Author Archives: CT

Cow bell fever

Shenanigan has the fever.  And the only cure is some more cow bell.  The little monkey is always scratching/kicking at the back door to be let out.  I decided to make him a bell to help reduce the wear and tear on our door . . . .

(See how scratched up the paint is on the door?  I finally got around to painting that, mostly as part of this project.  Yay!  We still need to put a sweep on the bottom of the door though . . . .boo.)

Out came the $13 ball ‘o twine that I used to crochet my ZZ plant’s snuggie pot.  There’s still a ton of twine left so I cut about 16 pieces to use for my braided rope.  I simply put a twist tie in the middle, had the husband hold on and twisted each end counter-clockwise.  Then they wanted to wrap around each other, creating a twist/rope/braid thing.

Next the cowbells.  I just wove them into the bottom of the twine rope/braid/twist and tied it off. 

Now for the training . . .  Shenanigan says you want me to ring what?

To be fair, I did try to photograph Sophie as well but every time the camera comes out she runs for her life. . .

Actually, the bell is starting to catch on.  We’ve been encouraging Shenanigan to ring it every time he goes outside and he’s willing to do whatever stupid thing we make him do if we’ll just open that door!  So hopefully the new paint job will remain intact.  I’m going to withhold judgement on that one . . .

And, coming soon . . . . a new chair for the Living Analog living room.  I am officially a chair (and ottoman) hoarder.  But it rocks and the ottoman tilts up OR lays flat.  And it was $13 for the set . . . . so home it came.  We may have had to rearrange the whole living room and put some furniture on Craigslist but I can’t resist a vintage chair and JT can’t resist a rocker.  I have a feeling this will be my old man’s old man chair.

Stitch ‘n Bitch, Round 2

You guys, I am vying for the title of most worthless photographer-blogger.  I’m horrible.  I get all awkward about photographing all of life’s little moments.  I furtively snap horrible pictures when I hope people aren’t looking.  I make bizarre Vanna White hand motions when the camera is turned on me.  I come from a non-photogenic family.  We tried so many family portrait sessions that would have maybe 1.5-2 good pictures.  So I apologize for any and all awkward, bizarre and/or missing pictures on this blog.  I continue to try to overcome this shortcoming with wordiness so as not to shortchange any of my very precious readers.  I like to think I do have more of an advantage there, having one won a fifth grade extemporaneous essay contest.  (I still have the thesaurus/prize to prove it!)  Thesaurus in hand, let me tell you a story about Stitch ‘n Bitch #2.  As in, the fun day when my design-school friends come over, we drink sangria and complain about our jobs while working on some sort of project.  It’s amazing and the best therapy a designer can ever get.

My intended project was this dress:

I love the pattern and it was only $15 from Marshalls.  However, although I do wear dresses quite a bit, it wasn’t working for me and I had never worn it.  It’s been hanging out in my closet for a while now, waiting for a new life as a blouse.  Then my brilliant designer friends convinced me to add elastic to the bottom . . . .which I did not have on hand  . . . . cue “wah wah wah” noise.  No real project from me.  I did finally zig-zag stitch serge around the edge of my Mother’s Day tablecloth though . . . (so now I can wash it, yippee).

Miss K brough wine glasses and chalkboard paint and got to work for an upcoming event (that is a SURPRISE, so if you know what event I may be referring to, lips ZIPPERED!)  With a chalkboard pen, guests will be able to write their name and/or wine type on the foot of their wine glass.  It looks like it will take another coat to get these finished up and maybe she will update us with some photos of them finished and/or in use!

Miss E also was thinking of wine, but wine for hoosiers (and not the Indiana variety).  One part glass candlestick, one part  Mason jar combined with some glass adhesive and voila — wine for the country part of your heart!

Besides the Hooseois  (imagine Hoosier + Bourgeois) wine glasses, Miss E had also found the recipe to creat a mercury glass effect on anything glass or ceramic and old and ugly from Goodwill.  That’s awesome because we all know there are tons of things that have uglied out, waiting for a new life at Goodwill.

There’s a tutorial here (and a bunch more all over the interwebs).  Basically it involves misting a solution of vinegar and water onto your object, letting it bead up and then applying a “Mirror Glass” spray paint.  The linked tutorial is a little simpler as you don’t have to paint the inside of the object.  Miss E started out with some more mason jars . ..

And also hit some Goodwill once-floral lamps.  I can’t wait until she send me the after pictures of those with some awesome shades!

