Progress is boring! I want it done!

Posted on August 7, 2012 by | 1 comment

While more progress has been happening on the bathroom, it doesn’t make for so much fun and exciting content on the blog.  Here’s where we’re at:

This small little room took a not small amount of effort to get patched, textured/primed and now painted (and that’s only the gyp board, I still have to do the bead board!).  Thank goodness I’m not in it alone:

Husband came to my rescue.  Saturday morning we got out, ran some errands and stopped by Record Exchange for some new (old) vinyl.  With some Boss (The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street shuffle)  and Manassas (hey it was the dollar bin) blaring from the next room, we took turns painting — I did the brush for all the corners/trim cutting in and he wielded the roller.  JT also demoed out all the chair rail trim to make way for the new, chunkier profile stuff we’re putting in soon.  It turned up a little surprise — some of the yellow flower wallpaper was still living under there.

Yikes.  Imagine (if you dare) that instead of the nice Sea Serpent/dark grey-blue walls and white bead board there was yellow floral wallpaper and pee-yellow bead board.  Uh huh, that’s what it used to look like.  What I wouldn’t give for a “before” picture.  However that was seven years ago and this blog wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye — I just wanted it gone.

I think from here on out, the bathroom’s going top secret.  That way we can have a nice “ta da” come September 1st.  Although if I finish it sooner, I will post it sooner.  No need to keep you in heedless suspense.  So the One Month, One Project continues . . . .

In other One Month, One Project news, Stacey over at A Goode House went crazy and finished her king sized king bed project already.  So much for one month, more like one or two days!  Congrats on taking the leap AND getting it done.  That’s REAL progress.

Cheers – CT

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Posted in Bathroom

Don’t Worry, I Didn’t Fall In

Posted on August 3, 2012 by | 7 comments

After a long and list-y post about bathrooms and then a week of no blogging, it occurred to me that you guys might think I have had an unfortunate mishap with one of our bathroom fixtures.  Not to worry, I didn’t fall in. 

Although I did squeak in Item #1 (Apply textured wall finish as primer coat to walls and ceiling)  from my “To Do” list, I’ve also been buried under a mountain of furniture.  And not the stuff I’ve been hoarding in my basement.  No, we just had a big furniture bid package go out at work yesterday and it took up literally every spare minute of my time.  I have a hard time with this whole “balance” concept and always seem to fall off on one side or the other.  These last few weeks, work won the delicate tug-of-war that is my life. 

But enough complaining! (although I will say if you had to specify three floors worth of furniture for a new building on a small midwestern college campus, you might complain a little too . . . ).  Onward and upward!  By announcing my “One Month, One Project” goal to the interwebs, I was also gave myself a few days head start and used up the last weekend in July to texture over our un-smoothable bathroom walls.  It was a simple matter of buying a little jug of Sand Finish paint additive for around $4 at Home Depot and mixing it up with a gallon of white paint the previous homeowners had left in the basement.  It took a few coats to get an even texture but I think it will be worth it in the long run because it covers up all the weird patches and ugly bits that were making me crazy.  At the end of the day, it is a little more texture than I would have liked but I also just wanted to stop obsessing and be done! 

So be done (with this step) I am. 

I snapped these pictures this morning . . . the nasty light fixture is now done to three bulbs.  Soon very soon, he will be all the way gone and I will be so happy!

So, texture.  Next step is paint.  Although the blue we had picked for the bathroom was much darker than the blue we used in the kitchen and music room, it was reading so much lighter in our little bathroom.  Like almost the same.  Since I did the texture primer, I figured that gave me an opportunity for a fresh start with the paint color.  I picked up a gallon of Sherwin Williams “Sea Serpent” last night and I think painting will be happening tonight.   I grabbed a generic bathroom image via the   Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer to test out our new color —  it was the closest thing they had to our bathroom — some white beadboard and some painted wall surface.  Here’s Sea Serpent in action:

A little grayer, not so “happy” blue as the kitchen.  Just what the doctor ordered. And on the ceiling too, it’s going to be so nice!  And one step closer to One Month, One Project completion.  I also may have done a little internet shopping/ordering last night as well . . . the things I can fill my time with when it’s not absorbed by work (Enough complaining CT!) 

Since we are speaking of bathrooms, I thought I would share that my sister-in-law has also shared a makeover of one of hers and started up a blog!  You can see all the details at French Grey and Chrome: www.fgchrome1.blogspot.com . The Interwebs welcomes another Thompson to its midst.

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Posted in Bathroom

I’m having a hard time going from “To Do” to “Ta Da”

Posted on July 24, 2012 by | 4 comments

All my projects seem to be draaaaaaaaaaaaaaging on . . .   First world problems, I know, but (whiny voice) I just want something to be done already!

This led me to a *shocking* realization.  If I want something to be done already, I better damn well do it!  With this revelation ringing in my ears, I focused my new-found determination on our half-destroyed, no-mirror bathroom.

Bathroom. (Phase One) Will. Be. Done. By. September. 1st.

