Meet Mr. McCobb . . . I mean Paul

Posted on February 7, 2012 by | 7 comments

I have been agonizing for a few short weeks now about what piece of furniture to replace the buffet that I moved into the kitchen.  It all came to its fruition on Friday when JT and I took the magic furniture-hauling Saturn for a visit to Vandeventer Vintage.  After seeing it featured on Mister Modtomic’s blog and knowing it was dangerously close to our house, I felt compelled to stop by.

I went there with an ulterior motive.  I went there to meet Paul.

Hi Paul.

Or would you prefer to be called Mr. McCobb?

No?  Paul’s okay?

Well, Paul, I think you were meant to be a desk of some sort, but you don’t mind being a bar do you?

You display bottles so well and can hide them away when our friends come over.

You have handy little drawers for all our accessories and an unopened bottle of wine fits perfect into the cubby holes that used to be meant for office supplies.  That’s not a coincedence, right?

And you have so much space for all our wine glasses below . . .

Welcome to our house Paul.  We hope you like living here.

 

So, that’s our big furniture news.  After plotting and planning about glass shelves and hutches and tall cabinets, we ended up with this.  I guess the joke’s on me.  I took down the artwork that was hanging on that wall but have yet to finalize things there . . . now I’m looking for a large statement piece to finish up that piece of wall.   Paul’s already doing a pretty good job and we couldn’t be happier with him.  Check out Vandeventer Vintage’s Flickr photostream for more items in their store . . . . I may be headed back for the marble coffee table so leave that one for me please.  Thanks!

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture

Sophie and Shenanigan, famous on the inter-webs

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Guys, I have achieved a life long dream. 

Sophie and Shenanigan (and JT a little bit too) were included in Desire to Inspire’s weekly “Pets on Furniture”.  See the post here.

Kim and Jo of Desire to Inspire cull the interwebs and pull together great inspirational images but my favorite part is definitely every Monday when they do “Pets on Furniture”.  As an animal lover AND a furniture lover, it doesn’t get much better.

Speaking of furniture, we have news . . . .

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Posted in Dogs, Furniture

Help, my husband has a guitar addiction . . .

Posted on February 3, 2012 by | 3 comments

So this will be JT’s third eBay auction in three weeks.  Crazytown.  This week we have the Vintage G Holiday Electric Guitar.

Due to work-craziness, I’m going to give you my side of these guitar buys & fixes.  Since the Holiday required no fixing, it’ll be a little easier.

Here’s how it begins — JT scours craigslist and is constantly analyzing things he sees on there for its eBay-ness.  Since he is good at fixing things up, that is usually how he gets the best deals.  For the Holiday, he contacted some dude and we met at this cool building in Soulard to close the deal. (I usually go along for company but stay in the car so as not to impede negotiations. )

We headed home and JT inspected the guitar.  No work needed.  It was Sunday, which is a nice time to post to eBay because it means the auction will also end on a Sunday, when people have time to be at home on their computers. (We failed to comprehend that it was also Super Bowl Sunday since we’re not big sports fans, but anyone bidding on a guitar will also hopefully be in the non-sports-fan boat like us.)

Next was a mad scramble to photograph the d**n thing.  It has a really nice detail at the bottom, but it also meant that it won’t sit on any of the stands JT normally uses. 

We remembered an old-school pipe thingy that JT had stashed down in the basement.  Out it came and then we tried three (THREE!) different set-ups in two different rooms trying to get the photographs taken. 

Here’s some outtakes from the living room session.  The guitar didn’t show well against the wall so we abandoned these shots.  It was total chaos and we almost completely destroyed the whole house moving things around and plugging our little work lights into various outlets and clamping them onto various things.

But alas, pictures did get taken and to eBay it did go.  I take and edit all the photos (thanks photoshop) and JT writes the descriptions (he is the guitar expert).  You can see the listing here.  There’s also a cool YouTube video that JT did to show how all the electrics work here. 

