Monthly Archives: June 2009

Final Preparation for Summer at Home

30 Tuesday Jun 2009

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The final idea that appealed to me in this news article about getting your home ready for the season was a paragraph, “Freshen the Furniture”.  This sounds like a daunting task if, like me, you immediately think of refinishing wood.  Fortunately, that wasn’t the idea at all.   The suggestion was that with a bit of scratch cover and some good furniture wax, you can clean up the wood pieces in your home.  The upholstered pieces usually need a good vacuuming after a winter with the house closed up due to cooler temperatures, but if there are spots from spills, try a spot cleaning wet wipe.  Shout makes one that (providing the spot isn’t too large) works very well.  I advise that you try using these cleaning wipes on an inconspicuous place on the upholstery to check for color bleeding.  I have not had that trouble but some fabrics are more likely to fade from chemicals than others.  This will brighten up the fabric and the sofa or chair will feel fresh again.  The final suggestion for   ‘freshening the furniture’ is with the purchase of a few  new accent pillows.  These come in all sizes, fabrics and prices.  I have found great discounts at some of the outlet stores and for a seasonal change this can have a huge impact.

These are just a few of the ideas for gearing up the for summer ahead and making your home ready for the season.

Clearing the Decks for Summer

27 Saturday Jun 2009

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This is probably the simplest of ways to create a change for the warmer months around the house.  Look around your living spaces.  Remove anything that reminds you of the fall/winter months.  This is the season to be reminded of cool ocean breezes and relaxing fun in the park or at the beach, even if you don’t actually have the luxury of enjoying these activities.  You can create a ‘summer mood’ in your home that can have a very relaxing effect on you and your family every time you enter a room.  This should really be the goal for your home year round but in the summer we want more time for rest and relaxation. So pack the throws in the cupboard, put away half of your decorative accessories and pull out a basket for magazines, a vase for flowers or a cache pot for ivy (or any house plant that makes you smile).  This simple step will make the room feel lighter, less cluttered and you may get a breath of fresh air from just those simple changes.  If you have an area rug, consider a sisal rug for the summer.  These come in a variety of sizes with a wide array of cloth borders and at a wide range of prices.  Target to Pottery Barn carry variations of the natural grass rugs and they all impart the feel of summer. 

Less is more this time of year so make a few changes and sit back and plan an outdoor BBQ for friends and family.  Summer has arrived.

Summer sprucing up around the House

23 Tuesday Jun 2009

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Once the weather warms and the windows are open most of the day I find I want to pare down, weed out, clean up, toss and freshen all areas of our home.  This especially applies to my decorative accessories.  You know, the nick knacks that we have around during the fall and winter months.  I confess, I’m a Nester (not to be confused with a pack rat) but I only like to be surrounded by what I love.  During spring and summer months I want less.  I want cleaner lines and fewer distractions.  I don’t think this is any novel revelation, most of us feel somewhat the same, right?  In any event, I stumbled across an article in my local newspaper that gave some pointers for doing the above mentioned ‘clean up/pare down’ and I thought I’d pass along some of the ideas I found worthwhile.

“Paint a Room”  I know this seems like more work than most of us would want to tackle but it truly gives the biggest bang for your dollar when you face lift a space with new paint.  What could be fresher than applying a new color to a room that otherwise may seem dreary.  Paint companies have finally wised up and sell small containers of paint that you can try before buying a gallon of a color you end up disliking.  This is truly a weekend project, but if that wave of industriousness hits, capitalize on it.  You could even invite a friend over with a promise of a nice meal somewhere down the line.  You will absolutely have to follow up with that promise, but it would be fun to paint and visit the entire day away with a friend.

to be continued…

Gardening

17 Wednesday Jun 2009

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Keeping with my ‘divide and conquer’ theme in the garden, over Memorial Day weekend (I know, I’m a little behind with posting this) I worked on a stretch of my garden that had become overgrown and needed some serious help.  I had an azalea that had seen better days (I’ve heard that asaleas can stop producing because of the alkaline soil conditions prevalent in certain areas of Southern California).  In any event, I decided it was time to put the plant in the compost pile (our city collects our greens, I assume they are used for a good cause such as compost).  I purchased 2 5-gallon ‘Alaska’ white azaleas to plant in place of the struggling azalea.  During my renovation of the area I divided 2 large Lady Ferns athyrium filix-femina and replanted them in places in the garden that needed a little green.  My final clean up included moving a wronght iron ‘astro lab’ I had purchased some years ago in Rosorito Beach, Mexico, to a more prominent spot in the garden.  I planted a Clerodendrum Thompsonae (Bleeding Heart Vine) within the stucture so that it can use the iron frame of the astro lab to climb on.  The garden is beginning to take shape and although I have much more to do, the finished areas provide incentive to keep working.  I hope you are having fun in the garden.  P.S.  Maggie, our 12 year old cat supervises most of my work.

A New Addition to the Garden

15 Monday Jun 2009

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I was prepared to write more of my ‘information on perennials’ however there has been a new addition to the garden.  We have a dog, Winnie.  She is about 4 or 5 years old.  We are uncertain because she was adopted from our local shelter.  She weighs about 65 lbs., however she was trained to stay out of the flower beds at an early age.  She has complied.  Winnie lost her tag on a walk and I decided to re-order from the shelter (they put the usual name and phone number of the owner, as well as the city license #).  I bet you can see where this is going—I found a border terrier/jack russel mix that the shelter estimates to be 1 year old.  Madison is now a member of our family.  She and Winnie have fun and seem to share the love of chasing each other around the yard.  Teaching “Maddy” to stay out of the garden seems to be more of a challenge than teaching Winnie was.  I’m not sure if this is because, like most of us, over time you tend to forget the difficult things and only remember the end result ( a wonderful pet, loving and obedient).  I’ve used the squirt bottle method (water) with some results, however she seems to think this rule only applies when I am in the garden with her.  She does have a method to her madness—Maddy brings in rocks to chew on, which I believe come from her digging.  We’re working on the rules and the garden is getting more attention since I have to fill in the holes where she’s dug.  I promise to post the rest of my info on the new perennials I’ve been using in my next post.  Thank you for your patience, Maddy and I appreciate it.

Late Spring Planting

12 Friday Jun 2009

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More perennial plants details:  Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’ is a wonderful addition to the cottage garden.  If Scabiosa is dead-headed (spent bloosoms removed) it will bloom from spring until fall.  If planted in full sun the blossoms will bloom on 10″ stems that make wonderful additions to a bouguet for indoors.  I had experirence with this plant when I was consulting on ‘cottage gardens’.  It was nearly pest free and seemed to thrive and bloom, as we all wish every plant we plant in our yards would.  I hadn’t grown scabiosa in my own yard for some time however I happened to purchase some cut flowers from the wholesale florist for a dinner party.  I found white scabiosa, sold in bundles.  They were so pretty, especially when mixed with other flowers.  I began to search the nurseries around my area for white and so far have turned up nothing.  I will continue to search but meanwhile I will enjoy the blue in my garden.  If you know of a source for white scabiosa I would appreciate hearing about it.

The “Wren Family”

09 Tuesday Jun 2009

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Six weeks ago we watched a pair of wrens scout out our decorative bird house.  This is an area of the garden that we can observe from our kitchen door, as well as a space that I often work in.  The pair worked with determination to build a nest and within a few weeks we were hearing cries of hunger from the newly hatched babies.  Memorial Day weekend we actually watched our adopted family leave the nest.  This has been some of the best entertainment for my husband and I.  We have Googled information on the House Wren and found that it will be likely that the parents will return to the same house to have another set of babies.