More Closets

Cleaning out a closet is so calming.  After CityMouse’s inspiring closet transformation I undertook a good clearing of Babymouse’s closet, well that and the fact that we are selling our house soon and I need to make it look like no one lives here, never mind a three year old with a lot of stuff.  So after a few hours of sneaking obsolete toys off to the salvation army, removing the pictures and shelving, repainting the inside of the closet white white white (it was formerly a flesh beige that I hated but never got around to painting, but I can’t take a risk of a dirty flesh colored closet in this real estate market!) and replacing the shelving and prints, here it is!  It looks ridiculously empty for a child’s closet.  But relatively clean.  I also got my closet shelving from easyclosets, suggested by CityMouse years ago, and the white is cheaper than the wood color in City’s kitchen closet and is just fine for a kid’s room.  It really is the best solution short of Ikea pax for closets, and inexpensive, like  about a thousand times cheaper than california closets and I’m not sure it isn’t made of the same materials.

Important News

Breaking: Babymouse is adorable!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

On The Porch

August now having rolled around I am finally shopping for outdoor furniture, I just can’t handle the cost of yard furniture when it is not on sale.  Since 2009 was the summer of the patio at our house (meaning I am almost finished constructing a stone patio with my own hands) I think our old target beach chairs aren’t cutting it anymore, not that they ever did cut it. These porch rocking chairs from Walmart are $119, not too bad, and they come in bright orange and blue, in addition to black and white.  I’m not getting these for the patio, a natural stone patio isn’t exactly an ideal surface for rocking, but they are very cute for a porch.

Good Better Best

The cost of outdoor furniture really blows my mind.  So many pieces cost more than my inside furniture!  This is unfortunate because I really love the idea of a cushy outdoor seating suite for my patio.  Wouldn’t life be fine if I could lounge outside on my weather resistant cushions as my son plays nearby in a decorous manner, and is definitely not stung by a bee.  

The sectional above is from Pottery Barn.  I often hear designers in home magazines referring to Pottery Barn as a hilariously cheap alternative to other furniture makers, but I more think of it as a place to go when I have exhausted every chance of finding a bargain.  I mean $4,174 ($3,345 for 5 pieces) for outside furniture is no joke.  This is sooo nice though.  Maybe if I lived in an area with perfect weather 365 days in a year this could be a good investment, but Boston has perfect weather more like 3.65 days a year so it would be like $100 per sit.

 This set is from CB2.  It is impressively less expensive than the Pottery Barn version ($1,396 for a 4 piece sectional), and is quite similar, even a little smaller (31″quare as opposed to 37″ square for PB) which is a good thing considering the hulking size of a lot of Pottery Barn furniture.

And finally, the Ikea gods are smiling on us this year, behold a good knockoff of the “better” square faux rattan seating (the other two are also plastic).  It is -wait for it- $580.00 for two corners, two armless chairs, and cushions for all (everything sold a la cart of course). Cushions to be recovered with your choice of outdoor fabric, this being Ikea and all.  I tried to get a look at these in-store the other day, and of course they were “oversold,” and I predict destined to be sporadically sold out all summer, so be prepared to stalk if you want some. 

Real Smooth

I got one of these Fit and Fresh Smoothie blenders the other day, and I have enjoyed no less than 2 smoothies per day since- I have a gigantic waring blender that takes years off my life when I try to lug it out to blend something and then clean it and put it away, and I also have a little stick blender I used to puree soups in the pot (despite the fact it specifically says never to use to blend hot liquids).  I accept the danger because if I  couldn’t puree soups in the pot I would probably stop making soup, or at least pureed soup.  Anyway back to smoothies, I really aspire to make super healthy smoothies with greens and seeds and all that, but have never had a good small blender with which to make them.  I considered the Magic Bullet, but it was too expensive for me, since I am a fickle smoothie maker, who knows how long I would use it, and I hate expensive appliances rotting away in the cabinet (I am talking to you, bread machine, and you are looking a little shifty too, ice cream maker).  But lo and behold this little blender was only $20 at my local Vitamin Shoppe, is very compact, and has been smoothying up a storm in my kitchen, even puree-ing ice no problem.   I love it.  By the way when I say “smoothie” I mean frozen fruit from Trader Joes, unsweetened soy milk and splenda, not the health bonanza of my dreams, but pretty delicious and not too calorie rich the way some smoothies can be.  You can get one at Drugstore.com foor $18.98.

