Category Archives: Around the house

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

Posted on April 28, 2012 by | 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 by | 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 by | 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

A little weekend update . . .

Posted on April 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Kitchen update soon, promise.  First here’s a little update . . .

Sophie got a Thunder Shirt . . .

And learned how to pose for camera.

Shenanigan became a chameleon as I tried to photograph our little tree/plant that I’ve named “Jazz Hands”.  (He may have been a little upset with me by his annual vet visit followed by a nail clipping that morning).

Earth Day recycling of all the random things that have a plug at Rex (Recycling Extravaganza).  Although it was a little un-earth friendly because they made us all queue up and drive through to the different drop off stations . . . . I’m not complaining because we had been stockpiling some broken appliances for a while (two humidifiers, a hair dryer and straightening iron) along with so many outdated technology components.

And after playing back-to-back gigs Friday and Saturday night, JT snagged a new guitar off Craigslist . . .

That’s a hard-working lumberjack.  (Please help me convince him to get the paisley pick-up covers.  It would make that guitar pretty B.A.)

Not bad for two days off work.  There’s more, like some projects around the house (kitchen!) but those are coming soon — I PROMISE!

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Guitars, Miscellaneous Diversions

Another round at the Green Shag

Posted on April 17, 2012 by | Leave a comment

We spent almost every free moment this past weekend on our hands and knees in the kitchen – grouting, wiping up grout haze and then sealing said grout.  However there was some curing/drying time required for the tile, grout and sealant to set, so I convinced JT to take me by the Green Shag Market again.  No need to sit and watch the paint (sealant) dry.

Our first visit netted us the vinyl ottoman and Pendleton blanket, both of which have been living in the music room.  I knew I was in trouble about four stalls in, when we started slowing down and calling out to each other to check out whatever cool thing we had just discovered.  By the third aisle, we had to start a “pile” at the check-out counter so we would have our hands free to finish perusing the store.

Here’s a peek at one of our (well mine really) scores — a gorgeous, spiky sculpture thing that had me at hello.

(Yes those are unpainted hole patches you see behind there.  I finally got around to patching the holes, just not painting them all right!  I’ve been busy!  And I tried to Photoshop it out but I decided to just keep it real.)

I picked the spiky spaceship up gingerly at Green Shag, expecting it to be heavy but it was surprisingly light – hollow.  It is a plastic catch-all dish and for $8 it was most definitely mine.  I’m always looking for aesthetically pleasing ways to store stuff.     Unlike some of the utterly bare second homes of rich Manhattanites with housekeepers you see on the pages of Elle Decor, we have clutter at our little bungalow and need ways to contain it.     Our house is lived in, every inch, and having a great stash spot for things like gum and the bar of “T” soap your mother gave you for Easter even though you are a 31-year-old grown woman is critical (But Thanks Mom!).

Better yet, the two halves of the dish are identical so if we ever want to get real fancy up in here, they can be gourmet dog dishes for Sophie and Shenanigan.  Yikes.

I’ll have some tile pictures soon — we got finished up so late the other night and then with this pesky work thing I haven’t had any good daylight for proper pictures.  I don’t want to tease you too much so here’s one I snapped in the morning before work. . . .

I am IN LOVE!!! (And Internet shouting, sorry people).  More on our other Green Shag scores later.  Here’s a hint — one involves a guitar.

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Posted in Around the house, Thrifting

Kitchen Tile, I Love You

Posted on April 12, 2012 by | 2 comments

Our emptied out kitchen was bizarre and no matter how much the floor was cleaned, it still looked dirty.

Yes, I still need to put artwork in that Ikea frame . . .

Thanks to all the grooves imprinted into this linoleum tile, it was a major dirt catcher.  And a house with two dogs does not need any dirt catchers.  Plus there was some charming other features like this hole to nowhere:

The water line and gas line come up through a separate hole so this is a head-scratcher as to its purpose.  Direct “telephone” line to the work bench below?  Dunno.  We filled it in with an old champagne cork.  You can also see how the previous owners didn’t undercut the jams and instead left more dirt catchers there.  Lovely.

What is lovely?  A sight for now-sore eyes? (Sorry about that gross pic.)   The kitchen at around 10pm last night.  New, gorgeous 12×12 tile in a nice warm grey.

JT and his dad worked hard all day and I came home to a half tiled kitchen.  Fast forward to 10pm and it was pretty much all wrapped up.  The elder Mr. T is at our house right now (the benefits of retirement) finishing up the pantry floor and a few other things.  I’m so lucky to have such a handy and helpful father-in-law (and husband too).  My boys take good care of me. 

So, we’ll be grouting come Friday! I’ll be back with more pictures, don’t you worry.  This is the biggest project we have tackled on the house to date and it will be such a MAJOR improvement.

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Posted in Around the house, D.I.Y., Family, Kitchen

Little things can make a big difference!

Posted on April 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

We’re kind of bogged down in the middle of a bunch of projects right now and I haven’t wanted to post blog updates of every minute detail.  It’s the after shots that are so much fun, not the little incremental during shots. 

We did what we thought would be a little project last Saturday that in true DIY form, turned into a big project (or at least time wise.)

The music room has been mostly done for a while but the door has always bothered me.  All the other doors in our house are solid core old wood doors with Art Deco knobs.  The music room door was a cheapo solid core door FAUX PAINTED (by the previous owners, obviously) to look like wood with a hideous brass knob.  It was time for it to get lost.  We had hunted around the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for a new/old door with no luck.  Then we remembered there was one in the garage . . . . that used to be the back door on the house before the sun porch was added on . . . and it was a (almost) perfect fit!

It wasn’t really a perfect fit.  JT performed door surgery and cut off a lot of rotted stuff at the bottom, notched out space for the hinges, then had to shim and shim and shim (and then power sand) for this thing to fit.