Since I didn’t really have a project to speak of, Miss E handed over the looking glass spray paint and I did some work of a vase of my own I had hoarded in the basement.  Cue the weird Vanna hand here:

I’ll definitely have to do an update post on this as I need to finish off the vase and I need after pictures from the other Stitch ‘n Bitchers.  I did a little hunting around St. Louis to find some more of the Krylon looking glass spray paint and found it at Wal-Mart for $8.50 and the Kirkwood Hobby Lobby for $13.  It’s smaller than a regular can of spray paint but still fit my handy-dandy spray handle.  I might just give the mercury glass treatment to everything glass or ceramic that I can get my hands on!

Also Miss K brought a new plant for my plant collection . . . he needs a name!  Or maybe it could be my first lady-plant.

Miss E made the world’s most awesome sangria and shared the recipe with me.  Because I love you, I’m sharing it with you.  White Strawberry-Lemon Sangria.  Something to savor in this summer heat.  Cheers – CT

Plant and Mantel Triage

So we’ve been having a bit of a heat wave here in St. Louis (and I think most everywhere in the nation) but the plants that seem to be suffering the most are INSIDE my house.

Case in point — Little Walter, the tree.  He’s perched up on a Nelson-replica slat bench.  We don’t often get too close in to him because he’s kind of nestled into the banquette and you’d have to kind of slide down along the seat to get all the way there.  However the other day I had the dining table pulled out to do some serious dog hair sweeping and took it upon myself to water Walter as well.  Turns out Walter is a Fun Guy!  (Fungi was literally having a field day in there.  INSIDE my house.)

So that got dug out and new soil was added back.  I’m going to have to keep a closer eye on that one.

And then the bullet planter.  The Larry, Curly, Moe and Shemp succulents I picked up at Home Depot were the least sickly looking of their offering but I kind of figured at least one of the four wouldn’t make it.  Turns out only one of the four DID make it.  I had a ZZ cutting from Zappa the ZZ plant growing some roots as well as a cutting of this other thing I liked from the neighbor and so I filled the bullet back up.  It looks a little funny right now but at least it doesn’t look dead.

(And yes, that is a giant dog fuzz/hairball hanging out on the bullet planter.  All these legs are not helping with my “keep the house clean of furballs larger than my dogs” campaign.)

Next the rubber plant (no name poor guy.  Actually Poor Guy might be an apt name for him right now . . . )  The rubber plant was all dusty so I moved it a few feet out the front door and gave him a thorough watering/cleaning/shower.  Then it was so nice out I left him there for a day.  Came home to find he’d been scorched.  Poor Guy is too pampered by his indoor life to cut it for one day out in the wild.

However, all is not lost.  I can keep SOME things alive.  Zappa the ZZ seems to be pretty happy in his new crocheted and dipped plant snuggie.  Also, Jazz Hands, the tall tree thing has gone from having two big leaves (hence the Jazz Hands name) to a crazy lot more.  I think he likes his new (to him) Ikea pot.

Also I can keep alive dogs, as evidenced by the giant furballs lurking in every corner of my house and Shenanigan photo-bombing me at every turn. 

You can kind of see the mantel a little in the picture above and you might be able to see that it was getting a little cluttery.  Since I’m having the girls over this weekend for Round #2 of the Stitch ‘n Bitch brunch, I thought I might do a little mantel triage as well.  It really involved removing about half the stuff.  I also picked up some nice blue candles at Hobby Lobby for my new candle holders I got at the Green Shag Market parking lot sale.

What’s that another “T” snuck in?  (The black wire loopy one.) Crazy I know.  It came from Pottery Barn Teen and can hold pictures (I should fill it with Teen Beat pictures for all the PB Teens out there.)

It’s Friday now and I can’t wait for our Stitchin’ and Bitchin’ weekend.  I’m sure the girls will do some awesome projects and maybe if I make a nice enough brunch, they’ll let me share them here.  I’m collaborating with Martha to make her French Toast Kebabs.  Yum!

Testing, Twirling

Not sure if this will work everyone. . .  I’m trying to learn some new technology: the animated gif:

This is my cousin’s little girl and she is adorable.  Along with all the other traveling we did, I also went up to Iowa for a nice celebration with my Gram for her 80th.  Happy Birthday Gram!  Little Miss Tutu will also be 3 on the first of July as well, so here’s to many years of joyfully spinning in a tutu!

Traveling

I had an opportunity last week I’m not sure I might ever have again, y’all.  I was whisked away from St. Louis to Chicago via a private jet for a one-day (work-related) whirlwind.  A private jet taking off from a private hangar is pretty sweet.  I can see why those jet-setters do it.  

Since I was up there for a lot of work (non) fun, I kept those pictures in the work folder.  However, I did take a quick picture of the glorious view from one of the 10th floor furniture showrooms I was visiting in the Merchandise Mart.

