Monday, August 15, 2011

A Place to Call Home (I know this is not really an edible post, but you can eat the Nasturtiums)

I have been talking with many of you about my recent move from San Jose to Half Moon Bay and I thought I should share our new place with all of you lovely people. Although San Jose is nice and SUNNY and wonderful in many ways, most importantly the awesome people who live there, I am really enjoying living on the coast as  well. It is really comforting to be back in a place with trees and dirt and creeks and all of those good earthy things. I have started to really enjoy gardening and have quickly filled up our little patio with potted plants of this and that. We live in a little studio apartment/ in-law unit/ cottage above Jesse's parents' garage. It is rather small, but it is fun because it kind of feels like we live in a fort, you know? where you arrange the couch cushions and pillows on the floor so one "room" is the kitchen and one is the bedroom? It's kind of like that. Well, I guess I'll let you see for yourself. 

This little kitty in the picture above is Oliver. He showed up at their house around the same time we moved in and so we've bonded. He acts like a dog and has a huge ego.
Here is a view of our little place seen from the front of the garage. See the little window flower box? I was so excited about that! Kind of a pain to water though. Then around to the back to the stairs leading up to our door and our little patio.










That's Wally checking out what's going on. I had a lot of fun with the flowers on the steps.



Jesse's old work boots re-purposed as fantasticly funky flower pots. Also a tea pot, shells, a dog shaped basket, and an old purse with a busted strap.








     
       These are my new seedlings (below), courtesy of Erin, I'm pretty sure these are going to grow into radishes but only time will tell. There is another tub around here somewhere with smaller seedlings that are just popping up that will turn into mint, or basil, or mustard greens, or strawberries ( I couldn't remember which seeds where which).













Here are the wonderful Nasturtiums, they grow like weeds, are gorgeous to look at, and taste great on salad. Yes they are growing in a very tiny falling apart barbecue. I just couldn't let it get trashed, I liked the burnt red  paint too much. I'm hoping the vines will keep snaking up the grill until it is a enormous monster nasturtium plant! I'm trying to tempt it.















































I'm in love with this wood crate. It is a dairy delivery crate from 1947. Since I do not really have a need to deliver dairy, I decided to fill it with snapdragons, succulents, nasturtiums, and strawberries. 
Look at these curious cuties! Stella, Wally, and Oliver, a wonderful welcome home party.


Here's a view of the studio from up on the hill, and now we are going to go inside.
Let's just call it an "open floor plan".






So here is the "bedroom". This quilt was made by my Nana with love. On the right is an old painting of mine. It is smaller than most of my pieces and was able to fit in this little wedge of wall. Check out that ceiling, never thought I'd hit my head on the ceiling reading in bed. The height of this "wall" measures about three feet, thank god we are short.


This is looking out towards the driveway. I decided to make curtains for all of the windows, I figured be pretty straight forward for a girl that doesn't sew. It was kind of fun actually. 
Oh and the spider plant on the right was a gift from the lovely Mary at by BFA show.

Although the studio is compact, the kitchen is actually very spacious. 


















The curtains in the kitchen have little owls on them. Jesse made the little magnetic bottle cap board. And the photo in the frame is by the talented Tim Walker www.timwalkermedia.com
Oliver investigating.














One upside to having an Easy-Bake-Oven sized oven, it heats up really fast!
Between the kitchen and the bathroom is our multipurpose bookshelf / tea and dish shelf and a home for all of my monster art books.


















In front of the bookshelf is the dining area and back in the wedge of the wall and ceiling is my little desk area and another bookshelf. Then in front of my desk is our little living room.













Just off the living room is our bathroom. More homemade curtains. Not much else to say, it's a bathroom.



On the other end of the living room is Jesse's  desk area. Jesse made the little popsicle house that you can see on the right when he was in second grade.  And Wally is patiently waiting to go back outside.

So now you've seen our little home, so friends, give me a call and come visit us!

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful work on the home front Kelsey! I can't wait to come visit! Your kitty looks identical to mine.

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  2. LOVE it! You are so lucky to have such a great place to live! Miss You!

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