Dia de los DIY

mid century cutie

2009-03-27T09:48:00.001-07:00

I'm kind of amped about this building. I love love love the front and the view from the balcony.

The inside is so so,

Kitchen has to be repainted at the very least but at least appliances come with the unit.

Bedrooms are nothing to write home about but there are some built ins inside. I am concerned that there was no mention of onsite washer and dryer which is a must. I wish there was laundry hookups inside the apartment. that would make it easier.
I give it a 4 out of 5. It's the first one I've gotten excited about besides the gorgeous art deco ones near the beach. Those are swoon worthy!

Finding Heucheras online

2009-03-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

I'm a Heuchera, Heucherlla, Tiarella addict...er I mean collector.

Finding all the new colors and varieties has been a challenge. There are quite a few websites I've been ordering from.

Park Seeds Has an excellent selection of heucheras and a so so selection of tiarellas and heucherllas. I have ordered from there last fall and plants arrived healthy and in 4 inch pots. Also the customer service people are very helpful and friendly.

I just ordered from Sooner Plat Farm today. Their selection of of new heucheras are amazing although their availability wasn't so good. ( all sold out already) Also expensive shipping.
I just bought Beauty of Color

and Crow Feather Tiarella

I have yet to find an online seller that has all the new Terra Nova colors. I really want the Fire Cheif and Berry Smoothie.

Nature Hills has a pretty good selection but pretty expensive. Most are over $20 bucks.
When I discover more places I will post them.
Michigan Bulb has at least a few tiarellas

Gardening with pets in mind

2009-03-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

I love my animals. I have two dogs and three cats, all very spoiled. So when it came to my garden I had to keep them in mind.

( Lucia and Yoshimmy enjoying some cool shade in the summer time.)

For about 4 years I gave up gardening. My mom had passed away and it left me severely depressed. Gardening was something she and I did together since I was a child. When I finally decided to start up on the garden again I noticed that the animals had made trails all around our yard. Instead of digging these trails up I let them become natural paths in the garden. They still use the paths and rarely trample on the flower beds themselves.

(Mika enjoying a stroll through the garden.)

Last winter there was a sever wind storm that knocked down a rather large tree. My dad cut most of the branchs off and was waiting to get his chainsaw blade sharrped before attacking the trunk. I noticed how much the cats loved the fallen tree. They would run and jump on it to evade pursuing pooches, lounge like leopards or use it to sharpen their claws. I decided to leave it and plant flowers around it for them.

( The cat lounging station )

( Phinnaeus taking a dirt bath in the path they made through my mound garden...I did not plan it to have a path right down the center but they thought it would be a good idea. )

If you have pets and it doesn't look too horrible then do try to incorporate things in the garden that they can use. After all, they use the backyard more then we do anyway! :)

Looking back at my Garden.

2009-03-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

I finally downloaded a bunch of photos from my camera and was pretty shocked at the amount of change that has taken place in my garden in the past year.

March 2008 Before

April 2008 After

March 2009
It's going to take some work to get it back to summer/fall glory.

I love walking and seeing all the hostas and asiatic lilies nubs poking up out of the dirt. A few ferns and hostas didn't make it but pretty much all my perennials did survive the winter. I planted seeds on that mound but only a few are coming up. I guess I'll wait a few more weeks to see how they do and if not I'm going to plant more perennials in there.

I've added more sections to the garden too but, I'll post once I have the "after" shots. Right now it's just large patches of over turned earth.

More plants

2009-03-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just ordered tons of more plants for the shade garden and a few for the sun garden.

Japanese Burgundy Painted Fern
Green Envy Coneflower
White Feather Hosta
Toad Lillies
Meadow Rue
Twilight Coneflower
Masterwort
Monkshood

love this floor treatment

2009-03-12T23:04:00.002-07:00

The ebonizing solution is made with two common products: vinegar and steel wool. A plastic jar with a plastic lid is best to use because the lid won’t rust.
To make ebonizing solution put a coarse steel wool pad in the jar and pour in enough vinegar to cover it, loosely screw the lid on the jar. If the pad is not totally submersed rust will quickly form on the portion exposed to air. After about twenty-four hours pour the vinegar in another jar. Don’t squeeze the vinegar out of the pad or you may get bits of metal in the liquid, which will rust, then just brush the solution on the contoured project pieces you want ebonized.
taken from wood alley

fainting couch

2009-03-06T10:36:00.001-08:00

When I get my apartment I'd love to put something like this in it.

