Living Analog

Back in Color Pictures

Posted on October 4, 2013 by CT | 10 comments

Hey all. I think we have conquered Phase One of this whole moving thing, also known as “List Your House”. We are definitely traveling a lower stress path than a lot of people on our whole moving/selling/buying journey – JT’s company is shouldering a lot of the costs as part of his relocation package. However we were smack dab in the middle of a few projects when this whole thing went down so it has been a mad scramble over here to get our house picture ready.

So, without further ado, the pictures! Also, we’re listed! See us on the MLS here.

The photographer was great and took these super fast. It definitely makes me want a fancy camera – the old point and shoot just doesn’t measure up.

The bedroom! I never got around to DIY-ing that headboard or hanging up our reading sconces. Next house.

The bathroom got a new vanity top and faucet literally minutes before the pictures. I wish we would have done that about seven years ago.

My secret downstairs craft room. Something I also wish I would have worked on about seven years ago so I could have enjoyed it all this while.

The back porch/sun room. I snagged that little ottoman out of the alley last weekend. Even with all that’s going on I can’t resist alley furniture. But to be fair, I gave some offerings back to the alley gods, which they gratefully accepted. I’m going to miss having an alley.

So there you have it. Our little first house, for sale. If you or anyone you know is interested in seeing it, please contact our Realtor Stephanie Hug at 314-313-5403. She lives really nearby (by the cool house!) and is super familiar with South City, which is a plus.

Now on to Phase II – Sell the House! Have a great Friday – make it Feisty! Cheers – CT

10 Comments

Posted in Moving Adventures

Presents

Posted on September 23, 2013 by CT | 12 comments

Internet, today is my birthday! 3 years ago (seems like yesterday!) I got to celebrate in NYC with my best friend. The last two years have been low-key but nice celebrations at home with the hubs and family.

This year JT outdid himself. For my birthday, he’s buying me a house. And that house will be in Phoenix, Arizona.

Yep, you read that right. That’s my awkward way of telling you guys that we’re moving! JT got a great opportunity with his work and we are relocating. I am still processing all that is going on (we’re on a crazy short timeline to make it down there) and it is definitely a little bittersweet. Both of our immediate family live in STL (parents and siblings) and we hope they will come visit us in the desert. We have such good friends here as well . . .

Long story short, our next house will be for entertaining. I’m excited to pick it out and share a little bit of the journey with you guys on the internet. For now, my apologies if posts are a bit sparse and scraggly. See you on the flip side!

Cheers – CT

12 Comments

Posted in Miscellaneous Diversions

Teasers

Posted on September 17, 2013 by CT | 5 comments

Hey y’all. I fell under the work bus again. Not much for you today – just a few quick teasers.

The back porch! It’s mostly, almost, all the way done! Hairpin leg for the win. More to come.

I’ve been giving the clouds hanging around outside the stink eye because I really want to go to the STL Symphony free concert on Art Hill tonight. Anyone else going?

Flea market anyone? How about a De-Flea market. That’s what happens when animal rescue groups host a flea market – this Saturday at the Green Shag. Be there or be square.

And more MCM in the Roomo blog posts on Mister Modtomic! This week will be the Eames LCW. I’d love to get some ideas/input on any pieces you guys really want to see. I’m thinking I need to branch out from chairs for a little bit.

Cheers – CT

5 Comments

Posted in Miscellaneous Diversions

Vacation Finds Part 1

Posted on September 10, 2013 by CT | 3 comments

Hey everyone. It is September and that is mind-boggling to me. And also exciting because I like September, being the Libra, sapphire wearing girl that I am.

Something else mind-boggling AND exciting is one of my vacation finds. (See how I transitioned there? So awkward and great. Yeah.) At any rate, back in July I was dreaming of many things and one of them was a vintage tri-fold vanity mirror. At the beginning of our week off from work, I grabbed JT and towed him along with me to the Green Shag Market. There in one of the corner booths almost immediately upon entering was my vintage tri-fold vanity mirror. And the price tag said (only) $22!

Something about the crazy light in my eyes or the way I clutched at the mirror tipped JT off to the fact that I intended to purchase this thing, stat. He immediately carried it up to the front desk so I could finish making my rounds. There were a few other things that caught my eye but in the end we only left with the mirror. Once I showed JT my now-prophetic post with such a similar image of a tri-fold mirror did he understand the insanity he had just been witness to.

