The Nursery

Have not posted in a while.  Mainly because we are expecting our first child in June!  It's an exciting times for the husband and I.  Though I was not so excited about making our shoebox of a house even smaller when we started discussing a nursery.  We only have so much space in the house and there are basically only two rooms...  That meant taking the "bedroom" and erecting a wall which bisects the room, making it even smaller.  But hey, we had to work with what we've got.

I was not deluded into thinking we would get any kind of sound barrier between the two spaces so I decided to use two closet doors and some rolling, wall mounted hardware to create a larger opening rather than just a regular 3'-0" door opening.  The baby's room is long and narrow.  Kind of like a bowling alley, but it does have one window for some natural light.  I am not really into gender specific nursery colors so I opted for a gray pallet.  Bengie Moore's Portland Gray for the main wall color in both the existing bedroom and the nursery.  Somehow, with the light that comes into that space, the walls look lavender at times.  Oops.  I guess I could have had it repainted, but in the end, I just didn't really feel like inhaling paint fumes for two more days so I opted to live with what we got.  The trim in the bedroom is Elephant Gray and the trim in the nursery is Habanero Pepper.  I also painted a little mural where the crib is supposed to live to match the Dwell Studio bedding that I chose.  The wall opposite the crib wall has bold, 15" Habanero Pepper stripes to add a little life to the space.  All in all, the one week project turned out quite nice considering neither the ceiling nor the floor were level.  Of course the baby is not going to care what his room looks like.  It's basically all just to please my eyes, but since we decided on doing some renovations to the house, I figured it might as well look the way I want it to, right?  Next up, doing a little rewiring of light fixtures, then on to the bathroom and kitchen remodel.  Admittedly, we have not done much of anything in terms of renovation to this house because it has always been in the back of our minds that it is "just a tear-down."  Well, 8+ years later and the ups and down in the economy, times and circumstances have changed.  We still think it's a "tear-down" but it looks like we will be here for another 1 1/2 to 2 years, so might as well spend a little money and make it livable with a kid.  More to come...

Framing and header for the 6'-0" opening.

Drywall up.

Wiring for new light switches and outlets.

Angel putting in the insulation.

The tiny bowling alley.

Other side where the crib will be...

Angel measuring out my stripes.

Frog Tape is a must if you don't paint to bleed!

Yeay!  Stripes!

My tools for the mural wall.

Blank Canvas.

Painting the first few buildings.

Finished!

Mezzanine Libraries - A lofty idea!

I have a new obsession.  The mezzanine library...  or any kind of vertical book storage that takes up entire walls.  In my next house (aka. dream abode) I think I will have to include this concept in the design.  I guess this means I should start a display worthy book collection and bespoke objects...

Anyway, there are so many clever, beautiful and charming examples I found on various blogs, I just had to share some of the most lovely.  Enjoy!

Get out the frickin' address book

Hi.  I've been so busy and tired... which is why this blogging thing really fell to the way-side.  The Holidays are full of fun and smiles on the outside, but in reality, it fills me with angst.  And I don't even invite people over to our house!  (mainly because no more than 3 people fit in it at a time...)  But honestly, I don't know how people do it!   Year after year, we have friends who open their hearts and perfectly decorated homes to friends and family.  These individuals are super-human to me.  I get exhausted just thinking about all the holiday cards I need to address, stamp and seal.  I would lose it if I had to decorate, cook, clean, shop and be cheery for everyone on top of it all!  (Hence, our yearly, super-low-key holidays where we rarely decorate and typically escape to the mountains after eating dinner at someone else's house so we don't have to cook for just two...)  So why does this time of year still make me feel so anxious?  I guess that's a topic for the therapist next session...

Anyway, The Holiday Card is a must-do item for me this time every year because I feel guilty.  I am admittedly terrible at keeping in touch with people during the year.  Which is the reason for my guilt.  I love my friends and most all of my family members, and I think about them all at some point or another, but I am just really bad at picking up the phone.  So for me, the Holiday Card is the one piece of correspondence I MUST send every year to everyone I know.  It is my message tied to an apologetic olive branch, just to let everyone know that I love them dearly, they are in my thoughts, that no, we have not moved and that yes, my life is still the same ol' uneventful one with nothing to report...  Just like last year.

It would be great if we had little ones so that we could just send those adorable picture cards that you get from tiny prints, but we don't yet and one can't possibly send a picture of just you and the spouse!  I mean, how egotistically lame is that?!?!  So the hand made card it is.  You know, because it has to look like you put some effort into it.  If you have nothing to report, and have no kids, you at least should have the time to make something heart-felt right?

