Easter

Happy Easter everyone! I hope your day is wonderful. Today will be full of work as usual, ahhh the life of DIY-ers. Tonight I plan to make my first rack of lamb for the two of us, and maybe a taste for Baxter.



These adorable little brown speckled eggs are the most fantastic caramel eggs.


These gorgeous calla lilies came from my folks house.

Our free tub is in the bathroom

We picked up this 1990 Kohler cast iron tub the day after Christmas from our friends barn, and it's been outside in our backyard since. We have worked for over 3 months to get to this point where we could move it indoors. We were certainly dreading moving it in. If it wasn't free we would have bought a new fiberglass one to avoid this very thing. It had to be lifted vertically on its edge to get it through and not destroy the piping. Rory and one very awesome friend actually did it! They lifted and slid this beast into our bathroom and here it is in place. It needs to be cleaned after being outside for 3 months, but I'll do that after we tile.
I am so relieved that this step is done with and we can start putting the bathroom back together now.


Edited to add the latest, Rory framed it later this afternoon.

Coffee Sacks + Bit of Sewing = Toss pillows

I do like the sound of that equation. Now nothing new here, coffee sacks have been used for home decor for a while now, but I thought they go perfectly with our style. So I started to search the web for some great coffee sacks, when I realized the purpose I was going for just didn't really thrill me to use real burlap sacks.
Burlap although I love the texture and look, is not the best to lay your head against. It's scratchy and has very large weaving that can snag easily. I loved the look of these real burlap sacks others had used.










Using these framed coffee sacks as my main inspiration, I started painting with fabric ink pens on 100% Linen.






Here they are on our couch, we love them!
The are soft and cozy, and we will enjoy the extra pillows. They are clearly not authentic burlap sacks, but I think they look just as good.

A little retail therapy

It's been all work and no play for the two of us. Don't get me wrong, no complaints here, but it's nice to have a bit of a break. Yesterday I went with the girls on a little shopping evening off. We stopped at Pottery Barn, (my known weakness is home decor items), while there drooling over the fab outdoor summer items and the lamps, I saw these adorable authentic Mexican hand painted cups and saucers.


I needed them immediately.
I love the way they look in our glass door cabinet above our bright yellow backsplash.


They reminded me of our trip we took to Mexico a few years ago when we got engaged. It was the best trip either of us had ever been on. The food was so good, our breakfast every morning started with fantastic Mexican coffee with milk, fresh sweet baked breads, eggs to order with salsa, avocado, and the fruit plates, yum! We really need to go back.
These adorable cups will hopefully be used on relaxing mornings at home to sip our coffee leisurely, as if we were on vacation. That should hold us over until we have the time to go back.
December 2007


I can't wait for a slow cup of Café in these little cuties.