Inspiration Photos Found On Pinterest

Guys, did you know that what I have been referring to as a “boulevard garden” is much more commonly known as a “HELLSTRIP”? Cause I had no idea, until I started googling around looking for inspiration for my much more mild mannered “boulevard garden”. I realize now that “hellstrip” is a very fitting name (plus it sounds pretty badass), it describes that little patch between the sidewalk in the street where nothing grows. Here in snowy Minnesota our hellstrips takes a beating, not only is it compacted with snow, but also pummeled with salt too.

My hellstrip has seen better days. I planted it 4 years ago. One day I was out weeding and the next thing you know I was digging up the front boulevard. I’m am so sad to say that I think a lot of the perennial plants I had “growing” out there didn’t make it through the winter. I need to come up with a plan and make this area rule, I’m determined.

Last year I started weeding the other side of the hellstrip, which until then had remained grass, er ah, weeds, er ah, a hot mess. Weeding quickly turned into digging it up, removing all the weeds and roots, and then reseeding with special boulevard grass seed. Guess what? It’s spring now, and there is no grass growing.

I’ve been learning a lot on the internetz about these tricky gardens, there is hope for me. I’m not settled on a plan of attack just yet. I think adding new top soil, mulch (to retain water) and boulders to elevate the gardens will help with my soil problems. I also think that I need to stick with a select group of plants. Here are some that I got my eye on:

This list may just be the ticket. I really want plants that aren’t too tall, I’m not a fan of the overgrown (aka natural) look. I want it to be tailored, well organized and tidy. I want it to be the total babe of hellstrips.

Do you have a hellstrip, do you call it a hellstrip?? Give me some advice, I need it!

Inspiration Photos Found On Pinterest

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For Mother’s Day I received flowers for my window boxes, and mulch. I love this! It’s become a tradition and nothing could make this girl any happier. Over the years I’ve tried out a few different combos for my front window boxes, the first year I planted reds, whites, and lime greens. The second year I planted pinks, purples, greens and oranges, and then last year I tried an minimalist approach doing only white sunpatiens.

I’ve made a habit of keeping all my plant info from year-to-year, that way, if I find a combo that looks great and works well, I can go back and reference it re-buying the same flowers. Anybody with me on this approach? This year, I decided I was going back to year two, the year of the neon window boxes. I don’t know if it looks the best, but all those color make me happy, and I really wanted to see what the bright flowers would like against the new dark blue paint color.

I really love these window boxes, and I can’t wait to see them fill in. I missed not having overflowing boxes last year, and I’m happy to have lush potato vines back in my life.

I also usually fill two pots near the front walk up of our house. Instead of repeating the window box flowers, I think I might try and fill them with impatiens, something I have never attempted before. I can imagine them turning into a big mound of flowery beautifulness. I still have about 4 pots to fill in the backyard too, I’ll get it all done in time, and it will look great. This is the year that my garden is going to finally all come together, I know it, and I can’t wait to see the hard work pay off!

Mulch! Guys, I love mulch! It’s the best, and this year I tried something new… black mulch! I guess the black mulch is way more modern looking then your natural cedar, but I really like it because it looks like fresh soil. I have my fingers crossed that it will retain it’s darkness for the entire summer. What do you think about black mulch? Anybody ever tried it?

I spent a full two days last weekend in the yard mulching and planting away with no kid interruptions, I seriously couldn’t have been happier.

Okay, so, I’m kind of a snob when it comes to having photos printed. I can’t just fall for any run of the mill drug store print lab, I need the real deal! I need to know that chemistry was used to make these memories 2D! It’s a weird bastardization of digital phone photography and quality archival photographic prints, I know, and I get it. I can’t help but loving a real photo though. They feel better, and they look better.

I’ve gotten into the very good habit of an every-6-month-photo-print-sesh. I’m insanely paranoid about losing all my photographic keepsakes to a failed hard drive or broken phone. Seriously, the thought of losing precious memories almost kills me, the anxiety is already coming on just thinking about it. Plus, I like the sensation of flipping through something tactile, and I love the texture of a photo with a nice luster finish.

