Category Archives: House & Home

Feng Shui in the Garden

fengshuibook

Last week, I took a quick detour to the library.  I have been looking for some fresh business advice and wanted to round up a stack of new research materials.  And then, because it’s summer and sometimes you just need to indulge in something a little lighter, I snuck down a few rows and checked out an old favorite, Feng Shui in the Garden.

I don’t even know how many times I have checked out this book from the library.  I read it shortly after I moved into my first apartment — before I had a garden of any sort or even a balcony for plants.  I’m not a huge believer in feng shui — at least not in terms of cultivating luck.  However, so many of the principles are common sense and feel good when applied.

Things like:

  • Having your back facing the window or door creates an unsettled feeling.
  • Placing a mirror next to your desk doubles your workload.  (When you think about it visually — it really does!)
  • Clutter stops up energy.

Feng Shui in the Garden has a brief intro on feng shui and then dives in to a bunch of different gardens you could create – gardens for children, for seniors, for lovers, etc.  I really love how thoughtful the author is about who will use the garden and how to tailor that space for the people who will spend time there.  She also suggests spending time in each place in your home (or garden) each day– checking on things, doing little bits of tidying up and maintenance.  Do you do this?  I find it very soothing.

To me, this book is a very nice companion to my garden daydreaming.  This time I picked it up along with a more general gardening how-to book.  We do have a small balcony right now.  Maybe it’s time to give this a try…

Do you have any other gardening books you would recommend? Any gardening tips — especially for container gardening?

Filed under House & Home, Site News. Tagged with , .

By Kelly
July 12, 2011

2 comments

Before You Go (travel strategies)

Travel_prep

I could probably have an entire column here called “things I learned from Melody, my college roommate.”  Melody is one of those rare people who just seemed to know that life’s experiences are better when you are in balance.  Her advice has turned out to be so practical and soul-nourishing that I think about her little sayings a lot.

Gems like:

  • Relationships: “For every argument or bad experience you have as a couple, you need 5 good experiences.”
  • Time management: “Getting into a good routine is everything.”
  • Cleaning: “Put this stuff on the carpet, and it will smell nice.”

Then there’s today’s topic: Travel.  I don’t know about you, but before I leave to go somewhere, I usually get that pre-trip adrenaline rush.  I’m packing, running errands, researching my destination, charging batteries, and generally running around excited, but a bit frazzled.

I have distinct memories of college dorm life where I would be frantically trying to find things to shove into my suitcase and looking over at Melody, serenely fluffing her pillows.  Usually while humming.  (I’m pretty sure you don’t get a name like “Melody” without being prone to humming.)

On my side of the room, I am tearing through a giant pile of books and papers looking for airline tickets, and there’s Melody, gently using her pink feather duster on her fairy figurines.

Travel_prep2

Now, I can’t say that she didn’t ever have to rush to board a plane (we were college students, not nuns after all), but she knew something then which has taken me a long time to figure out: cleaning up your place before you go somewhere is a really lovely gift to give yourself. She knew she was going to get back, exhausted, maybe secretly wishing she was still on vacation.  There’s nothing worse than opening the front door and finding piles of laundry, bills, and stuff to be put away.  Instead, Melody came home to a freshly laundered robe, clean linens, and… serenity.

Melody once visited me and cleaned up my apartment before she left.  This is the person you want as your friend for life, people.

I don’t always pull this off, but I really try to be more Melody than old-Kelly when I travel.  (Thank goodness my cleaning and organization have improved since then!)  Next week, we are going on a mini-vacation, and as soon as we booked the hotel, I wrote a list of things to do before we left.  I’ve been dropping things off at goodwill, catching up on chores, going through the mending basket, and simplifying as much as possible.  I think Melody would be proud.  I’ve thought about her with each load of laundry I’ve folded.  The bonus?  I am as much looking forward to the trip as I am to returning to a cleaner, lighter home.

So ‘fess up!  Who’s a Melody out there?  And who is still crazy-Kelly?  Do you have any pre-trip rituals that help keep you sane?

Filed under Friends & Family, House & Home, Organization. Tagged with , , .

By Kelly
June 17, 2011

4 comments

Fabric reorganizing: finished!

Fabric_reorg

Over the weekend, I put the finishing touches on my big reorganization project.  All of my fabric is folded and wrapped around comic book boards now.  I wish I could tell you that this is super quick, but it’s not.  To be honest, it took hours.  The good news is that when you grow tired of folding and pinning fabric, getting rid of things is much easier.  My fabric stash is lighter and more manageable now.

It’s also so much simpler to pull things out and put them away.  I have a separate bin for scraps and smaller cuts of fabric, but I’m going to try to hold myself to a limit there as well.  It feels good to only have fabrics I genuinely love.

