Author Archives: CT

Link Love

Posted on January 9, 2013 | 3 comments

Living Analog has been around for a year and a half now (in this format) and we have met some great people here on these interwebs. I want to introduce you to a few great blogs that have supported us in the last year by adding us to their blogroll – you know, the little sidebar that suggests other blogs to check out. These bloggers were also nice enough to answer a few questions for me so please browse on over to their blogs and see what is going on in the neigborhood!

A Goode House
http://www.agoodehouse.com/

1) Do you have one piece of furniture that you will always keep no matter what? If so what is it?
I guess I will always want to keep our Eames Sofa Compact and our Poul Kjærholm PK55 dining table. We waited 8 years to get that table and I imagine it’s something we could never part with.

2) What is your dream piece of furniture that you would own if money and time and space were no object?

As for my “dream piece”. Honestly there’s nothing we wish for right now. I do want a George Nelson dresser for the bedroom but that’s something totally doable. Now that we’ve found a real Barcelona chair it’s been crossed off my list too. We’ve been collecting for over 20 years so our once long list of “someday we’ll have” is pretty much crossed off. Wow, that’s a trip to type! We’re freakin’ exhausted!!!

3) Why do I blog?

Well, lately I haven’t been. HA HA HA! Kidding. Seriously, I started the blog so family and friends could keep track of all the crazy work we were facing with this house. I knew that it would be taking all of my free time and I wanted my friends and family to really understand and see for themsleves just what we were getting ourselves into and to keep some type of “journal” for myself. When you’re in the thick of it day to day you forget just how much you’ve really accomplished. The blog always helps me stay motivated. Over the holidays I sat down and looked back at the last year and thought “DAMN, we really kicked butt”! It’s always good to do that. I continue to blog for the same reasons. I love all the new online friends I’ve made from all over the world but honestly the reasons for doing it remain the same.

Mid2Mod
http://mid2mod.blogspot.com/

1) Do you have one piece of furniture that you will always keep no matter what? If so what is it?
I have a Jens Risom credenza that I got for an incredibly low price, and it will follow me wherever I go! It was my first really good piece of mid-century furniture.

2) What is your dream piece of furniture that you would own if money and time and space were no object?

If time, money and space were no object, I’d love to own the huge six-bay teak wall unit designed by Poul Cadovius that my son-in-law has for sale at the store. It’s gigantic…but it’s so beautiful. He will sell separate bays, so I’m very tempted to see what kind of deal he’d give me on two or three for the new apartment.

3) Why do you blog?

Hmmmm…why do I blog? That’s a great question. I absolutely love mid-century and modern design, and I’m retired, which gives me a good bit of spare time to write. Since I’m a former high school English teacher, that’s an activity which is dear to my heart, so I can combine my two passions and lend a little support to the family store at the same time. It almost seems like it was meant to be!

Mid-Century Modern Remodel
http://www.midcenturymodernremodel.com/

1) Do you have one piece of furniture that you will always keep no matter what? If so what is it?

Buffet and dining set my dad made which fits perfectly in our tiny dining space.

2) What is your dream piece of furniture that you would own if money and time and space were no object?

I love Broyhill Brasilia but our house is small. I scour ebay and craigslist for the perfect piece.

3) Why do you blog?

Because I honestly love midcenturymodern and remodeling. I also enjoy the challenge of writing and traffic driving. And a big benefit that keeps me going is other blogger colleagues that I have met along the way!

Mister Modtomic
http://mistermodtomic.blogspot.com/

1) Do you have one piece of furniture that you will always keep no matter what? If so what is it?

Used to, I’d have said “yes, my Selig ‘Z’ chair. It’s what I consider one of the finest distilations of the Danish modern lounge chair designs.” But for realz, everything has it’s price. Offer me enough greenbacks or the right trade and it…or anything else…is yours! Does that make me a slut?

2) What is your dream piece of furniture that you would own if money and time and space were no object?

Gosh, I hate to sound so pedestrian given all the world of vintage modern to choose from but I gotta stick with a true vintage (late ’50s through, what? early ’80s) Brazilian Rosewood and black leather Eames / Herman Miller Lounge Chair (670) and Ottoman (671). There are, of course, hundreds upon hundreds of other sofas, cocktail tables, lounges, dining suits et al that I could drop here, but the classic Eames Lounge and Ottoman are ALWAYS on my radar. But I’m not so much interested in just plopping down the dosh for one and suddenly having it. The hunt for one at a bargain price is at least 2/3s the fun!

