* Clarksdale Place *

Snapshots and Some New Art

2014-08-02T16:52:00.001-07:00

I thought I would post a few snaps to try and get in a better habit of posting. We have acquired a few new art pieces to add to our 'paint-by-numbers' collection and other thrift store and estate sale finds. Hope you all enjoy! And please don't forget to submit your email to the right if you would like emails when we update the site - thanks. C+K

The Desk Area: We finally framed the Gene Davis and we think it looks pretty good. Please excuse the unfinished trim under the desk. I still haven't gotten around to finishing it. You can also see one of our paint-by-numbers pieces and a thrift store litho just to the right.

Another snap of the bench area. You can see the built in planter is flourishing. I highly recommend mother in law tongue plants. They are very hearty and beautiful. Again please excuse the unfinished trim.

A little corner of the house with our wedding plant - looking like it needs a little work but it is almost 7 years old. We have collected some brass animals along the way and one of my great estate sale finds - a lithography stone. That puppy weighs a ton but it is a beautiful art object.

A close up of an unfinished paint-by-numbers painting that we got at an estate sale for something like a dollar or fifty cents. I am eventually going either mount it on a wood backing or frame it somehow.

This is our latest paint-by-numbers find that we picked up yesterday. Please excuse the red and blue splotches on the frames. I was trying to get the thrift store prices off with vinegar. They write with those lithography crayons. Usually I can get them off but we have seen some valuable objects destroyed by those crayons.

Two more from our paint-by-numbers collection from thrift stores and estate sales. They are next to our Greg Murr painting.

This is a corner in the front room. The print is one of our best [in terms of value] art find thus far. It is an etching by Luigi Kasimir from the 20's I believe. Kasimir is considered the inventor of multi color plate etching. Ain't Google grand sometimes.

The Kitchen Update: How to Drag Your Kitchen Out of the 80's/90's and Into the 50's

2014-06-07T17:17:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone,
First of all I am sorry for taking so long in updating this blog. I know I say that every time but I think it will be worth the wait. We finished the kitchen several months ago but I have just now found the time and inclination to take some images to share with you all.
The first group of images will be the dreaded 'Before' pictures. Most of these pictures were taken from the MLS listing when we were buying the house so that isn't our furniture. They are followed by the beloved [hopefully!] 'After' pictures.
Another note is that the floor couldn't have been completed without our pal Joe T. who flew in for a visit and took point on the project. 15 hours later, hands covered with stickiness, and yours truly exhausted and unable to see straight we are very pleased as we hope you will be as well.
And now..... Enjoy.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I think the pictures are fairly accurate. I took these images at night and the colors are a little darker than when the sunlight washes them out a little. The light here is very 'white' and not golden yellow which produces the best natural colors. The cabinets are what we call a '57 Chevy color. I think this represents a vast improvement all around.
Thanks,
C+K

2014-02-04T20:10:00.001-08:00

Look. We got a lamp.
Yes, yes we went full on arc light. It is a reproduction but I gotta tell you that marble base is a monster! I am glad we were able to place it near a exterior wall as the thing weighs as much as a piano. Weight aside the arc lamp gives off excellent light especially during a dinner party. Everything is well lit and there is no harsh glare! We are very pleased! The banners are for a birthday party [which was a blast btw!].

The Hall Bath Gets Refreshed

2013-11-09T12:28:00.003-08:00

Hi all - Sorry I haven't posted anything in forever but sometimes life takes over and the digital world just has to take a back seat for awhile. We finally tackled the hall bath trying to freshen it up a bit. The transformation isn't the most dramatic but I think it looks a little better. The wall color is far darker than anything we have worked with before and I worried that we may have fallen prey to one of my pet peeves - going a little paint crazy in a bathroom as opposed to a main room because you can close the door on the craziness in the bathroom. But I don't think we went too far. We also tried to match the blues of the Japanese print we put on the back of the toilet to try and get a third color in the room - yellow, sea foam green, and navy blue. Most of the work was painting - cabinets and walls. And we adding new hardware and swapped out the hinges as the others had been painted over [who does that?]. I think the change is for the better.

Please don't forget to sign up to get email updates when we add to the blog!!

We have finished the kitchen as well and as soon as I can get some images taken I will post them as many people have been waiting to see the results. But for now please enjoy: The Hall Bath.

Before:

During:

After:

A nice bourbon drink to finish off our work!!

The Bookcase Planter Comes Together

2013-04-20T16:58:00.001-07:00

We have struggled for a long time trying to figure out what to do with the most mod part of our house - the front room planter bookcase. There used to be some sort of a screen screwed into the top of the bookcase right next to the planter acting as a decorative room divider. K and I go to tons of estate sales and we see lots of these planter bookcases in all sorts of shapes and forms and usually no one does anything interesting with them. We bounced around ideas like making our own screen using colored plexiglass or wood. We looked into a company in town that does wrought iron work thinking that we could find something appropriate and affordable.
So after thinking about it for almost three years the answer came to us - go with the original purpose. We had put the books in, that was simple. We decided to put in plants. I have been looking for long twisty plants for a long time and finally found some at a local nursery that has a happy hour once a month. There is nothing like plants and free beer and cheese. We bought two long plastic window box planters at Home Depot to use as a liner along with some plastic. I had to cut them a little narrower on the table saw but other than that they pretty much slid right in. The plants are called Monther-in-Law Tongue - or something like that.
So for about $50 we have pretty much finished off the front room. Enjoy!

Before:

During:

Voila:

We hope you enjoy our choices as much as we enjoy living with them!!

Thrift Log

2013-03-11T17:57:00.003-07:00

We had some great luck at a couple estate sales and some thrift stores this weekend! The two little planters, both made in Japan, the Heath mug, and a couple of the books came from the thrifts. I may or may not keep the planters (I recently bought some more succulents and they do fit so nicely....), but the Hare Krishna vegetarian cookbook is a keeper for sure. C's sister and her family gave us a very generous gift certificate for our local Hare Krishna buffet (so good!) and once it runs out I'll be glad I have this book. The mug had some marks on it that didn't rub off easily at the store, but for 60 cents I decided to pick it up anyway and it cleaned up nicely with a little scrubbing. I can't find this exact mug online, so I don't know how old it is, but I look forward to drinking tea from it. The children's books have wonderful illustrations, and all are from the Weekly Reader Book Club in 1961. They're destined for the shop after I read them.

C spotted SIX of these fabulous glasses at the thrift store and they are in perfect condition. We also went to two estate sales - the first looked like our kind of sale, a 1950s house with lots of stuff in the pictures online. And it was fine - but not great. I was, however, happy to pick up a couple stocking stuffers for one of my sisters and a new case for my glasses. The glasses case is actually very exciting (for me!) - mine was completely falling apart. While we were checking out at that sale, we saw a sign by the register saying that there was another sale in the neighborhood. We headed over there and were not thrilled to pull up in front of a giant new build, as they usually tend to have newer things, and higher prices. But it was awesome! I got several things for the shop: purses, sweaters, and several housewares, as well as this awesome horse head table lighter, made in Japan. When I first spotted it in the dark, completely packed garage I thought it was a lone bookend so I passed it by. It drew me back though, and upon closer inspection I discovered it was a table lighter and I was even happier to discover it was in perfect shape.

I'm excited to link up with Sir Thriftalot's Thriftasaurus, where folks share their thrifty finds!

Hallways Are So Sexy!

2013-03-09T15:39:00.003-08:00

Alright, this post is all about our amazing hallway. What I love about our house is that the living areas and the sleeping areas are cordoned off by our hallway. You can close the door at the end of the hallway like an airlock door and section off the den, kitchen, and front dining/living room from the bedrooms. There is little to no wasted space in this house. One of the bizarre features of the hallway is the number of doors. In a space that is roughly 4.5 ft x 15-16 ft there are nine doors. That is right - there are nine doors. They are doors for three bedrooms, a bathroom, two closets, one for the water heater, and the last for the HVAC. There is also an attic fan that still works perfectly but thankfully that is in the ceiling.
I would also like to point out that it is extremely difficult to get good photos in a long and narrow hallway. So hopefully these will suffice.
Our original hallway had been painted what I call a 'tobacco stained teeth' color - a common color choice in this area along with the dreaded butter cream yellowish white and raw brown umber combination. We had originally thought to paint the hallway a bright tangerine orange, something really fun and vibrant to give the dark hall some light. But common sense prevailed as this is not the house we plan on dying in and we chose the same cool, crisp gray that we used in the den with the bamboo flooring.
Here is a look at the hallway before and after - I haven't picked up light switch covers yet so please excuse their absence in the after photos.
Before:

The original doorbell - I will probably cover it back up though

After:

Some of K's artwork

Sorry if everything seems rather dark. This is a hallway and there isn't much else I can do with it.
Coming soon will be [finally!!!] the kitchen and the hall bath. I have a new policy where I am trying to do two hours of work every weekday on the house - non maintenance work. I have discovered two things - 1. You can get a boatload of stuff done in two hours if you actually sit down and do the work and you don't intellectualize it over a couple of beers. And 2. Two hours is a really, really long time!

