Hello everyone! Long time no type! I had stopped this blog due to time (or lack thereof) but decided to activate it again as a) I really like doing it and b) people were asking where it was! a + b  made me rethink stopping it so here I am again. I can’t promise to post often but hope that you who have been following enjoy when I do.

So, with that, I wanted to share what I found in my garden this morning!

Now this isn’t overly alarming as I did plant them in April, but still a surprise to see nonetheless. You never know when you plant something if it’s going to thrive or not. I’m happy to report that this peony bush is loving it’s new home.

Aren’t the lacey peach petals gorgeous? So delicate and pretty. This particular variety is called “Sorbet Chinese Peony”.

Peonies are my absolute FAVOURITE flower so am happy to finally have one in my garden. I planted it specifically in a spot where I can see it from our kitchen and family room (open to the kitchen).

I love them so much that I even used them in my wedding bouquet back in 2006.

So needless to say I have a bit of a romance with peonies and was delighted to wake up to this little piece of sunshine on an otherwise overcast and gray day.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Oh, and since I had stopped blogging, my Facebook page was deactivated. Please (re)’like’ me there if you so wish 🙂

… okay, “Christmas”, It’s the best time of the year!

HAPPY DECEMBER 1st! Our little guy is awaking to an advent calendar today. His first (he’s two and a half). Unfortunately I’ll be at work so my husband will get to enjoy all the fun with him!

But, back to the task at hand….
We may not have snow but this girl’s got balls (and I don’t feel awkward typing that – no, not at all).

As you may have noticed, I’ve been busy creating our winter planter. And the best part? Aside from the fact that I get to say something that makes me kind of squirmy (fun right?) is the cost! Or lack thereof! This whole look only cost about $10. Not too shaaabby (did anyone else just hear the Adam Sandler song in their head?).

I already had the large balls from a previous year and I used to hang them as giant decoration with our Chrismas lights on the house. However, after years of dropping them and one especially rowdy New Years Eve party where they became soccer balls (ahem, cough, Kev’s-friend-who-shall-remain-nameless) they had seen better days. In other words, I had cracked balls. Or my balls were on crack? No, sorry, the first one. Although they do sort of look like they are on steroids no? I wouldn’t really know, I’m not that kind of gal. I just thought it sounded funny. And I ramble. With me yet?

Anyway, the planter has the curly willow and pussy willow all year round so that was zero dollars… The red berries were about $5, purchased at a local garden centre. The red branches were also about the same. So if you’re good with math (I’m not, so I married an accountant) you will see we’ve already reached our grand total.

The pinecones I already had from a past Christmas arrangement. I used three large ones here.

I kept them from diving out of the planter to meet (yet another) untimely death by using some fishing wire as you can see below. I loosely hooked the balls around some of the branches to stop them from tipping over the edge. Since they are plastic they are very lightweight so the branches easily hold them. Oh, and it’s probably apparent but I just stuck the branches and leaves into the dirt. They are all just ‘cut’ so there is no real planting involved. Due to what they are they don’t seem to dry out before the season is over. How is that for easy maintenance!?

The greenery I ‘borrowed’ from the woods behind our house. And lucky for me, they weren’t charging that day.

The wreath on the front door is one I made a few years back by simply winding two large ‘berry garlands’ (found at Michaels craft store) together to create a simple wreath form.

It’s actually my Autumn wreath but I think it works better with the planter than my winter one does so it looks like it’s staying out for another season!

And that’s it! A simple porch makeover that when combined with taking the photos, writing this blog post and saying ‘red balls’ a bunch of times makes for a very effective way to procrastinate doing laundry. Oh. Laundry. Right. Drats.

But it’s SOOOO much prettier than laundry. Maybe I should just wear the balls and give the wreath to Kev? Umm. Scrath that. Laundry. Stat.

You know what’s kind of boring? The way our retaining wall looked in the back of our garden bed at the beginning of the summer.

And since ‘boring’ isn’t the new ‘exciting’ I thought I should do something about it! I’ve always loved the feeling of an outdoor room and after redoing my chandelier, building the herb garden, refinishing those planters seen above and adding some bling I knew this wall needed some TLC (not the network but the old school acronym).

But have you seen some of the garden accessories out there? Mucho expensivo! Ouch. So, I hit up my fave consignment shop and scored! Big time! Here is what I left with and the price break down.

grand total: $26.60!