3) Why do you blog? And more importantly, how do you manage one blog post a day all while holding down a full-time job and curating an antique mall booth?

I publish my blog because I wanted a blog like mine out there. There are lots of bloggers out there who blog about much of the same stuff as I, but I wanted more. I love magazines like Atomic Ranch but it is only published FOUR times a year! I got really sucked into the blog RetroRenovation when I found it a few years ago and a big part of why was that Pam (the blog author) posted mostly daily. Also I found myself highly intrigued by a Youtube vlogger called Shaycarl and his Youtube channel: Shaytards. Shaycarl took upon the challenge of posting a vlog every day for a year. I was mesmerized by his charm and commitment to his product. And he’s funny as h*ll! That’s when I realized the secret to readership is blogcasting daily. Posting daily is a challenge…and is becoming more challenging every day as I take on more projects. I’ve missed a few days here and there but only for illness. How do I manage? Commitment…and backup plans! If I don’t have something interesting to blog about (relative, I know!) I can always fall back on an episode of “Not My Turf”! I’ve actually been flirting with the idea of farming out weekend posts or finding a blog partner who can do a day or two…but I’d really have to deal with some control issues for that to work out!

And because the questions sounded kind of fun, I thought I would chip in . . .

1) Do you have one piece of furniture that you will always keep no matter what? If so what is it?

Right now I would have to say that the one piece of furniture in our home with the most sentimental value is the little desk that is currently serving as my dressing table in the bedroom (Yes, I have been watching too much Downton Abbey and I’m okay with that.) I rescued it from the curb outside my friend Jess’s house during college and then did a total remodel on it. I stripped it, sanded it, and stained it the color it is now. My dad helped me reglue and clamp the drawers and he cut and attached a new back panel for me. He also helped me put the new hardware on — we had to drill all new holes. My dad passed away suddently in 2004 (we probably worked on this in maybe 2002 or so? Not sure.) and this desk is a good memory of some time we spent together and how patiently he helped me achieve my goals.

If you haven’t seen the online magazine Lonny yet, you should check it out sometime. I saw this:

And immediately thought of my desk. Wouldn’t that be such a cool update for it someday? (Photos by Patrick Cline, interior design by Matthew Kowles) Because in reality, my desk is not the coolest desk ever — the kneehole is super small and only fits that amazing little Lucite and white vinyl stool. There’s no maker’s mark or any designer provenance. So I love how the glass top and chrome legs remake this piece into something really unique and a little more useable.

2) What is your dream piece of furniture that you would own if money and time and space were no object?

Because I wrote the question, I can also kind of cheat the system. Because the dream piece of furniture I would choose would be a conversation pit. Like this lovely:

Built into the amazing Miller House and designed by Eero Saarinen. (Image from here.) So, really by choosing this “piece”, I would get this house. And it’s amazing!

3) Why do you blog?

I started Living Analog as a creative outlet from my daily design job. Working for a commercial design firm is my chosen profession but it is not often I get to see my very own ideas through to fruition. I persuaded JT to contribute to the blog with his guitar stories. One of the few classes that JT and I actually took together in high school was a creative writing class so a blog seemed like a great venture for us. I’ve enjoyed the things that blogging has brought to my life: increased accountability to complete projects, a forum to discuss ideas for projects in the works and most importantly the connection it has created for us to the blogging community. I wasn’t expecting that and it has been so enjoyable.

So thanks again to Stacey and Richie, Dana, Rebecca and Mister Modtomic for their support of this little ol’ blog. It means so much! Cheers – CT

3 Comments

Posted in Miscellaneous Diversions

January – Time for changes, even if little

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 2 comments

A new year means a new fridge right? Not quite. The one we bought with the house is still chugging along and while I’d love to chuck it into the alley sometimes, I just can’t quite reconcile myself with replacing something that is working.

But I did tweak the big ugly blank side of the fridge last May with some craft paper. (See the whole post here.) My how time flies when you’re having fun. And as the time has passed, so has the paper worn. Turns out paper and water droplets (from the hand drying towel hanging there) don’t really mix so well . . . .

I was still reluctant to actually paint the fridge with chalkboard paint instead so I ordered a roll of contact paper that is also a chalkboard surface from Amazon. The roll wasn’t nearly as wide as the paper was which I don’t love but until I can get on board with painting the fridge (or buying a Smeg!), this is what we get. There were a few air bubbles that didn’t come all the way out but it was a pretty simple install process. It was definitely a two-man job though — JT and I took turns holding the bottom away from the fridge while the other smoothed out the contact paper with a large piece of sample laminate I had on hand.

I think the contact paper chalkboard could be a great option for renters who don’t like the look of a door or cabinets — just stick a chalkboard on it (the new version of put a bird on it!).

Since the chalkboard paper was sticky-backed it freed up a bunch of our heavy-duty magnets to stick some more knives and utensils to the side of the fridge. I gave them a crime scene-esque chalk outline so we’d know which one was in use or in the dishwasher. Now that the holidays are behind us, we’ve been cooking at home a lot and from scratch, so having these knives within easy reach is great. We also got a juicer and started down that path so many, many fruits and vegetables are being murdered in our kitchen.

JT wrote a little note to the dogs down at the bottom reminding them to behave. I got very different results when I tried to coax them into modeling for the blog: Sophie was terrified and Shenanigan was nonchalant and/or impatiently waiting for the treat I bribed them with.

Little dude had to go to the vet on Saturday because we found a weird bulge on his side. Turns out it’s a fatty but benign tumor. Sophie’s been having problems with one of her back legs that the vet said is exacerbated by her weight so it looks like both dogs will be on the eating healthy bandwagon with us in 2013! Good thing that the kitchen is fine-tuned and ready to go. I’ve been doing a little work to the pantry as well and that will be an up and coming post. Have a great week everyone! Cheers – CT

2 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Kitchen

2013: The Year of Wine

Posted on January 2, 2013 | 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.

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.

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.

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

4 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture

Stove Saga

Posted on December 14, 2012 | 3 comments

In some ways, the kitchen has been “done” since we tiled the floors and then finished painting the walls, cabinets and trim back in May. However a new stove is being delivered and installed today, making this the 4th stove in our little kitchen in one year. Crazy right?

We started out with the gem:

NUMBER 1

It came with the house. It was disgusting and never clean and when a mouse found his way into our house, he decided the stove would be a good place to live. So naturally when we planned to re-tile/spiff up the kitchen, this stove was history.

Cue Stove #2:

NUMBER 2

Based on what was going on with Stove #1 and the age of the house, we assumed there wasn’t any electrical in the wall behind for power to the stove (Stove #1 was gas). So we found a decent replacement on Craigslist that was all gas. Having only had electric ranges growing up, I didn’t realize an all gas stove would essentially be hot on the top all the time (the pilot lights just flame away beneath the metal all the time). Not so cool. (Literally and figuratively.) And when we demoed out Stove #1 and did our floor re-tile we found that there was a power outlet back there that we never even dreamed existed.

So. Stove #3. Also from Craigslist. (Stove #2 made it’s exit via Craigslist as well, on to better and brighter things in a rental apartment.)

NUMBER 3

Newer-ish, gas but with some electric features like a clock and such. Guess what. Those are the features that can and will die before the stove ever does.

And that’s what happened. About a month ago, we started getting a “F10” error on the display and then the stove would shut off. Really fun when you’re trying to make a “big ass” birthday brunch for your whole family. It turns out either the wiring harness or a sensor was shot or the stove really was overheating. We turned off the electric to it and have just been using the range top for the last month with the help of a large lighter to fire it up. Not the end of the world but it’s amazing how many recipes you find that require an oven WHEN YOURS DOESN’T WORK!!

So Stove #4 is being delivered today, husband is at home waiting for it as I type. Lesson learned: Sometimes the “list” isn’t always the place to shop for things that might be better with a warranty.

I am making these brownies to inaugurate Stove #4 tonight: THE BEST SALTED CARAMEL BROWNIES YOU’LL EVER HAVE found via A Cup of Jo (recently stumbled upon and loving). Wouldn’t everything be better with sea salt?

However if you should be oven-less for a month and be desperately searching for good range top recipes, try this one: Winter Vegetable Hash. I’m snacking on the leftovers for lunch right now and it is so yummy. (Also made better with sea salt . . . I sense a trend.) Yukon Gold potatoes are my new best friend. Until I meet my brownies tonight.

