Category Archives: Dogs

The story of Sophie and the bad dog adventure day . . .

JT and his dad made a trip to rural Ohio this past weekend for some time with his sweet 94-year-old grandmother.  With some free time on my hands, I decided it would be a good time to tackle my little basement lair, the “studio”.  (See this post for the crazy before pictures.)  It’s a tiny room with two concrete walls and concrete floors.  I’m going to add an area rug over the concrete to warm it up but I wanted to paint all the concrete first. . . seal it up and clean it up.  I am using the same Porch & Patio floor paint we used on the living room fireplace and am so excited to have a white floor somewhere in this house! PAINTING AWAY
This weekend was a little windy and Sophie had been hiding out in the basement due to her fear of the “Windman”.  After painting myself out of the studio (I’m doing half the floor at a time and then shifting all the furniture/clutter/mess/junk back over) I came back downstairs to find that little Miss Sophie had visited my newly painted floor.

CAUGHT YA

Caught with paint on her paws!  She was not a happy camper.  I took her out the basement back door and hustled her into the car.  It was off to Four Muddy Paws for a self-service dog wash.

BAD DOG ADVENTURE DAY

Poor thing.  The only place she had any paint was on her paws and really I wasn’t too worried about her tracking it around the house because it was already pretty dry when I found her but I was worried about her licking it off her feet.  Plus, she smelled, well, like a dog so a bath is never a bad idea.  Four Muddy Paws is great – the tub is elevated and they have stairs for big dogs to climb in.  They have everything already there – aprons for the people, doggy shampoo and conditioner, brushes, combs, eye wipes and towels.  Plus they have the little reverse vacuum “blow dryer” system which Sophie tolerated with only a few grimaces in my direction.  I think it’s a little less stressful for the dogs to get washed by us rather than groomed by someone they don’t know so I prefer to do it that way but since it’s not at our house, there’s no mess to clean up!

The doggy adventure rounded out with Miss Sophie making a quick trip to Home Depot for some more paint.  Well behaved dogs on leashes are allowed in our store and she was pretty pooped out from her bath so we scooted through the store (no pictures, I was in a rush and I had Sophie in one hand and spray paint in the other) before heading back home.  I had been texting the pictures to JT in Ohio so he had a real-time adventure (and lots of laughs) with us.  It was both a quiet and a crazy weekend but at least a little progress was made on my studio!

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

COUCH GO BYE BYE

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

LAZY LUMPS

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

GUARD DOG

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

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

SOPHIE DOUBTS ME

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

JUMBLED MESSES

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

MORE MESS

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

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

E:CT HOUSE3341 JAN 2011 Model (1)

Everything has changed!  Back to the drawing board!!

Another one about homemade art

One more post about artist canvases.  I’m not a painter.  I never had any formal training in painting.  I did have to take one drawing class in college and it was miserable.  I hated the critique days and having to put my deformed and pathetic sketches up next to my classmates beautifully rendered images.  But sometimes you need artwork for your house and you’re cash-strapped and you resort to painting it yourself.

Let me rewind for a minute.  A few months back I picked up a little canvas at the local St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop.  I searched high and low for the original images but to no avail — when I bought it, the canvas had a lavender background with white flowers painted on it.  It looked like something I would have presented in college had I been required to take a painting class (a little amateur-ish to say the least).  I felt a little bad when I jesso-ed over the canvas until I remembered it had been consigned over to St. Vincent de Paul.

Part two of this long-winded and potentially underwhelming story has to do with the brassy arc lamp I picked up at the auction at Vandeventer Vintage.  I was considering giving it a new coat of (spray) paint, maybe in black to help it fit in with the living room a little better.  (Read more of my angst here when we brought home a second lamp).  I decided instead of painting this great vintage gem, I would bring in more brassy/gold goodness to make it feel at home.