Thrift Log

2013-03-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend was mostly spent working around the house and in the garden, but we did manage to squeeze in some mid-week thrifting and found a couple things for the shop. If only we had a land line, this Genie phone would be a keeper! Regardless, it will serve as a good reminder to always go down the creepy electronics aisle. Also scored a little Iittala candlestick - one is better than none, right? I'm hoping some of his friends make an appearance one of these days. The great little wooden house blocks were in a baggie with some random plastic pieces and they just caught my eye.

And here's the garden - six tomatoes planted for now, and there will be more to come when it's consistently warmer. Excited for spring!!

Thrift Log

2013-02-24T16:40:00.000-08:00

We started going to estate sales and garage sales to look for furniture for our house and we did find some things, but mostly I just found cool vintage pieces (at fantastic prices) that I didn't have a use for. Since we love estate saling so much, and it was hard to pass up all the great things I was finding, I decided to start picking up the cool vintage pieces I found and start a vintage etsy shop (which I'm working hard to get filled back up after a recent break). Going to sales has become a really fun activity for us as a couple, especially as brunch is often involved. We also live in a part of town that has a ton of thrift stores, so I've also grown to love thrifting, which has led to the discovery of thrift blogs... Since C already had this blog going, I am going to start sharing my thrifty finds here as well.

We found all of the items in the above photo this Saturday and the bright colors really reflect the bright sunny weather here in Dallas this weekend. I also picked up some clothes - shorts and corduroy pants - I'm wearing the shorts today, but I imagine the cords will make an appearance before too long (Texas weather!). Anyhoo, the mushroom (it's a little container - the cap pops off!) is all mine!! I thought he would complement our mushroom-centric Christmas decorations quite nicely, but I think he may be more of a year-round kind of mushroom. The enamel Reed and Barton bowl is something I picked up for my brother-in-law - my sister started collecting them years ago but lately my bro-in-law has really gotten into it. They have an amazing collection, not just of the bowls but also the mod paisley, rectangle, and triangular dishes. I suspect they already have this one and I bet my bro-in-law is going to sell it and use the profits to buy something more exciting - can't wait to see what he scores! The green plastic desk caddy caught my eye and it is marked West Germany on the bottom. I always love enamel pieces, and C spotted this little Turkish coffee pot. I scored the ash trays on a solo thrift store run - I hadn't seen them before, but the second I spotted them I knew they were interesting. I quickly learned they were designed by the famous Japanese designer Isamu Kenmochi . Thrifting certainly provides excellent learning opportunities!

We also found these great ornaments (along with another box with similar ornaments). We'll definitely keep a few for our collection!

Did you find anything fun this weekend?

KITCHEN SNEAK PEAK

2013-01-03T14:03:00.003-08:00

Just a little look.

2012-12-31T11:52:00.002-08:00

Dining Room Acquisition

Happy New Year everyone! First of all I am sorry that I have been so lax in updating this blog but sometimes life takes over everything and things get pushed back. This will be a small update mainly to let you all know that we are still alive and working/kicking. I will be doing a long delayed kitchen post soon I hope and I think you will like the changes. But for now you will have to settle on another one of our infamous 'plop designs.'
Please don't forget to plug your email in to the thingy on the right so you can receive emails when I update the site - as you can tell by my lack of updates I won't be flooding you inbox anytime soon.
I also wanted to mention that six of my larger paintings will be featured on HGTV's 2013 Dream Home Giveaway television show. The first airing is Jan 1 @ 7pm EST. So tune in if you get a chance - there will be several other showings in January, try and check it out if you can.
And now to the photos:

This was our original Mission style dining set. It saw a ton of use at our old 1920's bungalow especially on poker night. It looked really good in the craftsman-esque home we used to have. It doesn't look bad here but still wasn't quite right.

