...because home doesn't happen overnight.
05.31.11 / Open House Flowers

We had yet another Open House this past Sunday.  That makes, like, seven total now.  Whew.  I counted the other day and we’ve had about 20 showings in the last 2.5 months.  Fingers crossed that one of them leads to something.

For this last Open House, I picked up a $5 bouquet on my way home from work beforehand to add pops of cheery color.  It was also an excuse for me to let out some withheld creativity frustration…albeit a little.  I still have a lot left in me.  I loosely arranged the single bouquet into 4 different vases for a casual effect.  I placed a large glass vase {which hails from Goodwill} on our dining console. Some of the buds haven’t opened yet, so I think we’ll have blooms for a while.

I lined a trio of West Elm vases {found at a Pottery Barn Outlet for cheap-o} along the dining table. I love the way the white vases and magenta blooms stand out in contrast to the black tabletop.  It’s almost like they’re floating.

Of course, someone isn’t going to buy our house just because there are pretty flowers in vases. But they sure felt welcoming and happy…feelings that we’d hope potential buyers would have when touring our home.

What did you do this weekend?  Were you a weekend warrior and finally tackle that home improvement project that’s been on your to-do list forever?  Did you keep cool and enjoy a long weekend with your family? Did you make a trip to the cemetery to visit lost loved ones?  I worked all weekend {blah} including the holiday while Handy Hubby was on kid duty.  He was also in charge of the Open House after we spent all of Saturday night cleaning like crazy people.  We did enjoy some time with my grandparents who are visiting from Florida and celebrated my grandpa’s 76th birthday with grilled kabobs and cake.  Yum!  Our neighborhood pool opened this past weekend, too.  Although I didn’t get a chance to enjoy it {no time!}, I’m looking forward to getting some use out of it this week.  I’m going with the ‘glass half full’ point of view on this one and thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if our house didn’t sell until fall so we could splash around in the pool all summer.

images:  Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

As far as house plants go, I’m all for easy and low maintenance.  ‘When was the last time I watered the plants?‘  Let’s be honest, if you were a plant in my house, you might think you were living in the Sahara Desert…I rarely turn on the ac and it could be weeks before you see a drop of water come your way.  So it should come as no surprise that I do pretty well with succulents.  Lately, I’ve been hearing a little about ‘air plants’ too.  Air plants require no soil, just indirect light and water on their leaves.  Seems easy enough.  Then I came across the Etsy shop, Tortoise Loves Donkey, and now I’m completely hooked.  Making teeny terrariums with succulents and air plants is officially on my very long to-do list.

From the petite concrete planters to the botanical science experiments in narrow glass tubes, I’m head over heels for Tortoise Loves Donkey.  What inspiration!  The shop even offers terrarium and air plant wedding favors.  And the shop owner is funny too.  Just read any of the product descriptions.  Take the Hunky Chunky Corked Set of 3, for example…

“Some days, you just need a little zen in your life. To stare at dial-tone-in-the-brain-like*. For a long time. These are great for that. You know how I know? I’ve had a few days like that. And I can’t guarantee it, but it’s quite possible that these are better for your soul than coffee. That’s saying a lot from a chick whose coffee makers (types, alone) outnumber her, oh, 6 to 1.

But seriously. Zen.

One awesome terrarium with its own little (no fuss easygoing) air plant. And cork…I’m looking at you, cats-who-knock-things-down-from-ledges. And care guide (it’s short, and easy, we swear). Measures about 2 1/8″ high and just over 1″ wide.

Set of 3 (some things are just better in threes).

*Do cell phones have dial tones? I never noticed. Are the young folk gonna be like “you’re so old you know what a dial tone sounds like”??! *sigh* I’m going back to staring at my wee plants.”

I like humor.  Especially on Fridays.  Anyhow, I think it’d be fun to try my hand at something similar: small concrete planters or itty bitty terrariums.  And if I fail, I can always buy from this Etsy shop, right?  I do love supporting small businesses and starving artists.

Speaking of DIY terrariums, did you happen to see this tutorial for terrarium magnets?

It hails from none other than a wedding planner’s website/blog called Ruffled and I think it’s fantastic.  Must do it.  The tutorial was created as a DIY wedding favor idea but I could see it making its way into mainstream DIY decor.  Terrariums must be all the wedding favor rage right now.  Man, I feel old.  Back in the day, we just gave our wedding guests some matches and sparklers to play with and called it a day. Nothing says, ‘thank you for sharing our special day’ like singed dress clothes and burnt fingers.  Do you ever wonder what your wedding would be like if you had to do it all over again now?  Of course, that’s a question for people who have been married for nearly a decade like Handy Hubby and me.  Hmmm…that would be a fun blog post.  Not that my wedding was lame.  It wasn’t.  Especially since I ended up with a Handy Hubby.

Okay, wow.  It must be Friday.  My brain is all over the place.  Now, what was I talking about?  Oh, right, the Sahara Desert.  I think I hear my house plants begging for water…

T.G.I.F!!!!!!

images:  1) Picnik collage by Dana Miller using Tortoise Loves Donkey images  2 & 3) Ruffled