Beach Vacation

Last month the boy and I traveled south to Carolina Beach, North Carolina. Now that my camera has arrived home after being rudely abandoned in North Carolina by moi, I can show you a glimpse of just how lovely it was.

There are numerous beaches near Wilmington, NC:Wrightsville, Carolina, and Kure. We stayed just three blocks from Carolina Beach (thanks to the boy's sister putting up with us) and this little beach pier bar. But Kure Beach is even nicer and has cute little beach shops, restaurants, the arcade and the quaint Kure Beach pier. September was the perfect time to head to the beach. The weather was warm, but not unbearable and we missed the main tourist season.

So when's the next trip, honey?

A Good Mail Day - Marimekko!

Today the mail wasn't just stuffed with political crap (stop the insanity!) and bills for a change. My Marimekko tea towels (Kaiku and Unessa) arrived! I plan to frame these and use them as wall art just like Door Sixteen did. After seeing the towels in person today I'm even more pleased.Since these are 100% linen, they look more like canvases than your typical cotton towel to me.

I've been wanting to use Marimekko fabric as art for ages, but I couldn't decide on one pattern. When I finally settled on Kaiku, I saw that the size of the entire pattern was entirely too big for my space. Then I came across the Door Sixteen post on Apartment Therapy and months later, voila. Now I just need to frame them and finally figure out how I want to do my living room art wall. At the rate I'm going, that shouldn't take more than a few more months.

In the end, I was just pleased to be able to purchase the Kaiku towel. By the time I was ready to buy, I couldn't find anyone who had it in stock. I was cursing myself for procrastinating, when I found Kiitos Marimekko, the online storefront of the Marimekko Concept Store in the Upper East Side of New York. I definitely recommend them, they sent a nice note explaining when my shipment would arrive and the package was nicely wrapped in a Marimekko bag. Kiitos!

Introducing the Side Garden

I'm thrilled with my little side garden, even though it's still very much a work in progress. All the flowers in my side garden were grown last winter as part of my winter sowing project.

My goal in planting them here was to have something pretty to look down on out of my bedroom window. Unlike my other garden beds, I just plunked the tiny seedlings into the small bit of cleared former rock-filled yard. I just love the way it turned out, just like the cottage garden style I'm going for! There's Zinnia, Love in a Mist, Cleome, Brown-Eyed Susans, some mystery purple flowers I've now sure of (the spikey ones, in case anyone can help me out), and even a tomatoes plant or two (thanks to the compost). These plants are so large and healthy too.

See the tiny little white Love in a Mist? I just noticed them today, although those seeds were three years old!

This little side garden has made me a winter sowing convert for life!

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join Green Thumb Sunday every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Gettin' Fall-ified

On Friday I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to have some fall blooms to revive my dying garden and barren-looking deck. Aren't they pretty?



The asters are perennials so they went right into the garden, my first permanent fall flowers. Now it feels like fall.

Gardeners, plant and nature lovers can join Green Thumb Sunday every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Things No One Warns You About: Foundation Maintenance

If someone had sat me down when I was house shopping and told me EXACTLY how much maintenance is involved with an older home and how much time that would take (or money, which I don't have enough of to hire everything out unfortunately), I would have bought a condo or stayed a renter. I mean who knew how much time staining decks, cleaning gutters, repainting, gardening, caulking, changing filters, and cleaning would take? Too late now though and I've been feeling guilty because I haven't gotten many maintenance projects done this year despite having a long to-do list.

Last Sunday I decided I'd finally do one of the quicker projects on my list: sprucing up the foundation. It would be a simple project I could get done in a day and cross off my list, or so I thought. My foundation is painted, but the paint was dingy and chipping. It didn't take me long to learn that water is the major enemy of structural soundness, and where you have cracks and cold weather, you're going to have water damage. So my plan was simple: patch the chips so I can have a nice, smooth surface to repaint. Easy, right?


But first, there was the little matter of what to patch it with. I knew there are expensive tubes of concrete repair, but with the amount of patching I needed to do, these were above my budget. I searched the net and found several suggestions: concrete, cement patch, hydraulic cement, mortar, and epoxy. I went to the hardware store and after reading some labels came home with hydraulic cement. Then I started scraping the loose parts off the foundation, but the loose parts kept coming. Then I found some spots where mortar was missing. I began to panic and called my stepdad, my entire family's handyman guru, for advice. In the end he and my mom drove an hour to come to my rescue (yet again) to show me some tricks of the masonry trade.

The stepdad was not impressed with the idea of using hydraulic cement at all. He recommended Quickcrete mortar. So I learned how to mix and apply mortar. And I had lots and lots of practice at it while I tried to patch each and every little chip and indent. Having the right tools definitely helps. Undoubtedly it wouldn't have been a much longer and much more frustrating experience without those lessons!

foundation during, after patching

A mere six days, some new Drylock paint, and I don't want to count how many hours later, my foundation looks like this:

Which looks even better in person and gives me a little thrill of self-satisfaction. Until I remember that I have three more walls to go.

Get Your House Voyer Fix @ The Love List

I can't get enough home tours. I mean, what's more fun then checking out other people's cribs? Nothing, I tell you, nothing. That's why I was thrilled to find The Love List (thanks for the tip Decor8!), where for the next few weeks Jessica is hosting tours of bloggers' homes. My favorite so far is definitely Erin's Elemental Style.

Design Advice from Nestled In

In July, I profiled the new-to-me blog Nestled In. At the same time, I e-mailed Nestled In's authors and asked a few questions which they kindly and quickly answered, but I embarrassingly didn't get around to sharing until now. So without further ago, here's some design advice and thoughts from Nestled In.

How would you describe your style?
"I guess we're still trying to figure out our style together. We like to mix new and old, thrift store finds and furniture we've 'inherited' from relatives. We love old furniture because it has more character and also because of the ecological aspect of re-using things. We like simple and modern style but not minimalism. And obviously, living in Finland, we're strongly influenced by Scandinavian style of decorating. We also want our home to reflect our personalities. It's important to try to find your own style and, while taking inspiration from around you, not to care too much about trends or other people's opinions."

What is your greatest decorating challenge?
"Decorating with a small budget maybe. And for me (Katja) it's also just having the patience, not expecting everything to be finished and perfect right away."

What is your favorite spot in your home? Why?
"Mine (Katja's) is the dining area in our kitchen. There's a big window there so it gets nice light and we're growing mini-tomato plants on the windowsill (because we don't have a yard or a balcony). I have to say I'm really getting into gardening! Minna's favorite spot in our home is her office space in the hallway.


What about your home do you love the most?
That we're making it together.What do you collect? How do you display/store your collection?
"We don't really have any collections. I (Katja) have a few vintage photographs that are displayed on the hallway wall but that's about it."

What’s your favorite sources of decorating inspiration? "Blogs! decor8, Design*Sponge, Homebug, Design for Mankind and many, many more. Also, going to thrift stores and interesting shops together, art, movies, magazines and books."



And since home just isn't home without a cute kitty, I couldn't resist this pic of Lissu and these chairs. Thanks Katja and Minna!

*All photos courtesy of Nestled In.