The Peonies Have Popped!

The number one thing on my list of smile inducing objects that need to be a part of my home are peonies. I cannot get enough of them! In every state from bud to bloom they are just gorgeous. The only problem with them is that they never last long enough. I spend all year waiting for them to arrive and then they are gone before I know it. This year, I at least moved the ones that my dog kept digging in so I will have more than ever in bloom. I'm thinking of putting these pictures some place where they'll catch my eye every once in a while so that I can enjoy them all year long. But this week, if I'm a little extra smiley, it's probably because of these beauties in my garden.

Be Prepared for Warm Weather

A few inches of snow on the ground isn't going to get me down. I've got pansies planted in my window boxes and spring is still here, with summer not too far away either. Rather than dwell on the snow, I'm going to look at the things I'd like to fill my outdoor spaces with. Here are a few of my favorites starting with the Fairfield Square Planter from Gardener's Supply. Use it on your steps, your patio or scattered about your yard with flowers or vegetables.

There are few things more relaxing than lounging in an Adirondack Chair, like this one from L.L. Bean. Add wine for perfection.

There are few things more enjoyable in the summer than dining al fresco, but you'll need to shed a little light on your meal with these Square Glass Lanterns from Wisteria.

These fabulous Esther Paisley Outdoor Cubes by Pottery Barn will work wonderfully as both extra seating and as a table where you can rest your snacks.

And of course there must be games! I love this Lawn Bowling Set from Restoration Hardware. Now go get yourself some of these outdoor gems, and by the time they arrive on your doorstep, I bet mother nature will be ready for you to use them. And until then, I think you'll have an added spring in your step!

Spring is Coming! Create a Garden Journal

The beginning of March in New England. It is a typically dreary time when people start to really moan. At least in coastal RI, the snow is usually behind us by this point, but any sort of color in our lives seems very far off. The trees, the grass, and the roads make for a very gray world this time of year. Sunday morning I was watching the news and the weather forecast for pouring rain beginning at noon through Tuesday morning (luckily they were wrong). The thought of another day stuck inside the house was killing me. So I went upstairs and ordered all members of my family to get dressed and get outside before the rain started and while the sun was still shining. What started as a plan for a simple yard clean up and some fresh air turned into a rejuvenation process. As we started to peel back the layers of winter brush, leaves and muck, we found unexpected new life on our plants. The first to catch my eye was this hydrangea shoot starting to take off and its many friends nearby.

Next up the pussy willow tree where I found buds starting to break open in all their white fuzziness.

In just a few weeks, these deep purple buds will be beautiful lilacs.

I was expecting to find my daffodils starting to sprout, but the lillies not so much. Oh my! Look at all the lillies heading my way.

The tall green shoots are the daffodils. I clearly need to plant more.

That little bit of green in the above picture is the start of my irises. These guys were huge and abundant last year, and they bloom on the early side of the season so it won't be too long before we see them.

The start of my poppy. I bought this poppy in the spring of last year because I was looking for things that bloomed early. Unfortunately, the bunnies got to the bud before we saw any flower, and I still need to figure out had to keep my rabbit friends out of this garden this year.

I was not expecting to see the Dianthus I planted last year come back, but apparently I got the Sweet William variety that are perennials. Yay! Or maybe only some will come back. That's what is so fun about gardening. You never really know what you're going to get. Every year I say I'm going to start a garden journal to keep track of what I've planted and how things have done, and every year I don't do it. This will be our fourth summer in our house and it's time I get on it as I'm constantly adding new things and moving things. I know myself well enough to know that I'm not likely to sit down and jot down notes about each plant, but I love to take photos of the garden so this is the beginning of my 2011 Garden Images Journal. The pictures will be a good reminder of years past and I'm going to vow to look back at them at the beginning of each year to remind myself that spring truly is just around the corner. After two hours of clearing yesterday, I can now see it out my kitchen window as fresh green shoots are starting to sprout up. With daylight savings happening this weekend, I have big plans to be spending my evenings in the garden starting next week. As you can see from the pictures, I have a lot of weeding to do!

End of Season Gardening

While I love all of the seasons, I never have an easy time saying goodbye to my garden come late fall. And even though I must admit that I've highly neglected the garden of late, I will still miss it until spring. I found this hydrangea bloom last weekend and became mildly obsessed with it. The colors are so spectacular in it and it was that last little bit of beauty from a summer bloom.

This week, we had our first forecast for frost and so after taking the kids trick or treating and getting them to bed, I ended up in my vegetable garden with a flashlight at 10 p.m. picking every last thing I could-tomatoes, peppers, green beans. We didn't have the frost that was forecasted, but I thought it was a good reminder that it's time to bring it all in. If you have potted herbs, you should be able to bring those in and keep them going inside for a bit. Or pick them and dry them or freeze them in water in ice cube trays so you can pop an herb cube out as needed.

Frost also means that the ground is going to be frozen soon so if you want to see daffodils, tulips, crocus and other spring bulbs, now is the time to make sure you get them planted. There is nothing quite like that first bloom after a long winter.

Customize Your Play Set

For my son's birthday last month, we got him a slide set, but I hated the standard issue cover that came for the tower part and decided to have my husband, who works for a sailmaker, make a sailcloth cover. I originally envisioned a more modern white sail with blue numbers on it, but he found an old blue canvas sail and decided to use that which works well too. But it got me to thinking about why we settle for the same old thing that maybe works, but isn't the most attractive thing we've seen instead of really making this otherwise not very exciting, but very large item in our yard really fun visually. There are so many fabulous outdoor fabrics out there, why not use them on our play sets! Here are a few that I think would look pretty phenomenal.

Trina Turk Trellis in Pool
Donghia Lifeguard
Seacloth Boardwalk Scalamandre St. Barth's Stripe
Scalamandre Antiqua

Keep in mind that these covers will only last a few years so you will have to replace them every once in a while, but I think if you bring them in during the winter, you could probably extend the life by quite a bit. I think the bigger and brighter the print, the better on these so don't settle for standard issue boring. Customize your play set!

18 Century Colonial Renovation: Part V

I am very excited to announce that the 18th Century Colonial Renovation we've been following finally has walls! It has been a long haul since this project was started last October and I think there is quite a bit of relief in knowing that they are finally are in the home stretch. Back in October the goal for a move in date was by July 4th, and while it's clear that won't be the case, it's actually pretty impressive that these two people who work well over 40 hours a week, have a 3 year old and decided to tackle such a large project, doing so much of the work themselves, are not that far off track.
So a quick tour of the house so that we can now get a little bit better of an idea how the space is coming together. The kitchen (above) is a fabulous open space and the exposed beams add so much character and are so visually appealing. While it's typical for colonial paint colors to be a bit on the darker side, having a lighter color will make the beams really stand out. I am madly in love with the diagonal exposed beam in the dining room/library (top). It just looks fabulous and was the perfect divider for the ceiling which is higher in the dining room/library than it is in the pass through to the kitchen which allows for recessed lighting above the wet bar.

As you may recall, there was not a drop of insulation in this house prior to renovation so in order to add it, the windows (which had already been replaced prior to this) are now recessed a bit more than you would normally see, but I think once the molding is in, it will actually be a nice architectural element.

The master bedroom is a great size and features a walk in closet (on the left) and an attached bath (on the right).

This is bedroom number two.

The 2nd full bath is quite large and there is a fabulous antique vanity going in here.

The third bedroom is definitely on the smaller side, but it is still plenty big for a twin bed or futon.

This is the upstairs hallway outside the 2nd bathroom door facing towards the front of the house. I thought this space might be very dark, but it's actually plenty bright with the window at the end of the hallway, and you can see that there will be recessed lighting as well. Because the doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms are at either end of the hallway, these great big walls actually make the space seem much larger.

The attic space has also been transformed into great usable space with a long window seat from which you can see Newport Harbor as well as extra built in storage (the drawers on the left). Whenever you have empty space behind the walls, it's a great idea to add built ins for extra storage.

In other big news, the front steps have also been installed. It is traditional for colonial homes to have this double sided staircase at their entry, and many of them are brick with stone treads. Unfortunately, they also tend to be very expensive. To reduce costs, the decided to go with a cast concrete set of steps with a brick and stone facade which were installed by Flagg-Palmer Precast, and I have to say that you can barely tell the difference.

Now for the fun part, selecting colors and finishes!!!

China Seas Outdoor Fabric

Aga

Tis the season to move your living space outdoors, but no need to rough it. I am head over heels for all of the China Seas Suncloth fabrics for outside (they are available as interior fabric as well). With so many choices of pattern and color, it is hard to choose my favorites, but here are just a few.

New Batik

Conga Line

Ziggurat Reverse

Double Cross

Island Ikat

Lysette Reverse

Whether you are looking for a few throw pillows, outdoor curtains or chair cushions, you will certainly find something you love in the collection. And even though these patterns are available in interior weight fabrics, don't forget that outdoor fabrics are great for interiors if you have kids, pets, or just want something really durable. Beautiful long lasting fabrics...doesn't get much better than that.

D.I.Y.: Colorful Pots

All spring I have been looking for great cobalt blue pots for my front steps. It's not that they are so hard to find. It's just that they don't seem to ever run less than $60 per pot and that was a lot more than I wanted to spend. Then I finally had an aha moment this week while making placecard holders for a party last night in which we spray painted miniature pots to use as the stands for the placecards. Why not just buy terracotta pots and spray paint them cobalt blue? I went to a few places before I finally found the right size and shape for what I was looking for, but I found them. Step two was to lay them out on newspaper on the grass.

Step 3 was to paint them. I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Gloss Paint in Regal Blue. I first painted them upside down and then flipped them to do the rims and upper part of the interior. This paint dries super fast so it only took a few minutes before I could flip them. I could have gotten away with just one coat, but I wanted them to look as good up close as they did from afar so I did two coats. You can also do a spray primer first, but I wanted them to be a little more rustic looking with some of the terracotta showing through.

And voila, here is the finished product with plants. The color is a close match to my front door and shutters, and it is amazing how cohesive the front of the house now looks. I do like terracotta pots, but I just wanted something a little more special for my front steps (even though the rest of the front entry needs a LOT of work still) and I like how it came out so much that I'm thinking I might do the ones on my back steps too. The total cost for 2 pots (not including plants) was about $33 so a pretty significant savings compared to the colored ones you find in most garden centers. Of course, now I think I need new house numbers and a new light fixture never mind the woodwork that needs to be repaired and the steps that need to be replaced.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

Under My Umbrella

Watermelon Cover by Santa Barbara Umbrella

Ahhhhh, the beach weather has finally arrived and a little bit ahead of schedule here in the Northeast. I am eternally conflicted with my complete and total adoration for the sun and my very fair and freckled skin. And while I can handle a little too much sun (even though I shouldn't) I can't bare to see my kids whom are even more fair skinned than I (in fact the doctor claims she has never seen a fairer pair) get a sunburn. Hence it is time to figure out how I will shade these two outdoor loving little people. Here are my favorite picks for beach and patio umbrellas.

Lillypond Umbrella by Santa Barbara Umbrella
Hampshire Stripe Round Market Umbrella by Pottery Barn

Mid Century Sunshade available at Design Within Reach

Tuuci Razor Shade available at Design Within Reach

Aqua Market Umbrella by Pier 1 Imports

Bamboo Parasol by The Conran Shop

Now I just have to figure out how to keep the little dears under my umbrella. Enjoy the beautiful day!