But through sheer willpower and determination, he got it to fit.  And it was worth it.

It’s a relatively small change that makes such a big difference!  Now we can see into our magical little music room haven but keep the pesky peeing Sophie from visiting her new favorite spot on the rug.  Light can flow through the whole house.

The music room beckons you in to hang out and relax (and play a guitar if you are so inclined).

It’s not all the way done — JT has the knob soaking in a concoction of chemicals to get some paint off (the previous homeowners were very liberal in their application of white paint and we find it most of everywhere).  So the new/old knob still has to go back on.  We’re also going to install some blinds on the music room side of the door so if we have a house crasher/overnight guest they can sleep in privacy. 

Here’s the view from the other side:

(See Mr. Shenanigan peering in? — the bottom panes are just at nosy dog height).  The black chair is just visiting the music room temporarily. . . .  it has been preempted from its (new) normal spot by, of all things, the refrigerator.

Yup, kitchen tile is HAPPENING!  Wednesday night folks.  I’m so excited.  All these little (and big) projects makes this old house feel like our home.  

Have a great week everyone!  Since our kitchen is in disarray I will be eating lots of fast food, tiling my heart out and enjoying every second.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Guitars, Kitchen

Pillows (Really? Pillows? Yes, pillows)

Posted on April 5, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I haven’t been around in my digital form lately, tending the blog.  Maybe because it’s because I’ve been too busy sewing pillows.  Well, yes and other things that are too boring to go into here.  So.  Pillows.

My straight line sewing skills continue to develop . . . At this point I think I’ve mastered the envelope back pillow.  I had some peace sign fabric I bought on a whim at Anatols hanging around my craft room.  Paired with some tweed-y fabric I picked up a Garden Ridge that at one point was destined for a project chair in the basement, I turned out a trio of “peace, man” pillows.

(There are two of the 20×20 peace pillows, they just don’t both fit in the rocker.  And if it don’t fit in the rocker, it don’t make it into the picture!)

Another pillow project was the test pillows for the white canvas I want to use for the Danish Daybed Sofas.  (That are still in the garage — and the foam that I was considering reusing STILL stinks to high heaven.  I don’t know that these CoMo owners did to it to make it hold on to such an aroma . . . ).  The idea for these pillows is to have Shenanigan lay on them a whole lot, to see how they weather such doggy abuse.  I’m sure he will be happy to comply.   But I also thought if I was going to the trouble of making some pillows, I ought to make them a little more interesting than just plain white canvas.  

So I drew a connected chevron pattern on them with black permanent fabric marker.  I was considering strategically coloring in some of the shapes but wasn’t able to decide on color/placement/yada yada yada so I finally just sewed  ’em up.

They’re real classy — I only bought one yard of the test fabric, so they don’t really close all the way without the help of some safety pins. . . .

Let the testing begin!

Shenanigan was the first volunteer . . . . then Sophie hopped up there too . . .

She doesn’t have this compulsion to be on TOP of the pillows like Shenanigan does though, she’s content to just be near them  . . .

That was where I left them this morning and it’s probably where they are right now.  It’s a dog’s life all right!

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Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions, Dogs, Hand Crafted

Back Yard Reboot

Posted on March 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago, husband and I spent a whole day with a sort-of-pronged post digger type dirt mover-thingy and a shovel, scraping and scratching away at the thick and densely tangled layer of weeds that covered our back yard.  That day of immense effort got about 1/8 of the back yard de-weeded enough that it could be seeded.  Oh my.

So after learning that a light-duty tiller rental from the oh-so-nearby Home Depot (even I with my girly arm could probably throw a rock from our front porch and hit it) was only $32 for four hours, it seemed a better use of our time.

  So last Saturday we undertook this total back yard do-over.  It was time —  not much has happened to this back yard in the seven years we’ve owned this house except a lot of dog shit. 

Farmer Ted and his magic tiller dug up most of the yard.  I even tried my hand at the tiller and let it drag me around a little.  The yard waste dumpster in the alley was empty in the morning when we started and F-U-L-L when we finished.  My arms may never recover.

Our “helpers” got tired out too, but mainly from all the overseeing they had to do.

It’s going to look a little weird for a while and not just because of the funky straw grow mats we put down.   Hopefully soon there will be grass or some semblance of grass though.  If the mangy South City robins manage to eat all the grass seed, we will end up doing sod but the effort will still be worth it in the end — the yard needed to be tilled up to allow anything besides this tangled mess of weeds to grow.

And . . . this little patch at the end of the yard that was for a few years an overgrown garden may soon look like something that resembles this:

I couldn't find the original source for this image but it's gorgeous. I want to go to there now!

A little “moment of zen” in our own backyard . . . . more to follow!

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Posted in Around the house, Yard Work

Am I the Chicken or the Egg?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by | Leave a comment

As the blue-ing of the Thompson house progresses, I’m starting to wonder — am I a Chicken or an Egg?  Meaning, did I jump on the blue bandwagon after seeing it pull down the street past my house or am I up in the driver’s seat at the start of the parade?

 

At the end of the day, I’m not sure it matters.  I love blue.  I have always loved blue.  I have a sapphire engagement ring I wear everyday for chrissake.  Because I loved blue so much, I steered away from it as a decorating/design decision.  I was trying to stretch and try out other things.  Look where it got me — I ended up back at blue.  So, the morale of the story folks, is to always design/decorate your own home/treehouse/apartment/room above the garage to reflect YOUR tastes, loves and interests.  That way you’ll always love it.

I think I’ll always love blue. I think blue loves me back.

(P.S. — It’s also just paint . . . .So if blue and I have a falling out and get a nasty divorce, we can start over fresh with green.  Or tan.  Not purple.)

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Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions