Live-in Room

In the daylight. I promised photos of the living room, and here they are! I have very little to do before this room is done. 1) The rug I purchased from Horchow is on its way and 2) at some point I want a lamp for the buffet.

Views from the front entry:

  

And from the dining room.

Vintage wine bottle is from Interior Spaces in Jackson.

Bowl is a Keith Stewart original.

Table is from the outlet in Jackson.

Curtains by Restoration Hardware.

Mirrored occasional table is from Wisteria.

And of course the chair is Mallory by DwellStudio from SummerHouse in Ridgeland.

Vase and goblets by Ron Dale of Oxford.

Original art by Sarah Robertson of Germantown.

Coffee table and TV table are both from the outlet in Jackson.

Japanese paper mache tray from the Antique Mall of the South in Ridgeland.

Sea Urchin lamp is from Horchow.

Shell planter is from Sugar Magnolia in Oxford.

Buffet is from The Antique Shops of Jackson. 

And out of all of this, the only furniture that is new are the chairs. My in-laws gave us the sofa. Other new items I added are the sea urchin lamp, pillow covers and fireplace screen from Pottery Barn Outlet, and the curtains. Everything else was pulled from what we already had. I'm so happy about how it has all come together.

Signs of Summer

I had a great day on Saturday working on one of the "bad and ugly" spots in my backyard. I'm about 70% done, and I can't wait to finish up this project and show everyone my accomplishments in this section of the garden! In order to finish it fully, I've got to wait for fall so I can divide some massive daylilies that were needing to be divided 2 years ago. I do love dividing plants. How cool is it to start with one big plant and end up with two, three, or four little plants that will grow into big plants?! I think it is GREAT.

Part of my "bad and ugly" rehaul this Saturday consisted of dividing four ornamental grasses (variety t.b.d.) into ten clumps, planting two 'Tropicanna' cannas, dividing two agapanthus (a.k.a. Lily of the Nile, 'Ellamae' variety) into 6 plants with some babies that I will try to root.

A couple weekends ago, I moved 3 junpiers. Two of them never took to the new spot, so I pulled them out and planted three new junipers in their place. Then, I remembered that I had two blue oat grasses drowning under all those daylilies, so I moved those, too. The oat grasses reseed freely, so I am hoping that they'll take off in their new spot. I have lots of space for them to fill.

During all of this work (oh, my aching back!), a nice rain shower came through to cool things off. I was working in the rain under a big oak tree, but then I started to get soaked, ran under the porch, and watched the storm pass. I started working in the yard around 9 AM and before I knew it, it was 3:30 PM and I hadn't had a bite to eat. I was really "in the zone"!

On Sunday it was pretty dang hot, but Chip manned the grill for a cookout and pool party with our friends. I made my fish tacos with baked fish, grilled pork tacos from a Rick Bayless recipe, and Chip made grilled banana splits! Everything was so good. It really feels like summer is here.

My perennial corner in the front garden is saying summer is here, too. Just this morning one yellow gladiolus and one shasta daisy ('Becky' variety) have opened up. It won't be long before this area is full of color. Last week, the echinacea popped open, too. This variety is called 'Sundown'.
And my mother-in-law brought me a cupcake and this gorgeous vinca because I'd had a tough week. Isn't she sweet?!
Happy Monday, y'all! Have a good week.

Wild Plum

My in-laws came over for dinner Sunday night, and my father-in-law said he had some wild plum trees that I could have. My FIL dropped by with a tall wild plum tree on Monday. Chip was off on Monday, so he dug the hole and planted the tree. And this is what it looked like when he was done.

Now, I hate to pick on Chip. I know it took him a long time to dig a hole big enough to accomodate the large taproot. But, c'mon. That's really crooked.

So, during my lunch break yesterday, I did what any gardener would do. I dug it up and planted it again. Straight this time.

I plan on working on this neglected portion of my back yard this spring. I've got lots of work to do, but a tree is a great place to start.

My Newest Furniture Project

For the longest time I'd been looking for a sideboard for our entry way. I wanted something with lots of storage space and two or three doors with drawers. I browsed all of my favorite shops - Country Originals, Antique Shops of Jackson, Interior Spaces, and the High Street Antique Mall in Jackson. I visited Pette's Place and Bon Chic in Clinton. Each time I was in Oxford, I hit up the Mustard Seed and Sugar Magnolia. I never found what I wanted. Eventually, we began looking at the usual suspects - Pottery Barn, Wisteria, Ballard Designs, and NapaStyle - and I picked out a few that I liked.

