Assortment

Four Men & A Girl

photo source

 

 

photo source

One can have it all, right? One little house, that is. One little house can be masculine and feminine at the same time - a satisfying reflection of the four men and one girl who live there, right?

Oh, I think so.

This little house of ours will have rough, gray-weathered barnwood (for open kitchen shelves!), and it will also have vintage brass & lucite lamps (on the sofa table). 

There will be antlers and fur, guns, silver candlesticks, and a hand-knit throw. 

There will be wrought iron and painted wood, linen blinds and velvet pillows (I've had a piece of the most beautiful chocolate-brown vintage velvet for a while now) 

There will be nature study collections, artworks-in-progress, and a bit of floral, too. 

There will be leather and lace, and of course I can't get old brass and ball fringe out of my head.

Anything  else?

Well, let's see...  marbles, Lego, board games, playing cards, books, dry flies, footballs, muddy shoes and balled-up socks...and hopefully, one day soon, a golden retriever named Nellie (we don't think she even exists yet, but we talk about her as though she does). 

Wait.

That would make four men and two girls!

C'mon, Nellie!

 

 

 

Painted Plank Floors

There are some things that just get tricky. Like painting a wood plank floor* when you have  a knee that decides to rebel, refuses to bend, and therefore requires you to stick your leg out at 2:00 as you scooch yourself on your sitter back and forth across the floor, painting as you go. 

Tricky. 

S-l-o-w and tricky.

But, no matter, because you're liking very much this plank floor made from ripped plywood, which was nailed down with intentional cracks between the boards. It's imperfect and old-housey, which is exactly right. It's in the boy loft, which is exactly right, too. It brings some brightness to the natural pine walls and ceiling, and if when it gets dinged, it'll just get a paint-over.  

Hopefully by then, that knee will have decided to behave. 

 

 

 *Floor Details: We used 3/8" plywood, ripped to 4" planks. The planks are in a random pattern of varying lengths. They were attached to the subfloor using flooring adhesive and a 1-1/2" brad nailer. Quarters were used as spacers to achieve the cracks between the boards. The planks were then sanded, vacuumed, tack-cloth-wiped, and given three coats of Sherwin Williams Porch & Floor paint, in a custom color, which reads white in the photo, but is actually a light gray. 

 

 

His Tree

A few months ago, a state-wide Arbor Day poster contest packet came in the mail. Our boy who fell into the grade category knew right away that he was going to toss his hat into the ring and see what happened.

He took this contest very seriously, pouring over books, researching tree paintings, doing several studies using different media, getting imput and assistance from our artist friend, then, he took a deep breath and gave it his best shot. He was proud of the work he sent off, which, in the end, was inspired by a Georgia O'keefe painting and an illustration from the book, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark.

Then, he waited.

And waited.  

He checked the Project Learning Tree website daily after the deadline came and went, hoping to see the contest winner announcement. 

Nothing. 

Days passed.

Still, nothing. 

Then, about three weeks later, a phone call came from Laramie. It was the state-wide poster contest coordinator, and she wanted to speak with our boy! His eyes popped and sparkled when he heard that his painting had come in second place out of 500 entries! 

She said a ceremony would be arranged in our town in celebration of his win, with our local Forestry Division personnel and our mayor attending, and that a tree would be planted in our town park in his honor!

Wow. Really?

As you can imagine, our house exploded with shrieks, hugs, high-fives, and the kind of grinning that makes your cheeks ache. This was our boy!

 

So, on a sunny May 17th, a group gathered at the town park where our ten-year-old guy was presented with his framed poster, a plaque, a certificate, money, and his very own burr oak, which he helped plant near the historic bell tower. He gave a speech. We nearly cried. The newspaper reporter snapped his picture. People smiled. 

 

Then someone said, "You know, the cool thing will be when his kids get to climb in his tree."

Oh, my. Yes!

 

 

Wishing you the loveliest of weekends, friends!