Closet Switchover

 Now that it is the beginning of April I really feel that it is spring, even if the weather completely disagrees with me.

After looking at the winter clothes in my closet for nearly six months I am well and truly ready for a break.  I started daydreaming about switching my closet over (from fall/winter to spring/summer) last week and I knew that I would obsess over it until I actually took a couple of hours to do it.

I really love doing this, it's not a household chore (my gosh I have plenty of those these days) it's something I do for myself, and it cheers me up immensely.

I store my off-season clothes in a large closet in Ole Rascal's bedroom.  I had the off-season closet fitted by California Closets when we did our big renovation in 2015, so it's perfectly suited to hang and display, key for someone like me who is "out of sight, out of mind".

The off-season closet is a post for another day, while I've filled it with the majority of my fall/winter items it's not quite there yet... because winter isn't over.  I thought it would be fun to have a look at it once I shut the door on it until the autumn, and go through my methods for clothing care and editing I use at switchover time.  (Of course I realize, this isn't everyone's idea of fun.)

One of the reasons I like switching over to spring/summer before it even really begins is so that I can get a real grasp of what I already own and what I might need/ don't need.  I realize I vowed to not buy new items this year but as you know that's not going very well.  I edited out so many of my summer dresses last fall that I'm going to have to replace a couple of them... and April would be the time to do this.

Blue shoes, patent and patterns.

 I edited my spring and summer clothes again a couple of weeks ago, and split the items between Middle Rascal and two friends.  The editing process is always a lot more fun when I can share items this way.

Once again however, and I forget that this happens every spring, I'm surprised by how many spring and summer things I actually own: clearly these are my favourite seasons.  It's kind of sad really because they are so short!

Not only are they short seasons, they are also mad seasons.  They sort of go like this:

Early Spring (actually spring but still winter, this is where we are now)
Spring (might only last two days)
Summer (boiling hot, upper 90's with high humidity, air-conditioning vital)
Late Summer-Early Fall (might technically be autumn but still boiling hot)
Autumn (probably lasts two days)
Winter (goes on for six months with temperatures of -30 not unusual)

Ferragamo patent shoes and shiny bag.
These are my most-worn shoes.

 I like to group my shoes and bags in sections in my closet, like goes with like.

Fantasizing about summer: straw hat, slides and espadrilles.

Straw bags.

As you can see I am a fan of Saint James stripey shirts.

 My gosh, it looks like so much stuff.  For some reason I have loads of tops and very few bottoms.  I have completely given up on wearing jeans and in fact only own one pair of pants for spring and summer.

That rather bulky striped thing is a long dress from Mark D Sikes.
I wear it with a Brora cropped cardigan in navy.

 I have a special section dedicated to Late Summer.  This is for late August-September-October, when I feel like wearing fall clothes and colours but the temperature is still raging around 80 to 90 with high humidity.

Late summer colours.

 Due to the fact that it is still winter, despite what I might wish, I do have quite a few winter items lingering around, this is why the closet looks so stuffed in the central section:

A mash of summer, spring and winter jackets, skirts and dresses.

Once we actually reach spring I'll trot the last of the winter items upstairs to my storage closet, and really put away the cold-weather clothes.

Do you live in a climate with six or seven mad seasons?  Do you enjoy the closet switchover, or do you keep all of your items in one area?
xoxDani

From Snow to Sun: A Holiday Colour Story

I have a new post up on Frock Philosophy today, for those of you who enjoy a fresh new colour story please click HERE.

Have a wonderful weekend,
xoxDani

Summer Projects

Closet Organizing: my favourite summer project.

We've been busy goofing off this last weekend and hope to continue that trend, which might make posting a bit sporadic.  I do have a new post up on Frock Philosophy which you might enjoy if, like me, you find it fun to read about closet organizing and wardrobe management.


I hope to be back next week with some other summer projects that pertain more to household organization... in the meantime be as good as you can be while still optimizing the fun.
xoxDani

Mop Philosophy Monday

 I keep pencils in the kitchen, how about you?  Someone is always asking me for a pen or pencil, so to avoid the irritation of searching through drawers I just keep 8 or 10 pencils visible at all times.

Speaking of kitchen supplies, I've been going through cleaning aids like no-one's business, the kitchen is the room in the house that needs endless attention.

 I love to see everything shining and gleaming but of course within a few short hours (or minutes depending on Rascal Snack Habits), it's all a mess again.

