Lisa's House

A few weeks ago, Steve and I went to an old friend's house for a birthday party.

I immediately noticed the mailbox and took out my phone to snap a picture and then I looked into the yard . . .

 the line from Jerry Maguire, "you had me at hello" came to mind, but my thought was, "Lisa had me at that old truck door".

This week Lisa was so sweet and allowed me to photograph her lovely home for my blog - 540 photos to be exact.

It was a gorgeous sunny day in Southern California and Lisa's 1960's ranch style house made a wonderful backdrop for her vintage truck.

I am not the only person to fall in love with Lisa's home and style.

Fifi O'Neill featured the home

 in her book, Romantic Prairie Style, on pages 124-131.

When you step onto the porch you might be tempted to sit awhile,

but then your eye catches a fun old cabinet filled with birdhouses.

I love that container filled with succulents and the collection of floral frogs.

As you walk through the house, you will notice an abundance of fun signs.

But, you won't be getting in the house today.

As you see from the sign on the door,

 nobody gets in to see the Wizard.

The end of today's tour has nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz.

All those 540 pictures will take time to edit and I need to finish blog posts for Where Bloggers Create and the Mad Tea Party.

I leave you with the view looking out the master bedroom window and hope you will come back to see the inside of the house early in the week.

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I am sharing with

The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday

Thoughts from Alice - Sundays at Home

Frivolous Fun

My husband and children enjoy making fun of me and my silly projects.

 I acknowledge that many of my activities are frivolous, but I have fun.

In my last post, I gave myself 3 projects to "copy".

From this view of the garden, you would be hard pressed to see my handiwork

and even zooming in, it is still difficult to find any changes.

Yet when you look closely you can see that I added birdhouses to the side fence.

birdhouse on the left via

I really should not have used the word copy, because the photos I pinned on Pinterest were just for inspiration.

With the birdhouses hung, I was ready to make the boats and that involved a long walk along the beach hunting for driftwood.

Making sailboats out of driftwood and left over fabric absolutely falls into the frivolous category.

I moved the yellow bench to under the front window and played with my new boats.

It was a silly pastime, but I had fun.

I waver between liking and hating the large boat, but you can see that the glass bowl is full of driftwood which means I have lots on hand and I can just make another boat.

boats on the left via

Just as the birdhouse picture led to inspiration, Beachcomber's boats were simply inspiration for my silly boats.

I fully intended to make a tray with numbers just like this one made by Linda from Itsy Bits and Pieces.

but when I saw the condition of the tray, I decided to use an old lid from either a bread box or a coffee canister.

When I went looking for numbers to use as stencils, I came across two different sets of magnetic letters hidden in my alphabet stash.

A magnetic sign that can be changed as the mood strikes seemed like a much more practical way to go.

The shelf in my creative space got an update and the best part is that I can change the sign any time I want.

I wanted to complete these 3 projects by Friday - it's Friday and I am done.

And, I must stop all of this frivolity because I have to make 50 different boxes, cut out tags and make a banner for an upcoming baby shower.

And that is serious business, no frivolity involved.

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Join me at the following parties

Glitter Glue & Paint - Project Pin It

Sunny Simple Life - From the Farm Blog Hop

Jennifer Rizzo - Fabulously Creative Friday

Rooted in Thyme - Simple & Sweet Fridays

The Pin Junkie - Friday Link Party

House Kaboodle - Meet the Neighbors

Finally - an old ladder . . .

The weather has been strange for July - cool yet muggy - and I have been loathe to do much.

Yesterday, after 2 hours of tennis, I wanted to just sit and read, but I forced myself to get up and do something productive.

I painted my old coal bucket red.

I have been planning to paint it for about 3 weeks - lazy me!

I added some dried statice to the bucket and set it out to add a bit of red to this corner of the garden.

After that major accomplishment, I talked Steve into going to the nursery with me and we stopped at a new second hand store with a great name - ROTATIONS.

I found an old weathered ladder.

I know I am probably the last person in blogland to finally buy a ladder for decoration, but there were 2 main factors keeping me from buying a ladder.

#1- I am cheap

 #2 - cheap ladders are not common in my area - I saw one for $800.

I couldn't buy the ladder because we were in Steve's sports car, but this morning, I went and forked over $15 for a broken ladder.

Another reason I have never bought a ladder is that we have a small house and no place to showcase a fun old ladder.

This is the area between our house and the garage and it has the ugly structure to hold the water heater.

If it was up to me, we would build a 2 car garage (with a studio on top) and put the water heater in the garage.

But, it is up to the Coastal Commission who has declared that we cannot build a 2 car garage unless it is 20 feet back from the street which would mean building the garage in the entry.

So, I put up with the water heater and have disguised it with an old red baker's rack.

I want the baker's rack moved to the side of the house to hold gardening supplies and the ladder is the perfect solution for what to put in place of the rack.

I slapped on a little green paint here and there, added buckets, flowers and the same old birdhouses that had been on the baker's rack.

Once the area was spiffed up, I got Steve to help me put the baker's rack on the side of the house.

It made it to a side of the house, but not the side I originally planned.

When we walked past the dining room, we set it in the alcove and I knew then that I would have to find something else to hold my garden tools.

The baker's rack is now both useful and decorative holding things I use around the garden.

Since I began blogging, I have wanted:

a weathered ladder - got it

a weathered door - still waiting

a weathered window - got it

2 out of 3 isn't bad.

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I am sharing at the these fun parties

The Dedicated House - Anything Blue Friday

Fishtail Cottage - Cottage Garden Party

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup Thursday

Ivy and Elephants - What's It Wednesday

French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday

The Charm of Home - Home Sweet Home

Rooted in Thyme  - Sweet and Simple Fridays 

All In A Day's Work

Last Sunday was a spectacular spring day - clear blue sky, no wind and nothing I had to accomplish.

After our morning beach walk, I headed to one of my favorite spots in our little cottage - the garden.

The piece has been hanging on the fence outside my bedroom, flowerless, for too many years.

Last weekend I got JP to suspend it from the eaves on the exterior wall of Steve's studio.

I have always felt like this section of the wall looked stark and cold.

I put in some plants, but I'm not sure if they will survive in such a shallow container.

I bought a little bird and heart at American Home and Garden to add a little something.

I'm happy with the way it turned out and hopeful that the plants will thrive.

With that task complete, I moved to the front of the house to tackle this baker's rack.

JP commented on his last visit that he wasn't impressed with my display of discarded beach toys.

It has been niggling at the back of my mind all week.

I can't have any plants or flowers because the dryer vent is just below the window so everything either dies or gets covered in lint.

Although it is off to the side of the front, it is seen by anyone who goes to the front door.

I gathered some old birdhouses from around the house and yard

and gave some new life to the old shelf.

I ate lunch in the garden and

decided I had done a pretty good day's work!

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I'm linked up at  Savvy Southern Style