Designing with Zinc

Zinc adds a warmth and depth that leaves stainless steel cold. It has been used for centuries in French bistros, cafes, and bars but has recently made a big entrance into home design because of it's durability, beauty and versatility. It is the perfect metal for adding a touch of old world sophistication to a room. Yet, it is equally at home in a sleek, modern design. Hee are a few examples:

Cote de Texas

From Bastille Metal Works--check out their gorgeous work.

Cote de Texas

Brooks Custom

Treillage

Handcrafted Metal

Bistro Dining At Home

A beautiful bistro trio always enhances al fresco dining. (Traditional Home)

These small tables are great for creating an "eat in" kitchen when there is no room for a full size table. (Domino)

Cozy and convenient, a bistro table with unique seating easily becomes the focal point of a kitchen. 

(Style At Home).

This one is Silhouette Cafe Table by Brocade Home and is my absolute top pick. Here are some others I came across during my search.

Furnitureland South  

The Butler and the Chef 

The Butler and the Chef

Crate and Barrel  

West Elm

 

Overstock

Online Amish

Summer Saturday

I should have taken some photos of the work, because we had plenty to do: I was in the garden at 7:00 a.m., working much belated weed patrol. In the meantime, my son rode the mower for an hour. Front and back done!. When Lee returned home from a morning in the office he completed trim duty (a.k.a.weed eater) which literally takes twice as long as mowing for our big yard. After that we installed some old shutters around a back window that overlooks our patio (pictures later when the tacky window AC unit is gone--that will be when son number two returns to college in a few weeks:( Next hubby restrung some clothesline and then made his way to mom's house next door to help with installing a big drive-through gate. Here are a few shots of how the new puppy and my youngest spent the afternoon.

I'm soooo thirsty!

Both our Springers now  prefer flowing water to their water bowl, but until the oldest taught this one, she sputtered and spit more than she drank.

Sugar's favorite way to cool off and relax at the same time. She will stay there for a long time if I'm close by in the garden.

In fact, she NEVER misses a chance to get wet.

Which is why she always looks like this and keeps my deck looking like that! Notice her adopted "Big Momma" characteristically ignoring the "menace" as best she can.( By the way, that window barely showing in the upper left corner now has awesome shutters!!)

Meanwhile---blowing bubbles is always a great way to expend some six-year-old energy!

 

The overgrown mid-summer garden is apparent in the background.

Too big and tough for anything but next year's seed.

It doesn't look important. Uh, can't I have it?

Fading beauty.

What? Am I in trouble? Again?

Figs Are Here!!

I love my fig trees. I have two of them and they look so beautiful in the back corner of our yard. Even before the tiny figs sprout I love to sit on the deck and admire the shape and thickness of the foliage.

You wouldn't think the figs would have caught me by surprise with all that tree watching, but they did. It seemed one day the figs were small and green and then overnight here they are, big and luscious--God's candy I told my kids--and really good for you too!

 

I think I'll make fig muffins for breakfast in the morning. Yum!

New Puppy

It's taken me a few weeks but--finally--here are some shots of our new Sugar Brown.

A few minutes of playing and all tired out.

Sugar loved the corn husks.

Too tired to make it up the steps--and we only have two steps!

New Deck Railing--Quick and Inexpensive!

Our deck has had it! 

I would love something like this:

Overlooking something as amazing as this:

Things That Inspire

I'm loving this look as well:

Things That Inspire

But for now the reality is this:

See. I told you the whole deck needs to go! But, it's not going to happen anytime soon. So I was looking for a very cheap and fast replacement for the recently removed--much too contemporary--railing. Something just to "make do" for only one more (hopefully?) summer, until the entire deck gets an overhaul. Voila!! Introducing what may be a completely new use for an expandable willow trellis.

We picked up five of these sturdy panels for $2.50 each at Home Depot. Our only other investment was the required lengths of pre routed  handrails to serve as upper and lower frames.

Lovely shot of our backyard "workspace" as we prepare to get started with our Sunday afternoon project.

Cutting down the railing pieces to size.

My multi-talented husband designed a "jig" to keep the trellis expanded to the right height while cutting.

The tough willow reeds proved difficult to cut, even with the circular saw. They splintered and the friction with the board underneath created enough heat to burn the willow in places.

While this tiny saw wouldn't make the entire cut, we soon discovered it worked perfectly to finish what we started with the circular saw, with much less splintering.

Here's the semi-finished product. (You can see a sample of the old railing on the still-standing portion to the left.) After I paint the posts to match the gray stain of the deck floor and the willow has a chance to age to the same hue as the swing (you can glimpse through the willow pattern), I think we'll have a passable short-term solution. And all for less than $60!!