Sunday, July 10, 2011

a visit to my gardens


Welcome to the gardens of Comfy House!

Where even chipmunks are on hand to greet you.


This area in front of our house is actually a drainage ditch. We filled it with lilies and some other flowers to make it pretty. I love when these bright orange lilies bloom in mid- summer. Wish they'd stay that way for the entire season.


The little front porch of Comfy House...


A neighbor gave me this wrought-iron table years ago. She was going to throw it away simply because it was bright blue and she didn't like it. All it needed was a makeover with spray paint. The wire rooster plant holder was found in a thrift shop and was an ugly gold. Paint to the rescue for the rooster, too!


Wooden crate full of potted begonias on the front step...(you can see it to the right in the full porch picture above).


Hydrangeas (and some potted petunias) line the front walkway. The iron pieces leaning against the side of the house were part of a trellis we once had that finally broke. I was hoping to eventually plant some kind of climbing vine that would climb up these pieces, but never found the right plants. Last week, I found little white lights at Target, and hubby wound them around the iron piece on the right. I need to buy another box of these lights so we can wind them around the other iron piece. It looks really pretty lit up at night.


Here's the walkway on the south side of the house that leads to the patio. The old, ugly privacy fence is not ours - it belongs to our neighbor. It is falling over and rotting and she refuses to replace it. Also, you might be able to see how stained our patio is. That's from thousands of mulberries dropping from her tree and rotting all over our patio and walkway. It's incredibly aggravating (I sweep up tons of rotting mulberries every day) and she won't trim the tree. We hired someone to trim it (it's a gigantic tree) back to her property line about five years ago. We'll have it done again next year. 

You also might be able to tell that the outdoor rug is torn up in the back. My son was mowing the yard the other day and because he "wasn't thinking", he left the lawn mower running while he crossed from the back yard into the front yard. Yes, he "mowed" the rug. 

SIGH.


The old window was salvaged from a home remodel in my neighborhood...


Come on into the back yard. Here's the butterfly garden, though the butterfly bushes, Purple Coneflower, and Black-Eyed Susans haven't bloomed yet.



If you'd like to cook with some fresh herbs, I have lavender, oregano, basil, cilantro, chocolate mint, rosemary, and lemon balm in my herb garden.

This is just a circular area in the back yard that hubby dug out last year. The piece in the middle is actually a huge candle stick, but I'm using it as a base for a bird bath. I've been looking for a large, shallow plant saucer to use as the top of the bird bath - either plastic or terra cotta - and would you believe I can't find one? I've been to Wal-Mart and Home Depot.


Hope you all had a lovely weekend - thanks for visiting and  stay cool! 

PS - I wasn't one of the lucky winners in the Vintage Pearl giveaway. :-(

Thursday, July 7, 2011

the vintage pearl giveaway!

The Vintage Pearl is one of my favorite places to order hand-stamped, sterling silver jewelry. And through TOMORROW ONLY - they're having a giveaway! Three lucky winners will each receive a $75 gift certificate.

If I were one of the winners (fingers crossed), I would choose this beautiful bracelet:


I already have one of their necklaces and a pearl ring - and I love both items.
Hurry...quick...run over to The Vintage Pearl and enter the giveaway! Who knows, maybe you or I will be one of the lucky winners!

Monday, July 4, 2011

thrifting weekend with my mom

Last weekend, me and my lovely mom went antiquing and thrifting out in her neck of the woods. Take a look at this lovely shop we found...


Vintage watering cans and pails...

I loved this patio set, but it was a little pricey. And I didn't like the material used in the upholstery. I have no problem changing out seat cushions, but the material was also used in the back rest.

We loved this adorable hanging chicken basket, but it was too big for Mom's kitchen.

So much stuff to explore!

Well, we didn't find anything in that antique mall, so of course I had to hit Goodwill on the way home! I'm drawn to small pieces of art, especially if they're old...


I'm now using this unique basket in my bathroom to hold cotton balls and some lotions...

I don't normally collect teacups and saucers, but this one was SO beautiful. It's hand-painted, Mikado, Japan. I'm using it on my bedroom nightstand to hold some bracelets.

Love blue and white dishes and kitchen pieces. This beautiful pitcher is from Portugal and is hand-painted and numbered.


I know this little shelf isn't exactly pretty the way it is, but I'm going to paint it (probably green) and use it in the guest room (in progress).

This vase is much prettier in person. It's very thick and heavy. I'm going to use it outside on the patio table to display bunches of summer flowers.

Bonus! It was brand-new and retailed for $10. Score for 99 cents!

Cute little tin basket which is now hanging outside in a display on the wooden privacy fence.

Love the way the pink flowers "stand out" on this votive candle holder...

