Thursday, April 29, 2010

Before/After TV Stand

We've been looking casually for a new TV stand for awhile now. I wanted something to replace the black plastic/glass shelved thing that everyone seems to have owned at one time or another.
Then, when Adelaide got mobile and was drawn to the Xbox like a moth to a flame; then we really had to do something.
By the way:
Why is it that of all the mid-century crap that floats around ebay and craigslist, you type in "credenza" or "sideboard" and suddenly everything is automatically several hundred dollars? What is that?
And why are all the decent looking and baby-proofable pieces are also at least four or five hundred? (at least all the ones I liked!)
It's a conspiracy I swear. The only place that has decent things at reasonable prices seems to be IKEA and I hate to rely on IKEA so heavily.
So, Eric and I found this little guy at one of the little antique-y stores around here:

It was too tall, wobbly, and kind of dingy and gross, but not bad at all for < $100. So we took it and two afternoons later, this is what we're left with:


Not bad right? So we can keep things in the bottom that A. can play with, and electronics can stay in the top part. I'm pleased with it. I'm not crazy about the chalkboard doors, I wanted to cover them in a fun fabric like one of these:








fabric_item

fabric_item





fabric_item

all via spoonflower: here, here, and here

But, Eric likes the chalkboard so whatever. It's growing on me I guess.
What do you think?

Sunday, April 25, 2010

More Polyvore Fun!

Have you discovered polyvore yet? It's so fun!
Now that we have lovely grass in the front yard and our house looks less abandoned, I want for it to look sunny and happy and welcoming with lots of fragrant flowers and plants for the birds and butterflies.
I really love this image:

Dutch Door Paint Kit
via Remodelista

I decided awhile back that I would be painting our exterior with Benjamin Moore's Iron Mountain, which is like the perfect charcoal, and several hours later I finished with this:




I don't know why it's so small... the purpose of my post shouldn't be smaller than my inspiration photo but whatever, I don't know how to fix it.

What do you think?

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Polyvore Fun:

Last night I stayed up until almost midnight putting together an inspiration board for our impending kitchen remodel.
I composed our budget, but part of that is designing right? Right.
So this is what I came up with:


What do you think?
I know it's pretty basic, but I really just wanted to see how all of the basic elements will work together.
And the actual wall color is a little lighter than that, it looks dark on my screen.


P.S. That stove is a pipe dream. I have fantasies about selling my car and using the money to buy La CornuFe.... That wouldn't be so crazy right?

The icebreaker, and Craft= FAIL!

Hello!
And welcome back! Huh? You've been here all along? Oh... maybe it was just me then.
Where have I been you ask? Here, around, wherever.
Being holed up in the house with baby all week with rain last week should have inspired blogging, I know but I was busy with other things. Like making things, and starting to make things, or trying to make things and failing horribly.
I had the brilliant idea to make a play iPhone for Adelaide since she loves how mine tastes so much, so I really wanted to sew one for her.
Well until this gets cleared out:

even sitting down at my sewing machine is out of the question.
So I decided to crochet! Now, I've never really crocheted anything except a giant circle, so this project might have been out of my league. However, I tore apart an old hat earlier in the week and ended up with a length of black yarn, and had found some dark gray lying around so I thought it was meant to be!
With no pattern, and no clear idea of what I was doing, this is what I came up with:


I worked for hours and as I finished, turned to Eric mournfully and said, "This looks like Adelaide made it!" which he thought was hilarious. Me, not so much... it was 1am. And I had been working on this sad lump of old fraying yarn and felt since dinner time.
I was heartbroken, wanting to make something awesome and fun for my baby, so she could have her very own phone to drool on and all I gave her was a choking hazard.
So, I decided (in the light of the next morning) that I shouldn't take myself too seriously, my precious gift is for a 6 month old who doesn't care if she's playing with a Tiffany necklace or a clump of dirt so long as she can put it in her mouth. (I reinforced some of the "apps" and tacked down some of the yarn before I gave it to her of course.) And the decision to share my pitiful failure was made.

I am working on other things that I hope will be more successful. Like this:


And these:


I've also been slaving away outdoors trying to turn our overgrown rat's nest of weeds and ivy into some semblance of a yard where we can all play in.
This is what I have so far:


We have a thriving vegetable patch, berries, a flower bed that spans the length of the house, and grass in the front yard! GRASS! This time last year, all we had was a dead tree, lots of ivy, and weeds. Oh, and rose bushes that are doing much better this year.
Soon we will have grass in the back yard as well, and more trees. I have oh so many ideas and plans for the yard but most of them may have to wait until the dust of other renovations projects have settled.
Now you will excuse me while I go pull my child out of the dog's kennel.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I know, I know...

But have you ever gotten so far behind on something (or many things) that the mere thought is overwhelming?
Yeah, I though so. Well that's where I am with this blog... and my house actually...
I've been so bogged down taking on new projects and working more (yay!) that I didn't even open my computer last week... seriously.
I feel like I'm catching up and would love to spend more time taking photos and writing, but with a friend's wedding next week and family visiting this weekend, I don't know how often I'll be showing my face around here.
In the meantime however, this is what we've been up to lately:
*The backyard fence is up (thanks neibs!)
*Flower and vegetable beds are planted
*I've made progress on the window refinishing
*I'm still in the planning phase of the kitchen remodel
*Adelaide is teething
*I threw a shower for a friend (with help of course)
*I'm teaching two more yoga classes each week with the hopes of another one to be added soon
*Our camera has been dead for a week so I don't have proof of any of this but you'll just have to trust me. ;-)
oh, AND we finally played Beatles Rock Band over spring break and had an awesome time!

Sorry for the lame post but I promise I will be back with some riveting visuals and funner stuff soon.

Friday, February 26, 2010

A bit of fun to start the weekend...

I know that I've been MIA this week, I've been super busy helping a friend and taking a difficult trip down memory lane.
I promise to tell you all about it on Monday when I am fully recovered. Or at least partially.
Since I haven't been on the internet at all this week (well, barely at all anyways), I have been taking the last hour-and-a-half to catch up on all that has been happening in the blogosphere this week.
I've been browsing in a hurry trying to cram it all in before I absolutely collapse, and I could not resist sharing this charming image from this even better house tour via AT.
Ready?
Here it is:

022610-tour1.jpg


I know right!!

Oh, soon enough you may even be able to spot something similar to this in our home.

Happy weekend. See you Monday.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Gross

I started work earlier this week on the thirty-one windows in our home that need to be restored.
After spending about ten minutes trying to remove one of the painted (?!?!) sash locks, this is what I found:


I know. Eww. And the worst part... all the rest of the windows are at least this bad, if not worse.



And speaking of eww, yesterday as I was cleaning out our guest bathroom I noticed that the disgusting, painted over (seriously, ?!?!) laminate that was lining the medicine cabinet was beginning to curl up something fierce. So I chose to take this opportunity to finally rip out this hideous and unfortunate diy from days gone by.
So I did!
In addition to all the gross dirt, roach poop (apparently there were some serious infestations before we lived here... God bless pest control), and dust bunnies... there was an old hair tie! Gross!! Sorry, no photo of that one. I cleaned it all up and got the eff out.
Anyone else make any unfortunate discoveries whilst setting up house?