Garden of Earthly Delights: Planning and Inspiration

Hello my dear friends! Spring and gardening have been on my mind so very much lately. I have been spending far too much time planning and researching ;) ideas for our tiny little garden/patio areas....and ohhh the pretty ideas I've discovered!


Here are a few that have me smitten...


perhaps concrete pavers with grass/sod inserted to make this charming checkerboard pattern? Wish I had room for a little garden shed like this one!




This idea is one for my dad's house...picket fencing is such a charming yet classic way to enclose a garden on a larger piece of property.



I seem to be drawn to board dividers...stepping stones and gravel!



More pavers...love them...plus cabbages in front of a raised bed...we may have room for something like this...pretty...simple...edible...that's not too much to ask.



This garden bed is thrown in for pure fantasy...definitely no room at our house and not really my dad's style...perhaps for those of you with more land than I!?!



More raised beds and gravel (love the square trellis/cage)!




Forgive me for adding just a little more fantasy! The roof on this little shed is charmingly alive!



Now this idea looks much like a fantasy but is really quite practical...vertical gardening to make the most of a small space...using a discarded pallet...brilliant!!!



Another small space gardening idea...for those old canoes or kayaks cluttering the garage...turn it into a vegetable and/or herb garden! So charming and such a creative recycling idea!



Speaking of creative recycling...old chandeliers can be quite easily converted to hanging planters like this...useful for small patio and/or balcony gardens as well!



Oops...how did this gorgeous image get in here???



And for reallly small gardens...how about these tiny succulents planted in hollowed~out wine corks...magnets on the back make them perfect for seed starting in small spaces...and not just the refrigerator...I was thinking of making some of these as vertical seed starters and putting them outside on our metal etege'.



Last and...literally...least are these old thimbles planted with moss...for those of us with especially tiny gardens!


With a storm coming in today...and expected to last throughout the weekend...I suppose I'll be doing more garden research than actual digging this weekend! Wishing a good and happy weekend to you!


Sending love and good thoughts to all, as always.


Warmly,


Tracey and Family x0x



Images: Pinterest.com

Illuminated fragments...

Hello my darling friends...I've been puttering around trying to continue creating my vision of serenity decorating (see above).
I painted a round black mirror (found it for $12 at a close~out sale)
and hung it on the stair landing...

...created a delicious trail mix for about half the cost by buying my favorite dried fruits and nuts from Trader Joe's and mixing them together...TIP: I use kitchen shears to snip larger pieces of dried fruit, such as ginger or dates, into smaller pieces. Doing this stretches the sweeter elements of the trail mix without adding extra sugar (which I'm always trying to keep at a minimum)...

...also tried my hand at making butter in the food processor from a wonderful recipe I found HERE. It was sooo incredibly easy, and a great way to use up the raw cream before it spoiled! You can also make it with regular whipping cream.

Last...but certainly not least...I whipped up an easy pumpkin spice bread that Rosie had been craving...for her to enjoy for breakfast. I made her take half of it to school (so I wouldn't eat it ;)!

Hope you are having a lovely week and a happy Saint Patrick's Day!


Love and Good Thoughts to All, as always.


Warmly,


Tracey and Family x0x

Serenity Series ™ : Creating Peace Amid the Storm

Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm.

~~Anonymous


~~~~~~

Easing Visual Burdens & Clutter Caused by a Creative Life

Hello again my sweet friends. I have missed you all and hope you will forgive my recent quietness. I must confide to you that it became vital to my peace~of~mind that I cast out the chaos that has crept into our home over the past several months! (The "before" images at the bottom of this post will bear this out.)

We live in a small house with lots of things. Because we conduct a multitude of activities in these beloved little spaces the congestion has been known to build! Thus...the clutter caused by living a creative life has resulted in nothing less than a visual burden!

My immediate reaction was to get rid of everything!!! However, thanks in part to my frugal nature and because I work from home (it’s necessary for me to keep more than I would have liked) I found another solution. Install a more uniform neutral palette that would create a soothing, serene backdrop to our busy family’s many creative activities!!!

Stair rails after a multitude of hours and paint coats!

How to begin? I de~cluttered as much as possible then painted the stair rails. Truth be told, I began this project last summer and needed to apply that one last coat of paint...so...I did! In my defense, have you ever painted stair rails? Speaking from recent experience...it takes a very, very, very loooooong time...and as I'm a one woman show it took that much longer! Next, I turned my paint brush to the battered old armoire we found at an estate sale ages ago (for a song) along with an interesting old bench inherited from Mike's mom (first photo). Relatively speaking, these were almost a pleasure to paint after the chair rails!

There's more to show you...and more work in progress! However, like most homes, ours is a living, evolving entity and my current vision of serenity decorating is not yet manifested in full. Even still, I did want to give you all a peek at what's been keeping me so busy! Okay, so, I'm off now to begin work on my "sparest of spare rooms" also known as the "Junk Room"! Is it just me, or have you caught the serenity/de~clutter fever too?

Sending love and good thoughts to all, as always.

Warmly,

Tracey and Family x0x?

P.S. Below are a few rummaged~up "before" shots of the chair rails, armoire and clutter...and,oh...did I mention that there is also a cantilevered balcony upstairs...with even more stair rails/banisters that I painted at the same time(s)!

Kitties and the stair rails before I painted them (the rails, not the kitties)!

All images by me...Tracey McBride...I finally got my camera working properly!

Order from Chaos™ : Creating a Serene Palette

During my down~time last month I was dreaming of prettily organized shelves, filled with soothing white baskets and uniform boxes...

like this...

and this...

and this!

Of course, these offices look nothing like our tiny office that Mike transformed from a walk~in closet! Even still...after giving it some thought...I realized that what I was attracted to was the serenity of the white palette...the white painted baskets...the white, Ikea Kassett storage boxes & magazine holders. I knew...these were the elements that would help me obtain a bit of order in my tiny, chaotic closet~turned~office.

