How to Freshen Up an Outdoor Candle

Summer is just about here and spring has been especially good to us this year - we've had a little bit of rain and lots of amazing weather. Well, living in Southern California, we've usually got good weather, but we also get lots of dirty smog and it can make things outside look awful! I have these lovely plastic, outdoor candles that I like to have on my deck to look pretty. But, they don't look so great! So, I made them pretty again!

Gardening Ideas for Earth Day

One of my favorite things to do is to be in my garden and get outside and just enjoy nature and soak up some sun. My mom has an amazing garden in her central coast home and so I probably have just grown up watching her tend to all her beautiful flowers and enjoy it too. 

In my southern California home, I've had to learn to adapt to our rather dry climate. We don't get a lot of rain. So, as I mentioned in my last post, we ripped out our front yard and never regretted doing that one bit! Today I wanted to share with you some of my past gardening I've done around here and abroad to inspire you. Plus, it's Earth Day, and why now celebrate with getting some earth under your fingernails? I am such a "nature" girl and love anything homeopathic, natural, and hollistic so it's fun to get outside and enjoy some gardening. So, I wanted to share some of my passed gardening posts with you to enjoy! It might get you some 

Front Yard Amazing Flower Update

Two years ago, we took the plunge and ripped out all our grass! Living in Southern California, trying to keep our front yard grass green was not only costing us a small fortune, but just not smart for our living area. We have drought conditions and we just can't use all our water to keep our yard pretty - and it was city mandated! We are only allowed to water our yard one time per week on a specific day, from October through April. We are only allowed to water two times per week on specified days from April to October. So, keeping grass green when it's up in the high 90's, low 100's, wasn't working! That's why we ripped out our grass. And it turned out AMAZING! Today I wanted to share an update on what our yard is looking like two years later. 

Summer Tour of Homes {Organized} 2015

Welcome, if you are new here! 

Today I have the privilege of joining a whole lot of amazing bloggers for home tours of all our homes - and you may have just come from seeing Donna of Funky Junk Interiors, who has such an amazing way of making rust look beautiful, and a big thank you to Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage for hosting this awesome summer home tour.

I'd like to say that I feel that I have really created a home that is truly my style, after living in this home for nine years. I hope you enjoy my colorful,  slightly "modern with a vintage twist" decor. I'm not afraid of colors or patterns. Our home was built in 1947 and I love the character, the built-ins, the closets, and all the vintage that comes from having a home from that era. Hopefully you'll also gain some ideas for an organized home too!

I want to start with the front of my home and welcome you to our beautiful, Southern California yard - all native plants, drought tolerant {we're really into green living here, if you are new here}. 

Our {Americana Themed} Outdoor Patio Decorating Updates

Spring is here and undoubtedly you are either already outside as much as possible or you're getting ready to be! We are definitely enjoying the spring weather and our outdoor patio is officially spruced up! I'm so excited and can't wait to show you my decorating updates!

Disguising a Big, Ugly Object in Our Yard - the RV Journey

While I'm thrilled we bought a "new to us" RV motorhome a couple of months ago, it's easy to get tired of looking at this ginormous beast that's sitting in our backyard and realize that it's just ugly! I'm planning lots of DIY on the INSIDE of the motorhome, but first I wanted to do a bit of camouflaging of the beast on the outside. What do I mean?

My Best DIY Projects Ever!

I LOVE to do DIY projects. I LOVE spray paint. I LOVE to decorate and transform spaces in my home, especially. Do you? I was looking back through all my projects I've done over the last 4 1/2 years and I know that you might enjoy seeing what I've done. Perhaps you've never even seen them since you're newer to Organizing Made Fun. But, I'm a spray painting queen! Ha! I love that stuff. And, I like changing things up - I love color and patterns!

Homeowner Woes!

Well, as much as I absolutely LOVE living in an older home, it DOES come with some problems from time to time. We got to experience that recently. I thought I'd share this with you as we are getting ready to make some changes and I hope to blog more about the DIY and updates on that, too. 

We are hoping to purchase  a used RV this year. In anticipation of this, we are putting in an RV "parking area" in our backyard. We have the perfect spot - the kids play area. Now that the kids are older, they aren't using that anymore. So, we decided that this would make a great place to park our future RV. 

Colorful Home Updates

If you recall, I shared with you our native, drought tolerant front yard landscape six months ago. It was a bit sparse - since it was newly planted. Our drought here in Southern California has only gotten worse, so it has already proven to be a smart decision for us to "go native" and we've seen a ton of growth in our front yard in the last six months! I've also added more color to the front yard and other places around our house I'd like to share with you...

Two Social Outlets!

If there were a couple of social places you may want to catch me, it's on Hometalk and Facebook! Yes, Pinterest too, but I can actually interact with more of you on Hometalk and Facebook than on Pinterest. I wanted to share with you why...why go on Hometalk? Well, I like finding all kinds of ideas for my home and then asking the people who did those projects questions about their projects! Yes, real people. Or if I have a home question, I can go on there and ask it and have others help me out, too! 

Getting the Front Yard Planted!

Last week I shared with you the big reveal of our native, drought tolerant front yard and landscape. I worked closely with our landscaper and had many requests for what I wanted from our yard. I'm going to share some of the costs for hiring a landscaper, so that you can see realistically what to expect. Now, let me be honest, I started out this project when I heard our city was offering a $1 per square foot rebate to take out our lawn, but we ran into some problems...

Amazing Front yard Make-Over!

It.Is.Done!!!! Yay, my front yard make-over is done! I can't believe it and it's so amazing to think that my yard went from this {where I left you last time}....

Our Outdoor Fireplace Ready for Entertaining!

Growing up in Northern California, I remember many nights eating outside on the deck that my dad built, especially in spring and summer. It was one of my favorite things to do - to eat outside. There is something so special about being outside in the evening, just enjoying family. I've now lived in Southern California since I went to college and then married my college sweetheart, who grew up here, for almost 25 years. When we bought this particular house in 2006, it was special to us right from the start. My husband envisioned a deck right outside...

Dirt turns into...

It's been a bit since I shared the progress on our front yard - which we are planning to make drought resistant and native. Here in Southern California, we are currently experiencing drought-like conditions already this year. We have had very little rain and likely will not get much this next year. So, for us, watering our front lawn to keep it green has been expensive and not worth it, in my opinion.  

Weekend Project - Outdoor Lighting!

 My next project for is a weekend project and I knew JUST what we needed around here as we look to get some things into shape.

Our Front Yard - Going Native!

So, our front yard....it's looking rather bad right now. Really bad. It's ALL dirt. 

House Tour - Professional style

I was recently approached by a local real estate agent - not to sell my house - but to take pictures of my house for his brochure/pamphlet. The bonus? He hired a professional photographer to come to my house and take pictures and I get to have all the copies! So, I thought I'd share them with you. A mini-tour of my home!

Hanging out with succulents!

I have long been a lover of succulents, especially when my hubby finished building our deck a few years ago. The reason? They are SUPER easy to manage. Talk about low maintenance -- I water them once a week {twice a week in the summer}. 

Outdoor cart for entertaining!

Again, I'm teaming up with Office Depot to bring you another fun way to use their products in a unique way...and you KNOW I love to do this!

Check out my patio LIVE with Hometalk

Next Tuesday, June 11th at 3:30 PM {EST}, our outdoor deck, kitchen, and patio cover are going to be featured - but not just featured like you see a picture. This is going to be a LIVE webinar.