Sunday, February 27, 2011

Fresh Veggies Coming Soon...

Y'all know I love digging in the dirt and that I have spent a lot of time and effort in my yard.  Even though our lot is almost an acre, there isn't much of it that's in the sun for at least 6 hours a day since we have a wooded lot. I've always wanted to have a vegetable and herb garden, but since we didn't have much space, I just kind of gave  that thought up...until now. 
Would love to have one like this:
Central Coast Rainwater Conservation


So, this weekend, we decided to get rid of these huge loropetalum bushes, which take a whole bunch of trimming at least two times a year, to make space for a vegetable garden. You can see that we never got to trimming the tops of them last fall. This part of the yard is the most area in the backyard that receives enough sun for a vegetable garden.

Unfortunately, this area is on a hill since we have a basement.


Taking the bushes out was pretty easy and took less than 30 minutes!




Mr. Fanatic still has to build the side returns for the "boxes" and we need to fill them up with about 3 yards of dirt.

Each of the 4 raised beds is 4ft wide by 10 feet in length.


I am also going to stain the wood so they are a little darker.
It was a lot of work to get this far! Hopefully we can finish up soon because Spring is almost here. It was 81 degrees  today!
I can't wait for my backyard to look like this:
It will look like this again in a few more weeks! : )
Thanks for stopping by!


Pam










Friday, February 25, 2011

One Year Blog Anniversary & a Giveaway!

This past year has flown by and I'm celebrating my One Year Blogiversary! My first post was on February 22, 2010. It's hard to believe that a year has past, but you know time flies when you're having fun! It's been so fun getting to know so many of you and seeing all of your talent. You all have been an inspiration to me and I really do appreciate you stopping by and leaving me such nice comments. I haven't had one single mean or inconsiderate comment. I did have a strange one that I couldn't make heads or tails of, but it wasn't mean!
I seriously appreciate all of you.

CSN stores is offering a $35 gift code and I'd love to give it away to one someone in celebration of my one year blogiversary! They have so many great things for your home and have some great sales, too. They have pillows, rugs, all kinds of furniture from TV stands for flat screens, to barstools. 
 


You could spend hours on their website looking around at everything they offer. I won a CSN giveaway awhile back at The Diy Showoff and bought this rug for my Master Closet. I love it!

Here are 3 ways you can win:

1. You must be a follower of diy Design Fanatic through Google friend connect on my sidebar. Leave me a   comment telling me you are a follower for one chance.

2. Go to the website, (the link above will take you to the TV stands for flat screens) and leave me a comment about what you would like to buy if you won. (doesn't have to be a tv stand). You can get to the other stores from the link.

3. You can blog about the giveaway,  or mention it on facebook, or put my blog button  on your sidebar with "Giveaway" above the blog button for a  3rd chance. Don't forget to come back & leave me a comment that you did one of these!
*The giveaway is limited to those in the US and Canada since CSN only ships these countries.
The giveaway will be held on Thursday, March 3rd.

Good Luck!

Pam

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Must See Video...The Manslater

Oh my gosh ladies ( and gentlemen), you've got to see this. Play all the way to the end. Enjoy!




Pam

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Table For Two

I missed Tablescape Thursday last week because we were on our way to Chicago. I'm so glad to be home and have a few things to show everyone!

This weeks tablescape is set up in our basement family room.

A big Thank You to Ellen, Cherry Kay and Anita for letting me know the name of the footed sherbet glasses  that I used in a tablescape awhile back. They were handed down to me from my mom and while I really loved them, I didn't know their name. Mr. Fanatic bought me a set of 12 of Iced Tea, Water and Juice glasses for my birthday (which is today). The pattern is Boopie and they were made by Anchor Hocking back in the 50's -70's.

The left one is an Iced Tea glass and the one on the right is a Water glass.

Here's the Sherbet/Champagne glass that I used in my tablescape awhile back.



I found the small cake stand at HomeGoods in Wheaton Illinois, while on my trip this past weekend.
The bottom cake stand is one that I previously bought at my local HomeGoods & looks a lot like the Boopie pattern.


I used a couple of  Boopie juice glasses as vases for the ivy.

After showing my mother in law a photo of the vintage linens I found at Goodwill , she gave me some of hers that she didn't use anymore. The tatted doilies were her mother's.

