Author Archives: CT

Tweaking, redux.

Posted on May 23, 2012 | 2 comments

My meddling in the kitchen was not done with yesterday’s post, it instead continued over to the fridge.  Oh lovely fridge, we inherited you with this house and you work.  You cool our food and freeze our ice so I have no reason to kick you to the curb just yet.  But you’re kind of boring, no offense.

None taken, I’m sure.  So to spice up Miss Fridge, I took a sheet of butcher paper and trimmed it a few inches smaller than the big bare side of the fridge.   I thought about getting all crazy and doing something with chalkboard paint but this seemed like a less permanent solution . .  .and I could always move on to the chalkboard if I ever got bored with the butcher paper.

So *ta da* – fridge tweaked:

(Pardon the extra-large case of beer, it was JT’s birthday and we celebrated with chicken, waffles and the Mick Jagger finale of Saturday Night Live.  The Bud Light blue does seem to match the kitchen though . . .)

I sprung for some heavy-duty magnets on Amazon and mixed in some others I had purchased at Ikea.

Some baker’s twine holds a pen in place and with the butcher paper you can just scribble your heart’s desire on there – phone messages, obscenities, you name it.  Right now we just have a few useful phone numbers.  Double stick tape holds up a few classic fortune cookie fortunes for posterity.   I also outlined the knives so they always have a place to go back to.  . . .

The other knives just have one magnet but I got nervous and used two on the big guy.  We’ve had them up for two weeks and it’s been a great solution since we demoed out the larger Ikea knife rack in favor of some artwork over the microwave.  

That reminds me,  I’m not sure if I ever really showed you guys the artwork over the microwave . . . I just printed out some song lyrics that seemed kitchen appropriate and added them to my Ikea frame (which was white upon purchase but became black thanks to my spray paint addiction.)

Can you spot Tiny Elvis in our kitchen?  I think we may have Elvis in every room in our house . . . . so, kitchen finally tweaked?  Not yet.  I’ve still got to get to the back door which Shenanigan firmly kicks every morning to demand to be let out FASTER and then I also want to tackle some storage in the base cabinets and pantry . . . but that’s for later.  More tweaking to come, just not in the kitchen.  Cheers – CT

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Posted in Around the house, D.I.Y., Kitchen, Music related

Kitchen Tweaking

Posted on May 22, 2012 | 4 comments

Hi everyone!  (Yes, all five of you, my loyal readers!)  I’ve been a busy little bee and have a bunch of little projects to share . . . so we’ll get right to it. 

The kitchen.  It used to look like this at one point.

And then it looked like this:

Much better, but still not done.  There was some pesky things bothering me — the open space above the storage rail for one.  For two, how the base cabinets were still just a little too light grey.  And for three, the red toaster that I kept hiding away whenever I took pictures because it was a hanger-on from a red kitchen in our first apartment.

So base cabinet painting began, toaster-ordering happened (I’m an avid Amazoner) and I searched around for something to hang above our storage rail.  Because of the Mother’s Day Brunch-a-palooza, I was in more of a hurry to find artwork then I usually would be. So I decided to just create some rather than waiting for that just perfect thing to jump out and hit me on the head  . . . . 

I dipped into my trusty mat board stash downstairs and cut two pieces to the same size.  I pulled out the wall paint color and mixed up a few others and voila, artwork.  It’s extra amateur, but it will help fill the space as a placeholder.

I also dipped into my trusty “T” collection and found two waiting for a good home.  One was a cheap silver painted color and the other was a brassy thing that had arrived from Urban Outfitters all scratched.  To the backyard spray booth they went and both came back a nice white.   I did my trusty templating to find a good placement . . .

And kitchen tweaking!

There’s more projects to come . . . there was also a flea market at Kenrick Plaza/Antique Mall last weekend.

Great weather, full parking lot and . . . I didn’t really bring anything home. 

I almost brought home this little dog, Paige, from Open Door Animal Sanctuary for my mom.  She’s a five-year-old schnauzer-maltese rescue and was very calm and sweet.   I resisted a pair of vintage wood slat bar stool things that I kind of am regretting not purchasing now.  Oh well.  Onward and upward.  More projects soon!

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Posted in Around the house, Hand Crafted, Kitchen

Next?

Posted on May 16, 2012 | 1 comment

Now that the kitchen’s mainly finished, I’ve been kind of bobbling around the house with a “what’s next” puzzled expression.  I think the best, most rational course of action would be to finish up all the loose odds and ends projects I have started but yet to finish (like the kitchen door, sewing some pillows for my mother, finishing the crochet plant pot among others . . . )

But something keeps calling me to the bathroom.  The last room in our house that the public sees that I have yet to do over.  Oh how I wish I had some before pictures from move-in day.  The bead board was painted a pee colored yellow and above that was a lovely yellow floral wallpaper.  I did paint the bead board white and the wall above it Sherwin Williams Amazing Grey . . . and then nothing.  Same nasty light fixture.  Same clunky wooden shelf.

Oh yeah and I changed out the knobs on the vanity.   Funny what a picture can remind you of.  The shower curtain was a Goodwill score.  $3 I think.  I was planning on making pillow covers out of it at one time but just went ahead and used it for its original purpose instead.  Go figure.

Prepare yourself for the aforementioned hideous light fixture:

(Not only are you hideous Mr. Light Fixture, you are also impossible to photograph).

So one day, this:

What’s that Elvis, you like the one on the bottom left the best?  So you want to hang out and coif your hair on Sherwin Williams Rainstorm?  Who am I to deny you Elvis. 

So, it’s not the same blue as the music room and kitchen, it’s a little moodier and seductively handsome, kind of like The King himself.  But you know me and my notoriously slow progress on projects . . . we’ll see this again in November?  Sounds good.

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Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions

Mother’s Day – another day to bring brunch back!

Posted on May 14, 2012 | 2 comments

For my 2012 resolutions, I had given myself a goal of “bringing brunch back”.  Now that our kitchen is mostly/kind of/all the way done, it seemed like a great time to host a Mother’s Day Brunch. 

Both JT and I’s mothers and siblings gathered together yesterday for la Fete de la Mere.  There was food and relaxation for all.  We had a coffee crunch right before the guests were to arrive (e.g. it was missing and we needed coffee STAT)  so I didn’t snap any pictures before nor did I want to trouble our guests and break up the flow of the little gathering so I didn’t snap any “durings” either.  But I do have a few “afters” to share:

What’s Mother’s Day without a banner?

Or “MOMOMOMOMOM” napkin rings (I just printed them out on our home printer, cut them down and used some double stick tape.  The green napkins I snagged at Ikea.  See the new stove in the background (#3)– it’s amazing and we love it).

And no brunch is complete without chocolate covered bacon . . . (so I’ve heard, I don’t actually eat bacon . . . )

I had some canvas left over from a deconstructed slip cover so I zig-zag stitched some blue and black lines on it to make a tablecloth at the last minute (if I would have had more time and some white thread, I probably would have serged the edges but for now it has a little more rustic look. . . .

So that was the most of it.  Food and family makes for a nice weekend.  Plus we didn’t have to leave our house!  I hope everyone had a great weekend as well.  Cheers – CT

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Posted in Around the house, Family, Hand Crafted

Auction Action

Posted on May 8, 2012 | 4 comments

Sunday was the big auction at Vandeventer Vintage.  The small-ish shop filled up with other dealers, antique mallers and assorted “vintage vultures” (as Dabito at Old Brand New calls them/us).  The action got started right at 1pm and for me a few unsuccessful attempts at bidding –first for an awesome Lucite book stand (you all know I love me some Lucite!) and then for a pair of Paul Klee paintings.  I could have gone a little higher but I was waiting for Lot #100 — a pair of Hans  Wegner (esque) rope/jute folding chairs.  These had some wear to them so they came with two sheepskins (real and vintage) and you all know how I LOVE sheepskins. .

So . . . here’s the living room on Sunday night after a major rearrangement:

And again in the morning light:

And as seen by a lazy sprawled out dog . . .

(There’s another lazy dog on the sofa hiding behind the sofa arm. They can’t be bothered to get out of the way for the sake of photos.)

I was also lucky/determined enough/coughed up enough cash to win Lot #56 – an arc lamp:

It’s been a nice addition to the living room.  I’m typing under it right now . . .

The base actually disguises a real-honest-to-goodness brick to act as a counterbalance to the light fixture proper.

I’m not 100% sold on it though because it’s a little brassier then I usually bring home . . .  Mr. Modtomic not only has a nice video of the auctioneer from Sunday running through his patter (favorite line: “You got to find ’em first!”, repeated 100 times) and also has some awesome CHROME arc lamps he scored this weekend.  Jealous. (Check it out here and here).