There is a new inhabitant to the music room as well, a 1966 (?) Gibson acoustic that we drove to the end of the earth for on Wednesday night.  It needs some work so JT will be around to post on that one soon.  I opened the music room door this morning and it was resting in its case with a sheepskin “blanket” on it.  The guitars in this house get just as spoiled as the dogs.

AND — we’re going to Vandeventer Vintage tonight.  There may be furniture news in the near future. . . . . .  Have a great weekend everyone!

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Posted in Guitars

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Confession

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I have a confession to make folks. 

Brace yourselves.

When I got out of bed last Saturday morning and made my way to the kitchen, my (one and only 8′-6″ span of) counter looked something like this:

Messy kitchen counter

Shocking.  Bad. 

A quick empty and reload of the dishwasher later, it wasn’t looking so bad (aside from the red toaster that doesn’t match and the patches of green wall let over from taking down the wine racks and the painter’s tape because I’m getting ready to paint again and . . . and . . . )

I think it’s about to get a lot worse before it gets better.  (It gets better, I promise). 

But JT is going to pick up our new tile this week so there will be demolition work soon.  (It might get loud.)Crossville EcoCycle Wetlands

We’re installing Crossville EcoCycle tile in color “Wetland”.  It is a more commercial based tile, so super heavy-duty and the extra bonus is that it has over 40% recycled content in it.  The brochure picture doesn’t do it justice, it’s a nice warm grey color with hints of tan — another chameleon like our Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray walls in the living room.

So here we go everybody.  I’m holding my breath and jumping into the unknown.  First house, first kitchen (small) renovation.  Wish us luck!!

(PS — I should clarify that this is more of a teaser post.  As you may have noticed, we move at a snail’s pace around here.  I’m planning on completing all the kitchen stuff by the end of March.  Two months.  We’ll see.)

(PPS – JT is dragging me out to the middle-of-nowhere-Missouri tonight to look at some other Craigslist guitar he’s considering for his eBay store.   Keep us in your thoughts so we don’t get mauled by ax murderers.)

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Posted in Around the house, Guitars, Kitchen

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Working for the Weekend

Posted on January 30, 2012 by | 2 comments

Most of you guys know, but both JT and I are full-time workers.  Really most people are full-time workers but there are a lot of bloggers out there who are not 8-to-5 office types so I thought I would say it.  We’re 8-to-5 office types.  And lately for both of us the office stuff has been a little hectic.  So after an 8-to-5 or 7-to-5 or 7-to-7, neither of us really want to come home and do a lot of little stuff around the house.  So we don’t 

But when the weekend rolls around, there’s so many free hours to work on all those little (and big) projects that go unnoticed during the week.  And small steps keep getting made.  I’m sorry if these little things are a little boring or tedious, but for us, it’s all we got right now.  At some point, I’d like to have some amazing *ta-da* before and after pictures.  But right now we’re kind of in the middle of everything and just taking baby steps to get on through.

So here’s this last weekend’s progress.

Wait, that doesn’t look like progress, that looks like laziness.  We actually took the dogs to Francis Park (a gem in South City) and ran them around so they were pretty bushed.  It wore us down too but when there’s nice weather and some sunshine, you gotta get out. (And projects gotta wait.  Them’s the breaks).  But for those of you with very discerning eyes, you may notice that I did paint the vent cover on the back wall that was driving me bananas.  Small thing, but it helps it blend away more now that it matches the wall color.  (It would be even more hidden but I took down the peperonia plant to water it and left it on the windowsill to get a little sun for the day.)

The other little thing I did was some spray paint fun.  We have had this nice large ice bucket for some time. (I think I got it as a college graduation present from my aunt and uncle?  Like I said, long time.)  In our first apartment, the baby blue made sense.  Now I wanted to make in our more sapphire/teal blue to give the kitchen a little color (and a little more storage.)