She also gave me this lovely runner and square tablecloth.





Last, but not least, the table is a recent Craigslist find. I've been wanting to replace my rectangular breakfast table with a round pedestal table which takes up less space. After I refinish it, I will bring it upstairs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A Long Weekend

Hope you all had a nice long weekend. We left last Thursday for Chicago to visit Mr. Fanatic's mom and stepdad and drove home Monday night.  13 hours each way. Oy. It was freeeeeeeeezing cold and windy. And....while we were gone, Charlotte had beautiful weather. I mean gorgeous weather. 
We took the girls shopping in downtown Chicago on Saturday and it was sooooooo cold. I couldn't stand it and finally found a Starbucks and had our girls come and find us when they were finished. 
We met my cousin for dinner on Sunday night which was really fun, but other than that, I was miserable all weekend. Remind me NEVER to go to Chicago again in the Winter.
This is sad, but I really was excited that there was a HomeGoods near my mother in law's home and I stopped in to see what they had. Mr. F. reminded me that we didn't have room for a club chair in our car. Guess what they had? Lots of cute chairs!
I loved these:



Thought this was nice, too.
There were some nice lamps, too...


This HomeGoods had a fabulous section of dishes. I would have taken more photos of them, but I was too busy drooling!  I thought this store had really great displays. Here's one display that all of you rooster lovers will like...



They also had several upholstered items in toile fabric.



I was really good and only spent $10 on a small glass cake pedestal that made it home safely.
So glad to be home!

Pam

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Do You Craigslist?

I check out Craigslist several times a week... more often if I'm looking for something specific.
Here are a few things I found listed on our local Craigslist this past weekend...

This Mid Century dresser was listed for $110. I love it's lines and wish I had somewhere to put this!

Pine Chest...$60


 Wrought Iron Glass topped coffee table (they had the glass)...$50

I think these twin headboards are a steal at $10 a piece or $15 for both.


This Farmhouse table was a bit pricey at $300


There were some pretty cool antiques, as well.
This jar was $125

This milk can  is $40


If you need some china and flatware, these were only $30.


How about a silverplate coffee service for $50...

or this one for $30?

I've both purchased and sold many things on Craigslist. I have met so many nice people. Last Saturday I sold the dresser we had for sale.
 Painting the hardware and lining the drawers paid off! I received several calls and emails on it right after posting it on Friday.

We ended up selling it to someone whose brother was in my oldest daughters class last year. Small world. 
I always use common sense and caution, though, because you never know! 
If I'm selling something, I always make sure I have the item in the garage or in a front room of the house and make sure someone else is home with me when they come over.
If I'm buying something, I always check out the neighborhood I'm going to and never go alone. 
I would love to know if you buy and sell on Craigslist and if you've had good luck with it!

Pam

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

You Need To Learn To Sew!

This post is for all you ladies who don't know how to sew.
If there's one thing someone who loves to decorate, but has a limited budget needs to do is learn to sew! You can do it! Seriously, I've seen how talented you ladies are out there!!!...You can handle a sewing machine!

First off, you don't need a fancy machine and you don't need to spend a lot of money. I do most of my home sewing on an inexpensive sewing machine that was about $100. Sewing machines are cheaper now than when I bought that one many years ago.Having been in the fashion industry many years ago, I also had a couple of industrial sewing machines, but I recently sold them because my simple Brother sewing machine is so much easier to use.
This one by Brother for under $100 is on Amazon.com   You can also scour Craigslist for something similar.

Once you have a sewing machine even if you only learn how to do a straight stitch, you can make all kinds of things:

Curtain panels


Pillows


Table runners


This is all you need to learn how to do to make curtains and table runners.

I tried making the above runner for my nightstand using the fusible stuff and I nearly went crazy. It took me longer to try to figure that out than to sew them~ all by using a straight stitch. You might make a few mistakes at first...heck, I've been sewing since I was 12 and I still make mistakes sewing. 

The seam ripper is my best friend sometimes!

So, if you would like to learn how to sew, but need a little encouragement, I say...Go for it!
There are a lot of good videos on You Tube that show you how to sew. You can also take a class at your local fabric store. Watch out though, they might suggest you need a fancy machine, but that's definitely not the case!

Would love to hear your comments on this subject, whether you know how to sew or not!


Pam