~a stroll through the yard ~garden tour~

come see...

Behind our house and backyard...growing effortlessly throughout our neighbors trees...the most gorgeous wisteria...

Each year it's display gets more showy... I can see this from my kitchen window and it is breathtaking...





Easter Sunday turned out to be one gorgeous day. Beatiful sunshine all day and temps in the 80's ~ it really felt more like the fourth of July. We actually ate our Easter dinner on the patio~ that had to be a first! I decided to spend the day outside...planting pots and window boxes...

I have this blue/white theme going on...blue lobelia's are one of my favorites you'll notice.
Two of these pots on the patio are planted with them as well as white star zinnia's. It wasn't until I finished them when I read the little plastic insert from the greenhouse... it read 'plant 18" apart'..ooops. We'll see what happens~ my white marigolds (which I started from seed and are only a few inches high right now) might be replacing them....that's the fun of gardening:)

Out front, this is the side yard... I painted my window boxes black and planted them with white geramiums, creeping jenny and yes, more blue lobelias. This is where I'm contemplating doing a little formal english garden~perhaps a knot garden... you might remember last year my son took down a tree from here, now I have plenty of sun to play with....just not sure if I want to take on such a big project when there's still the vegetable garden to plant.
How about that chippy white paint on this 100 year old house?



I also planted a white rose on the side of the porch, can't wait to see it grow and bloom ~ then to have the aroma while sitting on the porch.








Onto to the urns....

each year they get something different...this year I decided to make them 'busy' ~ six different plant varieties in each. I'm anxious to see how they do. The sweet gentleman that owns the nursery helped me pick these out...I think he was a little glad to see me go when we finally finished walking around all his greenhouses and trying different plants together~ but I think it was worth it....each urn holds wave petunias in pale yellow, white salvias for the centers, trailing blue lobelias, a straw flower in a deeper yellow, white allysum, and a few trailing dichondra called 'silver falls'. I love the way they look already so it can only get better right?

That's a great start for me this year~ thanks to the weather I'm ahead of the game as far as gardening goes...next up is the vegetable garden and I can't wait!!

Linking up with Pam of Sidewalk Shoes for Garden Tuesday!

bloomin' lilacs

the long wait is over...the lilacs are blooming!first... I took their photo...
... they were all smiles for me....then...
I picked them!....
they're still smiling!

The bathroom reveal....

Finally...I am feeling much better and able to post my bathroom photos! I'll tell you, I wouldn't wish thyroid problems on my worst enemy! I spent most of my week on the couch...the fatigue I felt was unbelievable. I'm not 100% but I'm getting there.... thank you all so much for your well wishes! Okay....here's a little before and after.... from small and dark.... to large and bright! We are just loving it! get ready...I took alot of photos!... The walls, which are a textured wallpaper, are painted a soft aqua {color called 'nautilis'}.... the trim and window are a soft creamy white {'sailcloth'}... the vanity is a deeper aqua {crystal blue}... vintage hooks for more towels and a hanging vintage wall basket for face cloths... found the perfect vintage runner with crocheted trim {from my stash of doiles} for the window

irish moss in a vintage urn from the garden

there's alot of trim in here, Oh what fun all that was to paint!

kept my vintage toliet paper holder... 'garden in the sun' in french..with lavender titled hooks, for fluffy white towels.... chippy enamel bowl with milk soaps in pretty wrappers.....

a vintage dairy scale I found on etsy...it holds a basket of lavender soaps and extra votive candles...

my towel cubby (right behind the shower wall) I built this when we first moved in 15 years ago...there was no storage for towels so I had to get creative~ where there's a will there's a way!

frosted glass on the window for privacy and light...

and a jar of seaglass...

quite the change huh? Mike was so shocked when he came back from his trip...I loved that! He opened the door and said...OMG...and I said...oh yeah, I did the bathroom over...like it? But I did save a tiny bit for him so he won't feel left out...the ceiling...I don't do ceilings!!
Lol! Thanks for hanging in there with me and hope you enjoyed my little bathroom makeover...have a great weekend everyone!!

bathroom sneak peek....

I did it....I finished in time! Sadly, I can only show you a little peak right now... {the new towel bar}

For the last few days I've been nursing my aches and pains~ I wish they were just from redoing the bathroom but not so. Seems my thryroid has gone haywire on me...lab tests show it's level at 17.6, normal is .04-5.0 ~ leave it to me to be anything but normal! I thought it'd be best to take a fews days and just rest, let myself get acclimated to the new meds. If you've placed a sign order with me rest assured I'm still working on it...just a tad bit slower!! I'll be back ~hopefully tomorrow~ with loads of photos...I can't wait to show you my new loo!!

hugs, paula:)

while the cat's away...

Good morning & happy April 1st! April is finally here...

no kidding, let's have a big sigh of relief ~ ahhhh~

I've had a super busy week...you could say March went out like a lion for me.

On Monday I dropped off my darling husband at the airport for a business trip to Florida. I said...'are you sure you want to do this...leave for the week?...you know how nothing is the same when you get back?'..... he said yes, he had to go. Okay...kiss -kiss~ bye then. I left him at the airport, came home and got busy finishing my orders that had to go out....and then,

the project began....

you see....a few weeks ago I had found the most gorgeous fluffy white towels at an outlet sale... Being pure white, they didn't match my bathroom...but I was not passing them up, they were marked down to $2.50 each...I brought home 10 and stashed them away in the attic...ya know, for a rainy day. And guess what? It rained alot this week.

So while the cat was away....I did play.

Here's my bathroom before I began... it was very 'boudoir'...and very red.... It's been like this for about eight years. And eight years ago I loved this look, I really did...but now...not so much.

Here's what I had been dreaming of for at least a year...my little 'inspiration file' that Mike had no clue existed....

I had just 2.5 days to pull this off...the only thing I had to start with was my new towels and I had to be as thrifty as possible (so I wouldn't get in big trouble when he got back! lol!)

think I could do it? Stay tuned!