The Benchwright Buffet from Pottery Barn...


The Solare Sideboard from NapaStyle...

But, the thing is, I wanted something unique and old, and these were both in the upper end of my price range, so I held out a little longer.

On a whim one Saturday, I went in Pette's Place again after yoga class. They are always so sweet in there! It was my lucky day, because I found exactly what I was looking for. It was a great deal, so I snatched it up.

This is what my new sideboard looked like on the day they delivered it. I didn't take an interior shot before I cleaned it out, but let me tell you, it was nasty. A family of mice seemed to have taken residence in one of the upper corners, so I had quite a time cleaning out all of the dust, dirt, and mouse poop. Maybe that's why I got the great deal? It took me two evenings to strip out all of the shelf paper, scrape off all the mouse poop, and wipe it down with Murphy's Oil Soap. Once it was clean, I decided to line it with folded burlap held down with brass tacks.

I relocated one of our paintings from the dining room to rest on top. I love this painting, but it hadn't found the perfect spot in our home until I set it on top of the sideboard. I am so happy with the placement now. This painting is by Sarah Robertson. She is a local artist and will be selling her work at Oxford's Double Decker Arts Festival in April.
Next, I added an orchid in a mirrored pot that I already had. Then I found a beautiful demi-john wine bottle in a old wooden crate at Interior Spaces in Jackson. I've seen these in all the catalogs lately, and I just love them. I placed the bottle on the sideboard. I put our green vase in the crate on the floor. I added a woven runner to tie in the burlap lighting, and then this area was coming together... I just needed one more thing.
I had been eyeing this little lamb at Wisteria, and I decided that she finally had a place in our home...

After I got all of this together (seriously, it took the entire month of February to find all the right pieces), we ended up getting new floors in the living area, entry, and dining area. The original plan was to rip up the stained carpet in the living area and replace it with hardwood to match what we already had. But projects like that rarely go as planned, and we couldn't find any wood to match. We ended up replacing the carpet and the existing wood with new wood.

I am so happy with my new furniture! I love all of the great storage I get with this piece. I am so glad I waited for exactly the right piece and didn't settle. So, here is the finished project (with new floors)...

The Big Move

Fall is in the air, and as always, that means fall gardening chores. After work on Friday, I put on my favorite gardening jeans and my clogs, and began one of the biggest projects of the season - moving one of my raised beds.

I love this raised bed that I bought a few seasons ago from Gardeners Supply Company. It is their Two-Tier Raised Bed. One half is six inches deep and the other half is twelve inches deep. Plus, it has these great poles that can be used to drape row covers. I originally placed this raised bed in a spot too shady to grow vegetables, so I decided earlier this year that it was time for a move.

I'd been wanting to move it beside my other two raised beds, but the summer heat and humidity had kept me far, far away from tackling this project. In its new spot, it will get about 8 hours of sun a day in the summer. This area is on a bit of a slope, so I did have to grade the slope a bit.

First, I had to move all the soil from the raised bed to the tarp. I removed about 3/4 of the soil from the deeper bed, then called it an evening. It took me about an hour and a half to clean out the bed, dig, fill the garden cart, then dump the soil from the garden cart onto the tarp.

After attending a family reunion at Holmes County State Park on Saturday, I picked up where I left off and dug out the rest of the soil. Once I had all the soil out, I deconstructed the raised bed (so easy!) and started grading the slope where I planned to move the new bed.

I really hoped to finish the entire project on Saturday since there was rain in the forecast on Sunday, but after digging for another two hours on Saturday evening, I was once again ready to call it quits.

On Sunday morning, I was ready to pull this project together and FINISH IT. My wonderful husband volunteered to help me so that we could try to get it done before the thunderstorms rolled in. We started putting the bed together and moving soil at around 9:30 AM in 65F weather. It was cool, windy, overcast, and threatening rain all morning. In my opinion, the perfect time to do tough chores. By 11 we had the bed built and all the soil moved in. I moved on to other gardening chores (weeding the iris bed, putting fresh pine straw around the raised bed in its new location, moving some elephant ears that were in a bad spot), and Chip (did I mention that I have a wonderful husband?) started on the next big project on my list - moving the compost bin.

By 1 PM two huge chores on my list were done, and I felt great about what we'd been able to accomplish. I don't usually recruit Chip to help me in the garden. I can be terribly bossy out there because I want everything done my way because - after all - it is my garden. Depending on the day I'll either be a real meanie or I'll be nice and let him do it his way, then go back behind him and redo everything. Today, though, we reached a happy balance out there. By the time I got cleaned up, the storms had rolled in for good. It is 9 PM, and it is still raining out there.

So now, my backyard vegetable garden is much improved. I've got a sunnier location for my vegetables, a neater spot for my compost bin, and some additional work space for turning my compost bin.

With fall here, the leaves will be falling from the trees in no time, and I'll fill my lunch breaks with raking and my bin with chopped leaves. Did I mention that I found out that our leaf blower also has a leaf vacuum that chops the leaves? I am really optimistic about managing those leaves this year! We'll see if that changes once they start falling.

And, once again, I leave you with my gardening motto. Happy Fall!

A Brand New Fence

Weeks ago I promised photos of the fabulous fence Chip built around our pool pump. Just to recap, this is what the bed looked like back in September 2007.
Yeah, BAD. Overgrown with weeds -- I think there were a couple of gumtrees growing in there. Hard to maintain. Ugly.

We started on this project last fall. To give more background, this bed gets maybe 2 hours of midday sun. The previous owners had planted beautiful purple irises, pretty autumn ferns, purple heart, Stella d'Oro daylilies, monkey grass, and a few azaleas. I'd already moved the azaleas to another bed where they were doing great. The irises and daylilies just did not belong in this bed - not enough sun! I had other plans for the ferns. First I moved the ferns to the porch swing bed. Then I divided and moved the daylilies. Then I divided and moved the irises. The only plants that I left were the monkey grass and the purple heart. After the bed was cleared out, I began executing my new plan: Endless Summer Hydrangeas.

And Chip started the fence:

When the fence was done we added a few vines - star jasmine and clematis - and mulched the finished bed. Look at her now!

Such an improvement! This really took us months to complete. I started moving plants in November 2007. The fence was started in April 2008. And the whole project was completed in August. I say three cheers for Chip on this awesome fence! When he started this I had no idea he could build the whole thing from scratch - he even built the gate! Whoo-hoo!

Catching Up

Some great transformations have happened this summer at A Shower Fresh Garden, and I need to get you guys caught up! Chip built an AWESOME fence around the pool pump. I'll post about that later this week. First I want to show you the almost finished herb garden!

Last summer I wrote about four different sections of my garden that were just atrocious. I've fixed a few of those "Bad and Ugly" beds. I put a veggie garden in where there were dead azaleas before. And on my front porch I've replaced even more dead azaleas with knockout roses . The veggie garden hasn't thrived. Turns out that spot is too sunny for azaleas and not sunny enough to make tomatoes. I've babied my veggie patch all summer, and all we've gotten out of it are some radishes and sugar snap peas. Here's a photo from today.

See? I've got a pepper plant, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, eggplant, even some sad little tomato plants. But the only thing that seems to be growing well is one weird cucumber. If you read the sign in my iris bed, it says, "There are no garden mistakes, only experiments." Yep, I feel like Wallace (from Wallace and Grommet) because I am "experimenting mostly!" I have a plan to fix this. I always have a plan! Well, look at that! The left side of the tree gets tons of sun! Sure, I'll have to convert more of the lawn for garden, but I'm sure Chip won't complain. All I need is another one of those raised beds, because I do love that raised bed. And I'm sure there are veggies that will grow in partial shade. The sugar snaps did fine. Any suggestions on what other veggies will grow in partial shade?

The herb garden transformation is really something. Remember how terrible it looked? Well, take a look at this (June 2007):

First, Chip added a brick patio (March 2008).
Then, I added a raised bed for the herbs (April 2008).
Then, I did some major landscaping. My favorite addition has been catmint (first photo below). I also added cannas that I moved from the veggie garden bed, a lantana that I moved from the front porch bed, and some daylilies that I moved when redoing the bed by the pool pump. Really the only plants I bought new were the catmint, the herbs, a few extra liriope, and a gardenia.

The transformation is almost complete! My grandfather is making us two white benches to place around the firepit on the brick patio. I'll post more photos when I get them. So far, I am really pleased with what we've been able to accomplish! The soil in this bed was hard, difficult to dig, and totally depleted . Compost from my bin was a lifesaver. We've been able to turn this portion of my yard into something usable and its not ugly anymore!