Beaux R'eves: June 2012

Friday, June 29, 2012

From Yawn to YAY!

I have SO much Blogging to catch up on!

I have been very busy with lots of projects!

Let's head outside and see what I've been up to.

This is the patio underneath my deck. The sliding door leads out from the basement. We use this door a lot but kind of ignore this area.

Why?

Cause it's Snoozeville!!!

But it has so much potential!!!

And it stays shady most of the time!

And right now that is important. It has been over 100 degrees for most of the week and I see no relief in sight. It's too hot on the upper deck and even on the Screened in Porch.

Let's see what we can do down here to spruce things up!

I have had this patio set for about 12 years.

We bought it when we lived in California.

I miss living there sometimes. California is one place where outside living is a reality. We used to be in our backyard with a pool from sunup til sundown.

Oh well, I have to live in the NOW.

I would love to buy new cushions but it's not in the cards.

(I priced them starting at $35.00X6=TOO MUCH MONEY) So let's try to salvage these first.

You can see by this photo that I have some mold and mildew issues. And, I think the color of the chairs is a big sleeper too!

But, first things first, let's attack the mildew problem.

I mixed up a bucket with a little bit of Dawn Blue dishwashing soap and about a half cup of Bleach.

I scrubbed the cushions with a stiff brush and let them sit for about 15 minutes.

While I waited for the cushions to soak, I painted the chairs with Valspar Brown Spray paint. OK, it took me longer than 15 minutes to paint them all but it's kind of like the magic of Television right?

Look at how happy they look already!

My grass not so much!

Back to the cushions.

Get ready to see all of this mold and mildew disappear!

I used a power washer, yes a power washer. They sell them at Costco for $299.00. Awesome things you can do with a power washer. You might even consider going in with a neighbor, friend or relative to split the cost. I don't have any pictures of me power washing the cushions so you will have to take my word for it. My arm still hurts from trying to start the darn thing! Why can't they make things like lawn mowers, snow blowers and power washers "girl friendly"? I guess I had better step up the weight lifting.

What do you think?

YAY!

Big improvement!

We are on our way!

Stay tuned because in the next post I am going to show you how I stained the concrete patio (all by myself, I might add!).

Now I am going in to get something cold to drink!

Until Next Time,

Beaux Reves,

XO Cindy

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Not Just a Housewife
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Roeshel at DIY Showoff

Kristin at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesday's Treasures
Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Faded Charm for White Wednesday
Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays
Judy at DIY by Design

The Brambleberry Cottage
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays

From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Heather and Vanessa at At the Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday
Diann at The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday
Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Jen at Tatertots and Jello for the Weekend Wrap-up Party
Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Enjoying Chicago Architecture with a Little bit of Retail Therapy

We are still in Chicago, my favorite little Big city!

We spent yesterday enjoying a little "Retail Therapy" on Michigan Avenue. Miss Beaux and I try to catch up on shopping whenever we go out of town, as our shopping can be a little lackluster at home. We had a quick dinner and saw Rock of Ages at the large movie theater. Such Fun!!!

Today we tried to be better tourists and went on a Chicago Architectural Boat Tour. We have been on this tour before but there is so much to see that it is worth going on again.

I love the Chicago skyline and the story behind the huge skyscrapers. It makes you wonder what the city would be like if the Chicago Fire had never happened.

The "Corn Cob" buildings are one of my favorites.

Look at the cars parked on the lower levels! The only downside to these pie shaped condos is trying to arrange furniture in a triangle.

Of course, here is where I'd like to be spending the week.

The Chicago Merchandise Mart is 4,000,000 feet of floor space dedicated to furniture and wholesale goods. Sigh, maybe someday when the kiddos aren't with me!

I was thoroughly enjoying the tour and snapping pics but someone...

was getting a little bored!

OK, just a few more...

I love how they mix the older Beaux Arts buildings with the modern as they have in this building. See on the right how they have just added on to compliment the existing building?

But my favorites will always be the older 1920's beautiful buildings like the Wrigley Building named the

"Jewel of the Mile".

Speaking of Mile...

We have more retail therapy to entertain.

Off to Michigan Ave.!!!

Tomorrow we see some of Frank Lloyd Wright's work.

Until Then,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

The Brambleberry Cottage
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Vintage Chicago

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.

We were very busy with a Birthday for Mr. Beaux and Father's Day on Sunday of course.

We took off for Chicago on Sunday morning tagging along with Mr. Beaux while he speaks at a conference. We were looking for something different to do besides the usual touristy things. I spied a Vintage Flea Market that was going on while I was surfing the net. Miss Beaux LOVES Flea Markets so I thought this would be a hit.

It's called Vintage Garage Chicago.

They hold it in a parking garage and everyone sets up shop

from the back of their car.

Kinda like an old fashioned Swap Meet.

While Miss Beaux was looking at jewelry I found some beautiful brown transferware being sold at a wonderful booth manned by Janice. She allowed me to take some pictures of her delightful vignettes.

Don't you love that pitcher?

And look at this covered casserole dish.

I even adore the chair that it's perched upon!

Pretty glass doorknobs!

I soooooooo wanted to take home everything from Leslie's Booth for our Colorado home. Tartan blankets, old trophies, and look at these Camp Glen Eden awards. Apparently in 1946 Ralph Berenson was the MAN!!! He took home every award from Chess and Checkers to Best Athlete!!!

Go Ralph!

Here's a cool Union Jack table that was sold.