But I’m definitely keeping the pair of chairs . . . (do you know how hard it can be to find things in pairs?)

Then the weekend wrapped up with a bang when JT found two guitars on Craigslist calling his name.  Quote from the guy he bought them from “When I buy things, I like to buy them in pairs”.  Me too, random Craigslist dude, me too.

Maybe JT will be back with a guitar post.  It’s been awhile, I bet you miss him.  The guitars are identical except their finish — this one is my favorite of the pair:

I can’t choose between Hans and Wenger though.  They’re both my favorites!

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Posted in Dogs, Furniture, Guitars, Thrifting

1st attempt at auctions . . . wish me luck!

Posted on May 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

I heard about (e.g. read about) from my go-to source for all St. Louis vintage modern, Mister Modtomic, that there is a big auction this Sunday at Vandeventer Vintage.  Yes, that Vandeventer Vintage . . . the one that brought us Paul!

I still love me some Paul.

At the auction on Sunday there will be some more Paul . . . but I’m also kind of eyeing the Paulettes — the McCobb wannabes.

Like this one.

Hello darling.

It looks like there will also be some smalls which might be good for those of us who don’t want to part with large bills.

Hello Nelson clock.  (Although you still may require parting with some large bills . . . )

There also is some music-related “man stuff” (I type with a dose of sarcasm) so hopefully JT won’t mind accompanying me on my first foray into the auction world.

There is a preview between noon and 1pm and the real thing starts at 1:00.  I didn’t actually post images of what I’m really on the prowl for because that might be giving myself competition!  Check out Vandeventer Vintage’s Flickr page for images of all the rest of the items up for grabs.  Any guesses as to what I’m really after?  Here’s a hint — good things come in pairs!

Have a great weekend everyone!  We’re also attempting to get lucky getting our 2nd stove off Craigslist . .. yeah that one that was in all the “Kitchen’s finished” pictures is gone and we have had a gaping hole there for a week . . . And it’s “Cinco de Derby” (right Jess?)  Cheers!  CT

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Posted in Furniture

Dip It?

Posted on May 3, 2012 | 7 comments

When the blogger’s away . . . . she’s working on more projects so she can have something to blog about?

Or she’s having a melt-down about her job/future/creative career path and can’t get to the computer?

Take your pick . . .

At any rate, this blogger is back with a question – should I dip it?

Let me clarify — there seems to be a growing trend of furniture/decorative items that are partially painted/dipped.  Case in point, these gorgeous chairs I first saw on Desire to Inspire —

 

Now I have 4 matching chairs being hoarded in my basement and I’m thinking they might look a lot better getting this “dipped” treatment . .

What do you think?

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

Alley magic & oops, I destroyed our kitchen . . .

Posted on April 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Out on a walk with Sophie, Shenanigan and the husband, and what else should we happen upon but some more South City alley gems.

We came back with the car and loaded her up.  I think we may have stumbled upon a neighbor who is slowly purging items out of their basement of something because I’m 99.9% positive these two chairs match the other pair we brought home  back in October . . .

So, these are now being hoarded in my basement, although I am hatching a plan that will bring everything out to the light of day come September . . . stay tuned.

In other news,  remember my last, semi-triumphant post about “completing” the kitchen?

Yeah, I tore it up again.  I mean not the tile but the base cabinets are all in disarray as they get painted and hardware gets installed .  . . so back to the “project awaiting completion” status for the kitchen.

Have a good rest of your weekend everyone!  Go forth and tear up some projects in the hope of getting over the hump of “mostly-done-but-there’s-still-a-few-more-things-I-need-to-work-on” to “DONE!”

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Posted in Around the house, Kitchen, Thrifting

The Kitchen *Ta Da*

Posted on April 25, 2012 | 2 comments

I know I have been big talk and broken promises on getting a kitchen post up, so I’ll tease no longer.  This. Is. It.  After trolling through the 183 before, during, during and after pictures, I’ve done my best to distill it down to the basics.

For starters — here’s the only picture I could dig up of what we started with back around move-in day. 

Baby blue laminate countertops, 80s oak trimmed and white laminate cabinets (the upper doors were already taken off in prepared-ness for a re-do), this weird shelving unit a former owner had constructed with an oddly placed light bulb (and it turns out the shelving thing was covering up a big spidery hole in the ceiling.  The before picture doesn’t really show the beauty of the 60s-70s era peel and stick tile flooring.  It had so many indentations making up the pattern that I could never fully make it look clean. . . (but to be honest, after one attempt, I never really tried that hard again . . . )

To show you how far we’ve come, here’s a few “during” pictures while we tried to figure out how to cope with this little kitchen (overall open space is about 9′ x 10′).