Not only do I have fear losing digital files but I also fear outdated technology. I can imagine the kids being adults and digging through stacks of photos wanting to show their kids what it was like when they were growing up. I don’t want to be the old grandma who makes the grandkids wait patiently as she fires up the 35 year old hard drive just to show off a few ancient files. Having photos printed just makes sense. Photography as we know it know, has been around for almost 200 years, and just like I like a good analog vinyl record, photography is at it’s best when it’s done analog too. Light reacting to paper coated in emulsion, reacting to chemistry is just magic, duh.

Since the dawn of me taking so many GD photos on my iphone, I have always had my photos printed at the Hipstamatic Print Lab. They were one of the first to offer square formatted printing, AND they print the stuff on Fuji Crystal archival paper with photo chemicals, this is the real deal!

The Histamatic Print Lab was started by the same folks who brought you the hipstamatic photo app, (the precursor to Instagram) offering different lenses and film styles (aka filters). I also totally love how the hipstamatic crew has branded themselves. The design of their packaging and website is super cool and there is something pretty special about receiving these cool kraft paper screen printed (so analog) packages in the mail. Although they love printing hipstamatic photos (their bread and butter) they don’t mind printing your Instagrams too ;) Just make sure to have your photos formated to exact squares.

I’d be curious to know where your favorite place to have your instagrams printed is? I’ve just always stuck with what works, but I’d be down for trying something new.

This post was not sponsored, I love the Hipstamatic Print Lab, and I think you should too.

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Okay guys, let’s just stop calling this Deuce Cities Henhouse and start calling it Deuce Cities Gardening4Lyfe blog, cause that’s what your in for in the coming posts. Not only that, I’m going entrance makeover crazy over here too, somebody stop me!

I don’t know if you’ve ever had front steps that were on the verge of crumbling, but we have for years. It’s been a mess, and although these steps are falling apart, there is a lot to be said for holding off on that expensive concrete repair bill for yet another season. That stuff is spendy! I know that fixing up the stairs and front walk would really improve the curb appeal of the house, but spending that kind of money this summer isn’t something we had in the cards. In the meantime I will continue to repair these babies the best I know how; with a little bit of cement and a lot of concrete/patio paint.

As you can see, the difference is really night and day. If I can continue to keep the steps clean and tidy throughout the summer I believe we can bring these sad-ol’-steps through another winter. Hopefully next spring new front steps and a concrete walkup will be on the horizon.

In other front of the house news, has anyone ever had your awesome neighbor ask you if you want a pile of pavers? Let me rephrase that, have you ever seen your neighbor removing pavers and putting them next to his garbage, and then out of curiosity and excitment you send him a quick text saying:

Me: “Cool, bricks?”

Him: “Those are old. They are taking them away.”

Me: “Do I need them?”

Him: “I don’t know”

Anyhow, I got a pile of new pavers and you know I love me some pavers. Over the years, I’ve added paver boarders to ALL of our backyard gardens using reclaimed bricks that I’ve salvaged from my parents house after they re-sided. It makes mowing a breeze, and I think it looks really sharp. Yep, I said that, sharp. So when my neighbor was offering me his pavers, of course I was going to take them, duh. I have front gardens that need to be edged.

I wish I would have taken more process photos to share with you, but really, I was installing these bad boys the second I had a chance. Since I’ve done this a million times before I just jumped right in. My favorite tools for this type of project are what we call here in the midwest an “ice chipper” or you might call it an “edger”, and a flat edged shovel. I also keep a bag or two of sand nearby for leveling and a broom to sweep dirt and sand into the space between the pavers when I’m done.

Basically the method is to use the ice chipper to cut through the grass following the edge of your garden (just as you would use an edger, but obviously, this is an ice chipper). You don’t need to leave any extra room for your pavers, just layout the pavers and cut through the grass directly where the edge of the paver meets the grass. Next I use the shovel to dig down about 3″ and then remove the sod from the space the pavers are to go. Using the straight edge of the shovel, dig down and back under the sod using one fluid motion. I work in sections of about 3 feet at a time. Once I get the grass removed, I reserve it, usually piling it on some cardboard as to not get the yard all messied up. Eventually you’ll need to use some of the reserved grass for filling in the gaps, so don’t toss it just yet. Take the straight edge of ice chipper and run it over the soil, scraping away any excess dirt that didn’t get removed with the shovel. Apply pressure to the chipper as you passover the soil to level out the area.

I usually lay the pavers at a slight incline, it’s just a preference. Feel free to lay them totally level if you want. I find it easier to do it this way and I like the way it looks. I lay the pavers one by one, making sure they meet up and lay flush with the grass. If the pavers are not fitting correctly I use the sand to adjust their height, or if too high, I use the ice chipper to scrape away more soil. Once I get my pavers laid out and level, I take the leftover soil and spread it across the top of the pavers. I use a push broom to sweep the soil into the cracks, thus putting those pavers in their place! No matter how precise I am with my edging there is almost always a bald spot between the pavers and the grass. This is where your pile of leftover sod comes in handy. Break the sod into sections and use it to fill the gaps between the pavers and the lawn. This will give your new pavers an instant finished edge. Make sure to water in the coming weeks so that transplanted grass takes root, and be careful mowing the first few times too.

*Of course, if you were actually laying a patio, there would be much more to the process then what I just described, but I have found that this method works perfectly-awesomely for edging a garden. The results look finished and clean, and all for a few hours of work.

Check it, this border continues all the way around the house. I ran out of bricks before I finished, so I guess I’ll just have to add another project to my gardeny list, schucks.

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Hey-O! I don’t know about you guys, but now that it’s finally made it to spring ’round these parts I’ve been trying to make up for lost time. I’ve been doing outdoor projects left and right trying to get everything ship shape and ready for spring and summer enjoymentz. I have a whole to-do list of small outdoor projects that need to get done, and I’ve been checking them off! Feels so good.

I think after tackling the big spring indoor to-do list, I’ve decided to make an outdoor to-do list chalked full of projects that have been nagging at me forever. Like for example, painting the purple back door gray, and repairing and painting the steps to match the house. I mean dirty green steps are cool and all, but c’mon.

So I’ve spent the last two afternoons painting doors and steps, hanging new/old house numbers and making the backyard vibes even more righteous then they already were.

The patio and back entrance are getting closer and closer to being super cool. I’ve tackled the stairs, door and house nums, now I need mother nature to do the rest. I’m still waiting on grass, leaves and plants to make this scene even tyter. I’m confident it won’t be long. I also need plants in the window boxes and in the world’s most giant planter.

Speaking of that giant planter, what does one do with a giant planter at the base of her steps that’s peeling paint and falling apart in a major way? I’m sure it’s original to the house, so I don’t want to destroy it, but I don’t know if I can keep living with it in the state that it’s in. Any ideas on the will be welcomed!

Also, did you notice my new white umbrella? I picked it up at target online and I love it because it’s big and it tilts. Keeps us in the shade when we need to be shaded!

Progress shot… looking so much nicer already. I know the stairs are light and will get dirty over time, but hey, that’s what hoses are for.

I gotta tell you guys about these house numbers. These were originally on the front of the house, but when we had the house painted last year the frieze was painted dark gray (the same color as the back door now), and the black house numbers did not show from the street, duh me. I had picked up these babies for the front of the house, in pewter at the The Home Depot for fairly inexpensive, I’m talking $6 a piece. After replacing the front house numbers with the new pewter ones, I was left with our old house numbers in black. I figured since I like them so much that I would mount them on a white board and hang them over the door in the back of the house. I know that’s kind of a weird thing to do, hang house numbers on the back of your house, but here in MPLS (aka Minneapolis) we have a city full of alley ways, and it’s not out of the ordinary to see numbers on the back of a house.

The installations on these numbers couldn’t be any simpler either. They include templates that you can line up and arrange and level and space. Then you just have to drill holes and insert your numbers. Voila!

Okay, enough bloggin, back to outside work!

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Hey guys, Just wanted to let you know that awesome stuff is happening here!! The weather has finally turned and the kids and I are enjoying every minute of it. I haven’t been tied to the computer in days, and I’m loving it. We are spending every waking minute in the porch or backyard. 7 months of winter makes all very excited to be enjoying time in our shortz!

I do have some cool outside projects in the works and I hope to be finishing them up in the next day or two so I can share with you. I’m working hard to get a cool post out on the internetz tomorrow! See you soon friends!!

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Happy Spring from the Cabin Bartender!

