Gardening Galore!
Learn how to make a Dinosaur Garden for children to enjoy on your patio or in the backyard. Also included: DIY Trash Can Planters and the relaunch of PiningforRome.com, Angela’s travel website.
DIY Dinosaur Garden
Bambino and I spent time this weekend working outside — not the hard work of weeding or tidying up. That still needs to be done. But one of his birthday gifts this year needed to get into the ground: a Dinosaur Garden. Now, to be clear, it isn’t just for dinosaurs. During the inaugural play several dinosaurs moved in along with some cars, a snake, a crab, an airplane, and a magic crystal. I suspect there will be other occupants as well! But I wanted to give Bambino a place in the dirt that was his own — and a fun place to play, too.
This is an easy project. If you have a bit of dirt — even on a patio — you can have a dinosaur garden. We happen to have some raised vegetable beds, so I turned one of those into the garden. But you could use a small tub, a wading pool, a corner of your yard… even an old sand box. You simply need a container that will hold a bit of earth.
I have all of the instructions plus bunches of photos on the Dinosaur Garden project page:
DIY Trash Can Planters
And I am also refilling our trash can planters this week. This is a super-easy and inexpensive project I put together last summer. You’ll find all of the details on the project page here:
Pining for Rome Relaunch
I am late getting all of the summer gardening started this year. We had so much snow well into May, and then our family took a trip to Belize for a week of snorkeling and swimming and sunburning!
Just before we left, I relaunched my travel website which has been under renovation for months! It isn’t perfect yet, but it is completely redesigned and reorganized. Did you know I have been writing about travel for more than 12 years? Yep. I started my first travel blog in 2007, and I have spent the last six months taking all of that content, updating it, and reorganizing it so that it is much easier to use — and better to look at, too. I hope you will check it out, and all kinds of details about Belize will be coming soon!
I recently shared one of my favorite tips for beachy packing on Instagram, and it really is one of those things that makes travel so much easier. I keep these in my travel toiletries kit and never leave home without them. Click the link to learn more!
Newly refreshed and completely updated!
Easy Packing Tip
for beachy or pool trips
One last note: I’m working on launching another exciting tool for my regular visitors. I’m pulling together all kinds of materials into a resource library. If you are a subscriber to my emails, you’ll get the password to the library , and you’ll have regular access to downloads and tools which I hope will make your life easier, prettier, and more fun! More coming about that soon, so if you aren’t a subscriber, sign up! I don’t want you to miss a thing!
So there is lots going on both here and on Pining for Rome! Happy almost-summer!
XOXO
Angela
Guest Room Refresh: One Room Challenge Week One
Come along as we refresh our guest room repurposing furniture including two twin beds, choosing everything from a fresh, new wall color to bedding, luggage racks, wall art, window treatments, and amenities in this makeover on a budget. Lots of DIY ideas with vintage-inspired decor.
It’s here! The 2019 One Room Challenge! We are redoing our guest room — a refresh with vintage inspiration and modern sensibilities. Check out week one with the furniture we will be reusing, an inspiration board, and the two items which inspired it all: a vintage map and my favorite bakery.
Lots to do! Aloha!
A
#The100DayProject and #OneRoomChallenge
This month I am launching two big projects: The 100 Day Project and the One Room Challenge. I’m excited to share both with you!
Aloha! It is Wednesday — so much going on! I am fairly certain I have lost my mind. You see, I’m already participating in the One Room Challenge which starts tomorrow. Eek! I’m really excited to show you our Guest Room Refresh as it unfolds — more on that tomorrow.
But then I was reading about another community event on Instagram — #The100DayProject — and I decided I just HAD to do that, too. They are totally different exercises, but both use the same creative muscles.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, the sculptor, painter, poet, and architect, wrote about the flow of creative energy he experienced as “furor divinus” — the divine fire. As creative people we must tend that fire, adding kindling, branches, logs, stoking it and making sure that fire has enough oxygen to keep burning. My fire has been smoldering a bit of late as I have been buried in the business and technical sides of my endeavors. So I am excited that yesterday was the start of The 100 Day Project — a worldwide focus on sparking creativity in any medium. I am jumping in with both feet, committing to my art journal every day for the next 100 days. My project will be an intersection between words and images beginning with today’s piece — a collage using paper, watercolor, and acrylic paints.
I find communal challenges like this great to getting my creative spark aflame. And working in a different medium — visual art rather than words — stretches me and forces me to think differently. Are you doing #the100DayProject ? If so, tag me! I would love to follow along. I learn so much from everyone — new techniques and different ways of looking at the world.
So here we go!
Day 1: Suddenly all my Ancestors are Behind Me | Collage, Mixed Media
Day 2: Creative Muscles | Watercolor, Mixed Media
I’ll have more about the One Room Challenge tomorrow, but here’s a sneak peek. We found this amazing map of Hawaii in the attic of our 1948 Suburban Sweetheart when we were renovating it. This gorgeous map is the inspiration for our Guest Room Refresh. I did a little research about it. It was created by a Hungarian immigrant, trained in Italy, who fell in love with Hawaii and spent much of his life living and teaching in Honolulu. His name was Joseph Feher, and I’ve written a bit about him. Read and enjoy!
Who is the artist?
I did a little research into our inspiration piece, and the story of Joseph Feher, the artist, is fascinating. Enjoy!
New Things are Coming! And Instagram!
I have a love-hate relationship with Instagram. It is fun to meet new people and to learn new things, but I open it up, and immediately an hour of my life slips away! Yikes! However, I have been working hard on several projects which are coming, and I’d love to connect with you on Instagram!
