Category Archives: Furniture

It may sound weird . . . but I kind of miss our couch. Sniff.

Posted on April 8, 2013 by | 4 Comments

COUCH GO BYE BYE

The couch left us on Saturday, on to a new life in the “mixing lounge”.

LAZY LUMPS

We had this big leather baby for at least seven years — right when we bought the house, we quickly realized the sectional sofa we had in our apartment wasn’t going to fit (the chaise sat on the wrong side and couldn’t be reconfigured).  So we marched on out to Value Village Furniture on Chippewa and found this thing for only $700.  It was fate — that was just the amount we had squeezed out of the sectional during a Craigslist sale and we were b.r.o.k.e. having just bought our first home.

GUARD DOG

We did a lot of living on that sofa and I was a little sad to see it go even though I have a new one (sort of) waiting in the wings.  It was time though.  The monkeys (and JT and I) had worn the seats down a little (it was probably bonded leather) and there is a ring on one of the arms from a too hot coffee mug.

Up next is the Danish Daybeds but . . . I still don’t have the upholstery fabric picked out!  Trouble.

SOPHIE DOUBTS ME

Once the sofa left, the room was looking a little bare and the floors were looking really dirty.  I threw all the small items in the kitchen and herded the dogs into the hallway and decided to try out the Bona floorcare system from Home Depot. (Cameron is hiding in the bedroom because he isn’t as accustomed to large furniture rearranging as Sophie and Shenanigan).

JUMBLED MESSES

I had another wood floor cleaner I was using but the floor never really looked shiny clean.  It turns out what I was probably missing was some wax or polish.

MORE MESS

Here’s another view of the living room/dining room while it was emptied out.  The Bona system worked well but I think I almost need to do a few more coats of the polish to build up and fill in more of the cracks and crevasses in the floor.

I looked through the post I did back in December of 2011 when we got the Danish Daybeds and here was the floor plan I had posted:

E:CT HOUSE3341 JAN 2011 Model (1)

Everything has changed!  Back to the drawing board!!

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Posted in Dogs, Furniture, Living Room

Rearranging is my middle name.

Posted on April 3, 2013 by | 4 Comments

I don’t know if I was born this way or if it something I developed, but I have a real and abiding affection for rearranging our house all the time.  Like last Friday at 9:00 at night.  JT is trying to watch a music documentary and I’m buzzing around the house, looking for something to tinker with.  Sometimes I just can’t stop!

Since Cameron joined the household, we needed a lot of clear floor space in the bedroom for dog lounging (the sleep in there in dog beds on the floor).  Well, I still hadn’t gotten around to putting together that art wall and the large canvas was leaning against the wall . . . . until one night when (we think) Sophie knocked into it and toppled the whole thing over.  Being the neurotic dog that she is, she was TERRIFIED.  That canvas tried to eat her and she had to sleep on top of me that night to make sure it wouldn’t come back for her later.

So I found a place for it in the living room!  Yep, the before I’m about to show you I had labeled as an “after” all of two weeks ago.  Hold on to your seats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

NOW A BEFORE

There already was a substantially hung nail there from before (still hadn’t gotten around to removing/spackling/sanding/painting) and so I thought I would try the big canvas there.

AFTER FOR NOW

I think it’s working.  At least I like it and so does Husband.  Although I need to get another indoor tree since I shuffled this one over here and now the other corner where it was living looks sad.  Fiddle leaf fig for the win this time?

CLOSE UP

The great thing about this arrangement is how great this works as a “landing strip” (Apartment Therapy’s words, not mine) or stuff containment zone.  When we come in the front door (right there to the right), we can put down our work bags, slide our shoes under the tables, drop our keys on Paul.  It’s all working out great.  The modem is also under the tables as well — they had to drill through the wood floor (so horrible, but before the days of wireless stuff and we used to have our TV there back forever ago when we had cable).  It’s hiding in the turned over basket.  The basket is pretty open weave and a lot bigger than the stuff under there so it seems to be “breathing” all right.

