Mission Impossible....Possible!

OK....So Sandra at Canyon Wren Cottage put out a challenge.

A challenging challenge! Try it...you have until monday. Dare ya!

She asked us to design a teen's room for under $1200.00

all from the internet.

Now, You need a BIG imagination to figure mine out...

'cause I can't figure out how to do the smashing storyboards that

everyone else seems to do....

so bare with me....

Imagine this, if you will:

start out by painting the walls

a robins egg blue...light and airy $30 Behr

and add these coolio wall decals from Urban Outfitters $38

Then take 5 yards ($70)of this great Anna Maria Horner fabric to ...

Make a day bed cover for this $50 Austin Craigslist find...

funky and fun for sleep-overs!

Make some pillows(all different sizes and shapes...cause you're creative that way) for against the wall out of all these fabrics...More Anna Maria Horner,

Her stuff is the bomb!

3yards at $14.00 =$42

Add a great shag rug from Urban Outfitters ($120)


for school work and creating, another Austin Craigslist find...$150. Paint it white.

with this IKEA chair $39.99
So you kinda have this pottery Barn look withouth the PB price!



5 of these lights strung and bunched in the corner over the daybed...3 of them


have lightbulb attachments $21...Lunalights













This funky bookcase(again Austin Craigslist $150) ...painted white...because you have all the time in the world to paint...and a teen needs funk.


...mainly 'cause this is all pretend.


But, let's use this as a seperation between the sleep/hanging out place and the


work place. K?

For clothes...this $60 dollar find (yep. Austin Craigslist...ok can I just take a minute to be wowed by the phenomenal finds on Austin's Craiglist....Ours, not so much!)

But paint it a

taupy color...see that color in the fabric?...or whatever fun color you like...

and add this white tree decal($38.00 Urban outfitters) to the door of the dresser ...
Top it off with this really cool recycled magazine mirror above the freshly painted

dresser ($52.00-UA again)

All this for a grand total of $861.00
....Use the rest for shipping and buying an ipod or whateva....

Phew!

My friend the Flamingo...

Back to the tropics for a blissful moment....

The American Flamingo...near impossible to find in the US today,

but in the 1800's John Audubon saw a flock of them

in the Florida Keys.

Always trying to piant his subjects as close to their true size as posible.

(the Flamingo can stand at 5 feet), Audubon painted the Flamingo with his

neck bent in a bit unusual of a position just to fit the whole bird on his 3 foot paper.

I saw a Roseate Spoonbill in all of it's pink glory as I was driving to work

the other day. What a treat!
Flamingos in Flock...or flocking Flamingos

last two pics courtesy of: Flickr
Ok...Back to your regularly scheduled program....

Dude in the kitchen...

We have a pocket door off the kitchen that we painted with

chalkboard paint....thinking it would be a

command central of sorts. One of the kids friends

drew this old dude...and there he still stands.

So...we ended up painting a wall in the kitchen.

...ya gotta love chalkboard paint!

Hee!

NYC through a 13 year olds eye...

I was sorting through my picture folders and came across one I hadn't

loaded. Entitled 'Libby's pictures'(13 year old daughter Olivia).

Inside were some pictures she recently shot while we were in NYC.

She was snapping left and right...looking straight up, while we were

walking(running) through the haze of streets. She added some effects on her own...

What a fun surprise seeing the city through her eyes.

...and Not a bad eye, eh?

An exotic shell of a home...

Warm , crystal clear water, Vibrant tropical colors welcome us to the....

Bay of Careyes in Jalisco Mexico.

This home designed by architect Alex Pössenbacher

is named Casa Nautilus...a perfect name

You wind yourself into the cocoon as you enter

A gorgeous palapa roof is worn like a crown above the living areas...

And those vibrant colors! Color with abandon...
Here is the cocoon part!

So go ahead....Head down to Mexico
It's like giving yourself a warm hug.
Yep. You deserve it!
You'll have to find your own shell, however...
This one is sold.
Dayum!

McKee gardens...

Come join me on a Sunday morning tour

(got your coffee?)

To a hidden gem in our little town of Vero Beach

It is on the registry of historic places

and is a great place to escape ...and just think...or breathe...

Acres and acres of paths through a tropical paradise...

A Spanish Kitchen, and buildings crafted of pieces

and parts of Palm Beach Mansions...

and wood, drifted onto our beaches from far away...

Ponds and small creeks filled with water lillies

of every color...

Hidden structures made completely of bamboo and palm fronds,

encrusted with wild orchids

and tropical fruit...

walking down the outdoor alleys, you feel like you could be on a different island.

But you are home.

Art seems at home amongst nature...

Nature is art.

McKee Botanical Gardens....

Peace.