Living Analog

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

Posted on April 8, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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:

Everything has changed! Back to the drawing board!!

4 Comments

Posted in Dogs, Furniture, Living Room

Another one about homemade art

Posted on April 6, 2013 by CT | 6 comments

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.

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.

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

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.

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

6 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Arty, D.I.Y., Dogs, Living Room, Miscellaneous Diversions

Rearranging is my middle name.

Posted on April 3, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

I don’t know if I was born this way or if it something I developed, but I have a real and abiding affection for rearranging our house all the time. Like last Friday at 9:00 at night. JT is trying to watch a music documentary and I’m buzzing around the house, looking for something to tinker with. Sometimes I just can’t stop!

Since Cameron joined the household, we needed a lot of clear floor space in the bedroom for dog lounging (the sleep in there in dog beds on the floor). Well, I still hadn’t gotten around to putting together that art wall and the large canvas was leaning against the wall . . . . until one night when (we think) Sophie knocked into it and toppled the whole thing over. Being the neurotic dog that she is, she was TERRIFIED. That canvas tried to eat her and she had to sleep on top of me that night to make sure it wouldn’t come back for her later.

So I found a place for it in the living room! Yep, the before I’m about to show you I had labeled as an “after” all of two weeks ago. Hold on to your seats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

There already was a substantially hung nail there from before (still hadn’t gotten around to removing/spackling/sanding/painting) and so I thought I would try the big canvas there.

I think it’s working. At least I like it and so does Husband. Although I need to get another indoor tree since I shuffled this one over here and now the other corner where it was living looks sad. Fiddle leaf fig for the win this time?

The great thing about this arrangement is how great this works as a “landing strip” (Apartment Therapy’s words, not mine) or stuff containment zone. When we come in the front door (right there to the right), we can put down our work bags, slide our shoes under the tables, drop our keys on Paul. It’s all working out great. The modem is also under the tables as well — they had to drill through the wood floor (so horrible, but before the days of wireless stuff and we used to have our TV there back forever ago when we had cable). It’s hiding in the turned over basket. The basket is pretty open weave and a lot bigger than the stuff under there so it seems to be “breathing” all right.

Anyone else keep an extra house-worth of furniture in their basement so rooms upstairs can be rearranged at a moment’s notice? There are some advantages to hoarding! Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Living Room

Guess what arrived at Living Analog?

Posted on April 2, 2013 by CT | 8 comments

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 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.

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.

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

8 Comments

Posted in Dogs

Goodwill – Pounds of Fun

Posted on March 29, 2013 by CT | 11 comments

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!!!

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:

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.

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

11 Comments

Posted in Dogs, Thrifting

Living Analog @ Lansdowne Life!

Posted on March 27, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

Hey everyone! I know it has been quiet over here . . . .

But I actually put together a guest post (a tutorial!) over at Lansdowne Life while Erin is out spending time with her new baby girl.

Check it out here.

(In a weird twist of fate, one of my Stitch and Bitch girls Erin is also at home with her new baby girl! Welcome to the world Lily and Etta. Thanks to having such creative mamas, I think you’re going to have a pretty beautiful world to live in.)

I recently added a new sidebar of all the STL area bloggers I’m reading. We’re a small but mighty group. If there are any others you would recommend, send them my way (the more design, DIY, or MCM-based the better). Be sure to click around and maybe you’ll find some more blogs to add to your daily reads.

And (random transition) . . . . I put in an order for some more Flor carpet tiles . . . area rugs and runners to come. Here’s what we ordered:

Where do you think it’s going! I can’t wait (but it might not arrive until Monday so I will have to wait!) Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in D.I.Y., Design Diversions

Where did Paul go?

Posted on March 21, 2013 by CT | 2 comments

The new music station caused me to once again shuffle everything around in the Living Room but have no fear, folks, Paul is staying.

(An updated furniture floor plan. I don’t know what happened to those poche walls but it looks kind of cool.)

