a little library

a little library
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

another rainy day at home, and we decided to do something about the piles of picture books and easy readers spilling from an overloaded bookshelf -- we have shelves in our attic playroom for big kid books and novels, but these wider picture books don't fit there . . . enter a hundred bucks worth of ikea shelving and a patient husband wielding a bunch of wall anchors, a drill, and a level, et voila! shelves for books we haven't dug out in years. and best of all, an annoying 24" deep alcove in an upstairs hallway finally starts earning its place ~
. . . and it was lovely to read to our little guy from some of the books we read to our older children years ago and haven't seen in a while ~ happy memories.

little things for the little ones

little things for the little ones
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

freshly found and fixed and fashioned at our house -- i love my talented foursome! ~

at home in may

at home in may
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

play days in may, at our house ~

our house came with plenty of old-house charm, a spacious, pretty, yard, and some amazing features . . . . but sadly, like most older homes, it also sported a dated kitchen, complete with warped flooring, stinky cabinets, and broken appliances, not to mention the leaks and the ants and the vinegar smell that permeated everything.  oh, and the chimney full of dead rodents and birds. so, instead of doing our usual save-everything-you-possibly-can-and-make-it-work kind of renovation, we were forced to do a complete remodel.  sure, it was painful at the time, but it was so worth it -- our kitchen works perfectly now -- it's always full of people and puppies and games and baking and teddy's trains. 
the after is above, and the before is below.  let me know what you think :-)

have a happy, happy sunday! -- i think i'll be right here, baking some yummy banana bread ~

creativity sparked, at the jumble sale

caroline and i dragged ourselves out of bed early early this saturday morning to go to one of our favorite church rummage sales (when i was little in scotland we called them jumble sales; a slightly more perfect name than rummage, i think).  we always catch up with some neighbors and haul away a pile of treasures, and today was no different.

caroline discovered a pile of pristine records (remember those?!), all for kids (including one intriguingly titled "stories and songs about food" !) -- some were even still sealed in cellophane.  we'll have to wait till our newly ordered turntable arrives from target.com to have a listen, (why, oh why, did i donate the old one years ago?!!), but for now we're reveling in the darling covers.  this is our favorite -- the cover for "it's a small world" sung by the disneyland boys' choir (can you imagine? we can't wait to hear it!).


anyway, we've already uploaded this image and ordered it as fabric from spoonflower.com -- a most excellent service -- and we're researching how to make it into wallpaper . . . stay tuned!

happy saturday, everyone!

x lynn-anne

my pink fix

all images are the property of their respective owner
1. I'm Done ..., 2. In progress.., 3. Andrea Schreiber, 4. Iso's bedroom, 5. blossom, 6. Cherry delight Set, 7. our bed, 8. kitchen from livingroom, 9. guest room
 
pretty in pink
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme
someone, please, stop me before i turn into a one trick pony . . . i just have so much fun making mosaics at bighugelabs.com! possibly a new obsession?
you might know that i live in a house full of boys (six, if you include the dogs, and believe me, i have to include the dogs) --- there's just me and caroline, and pink is a dirty word in her lexicon right now. but i love it. and i love the imagination and creativity that so many people have by the bucketload. . . . so here's a pink fest. it makes me happy, and i hope you love it, too :)

happy friday!

x lynn-anne

crafty little bits and bobs from flickr

crafty little bits and bobs from flickr
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

flickr is an amazing repository of gorgeous things from lots of very talented people . . . it's so easy to spend all day --or all night-- exploring. these are a few of my favorites from my most recent sucked-in-and-up-till 4am visits ~

in the playroom

in the playroom
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

on a rainy sunday afternoon, we took a look a look at our boxes and boxes of books and decided something had to be done -- so after some careful measuring and a trip to the hardware store, and then a couple of hours of painting and hanging shelves later, we ended up with this. the books just get shoved on the shelves all higgeldy-piggeldy by the kiddies, but it's okay . . . there's always someone, or a group of someones, plopped on this old sofa reading or playing or just hanging out. be brave: you can do it, too!

sources:
sofa: ancient this end up (remember that store?) painted black by my kids. i always use benjamin moore's metal and wood enamel - makes it easy with little prep work -
lamp: flos work lamp from design within reach
chalkboard paint: benjamin moore
eames style molded rocker: eastendimports.com
hex table: west elm
suitcase (used to store lots of matchbox cars!): charity shop
puppy: henry

haru's paper celebration

images lakbdesign/fergusandme

we love the current mode for pretty handmade home decor is wonderful -- so many talented friends make it so easy to create a lovely, interesting, individual home (thank you!)~

this is one of our newest faves - a beautiful paper sculpture by beth at haru's paper celebration.  just the thing for the handmade home! we've hung ours above the mantle, but it's really supposed to go in caroline's room. . . . obviously, a good piece for any little spot that needs a lift ~

find beth at http://www.zibbet.com/haru and http://www.flickr.com/photos/haru_designs/

beautiful, beth!

x lynn-anne

for a little boy ~

this is teddy's technicolor dream room.  i blogged about this room last month, but i thought i'd share a little more on it :) hope you don't mind!

he wanted orange, which was a little tricky since i needed to use some hand me down space things from one of his big brothers (in fact, you could say that the design brief for this room was 'use what you have/buy nothing new' and we in fact managed that, pretty much).

so, how do you reconcile orange walls and a bunch of hand me downs that have nothing to do with orange?

simple really -- just draw the line at maybe three strong colors, and make sure you have a similar degree of saturation in all the colors you use - and play with it till it looks like FUN!


decorating should be most excellent fun .. ....

x lynn-anne