Naturally Gorgeous - Pinterest Weekly 11

Although everything is lush and green around these parts

I LOVE that my house starts with a very neutral base.

Here are some of the neutral eye candy bits and bobbles

that I'm crushing on right now

don't get me wrong.

Yellow is my favorite color

and RAINBOW really floats my boat.

But check out the 

B3HD Naturally Gorgeous Pinterest Board

for pinspiration!

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PB Knockoff fail | Eco Chandy Pt 2

So almost a year ago

I attempted to knock off the PB Edison chandy.

By attempted, I mean I am no electrician, 

so I didn't actually wire bulbs or intend to make it a "light" (per se)

I intended to make it a "statement piece" 

that I would hang from the ceiling

in a spot where a light should be

in my reading nook

Figured the sun (yeah, I know, I live in the PNW)

would beam down on it and make it some cool Dale Chihuly looking piece or something.

Then I woke up (11 months later, or so) from that pipe dream.

And I said to myself

"self, surely you're going to NOT let those billion dollar light bulbs go to waste."

Well yes, I just might.

So I also thought to myself.

Especially after my better half saw me do this

with these

and you remember the reaction to that right

(something about "cluster#*$8@* hanging from my ceiling"

artists.  we are so misunderstood)

In any event,

no, I was not going to let those billion dollar light bulbs go to waste

Though I had originally strung them up like this

I decided to chop off the string

(used that in another project that I'll debut, oh...2012)

Now, if you look close enough in that second picture.

You can see my eco chandy dilema.

How was I going to get these lightbulbs to open up

and be the vessels they were meant to be

especially if I was too chicken to hammer and bang and drill

too hard

for fear I'd break the billion dollar light bulbs.

Well duh, folks. 

I pried the hot glued washers off the ends of my plumber's pipe fittings

(the part painted black) 

and I was able to come out with this

Awesomesauce.

Only 98 more bulbs to go. Or 8

Since I had removed their strings,

I now needed some ingenious way to hang them from my ceiling

if my eco chandy vision was to become reality.

In comes handy dandy eco chandy fishing wire.

and hot glue. And some crafty knots.

Yes mom, I still bite my nails.

Then came the fun part.

Making a chandy out of all this.

We already established I am no electrician

(or carpenter for that matter)

So I decided to make an ECO (as in no energy, healthy for enviro) chandy.

So I used these

 which you will notice are NOT the hammer in anchor types,

they are the screw in drywall anchor types.

I used these because I would wrap my fishing line around the threads

(you can kind of see on the left in the photo above)

and then I would screw these into the ceiling.

Yes I am tall.

No I am not 12 feet tall.

Not even on my tip toes in high heels.

We all know my propensity to not measure or think through

the actual installment of any of my art

(remember that whole subway art hanging debacle?)

Well, I'd like to tell you that this experience went smoothly.

But I gave up on that charade long ago.

In the end

maybe it took me 4 hours,

maybe I was also watching Toddlers &Tiaras

I DID end up with this

And yes, he (who shall not be named)

walked in the door, looked up

which prompted my sidekick awesome puppy mutt to look up

and then together, they were in cahoots with that sly little

"uhm, okay" look going all night long.

Her puppy spot is right under this installment.

Then I lit some tealight candles in the handled jars at night

and I might have won them over.

And if not, maybe my consolation will be a place in the  

Crafting with the Stars Season 3.

 

A girl can dream.

Linking up to Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up

Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

Good Life Wednesday over at Beach Cottage 
Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest

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Around Pinehurst - September (Beachy | Pac Gal Flea)

I am so so SOOO sad

that I was too lazy

to get up and go

to the Pac Gal Flea Market

this past August.

It was a hot day.

Perfect for finding deals like

the aqua mason jars I got last year.

Sigh.

Happy back to school.

Literally.

We start back to school on September 1.

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Natural Decor |Twigs

I picked up this basket at the thrift store for $2.50
And I also got these twigs for free off of Freecycle
(here's to people with cool trees in their backyard)

  

Combined them and came up with this get up, for this space that was looking a bit sparse

Nice bit of impact for a small out of the way space.

We'll see how Ashley feels about that.

I love Freecycle for my fave DIY supplies:
free, natural or at least inspired by nature

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Repurposed | Master Bath Switch

I'm not sure if I want to use this ladder

or these hooks



to replace this undersized towel bar

in my master bathroom



What do you think?

Spring is Springing up

I love this time of year.
The bulbs that I planted
in the dead of winter
last November
are starting to pop
because
that bright yellow thing in the sky
is shining bright again

Especially into my kitchen window

As always, all photos (c) b3 home designs

I love spring.

Almost as much as I love summer

And then some.

