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Friendship Bracelet

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Do you remember spending hours making friendship bracelets?  I sure do.  My friend Heather suggested we give this as a birthday gift.  We have a few more to make and give, but I’ll show the one we made along with the directions we copied from Design Mom.  India is very excited to make these herself.  We just need more floss, since we gave it all away!

I would suggest not gluing the paper under the clip of the board.  It was tough letting it dry without getting glued down.  Heather sewed a simple pouch to hold the floss, scissors and instruction paper, which India and I made together.

As stated before, the instructions were taken from Design Mom, but we didn’t include the last few steps… We were in a hurry and finishing this up minutes before the party.  There may have been yelling heard from the street.  “Hold the thread like THIS, I can’t see it well enough!”  Not one of my best moments.  Apologies were made to the poor girl.

Someone Else’s Beautiful House

These are the after shots of my neighbors’ home. They added about 900 sq ft to their AA home and I think Chris Craver at C2 Architect did a wonderful job with the design. Lesley and Tim know what a cool house Ed Hawkins designed and built, they just needed a little extra space. Sometimes 900 sq ft just isn’t enough room for a modern family.
You know when you head downstairs in some 70’s ranch and find yourself in a wood paneled world of hell? Yes, we’ve all been there. When you see wood paneling done right it is so amazing. It sings. Makes me want to add reams and reams of wood paneling in our house. Ahhhh.

This is the original front room. You can see the stairwell on the right. This used to have waist high rod iron railing separating the living and family room. Now the family room is an extra bedroom. They also used this stairwell as a model for their’s.


The living room opens to the kitchen, as it always did. Minus the bar, which would have been smacking into my lens from this angle. Now the kitchen opens to the new family and dining room. The entire west wall of this room opens, thanks to a giant Nana Wall, to an expansive patio (still under construction, come on L and T keep lifting those pavers!) and kitchen garden. You can see Lesley and Tim at work here on their blog. There are probably a few before shots somewhere on there too.


Nana Wall.


Family and dining room looking in from the patio.


Kitchen with it’s green slider cupboards and the boy who lives here.

School/Community Garden Update

The garden will hopefully be completed in time for the kids to return to school in August. I am so excited this is finally going to happen! Thank you Arapahoe Acres homeowners and tourists the past two years and Englewood’s Parks and Recreation Department for securing a grant to pay for this project. So cool how things fall into place!

Help with Color

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Did I ever tell you I have some very talented neighbors? One is a painter who was the only American asked to paint on the Berlin Wall back in 1990. I have several neighbors who are architects and landscape architects along with the mom who will tackle any crazy project… even resurfacing the leather on an old chair. Who does that? One of my neighbors.
Last week I worked along side my neighbor Cecilia Tanoni as I photographed a home where she worked her magic. She chose paint colors, paintings (by Mary Mackey) and floor tiles for each of these rooms. She also sourced those cute owl decals for the nursery.
It amazes me the paint colors and finishes available out there. I get totally thrown just looking at a paint deck. Too many choices! Knowing there is probably something cooler or better quality (cause the faucet I just spent $300 on is already loosing its finish) out there. Not knowing what is best really makes it difficult to get a home project going. I can’t wait to have Cecilia help sort through it all for us and guide us as we make some very necessary upgrades to our home.