After many endless, frigid, whiskey soothed months of yet another Minnesotan hibernation, spring has finally sprung. The sunny afternoon has replaced our darkened days. Blades of tired grass are being slowly reanimated by the welcome warmth of our new season. Life is returning to the backyards of our homes! If there is ever a season for a champagne cocktail, spring is it. Pick up a bottle of bubbly and try this celebratory cocktail. The bitterness and herbal complexity of Campari, a classic summer spirit, nestles right up against the sweet bubbly dryness of the sparkling wine. If you want a stronger kick in the jean shorts, add some rum and lots of fresh lime and you have a cool new sweaty summer buddy:

-Uncle Matt, Cabin Bartender

Cabin Bartender / Matt Scharenbroich Matt Scharenbroich, better known as Finn & Gus’ amazing Uncle Matt, is an expert at making food and drinks delicious. When he’s not feeding his friends the best cocktails, he’s making cool art and animations, you can find him over here!

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Well guys, I had to do it. I just had to post photos of my April garden, not posting would just be too sad. If you remember, by this time last year I had already posted about my March and April gardens.

Still, the bits of green popping up throughout the yard give me hope. I’m sure my neighbors think I’m crazy. I’m out there every few hours trying to see if I can spot anything new. I am so ready to see stuff growing! Now, should I even mention the record 6″ of snow that is predicted to begin tomorrow evening? Fer real guys, this is crazed, and I could, and probably will cry.

One of the most exciting things about this years spring garden are the new additions I planted last fall. I planted 50 bulbs last year, apprx 30 Tulips in a variety of colors and 20 Daffodils. I’ve seen a few of these babies begin to pop up but I am eager to see them all! I hope that all my new bulbs made it through the winter, and will make an appearance in the coming week. I am hoping so hard this layer of snow doesn’t ruin what’s already sprouted up.

Sedums are always one of the first things to spot in the yard, I'm pretty sure you could spot them in the middle of winter if you were to remove all the snow. They're hardy little sons of guns.

I ordered two new Iris bulbs from Jackson & Perkins last fall too. I've seen these around the neighborhood a few times, and have always been envious. They are called Variegated Sweet Iris and have a light purple flower with variegate foliage ranging from green, to yellow-green to white. They look amazing even after they have flowered in the spring. I put them out on the boulevard figuring these hardy plants could take the beating from the snow, salt and sand during the winter months. Let's get on with it already, can't wait to see this new stuff!

These Sedum know how to grow and make feel like spring is on its way.

The Bleeding Hearts are popping! I took these photos yesterday, and today they are already twice as high. I give it two weeks tops for these guys to be 18" and blooming like crazy.

The buds are just coming out on the trees. I can see their round silhouettes all over the place and it makes me so amped. I'm always excited to see the Dogwoods and Crab Apple trees starting to bud in the spring, cause that means beautiful flowering trees in no time at all.

Seriously, wish me luck the next couple of days guys. I don't know how much more of this weather I can take.

Guys, it was warm enough to run through the sprinkler over the weekend! This was something we were already doing in March last spring. We’ve been waiting so long for this moment, it was so amazingly good. The weather has affected my mood so greatly this year, it has seriously felt like the best medicine ever to sit in the sun with our shorts on and soak up those rays! I’m not sure I’ve ever been as happy. I hope you all got a chance to enjoy your weekends too.

We hear snow may be in the forecast for Thursday, but we’re trying to not let that ruin this cool spring feeling we’ve got going on.

P.S. Dads and Uncles can not resist sprinklers, it’s a known fact.

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Yo dudes, any of you guys have an Ikea outdoor patio table, or any sort of wooden outdoor patio furniture for that matter, that has seen better days? Well I have something to tell you about, I figured out a way to give life back to that old wood patio set!

After bringing my Ikea Vino patio set (made from Acacia wood) of out of storage last week and seeing what it looked like after 3 seasons I almost stopped setting it up and considered moving it out next to the trash. It looked so bad. I was super disappointed to see how worn it looked after 3 years even with seasonal washing, oiling and maintenance. I was coming to terms with the death of a $350 patio set. I mean, did I think it was really going to last longer than that?

What’s a girl to do? I thought about it for a few days, did some research, consulted some of my favorite blogs (Manhattan-Nest & The Brick House), and checked out a few choice YouTube vids. Then I settled on a solution for my patio table problem.

My table was dirty—dirtier than your normal indoor furniture, obviously—and it needed a lot of washing. Even though I took care of the table, it still had been pounded on by rain, sleet, hail, July sunshine, and yes, even snow. Getting this thing clean was the key to the success of trying to restore it to its former glory.

The first two steps involve scrubbing the living shit out of your table with hot water and dish soap, (I’m serious about scrubbing. If your furniture is dirty like mine, you will get blisters. Be warned.) then rinse and repeat with Murphy’s and water. The above photo should help illustrate how crucial scrubbing your table is. This was shot just halfway through the first pass of step one. Not gonna lie, it took a ton of lady power and the realization that my body is gettin’ old, but the results are so worth it.

Once your furniture is all nice and clean, dried and lightly sanded with your fine 150 grit sandpaper, it’s going to look a little sad. Don’t worry, we’ll fix that. This is the best part: instant gratification is the name of the game. Grab your teak oil, your sponge brush (or rag) and start laying it on. You’ll be amazed how that wood sucks up that oil. It’s thirsty! Your furniture will start to look like what it looked like when you left your favorite Swedish store.

You may have to repeat the process of applying the teak oil, letting it sit, and then wiping off the excess a few times. I gave my furniture 3 good applications of the teak oil before I felt like it was where it needed to be.

I let the teak oil dry overnight. When I was sure it was good and dry I added a coat of Howards Feed & Wax Wood Polish and Conditioner with a rag. I let it sit for 20 minutes and then used a lint-free cloth to buff and polish the table and chairs.

The furniture looks incredible now, and guess what the best part is? It’s gonna be 70º today here in Minneapolis (finally!) and we’re gonna dine out on that table all weekend! I’m so happy to see that this old table was able to come back to life with some good old crazy lady (aka won’t give up till it’s better) determination.

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Guys! I’m moving full steam ahead with the spring even if the weather isn’t. That being said, I got a new table for the porch last night, and I played cribbage on it, drank a beer, and listened to the Twins game while wearing my coat. It felt good!

I am so excited about this table, let me tell you why. You know I love my porch, it is hands down our favorite place in the house. I never thought I would love 400 square feet of space only usable for part of the year so GD much, but I do. For as much as I love gushing over furniture and decor, I’ve never tried to put a look together in the porch. It’s such a hodge podge of hand me downs. The sofa is white wicker with royal blue cushions, the coffee table is from our college days and I’ve added our modern Burke (I think) tulip arm chairs for extra seating. The only thing I’ve ever really given a lot of thought to is adding a table for the corner of our porch.

There are two sections of the porch separated by the front door and vestibule. We always hang out on the wicker sofa side (soon to be the old living room sofa side). There is a whole other side of the porch that we leave unused, a total waste of valuable porch square footage.

Jeff and I have recently realized that we want the porch to be our own mini cabin in the city, we’ve even dubbed it “urban cabin”. We want it to encompass the chill vibes of being at a northern Minnesota cabin. We’ve already started collecting vintage cabin artwork, as well as old quilts and pillows to have ready for urban cabin sofa naps (or snuggling under when the spring is 30º cooler than it should be). Another thing we’ve recently added to maximize urban cabin vibes; an apple airport express modem that we can run through the stereo to play all our favorite jams while hanging on the porch. We can even stream our favorite urban-cabin-classis-rock radio station, KQRS, for that true up-north feel.

So, I’ve been trucking around a set of four Burke tulip chairs for a few years, I really, really like them. Even though they are knock off Saarinen style chairs, they still feel very iconic. I’ve wanted to make them work somewhere but haven’t been able to pull it off. I tried them in the dining room, nope, didn’t work. I tried them out on the patio, nope, didn’t work, I finally put them in the porch hoping that someday we could get a tulip style table that worked with them. I’ve had my eyes on the Docksta table at Ikea for awhile as the perfect piece for these knock of tulip chairs. The only thing was, I didn’t feel like shelling out $200 buckaroos for porch furniture. Even though I love the porch, it is a porch after all, and it’s hard for me want to invest lots of money into porch furniture. So I’ve been watching craigslist like a hawk, always barely missing out on the Docksta table whenever they come available. Then it happened, Sunday morning, there it was, in mint condition, and for way less than anyone else had been asking for it. I bought this bad boy for $75 and am totally thrilled with my deal.