~~~~~~

Once my energy returned (my enthusiasm, of course, never waned) off Rosie and I went...to visit...


IKEA!

(Ikea Baskets)

We found walls filled with lovely white baskets...the ones I really wanted were very much like a set of baskets I had bought at the flea market for a mere fifty~cents each. The Ikea baskets were priced at $9.99 each so I opted out of buying them.

(Ikea "Kassett" boxes)

We also found a multitude of Kassett boxes in all manner of sizes and price points...we bought a dozen or so magazine holders (the least expensive of the group)...along with several storage boxes...some to hold large files...others to hold smaller things like photos, cd's and dvd's.

~~~~~~

After arriving home, I hunted around the house and found the flea market baskets (below).

(Flea Market Basket BEFORE.)

After a few coats of primer (Kilz) and some white paint leftover from another project the baskets were transformed into near twins of the Ikea baskets I had wanted!

(Flea Market baskets after they were transformed with paint.)


~~~~~~


Please keep in mind that our little closet~office is very much a work in progress. My camera continues to give me a bit of trouble so please forgive the poor image quality...however...I refuse to let that stop me from sharing with you a sneak peak at what we've accomplished so far!

These are the magazine holders (above)...I love love love them! They hide a multitude of sins...



as do the baskets...


and boxes!


I will post more images as the office progresses and the camera allows!


Sending Good thoughts and love to all, as always.

Warmly,


Tracey and Family


x0x

Inspiration Photos: Source

Reflections...

Dear friends, how are you? Did you miss me?
During these days of silence I have been doing a lot of recharging after a near month of very ill health that threatened to… but blessedly did not… ruin our Christmas. This, of course, was due to the happy fact that I finished my holiday shopping by the end of November (and wrapped them all as well). As I lie about these past three weeks healing I did much reflecting and new ideas rushed to my mind and I can't wait to share them with you. That being said, I was not able to accomplish much recently so there is little to show you of my own work, but I dearly wish to leave you with something lovely to look at... pleasant scenes that made me feel better simply by looking at them.

Isn’t it a miracle how pictures of pretty things and places can stimulate good things in the brain/body? Makes me appreciate the obscure gifts inherent in the multitude of lovely images and ideas that are constantly shared on this wonder we call the Internet...such hidden powers and amazing gifts. We are blessed with an embarrassment of riches.

Sending love and good thoughts to all, as always.

Warmly,

Tracey and Family x0x

Photos: Pinterest.com

Serene...Simple...Holidays...

Hello my kind friends! I have been thinking sooo much about all of you! It's been a crazy time for us with some family business and business/business that is gobbling up time, focus and energy. This year our holidays are very simple...a small tree...white lights...green wreaths hanging in the kitchen window...lots of serenity...much like these amazing images I found on the charming My Sparrow and Pinterest sites! Today there is rain outside...it's misting down at a steady pace. My hoarded stash of fresh pumpkins are (finally) slow~roasting in the oven! Did I tell you? They were all free...donated to anyone who cared to go by and collect them...courtesy of our local pumpkin~patch. The kind souls (who've been organizing it for decades) do this every year. It's a win~win for all!!!! They need to clear the vestiges of their Halloween and Thanksgiving festivities out of the way in order to make room for the annual Christmas tree lot/mini~carnival! Today, thanks in part to their good will, the smell of fresh pumpkin~spice bread will be perfuming the air of the McBride household! Bad news...my camera has been on the blink as of late...yet...the good news is...after a bit of fiddling...I do believe we've put it on the mend. It's charging as I write this so keep your fingers crossed that I'll be able to take photos of my little pumpkin bread project and share them here with you. In the meantime, I hope you don't mind soothing your eyes with these lovely images! As always, sending good thoughts and love to all. Here's wishing a season brimming with serenity, happiness and harmony to all of you kind and kindred souls!!!



Love and good thoughts from Tracey and Family! x0x