Things got a little hectic as we tried to find a way to store everything — both JT and I enjoy cooking (maybe JT a little more . . . ) and we cook from scratch a lot. 

Things also got a little boring with a white on white palette — after surveying some of my designer friends and the husband, I decided to go bold and change out the walls to blue.

Then, a few weeks ago . . . floor prep began and in came NEW TILE!  JT and his dad did most of the hardest work but I got to get in there and roll up my sleeves and help with grouting and sealing.  I also used the tile saw, which I was very very proud of because as a general rule I don’t mess with power tools (left-handed person’s death sentence). 

(See how nasty that floor was!  That’s as clean as it could be!)

And, drumroll please, here are the afters you all have been waiting for . . .  to better see the tile (and to get pictures of such a teeny-tiny space) I did some bird’s-eye views for you:

Here’s a floor plan to orient yourself, if you’re not dizzy from the bird’s-eye fly through:

And a few more, looking through the kitchen from the doorways:

This is my favorite view and favorite part of the kitchen (after the floor) right now:

Oh Ikea, how I love you!  This is an Ikea Grundtal rail system (same as the pot rail on the other wall) and it holds so much clutter up off our little run of counter.  If your mother ever told you “A place for everything, and everything in its place”, she was right!  It’s so much easier to keep the kitchen clean now that everything has a place to go to.

So, that’s the kitchen.  I still have a two page list printed out and hanging on the side of the fridge of little things that need to be completed (including but not limited to actually doing something artsy-esque to the side of the fridge . . . ).  Some I’m trying to tackle in the next few weeks, like painting the base cabinets to match the uppers, installing pulls on the cabinets and painting and reinstalling all the trim and floor transitions.  Some things are just waiting until the perfect thing comes along, like an art piece or something I’m hunting for to hang over the stove.  All in all, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished and happy to have a kitchen that feels like home. 

 Thanks for reading, everyone!  This little blog has really motivated me to work on the kitchen and other projects and I appreciate it so much!  So feel free to comment away — what do you love?  What do you hate?  What would you have done differently for your own house?  Where can I find that perfect art piece for over the stove?  

Cheers!  CT

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Posted in Around the house, Kitchen

The last of our Green Shag goodies . . .

Posted on April 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

As promised, one of our other “picks” from Green Shag market is guitar-related:

Amongst JT’s dizzying array of guitars, can you pick out the new (old) stand?    The previous stand was a little tech-y and JT was always having to pack it up to take with him to gigs.  Now this new sculptural beauty can stay put in the music room (although the back leg does fold in for transport).

Better yet, it can also hold acoustic guitars which the old stand couldn’t handle.

(Not pictured with an acoustic guitar though — for the most part his Gibson lives in its case with its humidifier . . . )

We also found a bundle of old teacher’s aids posters.  They were all 18×24 or larger and really affordably priced for larger scale artwork.

There was a spot in the music room needing some art.  There are actually a lot of spots in our house needing some art, but let’s start with this spot.  For most of our time in this house, we were displaying our diplomas here:

But college graduation is fast becoming a memory and I need the frames for some artwork in the KITCHEN so down them came.

I didn’t have a large frame for our new poster and wasn’t really willing to spend any amount of $ on it.  I had some mat board down in the basement so I measured out the interior opening I would need, brushed on a few coats of black acrylic craft paint and jerry-rigged together a hanging mechanism out of some painter’s tape and a piece of leather cord.

Ta da, artwork!  (Or back of artwork, at any rate . . . )

The back says this “Specimens of original 19th-century American wood type.  From American Wood Type by Rob Roy Kelly.  Copyright 1969 by Litton Educational Publishing Inc.  Courtesy of Rob Roy Kelly and Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York.    Then it goes on to detail educational facts about typography and the interplay of negative and positive shapes.  That’s a lot of words to retype.  We’re more worried about what it looks like in the music room, right?

And I like that it’s music related (ish?)  Can anyone else see the word “Hum” or is this just one of those Magic Seeing Eye posters with a different label on the back . . .  The blue walls seem to color shift a little in each picture I take in there . . . just like the KITCHEN!   Pictures of that next post!

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Posted in Around the house, Art in Analog, D.I.Y., Hand Crafted, Music related, Thrifting