Multipurpose Potting Bench

I am loving the idea of a potting table. It would come in handy on the deck especially for spring planting. But at night or on the weekends I can see using it as a buffet or drink station. I can picture it decorated with candles and plants and maybe some wine or margaritas.
Are you seeing it?

Country Living 

This table would work well for my space and I'm sure I can find one for fairly cheap.

Better Homes & Gardens

I love these clay pots and wire baskets.

House and Home

Last two pictures from the movie It's Complicated

Have you seen it yet? It's so funny and the house and garden is beautiful. One of my new favorites for sure.

This amazing table is from Lissa @ Humble Pie 

The search is on, I hope something fabulous comes along soon.

A Few Snippets

Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes last week! We had the social at a cool ice cream Shoppe nearby.

  It was a bit chilly to eat outside in the courtyard but nice enough for a little pinata fun afterwards.

I used Martha Stewart stickers and some ribbon to spruce up the party hats a bit.

And I was pretty excited when I found the ice cream cone nail polish and erasers for the goodie bags. Mr. 65th Avenue surprised me by making a CD compilation with the little ones face on the cover. Too cute!

For the table centerpiece we made some easy edible flowers out of construction paper.

 The weekend was a lot of fun and now we officially have a four year old!

Birthday Preparations

Its been a busy week over here at Sixty Fifth Avenue. We celebrated my Birthday Wednesday and we are having an ice cream social for the little ones Birthday this weekend. I can't believe she is going to be four! Is it weird that my husband and I still refer to her as the baby? We do it all the time.

Next in line are Grandma and my husband. I think its funny that no matter how simple something seems it always gets a bit crazy. But in the end it always comes together.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

I have been on the lookout for an oval mirror for the playroom. The little one has been playing dress up lately and we don't have a mirror low enough for her to see herself.

Of course I wanted to find one for a fantastic deal and the goodwill is where I finally found it. Ten dollars later and I was happily on my way home with this.

The problem was how to hang this very heavy mirror so it will be secure on the wall.
That's when these little drawer handles from Anthropologie come in.

And a bunch of 3m velcro picture hanging strips keep it from moving when touched by little hands.

The birds were used as anchors.

A couple coats of white paint and this is what we ended up with.

The birds can be used to hang necklaces or dresses on.

 This is the little painting project I talked about last week. It did snow this weekend and now the frame and paint cans are finally out of my dining room!

linked to  This blessed nest

Paris In April

I came across the pictures from my trip to Paris the other day and thought I would share a few. My step mom and I have talked about going to Paris in April for our Birthdays ever since I was little. Two years ago we had the opportunity and off we went.
It was a hard decision for me to leave the little one but I knew she would be ok with Daddy.

It was a gloomy day when I took this picture. I love that it almost looks like a black and white.

I took this one because at that time in my life I was riding a lot of carousals. Actually, I just rode one yesterday, ha!

I was fascinated by the beautiful old doors and knockers.

This just says Paris to me.

 Walking from the Louvre after seeing Mona, a man was renting these adorable boats. I didn't expect The Mona Lisa to be so small, only 21"x30"

It was a short trip and I can't wait to go back someday. But then I get butterflies in my stomach because I really hate to fly. C’est la vie, that's life.

Have a wonderful spring weekend!

Linked toShutter Love Tuesday Trendy Tree House

Dining Al Fresco

It was a beautiful spring day today and the rest of the week looks good too. This gets me thinking about setting up the table and chairs for some al fresco dining.

This is so pretty, I would love to have a big tree to hang a chandelier from.

Pictures from Country Living

Due to the gorgeous weather, I got sidetracked on my painting project. You never know how long it's going to last here in the Midwest. It could snow this weekend!

First Garage Sale Of The Season

Last weekend we drove by a garage sale and even though it was raining I had to stop. The nice man running it told us everything was free so that made it even more fun!

This cool folding basket caught my eye.

Have you ever seen anything like it? I'm not sure what to do with it yet but I really love it. Not a bad way to start garage sale season!

I will be doing a little painting today and will share my project with you tomorrow.  Until then, here are a few pictures I had fun taking the other day.

Have a fabulous Monday!

Fairy Gardens

I don't know who would have more fun with a fairy garden, us or the little one.

Chasing Fireflies

We got inspired to make one after a trip to the Chicago Botanical Garden last year. It was so much fun looking at their miniature garden and all the tiny detail. It got a little crazy trying to keep the little one from jumping in, but who could blame her, I wanted to get in there and play too!

Better Homes & Gardens

A cute container, a few tiny accessories and some plants and herbs would get your fairy garden started.

Midwest Living

Midwest Living

Have you ever seen anything so cute?

So when we were at the flea market last weekend, we spotted the perfect little house for our project.

 I am still in the dreaming stage so I'm not sure if a container will be used or not. I know I want it to be big enough to play in and not be off limits. I'm sure there will be lots of different animals and critters visiting the garden often.

  

Midwest Living

My vision is to encourage hours of imaginative play as well as getting her interested in gardening. I think that will be pretty easy don't you?

A Spring Getaway

We got away this weekend just the two of us and had a fantastic time. We stayed at the Herrington Inn about an hour away in Geneva.

It's really cozy and the bathtub is so big you can swim in it. We have stayed there a few times before and always have a great time. This is the view of the river from our balcony.

I love a big city, we live about twenty five minutes from Chicago, but every time I drive into a cute little town I get really happy. I was even more excited this time because it was a perfect spring day for some flea market shopping.
I found some treasures here and there and I can't wait to share! We do a lot of rhyming at our house.
I even went to Anthropologie for the first time.


We must have driven by this cute little garden center five times on Saturday. It's called  The Pure Gardener
I wanted to check it out but the day went so fast they were closed by the time we got there.

The next day we went over to look in the windows and check the hours. They were closed on Sunday. (insert sad face)

Here is a little peek inside.

It used to be an old gas station.

 Do you see all the glass cloches? I was looking for one all weekend.

Can you see why I was so sad to miss this cute little place? If the weather is nice, a little drive might be in order this weekend. I still have a little shopping to do.
Happy Monday!

A Little Love For The Kitchen

When we were house shopping most of the kitchens we saw needed to be ripped out and redone right away. So I was happy to see that our house had a kitchen we could live with for a while. It had your basic 90s oak cabinets and laminate countertops but the layout was good. This is our kitchen today after it got a little love. Now let's back track to see how we got here.

This is right after we moved in and opened up the small doorway between the kitchen and living room. You can see the living room redo here.  Besides just wanting more of an open concept, the only way to have an island would be to open up the doorway. 

Another view of the kitchen and a peek into the dining room. The previous owners were using that room as their family room.

This is the kitchen after the dust settled. It stayed this way until I took on the job of painting the cabinets.

The island was found at a little shop that was using it as their checkout counter. We had just ordered a plain cabinet island from Home Depot the night before, adding legs and special details were out of the budget at the time so we were thrilled to find something with character. We were on our way home to measure our space to make sure it would work when we decided to just cancel our HD order and get back to the shop before anyone else snapped it up. It was a fantastic price and is now the focal point of our home. 

 

I primed and painted the cabinet boxes and had the doors sprayed by a painter. Hardwood floors, new hardware and appliances finish it off for now. We saved a lot of money buying the fridge and stove from an outlet store.

Now our kitchen is a much happier place to be. 

Updated dining room pictures here.