That before picture of the kitchen make me shudder and that was only a few weeks ago.  It feels so much different in there now!  I started out with the same spray paint I used on my “T” collection a little bit ago here.  But it ran out and a spray paint hunt ensued.  I visited Home Depot AND Lowe’s and neither had an exact match.  So I ended up having to start over with a Valspar can I got at Lowe’s.  The color had more blue and a little less green than the previous can, so I had to re-coat and re-coat.  And my little Rustoleum attachment spray handle didn’t work on the Valspar can either.  Boo.  I ended up Smurfing myself a little by getting some blue back-spray on my hand.  But it was worth it (although this next picture is a little underwhelming – the color is so much nicer in real life . . . .)

Now we have a nice out-of-the-way place for all our oils and vinegars that we buy in bulk.  JT and I cook a lot and from scratch too so our kitchen gets pretty heavy use.  I’m thinking on the upcoming IKEA trip (how many times can I mention this trip before it happens?  I think I’m up to 6.) I will get a little plant stand on wheels to put under the bucket and make it a little more useful so it can just roll out from under the buffet.    I also did my “I hate cords” trick and taped the microwave cord and it’s extension cord to the back of the buffet.  Cords be-gone!

We also had a visitor who bought one of our Craigslist items.  One down, one to go.  Now we’re left with this . . .

Just a little microwave cart waiting for a new home.  I moved Little Walter (the tree) over to this spot — he’s sick!!!  I had purchased and photographed him a few weeks before I got around to posting about him and now he’s not doing so good!  I’m hoping by moving him away from the exterior wall, he will stay a little warmer and spruce back up. I also watered him a little more but I have anxiety about over-watering and thus drowning my plants.  I set him up on the milk crate for now because a) I kind of like the height and am using it as a placeholder and b) I’m kind of nervous Shenanigan will lift his little stubby leg on Little Walter so I wanted to get him used to having a big plant near his level. 

 Any other ideas on what to do for poor Little Walter?  I was holding off on re-potting him until after the IKEA trip (#7!!) but I may have to bite the bullet and do it now. 

Have a great week everyone — it’s 8:08 now and I have some office craziness to attend to!

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Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions, Dogs, Furniture

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Harmony Marquis

Posted on January 26, 2012 by | 2 comments

Just last week we rescued this Harmony Marquis from the Tower Grove area. I made CT wait in the car with it running, because I was certain the dude selling it was an ax murderer.

Anyway- didn’t get murdered. I did however pick up a great old guitar with a few issues. Chiefly among them- the electronics made a horrible noise when plugged in, and the neck was pitched so far forward it was impossible to play.

Step one: rip off the strings, and start some general cleaning. I generally only ever use warm water and a soft rag. When it comes to old guitars, removing dirt and sweat grime is absolutely necessary, as it can break down the wood. What you don’t want to do is use any harsh chemicals that can Johnny Marr the surface, and take away that amazing, aged patina.

Cleaning the neck is a delicate matter- as it collects the most sweat and grime. Solution is spit. Saliva actually the safest and most effective way to clean a fretboard. Cheapest cleaner in town. Once cleaned and dried, I rubbed in a thin coat of fretboard oil.

To fix the neck pitch, I unscrewed it to install a shim. A shim can be anything- credit card, pick, etc. In fact, the Fender guitar factory used to shim most of it’s guitar necks with guitar picks. I like to use a tone wood (in this case, basswood).

Simply drop the shim into the neck pocket like so, and screw the neck back on. This should pitch the neck angle backward, bringing the strings closer to the neck. Good way to test this is to quickly string up one string to see how it plays.

Harmony guitars were cheaply mass produced, with all of the electronics wired to the pickguard. When I tested the wiring away from the body, everything looked and sounded the way it should. Contact cleaner cleared up all crackles and noises.

When I placed the pickguard back on and plugged it in however, I got the same horrible noises. Upon further inspection, it looked as if the input cable was hitting the inside of the body cavity (impact scar pictured), effectively dispersing the current into the wood. Solution- I made the hole bigger, allowing for the cable to input without hitting the wood. It Johnny Marred up the inside surface a bit, but no one sees the inside anyway.

