pallet coffee table.

well i do not believe it... but we actually made the pallet coffee table this weekend. go us!

(in these pictures it looks like scotty did all of the work... but he did not).

1. have your husband bring home two pallets from work.
2. sand them down. then sand them again.
3. laquer the heck out of them.
4. pick out some cool industrial looking wheels for the bottom. attach.
5. enjoy!

our little helper- covered in sawdust

weekend.

busy. busy. busy.

a lot of beach, a lot of sun (too much for scotty), and some DIY stuff around the house. we hung new shades in the bedroom... very very necessary. and planted some jasmine that will hopefully grow very quickly and cover our ugly little house with leaves and little white flowers. ill post pics later.

other than that...

1. huntley is one year old. wtf? how did that happen?

2. i am just over 12 weeks preggo and i am getting bigger. i'm embracing it (not it the baby, "it" the getting larger. we arent calling the baby it, we are calling the baby "baby" or he). and i am also embracing cheeseburgers and french fries and grape juice.

3. i was talking to my love grayson and was asking him about our baby and if we should have a boy or a girl, and if he would teach the baby how to swim and then i asked him what scotty and i should name the baby... he said "treasure hunt!!!!!". i said, ok we will take that into consideration, but what should the babies middle name be? and he replied, like i am a fool: "hunt". duh, of course he had covered both first and middle name. it was so funny (to us).

4. saw hall and oates at the hollywood bowl. amaze. they are in my top 3 now. for sure.

5. i think my hormones are "kind of" turning me in to a bitch. this girl who is dating one of scotts friends was talking to me at the beach the other day, and as if i had no control over my limbs as she was babbling to me about something i cant even remember i raised my hand and did the "gun to the head pull the trigger" gesture. i didnt even know i was doing it until it was over. not nice, elysia, not nice. and then in my head i have like a weird button that keeps going off that says "who gives a fuck" like all of the time. its terrible. i need to stop.

6. crazy wedding/party summer has officially kicked off.

this weekend: nicole and ians wedding

potters bachelorette

grandma and grandpas 65th (!!!) wedding anniversary party

holla! mazel! woo hoo!

maybe i will one day own missoni!

isnt coincidence FUNNY? totes is.

missoni is teaming up with haviana's for a line of flip flops and espedrialles coming out next month. holla. i might be able to afford these...

and while i am on the color-kick...

i love tie dyed cupckaes:

DIY key rack:

and hangers:

things that make me happy.

1. ice cream sandwiches (fine! i eat "skinny cows" but still...). & fat kids. so this is pretty much the greatest picture ever.

2. this:

or this, just the fact that this exists somewhere makes me happy (if that somewhere were my yard i would never leave):

3. i want to copy this. i am going to copy this WHEN i have a baby in my belly. so cute.

4. these:

5. the idea of painting this onto the distressed dresser that i dont have. having it would make me feel happy, and acconplished:

living wall.

i am obsessed with the idea of living walls and i have been since my "planning for sustainability" courses in college.

after trying to find a semi-coherent DIY project for lamens, i stumbled upon woolly pockets, or more specifically wally pockets.

they are wall bags made from recycled plastic that can hold up to 20lbs in soil and plant. you simply arrange the plants (succulents in our case), hang the bags with dry wall screws, and then re- arrange the plants in the bag on the wall. could it be easier to get a vertical garden? no. i did the research and it could not.

they also have some fancy "tongue" that acts as a little irrigation system so the water doesnt gather at the bottom of the hanging bag. and the fact that they are made out of plastic makes them a lot more breathable... i am not a scientist... but all of this translates into: your plants will require very little water and it will be very hard to kill them. cheers.

i purchased two of the "wally three" pouches. i splurged on two day shipping because i am so excited.

we are simply going to hang them from the wooden fence in our backyard. it will add greenery and a sense of landscape to the backyard without taking up square footage. we will see!

backyard

it looks like we just might have the backyard done in time for summer!

so if we use our imagination...

picture this equation...

+

+

+

=

?????

the ballots have been counted!

well... the votes (vote) have been counted and the decision has been made. it was a 2:1 victory. my blogger feedback of ONE was the deciding vote! (ha ha) thank you soulmate!

results:

brown and beige: annie, elysia

blue and beige: scotty

woo hoo! brown and beige it is:

so on my lunchbreak i simply sewed the four ends- measured the fabric 8' x 3' and got some clip on grommets. i thinks it cute. cute enough. they cost me $35 people. they are fine.

quicky sort-of side note: clip on grommet hooks or whatever you want to call them are rad. i could hang a beach towel and they would look like curtains. i am getting more. clip on grommets for us all.

oh, and i had fabric leftover to make a quicky little pillow:

diy curtains

so the fabric came! yay! i wasnt sure if the dark brown would be "too much" but i am leaning towards it. husband likes the blue better. i respect his opinion very much and want him to be happy in our home. but... i still think i know what is best. my four blog readers, what do you think? i want to make them tomorrow- using the tutorial found here....