Not too shabby! My plan was to paint these all out in the colour palette I had come up with for our ‘outdoor room’. Black (because it looks so sleek), white (because I likey), green (because of the piping detail in our patio furniture), blue (because it goes nice with the green and it matches the outdoor placemats I bought) and pink (because it POPS!). I know saying that something ‘pops’ is annoying and overused so I apologize. POP! POP! POP! I apologize again… and again… and again.

So, to carry out my big plan I needed to chose what colour to paint each item. To do that I had to figure out where each item would go so that I had the balance right when they got their new outfit. I didn’t want my new finds fighting over who would be what, so I had to make the decision. Plus, they are not real so therefore can’t talk (= can’t argue).

I cut the shape of each out of newspaper and then hung them up in an order that I thought might work. After a bunch of configurations I had something I was happy with. So I sat back to study (might have had my feet up with a glass of wine during this process – can’t confirm or deny) and decided what colour to assign each piece.

Decision made, I had my own little painting party to celebrate!

Do I know how to parrtaayyy or what!?

Once everything was sprayed and had dried, I hung it all up using my newspaper guides for placement. As each item was nailed in to place, the ‘template’ was simply pulled out from behind and discarded recycled. Then I stood back and had a good look.

Hmmm… something was missing. It needed something more (which I will get to later).

I must point out that all my projects are done around toddler nap times, that little window of light after dinner, a full-time job, freelance design clients and of course being a mommy and wife. You can imagine that not all my projects get done in a day. By the time I got back out to ‘fix’ what was missing I had a ‘situation’…

And times this by two because as you may recall, there were two of these mirrors up there. OY.

While most of the world has been talking about their heat waves, we’ve been having an unseasonably rainy summer! This wood not only split but completely warped so there was no getting it back together. I tried a hammer, even coercion but when I could not get my 6’5″ Chef Kev to get ‘er back in, I knew the gig was up. Game Ova. Think of the noise at the end of a pac-man game. And then times that by two.

So, I racked the ‘ol brain (which does not require a special tool) and searched through some closets and drawers. I found a black frame that I wasn’t using (popped out the glass and took the back off so I just had the frame left) and then decided to pair that with a green-fake-grass-ball-thingy-that-I-was-going-to-spray-black (say that three times fast). So another painting party was held.

Up she went and now I was back to fix the earlier problem of ‘something’ missing. When I had originally studied the wall after hanging everything up I felt that – even though it had a lot of colour – it just wasn’t dynamic enough. Then I recalled that I had some white plastic ‘flowers’ (best way to describe the shape even though they aren’t really flowers at all) that I could trail up through the other elements. I had gotten them for a project quite a while back. They didn’t work for what I had in mind, but were perfect for this!

After installing them, I was happy. So we went from this:

to THIS!

I love how the old retaining wall feels like a fresh gallery wall now. Imagine the coziness when we have guests over and we light the candles up on their shelves. The big mirror reflects the light from inside and the ‘room’ is really starting to come together! Pair that with our twinkle lights and chandelier glow and I think the whole thing feels really inviting!

And did you notice my Geeky Beek? He came out for the ‘After Party’.

Here are some close up details:

Not bad for less than $1! I already had the paint and the candle…

Okay, so this little blue bear just might be my favourite thing of all. My little two-year old – Chace – helped me pick him out while repeating “yook mommy” (look mommy) “ooh-dat mommy?” (what – or who – that mommy). On repeat. When I asked him if he liked it he said “yes!” (yes!) and ran away with it. A good sign. Little brass blue bear came home with us. And come on, he’s playing an Alphorn. As a general rule I take home anything playing an Alphorn (luckily this marked the first time I’d come across one).

Here are the white ‘flowers’ that I added for some whimsy. You like?

And the black frame and green-fake-grass-ball-thingy-that-I-was-going-to-spray-black that replaced the damaged black mirrors.

Overall I’m really happy with it. Unexpected yet inviting. And inexpensive!

And here are a few other little things I added to my evolving ‘room’, you know, to keep the paarrtaaay going.

Tea light candle holder/orb/cool thing that now hangs over the table.

And a pretty little pink tea light holder that makes me think of pink stilettos. I didn’t spray this, it came this shade. A perfect match – meant to be!

So that’s the story of my gallery wall that took WAY longer than I thought it would. It changed, it rained, it warped, it evolved. But in the end our heroine was triumphant. Quite dramatic for a back deck. I wonder if Hollywood would be interested in making a movie about it? I have the perfect pink stilettos for the leading lady…

While working on my recent deck projects I realized my deck needed a little bling. Well, let’s be honest, I wanted to put up some Christmas lights in the middle of summer. Kidding! (Well sort of. My love of Christmas is apparent here). But the bling was my main reason for this next project.

