All Lit Up

I have been working up a storm around the house. I think with fall and winter coming (ugh...) I'm starting to "nest" and tidy up/spruce up our home.

I've been thinking/planning/preparing a new project that I'm so excited about. I love lamps, so when I saw a DIY pendant lamp article in a craft magazine recently, I nearly flipped my lid. Here it is... drumroll, please:

At Night

And in the light of day.

Here's how I did it:

1.) At Containerstore.com I bought two slatted bamboo wastebaskets (for over $50--ouch, but well worth it)

2;) Once the wastebaskets arrived, I measured a pendant lamp socket I had from another lamp and went to the hardware store and bought a hole saw attachment in the appropraite size for a mere $7

3.) I took one bamboo wastebasket, drew a perfect "X" on the bottom (which will actually be the top of the lamp) to find the center. I attached the hole saw to my drill and carefully drilled a perfect circle through the wood.

4.) A little light sanding made the hole smooth, and my light socket fit perfect.

5.) With a hand saw, I cut off the very bottom of the second wastebasket (which will become the bottom of the lamp) and sand the cut parts smooth.

6.) After a little brainstorming, {I determined the lamp was too heavy to hang directly from the cord of the light socket} I devised a simple hanger for the lamp. I returned to the top part of the lamp and drilled two small holes relatively close to each other, with a drill bit, on either side of the larger hole cut for the socket.

Next, I cut two long lengths of sisal twine and threaded one through each set of small holes. With several knots joining all the pieces of twine, I had a hanger for my lamp.

7.) I lightly sanded the "top" of each wastebasket and spread wood glue evenly over each half. After being lined up perfectly, I weighed it from the top with a heavy book and let it dry overnight, hoping the cats wouldn't knock it over.

8.) I couldn't wait to get up the next morning and hang my fabulous lamp!

I really can't believe how easy this project was. The hardest part was shelling out the $50 bucks for the wastebaskets. I wish I would have photographed each step, but didn't know it would turn out so well.

Hello Happy-Chic!

I am a big fan of Jonathan Adler (I named my cat after him, for God's sake!) and his design philosophy of "Happy Chic," modern and classy meets cheerful and fun. So I kept this in mind when working on my lastest projects.

First, I found this mug on a recent thifting trip:


I have been on the lookout for a footstool to make over, and got my chance this weekend. This beauty was $5. I like this simple shape and the tapered legs--but the brown vinyl and chipped wood needed help!

Ta-da! Some white paint and Ikea fabric made for a total transformation.

Matt found a great spot for it in the living room. We can use it for extra seating when we have guests. Lovely!

Another really simple little project involves a set of white ceramic coasters (also a thift find) inspired by something similar I saw at the MoMa online shop. I cut circles of colorful felt to fit into the coasters. It's a nice pop of cheerful color on our coffee table.

While flipping through the newest issue of Sunset magazine, I came across a fabulous article on a beachy home in San Francisco.

My eye immediately went to all the plants in the window! This is so beautiful--I can't stop drooling over it, even though it looks a lot like our home!

I am envious and inspired by this print-chair-pillow combination. Simple, textural and visiually intriguing. Happy-chic for sure!

Market

It been a couple weeks since we've had a chance to go to the Farmer's Market. So I was really excited this week. We made a b-line to Mark's stand and I was thrilled to see several different types of aloe for sale.

As always, it was a hard decision but I came home with this lovely striped beauty. Towards the beginning of the season, I had admired a much larger version on Mark's table, and was happy to see this one--a small plant for a small price :)

Other items at the market were very vibrant and plentiful, like these green tomatoes.

I was so happy to see these pepper plants--I've wanted one for awhile and the vendor had several varieties. Aren't they pretty?

Honey!

On our way to the market, I stopped to look into the large window of a tailoring shop on the corner. I loved looking in and seeing all her stuff. Very pretty!

Blooming Sanseveria

This one is all Matt! He has two very large, robust snake plants which are now in bloom.
I am proud to say I have a husband with a green thumb. I'm a lucky girl!


The flowers are really delicate and have a nice scent.

We've noticed ants are attracted to the flowers (you can see them if you look at the photo closely). I'm not sure where they are getting into the house, but they are crawling all over the flower stalk. It doesn't look like they are damaging the plant, so perhaps there is a nectar on the flowers they like? Watching them, I cannot figure out what they are doing.

It's Hot--Like it or Not

It's a scorcher here in Wisconsin! This was the scene before we got the air conditioner fixed late last week. Poor babies! They were so hot, they were both napping laying on their backs! Cute, but sad!

Unlike the cats, however, my plants are LOVING the heat, inside and outside the house. My Euphorbia Quadrangularius that I've had maybe a month and a half has sprouted several branches--one of them almost 7 inches long! I think if I looked hard enough I could see it growing!

I can't believe I haven't posted photos of my garden yet this year! It's really looking nice and everyone seems to be very happy and healthy.

