Our Rock

Dave always comes home with interesting things from work.  Remember the sand castle? Well, this time he brought home a boulder!  Yup, a custom made boulder for a set.  We've been talking about adding rocks to our landscape design and wahlaaa!  We're still not sure if that's where it should stay.  But where ever it ends up it does add a certain je n'sai quoi to the front yard look.

Charley Harper & Todd Oldham!

I'm in love with this collection!  I love fish because I'm a Pisces. Even ugly fish designs catch my eye. But I doubt either Charlie Harper or Todd Oldham has ever made anything ugly. 

This is my favorite mug.  I'd love to get an entire place setting for six but I know things will break with two little kids in the house. Maybe just getting one mug will curb my craving.  

You can find the whole collection here.

Via Happy Mundane 

Hop Scotch

A few weeks ago I was happily pinning on Pinterest when I came across this rug:

It's from a company called Scandinavian Design Center and you can find it here.  For some reason the idea of being able to play hop scotch inside seems like a lot of fun.  I don't know why.  I'm a big fan of being in the great outdoors. Maybe because it's been so hot here lately.

 Anyway, I immediately thought our bedroom hallway would be a great place for hop scotch but the rug was too wide.  The solution came to me!  I could use Flor tiles to make the board!  It wasn't a big stretch. Our entrance hallway has them.  

The bedroom hallway has been bugging me.  We've had Ikea circles down for three years and now they're dirty.  The circles were always getting caught on riding toys or strollers and never staying in place.  I was thinking about what to put here and the hop scotch board seemed perfect.   

The numbers are made out of white felt.  I debated spray painting them but in the end the option to remove the numbers seemed better. I found a font I liked and I printed out 0-9 as large as possible on an 8.5x11" sheet of paper.  Then I cut the numbers out and used them as molds to trace on the white felt. I traced them flipped over backwards so I didn't need to worry about the marker being visible when I put them down right side up. 


On an educational note, I like the idea of P grabbing the numbers in her hands and playing with them. She can count and knows the values of each number but she can't point them out in a book or elevator.  I think this "hands on" approach wrapped up in a game may help her identify each one.    

This is the before and after of the hallway. It has the perfect atmosphere for a game with all of P's artwork on the walls at the end.  I like all the colors on the floor and I love that we are living this phase of kids to the fullest. When else can you have a hop scotch board in your home?  

New View. New Neighbors.

We have a new view across the street!  What a change! The house got flipped and is now on the market.  New facade, new paint, new landscaping, new driveway!  Although it's lost all of it's "Mid Centuryness" it looks pretty clean and nice.  It's a thousand times better than before and I'm hoping the new neighbors will be as well.


I thought I had a good before picture of the house but I don't.  It seems I always took pictures of our front yard from angles that avoided the mess across the street. Before, the house made it look like we lived in a bad neighborhood. There was such a mishmosh of styles and junk pilled in the driveway.  It's so nice to have this clean view now. 


So, won't you come and be my neighbor!    

   

Wall Art

Dave love Disney. I love order. P is learning to put things back where they belong but needs a lot of reminders.  This just might be the most useful and creative print for our house.  I found it on Pinterest. It's by a young girl in the Philippines. Disney needs to hire her.

Pool Side Bed

I'm sure this is not what comes to mind when thinking of a pool side bed.  Something a little sexier maybe?  But you know what can come from "lounging" with the right person on a pool side bed right?...nine months later a little being like the one above and then you've come full circle!

Speaking of sexy, poolside and little.... I got this lounger for Annika a few months back.   I saw it in a boutique shop on Abbot Kinney. I think it's pretty stylish. It was also rather inexpensive...which would explain why it also sells at Walmart.  But stylish things can be found in various places right? Ok, I must admit, had I seen it at Walmart first I may not have bought it.  My first impression was in a stylish store and I was sold.  It must look good in our house to because I've been asked about it quite a few times.    

Ever Changing Space

Every summer I rework this area of our patio. It is the corner with the most amount of shade throughout the day.  It's also right outside the sliding glass door to the house so it's easy to "end up" here.    


It gets reworked because every year we have different needs.  The first summer Annika was 6 months old.  She was crawling so I laid down a giant padded matt.  That was it! Two years ago when she was 2 it looked like this.  All her arts, crafts and toys fit in this area.  I made it fun with Chinese parasols and hanging her art work: painted Starbucks cups turned into wind chimes. 


This year the space has the same whimsey with the parasols but it's more of a sitting area for adults and kids.  We've been eating many dinners out here.  Annika's stuff is scattered throughout the entire back yard.  It's not a couple of things anymore.  It's wake boards, soccer balls, basketballs, wagons, easels, sand tables, gardening gear, tents etc.   It's really her back yard and we get a little corner sitting area.  


Next year Gemma will be a little over a year and Annika five. Our requirements will change again and so will the space.  

An Orange Tree

We planted an orange tree this weekend.  It's been in a pot for four years now;  since we moved in.  It's strategically placed to give the house the most amount of shade in the summer. Of course it'll take years before it does but we thought it would be nice to capture the start.  The same way I captured the start of those rosemary in the background. Look how tall they are now!


It's rough enough finding the time to plant a tree, let alone photographing the entire family in decent gear. This is why we're in pajamas and the dog isn't facing the camera.  This is as good as it gets.