Now that summer has finally arrived (better late than never), I'm looking forward to long barefooted days outside. Although the kid-proof rug in my mudspace is terrific for stopping tracked-in dirt, after my boys spend a couple of hours digging in the yard excavating dinosaurs, they're ready for a wash-down. Rather than giving their toesies a full-force hosing, I love this stylish and sensible idea from Martha Stewart. Place a teak bath mat (a great slip-free surface) and a full watering can by the back door to rinse off dirty or sandy feet before coming inside. Another dual-use option is a galvanized boot tray, souped up with drilled-in drainage holes and filled with smooth pebbles -- should the rain come again (and you know it will), bring it inside and use it as a parking space for your wellies.
Image credit: Martha Stewart
Goofproof Gardening
With crossed fingers that the sun will come out and stay out, I plan to hit my local garden center at the end of this week. I'm notoriously bad about getting plants into the ground early in the season (somehow Massachusetts' unoffocial gardening start date of May 15 always comes and goes without a second thought), but I'm not feeling so bad about it this year given the rain-induced plant mildew that seems to be appearing. Anyway, Real Simple's list of 10 almost-impossible-to-kill "goofproof" plants will definitely come in handy as I put together my shopping list:
- Verbena (full sun, heat-tolerant, let dry out before watering)
- New Guinea impatiens (partial sun, partial shade, keep moist)
- Geranium (full sun, heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant)
- Euphorbia (full to partial fun, partial shade, drought-tolerant)
- Purple fountain grass (full to partial sun, partial shade, heat-tolerant, let dry out before watering)
- Coleus (partial sun, partial to full shade, heat-tolerant, keep moist)
- Calibrachoa (full sun, let dry out before watering)
- Sweet-potato vine (full to partial sun, partial shade, heat-tolerant, let dry out before watering)
- Begonia (full to partial sun, partial shade, heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant, let dry out before watering)
- Lantana (full sun, heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant, let dry out before watering)
Image: Cabaret White Calibrachoa
Image credit: Real Simple.com
French Bull Picnic Set
Over the weekend I heard a depressing statistic...here in Boston and the surrounding area, we've had a grand total of three days of sun in June. Since we don't, in fact, live in Seattle, I think enduring the ongoing deluge deserves some sort of medal, or at least this sassy and summery picnic set from French Bull. The heavy duty insulated backpack is filled with non-breakable service for four, cutting board, salt & pepper shakers, corkscrew, bottle opener and an oversize blanket -- ready for the moment that the sun comes out. Tomorrow?
French Bull Blanket Picnic Set, $150
Image credit: French Bull
DIY Art: Downloadable Vintage Prints
If you're looking for a no-cost way to update your walls, click over to Vintage Printables and start shopping. Don't be scared off by the sometimes clunky site -- it's chock-full of fabulous high-resolution, downloadable, free images that have been hand-selected by "Swivelchair," a biopharma worker who has a serious love for collecting out-of-copyright scientific illustrations. Luckily for those of us who would rather hang WPA-era posters on our walls than detailed drawings of the human heart, "Swivelchair" has collected those too. Botanicals, travel posters, curiosities -- you name it, and Vintage Printables has probably got it.
So have fun choosing, then bring your selections to your local copy center and print 'em out poster size, or go cheap like me and use your own color printer and an old frame that needs a new tenant.
{Thanks to Design Mom for sharing this great find!}
Built by IKEA, Updated by Bemz
I'm a big fan of slipcovers. In theory.
When my husband and I bought our first "real" living room furniture (read: not a hand-me-down futon on an unfinished frame with splinters that I slept on beginning my sophomore year of college) every piece was slipcovered. Dirty? Throw it in the washer! Bored with the look? Order another one! The washability was great, but when we did, in fact, get bored with the look, I dicovered it was going to cost $750 to get a new slipcover for an $800 club chair. If only I had bought that chair at IKEA and then, if only I had known about Bemz, things would have been different.
Bemz, a Stockholm-based company whose products can be found only online, specializes in custom slipcovers for the most popular sofa and chair models from IKEA including the Ektorp, Klippan, Lillberg and more. The fabric offering is vast (but not too vast -- a plus in my book), and prices are reasonable (a slipcover for a 4-seater Klippan sofa is about $200), but the real clincher for me is that Bemz offers slipc
overs in Marimekko prints.
If only I had known. Our big ol' club chair would've been from the IKEA PS collection and covered in Marimekko's Unikko poppies...or maybe navy linen...or orange cotton...
Image credits: Bemz