Happy Holidays from all of us here at House It Going!

I think we're finally all blinged out for rhe holidays...


Flowers courtesy L.; aren't they lovely?


Tree-on-a-trunk! We found out not too long ago that the guy that grew up in our house 1) lives down the street now and 2) runs a Christmas tree farm. T-o-a-T and the wreath in the first picture came from him.





Get rowdy.


The Captain is the opposite of rowdy. But festive, nonetheless. Most of you have seen the exterior pictures, but I'll post them soon anyway. This is mostly a test-- I'm posting from my iPhone! Yes, I have become one of those people. I found myself standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk the other day, using it to check the weather. Outside. Hopefully that was my low point. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Sidebar: Fun with Bacon

I heard some giggling from the kitchen this afternoon. I found the Mr. working on this: Coolest. Thing. Ever. The Captain didn't get why This Bacon was different than Other Bacon.

Before-n-after: Winged Rocker

Here are some shots of the new rocker (see LRoomarama Part II), before, during, and after the reupholsteration. Before (with a potential new-upholstery swatch stuck to the back cushion): Next we have the (nasty) pieces taken off and laid out on the new fabric as patterns. When I took them off I realized that the bottom used to be pink, and that the top was newer. I think somebody tried to reupholster the top to match the (already faded and yellow-looking) bottom. It was also clear that it had been reupholstered many, many times--judging from the number of nail/tack holes. After I got all the upholstery off (the cushion on the bottom was wrapped in muslin, and I didn't want to touch it. See below.) I cleaned the heck out of it. In the picture below, the left arm has been cleaned, the right not--all together now: "Ewww." So. Um, the cushion. I don't know how old this thing is, but it's definitely part.. hair. I only guessed at the seat cushion, but then when I had to take the back off because both sides where upholstered... The picture doesn't do it justice. We have batting. We have straw. And the brown stuff.. is hair. Disturbingly non-horsey-looking hair. I, um.. tried not to touch it. If you don't want to know whether I put it back, then don't ask. And... done! Fabric closeup. It's cream-y crosshatch-patterned nubbly stuff with sort of a mustard-yellow background. It looks much lighter in the pictures than it is in "real life." Sorry for the blurriness. It's late and I can't hold my camera still enough to take a picture when it's dark outside. It went well, all in all! I burned myself with hot glue (could have predicted that), and I'm going to put more tacks in the trim when my back recovers (there were some weird angles to get into, there). There were also some dicey moments with the back cushion (the one that may or may not still contain unidentifiable hair). I'm really happy with how it turned out--provided my stapling job holds up. There are a lot of half-bent staples stuck in that frame. Next up's the sofa... after a nice, long break.

Living Roomarama: Part the Second

We said goodbye to the old furniture last weekend. It did us well. It's on its way to my sister-in-law's new house. At the same time, we also welcomed a new sofa and rocker into the mix. Surprise! Surprised? We were. Here's the digest:

• We were on the way to order a new sofa from Rooms to Go. They have a nice slipcovered line right now. It was comfy, not too expensive, and I love the tailored-yet-aesthetically-rumply-slipcover look. (Thanks, mom!)
• On the way, we decided to stop at an antiques/consignment shop we'd heard good things about, but is never open when we can go.
• Three pieces of furniture later, the living room has gone in an entirely different direction and I'm planning a wee upholstery project for the coming weekend.

Here are the spoils (keep an open mind). One strange, spring-loaded rocker that my mother-in-law spied in a window display (it might throw you over backwards, but as long as it's not, it's REALLY COMFORTABLE, y'all): (It has wiiiiiings!) One behooked wall-mirror that we think used to live on a dresser (but will now live over a fireplace): And finally, the pièce de resistance and thwarter of new-sofa-buying: I love this. It too is surprisingly comfortable (according to the Mr., very, very nappable). It makes me feel like I'm in the lobby of the Grove Park Inn or something. Somebody get me a cigar. I am starting to think we're some sort of safe house for weird sofas. (Need I remind you of the fauxfa?) Come one, come all. You will be appreciated and lovingly reupholstered. Obviously, "threadbare yellow/pink velvet" and "royal blue sateen" are not exactly the looks we're going for with these. I'm going to attempt the recovering myself (with the prospect of professional help if necessary.) Look for updates on that. And, in case anybody's interested, you can get upholstery tacks and those hobnail-like things at your neighborhood Lowe's...