Here it is now, sounds great and plays easy. Before you would have sworn it was one of Jandek’s guitars (perhaps it was). Now it’s ready for the house, if I may make another obscure reference.

Up for auction on Ebay this week!! Click here

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A new family member . . . (Spoiler alert, it’s a tree, don’t freak out)

Posted on January 26, 2012 by | 4 comments

JT would probably prefer that our newest family “member” be one of these Little Walters —

But it’s not, it’s this Little Walter —

We got an indoor tree!  Something I have always, always wanted, especially after seeing them in all the glossy spreads of fancy people’s homes.  At first I contemplated naming him Morrissey because he would be sort of solitary and asexual.  But Little Walter won out.  (I may be the only one who names my houseplants, but I’m okay with that.)  I’m a little frustrated with Home Depot because it doesn’t identify exactly what type of tree/bush/plant Little Walter is.  On the tag, he is labeled as “Living Accents – Foliage – Medium Light”.  Great.

I’ll probably be looking for a nice pot for Little Walter on our upcoming, much anticipated IKEA trip.  I didn’t want Zappa, the ZZ plant to get jealous though, so I’ve been making him a sisal rope “pot”.

I simply got a $13 sisal rope cone at Home Depot and I’ve been crocheting it ’round and ’round to create a decorative sheath to put over the black plastic pot it came in.  We’ll see how it turns out — it’s slow going for me with the sisal because it’s kind of rough on my hands and it leaves a big mess of flakes behind.

That’s the plant news for now — back to your regularly scheduled week!

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Posted in Around the house

The Kitchen inches forward . . .

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | 2 comments

Monday again.  Yoinks.  Last weekend didn’t seem nearly as productive as I wanted (but is it ever really . . .) but we did get a few little things done, mainly in the kitchen department.

A new microwave!  Retro style!  Thanks to an Amazon gift card and selling the old bulky black one on Craigslist (finally something sold!)  this one was a break-even change.  The new microwave is just a few inches smaller than the old one but it is so much “lighter” visually.  The white color and the smaller size really help it feel more at home on the buffet.  And I couldn’t resist the retro styling. Although it does have some new annoying beeps.  Oh well.

Also, you may notice in the photo above, JT installed a cafe curtain rod for me on the back door.  Fabric has been purchased for said cafe curtain rod . . . we’ll see how much I have to fight with my sewing machine before these curtains get produced.

Another item we tackled this weekend was the big cutting board sitting on the island cart.  It had gotten really junked up and we hadn’t used it for a while.  I took it down to JT’s basement lair where he power sanded it for me and then I treated it with 3 coats of Howard’s Butcher Block Conditioner.  It’s food-safe and gave a nice luster back to the ol’ cutting board (an IKEA grab.)

Peeking out from behind the teapot on the buffet you may just be able to see a 45 record.   It’s one of JT’s favorites, Carl Perkins and it’s got the Sun label on it.  JT received it as a gift from his brother and sister-in-law. (They give good gifts — remember the Eames rocker?) We had it in the music room for a while but the black vinyl record wasn’t quite “popping” against the black background.

One piece of white canvas and some painters tape later, it has moved into the kitchen as a cheery little rock n’ roll memento.  (We all went on a family trip to Memphis a few years ago and JT really enjoyed Sun Records.  In fact I think he almost had a stroke when the tour guide started playing the piano that Jerry Lee Lewis used and he could touch the guitar used by Scotty Moore.)  The nice thing is that this is a totally reversible operation — all I would have to do is remove the tape and fabric and we’re back to a black background.  The song featured is “Dixie Fried” which I thought had appropriate kitchen connotations.

The record actually does play and we have an MP3 recording of it from our vinyl ripper that JT did before it was framed up.  I’ll have to scout around and see if I can add it to this post.  I definitely will cue up some Carl and maybe a little of his friend Elvis to get me in the mood as I work on the new curtains.

Update: I found the “Dixie Fried” MP3 file from our vinyl above.  You can listen to it here: 02 Dixie Fried.  Enjoy!