And here we are now! The carpet is from Flor - the squares are interchangeable and we can take ones out that get soiled or if we want to add new colors. The table chairs need recovering but look ok for now. We acquired the dining set from our now defunct favorite auction house. I told K when we put the new dining set in that from a distance it looks like Captain Kirk's MCM command center had landed in our front room. Jerome is quite pleased with the rug. The cats tend to want to hang on individual squares and don't like to lay across two or more squares. Interesting.

Please excuse the ironing board in the background - we were getting ready for Christmas and it makes a good work surface.

One more little thing. I received this comment from a viewer and wanted to respond in the main text:

Smithe Arvinnese October 24, 2012 10:09 PM

Well, believe it or not but I am really fascinated and hooked when it comes to the flooring of the house. Simply because, I believe that it has a great effect not just on the interior design but also with the lifestyle of the house owner. Anyway, I had a great time reading and watching your post and hoping that I could also hear or read an article about bamboo floors from you. More power and more related articles soon.

Here is my response:

Clarksdale December 31, 2012 12:07 PM

We absolutely LOVE our bamboo floors! They integrate very well with the existing hardwoods in color and tone. There is only one area where the bamboo meets the hardwood so the effect is minimal. I would recommend this product to anyone. It is affordable, durable, and beautiful - exactly what I used to look for in a date before I got married haha.
If we ever re-do another home and have to put in new flooring we will probably go with bamboo.
Thanks for the comment!

Den Makeover: Bamboo Floors and Wall Colors

2012-05-12T14:42:00.001-07:00

NEW POLL: Help us with Kitchen Counter Tops! Poll is on the upper right of blog!

This is what the room looked like before installing the bamboo flooring. I finished painting the walls. The back wall will be a 'feature wall.' I plan to panel over the paneling with non-groove panels. If that is a total failure then I will rip them out and paint the wall. It is always good to have a backup plan.

The bamboo is in and we are very, very happy with the results. We debated about carrying the wood into the kitchen but opted not too. We are going to install a black and white checked tile with a diagonal pattern.
I think the bamboo looks smart and it blends very well with the existing hardwood leading down the hallway - the only place where there might be a mixing of wood issue.

Sedona inspects the new flooring. She is pleased and promptly falls asleep - a sign of feline approval.

Jerome, the grumpy one, seems less pleased but he finally came around and fell asleep.

Cramer came out of hiding long enough to say, "What the heck did you do to my floor?" Then he fell asleep.

I don't know why I included this picture but what the heck it's our blog so I am sticking it in there.

Please ignore the orange cable in the photo below and the fact that I haven't installed the trim yet. But we like the overall effect of this angle/view.

House Numbers!

2012-04-02T16:18:00.004-07:00

I finally got the house numbers up. I used some left over bamboo flooring from our den as the backing for the numbers and then created a black wood frame. I think the effect is quite nice. So now everyone knows - we put in bamboo flooring in the den, and it looks amazing! I will be sharing some photos soon but I wanted to get the new house numbers online.

The Carpet is Now Gone

2012-02-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

Ok first off sorry for taking so long between posts but sometimes life gets in the way of, well, life. Also, sorry about the mess in the first few pictures. I am about to rip up the carpet and the room is a bit of a mess as I get ready to get the carpet out. Hopefully K will forgive me for this one. As you can see from the picture above that the carpet simply had to go. I have no idea why people put carpet in homes. K and I are hardwood people through and through.
** Please note that we have a poll just to the right at the top of the blog. We are trying to decide what sort of flooring to put into the den. If you haven't voted yet let us know what you think!!

Let the ripping of the carpet begin!!

Carpet is heavy. I learned the lesson from watching all that HGTV - cut your carpet into smaller strips when removing it. You will thank me later!

I have absolutely no idea why I am wearing an apron - beers maybe? I don't know really. But I had to get rid of all that carpet tacking.

We figured out why the back den is funky shaped - trapezoidal. Based upon the sub floor there was at one point a mud room of some sort by the back door. Interesting. Ripping that out was a good idea but it also means that we probably cannot strip the ceiling of the popcorn as the ceiling will not be uniform all the way across and we'd have to drywall it. So we made the command decision [can two people make a command decision?] to leave the ceiling alone. Often the most cost effective thing to do when remodeling is to do nothing.

And here is what we have at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to get the flooring in soon -once we decide what kind of flooring we want to use!

