My Bug Collection. Let Me Show You It

Say it with me now:

Ewwwww.  

That's the light fixture on my front porch.  Gross, huh?  Also tiny, boring, and dim (mostly because of the bugs).

However, I found this baby at the thrift shop the other day for nine dollars:

I know, it's all blurry.  That's why it was nine dollars.

BFF, when I posted this pic on Facebook:  "I've always wanted a
light fixture that would make me coffee."   Womp womp. 

Man, do you guys KNOW how many parts are in a freaking fixture like this?  I didn't even take it completely apart.  The insert where the bulbs go I left assembled, and just taped over the wiring and the bulb holders, because I didn't feel like undoing all that wiring.

Today's spray paint of choice is Rustoleum's  hammered metal finish, in black.  I've used the silver on some of my doorknobs, and to be honest, I haven't been impressed - but the black came out beautifully!

new chain.  hell if I was going to try to spray paint a chain

This took me an evening - far less drying time than I'd expected, actually.  After that, all I had to do was put it up the next day:

Isn't that awesome?  I've always wanted a pendant like this on my front porch.  Heart!  Also, I'm hoping that since it's open on the bottom, it won't get full of bugs like the little box thing that was there before.

Pretty shadows, too. 

So what about the little box light that was there before?  I'm glad you asked.  That question boggled me for exactly two hours before it spawned like eighty five new projects.  I'll be getting to that.  Between the fans in the bedroom and kitchen, the garage light, this porch light, the things it inspired, and that blue ginger jar lamp from the thrifty store, it looks like this is officially The Summer of Lights.

More soon.


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Hello, House

By the way, Gypsycat is just fine.  WHEW.

Meanwhile, I've been doing all sorts of stuff around the house that I'm dying to show you;  I haven't quite got all the photos ready, but for the time being, here's a little quickie:

Hand painted backwards: stylin'.  LOL.  I keep seeing these (and the bathtubs/showers that say "get naked) all over the internet, and I thought it was really cute.  I figured I'd try it.  I meant to paint it less wonkily (that's a word now, I just decided), but this is the way it came out, and I kinda like it wonky.

I'd also figured that this would just be something cute for visitors; but coming home with Gypsy from the vet's last week, and then coming home this past Sunday night after a weekend trip to west Texas, that little "hello" made me so happy, and so relieved to be at my own house again.  Hello, House.

It stays. :)

More Front Porchness

Plants for me! :D

Hostas & Tradescantia ("Wandering Jew") by the front door

purple Petunias and Asparagus Fern hanging from the porch

 (and some weird little nerly-black purple crinkly thing on the far left...I forget what it's called).

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Front Porch, Round 1

Before

(the ladder was there so I could work on the porch, it doesn't live there)

Not terrible.
However, I was bored with the following things:

1. empty pots all over the place, that belong in the garage
2. half-round rubber doormat...er..."iron sculpture" over the door - too much
3. actual iron sculpture/baskety thing on the wall - pointless
4. black porch railing - was cute five years ago, but I was tired of it. 

And so...

After

Ta-da! 

Instead, we have:

• a cleaned-up porch, with
• off-white railings to match the window trim - and I painted the door trim, too, once I saw that it stuck out like a sore thumb as the only thing that was now not off-white
• iron/rubber wall "art" gone
• The tiny Tibetan prayer flag string, which is actually there in the "before" picture, is relatively new. A friend brought it to me from India a couple of months ago.  :) 
• I also painted the trim around the front door to match the windows and the porch railing

But Wait, There's More! 
  
Wanna see what a seven-year-old, crusty, yellowed, plastic doorbell looks like? 

oh. my. god.

...better

This is not a new doorbell, but it's at least less ugly than the yellowed, crusty mess that it was yesterday.  It's a band-aid on a broken arm, but it's a start.


I DO still need to do something about THIS:

empty planters?! noooo!

Plants are next.


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I Want Plants!

With any luck, I'll get lots done around the house this evening, and have good stuff (and after pics!) to post tomorrow - assuming I don't fall off a ladder or trip and step in front of a bus or something.  *knocks on wood*

Until then, though, allow me to share with you some gardening stuff - this actually relates, as my plans for the evening have to do with re-vamping the front porch a bit, and there's a garden very near the porch.  With me? Great. Bottom line here is, I was bored yesterday and stopped at Lowe's on the way home and went phone-camera-shopping...

First stop:  I need new plants for the silver planters at the front door, and the hanging baskets above the porch.  And I need them to coordinate with the front garden, which is green and frothy punctuated by purple/rust-colored foliage and white/purple/pink/black flowers.   So I'm thinking...

"Black Magic" and bright green dwarf Elephant Ears! Six bucks a can!

 Alternanthera - aka Joseph's Coat - this variety was labeled "Royal Tapestry", but when I google that I get a completely different plant.  But these are gorgeous, and I wants them, Precious.  My front garden needs more dark purple foliage (the Loropetalums I put in two years ago turned out to be...brown...gross).   And since these 4" pots are like three bucks each, I'm thinking 2 for the front bed itself, 1 in each of the tall silver planters, and 3-4 to make up an entire hanging basket of this frothy, dark stuff.  YUM.

 At least one of the other baskets will be full of Hostas like these, probably with a bit of purple Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea) trailing down around the sides (of which I don't have a picture).

And I absolutely MUST have THIS.  This is another one that comes up wonky on a google search - this Coleus is labeled "Stained Glassworks", but I can't find info about that variety online at all, which means it's probably (a) very new and/or (b) proprietary to the breeder and not "out there" in the world yet.  Anyhoo, it's freaking gorgeous, and I adore Coleus, and I want it.

I've never been a Pentas person, but these were just show-stopping.  Dark, textural leaves and almost aggressively vibrant red flowers (making up for thier small stature, no doubt).  

I've also never been a red person, and I hesitate to bring another color layer into the garden...but maybe in a pot on the porch? Or in the backyard? And now we're getting way off-topic...






And since we're on the subject of me lusting after plants...

I never paid attention to Azaleas until I saw white ones.  I need it. In a pot on my back porch.  Off-topic again.

 

This is a Southern Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera), aka Southern Bayberry or Candleberry.   It's native to the South and southeast coast down through east Texas and NE Mexico.  It's interesting and light, pretty darned water-wise, and seems perfect for a spot by (not in) the front garden that I think needs a BUSH.

And there at he front corner of this pallet-o-plants (drooool) is a Long-Leaf or Saber Fig (Ficus alii) with braided trunks.  LUST! PLANT LUST!  

I had a red-flowering Mandevilla vine last year ("Brazilian Jasmine" - native to Brazil and northern parts of South America, and throughout Mexico).

It disappeared.  It didn't die, it was just gone one day.  I'm pretty sure That Puppy dug it up and destroyed it.  But she's over that now, so I think I'll try again.  I may not be much for red flowers in the front yard - but I want tons of them in the back!  Off-topic again!






Hee.