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?

Fwoing!

That's the sound Spring makes in these parts. I swear, one day there was nothing. The next day:

"Laaaaaaa!"

The Captain is pleased.

And some lovely roses (as for caring for these.. help?):

Kitchen Countertop Phototacular

I've been promising this for awhile; here (finally) are some pictures of the kitchen, all put back together. First, a small (sorry) picture of the way it used to be. You can't see much, but the countertops were dark and had a thick shellac on them.

Now, after much sanding (thanks to the Mr. and his dad) and staining (thanks again to the Mr. and his sister):

(Picture 3 is pretty much a wall-o-wedding gifts. Y'all will probably recognize a few things, there. Thanks again, everybody!) We used Cabot Polystain (a water-based stain/sealer combo) in Pecan Satin and so far it's held up really, really well; it's really resistant to spills and made for a really hard surface. I'm not too worried about dinging it. I'm sure it will happen, at some point, but we're having to be much less careful with it than we expected we would.

Back in Business

We're lucky enough that this house came with an attic fan. It's truly fantastic, with a few windows open it's like having the A/C on full blast. However.. it either hadn't been used much in the last few years or this past winter was particularly rough on it, because the first time we ran it the belt broke. Considering that for all we know that belt was as old as the fan/house (it certainly looked it), this wasn't too much of a surprise. It gave us an excuse to visit the local hardware store, which we'd do with or without an excuse for the experience. (I have no idea how anybody ever finds anything there unless you've worked there for.. 40 years? More? Really. I'm not exaggerating. We've given up, we just ask for things we need; this time, the Mr. said, "Attic fan belt broke," and held it up for inspection. "Sure did," was the response; the proprietor disappeared into another room, and after some rustling and the sound of something small scattering across the floor, returned with an intact version of the exact same belt. We figure there's a good chance the 'new' one is as old as the 'old' one, but does it matter if it works?) The Mr. reattached the belt and the fan (big, loud and scary-looking as it is) is back in business. Ahh, moving air. It's great--except that we underestimated how much pollen was still floating around in the air and having it on all day yesterday meant that everything is now covered in a quarter-inch dusting of yellow fuzz. Live and learn.

NEW HOBBY.

Half in. Half out. Leaves my options open.

Flatpackin'

I've already mentioned our trip to our local IKEA (sidebar, those of you out there who actually do live in one of the, what, six? major US cities to have its own big blue store of Swedish modern wonder: to us, "local" means "closer than the others," and a trip to one still means hours--yes, hours--on the highway listening to our own tailpipe rattling, because no matter who you are those boxes don't fit in the back of a Jeep and aren't we lucky that IKEA knows that about us and provides nylon cord for us tie down our hatches if we're unprepared to do so? For some of us, IKEA shopping takes determination and a certain amount of faith in complimentary insurance mechanisms), and there's not much to say, other than we bought a couple of very large pieces of furniture. It's always easier to put them together than I expect it to be. Our MARKOR still flat-packed:

It might sound stupid, but I find the whole thing less intimidating if I separate all the bits-and-pieces first (it's faster, later on, but also make us familiar with the parts so we're less likely to use the wrong thing at the wrong time). A gajillion pegs, bolts, etc., during the sorting process:

45 minutes (or so?) later:

"Bam." Okay, I stink at photojournalism. I was too involved to take pictures. It's now filled with books--really sturdy. We actually got this because what we were there to get turned out to be, like, two inches too big for the wall it had to go on. This particular one wasn't something either of us had picked out online; for some reason it looked a lot better in the store, and we're really happy with how it went up. The other giant thing we got was a wardrobe--the LEKSVIK 3-door, to be exact. We already had a dresser with the same finish. It's ginormous, but it does what we needed it to--we basically needed a second closet in our bedroom, where there wasn't one. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it.