I found this fun hippo planter at an antique store recently. How cute is he?!

One of my favorite plants is this fan aloe. It's been doing very well, despite frequent re-pottings to find a good fit.

A shot of most of the garden. Adler loves to come out and chew on the catnip growing in pots.

I have an absolutely beautiful cactus bloom that just started to open last week.

Amazing--I love cactus flowers!!

In-between taking care of all my plants, I've had a little time for thrift shopping :) These are my finds over the last weekend. My favorite is the pair of vintage owl mugs I got for $.69 each. I found a really great hand-woven wool table runner, a cool book on houseplants from the '70's, an interesting book about the desert (I adore the cover design), a roll of funky paper that I can frame, and a pair of brand-new baskets that can be hung on the wall. What a haul--and it all looks so pretty together!

Happy Summer!

I love summer! Vacations, long days, barbecues and gardening--I wish it was summer all year long. But here in Wisconsin, it's not. So I have to enjoy it as much as I can while it lasts. And that means heading to the Farmer's Market bright and early on Saturday mornings.

By far my favorite stop to make at the market is Mark and Chris's stand from Creekside Farm. They drive all the way from Prairie du Chein to Madison and they bring with them all kinds of interesting and unusual succulents. Later in the season they harvest equally wonderful vegetables like purple tomatillos and, our favorite, mouse melons. Mark knows me by name, and by now, he likes me enough to give me a discount.


This stunning aloe caught my eye immediately. I love the color and the beautiful fine lines in the leaves. Don't worry--I didn't buy it, it seems too beautiful for even my collection. :)

I was admiring the red Gasteria at the top of this photo. Maybe next week...

But I did go home with a little gem. This is a Euphorbia Quadrangularus, named for its 4-sided stems. It is currently indoors, being babied. Speaking of babies, you can see our little girl, Birdie in the upper left corner. :)

Roadrunners & Aloes

Here is my first succulent dish garden! I finally put my Haeger red planter to good use. Towards the back of the planter is a small Haworthia, an aloe variety, and in the front is a lovely little succulent (possibly Kalanchoe?) with interesting leaf shape and color. The aloe is very sensitive to heat/light, and I'm wondering if it will be ok with these other plants in the long run. We shall see!

I found these super awesome ceramic cups with a very cool roadrunner (and little cacti) on them! I just love them! As a bonus, they fit several of my tinier plants, like this unusual aloe I picked up a few weeks ago from my friend Mark at the farmer's market.

Speaking of aloes, these two beauties are my newest additions. The plant on the left is a Blue Aloe "Elf" which needs to be re-potted and cleaned up a bit, and I'm really at a loss as to what kind the plant on the right is. It's not an Aloe Vera (it is growing little sprouts along a stem, which Veras don't have), it's not variegated, and it looks similar to a mini aloe I have which is red, but this one is pure green. It can't be that rare; I got it at Home Depot!

You may remember a very similar photo I posted not too long ago--this little cactus was blooming when I bought it, then a couple weeks ago it bloomed again! When the blossoms were just opening, they were a darker, more vibrant pink and after they were a day or so old, they faded to this lovely soft pink. So pretty!!

Plant Bonanza

(above is a very lovely planter I picked up last weekend while on a mini-vacation in Door County, Wisconsin. I planted some tiny Burrow's Tail sedum in it. I love it!)

I hope every one's Spring is well under way. I have been quite busy, although can't quite pinpoint what it is I've been doing! I'm happy to have some spare time to post about all the exciting plant things going on now that the weather is finally turning nice.

A few weeks ago, we got an invitation to visit a friend-of-a-friend's semi-public greenhouse in Monroe. Terri and his wife Nancy are moving to Hawaii very soon, and are trying to sell as many of their plants as possible. I personally think they are CRAZY--as beautiful as I'm sure Hawaii is, they have an absolutely wonderful home (I regret not taking more photos) and many spectacular plants they will not be taking with them.

Inside their greenhouses, we had our pick of nearly endless herbs and, not so plentiful, but equally great succulents. I love how these sedum look against the stark, back-lit walls of the greenhouse.

This rather large potted Opuntia was so lovely with its shades of green, red and grey.

Terri had many large Epiphytic cacti--several of which were in bloom.
I now have three succulent bonsai from Terri and Nancy. Where else can you get a beautiful bonsai for under $20? And they have loads of them!



This big aloe was really stunning.

My favorite part of the visit was seeing Terri and Nancy's home. As a modern architecture freak, I really loved their house. The photo below is of an unbelievably huge Staghorn Fern hanging above their living room. The above photo is looking down into the living room from the kitchen/dining area upstairs.

My sister and her boyfriend have a much, much smaller Staghorn hanging on their living room wall. It looks so beautiful--a piece of art!

Among their other great plants is this really neat Chestnut Tree. I'm envious!

This photo was taken a few weeks ago in my Mom's garden, one of the very first flowers we saw this Spring! So beautiful!