Gate Ornamentation

My gate has been looking a little forlorn since we moved here, last May. I had been thinking of many ideas to try and spruce it up a bit. I had seen a picture of a used olive oil tin can, filled with flowers. But, since I get my olive oil at Costco and have what seems like gallons to go through before I could justify buying a tin at Trader Joe's, I was thrilled when I was in my M-I-L's garage and she gave me a container perfect for my purpose! Here it is after I had started putting seasonal decorations in it (I should have taken a picture of the container before I started).

As you can see, it's a work in progress. These are just the things I had lying around the house and in the garden. Next time I'm off to the Ben Franklin or the San Francisco Flower Mart, it will be more gorgeous!

J.Covington*Design just posted about something similar using grape hods, on the upscale end of things - he has ones with french vineryards' coats of arms for $450 or he can make a custom one, if you contact him.

If I can find the picture with the olive oil container used as a flower vase, I'll put it here. It was very inspirational and looked easy to do.

Sand Castle Sculpture

During the long weekend, we headed out to West Marin, to Drake's Beach at the Point Reyes National Seashore. A sand sculpture contest was on and we wanted to see it! The drive out was spectacular - I love our golden rolling hills and cows, here in Marin. Here's my favorite painting (by Martha Borge) of a location along the way out to the beach. I have a copy of this painting in my house - I missed out bidding on the original painting by ten minutes!


What's great is that the sand sculpture contest is very family-oriented. There was a division for adults and another for children. Here are some of the more fabulous sculptures:

The first sculpture we saw was this wonderful horse.

My husband's favorite - a carp.

My children's favorite - a car driving out of the sand.

A few others.

What's surprising is that I have lived in Marin County for almost all of my life and I have never been to this unbelievably beautiful beach. The cliffs along the beach were spectacular. Here was my favorite sculpture (hee hee - my kids on the cliffs).

We had a wonderful time - the weather was perfect (the cliffs act as wind protection and the temperature was a comfortable 75 degrees). I can't recommend this beach highly enough. If you ever get the chance to visit one of the many fabulous beaches and lighthouses in our area, here's the link to the point reyes national seashore website.

Did you do any sand sculptures this summer?

I think we will be entering the contest next year. Now, just to figure out what to sculpt....

About Time!

I just realized that it's been 9 months since my last blog entry. 9 MONTHS! I have to admit, I was a bit discouraged when no one came to read my blog (yes, I was new to blogging). But, I've missed it. Being forced to take pictures and to write an account of what's happening. Do you all love doing it, too, the writing and pictures and sharing? And, now with all my three children finally back in school (I do miss summer, though) I thought for today I would write about....

My Couch. Sofa. Settee. Vintage find on Craigslist for $150. It's super long - four of us can sit on it without touching! It's just waiting for some foam, down wraps and white linen upholstery. Here it is in all it's glory (or partial glory, the full glory was too gory - that print is, well, you can see it peeking out under the white sheets I have tucked in (looked like it should be on an old grandma's atrium).

It's a somewhat hideous, vintage piece with caning on the sides. Sort of french/swedish gone a bit wrong. But, I love it. As I mentioned, I'm not patiently waiting for some foam as these cushion have burlap, horsehair and springs that have sprung. I have my husband on the lookout for any couches getting dumped so I can abduct the cushions. I want to make one big cushion (I'll glue some free cushions together to make one big one) on the bottom and two back cushions, surround them with luxurious down - I have a featherbed mattress I bought at a garage sale just for this purpose - and some snow white Duralee linen. I'll post pictures of the finished project at some (hopefully) soon date. Here's a picture of Joni's settee. I do like the tan check, but am going for a blue/white/yellow theme in my living room:

See those cute scallops? Love them! Since my last post I have discovered cotedetexas! If you like french design - go check out Joni's website - such a wealth of info! And, for the odd day when she hasn't posted (getting her next tremendous post ready) I love her blogroll! Anyway, Joni has inspired me like no one else. Not only is my house prettier, but it is so SO much cleaner. I'm finding I don't want that nasty dirt marring my beautifully (in my mind, anyway) designed house. Oh, and did I mention my husband is just a little bit sweeter since the house is looking so fabulous? I know he likes it, too.

See you, tomorrow.