Wednesday, August 17, 2011

pace of nature . . .

3 months since my last post . . .
and an interesting 3 months it has been.

I've been on a spiritual journey 
which has taken me on a bumpy road. 

Somedays have been good, somedays have been full of struggles. 
But overall the Lord has revealed a lot to me which has helped me personally and given me some insight on not only the past 3 months, but the past 3 YEARS.

As He has taken me down some twist and turns, 
I have been overloaded with some amazing insight 
that consumes my every thought and prayer.

Meanwhile, la famille bizarre is here at the Frio River down in Leakey, Texas. . . (taking sometime to get away from it all) which has proven to be exactly what I needed.

3 years of lots of questions and no answers.
3 months of goodness and glory revealing itself a little bit at a time!

What perfect timing as I am surrounded by all things nature . . .


Thursday, May 19, 2011

design + decor :: office inspiration

I've been spending all of my spare time swooning over AMAZING office spaces!

Inspiration boards . . .


blue and whites . . .


rich glossy colors . . .


organization . . .


graphic fabrics . . .


and organized chaos. 


Love Love Love!







Wednesday, May 11, 2011

remodeling :: office space inspiration

Good news!
I'm finally getting an office here at the house!

Before I left to go out of town this past weekend, prep work was being done.  When I got back and walked inside the house, not only could I immediately see the painted white walls all the way from my kitchen, but I instantly realized that seeing the drab dark paneling (i have no idea why we never put up a shade on the door) and piles and piles of stored junk had been such a burden to me over the past couple of years.

(view from the living room)

It's amazing how a little paint can make such a drastic change!



Even better news!
I went to Lonny Mag website to look at some of the work space inspiration pictures that I've been swooning over for awhile, only to find that 

1. the May/June issue just went live yesterday (talk about good timing)
and 2. it just so happens that they have a huge spread on decorating their new offices. (double good timing)



They haven't posted pictures from the current issue in their gallery just yet, so no pictures to post . . .
but of course, more to come!





Tuesday, May 3, 2011

design + decor :: refurbished lamps

Anything refurbished makes me giddy, so take a look at these babies . . .



These poor things were so ugly. I bought them at a garage sale about a yr. ago and despite their lack of luster, I fell in love with their shape. So away they went into our garage (along with all the other refurbishing hopefuls) and stayed nicely put for a year. 

But during my spring fever stint a few weeks ago, I pulled them out, painted them a bright teal blue and rewired them. 

Oh, wait.  That's where it all went wrong. I TRIED to rewire them but for some reason I wasn't doing something right. After a couple of small shocks and a large one that travelled up through my arm and straight to my heart (literally) I realized I was playing with danger. I could actually hear DJ Lance on Yo Gabba Gabba singing "Danger, danger, danger. Be careful when there's danger. Look out, look out. everybody watch out!"

So I put it down and pouted for the rest of the day! 

But guess who came to town that weekend!? 
No, not Santa! Better than that.

My brilliant engineer of a dad! 
(hence the man hands in the picture)


And of course, the sweet man that he is not only rewired them correctly for me, but he also
1. praised me on my work 
2. reassured me that the instructions I was following were not correct
and 3. taught me a 'lil trick that all engineers know about how to stand with one hand firmly griping your thigh so that if you DO happen to get electrocuted then it won't jolt your heart which would give you a greater chance of living. (sorry about the run-on sentence)

(I love that man! He even knows the correct way to get electrocuted! Those that know him will find that particularly amusing.)
  

So we've been enjoying my refurbished lamps for awhile! I just love the jolt of color!


And yes, those are original Dorothy Draper chests. . . 
those are my little pieces of heaven that I stumbled upon. (which is a whole post within itself.)



Monday, May 2, 2011

design + decor :: toile toile toile

So here's another one of those things marked off my list.
Not so much a honey-do list, but more of a
"there's a million things going thru my head that I'd like to get done" list.

 I am working on a very exciting new retail venture (more to come on that), but in the meantime 
I have been collecting inventory
which has (not surprisingly) taken over my house.
Our current dining room
table and chairs being one of them . . .

The table is on the list to be redone but I seriously could not look at the 60s/70s era fabric on the seat cushions for another minute. YIKES!



So I am proud to say that I have officially marked that one off of my list.
I was so eager that I didn't even take the old fabric or cushion off. (obviously that would be the Martha Stewart way of recovering) There were so many staples that I wasn't about to spend a week on this job.



There are lots of fabrics that I played around with but for some reason I couldn't get away from the french toile pattern.
So I flipped those ugly babies around and started stapling away.



Toile. Toile. Toile.





So there you have it.

recover dining room chairs

DONE.



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

gardening :: fresh start


Gardening. Always LOVED it, 
but never had the much needed time to do it.

It's been a desire of mine for awhile but I think a much
needed necessity for my mother-in-law. She's a great gardener and 
has been without this hobby of hers since she moved here with us a few years ago.


SO . . . WE MADE ROOM FOR A VEGETABLE GARDEN.



 By the time we got back from our little spring break getaway, 
she had already planned out and planted our (I mean HER) garden.


You could say that we were all thrilled when we 
spotted our (I mean HER) first little baby tomato.


Even the kids were dying to have a picture with our (I mean HER) first producing plant.

   
          I hope we get to eat it before these crazy TEXAS squirrels do!







Thursday, March 31, 2011

i live in a circus . . . i mean, farm

Well, my blog is called la famille bizarre for a reason.
I knew this when starting this whole thing but I am learning more and more each day just how appropriate it is. Besides living a crazy and completely unpredictable life, also known as our own little circus, I've recently had to just accept the fact that our humble abode is beginning to resemble a farm.

Let me introduce you to our city-fied farm animals . . .

1. Indie (aka Indie Rock, Indie Roo)
Thinks he's a 200 lb. sheep dog but truly weighs in at just under 5 lb.


2. Miley (aka Miley Cyrus)
She's a friend of Indie's that loves to come over and play


3. Gretta (aka the apple of Eric's eye)
4. Keene (aka Hans Von Keene)
Both are loveable, hyper and ALWAYS wet from the pool. If you could only see my reaction as they shake mud all over my flagstone patio and WHITE adirondack chairs. Wow. I just don't even know what to say about these kiddos. 




 But wait! It gets better!

5. "the quail"
Yes, that's right. Eric has bought quail to trian his dogs with . . .


LOTS of quail!

Sorry, but I don't have the energy to conjure up any adjectives in order to describe the stinch!


And that leaves us one more on the farm . . .

6. Cottontail (another dog training tool)
I'm not sure if I should mention there were others . . .



GEEZ LOUISE!






Wednesday, March 16, 2011

remodeling :: sixx design inspiration




I remember the first time I fell in love with Cortney and Robert Novogratz of Sixx Design.
I can't even tell you which magazine it was (if you saw their magazine press on their website, you'd understand where I'm coming from) but I'll never forget it! I immediately cut out the images of the spread like my own personal little paper doll and placed it in one of my design "inspiration" notebooks.

That was at least 2 to 3 years ago and of course now they are well beyond their modest "self taught" status to being some of the most fabulous high-end real estate flippers. (again, check out their press. crazy good.)



I have been craving and craving some good inspiration for the exterior of our house. While I lean toward cozy bungalows, there is no denying that what the good Lord gave us is a white colonial. A very very stark white colonial. . . 

In case you're wondering where I'm going with this, no matter the depth of my "inspirational research", I  have come full circle back to Sixx Design and their amazing burst of yellow mixed with the calming casual curtains. 

Love Love Love!




Sunday, March 6, 2011

garage sale digs :: ohh + ahhh

oh, garage sale digs!
I very rarely post about my finds, but I'm obviously still swooning over my vintage finds from yesterday, so I just have to share a glimpse
(believe it or not, there's more than I'm showing)

Go ahead . . . feel free to ohh + ahhh!



And of course our little monkey boy won't stay out of the picture so I had to let him take a turn . . .



. . . and back to the ohh + ahhh!


I must say this has only intensified my fever . . . spring fever, that is!


Friday, March 4, 2011

design + decor :: milkglass topiaries

This week has been nothing short of a weird week. 
It's amazing how use you get to routine. I realized, once again, that I like routine. Noelle woke up sick sick sick Monday morning with strep throat which quickly threw my usual weekly grind into a whirlwind. 
But that being said, I was home Monday (not knowing she'd be home all week) and found 20 minutes to throw in a quick project that I've been meaning to do for a few weeks. 



I bought some precious 6 in. milk glass urns a few weeks past (as if I don't have enough milkglass) on one of my off road antique binges. I took that 20 minutes (in between nursing Noelle back to health and the usual crazy housework that always seems to be there) to turn my little milkglass loves into some stellar little moss covered topiaries. They have livened up a little vignette in our living room. And considering I've got a huge case of spring fever (and a dreary cold), these seem to be the only thing that screams SPRING in our house right now. 

(I feel a bit weird posting about these cute little bundles of mossy topiaries considering there is a large plant in the corner that's about to die because of lack of water. So shameful!)

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Brrrrrrrr . . .

The good news,
 it's sunny outside and Noelle won BOTH of her basketball games today!

The bad news, 
it's still cold and it seems that spring is nowhere in sight!

  





Monday, January 31, 2011

design + decor :: gallery of cheap art

Our house has slowly been coming together . . .
besides the fact that my estate sale wonders have kept furniture coming and going in a crazy endless cycle, I have managed to nail a few things down in some quasi-permanent spots among the walls.

Our downstairs half-bath was craving my attention first and foremost because it had a HUGE blank wall that really kept things boring while doing your doo. (if you know what I mean) It really didn't matter how fancy I kept our reading material . . . it was so blann in there that you'd have no problem falling asleep on the throne.

So, enter some of my estate sale finds . . .



I had found some AMAZING watercolor/ink prints at a sale and snagged them for about $5 each. Both the details and vibrant colors work perfectly with our modern gray walls.

The gold inner-trim was great but I just wasn't feeling the outter red part of the frame.

So, I taped 'em up,

slapped on a couple coats of glossy black paint,



laid them out,



and 

VOILA!

Instant gratification!



How amazing is it that this gallery of cheap framed art 
seems to make me feel a little more glamorous. . . 
(even after I wipe my 3 year old's butt and then catch a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror.)
These pictures in the background have a nice way of taking the attention off of the bags under my eyes! 

Awesome! Now, on to some laundry.









Saturday, January 15, 2011

back to the blog-o-sphere . . .

Here I am . . .
back to the blog-o-sphere!

Before I kick off 2011 with everything about anything 
and anything about everything I have share a bit of my world.

It's been nearly 3 months since my last post and tons of  people have asked me why I haven't been blogging. (which is weird since I only have a few followers. ha ha ha)
The truth behind it all is that while I long to blog on a daily basis, any spare time that I have has been spent with my family. 

Many of my close friends know that my life has been beyond chaotic for the past few years, but I am happy to announce that our daily routines have resembled somewhat of a "normal life". I'm sure my mom is laughing right now because what I consider a "normal life" still seems to resemble a circus to those around me. 

Since October, (the notable last blog post) I have consumed every moment with making memories.

Halloween



Thanksgiving



Eric's Birthday



Christmas



New Year's

My  Birthday

And then to top  it all off . . .

Our Anniversary!

All of this wrapped with 

Friends



Family 



the best of Vintage shopping



and lots of our crazy Love!



The Lord has truly given me strength throughout 2010 and I praise Him 
for all of our countless blessings!

Here's to a "normal routine" in 2011 filled 
with many more memories and lots of  blogging!





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