Taking my craziness outside.

I want this...

and this...

Yup, lots of this...

You get the idea.

But I currently have this ...

A naked barren yard.  We ripped out all the landscaping when we bought it this fall.

Its  an improvement from the big chocolate brownie it used to be...

Kind of killed my love of brown and yellow for a while.

But we bought it because this is at the end of the street...

So now my dilema begins. A clean slate is VERY overwhelming.  We are ripping out the rest of the fence this weekend. (More nakedness)  Now I need a plan. 

I gravitate toward structured English gardens because quite frankly my head is a whirlwind mess all the time.  I have too many projects and ideas spinning so I think I need the structure.  I like balance, things in pairs. (I can't just buy one lamp, has to be a pair... just in case I want to use them on nightstands.) 

I also love coastal cottage gardens too.   This is our fourth house in 5 years.  We have a house disease that has slowly been cured by having children.  Our energy has diminshed,  and we are not moving again until they are out of high school.  While doing this post I went through pictures of all our old houses for landscaping ideas...

We started here pre-kids on the Salem Common.  This is where I met my husband.  We could walk anywhere, anytime. It was fun. But it had no yard.  The Common was basically it.

From there we got pregnant and renovated this carraige house.  It had the Ropes Gardens next door. This was the view from the bedroom...

They were beautiful structured English gardens.  They were inspiring and intimidating.  Got lots of good ideas, but my energy was low with a new baby. Instead I just enjoyed the ones next door. (P.S. If you ever do visit Salem, MA be sure to check them out. Open to the public & a great place to read a book.)

Our last house is right up the street from where we are now. It was cute and cottagey.  Tons of peonies and hydrangea.  It had alot of good landscaping bones already in place.  We added fencing and a pergola, just started to get into the back yard when the current house came along. 

So now I am going to try to merge structured and coastal into a 60's ranch.  I really don't know if it can be done.  I'm afraid I'll have a bastardized ranch on my hands when I'm done.  I'm thinking lots of pea stone, boxwoods, hydrangea.  Maybe a fence.  It might look like this with some funky sculptures thrown in, I'm not quite sure...

I just know my head already hurts.

On the move, again.

We found a house, put it under agreement and the FOR SALE sign is up in the front yard. Now I'm feverishly getting the house ready for an Open House on Sunday. The new house is literally down the street, we are only changing house numbers. Its also just five houses from the beach! Its a big mid century ranch in all its wood paneled, brown and yellow glory. Its going to need a whole lot of updating and white washing, but luckily that's something that makes me giddy. I'm thinking mod -beachy casual with a Palm Springs kick. (Can that even exist in New England?) It has alot of original features that I love and want to keep and incorporate like this fireplace and cream cork floors... I just want to take the brass insert out.
I think the foyer with its peek-a-boo wall will look great with a punchy wallpaper.

And there are so many great original light fixtures I love... Check out the pendants in the bathrooms! I think these bathrooms are going to stay Brady Bunch for a while, they are in mint condition and I think the chartreuse has alot of potential.

I will try to document the project as it starts, anyone have any great ranch-reno ideas or pics they'd care to share? I could use all the inspiration I can get!

Check it out...

Just wanted to share this colorful site with you. Atlanta based Stacey Sheron's Staceage is a wonderful place to escape to when you need a break from beige reality, its like Candyland for grownups. Her mission statement sums it up quite nicely...

Check out some of her furniture, fabric, wallpaper, trims and (coming soon) rugs...

Trying so hard to restrain myself...

images from atomicranchdinogal

I have found that as my taste changes one thing remains constant... my love of mid century modern design. Looking back I think it all started over my summer vacations as a kid. I'd watch a 2 hour block in the early morning of I Love Lucy, Bewitched, Brady Bunch and Leave It to Beaver before I'd venture out to play. The images of the neat, clean lined interiors with star burst mirrors and funky lamps left an impression in my heart.

Blending these pieces is always a challenge. Restraining myself from creating an entire room that feels super kitschy is difficult. Currently I am working on my sun porch. Its a total mess right now. I have a great starting point though which is a patio set that belonged to my grandparents. It just screams loungy-cocktail, which is the vibe I am going for since the porch is right off the pool and I celebrate summers in New England with almost as much enthusiasm as I do Christmas. (I freakin' love Christmas for those of you who don't know me.)

So this is the sofa...

There are also two more chairs, and I'm thinking of upholstering the whole group in these two fabrics I picked up on fabricguru, although I do love the turquoise vinyl.

Now for my ongoing struggle... I found this great spaghetti pendant lamp at a flea market at Todd's Farm in Rowley, MA. (Check out Julie Richard's fabulous design blog Shelter for more on the flea market . I met up with her there and she was

taking lots of photos to share!)

I fell in love immediately. As soon as I paid for my new purchase the internal dialogue began...

"This will look so great with the patio furniture!"

"See, you are doing it again. You are going to way over do it with the 50-60's look."

"But it looks so fun!"

"Just keep it simple, this isn't set design. You're not designing a time capsule."

And on and on... So now to incorporate these pieces with out it looking like an overdone mess.

I have put myself on a leash and will post pictures of the finished space when I'm done.

I welcome any suggestions!

Seriously gorgeous shiny things...

This will be a quick post. I'm in LOVE with these ... I have been sourcing vintage snowflake chandeliers and just had to share these. Almost all are from 1stdibs, with the exception of the one noted. How glam are they! If only I had a spot or the dough for one of these lovelies.

John Lewis