Flamingo Fantasy

Have I ever mentioned I love flamingos? Almost as much as I fear zombies. I want this well-known print by Sharon Montrose so bad, but it’s a bit out of a my budget, especially because I want it in super large scale. If you have a more flexible budget than me, you can buy it here.

I decided to peruse the internets for some more affordable flamingo art and came up with some interesting options.

Found on etsy.

I’m not sure about the above flamingo. He looks a little . . . . bloody? Etsy.

Etsy.

Love this one, if only it was a bit larger. I found it on Art.com.

Another one found on art.com. I’m kind of loving the art deco look. (That is art deco, right?)

 E-bay.

I found some interesting options, but none were exactly what I wanted. I want something really large. Would it be completely crazy of me to try to paint something myself? I haven’t attempted such an endeavor in a very very long time. And with my track record, proven by a pile of half-finished scarves, it will never happen.

A blogger I follow recently mentioned a new flamingo trend. It was on Design Manifest. I may have had a flash moment of adolescent pouting, and feel the need to mention that I wanted a flamingo before any so-called trend. So there. (I’m sure I’m not being influenced by the design around me or anything.)

Also – after perusing a large number of flamingo pictures, I have decided I don’t like flamingo eyes. They make me nervous.

Emergency Kit Start

I have a secret. After I had Mae, I didn’t obsess about kidnappings or fires. I laid awake at night thinking about the zombie apocalypse. It’s true. If you don’t want to be crazy like me, I would not recommend reading World War Z by Max Brooks. But really, I would recommend it – that book is amazing.

So first step in my Emergency Kit – move here:

Look, it’s all open and modern. So airy. Then when the zombies come over the hill, it turns into your own personal fortress (insert the sounds of a large metal door banging shut).

Only one problem, do you think it’s earthquake-proof? (If you want to see more pictures of this work of genius, look here.)

Ok, enough of that humor. (because you know I’m just kidding, right? RIGHT??) The real first step in my quest for protection is research. I found a few sites to help me learn exactly what I need:

• The National Hurricane Center
• Ready.gov
• The New Survivalist (Shoot, how did this link get in here?)

And, honestly, that is all I have done so far. I have been reading up on what we need and how to prepare, but I haven’t actually done anything yet. We had way too much fun this weekend (Happy Birthday Morgan!!) and I never got around to putting it together. Sorry folks, let’s see how many posts I can drag out of this simple to do.

Emergency Kit: Add to the To Do List

I’m putting this one up here for accountability purposes. According to this map:

We need to get our Emergency kit together! If you note the little maps on the bottom, my hometown is high risk for both hurricanes and earthquakes. Uh oh, I should really start preparing.

This is a short post, but just know I pledge to prepare an emergency kit by next week. See you then! Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

Living Room Ideas

Now that you have seen the pictures of my beautiful living room, let’s talk about what I want to change. I know, I know, why would I want to change perfection?

Let’s look at the soon-to-be before once more:

Let’s start from the top down. Curtains. I have been searching high and low for fabric I love. I found one this week that I am seriously contemplating:

 I love the color, the print, the batik look. My style tends to lean rather tropical, so I have to be careful to not go too far in that direction. With my 1970’s classic 8-foot ceilings, I want to hang the curtains closer to the ceilings and wider so I can pretend I live in luxury. I then need to figure out some way to block the windows when we watch tv, but I’m not sure how to finagle that yet.

I want to remove the rocking chair on the left and replace the two stools on the right with upholstered chairs. That is probably not happening any time soon, so don’t hold your breath.

I think the biggest effect will happen when I change out the rug for something more appropriately sized. My first inclination is a natural colored sisal rug, but I’m not sure if that would be soft enough for the babe. Right now I’m loving this jute rug from West Elm:

The coffee table is my favorite thing in the room, but it doesn’t quite match the couch. I am going to make it last for as long as possible, but I would like something white or metal or even upholstered. No more dark wood!

Add in two end tables with matching lamps. I saw these at Target the other day and with an interesting shade, they could be perfect:

But, check out that price tag – not necessarily Target cheap!

Looking at the far wall again:

I want to add some bookshelves along that wall to mirror the door opening. Let’s see if I can convince my delightful husband to build me something beautiful.

I really need to get started on projects at my house, but I can’t find the time! I have big plans this weekend and house guests. How do the big time bloggers find the time? I think I need a day planner. That would solve all my problems, right?

Let’s Talk Living Room

Disclaimer: I have no idea how to take pictures. Seriously. Don’t judge me for my ineptitude. One would think this is a requirement for running a blog, but I plan to defy the odds. As Nigel Lythgoe told that cute dancer last night, I’m “breaking down barriers.”

So, anyway, let’s get to the post. I want to show you my living room. Everything is exactly where we put it when we moved in two years ago and I have made no changes. It doesn’t match, look oppressively traditional and the scale is all wonky. But we rarely use it, so nothing changes. Want to see this spectacle of glory?

Here is looking out our front window from the dining area:

I am embarrassed to admit the window treatments were put up by the previous owner. Have I mentioned I am lazy? The couch is brown, and that’s all I have to say about it. The rug is too small and a particularly red shade of red. I love the coffee table.

The room is actually shaped like an L, so I will try to show it from other angles so you can get a feel. If you look to the left of the  couch, there is a large opening into the room. The front door is just behind the wall with the fern prints.

If you stand in the opening and look into the room, this is what you see:

Boring. The television is just to the right of the picture and the whole neighborhood can see it at night. We have discussed blocking the window, but we don’t want to deprive the neighborhood of their free drive in theater. That mirror on the back wall is very cool. It was given to us as a wedding present and I haven’t figured out where to put it in this house. It has the most beautiful relief carved wooden frame. Right now it’s a kissing booth for Mae. I washed the grubby handprints off just for this picture.

