Painful Hutch

We have this hutch.

But it Looks So Comfy....

After a long day, I often think of how nice it would be to come home and sit on one of these...

I know it's not cute, it's scale is sooooo off, but, how can you look at that and not think "ahhhhhhh." It has cupholders and the seats recline/swallow you whole. The only thing it's missing is a wine fridge (that would obviously open from the top! I always tell my husband he is getting a man cave in our next place and it will have seats like this. He doesn't seem that enthused about it, I AM! Where else can you put these monsters and be able to enjoy them without anyone ever knowing you actually bought them??? Maybe one day I will share a picture of his swan chair...That's right, we have swans in our bedroom. I cringe at the thought of it too, but he loves that damn chair.

Why We Live Where We Live

When we bought our place, we were thinking we would live there for 2, maybe 3 years. Tops. Hello 4 years, nice to see you! Yep, 4 years later, we are still here!

Here is why we like it:

Floor Plan

I always find, looking at a floor plan makes it easier for me to visualize a space. I wanted to share with you a simplified floor plan of our condo (with furniture in place.) I know, we have far too much furniture, but most of it is for storage, which we desperately need. We have plans to rearrange our bedroom furniture (and possibly get rid of a dresser.)

Goooood Morning!

I have a few houseplants. Not as many as I would like, but I used to be better at killing plants than keeping them alive. So I am slowly building my indoor garden. I was starting to think I needed to add more soil to the plants, I didn't know before that potted plants lost soil over time. Now I do. I really didn't want to have to buy soil or dirt, but it seemed like I would have to. UNTIL, I read this super cool article on Apartment Therapy that would solve two problems I have! I only make coffee at home a few days a week, but, I am always throwing out the coffee grounds which seems wasteful. Not anymore! I am going to add them to my plants.

Has anyone done this? Any words of wisdom or caution?

Happy Wednesday!

I posted about Christina Watka's installation at Twelve Chairs Boston. Somehow, she was able to make this amazing installation

even more amazing. Christina created a stop motion video with an amazing original music composition by her boyfriend (and my cousin) Andrew Halchak. I think the installation looks so alive, watching it grow with music makes it even more alive. Enjoy!

Make Them Think it is Daytime!

Many years ago I heard/read (I don't remember which) a reason for painting porch ceilings blue. In my opinion, this is one tradition, like toile, that should never fade away. The reasoning was: people believed (I don't know when it started) that to keep the ghosts & evil spirits (Haints) away, they would paint the ceiling of their porch sky blue or "Haint Blue". The sky blue color would make the ghosts believe it was daytime and they wouldn't haunt the residents. It is such a pretty and simple tradition to carry on. Once I heard this story I started noticing porch ceilings more and more, the minute I buy a house with a porch the ceiling is getting a Haint blue color! But, for now, here are some pretty images of porches...

Southern Living

Evolving Color Palette

Before we moved in, we chose a color palette for our condo. My parents have BM Powell Buff HC-35 in their front hall at their house. I have always liked it, so we chose that as our neutral.

What We Moved Into

We were very eager beavers when we purchased our condo in July of 2007. We were moving in together for the first time, and had BIG plans of what we would do to make this our home. We have done a lot, but this thing called the recession has gotten in the way a bit. I just wanted to share some "day we moved in" pictures with you all! Enjoy the 1980's...Terrible light fixtures/fans, odd off-white color on the walls & tile that makes you question why mauve was ever "in." Don't even get me started on mirrors.

Front Door

Oops! x2

I have had a rough week. Well, not really, just 2 projects that have not yet succeeded.
This is fail #1:
I am painting my black bedroom furniture navy. This piece is a leg of a table that is new to our bedroom so started off stained wood. I took it apart, sanded it, primed it, 2 coats of paint on almost every surface. I kept hoping the second coat would darken it up, then I was hoping it would dry darker. Neither happened. It's bright-freaking-blue. So back to the store I went, with a new color in mind, one coat later, I am happy!
These are the legs, new on the left, old on the right.

Holy Roller

I have heard rumors that some people have used mini 4" sponge rollers to paint rather than brushes. I have always painted furniture with brushes, I can get the paint fairly smooth, but not perfect. Now that I am on a furniture painting kick again (I think it is a nice simple way to update a room's look) I decided to try a roller. Well, then I forgot and painted a table with a sponge brush...

Ceiling Sourcing

My job, today, is to source. It may just be a generational thing, but, when it comes to sourcing (pictures, materials, etc) my dad is not your man, I am your girl.

We have designed a garage-->family room conversion (don't worry, they are adding on a much nicer garage) for a client. The new family room will have a "tray ceiling." After our clients thought about it, they decided they were going for more of a "cathedral ceiling" look. I am not partial, design wise, to either one. My only hold up with a cathedral is insulation. It is very hard to squeeze in the correct R-value into a cathedral ceiling. In fact, the term "squeeze insulation" makes building science nerds, like myself cringe...DON'T EVER SHOVE INSULATION INTO ANY AREA, any insulation material's R-value is only valid at its recommended fluff depth (that is my technical term.) If anyone has more questions about that I am happy to elaborate, but for, now onto the fun stuff. We came up with a insulation value solution by making a lesser pitched roof on the interior of the roof to give it a cathedral ceiling look while allowing for plenty of insulation up there. Problem solved?

Before we went too far with determining how beams and load values work out, we decided to make sure there is no communication barrier. So I am searching for picture examples of each (my job IS fun!)

Some cathedral & tray ceiling examples

Truss Roof

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Well, it was worth a shot! After we got rid of our TV armoir (I only have a picture of the bottom part and Sophia's butt, sorry!)