There are some pieces in the house that I really want to hold on to, others I keep around because they fit in for now or I’m still hunting down that amazingly-perfect-but-so-cheap-from-a-thrift find. “Paul”, as I call my McCobb Planner Group secretary is a keeper. He was holding up the ledges wall but has now moved over here to greet visitors at the front door.

This wall is looking a little bare but I’m slowly moving in artwork as the furniture continues to shuffle around. What’s great about this setup is it gives us the “landing strip” they’re always pushing for over at Apartment Therapy. The salon-style vinyl chair is a great place to drop my purse or my work bag and Paul gladly holds the day’s mail and the contents of JT’s pockets.

(View from the front door above. That’s my Martin Sigma that I still don’t know how to play yet.) Ironically the salon style vinyl chair and the four wood chairs we have around the tulip table were the things I thought for sure would sell at the Green Shag sale last year but didn’t. Then I had each posted on Craigslist and now I’m pretty glad they’re still here. Go figure.

In the (much larger) world outside our living room, Google decided to close down its Reader. I liked Reader so much that I even blogged about it (almost two years ago! yikes!) So what is a blog-addicted girl to do? I tried out Feedly and liked the iPhone app but it wouldn’t work on the required Internet Explorer browser we have at work. No blog reading all day long? Not happening. So I switched over to Bloglovin. (Kind of wish they had a better name, makes me think of McLovin from Superbad). It has a much more image-oriented format, which I am enjoying so far.

(Yep, that’s a screenshot from my Bloglovin account and I am a major blog addict!!!)

In the blog world, I’m afraid we may have lost JT from this site forever. He set up a great new site for his band, Grand Beauty, here. We haven’t all the way decided on things but I think he may start posting his guitar raids and fixes on the band website. We’ll see.

At any rate, you should check it out. He’s uploaded a bunch of their recordings. That’s my husband singing “Beast of Burden” and if it doesn’t make you want to take your clothes off and dance around, you may need to have your head examined. Cheers – CT

PS – HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!

2 Comments

Posted in Around the house, Guitars, Living Room, Music related

Ledges: Painted & Hung

Posted on March 19, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

Projects move in fits and starts over here at Living Analog and nothing ever stays in the same place for more than two months. That’s the peril of living with an interior designer. One of our friends at our Sweetheart Dinner commented that our house is like a kit of Legos — we always take it apart and rearrange it. I’ll take that as a compliment (albeit a nerdy one!) — we love to reimagine our space and have chosen flexible furniture pieces to accommodate my need for change.

So, change. Here’s one wall of the dining room over the last few months:

And then, I drug home a bunch of lumber, convinced JT to hammer it all together for me and — voila! — an art wall!

The real impetus for change here came from my New Year’s resolution to make it easier to listen to music in our house. I knew I wanted to move the record player, tuner and speakers to a more central location. So while I was at it, I thought why not add some storage and display space above. At first I was going to use our Ikea floating shelves but those got repurposed for the Wall of Wine.

That left me scrambling for a new plan and I decided on these ledges from Ana White. They were affordable and easy to customize — we have about 5′-3″ of wall there so we made the ledges 5′ long to max out the space. And by going with these ledges rather than just hanging our picture frames right to the wall, it gives us flexibility to change things us as the mood strikes (which, as you know, with me is often!)

Right now I’m displaying some of JT’s record collection along with some art pieces we’ve collected or been gifted over the years. I still need to get some things all the way into their frames and finalize that mysterious blank canvas. I’ll be back with more as I tweak it along the way. This wall has been surprisingly difficult for me to photograph (wah wah) so I’ll try to get some better pictures for the ol’ blog too.

I’m off to spin some more vinyl and dance around in my sock feet with the dogs. What have you been changing up around the house lately? I find that all home renovation projects go better with some loud tunes, especially of the Rolling Stones variety and now we finally have a spot to really “tune in”!

Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in Living Room, Music related

How to be a Hostess with the Mostest

Posted on March 12, 2013 by CT | 5 comments

Last weekend my littlest sister came in town and we decided to celebrate her birthday with a retro “Mad Men”-esque themed shindig. I’ve been working on entertaining more so I was excited to host. And now that I’ve got a few of these events under my belt, I’m starting to feel like my Martha abilities are getting polished and refined. So while I am in no way, shape or form a party-throwing wunderkind, I thought I’d pass on a few tips I learned the hard way.

First, plan a little in advance if you can! This seems like an obvious one but sometimes by planning in advance you can have a few extra touches ready to set the party off. Since this party was “Mad Men” themed, two things were very important — appropriate cocktails and cigarettes. I scouted Amazon for a set of plastic martini glasses (I also saw some at Party City) and also a case/carton of candy cigarettes. That was all the non-food or beverage shopping I did but I think it gave the party a little something “extra” (and thanks to the interwebs I didn’t have to leave my living room to do it).

Plus having one pre-mixed drink made serving guests easy. Thanks to my mom I’m set up with a bunch of nice entertaining pieces like the large drink dispenser in the picture above. We made a lemon drop martini (recipe here, found via Pinterest) and made sure to garnish the martini glasses with a little extra sugar!

Another planning tip: ask for help! If you have good friends or family coming over, ask if they can bring something! Since you are hosting the event, they’re usually happy to comply. My family really stepped up for this one — my sister made some amazing champagne cupcakes along with bringing a dip and some pizzas and my mom also stocked us up with a dip and beer for the non-martini drinkers.

The morning of the party or the day before if I’m ambitious I like to set up the house. I put out all the serving pieces I’ll be using where I’ll be needing them, making sure to plan out spots for what I’ve asked guests to bring.

I dipped into my wrapping paper bin and pulled out some simple gold paper to make a quick tablecloth for the kitchen work island — it made the kitchen feel a little more festive. As you guys saw for the Sweetheart Dinner, I’m not above rearranging the furniture if the party needs it. Set up the space to function and tuck other things away (our basement filled up and then emptied back out again for this one!).

Now for my super secret party success tip: one or two hours before the party starts empty your dishwasher, trash and recycling. That way you have a place to go with last-minute stirring spoons, soda and alcohol bottles and all the cartons and bags that packaged party food comes in. There have been times where my dishwasher is already full when we start the party and I have nowhere to tuck some of these things out of sight. In a small kitchen like ours, it makes a big difference!

The best and last tip I can leave you with for party hosting: enjoy yourself! Once everything is set-up and your guests arrive make sure you get out of the kitchen and enjoy yourself! It seems like having a theme or costume party helps a little too — people get into it and let go a little more too.

(Candy cigarettes, remember! 40 calories a pack too! It was a small purchase but it made the party that much more memorable — as did encouraging everyone to get out their Don and Betty Draper best party attire!) That’s my little sister, the birthday girl, on the right. Some say she could be my fraternal twin. Okay, maybe that’s just me, but who’s keeping track?

It was a great time and I’m glad my sister could make the trek from Omaha so we could all hang out. Her friends were super sweet to put up with my 1960s attitude on partying (I think kids just “hang out” these days . . .) and we all had a great time.

Okay, maybe I have one final party tip: once the evening’s over, I quickly tuck anything perishable into the fridge and then I GO. TO. BED. I save clean-up for the day after when I have more brain cells to do a quick and efficient sweep.

Any other party hosting tips or ideas? My next fiesta is a fiesta – a Cinco de Mayo bachelorette party for my middle sister, the bride-to-be! I’ve already got big plans for this one and yes they involve a sombrero wearing stripper! (Just kidding sis . . . or am I!)

And I’ve got a quick tease for you — the party put JT and I into overdrive to finish up those Super Bowl shelves. I need to take some better pictures and show those to you guys next. The wall that Paul was on is looking a lot different!

Cheers – CT

5 Comments

Posted in Entertaining, Miscellaneous Diversions

Like a Vegan

Posted on March 5, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

(Sorry for the cheezy post title. And apparently being a vegan means you spell cheese with a “z”. Or at least the “cheeze” vegans eat.)