Have a great weekend and bake lots of yummy things! Like a lot of things in this life, you never miss your stove ’til its gone. Cheers – CT

3 Comments

Posted in Kitchen, Miscellaneous Diversions

Decorating for Christmas, Part Two

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Our first Christmas card arrived the other day and I was so excited to put it up on the mirror like last year. I’m hoping more are on their way . . .

OVERALL MANTEL

If they’re not it’s because we haven’t sent out cards at all, mainly because it’s just the husband and I, and no one wants to see our mugs year after year. But we wanted a picture to sent to JT’s grandma this year and came to find that really we haven’t taken many of just the two of us in the last almost eight years of marriage. . . . something that will need to be remedied soon. The photographer who did my sister’s engagement photos was really great . . . .

Also some presents are wrapped! Sticking with my “white and bright” theme, I picked up a roll of plain white wrapping paper. I still need to add some embellishments in the form of tags and ribbon and then they will be all done! I wish I could say we’re all done with shopping but that’s never the case. There’s always someone a little trickier to buy for. (You know who you are.)

While putting up our decorations this year, there was one spot that felt a little bare. While browsing through my daily Google Reader feed a few days ago, I saw a wreath that reached out of the computer screen and pulled me in. I HAD to have it. Immediately. I haven’t felt the urge to acquire something that strongly in a while. Check out this post on the Nesting Place here and see if you can spot what I spotted.

BARE SPOT

Or . . . I’ll just go ahead and show you what I did!

THE WREATH MAKES IT COMPLETE

I figured rather than buy, why not make! I still had some paper left over from my punched dots garland and off I went.

TO MAKE

At first I thought I needed to get a wreath form or something more round to attach my paper leaves to but I still wanted the wreath IMMEDIATELY and didn’t necessarily want to start spending money on something I had already started for free. So I used a large bowl and a little dessert plate to trace out my circles on cardboard.

HOT GLUE WARMS THE SOUL

My sisal rope from Home Depot is still going strong so I used that to hang it in what I’d like to consider a simple-yet-casual arrangement. There was one spot on the wreath that was a little flattened out already from my learning curve as I glued the leaves down so I looped the twine around that section.

I also had a couple of sections of white twinkle lights left over from my teenage years when Leonardo DiCaprio was Romeo and Claire Danes was Juliet and I listened to Sarah McLachlan a lot in my bedroom. You know, the nineties. I wrapped them up into a little white light twinkle ball and nonchalantly set that on the window ledge to complete the holiday decorating.

I still had one other task at hand — that pesky green painters tape I used to rig up the mantel. After a quick trip to Target (kidding – when is it ever a quick trip!) I had my white duct tape and fixed up the mantel.

WHITE DUCT TAPE SAVES THE DAY

Doesn’t it look like I photoshopped that picture or something! It’s magical! And then . . . I saw something else I could use the white duct tape for . . . at guess where . . . . The Nesting Place. Check it out – this is next. Watch out mantel!

2 Comments

Posted in Around the house, D.I.Y., Design Diversions

It’s that time again . . .

Posted on December 6, 2012 | 4 comments

. . . time to watch “Love Actually” while putting up your Christmas tree, of course! Bill Nighy is my favorite in this movie.

LOVE ACTUALLY

I’m a little bit on the grinch-y side of things when it comes to the holidays but really I don’t mind any excuse to decorate. Actually I think everyone might benefit from having twinkle lights up year round. The world would be a happier, more peaceful place.

Every year I look at what we have in our Christmas bins and try a different combination. Some years have been red and silver, one year was chocolate brown and cream, last year I used some wicker/wood garland and so on and so on. I decided my decorating theme for this year was “white and bright”. That meant stringing up my new white paper-punch garland, putting all white candles on the mantel and finishing it off with Elvis in a white jumpsuit as the tree topper. Have a look.

XMAS TREE STRAIGHT ON

MANTEL

I need to switch out the green painter’s tape for white duct tape. Pretty much everything is held up and/or together with some combination of painter’s tape, fishing line or green or clear metal paddle wire.

TABLETOP DETAIL

I edited down the table top to things that seemed to go with the scheme and found these cute striped napkins hiding out in our McCobb bar/secretary. I put them out on the table with strict instructions to the husband not to actually USE them . . . That’s normal, right?