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Posted in Around the house, Kitchen, Music related

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Artwork – at last

Posted on January 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

So I’ve been delaying and delaying posting about my new artwork because I wanted to have it all framed and pretty and such.  With everything else we’ve been doing to the house, it just hasn’t happened yet. 

Without further ado, here’s the new additions to our (very modest) art collection:

They are both by my cousin, Susan Springer Anderson, who I posted about earlier here.  The collage item on the left is an original my mother got me for Christmas.  I’ve had it on my Etsy watch list for a while and then it disappeared, only to turn up under the tree!  The one on the right is an archival giclee print that JT and I added to our collection for our anniversary.  It seemed fitting to bring a bluebird of happiness into the house as an anniversary gift representing the happiness my husband brings to me.  Be sure to check out Susan’s Etsy shop Delicate Utility here and her blog here.  Good stuff!

I decided to go ahead and blog about my unframed, unhung artwork because I know it will be a while until I get frames — our next whirlwind IKEA trip is currently on the books for February!!!  (and frames are first thing on my list.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s my list . . . )

IKEA list #2 is now in the works on their website and besides picture frames it includes sheepskins and kitchen accessories.  I’m still deciding on the Strind coffee table I hemmed and hawed about the other day . . . . it might be a good placeholder until the perfect thing comes along.  Anything else I just have to have from IKEA?  I’m most definitely open to suggestions!!

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Posted in Art in Analog

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Changing it up, one piece at a time

Posted on January 16, 2012 by | 2 comments

Weekends have been good over here at Living Analog — things keep moving around and I keep checking items of my January to do list to get me closer to my big project goals — living room, bedroom and kitchen. 

This weekend I hit the kitchen.  By just rearranging a few pieces we already had, it made a big impact and set in action a chain of events that will (hopefully) lead to getting the kitchen to a happy place.

The wood buffet used to be in the dining room.  I was sick of all the clutter (and mess) of the open shelves in the kitchen and decided it was time to do something about it. 

Now a lot of special use items like the ice tea maker, griddle and food processor can sit down in the big drawer of the buffet.  The top drawers are deep enough for our ramekins and other cooking utensils.  The wood contrasts nicely off the white tile and adds an element of warmth to the kitchen.  It’s not a huge change but it’s enough to make a difference and get me started with the kitchen.

There are still many, many things to be done before this space is looking ship-shape.  We are putting down warm grey ceramic tile, and I need to do something about the wall color.  There will be window treatments and cafe curtains on the door.  The knife rack is going to be relocated to make space for some artwork and a pot rack is going next to the glass block window.  I’m on the hunt for a smaller microwave — that sucker is ginormous and takes up more room than I’d like.  I also need to sand and paint the door, especially where Shenanigan keeps kicking it.  Maybe we’ll get him a bell instead — that seems a bit more genteel. 

 The big blue bucket you could see in the “before” pic is currently at our “spray booth” (aka the back yard) getting a coat of teal.  It will come back in and sit under the buffet to hold some bigger items live vinegar and vegetable oil and rice.  These pictures are making me realize I need to get in there and corral that cord as well — I hate cords!!!  I’m also not loving the wood bread box on the wood buffet so that might get shifted around too . . . things are always shifting and moving around here (to the point where JT usually has to ask where I’ve put something . . . .sorry hubby).

I’m so excited to finally start implementing all the changes I’ve been dreaming up for the last little while now.  Unfortunately moving things around also tears up the rest of the house as things are temporarily relocated and accessories readjusted.  Case in point — the dining room where the buffet used to sit:

Right now it’s a holding zone for all the things that will go in the future-shelving-unit-with-glass-doors that I’m on the prowl for.  I’ve got a few leads too . . . but until then, it’s life with the repercussions of redecorating.  I currently have these bad boys up on Craigslist here and here.  Craigslist doesn’t seem to be turning things over for me or JT (with guitars) as quickly as it was before.  Has anyone else run into this?  At any rate, a little rearranging does a body (and our kitchen) good.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Kitchen

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