Around Pinehurst - March (Cairns and Prayers)

Once upon a time

I took a really long trip

to a part of the world

that doesn't have western style toilets.

now.

this is significant

because I have a "toilet thing"

whereby I will not clean them

because my gag reflex just. cannot. deal.

so if you've ever been to a place

where you have had the pleasure of using

various eastern style toilets

oh...say...a place like Tibet

then the beauty of this

Toilet cairn, a bit off balance - Main floor Powder Room

Photo (c) b3 home designs

becomes far more relevant.

At Everest Base Camp (Tibet side),

we collected a couple of rocks.

All around Tibet, rocks are stacked (rock stacking = cairn)

mostly in prayerful repose

for safe travels

Or I think something like that

This cairn is our tribute

to the Great White Western Toilet God

that allows us the grace

to lazily sit our fat butts

on a bowl

that collects things unthinkable

and whisks them away to places

I never have to go

As opposed to crude holes in the ground

that I wasn't even allowed to use

more times than not

because I have lady parts.

Oh...Tibet.

Happy March!

On the main floor...well, we'll just skip Christmas

Imagine

If you will

a beautiful tree

that was hunted

and fought for

and brought down

from the greatest tree farm

on

this

earth.

it is trimmed

all aglow with lights

done up with 

trinkets and doodads

magnificently

in red, white and silver

it is full

it is tall

it is gorgeous

with trimmings just right

then

you go to work

and you come home

and you see this

(!!!!)

and you almost

al.most.

strangle your dog

before you look a little closer

and you realize

that only a really cruel

dog mommy

would decorate a tree

with shiny white

dog bone ornaments

And you peel off

into fits of uncontrollable laughter

because your puppy mutt

is chewing on a print

of this photo



as if to say

"Payback is a bitch"

Although, not really

because she's a sweetie

and she would never use

words like that

So.

We'll just skip Christmas

on the main floor

this year

Score 1 for the Puppy Mutt.

On the Inside, it is Christmas

And even on the inside,
it is starting to look like Christmas

As always, all photos (c) b3 home designs

I wish
that I could
snap my fingers
and have
all of this
just magically appear

As it is.
it doesn't.

How is your decorating coming along?

Christmas Decor 101

Okay.
So I might have been a teensy bit panicked
when I looked downstairs
and saw this
right before I ran the other direction

Too big, found on roadside, Freecycle tree

Photo (c) b3 home designs

I'm panicked that
maybe
all the pieces won't be there
and that's why they gave it away

I'm panicked that once i put it up
I will need to decorate it the same day
and that exhausts me

I'm panicked that it is of the late 1900's style
faux tree
where you have to hook on all of the color-coded
(yes, you read that right)
branches into the right slots
and I'm certain I'm not color blind,
but I'm also certain I never get the slots that look
gray and/or light purple
or lime and/or yellow
or pink and/or fuschia

quite right.  And, of course
those branches are always the layers
closest to one another.

So, I took a deep breath,
and I did this instead

Just a little Christmas

Photo (c) b3 home designs

Went downstairs
Busted open a box
saw some ornaments
Placed them on the cake stand
that I almost sprayed gold to go with
my wedding colors
(so glad I didn't)
and stuck all the stars
(yes, also from the wedding decor)
in a little orchid glass vase holder
(which, the puppy mutt promptly chewed up)
and called
it
good

Happy decorating!
Moral of the story:
It all starts somewhere
The tree will happen when it happens

Sought and Found | Driftwood

Did you happen to know that collecting driftwood

on many WA state beaches that you might normally frequent

(ie, those that are maintained by Seattle Parks and Rec)

is illegal?

But that collecting driftwood on WA beaches in general

(outside of Seattle and the many other muni codes you may run into)

is okay?

Well, I'm a law abiding gal

Who mostly hangs out in Seattle

So I didn't think I would press my luck.

Although for the longest, I have wanted to come up with something like this

Gorgeous photos of a WA cabin I almost stayed at

Taken by a great blogger that I follow

but, for the life of me, cannot now peg these photos to

I suggest you visit all 20ish of the blogs listed over there ----->

for more eyecandy like this

And if they are your photos

please (let me know)

and thank you

(for adding another obssession to my list of must haves)

So when I was in Goodwill (over by Southcenter)

the other day

I was on their massive wood and wire basket isle

and my eye spotted this

in the hands of a child

Goodwill $10 Challenge, Bag of sticks

What in all hell would a kid want with a bag of sticks?

Thankfully, her mother had no clue either.

She hollared for that child to put down the bag of sticks

And I may have tripped over someone's cart

whilst making a mad dash to grab it up.

I had already determined that I would spend $10 on this bag of sticks

wrongfully convinced that I wouldn't get out of Seattle

long enough to amass my own collection

Might have.

I am pretty certain that I DID gasp out loud when I saw the price

was 2.99.

And I may have said "Thank you Jesus" out loud, at the cash register

when the sister gal in front of me

turned to me and gave me her 50% off coupon

because they were not letting her use it on whatever she was trying to use it on.

1.50 for all of this

Goodwill $10 challenge, Bag of sticks

I'm feeling all sorts of driftwood art coming on