May 2015 Flower Pictures

I have enjoyed watching my flowers bloom this spring. Here is a collection of pictures I have taken between April and May 2015. My El Paso garden is starting to mature and take its true form. 

   

Pink Oleander

Yellow Esperanza   

 

Vinca

  

Pink Oleander

  

Returning Lantana

  

Red Oleander

  

White Oleander

  

White Oleander

  

Star Jasmine

Star Jasmine

  

Star Jasmine

  

White Roses

White Roses  

White Roses     

  

Purple Lantana

  

Red everbloom rose

  

Lady Banks Rose

 

 Easter bunny ☺️

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DIY Eclectic Dresser

Having four children means I have a lot of shoes in my home. I was thinking about having a piece of furniture to house the shoes when they are not worn. I started looking online at entryway benches and chests as a means to solve the problem. I found that many of them were about $100 or more which isn’t too bad, but they were not exactly visually pleasing. I thought that it would be nice to have a piece of furniture that was visually pleasing especially since it is the first thing someone would see as they enter my home. I decided that a nicely painted dresser would be great. Plus it provides more storage than a chest or bench.  So now I was on a quest to find a dresser to design and paint. Luckily a few days later my neighbor put a dresser out on her curb. It was structurally sound so I brought it home. (Funny thing is when I gutted my kitchen she took my old kitchen cabinets. 🙂 ) The best part of the dresser is that it was free.      

As you can see the dresser needed a new paint finish . The teenager who had the dresser used some puffy paint so I needed to scrap that off and sand the dresser initially. Once i was finished sanding i applied a gray primer on top to adhere to the original finish and to allow the new paint to bond well.

         

My next step was coming up with a decorative design. I drew the design I wanted unto poster board and then cut out my design with an exacto knife. I created my own design so it would be custom sized to the dresser. I made a design that fit the top and sides. I then created a design for the drawers. I taped the DIY stencil to my dresser and used spray paint to fill in the design. Because I used spray paint I did get some over spray, but that is ok, I can touch it up later. If I do something like this again I will use double sided tape to tape the stencil to the object better or use a sponging technique.

         

Here is my finished result. I will also spray a layer of clear coat and work on finding some drawer pulls.

WELCOME SUMMER!!!!

I am so happy summer has arrived. What a great way to start the season with a teeny tiny bit of rain. LOL I know we had a long drought this year and although the rain did little more than dirty our vehicles it was a nice sight to see some clouds in the sky. I want to apologize for not posting for a while. I had some gardener’s mourning because my mesquite has died. It has been removed. I should probably call it my son’s mesquite. He spent ours in it every day. It had a space in the middle that was a hideout for him. Every day he asks me if I am going to buy him another big tree to climb in. AWWWWW!! I did find a nice replacement. It is large but expensive so hopefully I can eventually buy it.

I have a lot of ideas swimming around my head for my various yards. I have a backyard, a tiny courtyard, some front yard areas, a side yard and a passage way to the backyard on one side of the house. Each of these areas need some attention and garden design. I also have a deck that is above my sunroom, which too needs to be finished so I will post my goals for my home. I do not have a timeframe on these projects but they are what I would like to see happen for my outside living areas.

1. Create a pond with water fall.

2. Finish streambed, install pump.

3. Get cobblestones for front and backyards.

4. Space stepping stones in courtyard for grass to grow between them.

5. Fountain for courtyard and backyard patio area.

6. Buy a large tree to replace the mesquite.

7. Do more container gardening with trees.

8. Buy two spiral topiaries for front door.

9. Buy a permanent dining set for backyard patio.

10. Add two chairs or a conversational set for the courtyard.

11. Get side yard gates repaired.

12. Pave the area in front of side yard for a basketball court, both left and right side of house.

13. Add more desert tolerant yet lush plants everywhere.

Ok so these are goals I have. I will add and remove or rethink them as needed.