 Never mind, let's breathe in the beauty of perfectly folded pink washcloths:

The perfect beauty of five folded pink washcloths.

 As our talented friend Heidi explained last week groups of three or five in decorating and homekeeping are particularly pleasing because these groupings are often found in nature, in petals or leaves for example.
I kept this in mind last week while finishing the decorating of my laundry room:

Folded towels and a blanket, ready to be carried upstairs.

 Three plates in a blue and white theme on the beadboard wall, hung up above the pine chest where I store extra linens and towels... it's a small detail that was very easy to implement yet so pleasing to see as one approaches the laundry room.

 I found two of these plates at the thrift store, there are so many pretty abandoned plates out there in the world that need rescuing.  I had to stop myself from buying more than two.

Another detail that I'm finding especially pleasing lately, yet so useful as well?

I attached tassels to those little keys that lock up various pieces of furniture and are so easily lost.  I can't imagine why I didn't think of this before, I've lost track of some important keys in my time.

Now that it's summertime I've been thinking about all of those years that we sent Ole Rascal up north to his camp in Algonquin Park, the packing up, the anxiety, the letters back and forth...

Red Detail in decorating: the Happy Canoe in the study.

 ...well he wasn't much for writing letters come to think of it, but he did construct this little canoe one summer as a birthday present for MrBP (it says BDAY on the opposite side).  He was always away for his Dad's birthday so he would make a special gift in the craft cabin.  We treasure the Happy Canoe, an important red detail in the decoration of the study.

Speaking of red details how about the window arrangement at the Sun Inn in Kirkby Lonsdale?

The Sun Inn, Kirkby Lonsdale.
Our favourite pub and restaurant in old Kirkby Lonsdale.
Such a Red Detail!

Red Details in the Mop Philosophy Kitchen, some perfect red tomatoes warming on the windowsill.

 Cooking with tomatoes lately?  Me too, as per usual.  I'm also adding them to salads.  I guess I have red details on my mind because this was the topic of my recent Frock Philosophy blog post:

Red Details on Frock Philosophy 

 I'll be wearing some red details this week for Canada Day, and adding in blue to that colour combo for the 4th of July.
Speaking of which, I'm so excited because I'm having a Fourth of July party!  Are you?  Whatcha cooking?  I'm thinking steaks on the Bar-Bee, let me know what you're planning.
Have a great week whatever you're up to,
xoxDani

Mop Philosophy Monday

 Have you ever noticed that groupings of three or five are somehow so cohesive and pleasing to the eye?
There is a design lesson in there somewhere that I am not qualified to give.  In the meantime, this is the way I like to group together three Emma Bridgewater vessels for the simple roses from our garden.

I like the way the three together look from a distance: the blue, the white and the vivid pinks.

The beautiful binding on this book eerily echoes the design on the EB vessels.
Have you read The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits?  I loved it.

 As far as recent trickery goes, you'll be very pleased to know that I hid MrBP's Father's Day gift from him in plain sight.

A wrapped book hidden in plain sight, hehehe.

 All this past week the wrapped book lay quite peacefully on the fireplace mantel, undetected.
The book inside?  Well, have you read anything about The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks?  It sounds excellent, fingers crossed our MrBP likes it.

 Just to cover all the bases I did procure a bottle of MrBP's favourite scotch whiskey:

Bowmore

 Oil pastels are notoriously difficult to work with but look at the magic created by Middle Rascal Daughter:

 Though she's knee-deep into her Classics degree I really admire the way she's kept up with her artistic hobbies.  Art as a practice is such a lovely outlet for creativity and emotion, don't you think?

As far as news from the Mop Philosophy Kitchen, I'm happy to report that I successfully wrestled with 18 pounds of asparagus these last weeks.  Have I mentioned that we have a friend who is a litigator by day and a gentleman farmer on the weekends?  He does grow the best asparagus you ever could taste:

Mostly I roasted it.

 We ate a LOT of roasted asparagus and then I lost my mind and decided to bake up some asparagus breadsticks:

Sounds weird but they turned out quite well.
It was simple pizza dough with asparagus pressed in, salted and baked.

 I served them with a red lentil dahl:

 In sartorial news I've been wearing denim, chambray and blue, blue, blue.  You can check it all out on the Frock Philosophy blog.

Eileen Fisher denim chambray dress.
Running out the door to get into some mischief.

Thank you for sticking with me here on the blog you Darling Tooties.
Hope your Monday is happy and your whole week too,
xoxDani