B'ham News Garden Redo Feature

Click to open pics: I got word from the newspaper that the Garden Redo feature would run on the Saturday we left for the beach, so I was so excited to check the paper that morning as we were leaving! Of course, I had to stop & buy extra papers to send my friends and family in Atlanta. I did take it with me to share with my 2 girlfriends that I caught up with at the beach & they thought it was very cool.
Here's my original post on this garden bed, if you'd like to see more pics: Garden Redo


Oh, I have to tell you the story about my 10-year old neighbor, Grant. He was the very first person we met after we moved in here. We were out in the yard just after moving in and Grant from next door showed up and introduced himself. His dad came over and met us too and we eventually met both neighbors next door, who are really sweet people. Grant has helped me out numerous times in the yard. He really did help me pull out those boxwoods, dug holes, watered, and whatever else he can help me with. His dad says he's not so good about helping him at home. He's a sweet kid though & helped us out while we were on vacation by watering our plants. Everyone else I've met in the neighborhood who have moved in after us has already met Grant first. That guy gets around! If everyone were that friendly, all neighborhoods would be the better for it. He looks like Opie Taylor too.


I had several folks at church on Sunday tell me that they had seen the article. I'm honored to make the paper again and will definitely frame these features in my office and hopefully use them on my decorating resume. It's just a fun little something to do! I don't think we ever had anything like this feature in the Atlanta paper, so I had to move to Birmingham for this to happen. My hubby is teasing me about being famous now, so I'll enjoy it and try to keep my head from swelling too much, LOL. :)

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I was tagged by Pat at Back Porch Musings. I was to pick up the book nearest me and turn to page 28, find paragraph 3 and write about that paragraph here. The nearest book was a magazine, Traditional Home, September 2006. The third paragraph is a question from the editors.....If money were no object, how would you remodel your current dwelling? They go on to list reader's comments on how they would remodel their homes. "Wish lists addressed both function & aesthetics, including everything from enlarging a ridiculously small pantry to designing a sublime gathering space for multitudes of friends & generations of family."

So, how would YOU answer that question? I think for me, it would be getting our deck turned into a screened porch. I have all my wicker furniture stored in the garage from my old sunroom & porch & would love to have a nice screened porch to enjoy during Spring-Fall. I know I would use that space a lot if I could snuggle up on my wicker couch & be outdoors all at the same time.

Have a great week!
Hugs,
Rhoda

Made the Local Paper....Again!

Last August (before I was blogging), I was featured in the local Birmingham News paper for a room redo that I sent in. There's a section in our Saturday paper called Spaces that features homeowner's "before" and "after" projects that they have completed. I was pleasantly surprised to hear from them after I completed my office nook and sent pictures in. They called me, set up a time to have a photographer come out, and then ran the article. I felt like a mini-celebrity at the time and of course, went out and bought extra copies for my friends and family. It was fun to have people from church and other groups that I'm involved with tell me that they had seen me in the paper! I blocked out my last name...just thought that would be best not to share that on here.

So fast forward to now.....this spring I've noticed that they are now featuring Garden redos, with the same layout of "before" and "after" photos and a blurb about how the project was completed. I decided to send in my little garden redo that I just shared with all of you last week and was very surprised to get an immediate call back the next day saying they wanted to feature my little garden in the paper. I was SO excited....again! They came out last Wednesday, took the pics and it will probably run next weekend. So, I thought I'd share my little office redo with you and I will also show the other garden redo when it runs too. I feel sure that they must not be getting all that many submitted, since they called so fast. :) All the more fun for me!

This is the "before" shot when we first moved in. This is a tiny little area off my laundryroom, really just the end of the small hallway downstairs. It's 6x9, so big enough to do something with, but not too big. I decided as soon as I saw this space, that it would be mine! So, my little office nook was born.

Here's the space today. I bought the desk from Target (online). The 2 shelves came from Ballard Designs clearance center in Atlanta. They were white & I painted them black. They have been some of the best things I've ever bought from Ballards. They still weren't cheap in the outlet store, but are great, substantial shelves that I will keep forever.

The lamp was a different color, as were all those baskets you see below. I wanted baskets to store all my things in & couldn't find any that went with the lime green I was using, so I bought Green Apple spray paint from Lowes & found all the baskets (cheap) at different stores. Taped them off & painted them all green! They hold catalogs, paper, misc. stuff I want hidden.

Here are my bunny/cabbage plates that I collect. Had plenty for this wall. Added the hatboxes found at Ross & Tues. AM, plate on top shelf from yardsale. All the picture frames came from yardsales.

I found this HUGE frame at a yardsale last year for $10. I knew I wanted to make a bulletin board so when I found it, it was perfect for that. I aged the gold with some brown paint, added some foamboard cut to fit the frame, covered it in my leftover kitchen fabric, added the ribbon & tacks & there you go! It's great to put up reminders, calendar & all those little things that you want at your fingertips.

Bought this black bookcase at World Market. It was on sale at the time, so I knew it would be a perfect fit in here. Filled it up with all my "stuff" and it's a handy little storage area for all my decorating things. Those bottom baskets were found at a yardsale & I painted them with my nifty Apple Green paint too.

So, this is my little office space, where I spend so much time. It's a total reflection of my personality & I love every bit of it! It was so exciting to make the paper & I'll be sure & share the garden redo too. This is fun!