SoBro Bungalow

Thinking Pink

(Image: Domino)

I'm thinking of heading in a different color direction from the last house. I still love blue, but the house seems to be asking for pink as an accent color. It may take some convincing, however.

Dishy

A few months back, I came across a not-to-be-passed-up dish towel on sale at Anthropologie. I bought four, added curtain clips and voila.

The Winter of Our Discontent

Well, my discontent anyway. There were so many home improvement projects slated for the winter months that just didn't get done. Half done mostly. For example, we converted my old office into a playroom, but it still needs to be painted and the FLOR needs to be installed. (Right now there are a few tiles on the floor for a soft play surface. Something about finding the center of the room and snapping chalk lines seems too daunting, I guess.) The master bedroom? Walls were painted a lovely creamy Benjamin Moore Antique White (thank you Jeff!), but the trim isn't finished. The front room is almost complete, but it needs something else. Another small table? Maybe. The room could be my undoing. My solution to all this half-finished business? Get out of the house and stop looking at it. I planted some pansies yesterday in containers that flank the front door. Took me about five minutes. All home improvement projects should give instant satisfaction like that.

What I Wish I Was Doing This February

Given the choice, this is how I would spend the month of February. Napping all day and getting up only to follow the sun around the house. That, of course, assumes that there is sunshine. We haven't had much of it. Even Mootsie is getting desperate -- I mean really desperate -- for nicer weather. Yesterday, during a 20-minute sunny interlude in the clouds, Mootsie announced, "It's spring! It's spring, mama." I didn't have the heart to tell her that we have a way to go before spring truly arrives. But then I got to thinking, why not seize her enthusiasm and start spring, or at least the planning for spring, now. So today I'm looking into joining a CSA and reading up on starting seeds. Take that, February.

Trusty New Table

Last week, I had about 10 minutes to kill, so I dropped into Gardener's Market on my way to pick up Mootsie. I was looking through vintage linens when this table called to me. I'm really not good at accent tables, or lamps and, as we all know, rugs, but I just had a feeling about it. I got up to the register, handed over my card, and the shop owner informed me that her credit card machine had conked out. I didn't have my checkbook or cash. Do you know what the woman said next? She told me to go ahead and take the table and bring her back a check. Seriously. When does that ever happen anymore? If I wasn't giddy enough about finding the table, here was some good ol' fashion trust.

And do you see the rug? Yes, that's the flokati back in action. Something about adding the table, made the rug work. This is a little embarrassing, but can anyone else see the double-sided tape on the sofa? OK, sure now that I pointed it out, you all probably can. We're trying to deter our lovely Vivi from clawing the heck out of yet another sofa. It seems to be working although it's not the prettiest stuff in the world and can be murder on leg hair (Jeff?) if one is not careful.

Weight Lifted

I'm a keeper. Though I desperately wish I wasn't, I am. So when the mood strikes to purge, like it did Sunday afternoon, I have to go with it. While Mootsie napped and Jeff cleaned the house, I gathered up every magazine in the house. We're talking four years worth. OK, wait. I kept any that contained stories written by me and Blueprint, since you know, there won't be any more of those, but that's it. I didn't look through to see if there were photos I might want to save because that's trouble for me. I just tossed. The house feels lighter, and it should. Jeff, who carried the recycling bins to the car, estimates that each weighed 50 plus pounds.

Winter Warm Up?

Man, it's freezing here. You know it's cold when the cat is laying on the heat vent and then looks at you like, "Gotta problem?" Nope. No, I don't. You just take as much hot air as you need kitty.

Over the holidays, Jeff saw a twin draft stopper on an infomercial and decided that it is the be-all-end-all solution to the drafty back door. Have you seen these things? I'm skeptical about everything that's "as seen on television" and it's U-G-L-Y, so I went in search of a tutorial to customize the draft stopper for our wonky 1946 door and pick out a fabric that jived with the rest of the decor. And voila, here it is at Not Martha. I'll report back.

In warmer news, I got several prints back from  my mother-in-law, who happens to be a pro framer. She did a lovely job framing pieces by John W. Golden, Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday, Matte Stephens and Sugarloop.

Resolutions

If I made resolutions this year, they would go something like this:

1. Post more. (November 19? Really? Geez.)
2. Exercise more. OK, excercise. (A back injury in late summer TKO'd my running and then it got dark and cold and insert lame excuse here.)
3. Eat better. (Translation? Stop eating Green & Blacks chocolate bars by the truckload.)

2007 was a frenetic year, and by December I was running on fumes. So this year, I'm making plans instead of resolutions. I plan to slow down, do less and take more time for things that I really, really love. I started the New Year on the right foot by cracking the spine on Barefoot Contessa at Home -- a gift from last Christmas -- and hosting an impromptu brunch for friends we did not see at all in 2007. Not once.

Good food, good friends and 2008 looks good, indeed.

Knobs How I Love Thee

We finally got around to adding knobs on the kitchen cabinets. If ever there was a testament to how small changes can make a big impact, Exibit A: knobs. And I'm not even talking about how the cabinets look now, although I think they're pretty awesome. Had I known how easy opening cabinets would become -- especially the drawer that holds the toaster that was forever sticking causing loads of cursing in the pre-coffee dawn -- not to mention how much fun we would have throwing around the word knob, I would have pestered Jeff to put them in a loooong time ago. To make up for all those knob-less months, he put these beauties on the bathroom cabinet, and I didn't even have to ask.

Scary Space Part II

Oh how I love cooking now that I don't have to play pots & pans Jenga. Sometimes I wondered if the content of the pots & pans cabinet would rearrange itself just as I was opening the door. The pot or pan needed was always, always the one on the bottom of the stack. Is that a universal law or something? I think so.

I've always wanted a hanging pot rack, but there just isn't a spot for one in the kitchen. Then I saw Domino's take on Julia Child's totally functional kitchen peg board. Brilliant. Some saffron-colored paint and it's functional and purdy, too.