Green thumb? Maybe....starting my own seed trays.

I am not sure how this will end since my only experience with seed planting was in elementary school.  You know the science project where you planted the Lima bean.  Brings back a few fond memories and some not so fond ones as well.  I digress. Let me get back to this project.

Why have I decided to take this on?  

Well I won the garden basket I made for the basenji club raffle in February, so I felt karma was saying give it a try.  I should have started early but when Commander came up sick every thing was put on hold.

My basket had seed starting soil, biodegradable pots, and a variety of seeds (parsley, rosemary, sweet basil, forget-me-not, marigold).  I love herbs so of course my basket had several!

As I contemplated planting I realized I had not container for my pots so I had to improvise.  I used a couple of those plastic tops that cover the disposable aluminum pans.  

Each seed had its own directions for planting.  I ended up having to plant the parsley a day later because it said they should be soaked over night. The pot package also suggest covering with trays with plastic to help keep the soil moist.  Sort of like a mini greenhouse. 

I realized to late that I forgot to make a grid of where I planted what. Oooops! I have a general idea but it will be fun guessing.  I am so over perfection these days! Now I am just watering, waiting and on green watch!  Update coming in 6 to 8 weeks.

Outdoor Living

One of the best parts of living in Phoenix is outdoor living nine months out of the year!  Fall, Winter and Spring the weather is perfect for hiking, camping, outdoor dining, and evenings by the fire.  Our new home is set up to enjoy outdoor living. 

The front entrance to our home has a courtyard with a gas fireplace which is perfect for windy evenings.  A love seat directly across from the fire place and one chair on each side fit perfectly.   It has a cozy indoor feel with a night time sky. 

The rear of our home has a covered patio.  Our outdoor table set, two red chairs, and side table landed here. 

The pygmy palms will be removed this this weekend.  They are toxic to dogs and our puppy will not stop chewing on the bark! We will fill this space in the spring.

In this before picture you can  see we had grass on either side of the pool. We decided to replace it the same style paver we have in the front of the house. 

Once that was done we had a lot of space to fill.  The larger area was screaming fire pit.  

It is a propane fire pit but this can be removed and an umbrella placed in it for the summer.  Beside the fire pit seating area we put our bistro table with a couple of chairs.  We eat brunch/lunch out here often.  The next purchase will be a grill to put behind the fire pit seating. 

Our lounge chairs fit nicely in the smaller area.  

The outdoor living spaces are definitely one of our favorite things about our new home. What are your favorite things about your home?

Guest Bath Design

I have finally returned to organizing and decorating the new home.  The guest bath is the first room to officially finished so I am sharing a few pictures. 

It is a long narrow bath but has plenty of room and tons of storage.  The tile and fixtures are very neutral and a tad dark for me.  I decided I needed to add a punch of color to brighten it up and some thing that softened all the squares in the room.

I was struggling with exactly what to do then I happened on a shower curtain with a circle pattern.  The background was brown and the circles were moss green, wheat, and tan.  The moss green was just the color to add color and liven up the room.

I was fortunate to find just the right green towels to bring out the color on the shower curtain. Although you can't see it the pictures all have that some shade of green so it spreads it through out the whole room.

I choose to add very little to the counter tops to keep it clear for our guest to use.
I am very pleased with how it turned out.  Now on to the next room!

8. DIY Bathroom Update

Completed  Bath Reno

Buying a "fixer" house was not in the plans when we made the move to San Diego.  Things changed when we found a fantastic view (pic below) with a project house attached.  Keeping within the budget meant doing some projects ourselves.

One of my first projects was a half bathroom.  The wall color made it feel gloomy and did not match the yellow in the floor tile.  Both the tile and cabinets had patterns that did not complement each other.  I did not want to spend too much since our plan is to do a full redo in a few years.  What immediately came to my mind was, you guessed it, painting.

 I decided to go with a valspar color combo I saw at Lowe's...Muslin Wrap for the walls and Deep Walnut for the cabinets in a satin finish.  Muslin Wrap is an off white with a touch of yellow and Deep Walnut is deep brown.  I hoped the yellow touch would brighten up the area since it receives no natural light and complement the tile.  It worked almost too well.  The lighting in the bathroom made the yellow really stand out. I wanted to make the medicine cabinet less noticeable so decided to paint the trim the wall color.  Deep Walnut on the cabinets and mirror brought out the brown in the tile.  I used accessories I already had to add pops of green to the space.  We replaced the facet, lighting, and hardware to brushed nickel to complete the modern update. See some before and after.

Later I will post about my cabinet painting adventure with a few tips of dos and don'ts I learned the hard way.  Lots of work but well worth it.   I loved how it turned out in design and budget!  On to the next new DIY adventure.
What colors would you have chosen in this DIY project?

2. Herb Garden

I am excited to plant my very first outdoor herb garden.  I noticed that the temps here in our so-cal location were cooler.  I thought could it be that an outdoor herb garden would work? It has been a dream of mine to walk outdoors, cut some thyme, basil, etc, and use in my very own dish.  Dream has become reality (at least for the moment).  What a wonderful adventure planning, planting, and harvesting!!!

As you can see I am a fan of thyme, since I planted 3 varieties.  I had used all these herbs in cooking before with the exception of the lemon thyme.  It has now become a favorite! It has a slightly more lemon flavor than just regular thyme  Chopped fine, added to butter and  placed on top of  grilled salmon equals deli-sh!  Some thing about adding your home grown herbs to a dish brings joy to me.  Another step in joyous living!