Outdoor Furniture

I found 5 of these awesome metal chairs on Craigslist.  My husband went to pick them up from a couple who buys and sells crap (my heroes). I wish he hadn't lost their card because they obviously have good taste.  They spray painted these chairs the color they are now. I'm not sure what color they were before.  The white part is very sturdy metal (don't stub your toe on one of these bad boys), and the yellow is some kind of weave.  In the future I intend to paint them all yellow, legs and all.

Although they appear to be lawn chairs, they are used for my dining room chairs.  If I had two more lives I would learn to sew and make them some awesome cushions...but as it stands I will probably have to hire someone to make me some awesome, original cushions, as they are slightly too short for the table.  We've just been using pillows.  Hey, ghetto, I know, but I'm not just gonna buy ill-fitting cushions, c'mon now.

I love the brightness they bring my dining room.  They pop out nicely against the green.

To be honest, after we first got them, they were almost too much for my eyes and stomach to take in.  I actually had some buyers remorse for awhile because whenever I looked at them, sitting there around the dark, brown, dining, room table, I felt a bit nauseous; too much of a good thing.

Fortunately, the feeling and nausea passed and we didn't have to return them to the hero-crap-sellers.

Happy Fall by the way!

Drawer Organization: Before & After

So...silly me I forgot to take a before pic so this is about halfway through. In my previous post I mentioned how Marie Kondo's book: "The life-changing magic of tidying up" talks about using iPhone and other quality boxes to organize drawers and other such things.  Though I like the results I'm not so naive as to think that my daughter might "re-organize" this drawer by tomorrow, but at least I'll know how to "re-re-organize" it...

After 

New-found corner...

Before One

Before Two

So...I'm not sure what day of my Environmental-Challenge-a-thon it is.  My chalk board still says it's Monday, October 5th...so I'm definitely not oriented x 4 as we say in the mental health field. However, I finally found what was behind one corner of my house...cat hair and dust...didn't surprise me but it was nice to see the corner again even though there was no hidden change I could add to our slowly growing Disneyland fund (not even a penny)...this bookshelf was functional in that it held my books but it's definitely not art...I found another temporary place for my box-o-pictures and sewing paraphernalia and was able to move the remainder of the books to the other book shelf.  We dropped the shelf off at Savers.  They'll either throw it away or try to off-load it for $6.99 (just my guess).  I moved the piano bench over there, which is our unofficial drop off bench for stuff on its way to Savers. I'm happy I found a corner of my house...insignificant as it may seem...but it's just good to know it's there...verified by seeing it with my own two eyes...

After

Environmental Challenge-a-thon Day Whatever

I've already blown my challenge-a-thon and it's only the first week. I thought it would take at least a month to get behind.  Alas, I continue despite time and energy not being on my side.  This is all I could muster for today. I wrote the date on the chalk wall in our hallway...I really hope I can erase it by tomorrow because for some reason I'm not holding out that I will write tomorrow's date on it.

My hope is that my daughter will learn how to spell Monday and pretty soon she can take over...most days the chalk wall is empty except for the chalk dust and when we play hang-man.  How sad is that! What's the point of a chalk-wall without a picture or trite sentiment?

So, here it is...I'm giving meaning and life to the things in my environment...one day at a time, or one week at at time...

Every little bit helps.

Double-Duty Napkin Holder-thing: Environmental Challenge-a-thon Day 3

So...Day 3 got delayed...I'm not going to let it slow me down. That being said...here is my newfound solution to the paperwork that takes over this whole table.  I found the napkin holder at Goodwill.  I'm not an expert in napkin holder design, but I thought it did have a mid-century modern flair.

The napkin holder was initially used for napkins but they kept slumping over and falling out...maybe I wasn't buying the right napkins...or maybe, just maybe, this napkin holder was destined for something greater...that and, who am I kidding, we don't really use napkins...we use paper towels for napkin duty. Obviously this solution is temporary because the papers need to eventually find their way to their proper place in the trash, shredder, or filing cabinet...But for now...my mental space is a smidgen less cluttered thanks to this hard-working kitchen companion.