DETAILS

Anyone else keep an extra house-worth of furniture in their basement so rooms upstairs can be rearranged at a moment’s notice?  There are some advantages to hoarding!  Cheers – CT

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Living Room

2013: The Year of Wine

Posted on January 2, 2013 by | 4 Comments

So I think we are fast forwarding through the holiday recap.  I mean, they’re done.  Gifts were given and received, food was made and (hopefully) enjoyed and fun was had by all.

JT AND CT

(Here we are at church on Christmas Eve.  Sit up straight girlfriend! See — trying to be in more pictures equals total fail.  But I’m posting it so maybe not a total fail.)

At the end of the day Christmas had me a little worn out.   It’s definitely first world problems — we have three houses to go to and three sets of presents to distribute and open, three meals to eat . . . there are way worse things in the world to have to contend with.  But the thought of spending the holidays poolside on a cruise ship or nestled into a ski lodge with just the husband always pops up in my mind as we hustle and bustle back and forth down the highway from one house to another.

Here's where Shenanigan crashed after Christmas.

Here’s where Shenanigan crashed after Christmas.

So in an effort to relax and unwind a little more and not let the stresses get at me so much, I declared 2013 the Year of Wine.  My family was happy to comply and we were stocked up and ready to go . . . .with no real place to keep all this great fermented grape juice. I also paid a first-time visit to St. Louis Cellars for a few more . . . just in case we ran out.

They happened to be having a bubbly tasting that day (it was December 31st) so had got a bottle of Luxe for our New Year’s Eve AND 8th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

I did navy blue nails for NYE. Blue's my color for sure.

I did navy blue nails for NYE. Blue’s my color for sure.

And yes those are our party favors from 8 years ago.  The loudest party horns known to man (and frightening to animals).  But back to the matter at hand.  Storing all this great wine.

When I started rearranging things all over the house, I had a plan for where I wanted to hang the Ikea Lack floating wall shelves.  Well I “shelved” that plan and focused on this wall instead:

BEFORE

(The wall with art that was an anniversary gift!) Along came a handy template for hanging purposes:

TEMPLATING

And now the Year of Wine can begin.

AFTER

The wine rack was a wedding gift from friends and has been hiding in the basement waiting for a good spot to live in our tiny house.

FINAL CLOSE UP

My plan is to sip a little vino and relax in the evenings.  I guess husband will be drinking the whisky because I haven’t acquired those taste buds yet.  If you have a minute, hop over to “From the Right Bank” and read Ally’s post about living La Belle Vie and enjoying everyday moments.  It’s important to slow down and appreciate what is happening around us.  That’s what I’ll be doing when I sip my wine. Savoring my surroundings and my time with family and friends.  What will you be doing in 2013?  Whatever it is, be sure to sip, savor and enjoy!  Cheers – CT

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture

Music Room Meet Office

Posted on November 30, 2012 by | 4 Comments

Maybe a good holiday gift for the Living Analog household would be those little “moving men” furniture sliders because we have been doing an awful lot of moving furniture around in this house.  It’s all a part of the “waste not, want not” philosophy and it works wonders.  If your house/room/life is needing a jolt, just rearrange!  It really is amazing how moving the furniture around can let you rediscover a room in your house – and usually for free!

So without further adieu, the music room.  It’s looked like this for a while now:

BEFORE 3

Lots of guitar and amp space, lots of seating – two chairs, the storage cabinet/bench, a stool and an ottoman.

BEFORE 1

Bookshelves that are getting out of hand and need to be cleaned/organized/staged/styled/whatever it is that amazing internet bloggers/stylers do to their bookshelves.

BEFORE 2

With a lot of the changes taking place in the bedroom and living room, the laptop was looking for a place to land.  Also, starting next year, JT will have the option to work from home one week a month and so we needed a proper office. Furniture rearranging commence.

Here’s the layout we settled on.  Everything that was in the room stayed except for the Eames rocker which moved to the bedroom.  The table desk I had bought a while back at a hotel liquidation store for $10.  It was originally a nice hotel warm oak color so I had painted it black to go in the last iteration of the office/music room and it held JT’s recorder.  Then it went downstairs and I had painted it white thinking I would use it for my dressing table.  That didn’t happen so it because our new desk!