I summoned the husband to a meeting of the minds and we looked at my (lack of) progress so far and brainstormed for the future.  I had left the walls half smeared with blue and froze when the patches were not blending away.   After a little internet research, we decided on trying to add a (subtle) wall texture.  Then I hit it, list style (perhaps we should call it a “Ta Da” list rather than a “To Do” list . . . ) 

Phase One  “Walls”  Work to be Done:
1.  Apply textured wall finish as primer coat to walls and ceiling.
2. Paint walls and ceiling Sherwin Williams Rainy Day.
3. Demo out clunky wood shelf.
4. Demo nasty disintegrating caulk around sink.
5. Caulk/seal any areas that need it.
6. Sand and clean all paneling.
7.  Install new chunkier chair rail.
8.  Paint all paneling and trim.
9.  Demo nasty light fixture.
10. Order and have custom mirror installed – this will be too large for JT and I to attempt ourselves.  I would rather have someone with big mirror suction cups hoist this into place then face dropping and shattering a mirror and the ensuing bad luck . . .
11.  Install new light fixture.
12.  Install shelf/cabinet/TBD storage above toilet.
13.  Install hand towel ring

This is the work/hard/boring stuff.  Now for the fun stuff — shopping!  Here’s my list:
1.  4 Turkish/Peshtamel towels.  Like this (via The Anatolian on etsy).

2.  Knobs/hooks to hang the above turkish towels on that will be installed on our soon-to-be chunkier chair rail.  Maybe like this (via Anthropologie)

Or this? (via Hobby Lobby.  So it’s a Hobby Lobby Knobby. Yikes)

And a bath mat  — a fun woven one via Bed Bath and Beyond . . .

I’m considering adding to my month-long challenge with a sewing project — an extra tall shower curtain like this one from Mothra, I mean Martha Stewart (found via Escapade).

So what do you think?  Does anyone want to jump off the one-month-one-project challenge cliff with me?  I’ll hold your hand and scream with you on the way down.  Should I post up some in-progress stuff or just save it all for an extra big “Ta Da” on September 1st? 

All right, it’s off to the races, folks . . . or in my case Home Depot!

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Posted in Bathroom, D.I.Y.

Living Analog Living Room, Rearranged

Posted on July 19, 2012 by | 5 comments

Hey everyone — since we found our new thrift store chair, the living room became a mad jumble.  And then I promised more pictures.  I was literally thisclose to doing a post about how all the furniture in our house is all set and now it’s time for me to focus on the artwork . . .

But life never really works out the way you plan it!  Once we had determined in the store that New Chair was a rocker, I knew we would be buying it.  I had seen a sign up front that said all furniture was 50% off.

But lo and behold, when we went to check out, it was 75% off!!  The chair and ottoman were only $12.25 (before tax!)  Into the SUV it went. 

So here’s the new living room . . .

The big rolling cabinet our TV used to sit on went to Craigslist and met its new owner last night.  That shorter TV stand was donated from my mother.  It’s part of her Danish Modern buys for our house in Wisconsin and had been sitting unused in her basement.  We sprung for some new casters at Home Depot (one had gone missing during the multiple moves this guy has endured over the years.  I should have taken a picture of the remote control that was still stashed in that drawer.  Back to the Future classic.)

And another angle.

Yes I put my ZZ plant in the fireplace.  That fireplace is really starting to bother me. (And also the Target/Aalto-knock off blonde bentwood stool next to New Chair is temporary as well.  More furniture to hunt for!  But if a man’s going to sit in his man chair, he needs a place to set his whiskey.  Or so I’ve been told.)

The nice thing about our new chair is not only is the chair seat a rocker but the ottoman has two positions — up like you see in the photo for maximum comfort while sitting in the chair — but also it sits down so a person can sit on just the ottoman.  I’ve got another post in the hopper about what we’ve done to the chair so far (new webbing/strapping and some finish fixes, exciting stuff! Not to worry, there is also a plan for new upholstery in the future.)

No post of mine would be complete without gratiuitous dog images, so here is what Shenanigan did as soon as we removed the chair cushions to work on the seat.  Quite the princess and the pea, isn’t he?

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Posted in Around the house, Dogs, Furniture, Thrifting

Thanks!

Posted on July 17, 2012 by | 2 comments

Hi again everyone!  Thanks so much to all who voted in the Apartment Therapy/The Kitchn “Small Cool” Kitchen contest.  We’re up to 31 votes and that means a lot to me.

It was pretty cool to open up the webpage and see our kitchen there. 

When I told Shenanigan he was famous on the internet, not so much.

He’s one hard chameleon-like dog to impress.

Also, due to the new “Papa Bear” chair as I’m calling it, the living room is totally rearranged.  I’ve photographed it twice now but none have come out to my liking, so I’ll leave you with this teaser: total chaos as we tried to reconfigure.

Better images to come!  Some items went to Craigslist, others have reshuffled and we’re liking the flow of our new living room.

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Posted in Kitchen

Small Cool!!!

Posted on July 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Hey y’all!  I may have had an ulterior motive to fixing up Shenanigan’s cowbell and the kitchen door . . . I was readying the kitchen and photographing it for Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool Kitchen contest. 

And we’re in!  You can vote for us — CT’s Perfect Cheerful Blue Kitchen — here.  I think it’s semi a lot of work — you must have an Apartment Therapy/The Kitchn account and be logged in.  But maybe if you already have one and want to vote, that would be cool.  Or if you want to make one and then vote, that would be totally cool too.  

I’m so excited to have one space in the house feel so complete.  It will still be ever evolving and changing but I feel like the big tasks we set out for ourselves — new countertop, new lighting and tiling the floor — have made a huge improvement in our little home. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Posted in D.I.Y., Kitchen

Cow bell fever

Posted on July 12, 2012 by | 2 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Posted in Around the house, D.I.Y., Dogs, Furniture, Kitchen

Stitch ‘n Bitch, Round 2

Posted on July 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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

My intended project was this dress:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Posted in D.I.Y., Hand Crafted

Plant and Mantel Triage

Posted on June 29, 2012 by | 4 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Posted in Around the house

Testing, Twirling

Posted on June 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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

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

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Posted in Uncategorized