So, this change/upheaval in my diet has also wreaked a little havoc on our kitchen. Every dinner begins with chopping broccoli (cue Dana Carvey) and ends with a load of dishes. Our kitchen is TINY! and only has one 8′-6″ run of counter top (with a sink in it). So, cooking is fun. I feel like putting up a sign that says “lather, rinse, repeat” because the chopping, washing, dish-putting-away cycle seems endless sometimes.

I’ve been looking for ways to streamline/simplify/organize and stumbled on a few. #1 – Pot Lid racks from the Container Store. This is one major base cabinet we have for cooking pan storage stuff. In a perfect world the racks should have been mounted a tad lower on the door but I just centered them and hung them before I fully conceptualized how the dang things actually worked. But all in all, this is a great space saver and makes the lids a lot easier to grab since they’re not all jumbled up like they were before.

#2 – Cookbooks! Right now I have been checking out a lot of cookbooks from the library to see which ones I would like to purchase for long-term use. And of course I print out recipes from Pinterest or the interwebs in general and just stick those on the fridge with a magnet. I started pinning a bunch of ideas for cookbook storage and then happened across this little rack for $1.81 at Value Village and figured I’d give it a spin.

The biggest, bestest change we have made is in the pantry. Now just understand that our pantry is a wreck and this change only involves the spices. The rest is a work in progress. Okay — remember – spices. Here’s the pics:

The Elfa Over-the-Door system (also from the Container Store, are we sensing a trend?) has made cooking SO. MUCH. BETTER. Before all our spices were haphazardly placed in a pull out bin (see asterisk on the before picture). In order to get at said spices, you had to pull out the whole bin, search for some precious space on the counter and hunt until you found the right spice (they’re not all labeled on the top). Thanks to a gift card from my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas we took advantage of the January Elfa sale and splurged on this puppy a little. But not to despair – it clamps to the top and bottom of the door and tightens down with a screw so we can take it with us forever and ever wherever we go (and we will). The baskets easily lift off the track for quick spice access. I could go on and on but let’s just say this thing is the bee’s knees and I love it and want to add a few more baskets. (Also I just noticed the random black cloth on the sofa in the after picture – I was photographing a guitar for JT’s eBay endeavor and I could see the tan sofa reflecting on the nice shiny black guitar so presto – magical invisibility cloak cloth.)

So just for kicks, I thought I would share with you guys what this kitchen is whipping up:

1. Red Quinoa with Zucchini and Corn from Speed Vegan By Alan Roettinger (this was our first time having quinoa and it was really good!)

2. Jerk Sloppy Joes with Coconut Creamed Spinach from the Post Punk Kitchen

3. Black Beans, Mushrooms and Bok Choy from Speed Vegan

4. Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh with Carrots and Green Lentils from The Candle Cafe Cookbook by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza (just the tempeh recipe, the roasted carrots are from Door Sixteen – here. The lentils we had in the freezer . . . )

5. Hottie Black Eyed Peas with Ginger Sweet Potatoes & Apples from the Post Punk Kitchen

#6 Brownie in a Mug – Improvised from a recipe/segment I heard on NPR. I can’t find it on the website anymore but here’s my version of the recipe:

Combine 1T vegan butter, 1T almond milk and a splash of vanilla extract in a bowl or mug. Microwave until the butter melts. Then stir in 1T flour, 1T sugar and 1T dark cocoa powder. I also added some peanut butter, the recipe also suggests powdered espresso which I would like to try as well. Microwave for 1 more minute and voila – a brownie in a mug!

This is great since I have a total sweet tooth and JT does not. Plus there’s only one bowl to clean which is great! Our dishwasher is about to go on strike.

4 Comments

Posted in Kitchen, VEGAN

Living Analog

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

Another one about homemade art

Rearranging is my middle name.

Guess what arrived at Living Analog?

Goodwill – Pounds of Fun

Living Analog @ Lansdowne Life!

How to be a Hostess with the Mostest

Like a Vegan

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