I thought a strand of little white lights would look great running along the underside of our retaining wall ‘lip’. Just a small clean touch of lights to brighten the space on a warm summer evening.

So, into the storage I went and resurfaced with a string of lights and a staple gun.

But guess what? I underestimated how awkward the little lip is to get at and misjudged my lack of desire for stapling though electrical chords. Read that as: I’m chicken to staple electrical cords upside down into a 1″ overhang of wood.

To rectify, I paid a visit to my local hardware store and somehow got coerced into picking up a snack for Chef Kev along the way. When I returned I had one pack of cable screws for my two pitstops. … and some chips. Speaking of getting screwed (kidding Sweetie – hope you liked your chips) that’s just what I did.

PS/ If you’re interested in checking out my other recent deck posts, visit here: The Great Grass Caper, Pretty in Pink, Herbalicious, Black is the new ‘fake terra cotta’

In the (almost) words of Fergie, I am now Herbalicious. I’d like to make more comparisons but I don’t got the boys on rock rock and they aren’t lining up the block just to watch what I got… unless of course they like herbs. Because now I got ’em.

As you may recall from my earlier deck post and subsequent deck projects (my chandelier refreshing found here and my planter redo found here) this is another step in my plan to bring a little lovin’ to our deck. I still have a few more projects up my sleeve which I plan to roll out soon and then our new outdoor room will be done!

As we came into the season our herb garden from last year looked like this:

Let’s just say that I’m glad “Herbs Gone Bad” isn’t a reality show because I would find myself in a surprise ambush. “Surprise! We’re repo-ing your herb garden because you defaulted on watering and care”! How embarassing. No, but in all seriousness our herb garden is seasonal so it tends to look like this at the beginning of each summer. Put your clipboards away herb repo-ers (is that even a word) nothing to see here.

Okay, so aside from the herbs being dunzo these poor planters were also on their last legs. Not in the function category but in the Elaine-design-stamp-of-approval one. I am attached to these planters because my dad made them (awwwhhh) so really wanted to keep them and give them a new lease on life.

I decided on a glossy black to compliment the planters that would be below them (more on that later) so the first step was to empty these bad boys and give them a good bath, clean, hose down.

Then I removed the rusty little hooks that had been used in previous years. They had seen better days and I had no use for them for what I had planned.

Now on to the stain! I chose Minwax Polyshades, Satin & Polyurethane in 1 step (1 step! Yay for laziness) in Classic Gloss Black. I didn’t even sand because I’m a rebel (please don’t write in to the producers of any fictional herb éxpose reality show).

At this stage she was looking like this:

It worked great and I love the finish. A nice shiny black that still shows the wonderful texture of the wood but hides the aging and weathering that had occured. Note: I didn’t paint the inside of the planter because I didn’t like the idea of paint leaching in to any dirt and subsequently my herbs. These herbs are pesticide – and paint – free!

Now, earlier when I mentioned these were going ABOVE the planters that I redid last week it was because I planned to hang them off the white railing that sits atop the cement wall that my planters are working to camoflauge. My hubby – Chef Kev – is 6′ 5″ so if he can walk up to a planter that is chest height to grab some fresh herbs then that saves a good 30 seconds. He’s so tall that by the time he bends down to the ground we’ve entered a new time zone. For those unfamiliar with Chef Kev, learn more about him here and his wonderful dinner creations here and here. Create a herb garden for husband = more dinner inspiration that wife gets to enjoy. Done and done.

Okay, so back to the planter support hooks. I picked up six of these babies (two for each planter) at my favourite garden centre.

Once my hooks were installed (I had to measure them out and adjust them for each planter), I was ready to hang my planters. But wait! What herbs did I plant!? On the (planter) menu we have: chives, oregano, cilantro, parsley, thyme, basil, sage and rosemary. We also use a lot of fresh dill but to be honest it’s quite hard to grow (very floppy and finicky) so we continue to buy fresh dill. If I get my act together I’ll plant some in my actual garden with a tomatoe cage for support but I’ve been too busy avoiding the herb police to be that coordinated.

Planting complete, the planters were ready to hang. My ugly cement wall has gone from this (when we moved in)…

TO THIS! (if you’re wondering where the ‘grass’ went you’ll want to check out this post). And our dog’s name is Belle – Hi Belle.

