Everything but the kitchen sink.

I finished painting our new tongue & groove wall and open shelving quite a while ago,

but I haven't had the chance to take any photos until now. 

I painted the wood with the same BM Timid White I used on our cabinets, but chose
a flat finish for the wood.  Over the years, I've found that flat finish paint holds up
just as well as semi-gloss and a low luster look is my personal preference.

 As you can see, red and green are not reserved just for Christmas at 911.

At least the fan says summer, right?  Although I said I wasn't thrilled with my

neutral kitchen, I can see the advantage of changing accent colors with the seasons. 

My orange walls may be gone, but I'll be digging through my hoarding bins

for earth toned junk when the leaves turn color........which is

less than a month away!  Where has the summer gone?

The polka dot bowls? 

Walmart!

 

The old treadle sewing machine I owned back in the 80's is long gone,
but I saved the pretty drawers with the thought that someday I'd find a use for them.
I cut the sides off one and nailed an old board on top to make a display shelf.

It's a perfect fit between the stove and microwave.

Reflection of blue skies and green trees.

I wish I could keep this view all year long!

I unearthed this pretty tureen for only $4 when I dropped off

a bag of clothes at the thrift shop.  It's sitting on the shelf over our bay window

which has curtain mock-ups tacked to the trim at the moment.

For DeeDee's little helpers.......

 A stylish red toy vacuum for $3.99 that works!  Well, it

lights up and makes noise, but doesn't actually clean the floors.

I splurged on a jar of MMS's furniture wax to use on our kitchen table base and chairs.
  Unlike the smelly wax I normally use, this one claims to be odorless.

I painted our chairs black almost 10 years ago and the paint was still  tacky,
so I'm hoping 4 coats of creamy white chalk paint and a coat of MMS wax
will solve the problem.

  I'm not sure how the wax will hold up when washing
food off the chairs, but in a week or so they'll be put to the test.
Boy, will they ever be put to the test!  hehe
Just be careful when you sit.  The newly stained and varnished
seats aren't attached to the chairs yet.


Looking into the back entry.....

One of the bathroom window sashes that we replaced last year
makes a summery backdrop for my favorite toy car.

 

In the yard......

We'll have a bumper crop of apples from our 2 trees this year.
Time to sharpen my paring knives!

These apples ripen earlier than most.

Hollyhocks have a habit of growing wherever they please in my flower beds,

and between the coneflowers and hollyhocks, we've got plenty of bees bumbling around.
We've had a few cool days that were perfect for digging up plants
 and moving them around.  I hope they survive!

 I may get around to stitching up my kitchen curtains when I'm
on vacation next week!!! woo hoo!
Or I may do nothing at all.   :o)


Thanks for visiting!
Vickie

I'm joining the parties at:
Let's Talk Vintage Bella Rosa Antiques
Mod Mix Monday  Mod Vintage Life
Share your Style  The Essence of Home
Share Your Cup Thursday  Have a Daily Cup of Mrs.Olson
Party Junk  Funky Junk Interiors
Tweak it Tuesday  Cozy Little House

 

Garden tails.....er tales.

During the decade that we've lived in this house,

I've found a few buried treasures in my flower beds.

Mostly I find peanuts buried by the neighborhood squirrels.
The thing that annoys me is that they pull out perfectly healthy
flowers from my pots and replace them with their winter snacks.

So far, they've left our window boxes alone.

Do you remember my blindingly bright turquoise bicycle?

After 2 years it's finally starting to fade and rust is coming through the paint.

The birds pecked apart my pretty straw basket liner, so I replaced it with
 a discount potted plant a few weeks ago.  When I went to water it the other day,
 I noticed what appeared to be a huge mushroom growing under the leaves.

Nope, not a mushroom.

A cheeseburger.

Now, this presents a real mystery.

We are gluten free in this house so unless somebody was secretly eating a Big Mac
and stuffed it into the plant to avoid getting caught, it was stashed there by a squirrel.
  Unlikely, you say?

Oh, you haven't seen the Iron Range squirrels in action!
I've watched one of them haul a corn cob across our busy street........and survive!
Although, unless it was wearing a rodent back pack, I do wonder how in the heck
 a squirrel got its hands on a cheeseburger and delivered it intact to its hiding spot.

I guess it's just one of the unexplained phenomena here at 911.