What is coming up?
#oneroomchallenge
I’m working on the #oneroomchallenge on Instagram! I love this idea — focus on ONE ROOM in your house and get it DONE. We are hard at work on our guest room. Honestly, this was low-hanging fruit. Making it beautiful doesn’t require construction or craziness. It just means some paint, some organizing, and making the room pretty — with a little flair. I’m excited to show you the final product! I’ll be unveiling the room bit-by-bit beginning April 4 as part of #oneroomchallenge. And I will have some great budget-friendly ideas that you can use in your own homes!
So, I hope you’ll follow me on Instagram. I have two handles: @midmodernmama is all things lifestyle especially home decor — and that’s the account where I’ll be doing the #oneroomchallenge. And then I have the other part of my split personality: @piningforrome which is all travel all the time. If you need beauty and travel inspiration, look no further.
Follow me!
Follow me!
Which brings me to my second project…
Pining for Rome Relaunch
So, I actually started my very first website 11 YEARS AGO this month! Yikes! And it is still there with lots of good content. But it is looking rather tired, so I have been working for weeks and weeks and weeks to update every page, refresh every photo, and organize all of the information. And I am rebranding everything. So soon Pining for Rome will be a fabulous place for all things travel! I’m super-excited, and I can’t wait to bring you the new-and-improved Pining for Rome!
Not on Instagram?
Follow me on Facebook!
I post everything in both places, so you won’t miss a thing!
Soon there will be gardening to be done, more renovation projects, and dinners out on the patio again. For now: snow in the forecast for next week. But the yard is greening every day!
Happy Spring!
XOXO
A
Easy Linen Closet Organizers
Make your linen closet a thing of beauty and joy! Create these easy DIY linen closet storage dividers which will corral your linens, and make your closet spark joy!
We are working our way through the KonMari process. Are you on this journey, too? Maybe you have done it before. It is exhausting! But it is great, too. And there is joy! This weekend my joy came in the form of my linen closets.
Yes, I know. Linen closets.
We KonMari’d the sheets and towels, but we have little, slightly awkward linen closets. Don’t get me wrong: we have more storage space than EVER before. We just needed to tweak it. So Romano and I designed this nifty DIY linen closet storage system that is cheap, easy, and doesn’t require screws or nails — so it is perfect for renters, too.
So, today my linen closets look like this…
Seriously! Did you hear the angels sing when you looked? They do — every time I open the door!
This video shows how easy these dividers are to install:
And I have all of the details about how to make them at the link below. You could use the same idea to organize clothes, towels… anything you need to corral.
Hope you are having a great day!
XOXO
Angela
Renovating: It's What We Do
As we begin our renovation of the Atomic Ranch, we take a look back at the two homes we renovated in the past: a 1980s Cabin in the City and the 1948 Subdivision Sweetheart.
We are not new to renovating houses. This is our third project house. We always buy unusual homes that need a lot of work. But there’s something — some intangible quality about a house which inspires and captures us. We also have the imagination to look beyond the immediate disaster and to see the potential.
As we begin to remake our Atomic Ranch, updating it and making it more functional, I thought it would be fun to look back on the other two homes we have renovated: the 1980s Cabin in the City and our 1948 Subdivision Sweetheart.
Our 1980s Cabin in the City evolved over 8 years of work, and we did most of that work ourselves. That house was a laboratory — paint colors came and went, the bathroom had several iterations until we found the right combination. We learned a lot as we went, and we loved that snug little home. The 1948 Subdivision Sweetheart, on the other hand, needed too much work to live through — and we had a two year-old at the time. So, we took on a whole house renovation all at once.
I hope you enjoy this peek into our homes from the past. There are many ideas from these two homes which we will use again in one way or another. We fall deeply in love with our homes, and both of these renovations were labors of love.
Enjoy!
XOXO
Angela
Projects & Downloads
New this week: DIY Aspen Branch Chandelier and The Nice List PDF download is available!
Happy Thursday! The snow is gone… but we know there will be more! That’s the joy of living here in Colorado — real seasons and lots of variety. Yesterday I spent an hour at the dentist, but the view of brilliant orange leaves out the window just washed away those reminders about regular flossing… Have I mentioned how much I love autumn?
Anyway… new this week on Mid Modern Mama — an idea and a download.
As winter set in last year, we found our dining room too dark for — well, anything, frankly. So we had to come up with a solution that was cheap, interesting, and easy. We did, and I absolutely LOVE our Aspen Branch Chandelier! It cost us a total of $15 and took an afternoon to make. And here’s the best part: we decorate it for holidays and seasons. You’ll see what Bambino created for Halloween in the post. It is an important part of our holiday decor all year round!
And exciting news! The PDF version of The Nice List is available now for instant download. If you already purchased it, an email came to you earlier this week about this. But if you are still thinking about purchasing The Nice List I have a few print copies available when they arrive SOON or you can purchase the PDF download. I put together some simple printing instructions, too.
I hope you are enjoying a cozy autumn day wherever you are!
Cheers!
Angela
Repurposing Vintage Linens
Washing vintage linens and turning them into no-sew curtains
My grandmother died this summer at the age of 97. One of the mementos I chose from her home after her death, was a pile of vintage linens -- handkerchiefs, aprons, towels, table linens, and sheets. I've started to repurpose them, and today I am sharing my first projects! Click on the photos below to read about my experiments with laundering the first batch of vintage linens as well as the no-sew curtains I made from sheets and table runners!
And don't forget: The Nice List is available for preorder on Kickstarter! We are almost 25% funded! Hooray! Order your copy now!
Click Here!
Click Here!
Click to order!