Sedona and I celebrate a job well done with a much deserved recline.

Our latest art acquisition. Unfortunately we didn't find it at an estate sale!

We also planted the truest symbol of yuppie home ownership - The Japanese Maple. K has named him [all plants are boys to her] Haruki.

Hopefully I won't take so long between posts! Have a great Super Bowl weekend everyone.

New Acquisitions & New Poll

2011-11-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

We've acquired a few items over the last few weeks and I thought I would post them. This end table we found at an estate sale. Everything else was totally granny and nothing worked for us. Then we spied this table by the bed. It was listed for $30 but I went back the next day for 50% off and scored it for $15. Not too bad as it is in near mint shape.

** Please note that we have a new poll just to the right at the top of the blog. We are trying to decide what sort of flooring to put into the den and the kitchen. We are definitely interested in what y'all have to say about the flooring so please vote and let your voice be heard!

This painting was another estate sale score. I was walking around the house and I looked up on the wall and had an 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' moment. What solidified the deal was the piece of blue tape that said it was $7 and we were on 50% off by that point so I scooped the painting up for $3.50. For some reason I have an affinity for nautical works of art and we have been looking for some good [relative term I know] 50's art that won't set us back an arm and a leg.

We have been landing some really great deals lately at estate and yard sales.

And finally I received these two cool candlesticks for an early birthday present from L. They look really groovy on the TV credenza and we have definitely been putting them to good use.

Demo of the Built-In

2011-10-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't posted anything in forever but sometimes 'life' gets in the way of hobbies. Things are going well but slowly at the house. We are now beginning to re-do the den and kitchen so there should be some big changes coming up! Hope you will tune in to see what happens.
This time we removed the countrified built-ins. I know that is a sin but there was no way to modify them in a way that would be acceptable to us. We are not fans of mid-century country - not by a long stretch.

When I peeled away the bookcase we discovered more of the 'half record' ceiling plaster pattern. Now we have a dilemma. We are almost 100% sure that the den was originally two rooms so we don't think that the plaster pattern continues across the entire ceiling.

Our original plan was to scrape the popcorn off but I am not sure that it is possible to do without damaging the plaster. And the plaster doesn't go all the way across - why else would they popcorn the ceiling if it did? So if we remove the popcorn we would have to drywall over everything anyway. So it looks like the popcorn will be staying for the moment.

Oh yeah the original ceiling was a pinkish putty color - yikes!

Under the built-in desk we find the original flooring - some tacky paper linoleum of some sort, which is not salvageable in any way.

Of course Sedona slept through the entire demolition process.

Eventually the desk will live here and I will build a new bookcase to go over the desk - I have to hide the exposed plaster in the ceiling.

The Marble Table Top Finds a Stand

2011-07-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday K and I were estate sale-ing around town and K stumbled upon this table stand and announced its perfection and suitability for our marble table top. I quickly concurred. We decided to pay full price instead of waiting for the 50% off that would be in place the next day - what if someone buys it out from under us!? So we plunked down our hard earned monies and walked away with the perfect table support. It might be the best $12 we've spent since 25 cent draft night at our favorite bar. Of course if we could have held out a day it would have been six bucks but that might have felt like stealing. Anyway, we are quite pleased to have found a base for our table top.

This area of the room is starting to finally come together. Of course when we eventually get in there and paint and refloor and do all the things in our heads that we invision for the space it will change a great deal. But for now we are pleased with the current situation. But I cannot wait to get in there and make some more dramatic changes [for the better I hope!].

Just a couple of pictures of the reading nook - still one of K's favorite spots in the house!

The Castration of Clarksdale Place [not the cat]

2011-07-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

OK. When we first got the house we didn't realize that we had a couple of, um, testicles on either side of the entryway. Over time they began to emerge as giant eyesores that really clutter up the front of the house and make the facade look very small. So we decided to take them out entirely. I was hoping that the front of the house would look wider and larger - elongated.
Eventually we will plant something in their place. We have thought about a long grass on one side and perhaps the true sign of yuppie gentrification on the other - the Japanese maple. But for now we will have to live with absense. Actually a large part of my philosophy is to take things out before adding things on so I am enjoying the openness of the front of the hosue at the moment. So enjoy the images!

In the picture below you can really see how the shrubs clutter up the facade and block a great deal of light.