How do you like this sweater? What a great find - it's made by Ava - which retails for an average of $150! My price? 
$3.99! 

Books, books, and more books...what I need like a hole in the head.


Blessings, Melanie

Thursday, June 30, 2011

before and after wooden planter

I discovered part of the problem with why I couldn't post photos on my blog, nor leave comments on other's blogs. You see, my main email address is on AOL and I have the AOL program downloaded. I go into this downloaded program to not only read my email, but do everything else online (browse, access my Yahoo email, read blogs, etc.)

I just tried going in through IE instead of AOL - and here I am.

Anyway...

I had this cute wooden planter that I bought several years ago at a craft fair, but it was looking so worn and dated.


So, I bought a can of spray paint (spray paint is my newest friend...almost anything that isn't nailed down gets painted in my house) and painted the planter PURPLE.

I wasn't too sure of this color, but my neighbors told me they love it. They said it looks great with the greenery in the background.


And with that, I'm now off to yoga class. Have a lovely summer day!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

so frustrated with blogger

I've really been having problems with Blogger the past few days. I've been reading my favorite blogs and wanting to comment, but when asked to sign in and I do so - I come up as "anonymous" and my comment won't post! I've tried clearing my cache and cookies and still - no luck.

Then, I've been trying to create a new post and it won't let me upload any pictures. I click on the "insert image" icon like I've always done, and nothing happens. No error message, nothing. In fact, when I click on ANY of the blogger icons (font, bold, link, etc.), nothing happens.

I've tried the "help" button at the top of the screen and even googled these problems, all to no avail.

Is anyone else out there having problems?

I'm obviously not a Blogger expert like a lot of you are. Any help would certainly be appreciated!


Monday, June 20, 2011

weekend thrift finds - and china cabinet

How us girls love to go on our weekend treaure jaunts! This past Saturday, me, my mom, and aunt headed out to a few shops in my area. Here's me (frizzy hair with "wings"; the humidity was awful!) and my mom...
We were talking about how my teenage niece now poses in her photos...hand on her hip and all. So we had to be silly and do that kind of pose.


Uh oh...it's yet another BIRD to add to my collection! Couldn't believe it when I saw the marking on the bottom though - Goebel! And, only $5! My mom and aunt bought one, too. The man who owns the store said he bought the collection (there were quite a few) from an estate sale. Look at the color and luster of this sweet little birdie.
I'm tempted to go back and buy another bird or two in other colors...but do I REALLY need more? I COULD get rid of a couple of my other, "cheaper" (cheeper! ha ha) birds though.
 It's a thought.



At another store, I found this pretty milk glass pitcher ($6). I have a few milk glass pieces - several pedestal-type dishes, a big, round bowl, and candleholders. 


I decided to take my rooster collection out of my china cabinet and start putting some milk glasses pieces in there instead. Here's the start on the bottom shelf...still playing with the entire china cabinet arrangement.


A little vintage egg cup with a rooster (made in Japan) for $3.



Even though I took the rooster items out of my china cabinet for now, I liked how this little cup just seemed to "fit" in front of the shelf and how the red in the rooster came in to play with the red of the pitcher and on the bowls.




And...lastly, I found a vintage red rose tray for $4.99. I have a lot of red accents in my kitchen, so I'm still playing around with placement of the tray, but for now it's on the top shelf in the china cabinet.


Thanks for visiting!

Friday, June 10, 2011

little pretties

Hello, friends!
 First of all, let me apologize for not currently having a blog header photo. I removed my old one and was up quite late last night trying to place a new one, to no avail. I am having a hard time getting any photos to fit properly into the header space. I ran out of patience!

In the meantime, won't you take a look at some "little pretties" around my house?

Flowers in glass - or under glass - make lovely displays.


Found this matching hand-painted, made-in-Italy tray and pitcher at Goodwill. Red crackled glass pitcher (love crackled glass - wish I had wide windowsills to display a collection!) found at the antique mall by my house.
 

This vintage stool came home with me last weekend. Didn't want to pay the asking price, and then I found out it was 50% off - score! I don't like the red velvet cushion, so I plan on recovering it (umm...soon).


I have a small collection of James Whitcomb Riley books, as our last name is Riley. So I think it's cool to have books sitting around that say things such as, "Riley Love Lyrics", or "The Riley Reader."


I had a vignette of small glass pieces on the secretary desk in my living room (desk belonged to my grandmother). I liked it well enough, but I get tired of the same decor and love to play around with things, sooo...


I changed it!
 I had been looking for an inexpensive wooden tray, and found this one at Tuesday Morning.


The corner of my living room where the secretary desk is placed...
the beige sofa is on an angle.