Backyard Adventures: Now with Moai!

Our Moai arrived yesterday! He's small and made of light weight resin, but we still love him all the same. As you can see this section of our yard is now filled with pea pebbles as this is my solution to dealing with weeds as well as our vision to put a water feature in this area. In the process of buying the house, the previous owners wanted to take their Japanese Maple tree, which was planted in this corner and we agreed. I didn't care for the landscaping and plants they had in the back and front yards, so at the end of last summer we dug up a lot of the plants up and gave them away. Derek and I are not gardeners and pretty much have black thumbs (no goth pun intended), yet we want to have some plants that are low maintenance and luckily there are a lot of Hostas around the house!

The rest of the small garden in the backyard will be weeded, some Hostas moved to look more balanced, weed barrier put down and then pea pebble. We've had our eyes on some planters, including this skull planter to have some visual interest our backyard oasis as well as keeping plants neat and organized..if that makes any sense. 

What I really want our backyard to look like. Hahahaha!!!

Back in the garden today, I hope I get a lot accomplished as I can't wait until the weather gets warmer and we can sit in the yard with a Mai Tai and just watch the world go by. Hehe!

Are you working on any gardening projects?

Thank you for reading, until next time!

XOXO-Meagan Kyla

Welcome To My Closet

Hello dear readers! I've been tidying up our closet (room) and thought I'd share a glimpse into my wardrobe and how I like to organize my clothing. With my 'I have enough, I am enough' frame of mind, I've been mixing and matching up my clothing and re-discovering some favorites.

+Top rack (left to right): cardigans w/graphics, pullover sweaters & plain cardigans, two piles of jeans/pants, and two piles of leggings at the end.

+Hanging (left to right): dresses are organized by strap style (spaghetti strap, sleeveless, sleeve type, collared and long dresses) next to dresses are; kimono's, skirts, short sleeve blouses, long sleeve blouses, blazers and long style sweaters.

+Short bottom row: vests and short skirts

Since our upstairs is divided into three sections, we decided to use the central room as our bedroom and use the front room as my sewing room and the back room as our closet. The room is meant to be used as a 'bedroom', so we had to come up with a way to store all our clothing and shoes. Derek graciously installed a Rubbermaid custom closet system to the wall to create hanging storage. The system was a pain in the royal arse to install as we have plaster and lath walls, but Derek is a rock star and has the patience of a saint. We plan to install more of the closet system on the opposite wall, so Derek can hang/organize more of his clothing than what is fitting on the double rolling rack....plus I has some clothing taking up room on the rack as well. Eeek! LOL! Basically we're still working out the kinks.

My part of the "shoe room" contains my boots and shoes, a few of my hats, belts and small purses. I try and keep my shoes in order (and not piled on each other) to keep them in good condition. I also polish and winterize my shoes as well as go to a cobbler to get soles re-attached or just for general repairs. Shoes are an investment, so we try our best to prolong the life of our beloved footwear for as long as possible. 

Not the prettiest of corners, but I used the storage I already had to keep all my hair scarves, belts, stockings and jewelry in order. I took pant hangers, that we had no more use for, and they now are my necklaces and sunglasses holder's. I have my paper parasols and two wide brimmed hats stacked on a styrofoam head. Oh, and the orange bouquet of flowers is from our wedding, they are fake and I will have them forever. *Wink*

And finally, here is the top of my dresser. I have a two-tiered silver tray (thrift store find) that I keep some of my brooches on, wooden jewelry box, the black ceramic cat holds my bracelets, ornate necklace stand on the back left, and the plastic box on the far left (thrift store find) keeps my dangle earrings organized in the little interior spaces.

Thank you for spending some time in my closet with me! 

Any tips or storage ideas you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them!

XOXO-Meagan Kyla

Wow, It's Friday Already!

Derek is hanging up the wall of velvet paintings, or as I've dubbed it,

"The wall of good taste"

Hello friends! I can't believe it's Friday already, this week has flown by for me. When I last wrote on Sunday, we were going to get our Chromcraft vintage dining set and I'm so glad we did! The seller from Craigslist was not only a super rad guy, he has barns full of treasures! Once it warms up and thaws out, we'll take a trip out to his place and poke around some more. I really do love a good hunt, hehe.

Tuesday was filled with laundry, grocery shopping and sewing. I bought repro barkcloth fabric to make curtain panels for the dining room. I couldn't find anything I liked (or went with our wall colors) that was second hand or vintage, so I decided to fork over the money for an abstract atomic print that both Derek and I liked. (PS-repro barkcloth is just not the same.)

I still have to make the valances, but they look great hung up. It's nice to see the walls filling up with our art and the room taking on it's own personality. It's also great to have a place to sit and have meals with Derek and soon to have friends over to eat, drink and enjoy.

Derek's Elvis bust's (his own creations) have their own corner in the dining room. I am going to glue some black fringe around the edges of the shelves, since part of our fez collection is near, so I just thought, "we need more fringe".

Besides working, this is what we've been up too. I hope you enjoy your weekend!!!

XOXO-Meagan Kyla

The Upstairs Room(s)

The title was inspired by The Cure song "The Upstairs Room", because I'm upstairs at the house sitting at my beautiful 1950s vanity while I am typing up this blog. The lyrics of the song have nothing to due with this post, but I'm a crazy Cure fan so there you have it. *Wink*

I've been chased upstairs due to the extreme stinkiness of having our floors being refinished, which will be so worth it when everything comes together....and there is so much more to be done! Since we can't continue painting our living room or dining room and the kitchen is near completion, we've turned our attentions to our living area upstairs which is our master suite. The room that my vanity is located is in a main room (where we sleep) with adjoining front and back rooms, the front room is my sewing room and the back room is our walk-in closet.

(This isn't all my clothing, I don't want to break the wall!)

The walls of our closet room are green, which I dig and we're not going to change. I love to live in a space that isn't just white walls all around and green makes me happy! Derek installed a closet kit on the one side of the room as the double garment rack we purchased (located on the other side of the room) to share just didn't cut it. We both love clothing and need a space to be able to store and care for our garments properly. Derek is an angel for putting up that stupid clothing system, those things are so frustrating!  

Our closet room also has a little closet of it's own and it is the perfect place for our shoes, belts, etc. This is just my side of the shoes closet where I can finally store and find all my shoes! 

I have to say, having a space that I can alter to fit our needs and wants is pretty amazing. There has been a lot of frustration that has come with the house, but we're settling in nicely.

XOXO-Meagan Kyla