YESTERDAY: MEH. TODAY: I CHASE A BALL.

MY HOBBY: being normal once every five years. Keeps 'em guessing.

Living Roomarama: Part the First

Well, hello, after quite the hiatus. So we haven't blogged in a while, but we haven't done anything to the house in a while either. Months, actually. I think we burned ourselves out a little what with all the activity back in the Spring. So anyway, here we are; the garden has given us pounds of okra (and died), the ladder golf has been played, many a beer has been drunk--you get the picture. I think we're finally ready for another go, and the living room is first on the list. We kind of left it to languish after the move. We filled it with boxes of books, slapped ourselves on the back and told it we'd see it when it got cold. Occasionally we sweep up dog fur drifts or turn on a light to make sure the power still works. Well... now it's cold, my sister-in-law is claiming the furniture we put in here because it wouldn't fit anywhere else, and we're thinking it's time to give it some attention. The furniture is going to be the big part. We're excited to free up the space in here, but whatever we get to replace what's here will be the first living room furniture we've ever bought ourselves. It's odd what you notice when it's yours to buy, not just to get along with. Apparently we have all sorts of opinions about sofas we never knew we had. So the furniture thing is pending. In the meantime, we found a rug we liked, so... we have our "inspiration piece" or whatever HGTV calls it these days. It's very large, and woolly, and is making the living room smell like sheep. Behold, the unfurling: The Cap'n sniffed it, lay down on it, and looked bothered (as you see). The picture is dim, but it's sort of weathered shades of red, light blue, teal, eggplant, mustard... lots of possibilities. It's from Pottery Barn, and as of the moment, can still be seen here. It was on super-duper sale and I think they're out now. Here's their picture of it; I think ours would look like this under florescent light, or something: So.. here we are. We have a rug. I'm thinking of painting the walls a cinnamon-y/burnt-orangey taupeish color (if that doesn't make sense, I liked the way the dog looked lying on it. Didn't Lowe's tell me they could match "anything?" A gallon of "grumpy golden retriever mix," please.) I'm finally going to replace the curtains that were here when we moved in, I just don't know with what. More to come!

Just don't throw them at the windows.

We made a ladder-golf set! It was stinkingly easy. And kind of fun; like k'nex for adults. We used the great instructions found here, and have enjoyed many a game thus far. In the making:

Bits and pieces (= fun.)

Ta-da!

The "bolos" or whatever you call them (nunchucks?) are made out of nylon rope and two golf balls. Drilling a hole in the golf balls was a potential problem; the instructions use a drill press (we just bought a lawn mower--we don't have a drill press). The Mr. gave it a try with his hand-held drill, which, but for the added risk of drilling through a finger, worked pretty well. Then you throw the nunchuck-things at the ladders and try to get them wrapped around the rungs. It's fun. Honest. So after he set out to make these things, we've been seeing ready-made sets everywhere; however, we still have yet to see one that's cheaper than this was to make...

Oops (I guess?)

So we had some excitement yesterday afternoon. The Mr. was out in the backyard eating weeds (or weed-eating, to make him sound less like a goat), and I was making potato salad in the kitchen. Cue sudden and loud WHAP noise, which caused me to look toward the back yard, the Mr. to put down the weed-eater and stare at the house, and the Dog to leave the vicinity. We watched, mouths agape, as large spidery cracks spread in spokes across one of the plate-glass doors in the family room. We both went through a few stages of "Whoa, what?," followed by "Aaaigh! Keep the dog out!", to "Hey, that's kind of cool-looking" once we figured out it was the outside pane of two and that it wouldn't be exploding into shards inside the house. What actually did it, though, is still kind of a mystery. The Mr. thinks the weed-eater may have kicked something up, which is a definite possibility, but he was pretty far away; we've also had a couple of birds smack into these windows, so I guess there's that, though you'd think if a bird hit the window that hard he'd be lying there on the patio seeing stars. Some pictures:

I took those yesterday evening, a couple of hours after it happened. It's actually still cracking this morning--every couple of minutes I hear another little "pop." The Mr. criss-crossed the outer side with packing tape in the hopes of keeping it in bigger pieces, should it fall out of the frame. We read somewhere online that some kinds of safety glass can withstand storm winds without falling out of their frames if they're cracked like this--here's hoping that's the kind we have. Anyway. The glass guys are coming today to see what it is they'll need to do. As long as it doesn't fall out, it's kind of neat-looking--we had some friends by yesterday who hadn't seen the house and actually thought it was crackled on purpose. We were like, "of course it is."

Well, it hasn't fallen down, yet.

So we have a tiny (as in 7' x 8') "office." I'm convinced it used to be a pantry, or something, but the agent listed it as an office, so we went with it. When it comes down to it, it's plenty of room for a desk, a chair, and a bookcase. We also have two filing cabinets that are a little worse for the wear (one was originally my sister's, and is in good shape but for having been moved four or five times; the other came from beside a dumpster at my old apartment complex and claims to contain "Rob's Professional Files." Sometimes I wonder who Rob was, and whether he had another filing cabinet for his unprofessional files.) Right. Anyway, the point is, they're different sizes, so stacking things on top of them looks kind of weird. Eh, here's a picture. It illustrates the "problem" better than anything:

Yeah, that's ugly. Needless to say, none of our furniture quite offered a solution ("yea tall, deep enough for two filing cabinets, wide enough for two printers on top and a trash can underneath"), so we tried our hand at furniture-making. Anybody who actually builds furniture might suffer some sort of trauma seeing the following ("you used L-brackets where!?"), so.. warning. Construction pictures:

Top board, left, and legs. The top board was precut 2' x 4' 1/2" plywood (about $6, I think), and the legs were actually deck rail supports. They were way cheaper than the actual "table legs" we found at Home Depot ($3 apiece), and longer, which turned out to be a good thing. The top, put together:

It sat like that for a week or two. Then we got around to putting the legs on it:

Okay, so it's not going to win any awards. That back brace looks kind of stupid, we realize. But you won't really be able to see it, and if it keeps our printers from falling on the floor, bring on the stupid. I used some of the leftover quarter round from trimming the baseboards around the top edge, and painted the whole thing white to match the trim in the office:

I find I'm often painting things at, like, dusk. So if you come visit, don't stare at anything too hard. It's surprisingly stable. We got it in, festooned it with printers, and I made it a tiny curtain to match the valances I'd made for the windows in there. Here's the "after" shot:

With the paint and lots of L-brackets, it came to something between $20-$25, which is about as good as we could have hoped for. We'll just hope it keeps standing...

Less than $10: An Ode to Craigslist

Speaking of "less than $10," my sister-in-law informs me that somebody on HGTV recently spray-painted a chandelier like we did. Maybe we should demand royalties. But back to Craigslist: for eight bucks apiece, we picked up these two chairs from (as it turned out) someone who lives about three miles down the road from us. They're a neat shape, and the finish looks great with our dining table. They needed some cleaning up, and besides a minor flaw that we discovered when we got them home (their arms are about a quarter of an inch too high to fit under the table), I think they're going to work. I took off the cushions (one was red, one was green. I didn't ask.):

...and recovered them with upholstery fabric.

I may recover them again at some point. This fabric, despite how the picture looks, is not at all pink, but different shades of gold; some blocks are warmer, and some have a greenish tint I thought would blend nicely with the green chairs and the gold-ish walls. Ultimately, the checkerboard bit is a lot less subtle in our house than it was in the store and I still may keep my eye out for other options. At any rate, the Christmas cushions and stains and such are gone and I'm happy with that for now. We still have to figure out how best to fix the arm-height problem. So far our plan is to saw a half-inch off the bottom of all the legs. Either that or screw something into the feet of the table that raises it up enough. Suggestions?

PSST, TOOTS? HOLD MY CALLS.

Gotta go see a dog about a guy.

