Summer House

Welcome back!  I have been out of touch and had summer between my toes, not doing much of anything, except if you count working full-time, job-hunting, and raising kids!  But the mud is back and hopefully with some fun stuff to blog about!

We started summer by getting the house dressed!  Really, this is what we do, right?  We change things to look like we are ready for summer by getting the right clothes on, bringing out last year's shorts and tees and seeing what fits and what doesn't.  Then we create plans for shopping and outfits we can pack for every adventure we'll have.

Here are the old house clothes:

Still fits, but not with my new idea.  There's no ORANGE SPLOT here.  So out it's going.  

UGH! 

So my debate was whether to paint the whole door a new color:  magenta, yellow, aqua, orange.  People are getting really creative with door colors these days.  A new family moved in down the street and painted their door bright aqua green-ish.  It was there for about a day.  Then they went back to the traditional forest green that had always been there.  I wanted some WOW-factor.  Maybe not with capital letters.  But if you're into capital WOW, I say go for it!  There's a great children's book, (c'mon, you know I love to work these in...)  called The Big Orange Splot, where the main character takes a big orange paint splot that fell on his roof and changes his whole house because of it.  I won't spoil the ending, just read it.  Anyway, I really can't do Orange Splots, not because I don't think it's cool, but because it's not my type.  Really.  Geminis, according to design researchers, change their minds so much, they should stick to whites and add color with the accessories.  So that's the route I chose.  The path I can travel.  Little bits at a time.  

Here was my inspiration:

A couple of silk purple dahlias and striped ribbon.  I found these in a little gift shop and they just called out to me.  Bright cheery faces for my front door.  And I love ribbon!  That's my big orange splot.  

From there the rest was easy:

old star + rustoleum spray paint + ribbon = wow (lower case!)

old watering can + spray paint ...

My purple splot!

(Credit must go to Nicole for this book title!  Thanks, Nicole!)

And then finally, my gardens.  Last year I began by planting the hydrangeas.

They have been thriving!  There is a purple tinge which blends nicely with the purple purple.

But then I did another little orange splot thing by putting my vegetable garden in the front yard.  We only get sun out front and so it had to be.  A little awkward at first but it's working (and growing way too big for the space I allotted.) 

The tomato stakes are painted purple too!

It looks weedy but it's because it is!  Like I said, Lazy days of summer between my toes.

So that's our summer house with a Little Purple Splot!