flower csa

By now, I am sure that you have most likely heard of a CSA, which stands for community sponsored agriculture. Typically they are for farms and you can pay to get a variety of veggies over the season. But did you know they have them for flowers too? Yes, it's true. The one I signed up for is at Love 'n Fresh Flowers, which is a flower farm in Philadelphia.


I signed up for the bucket share, which you see below. You can also choose to get an arrangement already made, but by now you should know how much I love to arrange flowers.

The first arrangement I made was in this awesome pottery bowl. And, ahem, it's for sale in the brand*eye shop! As instructed by me before, you want to start with making a base for the flowers. I used the filler that was included to give a foundation for the flowers to sit in. Then I added the blue flowers and yellow flowers. I wish I knew the names of them for you, but unfortunately I do not.

And this vase set is also for sale in the brand*eye home shop!

a walk around the garden

Here are some snippets of our yard.

The chairs above are a couple years old from home goods. One was black and one was orange, and now they are a matching set, thanks to some spray paint.

I can't wait for the climbing flowers to take off.

$500 Master Bedroom Makeover

It's unbelievable that this bedroom was completely transformed for $500. Click here to see the before.

There are two key points to keep in mind when decorating your home.

#1: Know where to spend the money
#2:  Don't underestimate yard sales/flea markets/estate sales/craigslist

We actually didn't have a strict budget in mind when we started. Our goal was to spend as little as possible. When we tallied up the costs, it came out to just under $500!

Here's what we bought:

• Bedding set from Wayfair for $120
• Fireplace from Craigslist for $120
• Curtains from Overstock for $68
• Ornate Mirror from an Estate Sale for $8
• Vertical Mirror from a Yard Sale for $10
• Art for over the fireplace at a Yard Sale for $5
• Nesting side table set from Ross for $38
• Lamp shades from Ross for $20
• Wall art that looks like a sea urchin from Target for $15 (it's now on sale for $11.99!)
• Gold Spray paint for the dresser pulls for $3
• Sherwin Williams wall paint for $90

Grand Total: $497

Here is the sea urchin wall art that Angi found at Target. It worked perfectly to fill the wall to the right of the window. It also brought in a more modern feel to the room. We wanted to make sure that the room wasn't too Grandma, so this added some edge.

The painting over the fireplace I picked up at a yard sale on the way to her house, for $5. You always have to be on the look out! Craigslist is a great source for finding yard sales in your area.

We initially were going to buy new gold pulls for the dresser, which were silver. But a $3 can of spray paint was much more affordable!

And the end result I think is stunning. 

My sister had some great pieces to start with.

• A bed with a dramatic headboard
• An Ethan Allen Dresser
• An Ethan Allen side table that we moved from another room
• A chair that we moved from another room
• And this super cute dog, Louie

Another tip is to not forget about items you may have in other rooms in your home. We moved the side table and zebra print chair from her formal living room. 

A Master Bedroom Makeover

For the past year I have been testing the waters of interior design by using my friends as guinea pigs. I've helped choose paint colors, given advice on space planning and what to buy, as well as taken lots of flea market trips with friends.

I worked with my sister Angela to design and re-decorate her master bedroom and I finally have a fully furnished room to show you! We have been exchanging pins on pinterest, using etsy favorites, texting photos and using all available resources that we could find. And all of the ideas we had and decisions we made turned into one seriously amazing bedroom.

She already had the headboard, dresser, lamps, chandelier, and side table. The chair we stole from her formal living room.

We used Sherwin Williams Black Fox on the main focal point wall behind the bed. It's a perfect dark grey color, with some warm undertones to keep it from being too cold. The other three walls are Sherwin Williams Anonymous. This is a great neutral color which works with so many different colors. You can also see a peak into the master bath that we are working on, where we used Sherwin Williams sensuous grey.

During the planning process we thought about wall papering the main wall where the bed is placed.  But to stay in budget we decided against it and just painted the wall instead. The zebra patterned chair we moved was actually inspired by the wallpaper we were going to use.

It's actually crazy seeing this picture now, because it was the first time I started planning this room and it actually turned out to be so similar! I took this picture in Sherwin Williams in Flourtown. I ended up there, because I had a flat tire. And I had a flat tire, because I dropped my phone (which was acting as my gps). I was making a turn and nailed a curb. Lucky for me the store was right across from the tire place, so I spent the time looking at Wallpaper books and paint. York Wallcoverings is my favorite, because it's from my hometown, York, PA.

Above is an art piece that I picked up that morning at a Ft. Washington yard sale for $5. And below is my sister's dog Louie. I think she approves.

 

Just to give you an idea of what we spent, that mirror was $8 at an estate sale. Yes, you read that correctly... eight dollars!

It helped that she already had some key pieces,  but the total cost (including a fire place!) was only $500! It doesn't look like this bedroom had a budget, but it did. There are some additional updates that will be made when the time and budget permits. For example, we found the perfect light fixture for the room, but it cost as much as the whole damn room, so that will have to wait. 