Don't count on anything special.  When you have to address 200+ cards every year out of guilt, the hand made creation coming from the Libiano household ain't gonna look pretty.  Yes, there are super-humans out there who can host the holiday mixer for their philanthropy, organize the company holiday party, bake Christmas cookies for the church bake sale, make their kids behave for the dinner that they are hosting at their house for 20 and still get the gift shopping done ten days in advance, but I am not one of those rarities.

But I did not tell a lie...

My friends that know me well or anyone who has been to my house knows that I have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with orchids.  I grow many varieties from the popular Phalaenopsis and Cymbidiums to the temperamental ones like Masdevallias and Bulbophyllums.  I believe there was a time when I literally had over 100 plants inside the house.  A few years ago, the husband put his foot down so since then, I have pared my collection down to about 60 in the house and about 30 outside...  Hahaha...  Not because I threw any of the plants away (on purpose), but because I gifted many of them to friends, or I killed them.  (They say you are not a true orchid grower until you kill at least a few dozen plants - insert the 'cha-ching' sound here followed by the sound of a toilet flushing)

My husband is a nice man.  He tolerantly lives with these plants that take over an entire wall of our tiny living room, the kitchen counter, above the mantle and pretty much every flat surface that receives just the right amount of light and air circulation.  Bless his heart, but yesterday, he kind of snapped.  More than he usually does when it comes to my plant obsessions.

This past weekend was the Fall orchid show at the South Coast Botanic Gardens.  Yes, I fully admit that I am a mega-nerd and have been a member of the South Bay Orchid Society for about 6-7 years.  I am on the Board of Directors, so I help out at the annual Spring and Fall shows.  Every year, there are premiere vendors/growers that sell plants at these shows that the society hosts so inevitably I end up adding to my collection at the very least, twice every year.  (More if I go to Santa Barbara for their show, or San Diego for their show...)  Therefore, at least twice a year, I brace myself for the usual lecture about how we have no more room for all the new orchids that come home with me let alone the money that I spend on them.  Bla bla bla.

Fall show 2011 - I did really good!  I only bought 3 orchid plants.  Two Phalaenopsis hybrids just because they were gorgeous and the grower had set them aside specifically for me (Thank you George Vasquez of Zuma Orchids in Malibu), and a Psychopsis Papilio Alba because I mean, how could I NOT get it when it was the last one and they are so hard to get a hold of?!?!?  These 3 beauties amounted to about $50.  That is really, really good considering some people will spend hundreds, even thousands on a single plant!  The husband was so proud.  He complimented me on my restraint and my responsible handling of money.  I was all smiles.

Then, he opened my trunk and saw this.

Oops...

My box of mini succulents, Tee Hee!

In my defense, I did not tell a lie!  I only bought 3 orchids.  I simply omitted that I purchased other things...  And besides they were cheap, AND I had a plan!  They would not take up too much space because I was going to plant multiple succulents in big pots that I already have!

See brilliant plan in action below!

My little Succulent Garden (only takes up 4 SF)

Look at these pretty little things!!!

How can one resist a cascading bunch?

Another Mini Succulent pot...

I looked at the Husband's furrowed brows and promptly pointed a finger at our dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Navar.  (At their lovely wedding in Palm Springs, they had oodles and oodles of succulents in perfect, white, shiny, ceramic pots all over the grounds as decoration and I instantly fell in love.  Of course the prettiest sight for all the guests was the gorgeous bride, but I tell ya, those perfectly potted succulents were very pretty as well.  And we got to take some home as gifts!)  So I blame the Navar's for what is now my mini obsession with mini succulents!  Since then, I have done my research and they are incredibly easy to grow!  You can leave them outside in full sun and do nothing but water occasionally and they literally flourish in our Southern California weather!  I promised the husband that the mini succulent gardens would stay outside and everything thankfully blew over.  Again. such a nice, tolerant man.

Unlike orchids where many species are notoriously high-maintenance, wallet busting, temperamental and seasonal bloomers, mini succulents are (even with no flowers) a NO-maintenance, low-budget, mesmerizing way to enjoy plants that love our So-Cal environment.  The variety of colors in the foliage is amazing!  Ice blues, chartreuse and purple???  Some are alien-like because they don't look like they are from this world!

I would not really recommend taking up an orchid hobby to everyone.  Unless you are slightly OCD and have the gumption to mix potting media, like the idea of having 5 different fertilizers for different times of the year, enjoy repotting - sometimes armed with a machete, find pleasure in fighting mealy bugs/orchid viruses, have the patience for a plant you bought today to not flower for 5 more years and can brave the alligator tears when a $70 plant withers, then croaks... then let's do lunch and I'll get you started on that adventure.

But a succulent garden?  I would highly recommend a potted mini succulent garden to anyone!

Happy Growing!

Random Airplant that bloomed this year!