Turn Up The Radio...Bar

I'm working hard, you're working too -

we do it every day

For every minute I have to work -

I need a minute of play

Day in day out all week long -

things go better with rock....

Beware of Sharks.... Pool Sign

When crafty kids get bored often times they crack open the paint and design weird stuff.

On canvas.

At least that's how it works at my house.

Then when they're done painting a usually random vision, they expect me to hang it somewhere.

And more times than not, it just doesn't match my decor.

I wasn't hanging that shark in the kitchen.

Instead I got out some of the cedar lats I picked up for a couple bucks for a stack of about 50, as well as my sample pots of Maison Blanche paint and figured out where I could hang a great white shark.

Battle of the Gray Grey Greige Rugs

Gray.  That's how I've always spelled it.

With an A not an E.

Gray Choices

I know that's how I learned to spell it growing up in California, so how come everyone else in the world spells it grey? 

Someone answer that for me....
and while you're at it, answer which rug I like better, which would go best under my dining room table, and does greige go fine with a very deep espresso color?

Mailbox Makeover, Part 2

When last I typed about the mailbox here in Part 1, I was heading down the driveway with a bucket of water, scrub brush and paint in hand to complete the mailbox makeover.

Part of that actually took place.  I may or may not have scrubbed the rocks enough to get the cement grout off.

Painting with Maison Blanche at the Ranch

There is something stirring around Bliss Ranch.

Something smooth and creamy.

Summer Sandals for Sore Heels

This is a post about shoes.  Summer sandals to be exact.

It might seem like I have a shoe problem buying them up in three's, I assure you I do not.  I buy shoes only when I have too, it's agony for me.

And I also assure you..... I had too.

But I probably didn't need three, unless I wear them for 10 years to be cost effective like my last pair.

My 10 year old flip flops were mostly a flop.  I realized it the other day when I flipped them off and my son asked if that was dried blood on one.

Part 1 Mailbox Makeover

Sometimes a project around here isn't intended to reach perfection, it's just intended to reach done.

Like this mailbox.

Thin piece of cement board attached for starters

We can't see our mailbox from the house, it's 1/4 mile down our driveway.  Anyone else who drives by can see it, but they can't see the house.

It's the first point of contact for what may lie down the long and winding road.

It's a big box, the kind that can have a whole package stuffed inside it, and a few days ago it was in a sorry state of disarray.

Faux roof and cement board backing

At one time it had little black painted lats of wood on it which worked good till someone with a beer bottle wanted to toss the empty out of their car window before they hit town.

That was the downhill spiral of the wood, and one by one over the course of a year each lat fell or started to hang off the box leaving people to wonder if down the long driveway you would find a house with boarded up windows.

Notice the chicken?

So I got this brilliant idea to adhere landscape rocks to the mailbox and then it would match our stone pillars. 

I wasn't aiming for perfection,  I just wanted it a bit tougher so it could handle someone elses aim or anything that's thrown at it - literally.

Not spending any money was a top priority, so reusing what we had was necessity.   At any time the mailbox could fall victim to teenage pranks, and I didn't want to cry over an empty beer bottle that my fancy, pricey, new mailbox needed to be replaced.

All was going well....

I made a high tech tool out of a soda lid to use as a spreader for the glue.

The cement was mixed and poured over the rocks as a grout....

A trusty paint stirrer stick was used by Brawn to sculpt away excess cement....

And when I turned my back the man decided to use up some old paint on the mailbox roof without consulting me.

What the helll?  I know this was a low expectation project, but I wasn't going for little red barn mister! 

I didn't hold back, I let my feelings out...... I exclaimed that it looked like schidtt.

Lovingly of course.

I was promptly handed a paint brush.

Then, much like this post, the mailbox project came to a screeching halt.

Done or not, dirty rocks, red roof and all, it needed to be returned to it's post since it had already missed a couple days of mail delivery.

But first I got out a can of gray spray paint.

And now, because it's so much easier to haul a bucket of water 1/4 mile to wash the rocks instead of when it was right up by the house, I will pack up a scrub brush, take some gray paint, and stand on the road washing and painting for all the world to see.

And that has me mad.

Why?  Because I like to paint in my jammies. 

Guess I have to get dressed for this task. 

The mailbox and me will be back in a day or two, both of us dressed, but only one being revealed.

Painting Fabric Chairs, The Review

Two weeks ago in part A, I set out to paint our old upholstered wing back dining room chairs.  They no longer matched the rest of the set, one of them was ripped on the seat, dirty and 20 years old.  

Not to mention the sage green and cranberry colors were long gone in the dining room.

The fabric however was still nice and tight, the chairs were put together very well, especially considering the years of use - or abuse - they have had.

Spool Patio Table

When Brawn is left on his own, I never know what he's going to come up with.

On the to-do list last year was to make some sort of a patio table.

How Does My Garden Grow?

Recall I started seeds this year in my empty disposable coffee maker cups, you can read about that {here}.

They actually grew and needed to be planted but the weekends were flying by and out the window my vision of a big beautiful garden flew too.

So I went to Pinterest and entered these words..... "Vegetable Container Garden".