(please excuse the pics- i literally just threw the fabric over the rod).

side by side view...?

im torn. i dont want to be obnoxious. but i am obnoxious...

at least i am attempting to attempt this

i bit the bullet... and after an embarrassing amount of time blogging about again and again and looking for chevron print curtain panels or rugs or anything striped... i just bought the fabric and will make curtain panels myself. the fact that i had told myself for the last two months that it would be SOOOOOOOooooOOOOOooooOOOoo expensive to buy the fabric at joanns and i would have to just accept it and spend $100 per panel.... it turns out it costs nothing to buy. and they ship within 48 hours. and its also on sale.

and it will also make me feel good to make my own. and im not even sure that i want chevron print curtain panels. so, since i am incapable of making decisions. i bit a cheap bullet and bought 3 yards each of these two fabrics...

thoughts? i want to like the brown and cream one. but i think our tiny little house would most benefit from a softer shade...

oh who the heck even knows anymore...

weekend passed/past.

its official. work gives me the sunday blues/monday morning jitters. even though i like my job... i like not having a countdown in my head starting sunday around noon.

this weekend was great, though. it felt like winter. on friday at least.

i got a good bang trim:

i made progress on the bathroom-

thursday:

now:

it was fun. the color turned out almost as cute as i expected. i got the picture frame shelves from ikea. and i have enough frames and knick knacks to keep the shelves busy and rotated for a long long time. now all i need to do is:

-finish the trim (not pictured) and the worlds most annoying thing.

-find a rug to tie everything together

-get a cute mirror for above the toilet. id love something driftwood like, or shells. even though the mirror above the sink is sea shells... so maybe not.

-hang the wooden blinds that i also purchased this weekend to cover the scary window.

baby steps towards the goal:

exterior- the fence is almost done being stained. it is weather permitting so it had to be put off this weekend. picked up these cute little lanterns for the front posts. i need to get bigger (heavier) candles and some more shells to add to the base for weight, and of course, beauty. next up- string of pearls collection.

bathroom inspiration.

as of yesterday, our guest bathroom was grey, and reminded my mother of a mental institution. so i painted it last night. inspiration below. lets see if i can pull this off...

home. over it.

husband and i were talking on our drive up to santa barbara last weekend about how basically... we are over the house... and we wish it had already been two years so we could avoid taxes and just sell the bitch... too bad we have one year, seven months, seventeen days, and 21 hours left to go.

anywho- fence. we tore down the (rotted) picket fence that came with the house. see below.

we built a semi-contemporary redwood fence. and by we, i mean scott. last monday, i white washed it with a semi-transparent stain that in my head looked amazing but in reality** looks like this:

**as scotty pointed out: the reality is that the fence really does match what we want the house to BE- just not what it is IS. very deep stuff going on with scott and i.

i will remedy this "situation" by doing the following.

1. on each brick post sits a terra cotta pot with some sort of death defying plant in it that "came with the house". we will replace these plants with "string of pearls" succulents. if we buy them old enough we can get them to hang up to three feet, draping over the brick... like this...

hopefully it will give it a more contemporary, beachy, boho feel.

2. shutters- thanks to coastal living i have finally discovered what type of shutters to go with. this picture is my full blown wet dream of the vibe i am going for. and i think i manifested it when i painted our door tiffany blue a few months ago...

so some rustic, earthy pots (most of the terra cotta pots are super weathered and perfect)... some draping succulents, some bright shutters.... and a grey roof.... we should be close.

3. i just ordered this from crate and barrel. i think it will also help convey that I AM REALLY TRYING TO MAKE THIS DUMPY ASS 15 FOOT WIDE RED AND WHITE NASTY HOUSE LOOK CUTE AND BEACHY!

Home- Move In and Week Four...

Well... I cant find my camera amidst the chaos but I will update soon.

Today I attempted to clean up the yard a little. I put on a butchy outfit and sat on the steps not knowing where to begin...

Before- South cornerAfter- a trashcan full of crapola and nuthin to show for it. At least my fat ass broke a sweat. And even though she is a very bad girl and pees on our beautiful new carpet, this little angel has put up with the construction better than he or I. Here she is, covered in dry wall and epoxy and happy as a sunbathing clam... love her. (yes, that is what all of my floors look like after sweeping).