Back to the painting.  First I jesso-ed it, then I applied a few coats of a gold spray paint I had on hand.  I found a cool example image on Pinterest that had large blocks of color and used that as my starting point.  At first I had taped the canvas off with some 1″ painters tape we had around the house but the proportions felt weird so I “had to” order some washi tape from Etsy.

IN PROGRESS

The washi tape didn’t perfectly keep the paint inside its boundaries so I had to do a little touch-up once I removed it.   I took over the tulip table and spent a couple of days mixing up paint colors like a mad scientist.  I used the kitchen blue color, the living room accent wall (SW Urbane Bronze) in its full hue and also lightened a few shades with white and a few new colors.  JT requested “light red” and I told him he just asked for pink.  However I was able to mix up a nice red-orange that seemed to satisfy his request.

WHITE CANDLES

The brassy/gold undercoat plus the paint colors from around the house really work to tie things all together in the living room.

WHITE NAILS

Also, white fingernails!  Because Easter was last Sunday, I  feel like we’re in the clear  for white shoe season and I celebrated by putting one of my favorite colors on my nails.  Yesterday (Friday) was one of the first days it really, really felt like spring around here and everyone fled the office for City Garden at lunch.  I had lunch at Lulu’s, an all-vegan food truck (so good!) and took in the sights.  I know I talk about the Flaming Lips a lot, but this sculpture struck me as being very Wayne Coyne-esque.

PINK SUIT

On to the weekend everyone!  I’m taking Cameron to an adoption event today at the Kirkwood Wal-Mart from 11am to 1pm.  Stop by and say hi to the old guy!  Cheers – CT

Guess what arrived at Living Analog?

If you guessed Flor carpet tiles, you would be correct.

Or if you guessed sweet old black lab/husky mix, you would also be correct.

Yep, Cameron our foster dog is back.CAMERON 01

Cameron was adopted a little more than two years ago by Maggie, a sweet lady who loved him and wanted a companion around to spend her time with (she is retired).  Well Maggie also has Parkinson’s disease and the time had come for her to move someplace where she could get more assistance.  She looked and looked for a place where she could also take Cameron with her but didn’t have any luck.  I think she delayed her move (and better care) for some more time with Cameron which makes me kind of sad.

So Cam the Man is back in the house.  You can read his adoption posting on the Stray Rescue website here.

CAMERON 03

Sophie and Shenanigan are good with Cameron since he’s older and calmer like they are but really Cameron needs his own people to love him and care for him.  Have you ever tried petting three dogs at one time?  It doesn’t work out so well and they always seem to want attention, well, at the same time!  So that’s why we are looking for a home for Cam.

CAMERON 02

Spread the word — if you know anyone looking for a sweet older gentleman to spend their days with, Cam’s their man.  We love Stray Rescue and what they do for St. Louis dogs (and cats).  We’ve fostered a lot in the past (see the complete story here) and know there’s a forever family out there waiting for Cameron.

And the Flor?  Well we might wait a little before installing it . . . . when Cameron’s dark fur coat combines with Sophie and Shenigan’s tan furballs, it makes a marvelous mess.  We are still debating whether a robot vaccuum cleaner will work in our little house or not.

Back with more later! Cheers – CT

Goodwill – Pounds of Fun

It’s been a little while now, but St. Louis was recently blessed with a Goodwill by the Pound.  It’s a lot of crazytown where books and glassware are 79 cents per pound and everything else is 39 cents per pound.  They have these giant weigh scales at the checkout that you just roll your cart up on.  My kind of party.  I went when it first opened and it was pretty quiet.  JT and I went a little more recently and it was CROWDED!!!

GOODWILL BY THE LB INSIDE

It’s like a last chance Charlie for all this stuff.  They push out these giant blue bin/trucks every fifteen minutes or so and take others away (for good!  Exterminate!  Exterminate!  Sorry, husband started watching Dr. Who and even I can hear the evil shrieking from the next room.)  The furniture here is usually T.O.A.S.T. but there’s always at least something to be found of interest.