Here’s the dogs as they always are each time I take these pictures:

DOGS ON SOFA

Lazy.

Sophie made a cameo in last year’s photos and I think she was in the exact same place this year. Funny the difference (or not) a year can make.

Christmas 2011

XMAS 2011

Christmas 2012

XMAS OVERALL 2

Basically all the furniture in this room has been changed out since last year except the sofa and that’s about to be off the island soon too. The difference in the fireplace from last year to this year is dramatic. Here’s another view:

Christmas 2011

XMAS 2011 #2

Christmas 2012

XMAS OVERALL 1

And just for grins (or grimaces!) I found an image from Christmas of 2010. No Sophie the dog this time, just really bad photography:

xmas_1

Yep, we are really loving our new accent wall and fireplace. Once again for the books – Christmas 2012 with a bullet:

XMAS TREE STRAIGHT ON

(PS – That errant power cord has been tucked back in under the sheepskins where it belongs! It’s amazing how I notice things when I review my photographs that I never noticed in real life!)

So what’s your favorite part about decorating for the holidays (besides the twinkle lights)? Does anyone else change their color scheme and decorations year-to-year? I know I’m not the only one! Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions, Dogs

Let’s Get Large

Posted on December 3, 2012 | 2 comments

Large art I mean! Art that will cover walls and have a “presence” (said in a singing Oprah voice, right?).

Back in 2010 I got a crazy idea that I wanted a very large art piece for the bedroom. We made a trip across the street (almost literally across the street) to Home Depot and picked up some simple trim lumber, angle brackets and a canvas dropcloth. It was fairly simple to put together, although once we stretched the dropcloth around the frame and stapled it into place, the outer frame bowed in slightly. We added a few more intermediary members to try to straighten it back out (to mostly no avail).

IN THE BASEMENT #1

A few coats of gesso later (which you can get pretty much anywhere that sells craft paint like Michaels or Hobby Lobby) the Home Depot canvas dropcloth became a bona fide canvas. I experimented with a few different paint layouts before deciding I liked none of them and just went with a simple brush coat of our living room wall color. (All pictures from the basement of shame.)

IN THE BASEMENT #2

While it was hanging in the bedroom which had white walls from the previous owner, it worked out. But the furniture shuffle started once again when new owners came and took away the dressers Friday after work. That left a big blank wall in the living room. We can’t have that! So I looked around my piled-with-furniture basement and pulled out a low slatted Nelson-esque table and brought it upstairs. It’s twin was under the tree (Little Walter) so I swapped that out for a stool and voila . . .

SIDE BY SIDE

A new place for the large art. We’re about the start painting the rest of the bedroom walls so the canvas needed to be relocated temporarily. Now it was maybe 9pm on Friday night (I know how to party, folks) and JT was out at a gig. The tone on tone color was so boring . . . .

DURING

So I did what any normal/impetuous person would do and I painted it. (Sorry for the middle of the night no lights on in the living room picture. All I got.)

FINISHED 1

I did the bottom band in the Urbane Bronze of the living room accent wall and the middle band with the paint color for the bathroom (and I already can’t remember the name or if it was the first one that we discarded . . . I’ll have to check the can). The top band I left the wall color which is Amazing Gray (Sherwin Williams genius). Here it is by the light of the next morning and I think Sophie likes it. Or she’s concerned about what’s going on at the back door. Who knows what that dog is thinking. (And yes, if you look really close Where’s Waldo style, you can see that our kitchen counter is a mess. Real life things like cooking and coffee-making and giving the dogs their vitamins take place in this house.)

Here’s a sneak peek of the canvas yesterday, after Christmas decorating had hit the house. . . .

FINISHED WITH WREATH

More on the rest of the holiday decorations soon! I finally got to string up my little punched circle garland and I was so happy! Cheers – CT

2 Comments

Posted in Art in Analog, D.I.Y., Dogs

Music Room Meet Office

Posted on November 30, 2012 | 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 DESK AFTER 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.

4 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Guitars

The Furniture Shuffle

Posted on November 27, 2012 | 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

2 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Furniture, In the Bedroom

Only a few more hours of work left . . .

Posted on November 21, 2012 | 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!

2 Comments

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

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