And now it’s home, living on my dressing table in our bedroom. I had this paper lantern light fixture hanging out in the basement of shame. I’m pretty sure I bought it at Pier One in high school to decorate my peach, pink, green and teal awesomeness of a bedroom.

Still need to hem those curtains though! Also I’ll probably work on getting the cord rigged up a little better and probably painting the part that shows up against the grey wall.

Methinks I need a cuter alarm clock — any ideas?

The little lightning bolt on the desk I found on the ground in front of the Green Shag on my first visit there. Since then I have found one other random lightening bolt in the parking lot on my way to work (it’s red vinyl). I think they keep showing up like little love letters from Elvis, king of TCB and lightening bolts.

This week on Mister Modtomic I am rounding up Panton S chairs. Wouldn’t one of those look nice at my dressing table? I do love my little lucite and white vinyl stool though. And seriously, any suggestions on a working alarm clock that would round out my vignette is much appreciated (and preferably not one I have to wind every day.) Cheers – CT

3 Comments

Posted in In the Bedroom, Thrifting

Good news Friday!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

Hey everyone — It’s Friday and it’s a sunny cheerful day here in STL and I’m in a sunny cheerful mood here at my desk at work.

A little while back, I got an email from Mister Modtomic asking me to join his team of blog contributors. I was so excited, I think I jumped up and down and squealed a little bit. For a tiny little blog like we have here, that is a big honor!

So my first post went live yesterday. I had so much fun scouting the interwebs for cool images of Butterfly chairs in different interiors. You can read it here.

Next week I’m going to be looking at the Panton S chair and I’ve already found way too many images than I could load into one blog post. But not to worry – this weekend I’m going to be a good little blogger and get a lot of things around Living Analog photographed so I can keep on chugging ahead with our original content here. And also maybe go to Lou Fest on Saturday night to see Wilco and Jim James? Anybody else headed to Forest Park? Hopefully I’ll see you there!

Cheers from a cheery CT!

4 Comments

Posted in Miscellaneous Diversions

The most adorable picture I have taken to date!

Posted on September 3, 2013 by CT | 6 comments

Off the back porch is a little back deck. It’s not big enough to be anything more than a way to get oneself from the back porch to the back yard but nonetheless, there it is. This little back deck, poorly constructed and painted John Deere green, was beginning to literally crumble away – it wasn’t safe anymore at all – not for us people or the sturdy little dogs we love.

Here’s a before shot (but missing the side rails because they came off with a push of a finger and we got excited and started demoing before we took pictures . . .)

What a glorious mess. Nothing meets the residential code (stairs are 28″ wide, not 36″ and the baluster spacing is way to big), nothing is super structural . . . a mess. As an added bonus there is a crumbling set of concrete stairs hidden underneath the platform. (Wait a minute – that’s why the back deck exists!!!!! It’s a platform to cover up the old concrete stairs! Why did I never think of this before! – Okay back to the post. . . )

Last weekend, after getting back from our Minnesota trip, JT and I have been laboring in the sweaty, sticky soup that is St. Louis weather to create a safe, code-compliant, non-green back deck. We’re not all the way done but we do have a safe platform and wide steps installed — and we had the dogs take a maiden voyage…

And that’s the story of how I ended up with the most adorable picture I have ever taken. Shenanigan (the guy in front) is usually too busy being a stand-offish jackass to really let his true essence be captured on film – but I caught him running down the new stairs with his little piggie ears sticking straight up (they don’t normally do that) and it seems like you can see the real Shenanigan here. Miss Sophie (our other tan dog) is in the background being sweet and demure like she can be and Cameron, our Stray Rescue foster dog is always tagging along for the fun.

We still have posts with neat copper post caps and lots of railings to install but we are so happy with the way our little back deck is turning out so far. And it looks like the dogs approve. Cheers – CT

6 Comments

Posted in Dogs, Yard Work

Hittin’ the Thrifts

Posted on August 31, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

Hey everyone! JT and I took the last week off work and made a quick jaunt up to the Twin Cities and back. That may not be considered the world’s most glamorous destinations but we’ve been enjoying ourselves. The only thing I’ve used my smart phone for these last few days is navigating around the cornfields of Iowa and so it’s nice to be back at the keyboard again. I thought I’d fill you in a little on what we’ve been up to.

First thing first (this girl has her priorities in order!) – thrifting! I set a goal for myself of visiting a thrift/junk or antique store every day of our vacation and so far I have done just that — even if it meant a few (only slightly) dangerous driving maneuvers when I’d spot a sign along the side of the highway and holler for JT to pull over. I haven’t always bought things though — I found the offerings of rural Iowa and Minnesota a little different from what I am used to (and perhaps a little spoiled by) in STL.

Here’s something I did drag home last weekend before we began our road trip — a piece of granite demoed out of someone’s kitchen and broken up to be disposed of at the Des Peres Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Since the tulip table is white and a lot of my serving ware is white, things were starting to get a little too monochromatic for my liking. I stuck some felt feet on this slab, and threw together a little vignette that has been gracing our dining table ever since. I like the rugged edges on the granite – it provides a nice contrast to all the smooth white ceramics. I’m working on putting together a round-up post of all my thrift scores but really we’re still on vacation so there still may be a few more things to find in the next few days . . .

The other thing we’ve been hard at work on is the back porch and then the back deck that extends off of it. There is a bazillion more pictures and stories and budget breakdowns and furniture finds and other things that go into this one — more for me to work on . . . after vacation! I also have to get caught back on my Style Cure. I foresee a late finish for us . . . I figure a late finish is better than no finish at all!

Have a great Labor Day holiday! Maybe I’ll see you at the pool. After all, I’m on vacation! Who am I kidding, I’m much more likely to be swimming around in one of those big bins at the Goodwill by the Pound than a pool. Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in AT Style Cure August 2013, Thrifting

Not the Momma! (Moma)

Posted on August 13, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

At our house growing up we used to watch the show “Dinosaurs” and all I really remember is the baby dinosaur (whose mischevious antics reminded us of our own baby of the family) beating the dad dinosaur on the head and saying “Not the momma!” Like so:

In this case instead of “Not the Momma!” I’m angling towards “Not the Moma!” – as in the New York Museum of Modern Art. Here’s the back story after that painful transition — JT and I decided to check out a new Savers that opened up in Crestwood a few weeks back. I was strolling the art aisle when I saw an interesting piece that had a nice plexiglass wrapped frame. I flipped it over to see the price and was struck by this:

A MOMA sticker? In the Savers store in Crestwood, Missouri? For $5, a cool acrylic frame, an interesting composition on the other side and the mystery of a MOMA sticker, we paid up and scampered out. There were some screws holding the whole assembly together so we got home, cued up the Elvis Costello and began playing history detectives.

According to the sticker and our friend Wikipedia, this is what the front should be.

A gold chloride toned print by the French photographer Eugene Atget. However Wikipedia also told me that this is also in the Yale University Art Gallery. I guess that could refer to just the original and maybe there are prints out there. However, New Haven is a long way from STL so . . . here’s what was paired up with the MOMA tag:

I’m not good with art terms but it appears to be an assembled paper and ink/paint piece. The mystery deepens — when I turned this piece over, there was some writing on the back:

“Ciulei (chew-lay) Dancing for the Grey Female” and signed Rev Sullies (?). Google has not been kind to me on this one. Anyone have any ideas?

At any rate, I like it and the frame it came in so I think I’m going to display it on the back porch — there is one little sliver of wall between the kitchen door and the kitchen window on which to hang art. I still wish it could have matched the tag and I could have had a crazy story to tell on Antiques Roadshow about how I ended up with a French photograph from the 1920s . . . . Anyone else ever find something so bizarre at a thrift store? I’m sure there’s some good stories of crazy thrift finds out there. It’s all about the thrill of the hunt. Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in Art in Analog, Thrifting

Style Cure updates

Posted on August 9, 2013 by CT | 12 comments

Apartment Therapy has a lot on tap for us as we head through their August Style Cure. Here’s a quick round-up of where we are on this week’s tasks.

Day 4: Set Up a One-Room Outbox Oh lordy do I have so much stuff set aside for Goodwill. A lot of the other items from out back porch made their way to the garage and will soon be headed for Habitat for Humanity Restore. Check check.

Day 5: Make a Floor Plan Yay! You guys know I love me a floor plan. I already updated you guys with the whole house plan that included the formerly secret back porch. Here’s what I’m thinking for its furniture layout:

This project is a “use what you got” project — no new furniture purchases here (unless hairpin legs count as furniture . . . ) I’m even dragging in some alley goodness here . . . stay tuned but this should be good!