Farming the Back Yard

Okay, other folks would call it "gardening." A couple of weekends ago the Mr. set out to tame a very overgrown pre-existing garden plot in our new back yard. It was already fenced off (and protected from the munching of larger animals by chicken wire):

The above was after a good bit of heavy weeding. And de-snaking. Yes. Snakes. That's when I went inside and said, "Tell me when to come take another picture. I'll be buying stilts off the internet." Here's part of the ridicumongus pile of weeds he pulled out of it (by the end it was about five feet in diameter and came up past my knees):

Tilled up, and ready for topsoil:

Note the monstrous rosemary bush in the bottom right. Other survivors of neglect included some chives and a spearmint plant. And... planted!

Because I'm twelve years old, I found the following hilarious. He mixed this into the topsoil before spreading it:

"We are Number 1 in the Number 2 Business."

And, voila! He was able to cram tomatoes, okra, several kinds of pepper, some cucumbers, some squash, and others into that space, and so far they seem to be doing pretty well. We also planted a nice little herb garden in an existing window-box-like planter on one of the fence walls in the back yard. It's going to be nice to read "fresh [insert name of herb]" in a recipe, and not roll my eyes. I don't know about you folk, but buying anything like that fresh at a grocery store in these parts adds up fast, so I never do. Ha, dried Basil. Ha.

Thanks! (Curtains update)

Okay, so an update on fabric choices (thanks for the suggestions!!) I have now learned that there is a Waverly outlet within reach (I love me a discount). Thanks, too, to my mother-in-law for the positive identification of our Roses (Knock-Out?) and for assuring us that they are, thankfully, of the easy-care variety. I just wanted to share some things I found via the suggested links. First off, HEE. "Seagull," by Jenny Lee-Katz:

Next, beautimous: "Avalon," by Daisy Janie

I also really like this one of hers: "Maxie"

LOVE, but probably too dark: "Hydrangea Blue," by Cicada Studio

and, "HEE," all over again: "Chicks-a-dee"

Ah, so many great things out there. Thanks to my sister for restoring my faith in online shopping. Be on the lookout for pictures of the Mr.'s brand-new garden!

The Search for The Perfect Curtains

Ah, internet, you are failing me. Anybody know of some swanky boutique fabric shop online that sells tastefully mod yet understated large-scale prints? It's going to be hard to describe what I'm looking for, which is perhaps part of the problem (who..am.. i?) The back room has two big windows plus big french doors with no mullions. When we're back there, in the daytime, it's lovely. There are times, though, that it's not; like, when we're not there and the sun beating in drives the thermostat crazy, or when it's dark, and the entire wall amounts to a large, dark, light-sucking void. (This is especially troublesome when you're home alone after your dog has tried to make a snack of a baby bunny in the back yard and you're convinced that said baby bunny's mother is going to come after you, Bunnicula-style, for continuing to fraternize with the beast.) Right. Anyway. The point is, there are good reasons to make curtains. The windows already have some really nice roman shades on them, so I'm concentrating on the french doors. I'm envisioning an oversized drapery rod with finials, and those big rings with clips on the bottom to hold up the fabric. C.f.:

They shouldn't be too fussy, because most of the time, it won't be pulled across the doors. Just when we need it, to, you know, hide us from angry rabbits. So.. the fabric. After searching (fruitlessly) I realized I was envisioning something kind of similar to a binder I bought at Target. Unfortunately, the company that makes them isn't in the business of drapery fabric. (I checked.): They're all pretty fun. I have the one on the bottom right--the wavy orange/green/blue-gray--which, coincidentally, are pretty great colors for what I need it for. Anyway, the search turned up some possibilities: Retrodepot's "Looped (Citrus)": (probably too bright, but I like the scale and the pattern):

Totally different, but I like it (Waverly "Chippendale Fretwork"):

Hmm? (Waverly "Garden Lattice"):

And another: (Waverly "Pindot"):

Anyway. I'm not super excited about any of them. It can't compete too much with the orange plaid couch; the roman blinds are pretty neutral, so I'm not too worried about clashes there. I'm open to suggestions. It may be worth mentioning that I got a lot of leftover orange plaid back from the upholsterer--I could imagine using some of it as a stripe, or something, but don't want it all to get too match-y. Thoughts?