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!

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!

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!

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!

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!)

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!

  

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.