This shot of the inside of the cabinet is not super glamorous, but I’ll share anyway:

Fabric_reorg3

I have dreams of all of the bins matching (one day), but first it was critical to clean out as much as possible and really see what’s left.  The bottom shelf contains a bin with all of my home dec fabrics and corduroys, velvets, etc.  This is also where the giant paper for the nice printer is stored plus my scrapbook/sticker collection.  (It’s OK to be 30+ and have a sticker collection.)

On the shelf with the fabric, I used a bookend so I could divide the shelf in two: fabric mini-bolts and full size rolls of muslin and interfacing.

We added a second drawer which makes me so happy.  I have all of my millinery supplies, notions, and other bits and bobs organized in separate plastic bins in the drawers.  Then there are separate bins for ribbons, adhesives, art supplies, paint, sewing patterns, yarn, tools, etc.  The top shelf has all of the weird stuff: left over pieces of foam, wreath forms, and other things I don’t need to access on a regular basis.

I decided that this cabinet should only hold supplies — not the abandoned, half-finished projects.  When I open up the doors, I want to be inspired by the possibilities not overwhelmed by incomplete or failed ideas.  This means that I tossed quite a few “maybe one day” projects.  That is a wonderful gift to give yourself.  I would encourage you to do the same.  Do you have any other de-cluttering and organizing tips? I’m on a roll and ready to tackle a few more spaces.

Filed under Fabric & Sewing, House & Home, Organization. Tagged with , , .

By Kelly
June 2, 2011

6 comments

Opinion needed: garden stool or pouf?

It’s possible that I have watched one too many episodes of Secrets from a Stylist.  My husband pulled me aside this weekend to have “the talk.”  This usually happens after a really great HGTV marathon when my spirits are high and my decorating fervor is renewed thanks to the encouragement (as if I needed encouragement!) of Genevieve Gorder and Emily Henderson.  Alas, these shows do not seem to have the same effect on my husband who asks me nervously just how many accessories I really think the room needs and when exactly will we be finished decorating.  (insert maniacal laughter here)

He gets his revenge though.  He has diagnosed my decorating type as “hoarder chic.”  (That’s fine.  I’d rather be “hoarder chic” than “minimalist prison compound.”  Unfortunately, if you combine these you could potentially end up with “hoarder prison compound.”  Something tells me we might not make it onto Emily’s show.)

Since he does not seem too interested in my latest decorating question, I am appealing to you.  If you could convince your minimalist husband that your living room really needed one extra little something — would you go for the moroccan pouf or the garden stool? (The options above are just examples.  I’m not tied to a color or particular style yet.  I will need to find the bargain of a lifetime since they will be in constant peril of minimalist husband giving them the axe.)  Of course, I guess you could also tell me that these things are over, but at our place, I always allow for a design trend “grace period.”  It’s only fair since it takes us a bazillion years to make a decision.

Up above you can also see some of the pillow styles we’ve been auditioning.  I haven’t abandoned my pillow project yet, but I am having a terrible time finding the right fabric.  Our couch is white-white, and a lot of the prints I’m finding are a creamy sort of beige that ends up looking dirty.  I may end up purchasing the focal point pillow and then make the stripes and a few textural companions myself.

Hope your week is going well!

Sources:

Filed under Friends & Family, House & Home, Inspiration. Tagged with , , , , .

By Kelly
June 1, 2011

8 comments

WIP: Frames for the Living Room (last 5)

Frames_ribba[Image from Ikea]

I think we are nearing a solution for artwork in the living room.  We have debated canvas, framed photos, and a dozen different layout options — everything from one giant piece of artwork to triptychs.  This has only taken us 18 months which is quite speedy for us.  In fact, I hope we have not rushed things too much here.  ;-)

A few nights ago, we went through our photography archives to try to choose which photos would make the cut.  I think we realized that a collage of smaller prints will work best.  On demand canvas printing seemed really cool, but committing to a few favorite images was just too hard.  We’ve taken thousands of photos in the past few years and our favorites are eclectic, so going with smaller photos will allow us to mix and match some flowers, special places, people, and maybe even a few animals (my design concession to my husband).  Our one rule is that we have decided to only use photos we’ve taken together.

Now for the hard part: the layout!  I really this photo from Ikea (up top) of the ever-popular Ribba frames.  The mixture of depths from the shadow boxes and regular frames makes me really happy.  So tactile!  However, we need an arrangement that is symmetrical or boxed in neatly somehow.  We just don’t do organic very well.

Here is one of about 4 different arrangements I’ve been playing with which didn’t make the cut (awkward spacing around some of the frames):

Frames_mockup

We’ll get there.  Eventually.

I owe everyone a pillow update, so I’m working on that post, too.  Alas, I still have not made it to the fabric store for pillow fabrics.  We’ve been running around like crazy, and I’m just trying to be at peace with our schedule however packed it’s going to be.  I hope your week is off to a good start!

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Filed under House & Home, Organization, Photography. Tagged with , , , , .

By Kelly
May 9, 2011

1 comment