Michelle's Foyer

Ahhh, it's finally done. My friend Michelle has this huge foyer that is open to the living and dining room. It had a big empty white wall that was not quite right for furniture placement and too big for just a single piece of art so she hired me to decorate the space for her and make curtains for her living room that looks out to a lanai and the pool area.

I made the tapestry from a large splatter painted oil cloth and some art paper I found at a craft store. I fell in love with this piece of gauzy floral fabric at JoAnne's and talked her into getting it just in case we could use it somewhere.

I'd found the copper planters online but they were quite spendy so I assumed she'd not want them but once she saw them she was in love so we ordered them and then went to a wholesale floral supply here in Vegas that sells only to decorators. I told them I was a decorater (because I AM decorating something, therefore I'm a decorator) and Michelle's green money was as good as any decorators so they let us buy some really nice artificial plants and products.

We sort of went crazy picking stuff out because Michelle fell in love with everything she saw. I wasn't sure if I could make all the stuff she liked come together but as you can see, it's pretty good. She absolutely loves loves loves it and that is the finest endorsement of all. It represents HER taste, her style, her colors, her vision and I just got lucky enough to arrange it in a way that pleased her. I like it too and it's not even my style or color scheme.

She liked what I did with her living room and foyer so much that she had me help her pick out a few things for her bedroom. All of this stuff came as is so I just had to mount it on the wall and lay the rug in place, but she's thrilled with the way it all ties together. I'm very happy that she's very happy. Nothing makes me feel better than helping someone else achieve their own dreams. Getting paid cash money helps me achieve my dreams. Win Win

Hobbit Hut

This is an old 8 person hot tub that was in poor shape so I decided to turn it into a Hobbit Hut in my playground side of the yard. I've scraped off all the old foam insulation and cut off the old pipes and cleaned it so that its ready to glue the artificial river stones onto it to give it a rock mountain look. I'm also going to glue various resin or ceramic knick knacks (donated by others...hint hint!) in between the rocks to give it some whimsey and funkiness that will make it fun to look at and add color.

I'll have BABB cut some various sized circular holes near the top to which I'll mount some colored glass bowls from a thrift store to create a fun bubbly sort of window of colored light glowing down inside.

 Then I'll mortar between everything to finish it off and then on the very top I'll be adding the masterpiece, the FROG!!! This is a magic kissing frog that grants your wish if you kiss him....as long as your wish is for more frog kisses.

The door will be cut from an old wood door that was upstairs of my cabin and I'll use some various products and found items to dress it up to look similar to the one pictured. I have some really old hinges that were on my cabin as well as this decorative grate from an old wood stove door that has a cool sliding contraption that will give a sort of speak-easy apparatus to the door.

I think I'll also plant virginia creeper and Hollyhock flowers around the back and base so that as they climb up and around they'll give a natural setting for the hut. Inside I plan to lay a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet and some outdoor cushions.

I'm so excited to start working on this project, as soon as the upstairs bedrooms are finished and the garden is harvested. Then the next project will be painting the bus and building my "Tribute to the Eternal God's of Laundry" clothes line (which will have scandelous underwear strung on it).

Oh yeah, I have about 20 pairs of foam flip flops so far for my "The Path to Hell-O is Paved With Flip Flops" installation. I could use some more if anyone wants to mail me their old flip flops when the season is over.

Garden July 2010

July 17, 2010

These are pictures of my yard and garden in New Harmony, Utah. We go up on weekends and work on the various projects and try to be comfortable in the little old pioneer home I call "the cabin". It was built in 1868 and I've owned it almost 16 years now and have been fixing it up slowly since I bought it. The garden and yard are my favorite parts and I'm happiest when I'm out there working, pulling, digging, sweating, weeding, planning, building, organizing, and nurturing whatever I can coax out of the soil. 

The vegetable garden is my most successful project ever and seems to ooze vegetables from every pore. I love it so much.

I went to my family reunion recently and my daughter wanted to create a banner or tapestry showing all the various branches of our family tree with little leaves or something to represent the various people in each family. I found a yellow sheet and some canvas fabric at a thrift store and made the tree and sealed the edges with fabric paint and then embellished it with gold, bronze, and silver paint pens. Holly provided the craft foam and we let each member of the family decorate their own doll to hang on the tree with a little brass brad. It was lots of fun and the individuality in each character really made the tree.

My brother has a little old air stream that he gutted and then built some beds inside. He painted it white with some brown floors and then walled off the irrepairable bathroom and we created a faux fireplace. I painted the rocks and then decorated the mantles with some pine and holly branches and the other chatzke's my brother had collected. He cut out some plywood foot and headboards and we glued some baby pictures and then painted the dwarf names on the headboards. My sister made some curtains and little costume details for the coat and hat rack.

It was  huge hit with everyone and really helped carry the theme of the Snow White and Seven Dwarves cottage. My brother will probably obsess over it some more but for now it's pretty cute.

I made this family picture for my mother and misspelled their but otherwise it turned out really cute. I'd drawn this elevation of a victorian home for a project in Wisconsin that my husband and I'd seen and so I used parts and pieces of that drawing to create the larger home where I cut out the doors and windows to create the house full of children. Bill made the frame.  I think Mom really loves it.

I made this one after one of the family reunions where we got photo images of everyone in the family. I think it needs a lot of updating since we've added so many since that reunion five years ago. Mom likes this one too but we haven't framed it yet. She's run out of room in her house for displaying stuff.