alamodeus

 

If it's a cold evening, maybe I should consider a cozy fireside setting like the one above (left) via iFood TV. But, if warm weather is forecast, setting a table for two on the patio might turn out as lovely as the image above (right) from Anchorage Daily News.



Then, there is the #2 sparkling wine on my list, the Domaine des Baumard Cremant de Loire Carte Turquoise. It is a very clean and crisp Chenin Blanc cuvée, with nicely fresh acidity. According to The Wine Enthusiast, Carte Turquoise offers a "rich, complex blend of Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc made by one of the top producers in Anjou. The ripe fruits have kept their freshness, leaving a generous but crisp wine, with a delicate, elegant mousse."

You can be sure one of these wines will be served with dinner and romance on Valentine's Day! Now, I just need to decide on the tablesetting.

As if their sheer beauty was not enough, each bouquet is wrapped with a poem tucked inside. Ooh la la!


Sammartino and Hervé are master florists who specialize in the most romantic of flowers, roses. They only sell select roses grown near Paris, including the Black Baccara, a rare and delicious black rose. I might also mention that this isn't your run-of-the-mill neighborhood flower shop. The quality of stock and the pricing is for true petal connoisseurs.

Can anyone deny the charm of an antique mirror? Though the hands of time may rub the silver bare around their edges, aged mirrors take on an even greater beauty in their reflected character.



The antiquing process on mirrors like these (shown above) from Traditional Home magazine is a relatively simple project. With a mouse click you can check out the DIY mirror antiquing tutorial. All you need is a little paint stripper and muriatic acid as demonstrated in the tutorial images below.


Dining rooms are often the first room to get the 'whole wall' mirror treatment. But, using these reflective surfaces in kitchens and bathrooms can create character in rooms that are usually associated with being sterile and bland.

I have been to casual events where guests have been asked to bring their own chair. Perhaps, next time I'll take a cue from these great luggage conversions and tote my seat in style.


Upcycle bulky, old luggage into fabulously fun chairs. Brilliant! Particularly appealing in a child's room, the suitcase chair (above) is by South African designer Katie Thompson.


Thompson adds tufting for a nice finishing touch to the upholstered trunk seating. Images are two of her great reuse projects for well-worn suitcases.

Thompson's upcycling artistry retains the unique character of the original suitcase while upcycling creates an electic combination of styles and finishes on each chair.

Dear Katie Thompson, you have inspired me!

Including a mudroom was one of the best ideas of a home addition project we completed over 10 years ago. In fact, if we had someone standing in the mudroom taking a traffic count, I would guess that it is the most used room in our house. We are in and out of the house dozens of times each day - from house to garden, from house to studio, from house to workshop - constantly passing through the mudroom.

What our space shares in common with other well-used and much appreciated mudrooms is adherance to some very basic principles:

Location: Just inside the most frequently used family entrance
Floors: Hardworking materials that can stand up to heavy traffic and are easy to clean
Seating: Bench seating for slipping on or off dirty shoes
Hanging: Hooks to hang coats, hats and scarves
Storage: Shelves, cubbies or baskets for storage

Our mudroom, which is very similar to the one at left designed by KC Interiors, also serves multiple functions by containing our recycling station, pet food and supplies, gardening tools, as well as housing a rather extensive basket collection.


 

Form, function, character abound in these mudrooms. Above photos via HGTV (left) and Outback Finish and Trim (right).

Making use of old bottles seems to be one of those recycling projects that is environmentally sound and easily accomplished. There are so many ways to create functionally-useful and artistically-sculptural pieces from reclaimed glass bottles.


You know it's hip when Pottery Barn introduces a chandelier (above) to create a Napa Valley style dining ambiance with recycled wine bottles.

The lighting fixtures (below) are great examples creatively-inspired upcycling with used wine bottles.

 


The lighting fixture at left even comes with a DIY instruction guide from Oregon Live. The three-bottle sconce (right) from Meyda has character galore.



Personally, I love wine bottles that have been upcycled to create simple hurricane tea lights. I have three that were given to me as a gift and use them frequently on the patio. The hanging hurricanes by David Guilfoose (above left) are similar to mine, while the footed tealights are sold at many outlets through The Green Head.


I am constantly forgetting to water my plants. It is 'survival of the fittest' at my house!

However, since I spotted these 'plant nannies' using inverted wine bottles filled with water, I may be on my way to green thumb status. Sold by Napa Style.

I've been searching the web looking for glass cutters and kits so I can try my hand at making use of the oodles of wine bottles that are lining my studio walls. The best deal I have found is Ephrem's Bottle Cutting Kit available online.

I want to harvest the used wine bottles lining my studio walls and take them from this ...


to something similar to the glassware by Bottlecrop that I found on Etsy ...


Or, maybe I'll make a table or shelf like these ...

Small table via Chic Provence (left) and shelving by Zero Waste Design (begrudgingly admitting to my husband that beer bottles can also be useful, as shown above). The Zero Waste Design website provides instructions and drawings for many of their upcycling projects.

I'm just a click away from ordering my glass bottle cutting kit. When I complete a project or two, I'll post pics.