Terrarium Overload

On a weekend trip to Portland, my friend brought me to what probably only could exist in Portlandia...a terrarium emporium!

Okay, it wasn't called that, but it was basically a store made up entirely of terrariums (terraria?) and their components. I didn't wanna be hauling any sand or glass vases onto the plane back home to LA, but it was enough to inspire me to use up some of the empty glass vases we have at home, as well as the succulents that are growing freely in our front yard. Yes, terrariums are played out, and yes they are to me on the same level of http://fuckyournoguchicoffeetable.tumblr.com/. But oh well, I like 'em (just like I like my Noguchi).

First, I gathered the materials and set up shop in my garden...

Bags of sand and white rock, glass containers, different succulents from the yard and my favorite gardening store Rolling Greens, plus some reindeer moss to top it off. I chose this guy from the store...

And this juicy looking fella was from my yard ...

My first try was with this long glass vase that the previous tenant had left behind. A layer of white rock on the bottom for drainage, some dirt for the succulents to take root, and a top layer of sand. I didn't have charcoal, which normally you would use to soak up some of the moisture. But I'm hoping the drainage rocks at the bottom and LA's dry weather will work.

After some meticulous work with chopsticks, I got those suckers into the sand. Alex said that if was a scene in a movie and they had my character using chopsticks to plant the terrarium, he'd be like, "Oh, come on!" But it was true.

Here's another bigger one I messed with. It's a little messy, but I still like it.

The shell is from the beach in Anguilla, where we went on our honeymoon.
And lastly, I made a gift for our friends Lynn and Abe, who had us over for vegan enchiladas and a night of Electric Dreams and video watching. I've had Taylor Swift sans goat stuck in my head ever since.

mmmmm...enchiladas!

My little terrarium even got a mention on Lynn's food blog! I'm so proud of that guy. One day they're in the nursery and the next they're all grown up and being featured on blogs. Ba dum bump! Jokes!

And just to spread the horror cheer...

Other People's Houses

On my solo morning walk today, I snapped some pics of Reasons Why LA Is Prettier Than Strip Malls. These little tidbits from our Hancock Park neighbors' homes and nests make me totally envious happy. Luckily, nobody called ADT on me, the creep stalking about with my iPhone camera.

Why have fences when you can have a wall of climbing roses?

God, could this beautiful house be any more English Tudor gorgeous? Just a minute, let Carson fetch my finest barfing urn so I can throw up how much envy I have. 

I mean, seriously? Are garden gnomes doing their bidding? Look at those luscious flowers!

Succulent succulents

I remember buying birds of paradise from the bodega in NYC for like $10 a stem. Here they are, in their natural environment, growing by the dozens.

I just want to take off my shoes and sink my toes into this lush grass! It's very Alice in Wonderland.

One day, I would like the option to plant an entire front yard of succulents.

Forget Trader Joe's, I'm getting all my rosemary from this yard from now on!

I love the varying shades of pink here. Much like how I used to match red with pink in 7th grade.

DIY Repurposed Bottle Vase

Sometimes I just have too much time on my hands. Last weekend I was spray painting some frames, so I thought I'd play with an empty Calvados liquor bottle I had lying around from an Apple party (Apple TV +Apple liquor + Apples to Apples = NONTSTOP FUN) a few weeks back.

The original bottle looked something like this:

I washed out the bottle and removed the label, then spray painted it all white. After it dried, I covered half with painters tape, and sprayed the bottom half gold:

Let that dry, then removed the tape. Ta da!

A single flower vase repurposed from an old liquor bottle!

My inspiration was this Nate Berkus for Target bowl:

Less gloss, but free and a fun random project. And now I have a skinny vase, to match my cocaine and speed salt and pepper shakers.

DIY Framed Vintage Wallpaper

I've been obsessed with wallpaper ever since I used it for the backdrop of a short film that I wrote and produced, Mouthbreather. It was central to the film's set design and helped me build an appropriate setting for the character of a reclusive cat lady (i.e., me).

Actually wallpapering an entire room is too much of a commitment for me since we rent our duplex and don't plan on being here forever. But that's why framed wallpaper is perfect for those of us who have  commitment design issues. 

I've been fantasizing about framed wallpaper since I first saw these two images in the now defunct Domino magazine, years ago: 

Oh, the florals and birds against the dark background! The chinoiserie of it all! These images make me feel like I'm an old dame living in some French country villa where my pet pugs sit on chairs and I spend my time serving tea, eating macarons, and playing croquette in the garden.

Inspired, I bought a roll of vintage Thibaut wallpaper off of eBay from this awesome source about half a year ago for $35. It then proceeded to sit in a box in the corner of our entryway for, oh, another half a year. Yeah, I'm an expert at procrastination.

Mainly, I had all these questions: How much would it cost to frame it? Where could I go? Would I have to mount the wallpaper myself? Should I use wallpaper glue or double-sided tape? And most importantly, what's the difference between Greek yogurt and Icelandic yogurt?!?!

A quick Internet search showed me that taking my wallpaper to a framer's would cost several hundred dollars each, especially if I wanted to do large panels. So I decided to DIY it by ordering build-your-own frames online from American Frame. (The frames then sat in the corner for another two months. The instructions looked crazy daunting even though I have a PhD in Ikea.) 

But this weekend I decided ¡Ya basta! (I also made fish tacos.) First I laid out the wallpaper against the mat board...

....and trimmed it down to size with my trusty blade:

The Chinese in me says waste not, want not. Wallpaper scraps can go to covering frames and creating smaller pieces to frame and give away as gifts.

Then, out to the garden to glue the wallpaper to the mat board with some spray adhesive.

While waiting for the glue to dry, I built the frames, which I didn't photo document since I was sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by about 8,000 metal pieces, swearing like a sailor. WTF are you supposed to do with all these metal THINGAMABOBS YO-

Ahhh...fasteners and springs and bolts and whatnot.

Slide the dried wallpaper-mounted board in and ta-da! No need for glass or backing as I wanted the original texture of the wallpaper to be right there. I'd cut two different sections of the wallpaper so that I'd have two varying patterns (even though the bird repeated about every 38" or so). Here's the final product:

By the way, I'm a full-on convert of American Frame now. It's much cheaper than getting your art framed at a framer, and once you figure out how to do it one time, it's easy as pie. The only thing they didn't include for some odd reason was the hanging wire. A trip to the hardware store, a few sailor swears and about ten new nail holes in the wall later, these suckas were hanging over our bed.

The small size of our bedroom makes it hard to take photos, but I did the best I could. A serendipitous discovery: the dark navy of the wallpaper background matches my refinished dresser, and the grey peacocks match our sheets.

I swear these cats posed here on their own volition.

Some bedside table details...

Anemones from the farmer's market, and tinted blue mason jar leftover from the wedding.

Cats at the Winter Garden Theater

As a New Yorker, I'm used to seeing brick walls and alleyways when I look out my window. So it's still constantly amazing to me that now that I live in Los Angeles, I can walk outside and be in my own private garden.

Last month marked a year since we moved here and I took over the garden (and a year since I started this blog) so I'm still in the process of figuring out when things happen and whether I am truly a plant murderer. I was halfway scared that I basically killed everything in the garden during my tenure here. But now it looks like I may be wrong. Now that the night chill isn't as biting cold, small signs of life are emerging in our garden. It's a theater of color. I missed capturing the pomegranate bushes in bloom, but here are some snapshots of Signs of (Un)Intelligent Life.

My two Meyer lemons, not quite ripe

Giant geranium bush with pretty leaves

A flowering shrub with little purple flowers.

Hells yeah, the irises came back!

From the thingy under the plum blossom tree

My favorite succulent

Cats, tickets now on sale at the Winter Garden Theater

Living Inspiration: The Getty Villa

When visitors come to town, I tend to look at Los Angeles from a tourist's perspective. What in this city is actually worth sitting in traffic for, or spending half a day at? Pink's Hot Dogs? Nope. The Hollywood sign? From afar. The Venice canals? Maybe.

When the husbo's parents came to town a few weeks ago, we ended up spending an impromptu day at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. I'd been to the Center, but the Villa is one of those things that you hear about and never really make it to until parents are in town...you have to make advance reservations and buy tickets ahead of time. But I was very glad we ended up going, as it made for some nice design inspiration and a great way to spend an afternoon.

Built atop a hill in the Pacific Palisades in the style of a Roman villa, the Getty Villa actually reminded me of my college semester spent abroad in Rome, Italy. Oh, if only our garden looked like this:

The main things that I remember about Rome are stuffing my face with penne all' arrabbiata and drinking red wine with my new Italian friends at Il Fox, our favorite pub in Trastevere. The alcohol eradicated any self-doubt about my language skills and allowed me to speak Italian freely and without worrying about sounding like an idiot. La vita e' bella!

Occasionally, though, occasionally, vague memories of studying ancient Roman art and architecture will trickle through all the food and drink memories. Oh yeah, Il Foro. Ohhhhh yeah, Caravaggio! He was that guy who painted, like, dark shit. Right?

The Getty Villa included a fantastic outdoor herb garden, one that I would love to have in our backyard. Unfortunately, Crazy Backyard Squirrel would put an end to that quick.

I loved how the Villa designers used color, too. Look at the contrast between the aqua tiles in the pool and the bright yellow spring daffodils.

Apparently, ancient Greek and Roman statues were actually fully painted back in the day. We're just so used to seeing them after the paint has worn off, with the pupils gone. But this just looks creepy, doesn't it?

I see you, Jake Scully.

Ahhhh... what I would give to spend a year living in Rome again.

Can you imagine if this was your home, like the Roman emperors used to do it? Imagine the bad-ass house parties you could have. I'd Gatsby that up in a second.