The planters fit right in and have already begun to reap their bounty.

Here are a few more shots/details of our herbs in stagnant action…

Guess you won’t be seeing me on any future episodes of ‘Herbs Gone Bad”. Why? Because I’m HERBALICIOUS. Go basil, rock your rosemary, and your thym…. … get your chive on… party parsle…

As you may recall from my deck post I had some big things in mind for our little back deck area. I really wanted to create that ‘outdoor room’ feeling so have a bunch of little projects up my sleeve on my ‘to do list’ that I can’t wait to share with you all!

First up was my pink chandelier and next on my hit list was some camoflauge for this fugly cement wall. We can’t really remove it unless we want to entertain our neighbours back yard on our deck if you know what I’m sayin’. As you can see, it has a tendency to get kind of grimey and could only be described as ‘pretty’ if pretty was a secret word for ‘redonculous eyesore of a stupid cement wall that we are stuck with’. And those are my nice words. I present you with Exhibit A taken from an earlier post…

So, fast forward until a month or so ago when my office was doing some botanical rejigging (technical term). In other words, they were sprucin’ up the joint and were getting rid of some old planters. They had a ton of these and put an email out to staff that they were selling them for $10 a pop. Great deal! I went to take a photo on my phone to email my hubby and tell him of my great plan and when I got back to my desk to send said email I got the ‘ol “all planters now accounted for” email. What!? Early bird what? Insert sulk here. Insert me forgetting about this master plan until a later day.

That later day came when my coworker mentioned that she had gotten two of the planters but had decided they weren’t going to work for her. What’s that you say? Why YES I’d love to take them off your hands. And that is how this stack came to be on our deck.

Now, don’t be alarmed. I am not a She-man who can magically turn over 100lb clay pots with as much ease as Snooki downs a beer (no, I don’t watch the show but it’s common knowledge that that’s got to be lightning fast isn’t it)? But rather these are fakeo terra cotta. They are really just feather light resin.

My plan for these pots was to spray them gloss black. I loved the shape (hated the colour) and thought they’d add a nice graphic punch while giving me a vessel to plant something TO HIDE THAT FREAKIN’ EYESORE OF A WALL! Sorry for yelling at you. I get passionate about dirty cement walls.

So, the first step was to clean the pots so that I started with a nice surface to spray. I actually power washed the deck and wall this past long weekend so I invited the pots to the spray party as well. Guess how quickly a power washer takes grime off a fake terra cotta pot. Hint: see Snooki comment above.

I used a high gloss black spray paint that was suitable for plastics and outdoor use. Each pot took one can each – about 5 coats. Multiple light coats will give you the best result and help to avoid any drips. Since the spray paint dries quickly between each coat it only took a few hours to do. Here is what it looked like after the first round of spraying.

Once they were both sprayed it was time to add some filler! I wanted something that would grow A) fast B) full and C) tall. Since I wanted to camoflauge the cement, this was key. I was thinking bamboo but after discussing it with my neighbourhood garden centre they suggested I go with some grasses as they met all my criteria as well as offered a nice texture. And the grasses cost less! Bonus. So I picked out some nice grasses that promised to grow to 42′ and also some ‘rainbow grass’ because it looks so great. There is a chance that the original grass may choke out the rainbow grass as it grows (supposedly quickly) but if so I can easily transplant it to my garden. For now though I like the texture it offers. One grass is light and airy and will grow up and over (like a big weeping willow) and the rainbow grass is straighter and thicker. I’ll update you all with some pictures as it grows!

But for now, back to planting and a tip! A good idea to keep your planter light and manageable (to move easily when full) is to fill the bottom with styrofoam, empty milk jugs or 2 litre pop bottles. What they do is take up space at the bottom allowing you to fill with one half the amount of dirt you would otherwise need to! No problem if you have a gardener/pool boy to move them for you but let’s be honest, I don’t have a pool. So styrofoam and an empty laundry detregent jug for me it is.

Once I had that taken care of I added my dirt and grasses and she was all done! Oh, but don’t forget to water generously as you should always do when you transplant or newly plant something. Doing so helps your new plant take root.

I can’t wait to watch these grasses grow! Come on grass… RACE. $10 to the fastest growing grass. NOW GO!

And here are the pair of them. What do you think?

The outdoor room is coming together and taking shape! … Should I invite Snooki over for a beer on the deck? Nah.