Our {First Ever} Vegetable Garden

For awhile now I have wanted to plant a vegetable garden. We had one when I was a kid and I loved helping my dad with it and eating fresh veggies right out of the garden. So of course I wanted to do the same for my kids. I also think it’s important to teach them that fresh food doesn’t come from a grocery store. Someone has to work hard to grow it.

This weekend, while the weather was warm (crazy Texas weather, it’s been in the 50’s and 60’s this week), we successfully planted our first garden. We have 2 varieties of tomatoes planted at the back, some green beans and bell peppers (also at the back), basil, cilantro, banana peppers and strawberries in the front. Obviously I have more room to plant but this was just to get us started (and all that our Lowe’s had). So I hope to plant some more in the coming weeks.

Originally I thought I was going to plant in another part of the yard, but discovered it didn’t get enough sun. So I moved to plan B and was lucky enough to see this 2-tiered raised planter bed from Lowe’s for only $90. We bought about 5 bags of soil and 5 bags of compost, some plants and we got to work. From start to finish, it only took us about 5 hours.

We started out by marking about a 5’ x 5’ area and dug up all of the sod (ok, weeds).

Once the sod/weeds had been removed, I added one bag of good soil to the ground and tilled the soil (just a little, ‘cuz I was anxious to get to the fun part!). Here’s what it looked like just before we put the planter box down.

The boys put together the planter box (which took about 15 minutes and was super easy!).

While the girls watched and took self-portraits :)

And here’s the box ready to be filled with our soil and compost.

This was everyone’s favorite part (kids + dirt = happy).

Then we planted our veggies and gave them a nice drink of water (note: this image has been strategically cropped because my son was naked at this point, except for his sneakers, of course!)

Then we finished out the day by playing in the water hose (ok, the hole in the water hose that was inadvertently turned into a sprinkler). All in all, a great day!

I do still plan to do some research about keeping the squirrels and birds out of the garden because I certainly don’t want them to eat our veggies! But for now, the use of my son’s realistic looking snake seems to have kept them at bay.

So how many of you have gardens? Are you seasoned gardeners or newbies like us? Any tips to share (especially about keeping the critters out)? Are any of you Texas gardeners?

Bird on a Wire...er...Mirror

I am slowly starting to work on a makeover for my living room. Remember the love seat I want to slipcover? And the little turquoise side table I just completed? They're both part of my master plan for the living room makeover (ok, I have no master plan, I'm just kind of making it up as I go along). This is my newest little addition to the room.



One thing I'm trying to do is bring some color in to the room. Until now, I've felt like it was green on green on green. So here's how it looked after I added some pops of color with the turquoise table and the orange bookshelf...


Cute, but there was still something missing. I love the 3 round, antique mirrors hanging above the loveseat. They reflect the light nicely in this otherwise dark room. But the problem is, they don't add any color to that wall. So I decided to add this little touch of sweetness to one of the mirrors...


And here's how the space looks now...


It's not big impact, but it does add a nice little pop of color to that area...and it's super cute so how can you not love it? I also love using a wreath in an unexpected way.

I'm sure you've seen tutorials all over the place for how to make the felt flowers, but in case you haven't and you're interested, I'll give you a quickie!

Cut a circle (it works nicely if you do a couple of different sizes so your flowers are not all uniform).

Then start at one end and start cutting a spiral, making sure to leave a mini-circle at the end.

Take the end where you started cutting and start rolling.

When you get to the end (your mini-circle), put some hot glue on your flower and press the mini-circle down on to the flower. This will hold the flower together.

{Please ignore my chipping polish.}

Here are the 4 flowers that I made.

After making my purple yarn wreath (using the same method as my Christmas wreath), I simply hot glued the flowers on to my wreath.

I wish I could take credit for the little bird, but I bought it at a craft market from Revel Designs. Since I didn't want to attach the bird permanently, I just used some strategically placed straight pins to hold it in place. And since the wreath is up high, I don't have to worry about little hands messing with it so I think it's safe...I hope!

And here's one last look at it in all of it's cuteness...

Do you all use wreaths in unexpected ways to decorate your home?

Linking up to these awesome parties:

Turquoise SideTable

I found a sweet little side table at Goodwill for about$5 last summer and like many of my projects, it has sat around untouched...until now. We've had gorgeous weather this week so I decided to get outside and get to work on this little beauty! And just look at it now...




Here's what it looked like before...


Complete with schoolboy graffiti! "Chaz Wuz Here"...not for long, Chaz!



First I sanded off some of the sheen...and "Chaz"!



Then I simply primed it using some spray primer (love that stuff!).



Next I painted it a robin's egg blue color. The color is actually called "Reflecting Pool" by Sherwin Williams, but I think "robin's egg blue" better captures its essence ;) I love how it looked with just the paint, but I really wanted to age and distress it (and I'm so happy I did because it looks even better than it did with just the paint. But more on that later).



So I sanded it using a palm sander and my 2 hands (ie, the old fashioned way).



Then I wiped on some stain with a foam brush and simply wiped it off with a rag. I never knew this was considered "glazing" until I entered the blogging world. I just thought of it as "aging" a piece. How naive I was!


I just could not love this little table any more! I seriously want to paint everything in my house
this color!

Don't you all just love the color? I hope this trend doesn't go out of style any time soon! What's your favorite color to paint furniture?


I'll be partying here this week: