Our Bricked Courtyard Reveal!!

I'm excited to finally be typing that this here is the reveal of our bricked courtyard on the side of our house! AND a little reveal of some landscaping at the front of the house! (Is it called landscaping if it's potted plants?!) 

Here's my friend Chris pulling up a nice bit of brick on the sidewalk... we pulled up the bricks, weeded, leveled the ground and then re-laid the bricks. BIG project! The Hubs has been working a lot so I've been enlisting additional help for these annoying projects that Hubby likes to put off ;) 

And here's how the bricks look after we laid down some dry mortar/sand mixture and hosed it down. I love me some mortar/sand mixture!!! It fixes all those big gaps that were impossible to fix with this 100+ year old herringbone pattern!

I think we may have to do another run of it to get all the tiny cracks. I HATE weeds coming through!

Here's what the courtyard looked like in progress...

And here are some afters:

Below is a close up of a tricky part of the project - lining up the existing bricks from the sidewalk to our new bricks. Thank God for anal, perfectionist neighbors who like to help you brick! (Thanks Craig!)

Here's how the front of the house is shaping up:

We hated our little chain link fence, so a cheap and so much better looking idea was to buy some bamboo reed fencing and zip tie it to the existing fence!! I love the way it came out. We don't have the budget to build the fence we really want so even if this lasts just 2 years it's well worth it! 

We plan on running it all along the side of the house too. It adds a nice tropical/Caribbean vibe which definitely fits in our subtropic New Orleans! I'll feel like I'm on vacation sitting in the courtyard sippin' a pina colada! 

Best part is 80% of this big project was FREE!! My mom gave me the chairs and pots, the garden stool I had and just sprayed a navy blue and the bricks were from my mom as well. THANKS MOMMA! :)

Our cute little topiaries! I have to do the same for the other front door... maybe this weekend. I wanted to make sure I could keep these guys alive before investing in four.

Side note: if you're looking for simple, modern and large planters Lowe's has some nice options. The two above are a pretty slate grey and huge and like $30 each! 

So what do ya think!? Our little Creole Cottage is finally getting a little pretty! 

Now if only I had the time/money/energy to work on the other side!

Bleghhhh....

Blanche Would Be Jealous....

Came across this bad boy on good old Craigslist last week...

OK, now use your imagination - the seller posted this picture - it's title was something like "Hideous Green Sofa" which of course intrigued me... and to my surprise I found it quite awesome! (minus all the crap on top of it!) 

Very Golden Girls-esque, no? Similar to an all time fav:

The asking price was $10 and it had a pull out bed! Someone beat me to it though... I was thinking about it going in our little ugly room that I just painted completely BLACK - yup - floors & walls, but probably not the ceiling... I think this green looks FAB with black! (and some gold accents)

Oh well! We put a Queen bed back there for now and an office for The Hubs... ahhhhh....the ever evolving house...  

So does anyone else see this "hideous green sofa" as much, much more!? Or am I just a tacky girl trying to relive the 80's??

Newest Chair Obsession....

My latest chair obsession.... these Bradley Hughes super high wing backs... we're showing a client tonight these bad boys - let's hope she likes! :)

And here's a mock up of the room they'd be going in...

I LOVE this website!!! Makes me so much happier to use this than CAD... blegh... AutoCAD + Boo = not a good mix!  ;)

Some Landscaping is Happening!

This happened over the weekend... 

And I'm a VERY happy girl! 

Can't wait to get some pics up of how the bricked courtyard and front of the house is coming along! Hopefully tomorrow... raining today = no good pictures!

Why yes, yes I am posting about cleaning out my fridge! It's my blog and I'll post what I want to! Post what I want to! You would post it too if it happened to you!

Sometimes it's the little things in life... like completely cleaning and organizing your fridge. Yes, things like this make me feel oh so good! Especially when my fridge is oh so pretty and GLASS so everyone can see when our fridge is a hot mess! 

Here's how it began:

You know you have to take everything out to really get a good cleaning in! And let's face it, I'm not ever gonna use the 3 floating black olives in the olive jar from last year....it's gotsta go! I love purging!!

Here's my baby while I'm trying to figure out the new height of the shelves....

Aaaaand the after:

Will someone please buy me one of those $2,000 cameras with a pimped lens so my pics can look professional!? I've been using my phone camera cause I'm lazy but the quality isn't really there... I digress...

My veggie shelf... yeah check out that squash! Come on, let's hear how utterly big my squash is!

I have these great plastic trays I put different items in - it makes it so easy when cooking - I'll pull out a whole Asian tray with everything I need - or a "I'm making a sammich tray!"

Sammich Tray.


Happy Buddha Butter says "yes!" to clean fridge!

Does cleaning out the fridge bring you as much joy as it brings me!?

High Gloss Black Is Lookin' Good Up in Da Kitchen!

Here's a little peak at our high-gloss black cabinets in the kitchen. Yes, this project was started months ago and I have yet to share it, I know. But look closer at the bottom - I STILL have yet to finish the damn job!! I love the little brass pulls too!! They were little a cheapy Lowes purchase but I luv them! 

DO y'all have the same problem as I do? I can't FINISH certain projects! It's like a mental block or something... one day... one day I'll finish painting these babies! 

Random Thoughts... & A Little Writers Block... Or Is It Writers Blegh?!

Heya! Sorry for not posting much... I haven't been inspired to write. I think it's the blegh sinus infection I've been fighting?! Anyway.... just wanted to share some randomness with y'all!

Ok, first of all - we all need to go out and buy THIS BOOK about the "new" New Orleans Style. The designer I work for totally fits into this "new" designer category here in New Orleans and I love it! I say out with the stuffy old antiques and silk curtains puddling to the floor everywhere! (now don't get me wrong, i do love me some silk - you can't take the New Orleans completely outta the girl!)

You can read a nice summary and look at more pretty pictures from the book HERE.

ANOTHER thing... Please click this LINK HERE and tell me your thoughts... I can't tell if I love it or I hate it!? Oh and make sure to expand the images so they're nice and big on your screen!

Here's just a taste:

I'm really wondering your thoughts on the kitchen... I love the idea of it - not necessarily what they did though. I bet it looks pretty kick ass in person though! Oh and in case you wanna buy it, click HERE - it's in the French Quarter & can be yours for a cool 1.2 million! Yeeaaahhhhh!

Let me know what you think!!

P.S. - Sorry for all the links to other pages today! But I had to share some things!! :)


P.P.S. - Boo's goin' to JAZZ FEST TOMORROW!! I'll snap some pics of all my favorite foods we get - yeah, I go to EAT!