Pool Garden Phase 1

The Before photo.....

New pool cover, grass around all sides of the pool. Grass looks nice but is only practical in a design magazine :)

First up. Some really great bushes
for privacy. We settled on English
Laurels and I am really happy with
them. They are evergreen, will get
up to 12 feet high and can be pruned
into a nice hedge.

Next, we dug up all the grass in the area to make way for the garden and patios.

Work in Progress!!! The Mister unloads all the stones and I lay them in sand and fit them. It's like a giant really heavy puzzle :) Then we fill the spaces in between with pea gravel.

Even Roxy likes to get in on the action!

Almost there.....

 Done!!!

When we moved I brought 4 car/ truck loads of plants from my old house.

My old garden was starting to get crowded and needed dividing  so I gave some away and took the rest. It probably could have used some more but at the end I was so overwhelmed with the move I just didn't have it in me.

So we didn't buy much other than the Laurels. We used one pallet of flat stone, lots of sand and paver sand, and 1/2 a bucket load of pea gravel.

I think my little Tiki guys just make it, don't you?

Phase 2 will be at the back of the pool behind the diving board. I will be putting the rest of my plants under the Sycamore to build a shade garden. Hopefully this will happen this month. those poor plants have been in pots for over a year :(

♥jenny

Brimfield Antique Show

A few weeks ago we went to the Brimfield Antique Show. It's held every year in May, July and September in Brimfield Massachusetts. It is one of the largest in the country with over 5,000 dealers covering 21 fields and is over a mile long.




We stayed at the Sturbridge Host Hotel 10 miles down the road. Brimfield is pretty small and only has a few B&B's that fill up quickly.

It is a cute old hotel on Cedar Lake.
















They're common area is pretty unique.....

It's looks like it was originally an outdoor area that they inclosed.

The center section is several raised areas with gazebos over them and the pool at one end. It looks like they do events... would be a cute place for a wedding ♥

The whole area is surrounded by hotel rooms that have cute little balconies over looking the courtyard.

It has a nice lake you can swim in ans a restaurant inside and one right next door.







Now to the important stuff.......






Here's a shot of the road........

A really awesome vintage camping tent. how cool is that thing???? The mister was totally smitten♥

Some cool old Mason jars......

And some great vintage Christmas ornaments....

Some great outdoor chairs.....

The MOST amazing jukebox I have ever seen.....

It was, of course, SUPER expensive but admiring it is free...

Now for my purchases....

Totally amazing vintage string art. I have been itching to make one and this one is great inspiration, plus I absolutely love peacocks.

My find of the weekend..... I needed new dining room chairs and oh, did I find some!




 Super awesome 60's vinyl chairs, each one a different color. Yay me.

A few pieces of Fire King luster 

for really cheap.

The Mister found a banjo that someone never finished making.

A super cute black chalk ware poodle...

Some cool vintage
kitchen gadget that
I have NO idea what it does..... but it looks cool :)

A vintage drying rack. The photo doesn't do it justice... 

I will have to post it once it's hug up.

I had a super good time and I highly recommend it if you get the chance to go.

Now....... I just need to make it to the World's Longest Yard Sale..... :)

Happy shopping!

♥jenny

New Walkway!

Well, it has been a busy summer!

I will post our big project later. But for now let's turn our attention to the old walkway........
 

 The photos don't even really do justice to how uneven and unsafe the walkway was.

 We were going to tackle it ourselves since we are major do it yourself-ers. I would say we do 99% of our renovations and projects. Mostly by ourselves but sometimes with the help of our awesome friends :)

We have only hired people a couple of times and at our old house the one time was for our large patio and retaining wall. The guy that did it was really nice and he did a great job so we had him stop by  to give us an estimate for our very sad driveway.

That was totally NOT in the budget now or in the future (unless we win the lottery). But he was interested in doing our walkway for a very reasonable price.

So what would have been a long project for us turned out to be a quick two day make-over. An who doesn't like a make-over????

TA - DA!!!!

           Oh, it looks sooooo much better.
The brick were in good shape so we just had him re- lay them.

 I forgot how awesome it is to have someone else do work on my house :)

I finally got to plant the ferns I brought from our old house.... they have been sitting in pots since last July :)

I think it makes a very nice garden spot. I will be moving that large rose bush all the way to the right to a better location in the spring. It is not in the best spot and has grown to be very lopsided. Not sure what I will put in it's place but I will keep you posted :)





Happy Gardening!

♥jenny

The Fair. then.... Jackalope

As always, while antiquing for things I kind of need for decorating the house (like floor lamps), I found awesome things I don't need but just had to have :)

Our day actually started the at the Sussex County Fair which I go to every year. It is a great fair with all your typical yummy and bad for you fair food,

 rides,vendors, tons of 4-H animal awesomeness.....

even chainsaw sculptors and acrobats!


One of my favorite things is homemade ice cream made by a mini steam engine :)

Of course on our way home I had to swing in to a couple of my favorite shops. Made a couple small purchases and moved on to one of my favorite shops..... and there he was.... the majestic jackalope.....

Pictured here on my book cases.

I have no taxidermy because I am soooooo picky about the faces. But this guy..... so perfect. Perfect little face, nice antlers. Plus the Mister has wanted one for. like. ever.

Next stop produced this gem! A Burwood wall plaque. I am not familiar with it but I was smitten right away.

The only problem is that is broken on top so I must figure out the proper way to repair it. Something tell me it will be worth it :)


happy hunting,
♥jenny

what i think is awesome.....

I would like to share my current obsession......

 Yayoi Kusama Sunglasses

A new collection from Louis Vuitton by Yayoi Kusama. The whole collection is just fantastic. I can not believe that I could love polka dots so much and have spent my whole life in the art world and have never heard of Yayoi Kusama. Ah, such is life.... you can never know it all. 

Any-hoo..... I am so in love. The color, the shape, the polka dots..... with the perfect flower accent. (sigh)  But alas, they retail for $650 :(  Definitely not in the budget......

Much more affordable are these FAB shoes on Modcloth:

Oh how I love thee.... could they be any cuter?

I have bee on the hunt for floor lamps lately. This one has really piqued my interest. Well, it is actually a pair if you can believe it which is making them so much more desirable :)

 That's all for now.... time to get some scratch offs ;)

♥jenny

Awesome garbage

Oh, my man is awesome. He is a world class garbage picker that comes home with some really great stuff. Most importantly, lots of times he comes home with things I need.

One time he came home with an old type drawer he found on the side of the road when I was just telling him I thought It would be cool to get for for the top of the trunk we use as a coffe table...:) I love when the universe answers like that.

So his recent score was this awesome chair:

I am not really sure how old it is or if it is a good piece or not, but I love it. It needs some work as you can see. The back was cracked and repaired at some point (not very well I might add). I would like to fix it up so I will have to get to doing a little research (if I ever finish all my gardening projects). If anyone has any insights I'd love to hear from you!

♥jenny

Lucy the elephant

I have developed a real liking for elephants over the years. I think it must have something to do with the fact that my grandmother LOVES them....:)

Because of this and the fact that I have been feeling as though there are so many cool things in my little state that I have yet to go see and experience, I decided to take a trip down to Margate NJ to see Lucy the elephant.

Aaahhhh..... there she was... staring majestically out to sea. The oldest example of Zoomorphic Architecture.

              She sure is big!

 She has a cute little tongue....

And even toenails!!!!

                It is a tight squeeze up and down some pretty cool turn of the century stairs :)

                                                               Boy what a view!!


I highly recommend a visit to New Jersey's only elephant building. The people who take care of her and saved her from the wrecking ball in the 70's deserve  all our appreciation (and donations) for saving such an amazing work of art and truly unique piece of history in this state.

lucytheelephant.com


♥jenny