Last summer, I organized the repainting of our director’s office. The big, yawning space was dingy and crowded with piles of paper and previously important things, but I was convinced that it was recoverable. Our building is an old, once beautiful house and over the years, many of the rooms have been painted improbable (and sometimes disorienting) hues like butterfly yellow or an ashen lavender. It is a hodgepodge that you see at first, but like most details, begin to tune out over time. My boss was hungry for some kind of a fresh start and so, we volunteered to make the change as painless as possible for her. After picking a warm, rich maize, we spent a day taping and putting down a tinted primer. A second day was all we needed to get a few coats on and everything cleaned up. The room looks completely different and I think it really did feel a little bit like the fresh start she’d been hoping for when we’d first considered the idea. As a thank you for getting the ball rolling, she gave me a wonderful gift. Twenty-five dollars to spend at one of my favorite stores in town, Home Ec.. It took me an unbelievable nine months to spend it, but I found this absolutely gorgeous yarn and fell in love. Thank you’s can only be spent on things you cannot live without. The color and softness of the kettle dyed merino yarn from Malabrigo Yarn is bright and comforting and its potential for beauty, endless. Maybe it will be a little bit of my own fresh start.

Laure Joliet over at Apartment Therapy is experimenting with small succulent terrariums and is kind enough to share what’s been done so far.  I’ve seen the recent death of three of my most beautiful jade plants and am looking for a way to replace them without replicating the loss.  The glass could provide some protection from the intensity of the air and humidity that come with Iowa summers and basement apartments.  Now I just need to go container hunting…

While I work on that, check out the experiment at apartmenttherapy.com