And here's the before. 

What a difference! Stay tuned for a break down of all the costs. 

seedlings

I started some morning glory and moon flower seeds a few weeks ago. It  helps if you first soak them overnight to jump start the growing. 

I then planted them in some potting mix.

 This was about a week later, the morning glory seeds took off quickly.

And here they are a couple of weeks later. I also bought some brussel sprout plants, which I am planning to plant in a new raised planter that Dave made me. I just have to get some dirt to fill it. I also plan to attempt to grow tomatoes, swiss chard and lots of herbs.

The next step is to harden them off by taking them outside to get acclimated. You take them outside for a few hours a day, and then build up over about a week to them being outside completely.

What are you planting this spring? 

Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

If you're looking for a very easy, but impressive easter egg project, this is it! I have to give credit to the infamous Martha Stewart Show, which is where I learned this technique.

Materials:

• Patterned Silk. I used silk scarves, but you could use any silk fabric (ties, scarves, shirts)
• Raw eggs (they will cook while they are being dyed)
• White cotton
• Twist ties or rubber bands or string
• Non reactive (glass or enamel pot) although I don't have either of these so used metal and it works
• White vinegar and water

Directions:

Cut your silk into squares that will fit around the eggs. Also cut the white cloth to the same size. You can eyeball all of this, it does not need to be exact.

Wrap each egg in the silk and tie with a twist tie, rubber band or anything that will tie it tight (I used baking twine). The tighter you tie it, the more pattern you will have.

Wrap each silk covered egg in white cotton. I used an old t-shirt that had seen better days. The layer of cotton helps to keep the dye in place.

Place the eggs in your pot and fill with water so that they are covered. Add approximately 3 tablespoons of white vinegar to the water and bring to a boil.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the eggs from the water and let them cool. Unwrap each egg and see your work of art.

Each one will be unique. An optional step is to add a little bit of vegetable oil to a paper towel to wipe each egg to make it shine.

You can also paint or use markers on the eggs after they are dry. I added some green marker to the one on the bottom to add some extra interest. I should also add that you can save the used silk to use again. The purple pieces were previously used a few years ago for the same project and still came out great!

What's your favorite way to dye eggs?

let's celebrate!

Celebrations are one of the most wonderful experiences of life. You can celebrate anything, babies, marriage, graduation, a new job, a birthday, an anniversary, or insert-your-own-celebration-here! I think it's really important to be able to throw together a celebratory party at any time, under any situation. It's almost easier (actually definitely easier) to invest a minimum amount of time in planning and executing it. You just have to think outside of the box and take advantage of what's already there and available.

In the age of pinterest, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the millions of ideas that you find all around you. I speak from experience of getting caught in the black hole of infinite ideas and trying to plan an event. You could go crazy with the amount of food ideas, decoration ideas, invite ideas, game ideas, etc... But you know what? Most likely people are just going to remember the event and not pick apart the minuscule details. Sometimes you just gotta set a date, invite a few friends, and order a goddamn pizza!

We did a teeny bit more for this party, but actually not much. We picked a date (which was actually was the hardest part), then ordered food (Indian), bought desert (Termini, of course, the best dessert in probably the whole universe) and set the scene. It helps that I have a collection of candles and planters. But all I actually bought for the party decorations was a banner and letter kits from Target and plants from my local grocer. But these ingredients for our "BABY" party can be used and re-used for any number of parties.

Here's the breakdown:

Decorations: Usually I would DIY the banner, but I was seriously running out of time and found these in the dollar (or $3) bins in the front of Target. I took the banners and letters, spelled baby, sewed them on with some  yard I had laying around and then strung it all with the same yarn. Voila. Then I centered a bunch of candles on the table with some plants that I picked up at the grocery store. I decided on pansies, but a close second was house plants. The plants served two purposes, to decorate the table, and to be the favors so that everyone could take one home.


Food: Order it! DIY is also awesome and my number one choice, but if time is of the essence, just order it. If it's between spending hours in the kitchen that you do no have, or just ordering your favorite foods from your favorite joint; order it. No one will judge you. And if they do, screw them and their ideals.




Then it's time to sit back and enjoy the company of hanging out with friends, because that's what it's really all about.

wallpaper sample project and bedroom update

While trying to decide on a wallpaper to use in the dining room, I ordered a bunch of samples from York Wallcoverings. You can order large format samples and then use them for DIY projects in your house! This pattern was a close second choice for the dining room, but I am happy that I talked Dave into my first choice. 

Wallpapering can be a real commitment and expense if you use it in an entire room or wall. If you don't want to make that big of a commitment, but really LOVE wallpaper (which you should) you can just paper a small area, as I have here. Our bedroom has a built-in vanity area with a couple of high shelves with a set of doors. The doors were the perfect canvas for this project. This wallpaper is called Wild Poppies and is flocked with a slightly shimmery base. It is a super cool and modern print.