I will have to show you more pics of this porch setup as the spring starts to get in full gear. Imagine it with hanging plants, blue skys and lots of sunshine. It’s gonna be the best. We’ll be able to use it for rainy day meals, drawing with the kids, forts and most importantly we can play cribbage at nights with our buddies.

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I’m over it.

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Hey Guys! Happy Friday! I did some Etsy Shopping for you and came out with this load of beautiful boucherouite rugs all very similar to the one I bought a few weeks ago. The price is a little steep I know, but look how pretty. I was able to find my rug for more than half off what these beauties are going for so keep your eyes peeled if you’re on the look out. They are so eye catching, I don’t tire of perusing Etsy for them.

In other news, “Stop Snowing, Snow!”

So, I thought what they heck, playing with photoshop is fun and making animated gifs is even funner. So here it is, the super cool animation of what our bedroom could look like if we went with one of the 6 wallpapers mentioned in yesterdays B&W Wallpaper post.

What your fav? I love the Triangles Wallpaper.

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I’m sorry, I’ll stop complaining about this awful weather soon, but it does kind of actually sort of have something to do with this post. I would much rather be telling you guys about my garden, or my plants, or the porch, or landscaping ideas, but alas there is none of that to talk about until the spring actually gets here.

For the most part I’m kind of over doing inside projects for the winter, and it’s hard for me to get “passionate” or give any thought or serious consideration to any indoor project. I want it to be outside season NOW!

I guess I’m not completely over it, my mind did happen to start wandering the other day as I was chilling in my bedroom. Before I knew it I was considering how great black and white wallpaper would look on the far wall of our master bedroom.

Did you know I love wallpaper? More than I ever thought I was possible even a few years ago. I hope it’s one of those trends that never goes out of style like it did in the 90′s. I hope designers keep creating amazing wallpaper patterns and I hope to keep adding my favorite wallpapers subtly throughout my house. I also hope skinny jeans are cool forever too, but that’s another story.

Anywho, wouldn’t a wall of black and white wallpaper would be an excellent addition to the ongoing project we call our bedroom? I had a few patterns in mind, but after looking around the internet I found a few others I love too. It wasn’t meant to happen like this, but all of my favs come from one of two places: Hygge & West or Ferm Living.

Who knows, maybe this will be one of my first projects next winter…

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So this “spring thing” isn’t happening here in Minnesota, it’s sad to say at the very least. Today we are seeing our first sunny day in over a week, and the temp is still hovering around 40º. The weather reports say that maybe by the end of next week we might see 50º, still 10º less than the average temp for this time of year. Oh and everything is still covered in snow, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen happen in MN in April.

I don’t doubt the crumby weather is what inspired me to purchase this rug from Marrakech, Morocco about 2 weeks ago. I saw it on ebay during one of my internet window shopping binges (aka pretend shopping). I wasn’t looking for it, but once I spotted it I knew it would be perfect for the entry way. I am desperate for color and sunlight and green right now, and there was something about this rug that satisfied a small bit of my insatiable spring yearning.

I had been on the lookout for a long and narrow rug for the entry way for awhile. I considered getting something blue, and then I considered getting something patterned. Nothing was feeling right. I was also waiting to see how the new shag rug looked in the living room and my first priority in entry way rug shopping was to find something to compliment it. Within days of first seeing this Boucherouite rug on ebay, Victoria posted about her new “rag rugs” and that is all it took to push me over the edge. I was sold and in love.

Boucherouite rugs are made by Berbere women with pieces of mostly cotton scrap, but also can include wool and nylon scraps too thus resulting in the tag “rag rug”. Each is unique and most are vibrant and colorful. They are created without predetermined patterns resulting in abstract movements and amazingly wonderful patterns.

There are so many beautiful Boucherouite rugs out there, seriously, tons of them. For me, they were on the more expensive side of what I wanted to spend, but I was able to find my rug for a steal (just another reason it felt right). From what I saw during my research online; the price seems to depend on size, color, and pattern. The nicer, more expensive rugs have beautiful patterns and vibrant colors. Mine is probably lacking in the signuature Boucherouite pattern department, but it dosen’t lack in color, and the size was perfect for my space.