Great idea for tripod lamps on top of the table as well as some vintage suitcases below. There were quite a few vendors with their goods and it was a fun "Non-touristy" day. No idea what Miss Beaux and I will do in Chi-Town tomorrow...

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

Sharing at:

Southern Hospitality: Thrifty Treasures
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

The Brambleberry Cottage
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Musical Benches

I recently showed you my fabulous Frenchy Bench that I scored at an Estate Sale last week for a great price. I wasn't quite sure where I was going to put it but I knew that I HAD to have it! Yesterday I had to do some picking up because we were having company and I thought it was the perfect time to do some Switcheroing...

Let's play a game of musical benches.

You remember that game when you were a kid right?

I never won because I was too scrawny and always got pushed off of my chair by some bigger kid!

Here is the "new" bench:

I placed it over where the black dish cabinet used to be in the Hearth Room. Do you like my improvised end table?

I set some books on my Pier One vase and placed my teapot lamp on top. This corner needs more light at night.

So where did the black dish cabinet go?

Miss Beaux and I moved it over behind the Kitchen table. I should have put it here to begin with but we tried it and it never looked right. The table was too large. So, I took the leaves out of the table and angled it slightly. Now it looks like it belongs there and it is part of a set.

I placed the extra chairs on the side of the cabinet and used one of my black tole trays to hold some books and a pretty Sunflower Bordallo Pinheiro plate.

I think the whole room just flows better now.

What do you think?

This black bench with the rush seat used to be behind the kitchen table. It's in the guest room for now.

Undecided as to whether I like it there or not.

And the iron bench that I recovered made it's way home to the Master Bedroom where it joins the matching iron bed.

Everyone seems happy in their new homes.....

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves

XO Cindy

I'm linking up to these fun parties:
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Heather and Vanessa at At the Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday
Diann at The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday
Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday
Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Jen at Tatertots and Jello for the Weekend Wrap-up Party

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Mulch Better-Part 2 The Backyard

I hope you all enjoyed my Front yard tour.

Well, the backyard was even more fun to mulch!

It took twice as long to finish and it was probably three times as HOT outside last weekend. But it's done now and looks so much better. I'll give you a short tour around the property:

This is what the backyard looks like from the golf course. I don't play golf but I like looking out onto the course. We are surrounded by two ponds which are really pretty too.

Our lot is on a slope which allows us to have a walkout basement but our backyard would have been a small ski hill without building this retaining wall. It's made out of local stone and is about 8 feet high in some places.

We planted all of the beds ourselves 10 years ago. Now the ornamental grasses are huge and the creeping junipers are a little too "creepy" for me.

This is one of the ponds. I love my daylilies around the small plum tree. They never disappoint me and grow without much care. I need kids like that!

And here is a view from the other side of the pond last night. The neighbors make our house look small.

This is my favorite part of the backyard, the stone patio. Mr. Beaux built a firepit around the stone steps. It's fun in the summer to build a fire and make smores.

My hydrangea bushes look so pretty against the stone wall. I had a lilac bush that I just pulled out. Everything was so crowded in there.

These were green and white last year and I stuck some rusty nails in the ground. I have to work on the other ones this year. I forget what else you can do to change the color.

Hello Google!

And more hydrangeas against the house. We planted creeping moss and Irish moss inbetween the stones. It took a long time but it finally grew in nicely.

OK, anyone know what these are? Some kind of variegated hydrangea? Why are they only partially blooming?

I've got a great green thumb I know!

Stone steps up to the driveway.

Aren't these cool?

I want to take a family picture here someday.

A little secret pathway under the deck to the patio.

Hey! Some Bunny has been eating my Hostas! If they weren't so cute I'd set traps out or something...

Thanks for coming along on the tour of my backyard!

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

Linking up to:

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays
Judy at DIY by Design

Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays

From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday
Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Heather and Vanessa at At the Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday
Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday
Jen at Tatertots and Jello for the Weekend Wrap-up Party
Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Monday, June 11, 2012

It Looks "Mulch" Better

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a fantastic weekend!

Our weather was great here,

nice and sunny and not too windy.

Perfect weather for MULCH!!!

I ordered 10 yards of Java Brown mulch on Thursday to be delivered on Friday afternoon.

That really got us going on finishing up the weeding

in the backyard.

Mr. Beaux had been working on the front yard for the past couple of weeks to get it up to snuff.

They deliver the mulch with a huge truck but won't drop it unless you have a tarp down to protect the driveway from staining. I love the dark brown color of the Java, but other people use a light brown or red mulch.

Miss Beaux, my number one son, and I all worked on the backyard Friday morning waiting for the mulch to be delivered. A lot of weed pulling (mostly grass that starts growing under the creeping junipers)

and cutting back bushes and such.

It was hot out there!

This is the front yard right before we started mulching.

There is all the mulch just waiting for us...

And After!

We finished the front yard on Friday night but the backyard took the rest of the weekend.

Ahhhhhhh, doesn't that look Mulch Better?

By Sunday night we were sunburned, tired and had mulch in places I can't say! But we saved about $1,000 doing it all ourselves!!!

On another note: My pots are doing Fantastic since Mr. Beaux put in the drip irrigation system (see Here).

I think the sweet potato plant is taking over.

And look at my pretty window boxes!

I love sitting at my desk in my office

and seeing the pretty blooms.

I'll show you the backyard in another post.

My arms hurt so much I don't think I can lift the camera!

Until Next Time,

Beaux R'eves,

XO Cindy

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Roeshel at DIY Showoff

The Brambleberry Cottage
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage for Transformation Thursdays
Sherry at No Minimalist Here for the Open House Party on Thursdays