My Sister's Chair

Three years ago I agreed to reupholster a chair for my sister as a birthday gift.

THREE YEARS AGO!

Yes it has really been that long.

The first year it sat in the basement.

I tried taking some of the fabric off the back and the project seemed a bit above my ability.

So it sat.

About a year later I painted it.

Bad paint made the chair arms and legs sticky.

So it sat.

For another year.

So it sat.

Memorial weekend my sister and I went to a flea market.

Said flea market where the chair was bought.

Three years ago.

As I bought a new/old chair for my daughter's room.

I could feel her eyes boring a hole into the back of my head.

"Yes, I know I still have to do your chair."  I told her.  

She rolled her eyes.

I called her after the flea market and said I would have it done within two weeks.

I don't think she believed me.

She had hear that story for three years.

Last weekend I repainted it.

No stickiness.

I called her yesterday to tell her I was almost done with it.

She would have it by the weekend.

I called her back a half hour later.

The chair is done!

However, Mr. M. said it looked so nice, maybe it should stay.

FOR ANOTHER THREE YEARS!

So tell me.

What is the longest a project has sat undone?

Now about that chair for my daughter!

Did Someone Say BLUE?

I have mentioned before.

I have a love/hate relationship with BLUE.

I have tried it on walls.

Some blue walls stayed/boys room.

Some have not/basement.

Blue is back in the house.

Disguised as aqua.

TRUE!

This aqua dresser.

It was plain brown last week.

I had bought the spray paint several weeks ago.

It took awhile to build up the courage.

Come on, it is only paint.

I did it.

I like it.

I asked Mr. M.

"How do you like the dresser?"  

It was still sitting in the garage, waiting to be accepted.

Waiting to be brought into the house.

"I thought you didn't like BLUE."  

He does pay attention.

"It's not blue, it's aqua, it is a summer color.

Anyway, it is only paint, and I can change it if I want to."

I brought the beauty into the house that night.

Accepted!

Simple can of spray paint and some gel stain.

Done in one day.

You may notice.

I have other blues in the room.

New pillows from HomeGoods. 

LOVE THAT STORE!

The picture on the wall, corner shields still on.

Not accepted yet.

Some more blue.

I can handle it in low doses.

Yellow, nope still have not accepted.

BUT, there is a great mustard dresser in the basement waiting for fall.  

MAYBE!

And you?

Is there a color you to love/hate?

First Roses of the Season

This is going to be the year of the roses here at Arbor House Lane.

This is the path from the driveway into the firepit area.

These bushes are just full of lovely pink fragrant roses.

I wish I had written the name down in a book, because they are so hardy and they have few thorns.

High winds and lots of rain have caused them to loose lots of petals.

I love how they look all over the garden bed.

I have a pair of iron gate ends on each side of the path.

Peonies, roses and foxglove.

A lovely combination.

Wild white roses almost completely cover the arbor at the side of the house.

Almost like a secrete garden.  

Soon this arbor will be covered in huge pink roses.

Wild white roses on the front arbor. 

During this week the arbor will be covered in tiny white roses.

Arbor view from the front door.

This is a mass of little pink fairy roses.

Next week it should be full of small pink roses.

These are my favorite rose bushes.

They require little maintenance and they can grow to be huge if you let them.

I can't wait to cut some and bring them in the house.

The arbor as it looks from the road.

This climbing rose in the corner to the garage door.

We will be building a small over the door arbor to let the roses continue to grow up.

Like the one below.

Image here.

These would be simple to make in a weekend.

Oh, honey, whatchadoin?

A Day in the Field

Baseball.

I spent the day watching two of my kids play baseball.

Each of them is amusing to watch in their own way.

This is my youngest caught in the act of dancing in the field.

You may not notice, but his hat is inside out.

In this picture he is doing exactly what his coach told him to.

Get dirty.

 Slide.

Only he was a tad too short on his slide to first base.

BUT, he did listen to his coach!

He enjoys the game and makes you laugh.

My daughter in concentration.

She is fun to watch because she has a passion for the game.

My little girl was recruited to 11U this year.

She makes us all proud.

I caught her in the act of leading off each time the pitcher threw the ball.

She pays attention.

Watching the girls pay softball is much different than the boys.

They celebrate each other and the team.

They celebrate the game.

My oldest was around, here and there, playing with his friends.

He plays on different days.

I enjoy that he is becoming more responsible.

He is growing up.

I did get some pictures of him at bat from this weeks game.

Now that the game has kid pitching, it makes it is harder to hit the ball.

In fact they tend to not even swing in fear of getting out.

I told him to swing anyway.

You would rather get out because you tried, than for just letting the ball go by.

He enjoys the game, but I think it is time with his father he enjoys more.

Whether Mr. M. is coaching his own team or assisting the other kid's coaches.

This guy is always on the field.

This is the most important part. 

Sometimes even he gets to play ball!

So far he has only played once this year.

His time for playing will come again at the end of summer.

After the kids play.

Such a great dad!

Butterflies on the Wall

I have almost finished getting my daughter's room done.

Yesterday while my boys were playing and my daughter was at her baseball game.

I glued 150 butterflies on her wall.

Yep, I did!

I surprised my daughter by having these on the wall before she got home.

I think it turned out kind of neat.

It almost looks like art.

The multiple of colors works with the rug and the chair.

The first night we put up her pink chandelier she did not want us to turn the lights off.

The finished chair.

It is a favorite for reading.

She likes to curl up with her cat and a good book.

Double welt piping.

It was not as hard as I thought it would be.

I love how the color choices turned out.

I am glad I did not worry about too much color.

This is the room at night as we are trying to figure out furniture placement.

I can't hang pictures or shelves until we figure out where everything will go.

Aren't these framed prints awesome!

I found them at HomeGoods of course.

The pink and purple frames are from TJMaxx.

Two of my favorite stores.

Next week I will reveal a great steal I got for the deck from World Market.

Soon to be my favorite on line shop.

Even though it is not supposed to be as warm as it was all week, I am hoping to finish up some gardening.

Fit in a trip to an annual flea market with my sister.

Maybe a date night with Mr. M.

Due to baseball and having to work all week, we haven't seen much of each other.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Crazy Socks

My daughter loves to wear crazy socks.

The brighter and funkier the better.

This is an average daily outfit.

I love her individuality!

As long as she feels comfortable in her mixed up outfits then I am all for it.

It is hard enough in life without having to worry about what others think of you.

A disclaimer, the kitchen that looks like a cyclone hit it.

Yeah, that is what it looks like when I get home from work everyday. 

She fits right in with her crazy sock wearing baseball team!

Do you let your kids wear their own style or do you choose?

I have to tell you though, I told my oldest son if I ever catch him with his pants below his butt.

I will pants you!

I hate that look!