Screen Door

One of the many little, yet important things we had to do around here was get a screen for the sliding glass door that leads to the patio.  We got around to it during the hottest week this summer. Now that it's cooled off we're getting to enjoy it very much.

I broke the last screen in two!  Annika was a baby at the time. I had her in my arms and was walking to the kitchen thinking about what to make for dinner when bam!  I walked right into it! Fortunately I didn't fall with Annika.  So when I called the screen guys they suggested the tougher heavy duty screen, specially for the daily use with kids. 

The other thing they cautioned us about before leaving was that we weren't in the habit of having a screen and could easily walk into it again.  We gently placed one of Annika's works of art on the screen until we remember that it's there.

I liked the screen guys we used.  A year ago I saw their truck on the road and I took a picture of it at a stop light.  I had to hunt the picture down in iphoto but I'm glad I found it.  I made a few other calls but their prices and services didn't seem seem very good over the phone.  Screen Mobile was fantastic. They came to our house and made a door to fit in under an hour.

Drying Rack

Summer is officially over but the weather in Southern California doesn't play along with the official Labor Day notice.  We're in high swimming season in our heat.  With daily swimming comes a daily 10 pounds of wet towels and suits. They inevitably end up draped all over our patio furniture or on every door, towel rack or hook around the house.  

One of my pet peeves is towels draped on doors or over shower curtain rods.  The towels end up covered in regular dust from doors or black dust from shower curtain rings.  I also have a thing about drying off from a shower with a towel that was used to dry off from the pool or ocean.  If you're clean and you use a chlorinated or salt water towel to dry off you're technically not clean any more.  It's a bit OCD, I know, but I swear I can smell the chlorine or sea water on a person when that's what they've done.  Yes, I have a "dog-grade" nose. 

One day while browsing Remodelista, as I often do, I saw this drying rack.  I had to get it!  I love it! It now keeps all our wet stuff all in one handy dandy place.  Only problem is the rack is very light weight. If it's placed in certain spots in our back patio the wind blows it over and sometimes right into the pool clothes, towels and all.  Dave hates that about it.  I may try to strategically weigh it down with weights in the middle or we have to keep it in this one place where the wind doesn't catch it. I like that I can lift the dowels out to add or subtract a spot to hang things.  It also rotates which is convenient when grabbing all the clothes off to do laundry.  

The drying rack has a certain European flair to it. Not sure my pictures capture it but it does look pretty cool and I've gotten lots of compliments.   If you're interested you can find it here.  

More Paths

Pinterest is my new addiction.  I spend probably close to three hours a day, if not more, nursing our 6 month old Gemma.  As soon as she closes her eyes I pull out my iphone, get inspired and "see the world" so to speak.

Here are a few more paths I liked and feel inspired to create around our house.

Succulents as a border!  Brilliant!

 by anniesannuals

by: homedit.com

by: Better Homes & Garden

Really like the checker board for placing seating. 

Lovely moss.

by: Country Living

More well placed moss.

by: HGTV

Instead of moss this is thyme!  Wow!

by: Indulgy

Not exactly a path but it's a brilliant idea and I love the use of plants for delineating the border. 

by: Townmouse

If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest  you can find me here.

Stone Pathway

Over the weekend we went to a birthday party. It was for one of Annika's new classmates.  Their house was beautiful. It had wonderful indoor/outdoor space filled with amazing elements of wood and stone. Simple, elegant and classy.  I would have photographed every angle of the house except I don't know the family very well and must respect their privacy. I was dying to capture their beautiful design talents.

 I did take a picture of one of their stone walkways. I've been looking for inspirations for our own backyard.  I thought theirs was splendid. I think it was the beautiful combination of stone work with the plants they selected that made it so well done.