I’m happy that this entry space is coming together a bit. You may have noticed that the Fiddle Leaf Fig is not hangin’ in this space anymore. I had to move it to a sunnier local in the porch off our master bedroom. The poor guy was losing it’s leaves in a major way, and I’m hoping I can still save it. It’s breaking my heart a little bit. I think if I can get it stable I’ll move it to the front porch for the summer so that it can soak up rays. Hopefully the entry area will seem like a reasonable space for it to make its home this fall . I would like to think that once it gets a little taller it will be able to absorb more light fromt the two entry way windows.

I still have to make a seat cushion for the window bench and add artwork to the walls in the corner, but with the spring coming (hopefully) those indoor projects might have to wait until later in the year.

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Happy almost weekend time guys! Thanks for hanging with me there over the last few days. It seems that my server was the target of some hackers, doesn’t that sounds so cool and badass? Thankfully, nothing really really bad happened to the old blog, but it did result in slow load times and I even got locked out of the site for a bit. Those hacker, always trying to ruin stuff.

Anyways, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to go ahead and embrace the spring/summer even though all I can see outside my window right now is dumb white, but I thought “what they hey, man”. It can’t be so horrible to dream about warmer weather can it?

I put together a list of some backyard dreams-scenes I’ve had for this summer. I love the idea of putting bright yellow against our dark blue house. Remember my dream home exterior? I still want that, only maybe not with a yellow door, but with yellow stuff. This is how I’d do it:

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Our little guy Gus has become a bit obsessed with drawing recently. I’m surprised by this because although Finn likes to draw, he was never really into drawing in a non-stop-over-a-period-of-days-with-only-eating-and-sleeping-as-your-only-other-activities sort of a way. I’ve never seen a kid so into something like this, he watches his hand make the marks and he tears through paper like nobody’s business. I guess I’m lucky he’s only drawing on paper, I’ve gone through about a whole ream in the last 2 days. I’m excited to see him so into something, but the insistant need for crayons and paper is getting a litte OOC (aka “out of control”).

In other news, it’s snowing, and it’s supposed to keep snowing until there is like a foot of snow. Do you guys know how sad this makes me? It’s soul crushing, and I’m not even being over dramatic about it. I find it hard to have the will to do much of anything on days like today. I’m still sitting in my PJ’s. I probably will switch to leggings (aka day time PJ’s) when it’s time to take Finn to school, but under my jacket will be all jams. I have wool socks on, this is the worst. I hate Minnesota right now, and I am desperate for spring.

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Over the winter, my old man and I did something pretty dumb. Let me start by saying we had really good intentions. We wanted to make a new annual Allen Christmas tradish and burn down our Christmas tree the day after New Year’s day, duh. It sounded like a cool and fun idea, and it made for a good excuse to drink some brews and have a winter fire in the backyard. I tried to think responsibly and logically about this; I knew the Christmas tree was dry, so I figured I’d cut it into quarters, and we could burn it in sections to minimize the blaze. That sounds reasonable to me. Unfortunately, even quartered dried-up pine trees like to burn fast and huge no matter what, like in a almost burn your house down sort of way. See below:

We were lucky that we didn’t burn the house down. Jeff was super manly and grabbed the burning tree and threw it out into the middle of the yard before any major damage was done. We did however lose a few strings of our beloved party lights. They were melting the second that tree caught fire. The lights have sat lifeless and out of commission for the rest of the winter :(

Have no fear, spring is here (or whatever the eff you wanna call it). I thought it would be a good time to get those party lights hung back up so we’d be ready for spring time back yard hang seshes.

When I first hung the party lights I never thought that they would become a permanent fixture in the backyard. We were having some buddies over for a BBQ and I thought it would be fun to have some cool lights to illuminate our party. I had only hung them up with twine (thinking it was temporary), a few weeks later I had upgraded to string (big upgrade, I know) and there they sat until I burned them down.

I was no dummy, though. Once we decided the lights were staying we knew that eventually we’d (I) have to figure out a away to give the lights more support and tension. The best solution that I could come up with was to hang a taught wire over the backyard and then clip the G40 clear bulbs onto the wire, thus relieving the string lights from supporting their own weight (plus tension) and leaving me with a taught dependable party light solution.

I thought in case any of you might want to try out some party lights in your backyard these set of instructions might come in handy. I didn’t find much on the subject when I was doing research on the interwebz.