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It was perfect weather and we had a long lunch at Fulton’s.  Not sure if that is a tourist trap or not. Not sure if I care.  But, if you ever have the opportunity to fly on a private jet (8 seater!), do it.  It will be worth your jet-setting while.

In other traveling related news, JT and I also took a recent mini-vacation down to Memphis and Clarksdale, Mississippi.  Memphis is a fairly quick 5 hour drive from St. Louis, down Highway 55.  The we traveled another hour and a half past down to Clarksdale, home of the crossroads (junction of old Highway 61 and Highway 49).  It is now also home to a Church’s Chicken, a furniture store and Al’s Barbeque.  

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The neatest part about Clarksdale was not necessarily the crossroads, but the place we stayed for the night, The Shack Up Inn.  It is like adult summer camp and a junker’s paradise combined into one.  Situated on the old Hopson Plantation, the owner’s have relocated various old cotton sharecroppers shacks into a compound of sorts.  The heart of the compound is the old cotton gin where they have live music on the weekends.

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It’s also where you go to get your beer — at Shack Up, B&B stands for bed and beer.

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It was pretty amazing.  I took too many pictures.  I’ll try to speed it up here . . . We stayed in Electric Blue.  

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We saved a big sliver of paint that was hanging out on the porch floor and lo and behold, when we got home it was almost a match to the blue we painted the front door.  Maybe Living Analog should be renamed Electric Blue?  Maybe not.  But we had an awesome time there, would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone and can’t wait to go back.

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After our glorious and restful time at Shack Up had ended, we headed back up Highway 61 towards Memphis.  But not without a pit stop at Tunica first . . . .

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Luckily we walked out of Tunica with our hats (and actually a little ahead, if you count $10 as a little ahead).   Back in Memphis we did all the things a music tourist would do: Sun Studios (2nd visit, had to pry JT out), Stax Records, Gibson Guitar Factory tour (had to really pry JT out, he was about to work for free) and the Rock n’ Soul Museum.  We have already been to Graceland and didn’t want to shell out the $$$ for another Elvis visit so we skipped that this trip.

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(I noticed when I went through these pictures later that the only ones I got of Stax have unflattering views of the man changing out the marquee.  Sorry dude.)

We also walked across the skybridge to Mud Island, saw some live music and lots of motorcycles on Beale Street and happened onto the Peabody ducks (we stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the Peabody and had “ducked” in to the shops around the lobby to bide some time during a quick rainstorm.) All in all an amazing and much to short vacation . . . now that we’re back at the grind we need to schedule another so we have something to look forward to.  I’m campaigning hard for New York in the fall . . . 

 

Bathroom, Phase I (slow progress)

Its been slow going around the Living Analog household lately.  We’ve been enjoying the long hours of sunshine and spending a little more time outdoors and a little less time around all the technology.  There may have been some guitar buying going on as well . . . in fact a lot of guitar buying has gone on, but that is a separate post.  For now, we are here to discuss the bathroom.  Yes, the bathroom.  We are a house of only one bathroom, so changes in here are hard to come by — you can’t tear the room up and leave it sit while decisions are made or parts are ordered.  However, we did accidentally tear it up just a little bit . . .

I wanted to see what was behind the world’s largest medicine cabinet — did the previous owner continue the bead board?  Was there a crazy paint color or some huge hole to deal with?

There was no bead board . . . . on a whole wall of bead board.  I don’t want to complain too much about the former home owner(s) because I’m sure they had all the best intentions.  But sometimes, I tear at my hair, gnash my teeth and scream “What were they thinking!!!” when things like this appear.

A solution has been decided on — we’re going to do a full height mirror over the sink (top of backsplash to the ceiling with a few inches of finger space to get it hung and help when the sink gets demoed out later).  The mirror should also cover whatever lurks in wait for us under that god-awful light fixture.  The new light fixture . . .


will sit right on the mirror, giving it maybe a little bit of a hotel vibe.  We shall see.  In a series of fortuitous events, I was able to snag this fixture from eBay for $152 + free shipping versus the $260 price tag I was seeing for our local lighting source.

It arrived the other day and I love it.  Now we are just getting some quotes on custom mirrors and soon there will be a Bathroom, Phase I Complete stamp over these images.

But not so fast.  Remember my paint color dilemma?