The thieves have also removed half of the flowers from this pot.

My wine barrel has remained untouched by the little critters,
although something is eating the sweet potato vine.

It appears 3 of those somethings are nibbling on my daisies.
Oooo, that sounds kind of risque.  hehe

My Annabelle hydrangeas never let me down and seem to
be immune to all the hungry bugs in my garden.

Knock on wood!!!

Speaking of wood.....

Our robins have been extra busy building nests in the trees,
 on the fence, and under the garage eaves.
Oh, no! It looks like something took a great big bite out of our fence!
I have come face-to-face with a woodchuck in the alley, but I think they prefer
their snacks at ground level.  Can you picture a woodchuck wearing mountain climbing gear?
Yodel ay hee hoo!

My clematis is at its peak right now.

I've let the perennials do as they please in front of our garage,
which was a floral shop back in the 70's.  Imagine the short walk to work!

My next garden surprise was even more unwelcome than the mischievous squirrels.

As I was snipping off a spent rose, a Japanese beetle reared its
ugly horned head out to greet me.  Eek!  After conferring with Dr.Google,
I'm feeling pretty discouraged about the next few years of gardening.
It seems the garden pests have a 3 year cycle of eating just about anything green.  ugh

Earlier this summer, I dug out the 3 blades of grass I coaxed to grow under

our giant mock orange shrub and replaced them with hosta from our shade garden.
As you can clearly see, it's a work in progress.

As I was sifting through the soil, I unearthed a little piece of history.

Isn't it adorable?

I'm guessing this cute little car (about the size of a quarter) belonged to
 the original owner's son, which would make it almost as old as our 93 year old house.
Finally, a buried treasure worth keeping!

Thanks for visiting and be on the lookout for supersized McSquirrels!

Vickie

I'm joining the party at:

Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday

Do you see what I see?

This is not a Christmas in July post as my post title may lead you

to believe.  Rather, it's about the first signs of autumn in my garden.

I'm not talking about the unsightly spots or half-eaten leaf.

I'm talking about the color!

It's not even August and the leaves on my vine have started to turn red.

Elsewhere in the yard..............

I may plant these Wave petunias in my window boxes next year.  As you can see on my garden cart to the left, they don't get as leggy as the pink and purple varieties.

The first Helen's Flower to open.  This plant gets to be about 4

feet tall with thousands of blossoms in all shades of orange and yellow.

Ebony and ivory.

Diablo Spirea and Annabelle Hydrangeas, side by side.

More hydrangeas trying desperately to cover the ugly chain link fence!

These sweet pea blossoms are the star of the show.  I planted a perennial sweet pea vine this spring and it's just starting to blossom.

 There is no editing done on these photos.  The colors of the flowers are so vibrant!

Here's what's happening behind the vine.

We are trying to tone down the hideous color of the fence.

Disclaimer:  We did not pick the magenta color behind the trellis, we

inherited it from the previous owner.  Can you see why I 

missed the first blossoms on the left?

The Benjamin Moore dealer assures us that the burgundy color will hold up
much better than the magenta which we my painter has to scrape and
paint almost every year.  I'm hoping the CEO of Ben Moore reads this
post and offers to repaint our house inside and out.  I've already
chosen the colors.  :@

This phlox need to be moved away from the fence.

The violet against the burgundy is not a pretty combination.

The cone flowers and pansies have reseeded themselves in new

locations from last year's flowers.  They seem to be healthy,

so I just let them be.

Black Eyed Susans can't be beat for late summer color.

Some garden art.

In the front yard.....

I like these Pink Diamond Hydrangeas with their white blossoms,

but as the name suggests, they turn a dusty rose as they mature.

The Wave petunias in our window boxes have been given a trim

in hopes they will fill out again during the month of August.

The old wood shutters need to be painted this summer, so you can see

why we're trying to pick one color for the fence and shutters.

It won't be me climbing up the ladder.

Every spring I sew new cushion covers for my ice cream chairs.

I use the lime green color to counteract all the burgundy..cranberry...

er magenta, whatever that color is!

The chairs were purchased wearing the

 black ballerina shoes (aka electrical tape).

Our neighbor has slowly weed wacked the shrubs between our
yards to death (directly under the flag in the photo) over the past 2 years.
 Do you think she'd notice if I removed them in the middle of the night?

Thanks for coming along on my garden tour.
Vickie