week when I get to play once a week.

It's a very good week when I get to play 3 times a week!
Here are some of my friends I play with, Beth Mercer and Lori Kotas- Foresight hiding behind the volleyballs.

Beth is our organizer. She schedules all our foursomes and brings the net and balls. I would not be playing these days if Beth didn't set up our games.  Lori was at one time one of the top female beach volleyball players in the world. 

Thanks Beth!

The essentials... water, sunscreen, towel, sunglasses, bathing suit (on body not pictured)

Here is where we play. We frequently see dolphins swimming by.

Beth and Mary Ann

Tammy and Jeanne.
Tammy (Lilley) Leibl is a three time Olympian with a bronze medal and also at one time one of the top beach players in the world.  Right up there with Misty and Kerri.  Jeanne Reeves was on the 1984 silver medal winning Olympic team. 

Beth recently set up a tournament for us ladies. We played 3 vs. 3 with teams that consisted of a player in her 40's, one in her 50's and one in her 60's. It was so much fun!

These women are all amazing athletes.

Cheri, Linda, and Hillary competing in the final match.

Here we all are at the end of the day. Still smiling after trying to kill each other with the ball.

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

George Bernard Shaw/Benjamin Franklin

If I didn't play volleyball, I would take up tennis, or golf, or bunco. 

It doesn't matter what you play, just play something.

 Don't let your kids have all the fun!
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
Plato
Greek philosopher
427–347 BC

What do you play?

Thanks for checking it out.

Easy Pumpkin Ideas

I came across these cool pumpkin ideas. Very easy to do and they make quite a statement.

A little black paint and a rearranged book shelf.

A cozy fireplace.

More paint and a bug stencil. How easy, but the collection makes such an impact.

No time this year for me, I'll try these out next year.

Going Up - Vertical Gardening

It has been months since I have blogged. Computer problems made the process too painfully slow and a crazy, busy schedule robbed me of the luxury of free time to blog. The schedule is still chaotic, but the computer issues have been resolved.


I haven't had time for much gardening lately either, but I have always been intrigued with vertical gardening and plan to add one to my yard at some point in the future.

Vertical gardens have been popular in Europe for quite some time. They have been gaining popularity in the states for about a year now. They were featured this past summer at the Del Mar Fair. I took the girls and my nephews and in between stuffing their faces with fair food and going on rides that would make me throw up, I took a quick peek at the exhibits.




These are some of the pictures. Check out the picture on the left. It's an apple tree that has been espaliered on the wall. Edible art!

I love the herbs and veggies growing in the picture below. Perfect for a small kitchen garden with nowhere to go but up.

Most of these gardens are created with a plastic cell frame filled with soil and anchored to a wall or by using a product called Woolly Pockets. Last year I watched a show featuring one of my favorite garden designers use the Woolly Pockets in a Los Angeles garden. These are very cool but cost around $50 a piece. The installation of the Woolly Pockets can be pricey especially when you need multiple units. I have also seen these used on Martha Stewart's Show. For more pictures and info. go to http://www.woollypocket.com/

The nice thing about Woolly Pockets is they can be installed on interior walls because the back of the unit is waterproof. Here is a diagram of what a Woolly Pocket looks like below. The picture of the nine units mounted would cost $450. Don't you wish you were the one who invented these? I don't have time right now, but I'm pretty sure I can make my own for a whole lot less. I'll put it on my to do list.

Nine unit installation diagram

Indoor installation of multiple Woolly Pockets. Great indoor air filter and beautiful!




Here is a homemade version at the fair. I think they are made out of burlap?




Some other cool pictures of vertical gardens. This is a building in Europe.







Woolly Pockets filled with succulents and grasses in L.A. Virtually maintenance free!






A living breathing office

A beautiful store front