Author: ModFruGal

Parliament Funkadelic

There Was One
There Was One

I almost named this post Hitchcockian Hootenanny, until my fellow wildlife lovin’ girlfriend pointed out that a group of owls is indeed….yup…a parliament.  I’ll ask George Clinton and Bootsy Collins for forgiveness another time.

I’ve become that crazy wildlife chick and I can’t apologize enough.  My small readership has just evaporated I’m sure, but I can’t help myself.  After 10 months of mystery and wonder, the elusive owls have decided it’s time to teach the kids how to hunt….10 feet from my window.

The flurry of hushed excitement in the house is accompanied by my incessant snapping of photos, and the bold, yet stealthy, step outside to try and get a bit closer.  The owls start to gather and fly toward me rather than fleeing….at which point, my crafty counterpart decides that, maybe, I might want to step back inside.  Please let me be smarter than Tippi Hedren… (although I did dress as her a couple of Halloweens…hmmm..)

Then Two....
Then Two....
Then Three....Better Step Away
Then Three....Better Step Away

BTW, my new stalkers are barred owls aka hoot owls..however,  I am NOT politely asked “who cooks for you”, but am offered menacing screeches I discern as “give me a chipmunk or I’ll claw your eyes out!”

Noted….moving back inside to talk about cheap stuff again.

Wired For The 50’s

For those who are drooling over Patricia Urquiola’s 50’s flashback Re-Trouve series…there is a glimmer of hope for your pocket book if you act quickly….Anthropologie’s own version , the Scoubi, is on sale for $150.   Matching tables available in both styles.   $150 v. $750…not too shabby.

Fawn Love

My new found fixation on the deer outside has me slowly bringing them indoors…the obvious example being the dining room…where I have also chosen to put the new vintage fawn collection….because I don’t have a problem with hoarding MCM ceramics already…sigh.

MCM Fawn Love
MCM Fawn Love

My fawn love might be making me a bit loopy in the eyes of our siding crew….

The workmen bring the compressor around to the back of the house and I see the 2 fawns running wildly in circles from their little spot up the hill…I run out and….stand there foolishly gazing up the hill with angst. What do I think I can do or say…REALLY?  Tell them to stop…HELL NO! I’ve put up with this mess for over a month now…let’s get it done already.   I did, however, encourage them to avoid going up the hill for any reason so I felt like I had done SOMETHING to protect them.  The fawns will survive even if our guys scare the living daylights out of the poor things…

Bullish

Because I’m biased and I think most everything Jonathan Adler does is fab…. (BTW-WHY did they cut out his  “See you later Decorator!”  send-off in season 2 of Top Design?!  It was so perfectly campy/bitchy…I longed for it.) I digress…

As groovy as his bull bookends are, the smooth simplicity of the new bull place card holder is a nice diversion..plus it makes me laugh.  Not only because his website features the series of animal card holders with names of Brangelina’s spawn, but it also reminds me of one of my favorite childhood books…The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.  I envision a table of Ferdinands refusing to fight the matador in Madrid while they smell the flowers of your centerpiece.  Yeah, I know…what’s she smokin’?  No matter… it’s still cool.

$28 @ Jonathan Adler
$28 @ Jonathan Adler

Lipstick in the Bath

The post title is such since it’s not a real *renovation*, but just a coat of lipstick to make it look better until we can really tackle this..which may be a few years.  We’d love to recreate what we did in our last bath renovation, but it will have to wait.  I guess lipstick is just a bare bones budget renovation?

Thanks to those who voted for the new potty…my cheap, impatient side won and we went with the Jacuzzi Espree…so far we love it.

Since we already had to replace the potty and we had a few sets of house guests coming this summer, we decided to try and spiffy up the second floor bathroom.  We really didn’t spend that much since we DIYed it and didn’t do any major overhaul.  In addition to replacing the potty, we replaced the door hardware, cabinet hardware, the sink fixtures and a new shower head.  Swipe on a new coat of paint and add some floating shelves from Lowe’s and we’re done.  All told about $500.

The sinks, vanity, countertop, etc.. aren’t our taste, but are inoffensive enough to buy us some time. Although limited by the lack of modern brushed nickel widespread options in my time frame (They’re OK..they’ll do for now) it’s still amazing what new hardware can do.  I actually like the groovy white 70’s tile on the floor in here, and by luck, the tub/shower surround is in great shape even if it is a thin sheet of acrylic….all in good time.