AFTER VIEW LOOKING AT DESKAFTER WITH DOGS

Already we are using this room so much more (online holiday shopping and the like.)  And with the desk at a right angle to the wall, you can be a part of what is happening in the room while you’re on the computer.

Here’s a view from behind the desk:

AFTER FROM ABOVE

The pictures are making it look small but it feels comfortable in real life.  Don’t get me wrong, this room is about the size of a postage stamp but there is plenty of circulation room and all the cabinet doors and drawers can open just fine.  The five-foot-long storage drawer we were using as a bench also works well as a guitar display surface for guitar stands and casually leaned pictures so while we lost a little seating by not using it as a bench, all the functions of the room are still there.  Most of JT’s guitars are packed up for the winter right now and live in the little closet behind the American flag so we may have to look at our layout again when those come out in the spring.

PHOTOBOMB

And I’ll leave you with this Shenanigan photobomb.  What an idiot.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Guitars

The Furniture Shuffle

Posted on November 27, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Things have started to move around the house.  As if by little ghosts.  Or me dragging and cursing them on a towel.

Here’s a wall in the living room before.

Yeah, those shelves are down too.  The holes are patched and painted. 

And a wall in the bedroom before. (Some great night time photography by yours truly.  Sorry.  Also please remember we have not done one thing to this bedroom.  Yet.)

And look at it now!  The desk from the living room became my dressing table in the bedroom.  I love that little Lucite and white vinyl stool more than life itself.

Still not a whole lot happening but it’s starting to go places.

Speaking of places, here’s another wall in the bedroom:

And then it got the shuffle too.  And paint!  See that little green piece of painter’s tape in the “before” above? We had been living with it for a while to see if it felt right.  And we decided it did. . .

When I saw Emily Henderson (of Secrets from a Stylist on HGTV)’s post about her guest bedroom and a painted picture rail, I knew the idea was a perfect fit for our bedroom.  We’ve been going back and forth about what color to paint in here, the only unpainted (by us) room in the house.  At first we thought of dark, dark walls, the better for sleeping all day and ignoring the world.  Then I got nervous that in a future resale situation light, white walls would be better.  So this is the best of both.  The colors are Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze below (to about 5’7″ AFF) and then Shoji White above.  I still had paint on hand from the last accent wall in the living room (Urbane Bronze) and the second to last accent wall color (Shoji White).  Waste not, want not.   And it’s nice that the bedroom is cohesive with the rest of the house’s color palette.

It’s loverly.  (The big bullet planter was in the bedroom acting as an incense holder — I was trying to get rid of all the paint smells.)

And then, once that wall got looking nice, it went back to disaster.

The cabinet from JT’s dad finally made its appearance in the bedroom!  This is the Annie Sloane chalk paint extravaganza that I’ve been having.  And it’s not over yet.  I’m excited to have the little TV tucked away behind doors along with its stupid bunny ears (see the before picture above.)  We never really watch TV in here but it’s nice to have a secondary TV just in case one of us (me) wants to watch a really girly movie and the other doesn’t (husband).  It also comes in handy when the storm sirens go off at night so we can check and see if we need to go to the basement (during tornado season, joys of living in the Midwest).

So that’s what I got.  One part of one wall painted, three and a half to go.  One part of one cabinet painted and waxed, doors and drawers to go.  At some point – a headboard to be built, accessories to be added and more photographs to be taken.  Hold on tight, this bedroom is going for a ride.

Our great furniture shuffle has also left our dressers homeless.  I love them and have used them in the music room before switching them into the bedroom but they just don’t fit anywhere anymore.  A matched pair of anything is like gold in my world.  If you know anyone who would want to adopt them, they’re on the ‘list right now: http://stlouis.craigslist.org/fuo/3435893278.html

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, In the Bedroom

Only a few more hours of work left . . .

Posted on November 21, 2012 by | 2 Comments

And then a nice four day weekend!  Filled with tofurkey! 

You don’t eat tofurkey?  You’re probably not missing out.  Even though Turkey Day is impending, I seem to have other holidays on the mind . . .

