Archive for March, 2007

March 27th, 2007

Retro lamp craft

I was watching "Decorating Cents" the other night & they were making a mod-woodland room.  Most of the ideas weren’t really my thing, but I love something I saw.  They had just a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, all the way down to the night stand almost, like what you would see in a light-kit.  Then there was a green vase sitting on the night stand & it acted like an upside down shade.  This was a lot more modern than what I usually go for, but I think it would be a very inexpensive, very funk diy lamp.

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March 27th, 2007

Spring is coming

I’m chronically ill, & very busy. However, my garden doesn’t understand this & still wants to be taken care of. However, there are just little things that overwhelm me & prevent me from getting the work done, like trying to roll up the garden hose, to me that is a lot of work & not much fun. That’s why I was so excited to see this no crank hose reel. It doesn’t use batteries, electricity, or springs, just the power of water. Plus there are a lot of different styles that will completely hide the unsightly garden hose. It’s a little thing that will save my back from aching & hopefully get me outside more.

March 25th, 2007

My only recipe

I don’t really post recipes on this blog, even though they are a big part of the home.  Mostly because I don’t cook.  However, I do like to eat every single day. I always smile when my whole family gets together because we have several people who don’t eat glutton, refined sugar, or dairy.  So when we go to someone’s house it’s a constant challenge for our hosts to come up with a meal that everyone can eat.  I was impressed on Sunday when someone served us fajitas, my favorite filling was the salmon.  I’d always been leery of fish tacos, it just didn’t sound good, boy was I wrong.  Ok so the title is a little misleading because this isn’t really a recipe, but I didn’t think that "just shove take whatever is in your fridge & put it in a tortilla or on top of corn chips" was a recipe. So now on the list of things that we can all eat are fajitas, well ok, that’s the entire list.

March 25th, 2007

Rent or buy?

I’m looking for a new place to live which means that I spend way too much time circling properties in the newspaper. I’m not in a position to buy a house right now, although I am saving up money so that someday I can afford something like the beautiful homes at Atlanta Georgia Real Estate. As I look for all the listings to rent in the newspaper, & compare them with the cost of buying a house, I wonder why does anyone rent a house? It seems almost as expensive, if not more so than buying. Living in an apartment is usually cheaper, but there are so many homes for rent that are asking as much money as a mortgage, most of the time more.

I think one of the reasons why people fall into this trap is because they aren’t aware of the housing market, they don’t think that they can afford to be a homeowner. I think a lot of this has to do with research. We have a lot of people who move into this state from a much more expensive state. They might see the cost of the rentals & think, “Wow, that’s a great deal”. However, they probably don’t realize that our home prices are also much less expensive. They could actually be saving money by moving a few columns over in the paper to the homes for sale section. So, when you are making the decision to rent, or buy, do your research & know what you can afford, it might surprise you.

March 22nd, 2007

Table for two please: Update

The Tuscan look is already on it’s way out.  In a few years it will be very dated.  If you have the look now, enjoy it while you can.  If you want to update it, or if you want a more classic Tuscan look, here is what I would do:

1.  Instead of a yellow color wash, just paint the walls a sunny yellow or terra cotta color, don’t mess with a faux finish.

2.  Accessories.  Take at least 3 things out of your room.  Don’t keep anything that you don’t love.  Don’t hold onto anything because it matches something that you really love.  Cut the beads & fringe off of most of the stuff, only leave it on one or two items to make things sparkly.  Leave the rusty scroll things on the wall if you love them. Just remember to take them off when you don’t love them anymore.

3.  These rooms usually have leather sofas (great) or ultrasuede, these are fine as is.

4.  I love, love LOVE Spanish tile.  Fake terra cotta tile, not so much.  If you have one of these floors that you don’t love, love LOVE, bring in a neutral rug.  The more neutral colors you can bring into this space, the better.

5.  Take out the Tuscan prints if you are tired of looking at them.  Instead, think of what you love about the Tuscan look, is it the colors?  The architecture?  Then find a print with those things. This will be a much less literal translation.

This will transition your room into the next millennium while still leaving the warmth.