More Before and After-- front flower bed

Before...

Here's one of our flower beds, in its Before state, actually prior to our front porch railing replacement. The bed (and the porch) was a complete disaster, ground cover plants and dandelions had taken over. I decided to wait until June to do something about it, so that all of the plants would have a chance to come up. I wasn't disappointed, I found a few 'volunteers' or
remnants of plants that had been placed there by past owners.

After...

All of the rocks for the border came from the yard, I have been collecting more to complete and will be filling in with lake rocks that I'll collect on vacation in Minnesota next week.

I put down mulch today, and time will take care of washing away the dirt. It was quite a bit of work to remove the ground cover plants, they were well-entrenched! I thought about trying to salvage some of them to give to a friend in need of such things, but it would have been too much work to keep them alive until he was able to collect them.

I chose the perennials and their arrangement/placement based on their height at maturity. I am hoping that the effect is a sublime waving effect when one drives by the house.

Incidentally, cedar mulch is about the best smelling thing on earth!

Michael Jackson tribute in my yard?

Got this beautiful Ladys Mantle variety called "Thriller" on the day MJ died. I didn't actually know this was that variety until today, so it's not really anything but an amazing coincidence.

Project for Sunday

I'm making an almost identical bed on the other side of the yard. I'm hoping it will cut down on the amount of time P spends weed-eating. OR, should it be totally identical? Tell me what you think!

First Tomatoes!

I was also very excited to discover my first regular-sized tomatoes of the year!

Saturday's Work

Here's what I did today:

And then here's what the neighbors were doing. There's no way I can keep up with the Joneses.

Ring Around the Symbolism

I am wondering: what is your take on wreathes? I liked this one down at the East Village Flower Power event this spring.

Are wreaths too Martha Stewart, sorta remniscent of granny panties and pot pourri, or are they hep? My Mom got me a berry-twig wreath with a mustard yellow ribbon, with the best of intentions, trying to pull together the paint in our new house, prior to us having the place re-painted in tones that agree with us. Ummm, it's been removed and will travel back to Cedar Rapids soon!

Additionally, looking into symbolism of wreaths made me wonder: How many people actually decorate with items that are symbolic of elements they wish to bring into their lives? Or do we select things because they "match", they reflect a style/era/genre, because we see them in cherished back-issues of House & Garden ? How much Law of Attraction or Feng Shui do you apply to your decor...or do you just throw whatever matches at Gordman's or Target on your walls?

Ugh, don't do that! Go out to Etsy.com where you can find...


Summer Mix Wreath

The thing that bugs me most about wreaths is that they fall apart. Perhaps this one, hung strategically in the kitchen might make my Italian dishes even more tasty?

Edward Scissorhands?

This might be a funny present to give to an Arizona Snowbird summering in Iowa. I have several Yews that I would like to manipulate like this, once they have been in the ground and have gotten over the shock of being in MY yard.

Kitchen for Entertaining

Here's my friends @amandazinger and @robbyg , partaking of food/festivities in my kitchen. Looking beyond their beauty, check out the cabinets. Do you think they would look better painted white? If I painted them white, how would a black and white checkered backsplash look? Thoughts?

Hot Pink, Pale Orange, Lime and Maroon

I would like to decorate one of my bedrooms, based on this color scheme.
I saw these on display at the Flower Power event in the East Village!

Front Yard Before and After

Before. (Cue: fog horn)

After! (Cue: trumpet fanfare)

Here's what I've been working on doing over the last month. The previous owners were okay with just a bunch of Giant Mums
I wanted a variety of colors, textures and heights. Maybe it's not perfect, but it makes me very happy!

I didn't pay full retail price on anything, and I looked for the best deals around town. Overall, K-Mart on Hickman Road had the best deals on small shrubs and bushes. Some of my plants are transplants from a private home near Des Moines North High School. And a few more are from the Home Depot. All in all, it was an investment near $200, but everything is perennial, so I look at it as an investment in landscaping I won't have to deal with in the future.

Does anyone else giggle when they hear the words "Giant Mums"? It sounds like a STD!

Monochromatic Fall

I have a lot of pics of Sophers in the park by the Des Moines Art Center. Maybe I will do a photo set of these for the front room, as everyone knows, I worship my dog, black and white, and I've inherited fall-ish decor from my mother. Pics of Soph in fall fit right in!

(I was really glad I didn't discover any hidden poo under these leaves!)

Fat Pinstripes

A friend of mine, @sewzinski , mentioned that she thought pinstripes would look good. And I remembered that I liked this pic, which was originally in Domino, and I've seen it on several blogs since. I think I would love to have this in the bathroom! The neutral color they're painting should set a good pallette for similar, slimmer stripes!

Hot as Hades!

Taking a break to water the plants at lunchtime, I snapped this pic of my front stooporch.
I am sure I will have red-headed devil children.
But these are my children for now.

Family Room -- Good Grief!

So, here's the Family Room, which is connected to the kitchen. And the Florida Seminoles colors just arent' doing it for me. What's really gross? The master bathroom is the same color as this "red" accent wall. Blehhh!


God, WHAT were they thinking!? Well...I wish I had taken still shots of the "art" that was on this wall when we were touring. It had eyes, and it was scary.

A rose, by any other name is Moderate White

The reason I like the SW color "Moderate White" so well is that it seems to mimic the color of my first rose of the year.

Aster

I follow this great blog called Kiss My Aster which cracks me up. Here's my first Aster of the summer! I love this light blue-purple color, it used to be my accent color, but now my accent color tends to be more of the deep blue found in the Kaven painting below.

Powder Room from 80's hell

Ug!
Eeek!
So here's a little glimpse into the powder room. It's not My Gay's powder room with marble floors and faucet handles by Sherle Wagner but it will suffice. 3 walls will be Moderate White, and the back wall will be Macadamia. Thoughts?

Dennis Kaven "Nebulus"

This is my Dennis Kaven painting. All paint has to make it look GOOD!

COLORS

Steve, my Certapro guy came by and we talked colors. We are going with a mono-chromatic scheme, as I tend to like decorating in neutrals. Black, white, darrrrk brown, and my favorite decorating material? Lucite!

Colors we'll be using:

Moderate White -- SW 6140

Macadamia -- SW 6142

Basket Beige -- SW 6143

Disclosure for my friend @Dlayphoto : I am not being paid by Sherwin Williams, Certapro or anyone else to paint my place. However, if anyone from those companies wants to kick a lil something in for this exposure, I'm all for it! : )

My Gay just announced this: Accent walls were a Real Estate boom time fad. one that has quickly fallen out of fashion.

Really? Agree or disagree? It's not like I'm committing to this:
http://inventorspot.com/accent_walls

The problem here is that the front living room wraps into the stairway. I don't know if I like the idea of two dark walls next to each other here, what do you think?

Several questions here. We are in the hallway, the front door is to the left, the passage to the kitchen is to the right.
1. Should that little triangular wall be a light or a dark color? Should it be the same color as the wall?
2. Should the alcove above be the same color as the triangle below? Light or dark?

Entry Way: Welcome to the House of Golden Oak.

I'm wondering what you think of the current accent walls--should I use them again, or change them up?

Painting Day 1!

Twitter is my constant companion, and I love the various hidden expertise that can be found just by asking simple questions. This morning, I realized that I have painters here to do my bidding, but I don't know what that bidding is, other than colors. We're going with my typical choice of monochromatic tones...that is, unless you step in and give me a different opinion!

So, take a look around at our first floor. While John, the foreman is taping things off and removing electrical plates, enjoy pics of the tragic decorating choices of the previous owners!

We are using Cashmere level of paint by Sherwin Williams.