a Bicycle . . . a Box . . . a Bedspread

With lots of time on my hands, I'm working on projects - the challenge is working with what I have on hand.

This past week I tackled my To Do List with gusto.

From the title of my post, you can guess that the projects involved, among other things, a bicycle, a box and a bedspread.

Someone left an old black bicycle in our driveway years ago and I have wanted to paint it forever.

I have no idea what took me so long - it was easy, but I will use spray paint next time.

The box was easy with a quick coat of paint.

There are many fond memories of family gatherings attached to my mother's tattered and torn table cloths.

I have wanted to make them into pillows for a long time.

Last fall I made a patchwork bedspread out of my childhood chenille spread and plain white fabric.

Steve said it was just too heavy with the long ruffled sides so we replaced it with a duvet cover and bedskirt.

Last week, Lulu came in from the beach with tar on her paws and proceeded to walk on the crisp white covers of both our chaises - there was so much tar that I had to throw the covers away.

The bedspread was cut in half as was the ruffle and with some quick sewing, we have new chaise covers.

There were quite a few items on the list dealing with a back corner of the garden - all were complete, but I wish I could have found flowers like those in this old pic.

Sadly, the pickings at the nursery were limited - I know that eventually the ladder will have lots of fun flowers on each rung.

I will be adding plants beneath the studio window to my list and I can see that I need to redo the Welcome Friends sign.

The garden is looking good with new chaise covers, new pillows, and the yuccas thinned out (by our tree guy) and decorated with buoys.

I just have a few things left on the list, but I am taking the week off.

Except I see that the Mandevilla plant is creeping across one chaise so I will be working in the garden.

LIFE - a great bundle of little things

Lately, I have been taking the time to enjoy all the little things in my daily life

We savor our daily walks along the beach.

 It's lobster season

and we have been finding buoys washed up on the sand.

With a little spray paint and masking tape

 Steve transformed the buoys and created a colorful display on our new fence.

The corner by the fence looked a little plain so I moved an old bench from the side of the house and went shopping for plants.

I always go a little nuts at the nursery so my rain boots got some fresh flowers

as did my grandpa's coal bucket - it wasn't red in his day!

Moving to the back yard, I added pansies to my grapevine basket,

my olive bucket and

to my grandpa's watering can - it wasn't yellow in his day!

I prefer to buy plants rather than cut flowers, but I couldn't pass up sunflowers.

It's been a bundle of little things round here,

but that's LIFE.

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Stuck Inside

I have been stuck inside the house the last few days because my lips are sunburned and blistered beyond belief.

I really wanted to be in/on the water because it has been SO HOT, but the doctor said the best solution to heal my lips was for me to sit in a dark basement for a month.

My house isn't quite a dark basement, but it is out of the sun, my lips are feeling much better and remarkably, I have gotten a lot done.

After arranging all my clocks on the mantel, I had a lot of "spare parts" so yesterday I gathered things from all over the house for a bit of rearranging.

After putting a very simple display on the hallway cabinet, I tackled the guest room.

I thought of the lyrics, "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" as I decorated the ladder.

My lyrics became, "it's my house and I'll use coastal decor if I want to" even though it's nearly fall!

I live in a beach house, so it works for me.

I bought the beach bucket on our vacation a few weeks ago.

If our guests want to see beach houses, there are plenty of books for inspiration

and no shortage of nautical trinkets.

Once I decided that the theme for the guest room would be the beach, I even went so far as to switch the paintings.

This is one of my favorite paintings - our old kayaks at Little Beach where we launch.

Both of these displays were in the living room all summer, but now they're in the "Beach Room".

The screen over the bed has a simple WELCOME message

with a few beachy touches.

The painting above the dresser is of our family in Kauai several years ago and is one of the paintings Steve will never sell.

A few of my buckets decorate the dresser 

and my shopping cart is full of shells we have collected on local beaches.

More shells decorate the side table

and my heart rock collection is in a prominent spot - the big heart isn't a found piece, but I added it for size.

The guest room is ready for family coming next month.

But, I won't be be using these spare parts today because two days out of the sun helped my lips

and I plan to be in the water 

or on the water escaping this crazy heat wave.

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