Here’s what I brought home:

WHAT I BOUGHT

Sometimes I wonder why I buy things but the thought of it maybe going away (forever!) means you just have to snatch it up and sent it back to Goodwill in a few months when you’ve regained your senses. (PS – Photo-editing faux-pas – that was supposed to say “produce” not “product”.  Chalk that one up to a Friday!)

So, random I know.  Next door to the Goodwill by the Pound is Warehouse of Stuff where we picked up two somethings for my basement lair/studio-in-the-works.  But I’m still stringing that one out for another day . . . .

Here’s what was going on while I was taking my “stuff” photos.  Idiot, ridiculous, lazy-a$$ dogs.

WORLDS MOST RIDICULOUS DOGS

That couch’s days are numbered — it’s soon to move into the Black Horse Studio where the guys have been recording!  See more at www.grandbeautymusic.com. (Also I think JT is going to post up his latest Craigslist find there soon.  He drug me up to Godfrey, IL last week for this thing.  And that’s how I got my rugs.  #lifeisatradeoff)

Have a great weekend and a Happy Easter everyone.  I should have some good stuff in the hopper next week (semi-Easter pun intended).  Cheers – CT

Fashion, For Dogs

Sophie and Shenanigan’s last set of collars, from Earth Dog, were getting a little grungy and they were starting to make us crazy with the constant jingle jangle of their tags clanging together.  So we took them off a while ago and they’ve been naked ever since.   At one point I had found a tutorial and was going to try my hand at making them new ones myself but finally realized that was just not in the cards.  We were looking like very bad pet guardians with these little wild animals in our house — what if something happened and they got out — No ID!  (they are both microchipped but when you see a dog running loose without a collar you don’t usually assume it’s someone’s pet . . . )

So I called on my good friend, Etsy!  I ordered and they did arrive.

NEW DUDS

We got them both collars and leashes from Learned Stitchworks. (Visit shop here).  Sophie’s collar is  a pattern called “Hearts Galore”  and Shenanigan is sporting “Silent Cinema”.

CLOSE UP

Learned Stitchworks also makes bow ties or flowers in a matching ribbon/fabric to the collars . . .  I’m not really supposed to dress the dogs in clothes (per the husband’s request) but I think I might have to get these . . .

They’ve been wearing them for a few weeks now and they are great!  We use the martingale style so they are a little looser while we hang out at home but then can tighten down to fit more snugly if we needed to grab them or when you clip a leash on.  This style has worked best for us because Shenanigan is kind of a “no neck” and I would feel bad if he had to wear a tight collar all day everyday.

To avoid the tag jingling, we’re going to get the name tags from Petsmart that will rivet right to the collar . . . still haven’t done that — we need to TCB on that one.

My only complaint is that the backside of the leashes are black but this is pretty standard for most of the custom leashes on Etsy.

GIVE ME A TREAT copy

Here’s Sophie looking regal on her sheepskin covered throne (I mean couch):

SOPHIE GIRL

And Shenanigan — I rolled over one morning and he had taken JT’s spot on his pillow.

MONKEY ON A PILLOW

This is a bad iPhone picture of him saying “scratch my face”.  Because that’s what dogs say.

Can I just tell you how hard it is to get two idiot dogs to sit still for these photos?

OUTTAKE 3 copy

There were a lot of outtakes.

January – Time for changes, even if little

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 . . . .

SIDE BY SIDE

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.

FULL NEW

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.

NEW CLOSE UP2

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.

DOGS BY FRIDGE

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

2013: The Year of Wine

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

JT AND CT

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

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

Here's where Shenanigan crashed after Christmas.

Here’s where Shenanigan crashed after Christmas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEFORE

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

TEMPLATING

And now the Year of Wine can begin.

AFTER

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

FINAL CLOSE UP

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

It’s that time again . . .

. . . 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

Let’s Get Large

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