With the help of my trusty sewing machine, some thread (I’ve done both lime green and dark gray),  a 1″ hole punch and some left-over paper I  trimmed off a presentation at work, we have garland.  (There have been a lot of good documentaries on PBS lately — the garland has given me a way to get in a little TV fix while still getting something done.  Husband hasn’t complained about having to watch the TV on loud to compensate for the whir of the sewing machine.  Yet.)  I’m kind of ready to get this non-turkey eating day over with and on to hanging up my miles and miles of garland!

As we race towards the end of 2012, I’ve been trying to get going on the “big change-up” I so carelessly promised my loyal readers (all five! I love you guys!)

So the other night I spent pushing around all the larger furniture items in the house on towels.  Good times.  Right now it’s still craziness so no photos (and it is PITCH BLACK when I get home from work and pretty dark when I leave in the morning too.  Boo.  And not good for photo taking.)

Here’s where things are headed:

The dressers will eventually be making a big exit and making room for some more changes . . . .

What else.  I know you guys like my “furniture funnies”.  I got this email today.

Yeah. What they said. . . . (Don’t you want to meet the person who had to sew a turkey costume for a chair?)

Have a good one guys!

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Posted in Around the house, D.I.Y., Design Diversions, Furniture, Hand Crafted, Miscellaneous Diversions

Hello November.

Posted on November 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Hello internet friends.  Where has the time gone?  It’s November and I’m not sure how we got here!

I mean I guess I realize that time has passed . . .

 

We had fireworks in October!  (To make up for the ones cancelled in July due to excessive heat/dry grass/fire risk).  It’s a lot different when it’s 40 degrees out!

Halloween of course.  Shenanigan was Evil Kneivel and wanted to eat the few trick-or-treaters we did see.

Perhaps that’s because the front porch light is dead.  Hey husband, can we put up the new one this weekend? 

(Found for $10 at St. Vincent de Paul and patiently awaiting its time to shine in the basement of doom.)

A sister visit and a trip to Casa Loma ballroom to see her swing it.

(Picture borrowed from sister’s friend’s Facebook page.  The wonders of the internet.)

There was a family friend’s wedding and subsequent reception at the Randall Gallery downtown. (This is my mom and her boyfriend.  Hi Mom!)

There’s another wedding on the horizon and that requires bridesmaid dresses. So there was bridesmaid dress shopping. 

And those elections!!!  This was the first year husband and I got to go vote together due to some laziness on my part in getting my voter card updated from our first apartment’s address . . .

And every chance I get I sneak down to the basement and slave over my armoire project.  I almost have it all painted (Annie Sloane chalk paint newbie here) and next up is waxing.  This thing has required so many coats and has so many sides that this may be my first and last chalk paint project.  We’ll see.

So that’s a few things that have passed the time.  What about you guys?

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture

Call it serendipity.

Posted on October 29, 2012 by | 6 Comments

For some reason I kept finding these chairs in our alley (two pairs at two very different times.  Like months apart.)

For some reason they didn’t sell at the Green Shag sale . . .

I’m going with serendipity because now that we’ve brought in our tulip table (which in another hit of serendipity is also from Ikea), the wood chairs seem to be just the thing to balance out the white classic coolness of the table.

Here’s a few of the ‘before’ shots — first we had the rectangular wood table with the MCM sofa, then the Tulip with the MCM sofa and two Karim Rashid Oh Chairs. . .

The Oh chairs were a Christmas gift from my mom and I’m holding on to them for seating on the back porch (a scary room I have yet to share on the blog).  The MCM sofa found a new home via Craigslist and I hope it will be much loved.

(The image above shows our lovely St. Louis Rams getting destroyed while playing the Patriots in London.  I’m not much into sports but I am jealous that they got a trip to London. All in a Sunday afternoon — watching football, taking blog photos, folding laundry and making kale soup – you know, the usual.)

We’re loving our new setup — while I enjoyed having the sofa act as banquette seating, it’s also nice to be able to move the table a little closer to the windows and the new layout allows the drapes to be a little more flow-y and nice.  Now I have to go update our floor plan — again!  More changes to come  . . . . and I think in November we’re going to start some projects in the bedroom as well.  Last room of the house to get any attention!  Cheers – CT

(P.S. I would also call it serendipity that I bought so many faux sheepskins on our last Ikea run — they really help soften up the wood chairs and they help me get in the mood for all the fall/winter activities soon to be upon us.)

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Thrifting

Tulips are springing up all over

Posted on October 24, 2012 by | 11 Comments

The tulip table is something almost all designers dream about and most end up owning at some point. . . . I’ve been dreaming about them for some time — see my “desperately seeking Saarinen” post from over a year ago . . .

I mentioned a little while ago that I’d gone off my rocker and decided to totally re-shuffle most of the whole house.  I made a detailed list and sent it to the husband with the email title “my evil plan”.  And it included a tulip!

After all the work of hefting, moving and lugging furniture for the Green Shag sale on Saturday, I had a few loose pennies in my pocket and a hankering to check out Modern Vintage Decor, a shop I had found via my friend Craig and his list.  Thanks also to Craig, I knew there was a Tulip table waiting there with my name on it. 

It frees up so much more room than the beer-pong-battered table we had been using before (now in the basement maybe for future beer-pong tournaments).

It’s not the real thing or even a Burke but I still love it and all its one-legged goodness.

The inviting circular shape plays well with the coffee table and softens the whole room.

 
I even did a bit of fall/Halloween styling, pulling a ceramic pumpkin out of my stash and switching out the white candle holders for these gorgeous turned wood ones that JT’s cousin made for us as a wedding gift.

Yep, here’s the dog shot.  Attack of the two-headed couch chameleon.  I guess they like the new table too . .  .

So that’s step one of the new Living Analog Living Room . . . . more craziness (as ever) to come!

P.S. Happy Birthday (again) Sister!  I haven’t told the interwebs yet but we are planning your wedding!  Oops, I just did.  Now maybe I’ll do a post about it!

 

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture

How to Survive a Parking Lot Sale

Posted on October 23, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Drink lots of coffee?

Take the next three days off work?

Hire moving men? (One vendor did that. .  . I kind of though she was crazy and also crazy smart!)

So the Green Shag Parking Lot Sale was last Saturday and we survived!  Here’s the booth at first set-up:

And then with JT and I awkwardly posing in front of it once a kind Green Shagger offered to take our picture.

It was fun to sit in the back and people watch (once the sun came out).  I wandered around and had to work very hard to not buy anything.  I also got to meet all the STL bloggers — Nick from Mid-Century Midwest and Hannah from Secondhand Hannah.  And I got to chat with Mr. Modtomic and his GF for a bit.

I am happy to report that the majority of things sold.  I was surprised at the things that didn’t — the four schoolhouse chairs and the brown vinyl chair with the great chrome tube legs came back home to Living Analog.  One couple ended up buying a few of our “projects” — the MCM walnut chair without cushions, a side table that was still halfway green and halfway bare wood and the alley cat zebra scratch chair I clumsily attempted to reupholster.

It didn’t turn out well and with the timeline and the amount of fabric I had, I couldn’t go back.  I was tempted to just put it back out in the alley but instead I brought it to the sale and gave the couple full disclosure before they paid up (it was priced at a whole $5 after all).  They were able to live with the clunky back and might just drape a nice throw blanket on it.  Problem solved.

So all in all, I’m glad I bucked up and did the sale.  I cleared a lot of things out of the house that we no longer had use for (the stemware racks from the kitchen, the old towel bar from the bathroom, lamps I wasn’t using for the bedroom anymore).  Some of the small items I bought specifically for the sale didn’t go though, like the nice Haskalite serving tray and another small teak and silver Danish-style serving tray along with that funky wood wine rack.  Everything I bought I liked though, so I’m happy to have it around our house for a while.

I take that back.  The chairs have got to go.  It’s crazy chair town at our house right now.  I posted them up to the list here and here.  Once those move out and JT’s latest reno goes on eBay (the Silvertone guitar), we’re going to have such an empty clean house!!!  And money for more furniture . . . which I may have already spent.  Tune in for more!

Also I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today is my Mom’s birthday and tomorrow is my sister’s birthday.  Happy Birthday girls!

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Posted in Furniture, Thrifting