Geometric Pillow Even Bigger!

My black and white handmade Geometric Pillow cover is now available in a larger 16 X 16 size! This original design was created by me and has been printed onto a durable linen-cotton canvas. This bold, modern geometric handmade pillow cover makes a great accent pillow! Looks great alone or combined with other pillows. Whether you display it on your sofa or side chair, or use it to brighten your bed, this handmade pillow will be sure to add bold modern charm! Can be purchased at my Etsy shop

New 100% Linen Napkins Now Available!

I just added two new linen napkin designs to my Etsy shop! The first design was made from a pen and ink drawing I did of a feather. I screenprinted this design by hand onto 100% all natural linen using a dark brown water based non-toxic ink. These napkins are sewn by me in my San Diego, CA studio. I think these may be my new favorite napkins, I'm going to keep some for myself!

 

My next new design is a fun one! This Origami Swan napkin is screenprinted by hand using bright red water based non-toxic ink. These cute little napkins are 100% linen and are easy to wash. Simply throw them in the washer using cold water then hang or machine dry. Ditch those paper napkins and go green with these reusable, eco-friendly cloth napkin!

 

New Fence Almost Finished!

We spent most of the 3-day weekend building our new fence and it's almost finished! We still have some finishing touches and I have to apply sealer. Once it's completely done I'll have a full before and after post for you. It's looking really good! Here is a little sneak peek from day 2!

Day 2, Wall Removal

Yesterday the demo crew showed up right at 8am to start the removal of our cinder block wall that sits between our property and our neighbors. I'm sure our entire neighborhood hates us right now because the past two days have been so loud (sorry neighbors) but it's all for the better, I promise. The house is going to look way better when we are all done, helping improve the neighborhood and property values.

I don't think the cinder block wall was constructed properly, it was leaning over into our yard and had large cracks all over it. This is what it looked like:

So I was in my kitchen making my morning coffee when I heard a loud bang! I think I had a small heart attack, I seriously thought the bobcat tractor had run into our house! I ran to the window half expecting to see the backside of our house missing but to my relief this is what I saw:

The bobcat in just one pull had knocked down more than half of the wall, it shook the whole house and probably the entire neighborhood! I'm sure there were a few unhappy neighbors who were jolted out of their sleep. They probably thought we were having an earthquake haha.

After the wall was removed we had to deal with a large palm tree that had grow between 4 fences, ours and 3 neighbors and it was knocking everyones fence down. We decided to have it yanked out by the bobcat which was a pretty intense moment I have to say. Our yard is tiny and watching that bobcat straining to pull out the tree while getting closer and closer to our garage had me on pins and needles. At one point the tractor was on just two tires, it was INTENSE! The tree came down in one piece though and no buildings were harmed in the process:)

 The work crew cleared everything out and did a excellent job! So now the yard is a big empty lot, well small empty lot actually. Tomorrow we begin work on the new fence and  once that is completed we will begin building our new covered deck which I'm super excited about! More photos coming as we make progress on this project!

One of our friends said this reminded him of the T.V. show Big Love hahahaha. No, we are not polygamists, lol!

Featured on Unstitched today!

Today I am featured on the lovely blog Unstitched. You can check it out here http://www.unstitchedblog.com/2011/08/personal-museums-behind-tangerine-home/ Thanks Lillian!

A Blank Canvas

Yesterday and today have been a whirlwind of activity at our house! Yesterday we had a demolition crew come in with a bobcat tractor and remove all of our landscaping in the front and backyard. We purchased the house as a short sale and it took 9 months for the sale to go through. During that time nobody was living in the house or taking care of the landscaping. When we moved in a lot of the landscaping was dead and what was still alive was overgrown. The landscaping didn't seem thought out and there was really nothing we wanted to keep except one agave. This is what the backyard looked like when we moved in.

And this is what the front yard looked like.

 

We decided that we want to replace the front yard with drought tolerant plants such as sage, succulents, native plants, etc... San Diego is basically a desert and with water rationing, clay soil and not a lot of rainfall grass just doesn't do well here. In the backyard we want to build a large deck off the back of the house, a fire pit and possibly a jacuzzi. So we brought in some hired help to remove all the landscaping and now our yard is a blank canvas that I can't wait to get my hands on!

This is how our backyard now looks. There is nothing left and today that ugly cracked cinder block wall will be gone too! We will be building a wood fence this weekend to go in it's place.

Our front yard is now completely cleared out too, as well as the parkway.

 

I'll post more photos as we go through the process of rebuilding our landscaping. I have so any ideas I can't wait to dig in and get started!