The key to this rig is in the mighty turnbuckle. The turnbuckle I am using is called a “J-hook,” meaning that there is the open hook on one end and the eyelet on the other. The hook links into the wire eye lag screw (aka eyelet screws) I have attached to the garage. The wire and crimp get attached to the eyelet end of the turnbuckle and then the wire connects to the hook on the house. Don’t worry, there’s a handy diagram below so you can get the whole picture here.

The important part that I wanted to share with you here is that you can get these little crimps to attach to the wire. They allow you to turn your wire into a loop. In the instance above, I wrapped the wire around the eyelet of my turnbuckle and then crimped the loop shut. Crimping is easy, once you’ve got your wire and crimp in place you just smash it shut against a hard surface using a hammer and you are good to go.

All sorts of places sell clear G40 bulbs these days and they range in price from super expensive to super affordable. I picked my “Room Essentials” set up at target, they were 12.99 for a string of 25. For the backyard I needed 4 strings, 2 extending from each corner of the garage to the house.

I hope that this helps explain my method. Remember, in my example I strung my lights from a single point where I used the hook screw. Two wires were attached going across my backyard at different angles and are anchored to my garage with two wire eye lags (eyelet screws).

In my example I have two wire eye lags attached to my garage on opposite ends (about 25 feet apart). If you wanted to go crazy you could attach even more wire eye lags and run more wires to give your yard a “canopy of lights” vibe. For the purpose of me explaining this though, imagine we only have two attached to a fixed point (aka my garage). You will also need to attach a screw hook to the location (usually opposite the fixed point) where you want your lights to hang over (in my case it was the house). You will run two wires both with loops and crimps on the end. You will loop one end of both wires over the screw hook (attached to the house). The other end of the wires will attach to a turnbuckle and then to the wire eye lag on the house. Of course both wires won’t be attached to the same turnbuckle, they will both be attached to separate turnbuckles and then in turn attached to separate wire eye lags (attached to the garage).

Before attaching the wires to the eyelet end of the turbuckle with a loop and crimp make sure to fully extend the turnbuckle (as pictured in the above photos). Once extended use the hook end of the turnbuckle to hook into the wire eye lag (aka eyelet screw). Tighten up the center of the turnbuckle until you reach the preferred taughtness of your wire. If the turnbuckle gets difficult to twist with your hand, insert a flat head screwdriver for leverage. Lastly clip on the lightbulbs stringing them up and down the length of your wire.

Huzaah! You now have a backyard with super cool party vibes.

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Yo Budz!, Thanks for sticking with me there while I was on spring break with the kidrens. Guess what arrived in the mail last week?? That’s right, a new rug for the living room, and yes, I finally decided on one.

You may have noticed that this rug is not the Souk rug from West Elm, but something very similar. You all know how much I debated over that rug. I wanted it so bad, but was afraid of how it would be keeping a white rug with the kids around. Not only that, the Souk comes in 5×8 or 8×10. The 5×8 seemed too narrow for my space, and the 8×10 would’ve been too huge.

Then it happened, I was over at RugsUSA on a whim and I found this rug, and it was on sale, and it came in 6′x9′… for 50% off. The price was too good to pass up, it was less expensive than any rug I had on my list, (even the Ikea stockholm rug). I figured for the price, I wouldn’t feel too bad if in a few years it was too dirty to keep around any more, and for now I am totally in love with it!

It’s so soft and cozy (my dad said it looked furry, but whatever). I find myself actually sitting on the floor to play with the kids. It’s inviting, and nice, and wool, and feels good on your feet, and white, and pretty and I love it so GD much!

I can’t wait for the new furniture to get here so I can see it all together. I know that the overall look won’t change that much, we are basically changing the current furniture out for new pieces with similar lines. But everything will be nice and new, and the best part, it will be stain free! For fun sometime I will show you what’s actually hiding under the black and white throw, over on the chair in the corner.

In other news, it’s ranunculus season! I love these flowers, they’re like roses but way better! I wish I could buy them all year round but over here in Minnesota I can only ever find them for a month or two in the spring. Plus they are super inexpensive so there’s no reason not to pick some up when you’re out.

Kudos to those of you who may have gotten my obscure Nirvana title reference, you belong here :)

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