What Ana Does

I woke up this morning to a thin layer of frost on the patio furniture. Which, I guess, officially marks the end of the outdoor growing season (unless I had a snazzy cold frame, which someday I might feel confident enough to explore). Anyway, it got me nostalgic for the garden and my first year here at the new house. I had some triumphs -- the basil, sunflowers, baby carrots. And I had some set-backs -- lettuce, tomatoes, chives. But overall, a good harvest. And I learned a bunch! Already starting to plan next year's garden. Would like to try more cutting flowers, maybe a fruit or two, and solve when-to-harvet-lettuce mystery I was dogged by this year.  

I've been loving the filters I can use with Instagram. Recently, I found a service that will print them in Polaroid-like squares. It took a few weeks for them to arrive, but when they did, they were better than I expected. I'd been brainstorming how to display them -- but finding frames in this small size isn't easy. And they are lo-res, so the smaller, the better. As a fan of the clothesline minimalist look, I finally got around to hanging them in the dining room. It came out great! My Instagram Gallery Related posts: More Dining Room stories

I've been staring at this wall in my dining room for months. And, after a lot of browsing through design books and websites, I narrowed down my goals to these: More storage for serving pieces Not another large piece of furniture Use wood matching the dining room table So, it became obvious that shelves were what I wanted.  Before - Empty Dining Room Wall A few trips to all the hardware stores over the last month helped me narrow down available supplies, so when I was ready, here's what I shopped for: Three pine boards Pre-Stain "Classic Gray" wood stain Sanding blocks Six shelf brackets (in a stainless steel) Lug screws - 18 (extras just in case) I was able to keep well under my budget on this one (under $100) -- which just puts more cash into my dining room curtain budget. Yay! After - Shelves Ready for Dishes & More Here are the steps: First, stain the pine shelf boards from Home Depot with pre-stain, then "classic gray" wo...

When Liza and Eric were visiting last weekend, Liza suggested a moody gray for the dining room/living room. And I thought, "why didn't I think of that!" (I might have even said it aloud.) It will look great with navy and green (my overall house colors) and show off the black frames and the white buffet. In a word: genius! Got all the grey paint chips today to compare and hope to have a large test on the wall by Monday. Banning the Beige!  Now to figure out if it's "gray" or "grey." Editor's Note: In the US, we prefer to use "gray" ... but in the UK, they like the "e" in "grey." So it really only matter where you are when you use GRAY.  Related posts: More dining room plans

I've been saving glass salsa jars because they are just the right size and shape for markers and pens. One night I got creative with labels (thanks to Martha and Avery.com). They came out cute! Reuse = Less Art Supplies Everywhere

I've been struggling with the idea of a coffee table for months now. I need two coffee tables. One that is sturdy, medium-sized and can be slightly destroyed for the family room. We can put popcorn and drinks on, jump off of (though, not encouraged) it and can be tipped over when the Giants lose. And one for the living room that has two levels and that I can feature books on and put my feet up on when reading on those comfy sofas. In both cases, I'd prefer something used and made of solid wood -- so I can paint, strip and/or restain it as needed in the future. I've been haunting craigslist and a few thrift and antique stores in my neighborhoods and have continued to come up empty. Lately, I've started to go through catalogs and tried to put my desire to buy used aside just to find the perfect solution. But it's mostly veneers -- unless I want to pay a small fortune. Veneers just don't last. Another concept I'm playing with in home decorating is reu...

Bringing Up Bebe Bringing Up Bebe By Pameal Druckerman I’m currently listening to Bringing Up Bebe on my commutes into work. I’ve been curious about the book ever since its release but decided I missed the boat, as my kids were already born. But to satisfy my occasional Francophile itch (my copy of Amalie is MIA) I grabbed the audiobook from the library and popped it in. And I’m happy I did. My conclusion: Parisian mothers don’t have it all worked out (glad to affirm that we’re all floundering) but they view some parenting concepts in much different ways. For instance, they embrace day care – mostly because it’s government subsidized and the care givers are practically pediatricians. They often say “the perfect mother doesn’t exist.” And they don’t believe in over-scheduling children but allowing them freedom to discover on their own, or “awaken.” Independent play is hugely important. Their kids sleep through the night at 3 months (mine did too) and are good eat...