It's from Urban Outfitters and I know their quality can be a bit iffy. But I really love the silver violet color. I'd love to put this by a nice arched window and use it for reading or people watching.

Dogwoods

2009-03-04T06:34:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited about spring I just bought some flowering dogwoods online

Satomi Dogwood
Cornus kousa 'Satomi'

White Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida

Red Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida 'Cherokee Chief'

Pink Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida ruba

Art Orgy

2009-03-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Last night I was avoiding doing my autocad homework and I ended up buying a few prints from my favorite print makers, Lab Partners and Print Mafia.

I love Lab Partners style. It's like illustrations from the 1950's/60's you'd find in old cook books and children's science books.

Print Mafia

I Print Mafia for their cult movie, punk rock esthetic and humor. I like how they juxtapose kids drawings with disturbing imagery. The bottom three I bought last night.

p.s. I'm still avoiding the homework by writing this post!!

SPRING!!!

2009-03-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

It's raining again but, the last couple of days really felt like spring for the first time. I'm so happy. I can garden again. I already went to a couple of my favorite nurseries to see what they have. I have big plans for the back yard this year. My dad bought me a beautiful Cinco De Mayo rose tree

I absolutely adore it's smokey purple and pink color. I can't wait to see it in person.

My Heuchera collection is growing by leaps and bounds. I just find them so amazing. The foliage is interesting all year round. I'm running out of space in my woodland garden to plant them. I just found the Terra Nova website that is only for wholesale dealers ( not fair!!) and they are coming out with some amazing colors for 2009...
Here are some of my favorites...

Heuchera 'Plum Royale'

Heuchera 'Electra'

Heuchera 'Berry Smoothie'

Heucherella 'Sweet Tea'

Amy Stein

2009-02-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

I did a random search on google and came a crossed the portfolio of Amy Stein.

Her pictures of Halloween in Harlem are so cute and interesting. Halloween was/is one of my favorite times of the year. It's especially fun to see children of many different nationalities enjoying it the way I used to as a kid.

She has a book out also called "Domesticated." I think I might check that out.

1 Bedroom in Art Deco building

2009-02-27T05:23:00.000-08:00

"HISTORICAL CHARM and loads of URBAN STYLE grace the interior of this unique Artbaban beauty. Peek a Boo Ocean View from Large Picture Windows..... Gorgeous Architectural Details, Relax on your HUGE PRIVATE BALCONY overlooking the lush garden courtyard. CURRENTLY A ONE BEDROOM- VERY FORMAL DINING ROOM COULD BE 2ND BEDROOM OR OFFICE. Enjoy the partial OCEAN VIEW from the Living Room window. ARCHED DOORWAYS, original built-ins and big beautiful sunny windows. This condo is spacious featuring Large Bathroom with DEEP COZY TUB NEWLY REFINISHED. OWNER has Priced this WAY UNDERMARKET. Parking Available! (The Artaban is a registered HISTORICAL LANDMARK.) HOA DUES INCLUDE ALL UTILITIES!! Actual Square footage 760 sqft not including balcony."

I'm really excited about this place. A one bedroom, near Ocean BLVD, for under 200k...almost unheard of!! I'd love to put some of these fixtures in bathroom and kitchen...

1923 Neoclassical Apartment in High-rise right a crossed from Beach

2009-02-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

I love this place! 664 sqft, 1 bedroom, 1 bath.

Subway and Hex tiles

2009-02-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

I am absolutly in love with white subway tiles and black and white hex tiles.

I'd love to get a apartment in an old 1920's-1940's building and have a bathroom as cool as this.

This detail is absolutely beautiful.

I really like these too. They have kind of a nice pearl-essence to them. Might be nice on a counter top.

These harlequin tiles are interesting but, I'm not 100% sure if I like them or not. They might be just a tad too kitschy for my tastes.