Sears Saves the Day

We have been having a serious problem at my house lately:  we have no kitchen table.  No table at all.  We have been picnicking on a table cloth on the floor, which was fun for about 3 minutes.  Until recently we had my own childhood kitchen table which was an ancient huge slab of butcher block my parents bought at a fire salvage factory auction about 30 years ago, but after the fire and many years of hard family use the table had finally had it.   I don’t need our new table to make any kind of design statement, in fact I would prefer it not- just a sturdy, friendly looking table of wood or maybe steel with a top that can handle being cleaned repeatedly with soap and water, and not too expensive (like less than $500 would be nice).  Is friendly a design statement? I ordered this table from Crate and Barrel, which seemed to fit the bill, but shortly after it arrived the veneer started to buckle up and some nice Crate and Barrel men came and whisked it away (after the old table was already gone).  So I am now on the prowl again, but discovered those plain sturdy tables are awfully expensive.

 So today I found the non-offensive kitchen table of my dreams in the strangest place- the Ty Pennington collection at Sears.  There it is above.  It is actually $179, which I can hardly believe.   I can’t quite tell if the top is solid wood or veneer, but either way I am totally getting this barring some kind of deal breaker when I give it the once over tomorrow at Sears. 

Here is the table I was really wanting.  Looks much nicer than the one from Sears, doesn’t it.  But does it look two thousand dollars nicer?  no it does not, in my opinion. 

As I was perusing the rest of the Ty Pennington Collection online, which I didn’t even know existed, I came across this very good looking outdoor settee, $399.   I love the thick piped cushion. I need to go to Sears more often! 

A Sugar Cereal Mom

So generally we are a pretty crunchy granola house when it comes to our food, as long as the granola is wheat free and vegan.  This is what happens when you have a child who is allergic to everything.  Just to make things easier, I am on the same no-gluten- no eggs-no-dairy- no -nuts diet as my son, so I don’t have to worry about sharing food with him.  My husband, on the other hand, is not.  Let’s just say he often has to wash his hands after eating when Babymouse is around.   So partly out of necessity, our kitchen has become an organic vegan wonderland.  So you can imagine my suspicion when my husband brought in a box of Cocoa Krispies the other day.  Now I am not one of these McDonalds is evil type moms, I personally think McDonalds is awesome.  But so often these mass cereals have all kinds of weird things in them, and because I can’t understand most of the ingredients, I’m never sure if they have allergens.  So trying not to act like this guy I carefully read the label of cocoa krispies and  see that (a) this is a sugary, chocolate coated cereal with cartoon characters, and (b) it doesn’t seem to contain any (of our) allergens.  It got the green light and since then my whole family has been devoring this cereal with what can only be described as greed.

My point is, chocolate coated cereal is awesome!  And sitting around with our bowls while studiously reading the inanity on the back of the box really brings me back to my childhood.   Although my mother was a no sugar cereal mom.  If only Muppet Babies were on!  Oh and my other point is these fun vintage cereal Tony the Tiger plates are on sale for $6! 

Thank Goodness it’s Sweater Season

This  sounds AMAZING.  

Somebody Help Me

I bought this Coat Pattern the other day when I was supposed to be doing 1001 other things.  I seriously have a major problem buying patterns and never getting to them, starting with a long coat pattern intended to be made in a sheer white lawn to be worn with my wedding dress. My wedding coat went the way of the italian soda bar, e.g., a good idea that fell through the cracks.  Since pretty much everything except keeping BabyMouse alive and paying the mortgage seems to be going the way of the italian soda bar lately, I have no business buying yet another pattern- but that didn’t stop me!  Oh No.   And here sits Mr. CountryMouse complacently by my side, shouldn’t he intervene? 

Anyway I am so excited to get my new pattern in the mail, don’t you love the little collar and back pleats?  I was thinking of making it as a coat, not a dress.  A short sleeved coat.

Beds That Hug

I have been wanting a new bed for some time now, I have a perfectly fine cherry wood sleigh bed from a mass furniture retailer, but I bought it before all those oh so comfy looking upholstered beds started becoming more available.  Since then the price of those upholstered beds have scared me off, my favorite is this one from Williams Sonoma Home.  It is so lovely, but I can barely bring myself to buy the kitchen towels at regular Williams Sonoma, never mind a several thousand dollar bed. 

In the last year or so a couple of the cheaper lines, such as West Elm, have started offering affordable upholstered headboards, but they all lack the most important element, the hug-like embrace of the wings that curve into the side rails.  This bed fom ZGallerie has the huggy wings!  It is not actually upholstered, but is forgiven as it is made of rattan, a favorite of mine.  It is on sale for $849, a good price for a bed that hugs!