Ahhh, the long summer days are almost over! What, have I been doing? Mostly enjoying our house, the weather, tending to the gardens, socializing, and working.
We’ve been getting some beautiful sunsets lately:
I don’t have much interior-wise to report about but we will be doing a lot in the coming months. This includes replacing all the wall paneling with a lighter wood. The original panels are damaged, both by sun and holes and the replacement panels do not match. A lighter wood will open up the space, like our narrow hallway:
We are going to have the ceiling in the great room and kitchen sandblasted to get back to the natural wood. As you can see, there are water stains galore on the whitewash.
I painted one wall of my sewing room tiffany blue. I love it! I’ve been too lazy busy to finish decorating the room. I plan to paint the rest of the walls the same color. I have bought fabric for curtains and found some 50’s pattern pictures from Etsy, that I plan to frame.
Oh boy. At the beginning of the summer, I painted the middle partition in the great room chartreuse. I thought it would look cool.
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It was fabulously bright.
In the morning it was headache-y bright. So I went back to the paint store and tried a darker chartreuse.
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It was still too bright.
I couldn’t take it.
It’s now back to eggshell white (boring, I know) and I stuck some framed photos I have taken over the years on it.
This is what the other side looks like so far. .As you can tell, I love Cathrineholm.
All of the landscaping work over the past 2 years paid off this summer as everything looks lush and tall. We planted gladiolas last fall at the front of the house. They came up beautifully, this summer don’t you think?
Here’s another angle of the front with our grasses
I never thought I would get so into vegetable gardening, but I love it. The garden is flourishing. We’ve been enjoying lettuces, carrots, peppers, kale, herbs, strawberries, broccoli, basil for pesto, and now eggplant, cucumber and zucchini. We are planning to add some more beds around the border. (I TOLD Shawn that 3 beds were not enough!)
Some new pictures of the back. Shawn planted and dripped all of the blue succulents to the left, all the way down the hillside.
Another angle. We painted the Eichlerondack chairs ‘Calypso Blue’.
Perfect for a cat to snooze under:
We decided to fence the property. We got tired of spraying liquid fence for deer.
I researched what to cover deer fence with and we have planted bougainvillea, jasmine, potato vine, clematis, and laurel bushes.
I must say we have, for the most part, fabulous neighbors. Every Sunday, we play Petanque (like bocce, but French) at our lovely neighbors and there is always a great bunch of folks. Everyone brings wine and an appetizer and has a wonderful time, although sometimes the competition gets pretty heated 🙂
However, this was the reaction from one neighbor over the deer fence. Conspicuously placed facing our property:
I guess they don’t like it.
Everything is looking beautiful. I love your blue wall, and I agree with you about the chartreuse wall. As much as I love the color, I haven’t figured out a way to use a lot of it. Your landscaping is fabulous…but your neighbor is a jerk. All your plantings will cover the fence soon though, so you won’t have to look at his tacky protest.
Thanks Dana! I will figure out a way to incorporate that color, just not on such a large scale. Yes, hoping those vines grow fast…
Hey Michelle! I’ve missed your posts but I can see you’ve been really busy. Everything looks great (of course). The sewing room looks so pretty with that color. Very fresh and happy. As for the partition… I’m like Dana… I love color and dream about doing this and that, here and there, but then always end up with white or gray. The white is the perfect backdrop for all your pretty photographs and those amazing C.Holm pieces. (drooling). It also helps the beautiful wood just stand out and say “look at me… I’m gorgeous”!
The landscape is growing beautifully. I know you guys are enjoying it. Too bad not EVERYONE can enjoy what is clearly top notch (and necessary). Great update!
Hey Stacey, long time no talk! Summer just got away from us. I can’t wait to finish the sewing room, just trying to find time. Thanks so much for the support!
I was wondering if you gave up on blogging, but you’ve clearly been working hard instead. Those plantings look wonderful. We have a big deer problem here too but it’s too open for us to fence reasonably.
You really have some passive aggressive neighbors out there. I would replicate what’s on there and then get something poster size and hang it facing back at them…high enough that they can see it even once the vines grow up. Around here our neighbors are generally old enough to be our parents, and most all of them knew my grandparents so we’re in luck – they feel like we’re their kids or grandkids and let us do what we want. Our neighbors below cut a path between our properties just so we can use their pool anytime we want. 😉
Douglas, sounds like you have some great neighbors! Like I said, most of ours are very nice. We are ignoring it. It’s so childish, it’s actually funny.
Your neighbor is a little annoying. What is wrong with a little fencing? In the Midwest they have to keep the deer out through all kinds of means. I didn’t know we don’t allow that in California. QUITE a protest. Grow plants so you don’t have to look at it. I love chartreuse too but agree with your final decision. I see it used in many of the house tours I go on, and it always has the affect that your wall did. I think… do they ever get tired of it? To each his own. If you could have handled it, would have been great, but it is a lot of color.
Your neighbor is pretty bizarre. The deer fence is neat and tidy, plus the fence is almost invisible to the eye unless you’re right next to it. It’s not like you put up a mess of chain link or a large wood fence that obstructs their view. Some people are just bitter people and need an outlet for all their insecurities. Tag! You’re it! You’ve done such a lovely job at fixing up your house, I’ll just imagine them to be ignorant hillbillies spouting nonsense to make themselves feel better.
BTW, I love your garage door. Do you mind saying who it’s from and the approximate cost? Thanks!
On that green “island” paint, I recently did a dark grey on my mcm and it came out great, that color might look good there. It takes on a blueish color, but is actually grey.
http://normandyparkrestoration.blogspot.com/2014/04/accent-wall.html
I should note, it looks much better with wood flooring, the ugly carpet is on the way out. 🙂
Great post! Been reading a lot about modern home design. Thanks for sharing this!