A room of my own

2009-02-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at apartments and bungalows in the Southern California Area for the past few weeks. A couple of my friends have convinced me that it would be a good idea to move down them with them. I was planing to move to the Bay Area but, I looked at the price of the apartments down there and I've been effectively priced out of anything around there. My dream would be something in a 1920's historic building or a post new urban studio. Here are a few that I love and are in my price range and a few that are not but I love them anyway.

This building is awesome. It's within walking distance of the Blue Line.

Other good things, walking distance to beach, needs new paint job for sure.

Not sure about all the aqua! Ugh!! I would prefer subway tiles in the bathroom but it looks like it's been recently redone so I prob. wouldn't bother about it.

Bad aspects are, No parking, no garden area for dog, not sure if they have onsite laundry and picture is unclear if it comes with appliances.

This one is pretty cute. I like the bricks.

Super cute little garden. Great for dog walking.

Bathroom definitely needs some work.

I like the dark wood in the living room.

Would look better with some updated cabinets, black and white tiles.

This is the new modern expensive loft that I would love...

I love this one too...the floor to ceiling are amazing.

The thing that sucks about it is no parking.

Craigslist Crap

2008-09-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of searching on my local craigslist for hidden jewels of furniture but mostly it's just crap...and expensive crap at that!
Here are a few choice items I found recently...

A grand? Really? For some horribly lumpy shabby shit?

What can $40,100 get you on Craigslist?

Wow, a stripper pole, couch and chairs. "Custom Dance Pole & Stage: This was purchased from platinumstages.com and has only been used a couple times. I'm leaving the state otherwise i would never give this up. Description This stripper stage and pole is perfect for Nightclubs, Fraternity houses, Dorm Rooms, Living Rooms..." Yes, classy...

The carpet is so disgusting in these pictures.

All About Orla

2008-04-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been all about Orla Kiely
I love her textiles and prints. They're so graphic, a little bit retro and pure fun.

I bought the two left wallpapers. The one on the top for the office and the one on the bottom for a room in my bedroom. Of course I haven't put them up yet. But when I do pics to follow. Here is a peek of what they look like in someone elses house...

The second pic is a house designed with her textiles. I love those chairs!!

I just recently broke down and bought an Orla bag and wallet off ebay. Working for an ebay related company is a bit dangerous because I get to look for random lovelyness to buy.

Let There Be Light!

2008-02-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

I've just recently started a lighting design class which is very interesting. I love learning about the subtle variations and moods that can be created by just changing the lighting or even a light bulb. Something friendly and warm can turn to cold and clinical with the flip of a switch. So I've been assessing the lighting needs of the house and it's in desperate need of a redesign. The kitchen doesn't have enough task lighting and the over heads we have now are just to bright and produce a harsh glare. I'd like to take down the cabinets on the wall replace them with these...

Ikea ASPVIK shelves
I think it will give it a nice modern look and also I'll be able to show case our nice new colorful Fiesta Ware I just love. I bought the bright blue, orange, red and yellow sets. It's so bright and cheerful. Reminds me of mexico. I think that's the look I want to go for is a cheerful, modern mexican kitchen.

Fiesta Ware

I found this great Danish Modern lamp at the Salvation Army super cheap the other day. I ended up tossing the shade cause it was horrid and was looking online for a barrel shade for it when I stumbled upon this website...
Meteor Lights

They have the coolest retro fiberglass shades ever and a cool little flash game where you can design what style of lamp you want and what colors etc.

I'll have to take some pics of my recent thrift store finds. I've been having lots of luck lately. A mid century credenza for 10 bucks, the danish modern lamp, a danish modern chair and some cool odds and ends.

Print Mafia

2008-01-28T18:05:00.000-08:00

I am very excited at the moment because I just purchased my first prints from

Print Mafia
I've been admiring their work for the longest time and finally decided that I *needed* their work to adorn the walls of my office. So I chose these...

I absolutely adore Pam Grier and love Coffy so I had to get this poster.

" I got my black belt in bar stools!"

I just like the creepy effect of Twiggy's demon eyes in this one.

Yea more art for my office! It's looking really sparse and echos a lot unfortunately. I can't wait till it's all done and decorated.