Well I picked a color — Rainstorm (Sherwin Williams) and started painting, after carefully patching and sanding.  Well the former owners have me a little bit worn out again because these walls have just had horrible things happen to them and every inch of every patch/repair/old adhesive or whatever they put on these walls is showing through.  I’ve called a little bit of a cease and desist on the painting thing til I can get it figured out so right now it just looks like a smeary blue mess/Smurf murder scene #2:

Don’t mind the horrible beige plastic shower surround — that will come down in Bathroom Phase III (there’s actually a window hidden under that beige disaster).  I also had another head shaking moment when I took the cover plate off the vent and saw that the interior of the vent is some sort of duct tape mess.  . . . I’m not even sure I want to tackle that one.  Which means that someday in the future a new homeowner may open the same vent and wonder what the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks I was thinking!

To Sell or Not to Sell . . .

I know what a first world problem, right?

Such is the drama that is my life (and for that I am oh so thankful, let me tell you.)

So — to sell or not to sell?  Living Analog’s living room (and music room) is beginning to look like  a game of MCM musical chairs.  Something has to be done.  But the Hans Wenger knock-offs I just got at the auction are staying.  The Eames rocker that was gifted to JT is DEFINITELY staying.  The white vinyl Kroehler that JT found for $30 at Goodwill and used all through college is definitely staying.  The MCM chair gifted from my grandma is definitely staying . . .  Do we sense a pattern here? 

This guy is the only one I’m not über attached to but I’m not sure if I’m ready to quit him yet.

I don’t really have a spot for him now, but maybe in the next house?

I think I’m just stringing myself along — the next house won’t be anytime soon and in the meantime there are at least three more chairs and two ottomans in the basement that I think I want to keep after I fix them up so . . . I think it may be time to sell.  I’m gonna miss you, little white fiberglass Eames knock-off desk chair.  You never really had a fighting chance in the Living Analog living room.  And once you’re gone, I’ll probably have some serious regrets about selling you.  Oh well, a chair hoarder’s gotta do what a chair hoarder’s gotta do — thin the herd to make room for some new chairs!

Green Shag, what a sale (delayed reaction . . .)

The Green Shag Market, an antique mall (the best kind!) just put on a parking lot sale two Saturdays ago now.  We may or may not have made our Memphis vacation a little shorter to accommodate said sale.  Whatever, I have a vintage buying addiction and I’m not afraid to admit it.

So, sale.  I didn’t take a lot/hardly any pictures AT the sale because I feel uber-awkward with a camera around people I don’t know. . . so, here’s what I got:

 Mister Modtomic, who is much braver with his camera than I am, covered the booths pretty well — check out his post here.  If you look close, you may even see me in there (Where’s Waldo style) with my new red “vacation hair color”.  Because that’s what people do on vacation, they dye their hair.

What’s more important (to me) is the “haul” from the sale.  We’re pretty full up here at the Living Analog abode on furniture so I tried to avoid it . . . and still ended up with one larger item.

The bar cart was only $15 and I couldn’t resist it.  It needs a little cleaning — the lady I bought it from said when she found it, it had contact paper from the 70s covering up all the black and white retro star goodness.  But I think I’m going to put it in my back porch and use it as a potting bench of sorts so it doesn’t have to be too clean.

JT snagged up the cool 13 colonies/13 stars American Flag reproduction.  I’m thinking we might tack it to a frame and use it for some artwork.  I found a large silk scarf for only $5 and then had to plan an outfit around it so I could wear it to work . . I love me some vintage (or any) scarves, and on a quick trip to Iowa last weekend, my grandma hooked me up with some more.

Hmm, what else did I buy . . . it’s been so long I almost forgot! 

I got a cute little (toothy looking) footed planter/collect all bowl from the Rocket Century booth.  The pretty bracelet things inside are actually a $2 set of fun napkin rings which look pretty good for a garden party on our new backyard dining table.  I semi-reluctantly bought the candle holders because I don’t really need candle holders . . . .but I couldn’t resist.  I’m thinking I need to find some funkier color of candles to use these two.  Turns out they’re from Ikea, go figure.  The pretty coasters are actually tin squares (that we will use as coasters) from Secondhand Hannah (one of my favorite STL bloggers).  I wasn’t sure at first because the tags only said “Secondhand” and there was a man working at the table but it was later confirmed by my brother and sister in-law.  I wish I had known at the time so I could say hi!

I also got this from Secondhand Hannah’s stall:

Cover Your Lover.  Classic and great and BLUE!  It will probably get stashed away until winter but for $7 I couldn’t resist.  (Are we noticing a pattern here?  I need to build up some resistance skills!)

And here is what happened when I started this photo shoot. . . first one dog comes nosing in, then two . . .

But I can’t resist their cute little faces . . .