The bar cart will be the one I bought back at the Green Shag sale back in 2012. It hasn’t really had a good purpose until now but has been living in the back porch amidst all the other clutter. It got a little rusty. 😦

I’m hoping some fine steel wool or Magic Eraser can bring it back without destroying any of the nice patterning — has anyone dealt with this in the past?

The nice thing about Le Bar Cart is that for right now it’s Le Work Cart and keeping all my stuff mobile as I move around the room scraping, sanding and caulking.

Day 6: Let’s Learn About Color – This is something I do on a daily basis for work so here’s my two cents. I always choose a color that has a little gray mixed into it. I find that colors without any gray come across as too bright and childish. Now that doesn’t mean I haven’t painted the same wall in my house four times trying to decide which color I like . . . live and learn. And then repaint.

I would like to open up the floor for some color selectioning — the ceiling and the trim will be white — what color should I paint the panels? (Prepare your eyes for some hasty/bad Photoshop magic):

1) All white?

2) A nice pale grey?

3) An inky black? (Drama!)

Hit me with your opinion in the comments. I’d love to hear it.

Day 7: Clean Your Room & Collect Paint Chips – I’ll be doing more than cleaning. Me and the paint brush are about to get friendly. I picked up this little number from Home Depot:

(Should have taken the picture while the brush was still in the package – duh. It’s already been a lot nicer as I’ve worked — the handle is a little stubby thing and it’s rubber so it flexes. No more painter’s cramp claw hands while painting all this trim! Have a great weekend all. Cheers – CT

12 Comments

Posted in AT Style Cure August 2013, Furniture

You don’t need to huff the spray paint to be addicted to it . . . sad but true.

Posted on August 7, 2013 by CT | 4 comments

Awhile back, we picked up the “Crosby” floor lamp from World Market. This is one of the few larger dollar purchases I have made from a big box retailer apart from our occasional long-haul treks to Ikea. We tend to scour the local thrifts, junk malls and Craigslist for our treasures. But we were in need of light in that corner and a table and this just sort of happened one day.

Once we started to live with Crosby for a while, we realized he was a chameleon. And not so much in a good way. We love the color of our accent wall (SW Urbane Bronze) but putting the black metal Crosby’s little frame up against it just made him disappear.

Since Crosby wasn’t a priceless fancy-designer label or other sort of “don’t paint me” treasure, I went ahead and decided to paint him. It was either him or the wall and if I did the wall then I’d have to do the fireplace again and . . . you can see how I ended up picking the lamp. I had some muted matte gold spray paint left over from my Pinterest-inspired art and so I tackled Crosby with that.

And . . . it was better. But still meh. This picture is a broad daylight view that we rarely get to enjoy, being chained to desks at our offices from 8-to-5 like most corporate drones. In the evenings he still kind of faded away against the wall. I wanted something a little punchier. So I got a brassier, bolder hue at Lowe’s and sprayed poor old Crosby down again.

Finally a win! Now Crosby ties in nicely with our brass arc lamp from the auction last year (I had threatened to paint the arc lamp black but since it was vintage it got spared.) As an added plus, I’m starting to feel on trend (or dragging slightly behind it as usual) with all the gold/brass accents popping up in blog land everywhere. And in a few years when blue/white/grey/purple/whatever is the new brass, I’ll just spray him down again. Nothing to it.

Also, since I’m sharing this view over and over again of the Baumritter “Man Chair” I’m adding some pictures of the tags on the underside of the ottoman. The internet connect me with a reader, Elliott, who was looking to see if the ottoman was intended to come with the chair. Our chair itself has no markings on it — I got pretty up close and personal with it when we did the straps and cleaned it off with the Restore-a-Finish so I’m 100% certain of that. What tipped me off that this was a Baumritter was actually the tags on the ottoman, like so:

The Adjusto Lounge or Style # 1617-1 Lounge. Hope this helps Elliott! I’d love to see any images of your Baumritter lounger — ours needs an upholstery makeover pretty badly.

Next up – some more Style Cure updates! Cheers – CT

4 Comments

Posted in D.I.Y., Furniture, Living Room

Living Analog

Back in Color Pictures

Presents

Teasers

Vacation Finds Part 1

Good news Friday!

The most adorable picture I have taken to date!

Hittin’ the Thrifts

Not the Momma! (Moma)

Style Cure updates

You don’t need to huff the spray paint to be addicted to it . . . sad but true.

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