Showing posts with label window. Show all posts
Showing posts with label window. Show all posts

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Water-Colored World

After hauling out the white wicker desk and chair from Casey's room yesterday, she decided it was time to clean up (Hallelujah! Will wonders never cease?) and rearrange her room.

We ended up bringing the piano bench in from my room, and we placed it under her window, using her blue blanket as a seat cushion, which created a sweet little window seat for her.

Her window has one of my favorite views in the house. So we decided to highlight it. Maybe it will get her to open the curtains more often. Ever since we had a break-in (a day when the curtains happened to get left open while I was gone to the store), she has left them closed continually. 


Last night, after we reworked Casey's room, and while she was at work, the rains came. They didn't let up for so long that I began to feel like it had been raining forever and was going to continue on into eternity. All well and good if you haven't been planning a garage sale in the morning. I began to let rainy thoughts hang over my head as I contemplated all the trouble the rain would hold for our morning plans.

After an hour and a half or so, (going on 40 days and 40 nights in my mind) I decided to get up and go have a look at it. After all, I couldn't change it, so why not go enjoy it? There was a wonder playing out, out there beyond the windows where I've been known to stand and admire the sweet joys of my backyard view. Why miss such wonder when it's right there in full view through the windowpane?
  
Through rain-spattered glass, falling streams of water and ensuing darkness, the backyard and patio took on a dreamy quality.

Gradually, I shifted camera focus...

...and as my eye and the camera lens honed in on the window rather than the world outside... the scene transformed into a watercolor world.
With the raindrops highlighted... (along with an errant blob of paint I never noticed until now)...

...the patio and yard took on an artistic ambiance.

The ladder was stoically accepting a rainwash, which left it with a glossy, drippy finish. Beads of water reflected in the patio lights created opaque droplets that reminded me of a mobile made of capiz shells. The world was awash in the blur of quickly falling rain, and the flowers across the way were undaunted by the darkness or the storm.
There was an equally intriguing sight to behold at the kitchen window. Yellow orchid blooms were on display under the lights, playing it up for all it was worth, wearing well the sparkling gems of glittering evening raindrops.

As one drop gave way to the next, the liquid beads of light kept my eyes dancing.

Today, an overcast sky accented the harvest of color which all that rain has etched into my garden goodies.

I can't get over these dahlias! Their vibrant color and beautiful blooms are a big 'wow!' that's accenting the back patio with Summer color galore.

Thankfully, our garage sale ended up rain-free (despite my worries and the weather man's overzealous forecast) and went off without a hitch. I didn't get rich (thanks for the well wishes though, Karen) but we had fun (and donuts!). Despite the fact that the big stuff didn't sell, I made close to 60 bucks and cleared out a lot of little junk. Woo hoo! That's $60 I didn't have yesterday. I'll take it.

So let it rain...because the garage sale is over, and rain now means green grass and pretty blooms later... and maybe a few more gazing moments whereby God wow's me with the ever-amazing world he created. A world that sometimes comes framed by an everyday watery window.

I'll be visiting these parties:


Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Crowing Glory

For years, my kitchen window, the one that frames my view to the green, green grass of home (my backyard), has been unadorned up top. Yes, topless... and like some people, not really worth looking at in such a state.

The last time this window had any sort of dressing up top was probably when rumblings about Y2K had people bracing for the end of the world or at least it seems that long ago. And that last covering consisted of three cloth napkins folded in triangles and hanging as a make-shift valance. It passed as window dressing in an "if that's the best you can do" way, because getting by and getting everyone where they needed to be was about all I could handle at the time. However, I have always longed for something a little more quirky, interesting and cool.

I didn't want ordinary. I also didn't want fabric hanging down and blocking even one iota of the little bit of light I get in my tiny kitchen. So I did what I am known to do until I know for sure. I did nothing for a very long time, until yesterday that is. That's when I gathered up my new brackets (Thanks Cally!), a level and the piece of wood that I scavenged two weeks ago from a trash pile. You see, I had finally come up with an idea. Technically I came up with the idea about two years ago, but these things take time, people. What's the rush?!

My daughter Cally, gave me the brackets for Easter (What? You think I'd pay $18 a piece for brackets? Ha! No way! I'd been searching for them for cheap or free. Then when I finally found a piece of wood, I knew the plan was coming together. All that was left to do was to conjure up was the will to take on E.B. You see, E.B. and I don't get along all that well.


For the record, I didn't name him, or emblazon his name on his chest, I bought him that way for $5 from a sale at a storage bay about a year ago. 


So I plundered the junk drawer in search of the right nails, but woe is me, there were none to be found. I found an odd assortment of semi-similar straggler screws, but wasn't sure these were right for plaster or that I had anchors for them. Here I was so close to actually having a window topper, with E.B. and all the mess of the world out on the counters and the stove, and somehow I had to make what I had work , I was not leaving the house to buy ANYTHING. Uh, uh. No way.

In the end, only a certain amount of rigging had to be done. Oh, it'll be fine. Quit worrying.


It took over an hour and a half to get to this point and there may or may not have been a lot of fuming at no one in particular and at all inanimate objects in general and many, many threats about never drilling again spoken with an uncivil tone.

I also got a great thigh work out by stepping up and down from the chair to get things I forgot on the other side of the room

So the brackets are up and fairly sturdy after all the hassle and trial (does one wonder why I procrastinate when it takes so much trouble to put up a couple of brackets?) At one point, E.B. finally kicked it in gear and managed to help me get those screws in good and tight despite the concrete.

So I whooped it up and clapped my hands and shouted for joy and gave E.B. his kudos.

The wood ended up getting bowed, so I went out to straighten it out and actually cracked it, which was perfect! It was already uneven on the other end and I wanted both ends to have a natural feel, and I happened to crack and break it in exactly the right place to get the length where it needed to be! Woo hoo! Good thing that happened, because I don't have a circular saw and didn't know how I was going to cut that thing.

I hung the 25 cent ball jars I found at a garage sale last month with tealights in them. The jar hanging here is up for debate. Is it awkward or cool? Such things can have a foot in both worlds. I kinda like them, especially when it's dark out and the candles are lit. They lend an air of an outdoor patio to the kitchen, so they'll probably stay. I can use them to hold flowers as well.

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And look...that chalkboard is made from one of the cabinet doors I found at The Thrice Picked Pile a few weeks or so back.

The wood I made the shelf out of is still bowed, but I will likely just flip it once in a while so it has a chance to straighten out. 


 Shooting into a sunny window and trying to get good exposure on the rest of the shot is not my forte. 





And there you have it. After all these years, I have something dressing my window and I can change out the shelf contents to reflect the times and my finds. Yippee!

Even better, E.B. and I ended up having a meeting of the minds and have decided to let bygones be bygones. We are gonna try and step out together in project world more often. Who knows, we may end up becoming quite the pair.



I'll be at these link parties:


Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here
Swing Into Spring @ DIY by Design
Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Share it @ Winthrop Chronicles
Tips and Tricks @ Stringtown Home
Metamorphasis Monday @ Between naps on the Porch
Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch
Tuesday Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Show us What You Got Tuesday @ Our Delightful Home
Manic Mondays @Serendipity & Spice
Mop it up Mondays @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Cure for the Common Monday @ Lines Across
The Sunday Stop @Joy 2 Journey
Saturday Showcase @ Bowdabrablog
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Sunday Show-Off @ Twigg Studios
Nifty Thrify Things @ Nifty Thrifty Things
Fab Friday Party @ Doodles and Stitches