. . . even if Shenanigan is giving me the stink-eye.  So that’s it from Green Shag.  Next weekend is a sale at Rocket Century . . . lock away your wallet, husband.

Backyard zen, here I come

Hey everybody!  We’ve been traveling down south – Clarksdale, Mississippi then Tunica then MEMPHIS on a musical mecca of sorts but we’re back to reality now.   Along with traveling, we also used our vacation time to do some work on and about the house.  So even though we’re back to a 40 hour work week, I’m dreaming of some backyard zen.

Remember a while ago when I posted this dream/inspiration image (that I still can’t find the source for, damn you internet)?  Here it is to refresh your memory.

Heavenly.

I started out with this spot when we tilled up the backyard:

And now it’s looking something like this:

The table is haphazardly placed and may not stay there ($10 Craigslist score, I’m thinking it will also meet the spray paint fate that gets everything else here), but there’s some (admittedly slow) progress there.  Let’s rewind.  I started out with 4 of the orange work buckets from Home Depot.  I think they were about 3 bucks a pop.  Next I attacked them with my trusty blue spray paint. (Yes I may have a (blue) spray paint addiction.)

I added in some bricks in the bottom and cemented in poles with eye hooks screwed into the top.  This will be a future canopy holder so I measured out two rods at seven foot and two rods at 6 foot so the canopy will slope a little and not hold water.

Since the raised bed area has been our garden in previous years but is being converted to the zen spot, we didn’t want to lose all our food growing capabilities.  The canopy post buckets became the garden instead.   Before I filled the magical little blue buckets with dirt and plants, I drilled four holes around the bucket right above the concrete line so water can drain out.  (And yes, I’m actually getting pretty proficient with the drill.  That is one power tool even a lefty can use!)

Instant (small) garden.  We have tomatoes in one, hot and mild peppers in another, zucchini in a third and the fourth has beans and some salad mix.  Which should, fingers crossed, yield enough vegetables for two vegetable-eating adults.

So . . . now I only have a few more (hundred) little things to do before the zen spot is complete — mulch over the raised bed, get a canopy/canvas, maybe stain the poles and then install some twinkle lights and get a crap-load of citronella to keep us safe from the swarm of bugs that has descended on STL this summer.

More updates to come, Memphis and the Green Shag Market sale!  Of course I couldn’t miss it!  But since the house is full to the gills, I actually refrained from buying furniture (mostly) and instead picked up many other miscellaneous things.  You know I love to tease!

Transmute is the new tweak

You guys, I was getting really sick of the word “tweak.”  We use it at work ALL THE TIME because as designers, nothing is ever quite right and we’re always searching for those little adjustments (tweaks) to get a project further along.  I’ve been using that word a lot here on the blog as well to describe all the little adjustments I am continually and perpetually making to our home. 

So, more little adjustments . . . remember way back in January when I started this sisal crochet wonder?  Probably not because that was above 4 months ago.

At  any rate, I finished up the sisal crochet to make a little pot snuggie for the ZZ plant, George.  Or Zappa.  We call him different things.

Before George/Zappa was just hanging out in a standard issue green pot  and once we brought Hans and Wenger, the new chairs, home, he now has a floor light (can uplight from cb2) behind him to light the easel from below since we took off the clip light that used to be above. 

And now he has a fancy new coat.  I “dipped” the bottom in black paint to help it stand off the wood floor.  The sisal made it a little hard to get the color in there evenly but overall I am happy with how it turned out.  The whole skein of sisal was $13 at Home Depot and I didn’t even use half of it . . .  so maybe more (dipped) pots are in my future?  Maybe I’ll finish another in 5 months . . .

In other plant adjustments, the plant we originally put in the Bullet Planter was sad.

So sad that I didn’t even take a picture of it before I took it out.  (Not to fear, I put him in a little blue ceramic pot and I’m going to take him to work for some healing time.  Is that the dog equivalent of going to live on the farm?)  But picture it with about four and a half leaves thanks to Sophie Machete Tail.

Yep, that one.

But she also does an angelic face, so it’s hard to be so mad at her.  And also the reason she is usually wielding her machete tail is because we’re home and she’s so happy to see us . . . so she’s forgiven.

But we had to replant the Bullet with something that could survive the Sophie. A succulent garden planter at Home Depot caught my eye because it had a nice variety and was a good scale to survive the tail.

And, because all the plants seem to have names, I named them Larry, Curly (the little “curly” guy in front), Moe and Shemp.

Any more tweaks?  I mean adjustments?  Don’t worry, if there are, I’ll be back with all the details.  Have a great rest of the week, everyone.  We’re almost to a long weekend.  There’s a lot of plans and a little renovation going on . . .