Now if we make a right turn, you look into the dining area:

Again, dark wood, no decorations, and messed up scale.

I have lots and lots of plans for this room. I just need to get my tuchus in gear and get started. Any thoughts on what I want? I’ll give you a hint:

Note: I said want. Don’t be shocked if this never happens.

Pretty Dining Room Chairs

Since I still haven’t convinced Greg that the table is a necessity in our lives, I think it would be fun to overwhelm him with pictures of pretty upholstered dining room chairs. Look at all the potential! (This could be an indication my own husband doesn’t read my blog.)

Those first four pictures were found on Lonny magazine’s online gallery. I love that magazine, and you should check it out immediately if you haven’t already. It is an online magazine – Lonnymag.com.

These two pictures were on Quadrille fabric’s site. They have bright colorful fabrics, which are probably way out of my range! If you notice, the green zig zag fabric is the same one I showed from isuwannee yesterday.

 via HouseBeautiful

And saving the best for last, my absolute favorite! Found on Pinterest via modernjanedesign.

New Store Love

On our way to the beach, we stopped at two amazing antique shops in Hollywood (no, not that Hollywood. A tiny town with the same name.) The first wasn’t open, but a man sitting outside selling art let us look around the warehouse. It was huge! We will definitely have to go back when the owner is there.

There were piles of furniture everywhere, in varying states of disrepair. Every time I moved around a stack, I would find a new treasure. Look at this amazing table – each of the legs looked like this:

And the top is below. I couldn’t get up high enough to get a good picture, but it was amazing! There were inlaid animals and palm trees.

It wasn’t in great shape, and I would have no idea how to repair it, but have you ever seen anything like that? There were no prices posted in the warehouse, so I have no idea if he has good prices or not.

We were directed to another store right down the street. I’m not sure if it was an antique store or a consignment shop, but I don’t care! The prices were astoundingly amazing. I could not believe the deals they had!

I really want this table:

The table, 4 chairs and leaf were $125 for everything! I am going to try to convince Greg to go back and get it. It felt like a game table, but it was plenty big enough for dining. The top of the table looked like parquet floor, but I have no idea what you call that. I searched all over and it seemed to be in great shape. The chairs have caned backs, which I failed to get pictures of.

I think I would remove the pads on the back, which were just buttoned through the caning, and reupholster the seats in something really fun. The fabric Jamie Meares used on the seat cushions in the below picture would be amazing, but with a brighter colored trim!

BTW – Jamie Meares at isuwannee may be one of my interior design style icons. I secretly love her from afar. You should check out her blog.

P.S. If I were a good blogger I would have gotten pictures of the store fronts, or even remembered their names. I will try and get that info next weekend. Or, you know, when I go back to get that table. (Hint, hint G. Man.)

My Weekend, through the lens of my iPhone

Greg got a room in Charleston for our Anniversary. Can you believe this was our first time leaving Mae overnight? 14 months is way too long. Mae was probably glad we were gone because she went to the beach with my sister and nephew.

We stayed at an inn downtown, ate dinner at Rue de Jean and saw a comedy show connected with Piccolo Spoleto. Dinner wasn’t until 8:15, so we wandered all over town popping into stores. I decided I need this straw bowler:

And Greg needs to look more Southwestern, though he wasn’t convinced:

At dinner I tried really hard to get a picture of the restaurant’s decor. I have always loved the french bistro styling. Judging by the evil eyes I was getting, I think the man sitting one table over thought I was trying to get a picture of him. He was wearing a v-neck that went to his belly button, so it wasn’t a completely unfounded thought. I decided to give up after a couple of attempts so I didn’t give him a complex. Here is the best I took:

They have brick walls, huge antiqued mirrors hanging above the railing and around the columns, round modern light fixtures and painted red bentwood chairs. I love it.

Saturday morning on our way to the beach, Greg stopped at a bike store, of course. This sign was very inspiring. It almost inspired me to start riding a bike . . . almost . . .

And P.S. two tanks of gas in my car would make for a very inexpensive bike, so I will pretend like I am high and mighty.

It’s Weekend Time!

Friday mornings always put me in the Caribbean spirit, thanks to the Friday ditty they always played on our local radio station Isle 95. Here is a song to get the rest of you in my tropical mood:

 

Since it’s almost the weekend, I guess I should reveal what else I bought last weekend. It is extraordinarily boring, but I am excited by it!

Yes, that is a vacuum, a very basic vacuum. We have been living with a broken vacuum for months now. I told Greg he wasn’t allowed to buy new bike shoes until we got a vacuum, and guess what he immediately rushed out to get? (I shouldn’t say allow, it’s more like I asked him sweetly if we could get the vacuum first, right Greg??)

We have light-colored carpets, and with two long-haired dogs and a baby who still spits up at 13 months, they are not in the best shape. We needed something with a lot of power and a good warranty. A local Oreck store was offering a special, and we went in and found this basic one for $199 plus a free case of new bags. I have used it daily since we got it, and it is so much better than our old Bissell! The only problem is it does not come with the hand-held and attachments like all of the other models. We figure we can break out the Wet Vac, and use our old vacuum attachments when we need to do the edges and the furniture. I think Greg loves that Wet Vac more than me, so he loves the excuse to use it!

Speaking of loving his wife, Greg and I have been married for 5 years today! I can’t believe it’s been that long. He sent me some beautiful peonies and a potted plant. I had a bouquet of peonies and I have to give him props (yes I said props, mad props, in fact.) for remembering!

Plants and flowers never last in my house because we get very little light in through the windows. Does anyone have any suggestions to make them last longer?

P.S. My Leisurely Activity

Look what I’m reading for fun these days:

It is actually really interesting. And, seriously, look at that chair: