My Obsession with Dahlias

I was home in bed all weekend, I've been sick for over two weeks with this nasty respiratory virus that just won't quit. Matt and I both started at the same time, but of course while I am good at being proactive with his health (doctor appts and meds and rest), I am not so good about it with myself, trying to tough it out until I'm having trouble breathing. Matt is better, I am not. So as you can imagine, the house looks like a bomb went off rolled in a disaster smothered in messy sauce. You have to literally wade through toys. There are no clear surfaces. My eye might be twitching but I'm following doctor's orders to rest, because I can't take being sick anymore and I really can't clean when I can't even take a deep breath. So I'm resting and recuperating and doing other things. Ignore the mess.

ANYWAYS. What I have been doing is planning the garden. And the yard. In detail. I've ordered my dahlia bulbs and garden seeds, made plans for spring. I'm so excited!

I'm going to share the raised bed garden plan this week in separate post, because I have PLANS with lots of DETAILS because the garden is new and my dream garden and this will be the first year I get to plant it for a full season. CAN YOU TELL I AM SO EXCITED?!

Today I want to focus on DAHLIAS. Dahlias have always been one of my favorite flowers, alongside zinnias and peonies. When I first started gardening I ordered a bunch of dahlia bulbs and I was so busy with a million other things, I didn't give them the extra bit of care they needed. Most died the first year, and all but one (my purple Thomas Edison) died in year two. I bought a couple more, killed those too and then pretty much gave up for a while with the exception of my two workhorses that refused to die no matter how badly I treated them - the purple Thomas Edison and a short dahlia with pink-yellow blooms that I didn't have a name for. I called it a "medium sunset dahlia" for its medium height and sunset colored blooms. I couldn't find the name of it online, the pink-yellow blooms were similar to popular varieties but not quite right and all of them were tall dahlia plants.

This year I found the name when browsing Longfield Gardens website (directed there by the Impatient Gardener from her dahlia shopping). It's a Gallery Pablo! The exact same flower coloring, the short plants, the same prolific blooming. I'm so happy to finally have a name for it after all these years.

Hello Gallery Pablo! My favorite dahlia of garden beds and borders. (Photos from Longfield Gardens)


Garden Beds and Borders
Assuming that all my dahlia bulbs survive the winter after being properly stored and divided thanks to video tutorials from floret, I should have lots to work with next year in my garden beds around the yard. These are all in my basement right now: Gallery Pablo, Bishop of Llandaff, Thomas Edison, Duet, Daisy Duke, Cornel Bronze and a big mix of short Figaro dahlias in pink, red, orange, purple and yellow. I also have two Bishop's Children dahlias that didn't bloom last year (they were placed in shady spots and didn't thrive) that could be any off the colors from the bottom right (orange, red, yellow or pink). I still have seeds leftover from last year too, so I want to plant a couple more hoping to get orange/pink/yellow to compliment the red ones (Bishop of Llandaff) I already have.

(Photos from Leafari, Longfield Gardens and Park Seed)

Thomas Edison, Duet, Daisy Duke and Cornel Bronze are tall dahlias that need full support. Gallery Pablo, Bishop of Llandaff and the Bishop's Children dahlias are all medium height and need just a little support. The Figaro dahlias are all short and grow into big balls of green with colorful flowers and don't need anything but sunshine and space to grow. Some of these have designated spots in the garden where they will go in the spring, but most of these do not because my dahlia obsession is now out of control. Luckily the garden border between the driveway and the fence needs a serious face lift and will be the perfect spot for a dahlia border in between the perennials.


Cutting Garden Dahlias
In the raised bed garden, here's a preview of what I'm planning in the dedicated dahlia bed - a mix of gorgeous dahlias in shades of pink, coral and orange in a variety of sizes and textures. 4 of these I already have and 6 of these will arrive in late March. When choosing the varieties, I considered my favorite colors (pinks and corals) and then went for a range of sizes and shapes - primarily thinking about how they would look in bouquets in my house. Last year it was such a treat to have so many bouquets from all the flowers in the raised bed garden, it made me extremely happy and something I want to repeat. We have the space for it and I selected dahlias that make my heart flutter.

The dahlias include: Belle of Barmera, Fairway Spur, Labyrinth, Preference, Cornel Bronze, Daisy Duke, Totally Tangerine, Peaches and Cream, Apricot Desire, and Duet.

((Photos from Leafari)

Belle of Barmera: big dinnerplate dahlia in pink, peach, magenta and coral with twisty petals
Fairway Spur: big dinnerplate dahlia in salmon with pinched petal tips
Labyrinth: a popular classic, dinnerplate dahlia in shades of apricot, pink, peach
Preference: medium dahlia in shades of peach, pink and salmon with cactus petals
Cornel Bronze: a small to medium dahlia in shades or orange and corals, pom pom shape
Daisy Duke: a medium dahlia in shades of fucshia, magenta, coral
Totally Tangerine: an anenome dahlia in shades of orange, coral, peach, pink in unique anenome shape
Peaches and Cream: a medium dahlia in shades or peach and pink
Apricot Desire: a medium dahlia in shades or orange and yellow
Duet: a medium dahlia with red, wine and white petals. It's very striking, but was sent to me by mistake (I ordered a Belle of Barmera and got a refund because it was late in the season).

If I could, I'd also squeeze in a Thomas Edison and a Gallery Pablo. The Thomas Edison would balance out the dark Duet and the Gallery Pablo would balance out the Totally Tangerine because they are both medium height dahlias and could be planted on the end facing the sun. But dahlias need 12-18" of space and the bed is 4x8 ft... so limiting myself to 10 is safer. And then next year I can move Duet out and order one of the other bulbs I'm eyeing, like a Penhill Watermelon, Jowey Winnie or Bed Head. (In the name of "self control" I told myself I was limited to getting 4 new dahlias this year, like last year, and that's it. Which turned into 5 when I remembered that technically I received a refund for Belle of Barmera last summer since it turned out to be a Duet. And then 5 turned into 6 because I don't really have much self control at all when it comes to plants and flowers... just ask Mike when I get home from shopping at Trader Joe's. Or Home Depot. Or Ikea. Or basically any place that sells inexpensive plants.)

Now I'm going back to browsing my rose catalogs. Especially this one.

Winter Organizing: A Summary

I was on an organizing binge all winter. One room at a time, one section at a time. Nowhere was safe. I've been hoarding the most inexpensive baskets, bins and crates I could find from Ikea, Target, etc. I was determined to get things to a place that suits our lifestyle and our needs. Homework materials are now easily accessed, along with art supplies. Everything has a home. And letting go of the things we don't use or need anymore. I've been telling Mike it's because of Marie Kondo's Netflix show, but that's a half truth because while I am motivated/inspired/horrified by her, I also had been avoiding the basement. As long as I was organizing every inch of the rest of the house, I could avoid everything that needs to be done in the basement. Because the basement is a black hole.

(I did make SOME progress on the basement before the weather warmed up.)

In the living room we made everything more kid friendly. I recycled magazines and used the magazine baskets for their books and magazines instead - easily within reach for reading. Games were sorted into the bookcase cabinet. Accessories rearranged. We added baskets for coloring supplies, homework, paper, coloring books. The TV stand was redone with new Pudda IKEA baskets for video games and all DVDs went to basement because the kids stream everything now.

In the playroom, right after Christmas I went through every inch and toy. It's not perfect and the kids messed it up 5 minutes later, but for those 5 minutes it was beautifully organized. We have a million bins, everything technically has a home and all the outgrown toys have "mysteriously" disappeared.

In the dining room I reorganized our dining room office cabinet with lots of baskets and cup holders for all our office supplies. It was out of control before, just piles of papers and bills and things stacked all over the place. By the back door I'm struggling - we have a stack of crates and bins for outdoor stuff, sports gear, seasonal stuff... and it's ugly. It's also hard to keep everything organized. I am trying to come with a good solution here... but I haven't figured it out yet. It's functional but ugly:

In the kitchen I hit every drawer and cabinet.  While we use everything in the kitchen (all the occasional appliances are in the basement because the kitchen is so small), it felt really good to get some baskets and small stacking crates in to organize things better. Especially in the pantry. In the fridge I have healthy snacks within reach for the kids organized for easy access with bins.

Upstairs I hit every closet (including the much dreaded linen closet) and cabinet and piece of storage furniture. The boys clothes are already well organized in a system for sizing (next size up or off-season stuff that should fit again is in the mini dresser in closet, outgrown stuff in trovast Ikea tubs above the dresser), but I did scour my closet, getting rid of half my shoes and freed up over a foot of hanging space in the closet for Mike. I added more hooks on all the closet walls to take advantage of vertical/side space. I added valet hooks to doors, stacking crates and baskets.

So I have to admit, it feels pretty good to have things organized in all our closets and cabinets. We know where things are, we know where things go, I no longer avoid certain spots so I don't have to deal with the mess. We have a million inexpensive baskets/containers/crates/bins now but they were so necessary to do this right. I did a lot of shopping around to find inexpensive options that would work in a variety of places. 

Here's a list of my favorites baskets/containers/crates/bins:

Y-Weave Large Basket - Target 

I use these for shoes by every door - they hold a ton of pairs and are easy for the kids to throw theirs in. They are a great size - not too big but very roomy - these would also be good for toys.

Y-Weave Multi-pack 1 - Target 

Y-Weave Multi-pack 2 - Target

I use these for EVERYTHING. You can buy them all separately but the multi-pack is a better deal. We use the big ones for paper, coloring books, homework organizing, office supplies, art supplies, in the linen closet, toiletries in the bathroom, corralling stuff by the backdoor, plastic cups/plates/bowls in the kitchen island at the kids height so they can help themselves. I use the long narrow ones for art supplies, homework supplies (it's great they can pull out the whole basket and bring it to the table for coloring or homework, then put it away), cards for card games, batteries, random stuff kept in the bookcase, snacks in the pantry, small toys. The cups organize pens, markers, crayons, pencils. They hold kid silverware and dog treat bags in the kitchen. They corral bandaids, makeup, hair ties in the bathroom. In the kids rooms they hold tiny toys, pokemon cards, medicines in their dresser drawers. We have so many and yet I never feel like we have enough.

Y-Weave Multi-pack 3 - Target
These baskets are shallower than the first two packs. You can buy them separately but the multi-pack is a way better deal. I use these in the pantry for vitamins, spices, medicines, baking ingredients. On my nightstand, on my dresser, on the kitchen counter to corral stuff. In the cabinets to hold kitchen stuff sets together. Tools in the drawers. They make great trays in the fridge to hold healthy snacks easily within the kids reach.

Storex Stacking Mini Crates - Target
We have a ton of these and I keep ordering more. They are the perfect size for organizing kitchen stuff, the pantry, under the sinks, toiletries, cleaning supplies, bath toys, toy kitchen set food and plates, art supplies, tools, crafting supplies, chalk, tealights, gardening stuff... we have them everywhere because they are so handy and inexpensive (though be careful - on the Target website some 3pks are $3 and some are $15 so watch what color you pick). I love that they stack so the storage goes vertical as well. We even turn them on their sides and use them to stack glasses in the kitchen cabinets. They are kind of ugly, but they are a workhorse behind closed doors.

Torkis Laundry Tub - IKEA
These hold anything and everything, indoors or outdoors. We use these to hold balls, stuffed animals, outdoor toys. And when we entertain, we fill them with ice as drink tubs at parties.

Gles Boxes - IKEA
Playroom toys, outdoor toys, gear by the backdoor. In the basement we have a ton of these to organize our shelves and supplies. They are so inexpensive it's easy to stock up and just have them handy for whatever. I have these in green and black.

Dronas Boxes - IKEA
The collapsible canvas box universally sized for all the cube shelves, they come in lots of colors and these are the cheapest option and very durable. I like that they are canvas so they don't scratch the furniture. And they hold A TON.

Sockerbit Bin - IKEA
These hold toys in the playroom. Small tools in the basement. Tubs of kid paint. In the kitchen I use them to hold bags of onions and potatoes in the pantry. In the fridge these hold apples and oranges beautifully within the kids reach.

SKUBB Organizer - IKEA
I have these in all our dressers - perfect for adult sock drawers and organizing scarves/accessories. And they are perfectly sized for baby/kid's clothing when folding Marie Kondo style (which I was already doing! So they can see what they have!). All of mine are aqua.

Skubb Boxes - IKEA
I use these all over the house - the linen closet, bookcase cabinets, closet, dresser - even in our coffee table currently. They are a great size and because they are canvas, they don't scratch furniture. They are very lightweight and when you don't need them, they fold up.

Project Backyard Oasis: Spring Plants for My Big Garden Plan

Spring is here. It feels so good to be outside. I would totally sleep on the patio if the couch was a little longer. (Okay maybe not but I'm LOVING that winter is finally fading.)

The plants I've ordered online have started to arrive. Several of these I've been waiting months for. I wanted to order them before I chickened out. I've included pictures from  where I ordered them from (Park Seed, Burgess and David Austin Roses) because they give you a better idea of what I'm hoping for in a few years than a couple of twigs in the mud.

Climbers

First - a Gold Flame Honeysuckle for the patio pergola. It's pink and should grow 18-20 feet long. It's not supposed to have a million seedlings or try to take over the world, just some berries in the fall for the birds. I never considered honeysuckle for the pergola because it wouldn't provide enough shade, but now that we have the lattice pieces on top for that, it opened up new possibilities. And I have to admit I really love the super sweet smelling white honeysuckle I have on my obelisk.

Since this will take time to get established, I'm planting one Black Eyed Susan Vine next to it this year to fill the trellis in a bit (last year I planted 4 of them, covering more than half the trellis and grew about 8-10 ft and bloomed in the fall).

Second - a Pink Thornless Zephirine Climbing Rose for the arbor that's going over the garden gate. It's supposed to be hardy and disease resistant. And thornless is key being along a pathway where we could snag against it. I wasn't going to get a climber for this spot yet (not until we finished the garden), but this was less than $10 on sale and I couldn't resist it. All I can see in my head is how this will look in 3 years.

Last, but certainly not least, is the one thing I'm most excited about for the garden. It's an early birthday present to myself - a Lady of Shalott Climbing Rose from David Austin Roses. I've wanted one of these for years now and I had a coupon. And I decided it's an early birthday present to myself. I'm a sucker for any flower in sunset colors, and orange roses are my absolute favorite. Even better it's supposed to be great for rose novices like myself. This beauty is going on the side of the garage on a new trellis (which will be installed once the garage is painted). We want to build a short decorative pergola over the front of the garage to make it more attractive (since it's literally the center of our backyard...) and if we're lucky we can train the rose to grow onto it from the trellis. The idea is that this beauty will be seen from the house, deck and patio once it gets established.

I do have to laugh because for almost 10 years I've been the gardener that's afraid of aggressive climbers... and now I've gone from 2 short vines (an 8' purple clematis and a 6-8' honeysuckle added last year) to 5 climbing vines. Hopefully they won't try to take over the yard (except the Lady of Shalott Rose... that one can totally take over).


Perennials

Aaaaaaaaand of course I got a few flowering perennials to continue my garden fill-in project. From super discount online nursery that was having some really great sales, I snagged a 12 pack of creeping phlox, which will be distributed in "front row" spots in the garden beds that need filling in (especially in the front yard, interspersed with balloon flowers) and under trees where I planted phlox and asters last fall (but only 1 of each and it would look so much better if I distributed flowers all the way around the tree to eventually fill in). These arrived small, but they will hopefully fill in over time.

This is a bi-color butterfly bush that is supposed to go from orange to pink to purple. I feel a little guilty about this purchase because this was a total impulse buy. But it was SO PRETTY in the photos (once again I'm a sucker for flowers in sunset colors) and at the time it was on sale for $5. I have a spot for it picked out between the honeysuckle and the forsythia where the raspberries used to be (before they migrated to the other side of the forsythia). It will attract butterflies and hummingbirds along with the honeysuckle and compliment the pergola nicely.

Lastly, a 3-pack of lavender. 1 or 2 of these are intended for the raised bed garden non-rotating herb bed (I KNOW I SHOULDN'T BUY ANYTHING AHEAD OF TIME. But I did. I'm putting it in a pot for now) and 1 is going where the firewitch dianthus was before it was murdered by Morgan Mayhem (as a puppy before I had the fencing up).

All the flowers I started from seed this year will go into the ground or pots in early May. I'm excited to get all of those in the ground soon (lupines, balloon flowers, blanket flowers, black eyed susan vines, globe amaranths, figaro dahlias and bishop's children dahlias). Everything is under my grow light, slowly making progress.

I will also get a few annuals for my flower pots in a few weeks. The things that did best last year were the inexpensive multipack stuff (coleus, snapdragons, petunias, dianthus) and the things that did the worst were the fancy expensive ones (fancy petunias, calibrocha, etc.). So we'll be sticking to the easy plentiful stuff this year.

Couch Pillows

I ordered these pillows on Amazon back in January to go with our new couch. Mike and the boys all wanted a say in what I chose... I picked out the options but they had veto power. Sadly my Nordic floral folk pattern and the hipster patterned unicorn designs were vetoed. But we did all agree on these, so in the end it's probably for the best.

These are an indoor/outdoor burlap material that we have on another set of pillows and it seems to hold up well to the kids and dogs. And after the abuse my most recent pillows have gotten - I wanted something durable and cheap that also looked cute.

The set was very inexpensive (4 pillows for $18 at the time I ordered them) so I didn't think the metallic detail was really metallic ink... but in person, the effect was a little cheesy. If it had been a flat copper brown it would have been fine, but the fake metallic details were a cheesy gradient of peach to brown. It looks decent in photos but in person it was less than ideal.

So my solution was a $2 tube of metallic copper fabric craft paint. I washed the covers, slid a piece of cardboard inside and traced the fake metallic lines with real metallic paint.

In person the difference is awesome. In photographs its much harder to see... the metallic copper paint just looks brown in my pictures... but in real life it's PERFECT. Just the right amount of sparkle and sheen. No more cheesy peach gradient. On the left is the original stripe and on the right is the metallic paint mid-job.

I painted all 3 pillows that had the metallic detailing. Now it looks much better.  And I love the designs so this was a great way to fix a minor detail I didn't like ($2 + 1 hour of time). And now they are exactly what I wanted.

 You can see a little bit of the metallic detailing in the arrow below - it sparkles just enough.

And the style coordinates well with the existing pillow we've had forever in a similar geometric pattern. And I like the juxtaposition of modern pillows next to the busy traditional wallpaper and the busy traditional style rug. Our house has always been an eclectic mix of old and new, modern and traditional.

I realized after taking the pictures that one of the pillows in is in the wash with chocolate ice cream stains... but that's the beauty of 4 cases, we just rotate them! And the paint is holding up well so far to washing the past two months (which is fairly frequent since my kids are often sticky and Morgan loves to lay on pillows).

The Toy Tamer & The Playroom Plan

We have a problem that I've been hesitant to share because it's grown so overwhelming... Our playroom is drowning in toys. It looks nothing like that photo above from our house tour anymore. I know this is a common problem for parents, especially ones like us in a small house with kids. I don't think we have an unreasonable number of toys in our home (we do edit, rotate, donate) - it's just that they playroom is small, the bedrooms are small, we don't have a closet on the first floor. We don't have one of those finished basements where the boys can go and be wild. In a larger space the collection would probably even look small, but in a tiny room it feels overwhelming. In a small house we have to be smarter and more efficient with storage to make things work. It's not easy.

Back in May, I finally called in a professional who specializes in toy organization. I met her at a designer's showcase and was really impressed. She calls herself the toy tamer and made some amazing recommendations for the playroom, Matthew’s nursery and Oliver’s room. All using existing furniture and a shopping list for IKEA. The woman is a genius.  One thing I really liked about her was that she didn’t recommend further purging the boy’s toy collection to fit our space, her goal was to maximize our storage and use the space in the most efficient way so that the kids would have room to play and I wouldn't lose my mind with the clutter.

The toy tamer’s plan (which she provided and I redrew with a few modifications) is to use our space as efficiently with lots of good storage and leaving room to play. Here’s the diagram:

The first recommendation was to replace the IKEA Trofast toy storage system we have in here. When we first bought it, the concept sounded so great in theory when we were converting this room from a sun room to a playroom (tubs that slide out! In different sizes! It’s so versatile and can be rearranged!), but in reality the system is awful. We bought the catalog sales pitch hook, line and sinker without doing our research - we were exhausted new parents in a rush to just GET.IT.DONE. The system was livable when we had just one kid, even if half the toys didn’t fit in the bins and the lids never stayed on and they wouldn’t slide if any toys stuck out even ¼” from the top (seriously it’s so frustrating). With two kids and two sets of toys though? Impossible. Now toys are just piled up everywhere all the time with nowhere to go. The toy tamer came in, pointed to the Trofast shelves and said, “don’t you hate those things? I love IKEA but that toy storage system is the absolute worst.” It made me feel a lot better - at least it wasn’t just us!

The Trofast system will be replaced with Kallax cube shelves, like the one we use in Oliver’s bedroom. The room is wide enough to fit two units across. We’ll fill the cubes with bins and boxes of different sizes and shapes for small toys and put larger toys directly inside the cubes. Down the road we might get a few door and/or drawer inserts as their toys and needs change (one thing I like about this system is how flexible it is). In addition to the cube-sized bins, we will also pick up a few other larger basket/bins/buckets to corral larger toys, stuffed animals, etc. For art supplies we are going to repurpose two wall-hanging shoe bins on the wall (they are the perfect size for this - I saw it at the toy tamer’s exhibit at a designer’s showcase and was so impressed!).

Here's a visual version of my shopping list:

The only big decision we have to make is how tall we want the Kallax shelves to be along this wall. We don’t want to do the 4x4 system because it’s too tall and will block too much of the windows. The 2x4 will fit nicely under the windows, but might not be enough storage for the long term. The toy tamer recommended we buy two 1x4 units as well (they can attach with brackets you can buy at IKEA). We can use these to build our own 3x4 shelf and block part of the windows (which we keep closed most of the time anyway to avoid the view directly into the neighbor’s driveway) or we can put one of them in front of the radiator (since they are open backed) and then use the other in Oliver’s bedroom to give his bedroom more toy storage. Either way, we will have 8 additional cubes of storage in the house.

Here’s the alternate floorplan:

The second big recommendation from the toy tamer (which I'm sure you noticed from the pictures) was to replace the big couch with a cozy armchair for reading. The couch takes up a lot of room and we really only use a chair’s worth of space on it - the bulk of the couch is used as a landing strip for blankets, pillows and stuffed animals. In theory the sleeper sofa worked as a place for overnight guests, but in reality the room is too small and crowded/cluttered for guests to actually stay. By replacing the couch with a chair we suddenly have a lot more room to work with.

I’m not sure what we are going to do for a rug yet in here. The toy tamer recommended carpet tiles because they are easy to clean and if that fails, replace. I’ve also seen some really fun inexpensive options at IKEA and on Amazon. No matter what we decide though, we are holding off until Georgia is no longer with us because we cannot put anything new down on the floors with her constant incontinence issues. So for now we will live with what we’ve got.

My change to the floorplan was to eliminate a dedicated dress up area (with a big basket, hooks and a mirror) and instead put a bookcase on that wall. I know it will fit nicely in that spot because it currently lives on the other side of that same wall in the living room. We need more book storage for the kids downstairs and a high-up storage spot to keep choking hazard toys like legos out of Matthew’s reach. It would also be a great place for storing games, puzzles, etc. I want to move the dress up hooks under the windows between the chair and the cube shelves and then put the rest of the stuff in a big cube shelf bin next to it.

So far, the only part of this plan we’ve implemented is removing the couch. It’s actually back in the living room, just like when we first moved in. The living room couch we bought was very pretty but it was not kid-friendly. At all. Unwashable and prone to stains. A frame that couldn’t handle boisterous boys - the cushion wrapping separated from the frame in front so that we couldn’t take sitting on it for very long. Plus it didn’t provide enough seating for a family of 4. So we gave it away to Matthew’s summer nanny who we adore and happened to be moving into her first apartment (and needed a couch!). The old couch might not be the ideal size or shape for this room, but it’s A LOT more comfortable and the beige slipcover is removable/washable when sticky jelly fingers attack. Long term I still really want to get a small sectional in here, but that’s a post for another day (especially since IKEA has finally created the sectional of my dreams - modular pieces to build a size/shape that fits our weird room, reasonably priced, and kid-friendly removable washable covers!).

Anyways, we have a great plan in place. But just so you know how bad things have gotten, here's the ugly truth about the playroom... this is what it looks like RIGHT NOW. Without the couch.

Without a good storage system in place, this room is still a disaster. All we've been able to do is make room for the tent in here. I have rearranged everything several times in hopes of finding a more livable solution until we go to IKEA, but it's an impossible task. We are hoping to implement the rest of the playroom changes and give it a full overhaul in early September - the Kallax system will be 15% the last week in August so it’s the perfect time to pick them up. Also Oliver will be in school full time after Labor Day which will *hopefully* give me a better chance at doing some real organization in here!

New Porch Mat

When we stained the deck I realized it was time to replace the doormat by the sliding door. It was shedding to the point where the birds were stripping it to make nests and it was making more of a mess than preventing. It was time to replace it and I realized that it was also time for the front porch mat to get refreshed as well... The bicycle mat looked faded and worn instead of cute.

The old porch mat dresses up the refinished deck - it's still back door cute even if it's worn and faded.

Also... the stained deck... it's so much better. No more peeling. No more splintering. Just smooth dark brown deck planks. It's repelling water like a dream. The deck is a lovely place to be again.

Then the porch! It needed something new and fresh. I love the doormats at Target. Especially when they are on sale and I can order them with free shipping and the red card discount. This year’s bicycle design is super cute and the natural background color looks great with our yellow siding.

I need to clean the porch floor and we want to oil it this summer (another thing to add to the list), but the porch really looks lovely these days. The flowers in the pots, the new mat, the updates we’ve made - I feel like it’s such a welcoming space this summer.

Big Boy Room Bedding

Figuring out bedding for Oliver’s room was tough. There are lots of adorable options out there but a lot of them are really expensive. With a new baby coming (double daycare!) we’re on a tight budget for this room. Plus little kids grow so fast and their tastes change so quickly - just because he loves space or dinosaurs now doesn’t mean he will love it in a year or two. Even if I went with something timeless, it’s hard to spend $300 on a quilt, even if it’s gorgeous, when little kids can make such messes on their beds. Ideally I wanted to pick something out that wouldn’t be the end of the world if it got ruined from all the gross things that happen with kids.

The bedding needed to be a lightweight quilt or coverlet, Oliver is a hot sleeper and he will roast under a duvet + duvet cover combo. We were looking for a solid, stripe or classic geometric pattern that wouldn’t go out of style (I didn’t really want plaid, chevron or dots). I was also hoping it would be soft and less than $50 for a twin. I scoured sales and my favorite stores, but I couldn’t find anything that fit the bill.

I was starting to get desperate… and then we were strolling through Target and walked by the kid’s bedding isle. They had some really cute sheet sets on display for a big bedding sale, and a friend of mine recently raved about how soft and lightweight they were (her kids are also hot sleepers). We were browsing and Oliver fell in love with a set white sheets that had navy blue stars that matched his dark blue ceiling. A ceiling he was very proud of since he helped paint it himself. And while we were looking at sheets I noticed they had a few quilts tucked away - I was immediately drawn to the solid green and solid navy blue ones. Timeless and classic colors, super soft, and the price was perfect at $27 for a twin on sale. I let Oliver pick between navy blue and green - he chose green, his current favorite color.

I think the leaf green will look great in the room - it coordinates well with the yellow and navy blue. Doing the bedding and ceiling navy blue probably would have been too much blue! To tie everything together I’d like to find a navy blue throw pillow that ties the ceiling color into the bed - I think that would be the right balance.

Georgia T-Shirt

I found this amazing t-shirt on clearance from Target. It’s GEORGIA. I wish they had adult sizes. And a onesie for the baby.

From Seattle

When I went to Seattle back in July, I didn't bring home a lot of souvenirs, but I have a soft spot for vintage postcards.  I meant to share these a lot sooner!

I think these would pair nicely with the ones we brought home from Cape Cod last summer. I'm picturing a small photo wall area with several vintage style travel postcards from places we've been... I just need a few more cards and a spot to hang them...

I also picked up this wooden french bulldog from the Molly Moon's ice cream shop, their mascot is a french bulldog and the ice cream is amazing (lemon blueberry... salted caramel...  strawberry balsamic . It's a mini wooden Georgia!

Sectional Window Shopping

First and foremost - I’m not actively shopping for a sectional right now. This post is purely window shopping/theoretical/allowing me to get my thoughts down to help make a decision down the road. The (very expensive) porch repairs ate our living room seating budget and then some. However, I have sofas on my mind these days - probably because two of my neighbors in identical houses are couch shopping and we are at the point where our current couch is starting to feel really cramped. Oliver is super active, jumping and climbing on everything everywhere and he’s on the couch, off the couch, in his little chair, climbing back on the couch, climbing on me, sitting on the couch, and jumping off again. My small windows of time to actually sit on the couch and relax have been reduced to becoming the human buffer between him and Georgia to keep them from irritating each other (Georgia doesn’t want to get kicked or hit by accident and Oliver hates being growled at). Mike avoids the couch all together and sits in the chair because there’s never enough room on the couch.

Our living room is small and it’s a weird shape and almost no wall space thanks to the doorways, radiators, stairs and front door. While someday we might change the layout (remove a doorway or move a door), that’s not in the cards right now. And with the front door in the middle of the room, we can’t get a normal sectional or even a wider couch to face the TV because we wouldn’t be able to open the front door. Even if we moved the TV to the other side of the room with the bookcases, the narrow room and front door will still limit the couch size. So our options are very limited.

I don’t want to spend a lot of money because dogs and small kids ruin furniture. Someday we’ll get nicer stuff, but what we need right now is a 5-10 year sectional to get us through the dog nails, sticky fingers, grape juice spilling, possible vomiting, marker wielding messy years. The most important thing is the size - it HAS to fit our small awkward space, an L shape but one side has to be short and still have a back so we can face the TV (no chaise lounges). The other important factors are durability/maintaining the couch and of course price. Currently there are 3 I have my eye on - unfortunately none of them are perfect but they could work.

1. West Elm Henry 3-Piece Sectional with wedge

Pros:

• The size is perfect, it’s as large as we could reasonably fit so we really maximize the seating in the space we have
• The wedge in the corner makes the corner seat usable for sitting
• I love the design of this couch, it’s beautiful in every way
• We can get the sofa done in a huge range of fabrics and colors
• The couch is really comfortable
• It’s West Elm so you know it’s good quality and should hold up well
• Removable cushions could at least be flipped in a staining incident or removed for cleaning up a mess emergency

Cons

• It’s expensive, even on sale. It’s still way cheaper than a lot of other sectionals out there, but I’m worried that it’s too expensive, too precious/high quality for where we are right now
• On top of the steep price, West Elm has high delivery fees (like $300+) and full sales tax
• No removable cover. When we choose a fabric we’ll have to choose between hiding stains or hiding Georgia’s dog fur. Plus I need help on what the most durable fabrics are (that’s anything but microfiber or faux suede)
• Not a flexible design - we have to commit to the layout of the sectional when we buy it

2. IKEA Friheten Sofa

Pros:

• This sofa is really compact and wouldn’t overwhelm the room
• If we added extra cushions it would feel like a full sectional
• The beige color would hide Georgia’s fur really well, the light gray fairly well
• It’s a sleeper sofa, which could be fun for kid sleepovers or a family movie night
• Hidden extra storage in the chaise piece
• The setup is flexible so we could always swap the layout
• The price is amazing, even if it was ruined somehow we could buy another and it would still be less than either other option.
• Flat $59 delivery and the store is in a half-sales-tax zone

Cons:

• The sofa doesn’t have arms, which makes it less cozy for curling up
• The cover is not removable at all. The beige or light gray color will stain easily. I don’t even think we could flip the bottom cushion if something bad happened
• It kind of looks like a cheaper apartment sofa
• We sat on this at the store and it was not that comfortable. It might just need breaking in (which Oliver is perfect for), but I’m not totally sure I’d love relaxing on it

3. IKEA Karlstad

This would actually be an Ikea hack that I saw a friend of mine do in her awkward living room space - they bought the 2+3 corner sofa and a Karlstad chair (unfortunately you can’t buy the pieces individually) and put then chair where the 2 piece couch would go instead. This gave them a perfectly sized sectional and a separate love seat. We could do this in our living room with the loveseat and the chair together and then use the leftover 3-seater couch in the playroom or sell it on Craig’s list.

Pros:

• A great size for the room once we cobble it together
• Removeable covers and the dark gray cover is washable. WASHABLE!
• We’d have an extra couch leftover for the playroom or craigslist
• The setup is flexible - we could always swap the layout of the sectional
• We know this couch holds up well and is really comfy once it’s broken in
• The price, even with the chair add-on is half the price of West Elm
• Flat $59 delivery and the store is in a half-sales-tax zone

Cons:

• The hassle of “hacking” an Ikea couch and dealing with the extra piece
• The light legs will have to be stained or painted so they don’t clash with everything else
• The removable cover in dark gray will show Georgia’s dog fur like crazy, but the light gray cover they sell is dry-clean only. They used to have beige, but not anymore
• The back is a little low and might not work with our console table behind the sofa
• It’s out of stock at a lot of stores, which makes me worry that it’s actually being discontinued even though it’s still online and on their app

So that's what we are thinking about these days when we sit in our living room. Should we get a new couch? When could we get a new couch? What new couch would be best fit? Depending on the day I lean towards something different - one day I think we should get something quality that will last longer and the next I want the cheapest one possible because Oliver and Georgia are so destructive. Or maybe if we keep waiting the perfect couch will come into existence and be the right size with removable washable covers in beige or gray that isn't going to break my budget. Fingers crossed...

New Fire Pit

For our shared birthdays this year, we upgraded our old fire pit (that was incredibly dangerous for small children - the whole thing got really hot, there was no safety screen/cover or barrier - a child could just walk into flames) to a fire table. We will still have to use a lot of caution and full supervision when using the fire table, but it definitely isn't quite as much of a death trap (though will still probably be mostly used for adult-only events).

The outer table rim is supposed to stay cool even when there's a fire - definitely good if a little one gets too close. This one also comes with a full grated cover to keep little hands out of the flames. And when it's not in use it converts into a coffee table... Mike would actually like to turn the table into a propane fire table long term with those special fire glass beads, which would eliminate all of the issues we have with wood smoke (like triggering asthma). But that's a project for another day.

Nightstand Knobs

I haven't forgotten about the master bedroom project. I haven't made any progress on the nightstands that continue to take up space in our basement, but I did manage to make a stop into Anthropologie for knobs for the nightstands.

I had my choices narrowed down to two and I wanted to make the choice in person:

Chrysanthemum Pull:                                                        Prismatic Spring Pull:

They are both so beautiful. I love the pattern in the chrysanthemum knob, but then the luminous aqua of the prismatic knob is gorgeous. In person I ended up choosing the chrysanthemum knobs, but I am still holding out hope that I can find another use for the prismatic knobs somewhere else in the house.

While the prismatic ones are beautiful from the front (look at that aqua blue!), the sides were a very plain beige color and they stuck out really far. On bright white paint I thought it would clash. On the chrysanthemum knobs, the sides are beautifully decorated with flower petals. So they will look just as pretty from the sides and above as they do from the front.

Picture Ledge in Master Bedroom

Weeks ago I wrote that the master bedroom was the next big thing on our to-do list... and then barely wrote about it since (with the exception of finding free nightstands). I could make excuses and tell you all about all the boring things I've gotten done like organizing and putting way winter coats and boots and scarves, or cleaning out and putting away the humidifiers. Cleaning the washing machine and vacuuming the dryer vent.... and all sorts of fun spring cleaning things.

At IKEA I bought a picture ledge to go over the dresser mirror. I was going to wait until the wall was repainted, but it wore me down. I looked at it day after day after day... until finally I decided why not just put it up and enjoy it now? All it took was a level, the drill and 3 screws.

Of course styling it takes a lot longer. I'm not in love with the current set of frames and images, but it works for now. The watercolor was done by my mother, so it has a lot of sentimental value. The baby photos of Oliver, a picture of Georgia. I think I'll continue to play around with it until it looks "right" to me, but that will take some time.

It's nice to have the shelf up though.