One down! And one to go:

You can see how the front of the house opens up in the following photos:

Soon we will deal with the lighting situation and I think you will be excited with out decision when I get around to swapping the lights out.

The dead soldiers - there were incredibly overgrown and very heavy:

K recently made an owl pillow as a baby present for a friend so I thought to include it here - looks really good:

Here is Cramer, occasionally refered to as The Little Idiot. He has taken to sleeping like this, usually with both arms outstretched, but you get the idea. He'll stay like this for hours. We should take a lesson in relaxation from the little dude. He is a perma-teenager at heart, another lesson for us.

Sconces and Austin, TX

2011-07-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the new sconces for the bedroom. I am sure you are tired of seeing pictures of our bed / headboard. The summer doldrums have descended somewhat so work on the house - and on everything - has slowed to a crawl. So I am sorry I haven't had an update sooner. I will try and get back on the horse and tackle more projects sooner.
But for now you can check out the new sconces. I was hoping to have some rad art over the bed but that will come eventually.

Jerome is an enthusiastic supporter of the sconces. And he loves the sconce spotlight - vain little bugger that he is.

Some photos from South Austin:

Ok, I know houses are pricey in Austin. But this little guy is 934 sq ft and prices in at about $400k.

Don't believe me? Check it out here:

http://http//www.realtyaustin.com/idx/homes/texas/austin/78704/107-w-milton/2891759.html

The South Congress Cafe where we had a yummy brunch.

There were a bunch of food vans on S Congress where we had brunch. This one is K's favorite.

We strolled through the neighborhood and found this cool pad. It is for sale I believe if anyone wants to pick it up for $1 million +.

View of downtown and the capital across the river - looking north.

Headboards and Hand Grenades

2011-05-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well no hand grenades and only one headboard. Last week we went to our favorite auction house and picked up this headboard with two sideboards attached. After some furious bidding and thanks to my acumen as a quick bidder we got the headboard for about 1/3 of what we were willing to pay for it. So we were extremely happy. So here are a few snaps of the new acquisition - probably more pictures of a headboard than you'd ever want but we were pleased. The bedroom is progressing well - the walls are painted and now we are starting to accessorize. We still don't know what we are going to do with the plaster corner sconces but, I am sure we will come up with something.
And I've included a couple of pics of a BBQ joint we found that we really like.

The Days of Furniture and Roses

2011-04-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

K and I recently discovered an auction house in a warehouse near where K works. They do a lot - and I do mean a lot - of mid-century furniture and housewares. So it was our first live auction experience together. And I have a feeling we might be hooked. Live auctions totally blow away this online stuff for excitement and heart racing bidding. K had her paddle paper thingy with our number [109] on it. She did the bidding. I was there to rip the thing away from her if she went a little nuts with it. Of course that did not happen as K is more frugal than I am so I didn't have to wrestle the paddle from her as some beloved lot's price began to rocket. Actually live bidding is a great place to get great deals as there were a lot of dealers there who planned on flipping the furniture for a profit.
We were primarily interested in two lots and ended up winning both! K is so proud of our record - 2-0 getting good prices all around.
Our main item that we won is the vanity / desk pictured above. It comes with a full length mirror [67" wide] but we probably will use the piece as a desk in the den. You can see the mirror in the picture above behind the desk to the left right in front of a 36" round piece of marble K picked up for a song that we will eventually turn into a table of sorts.

I love the wood handles on the desk - so hard to find them in good shape and irreplaceable.

The desk drawer has a secret deep back to it - a pleasant surprise that I didn't know about when we bought it.

We plan to rip out the countrified built-in desk and shelves. This is where our new desk will live and I will rebuild some shelves above the desk. It is always a shame to rip anything permanent out but the style simply doesn't work with what we are shooting for.

This is the other item we picked up - something that K really loves. It is more than a simple coffee table as the picture below aptly illustrates.

You can slide it open to expose a formica surface perfect for tasty cold beverages! What a genius design element. We had never seen that before. We paid up a tiny bit on this one as someone else at the auction also saw the magnificence of the piece but we are happy to have it.

Here is the cool 50s gray pattern.

A better shot of the full length mirror that we may re-appropriate as a wall mirror. You can see the marble top as well.

The roses have come in as well along the back side of the garage. We didn't plant them but we are glad to have them.

Some are quite beautiful - especially the orange ones.

The garden has also been planted and has started to come in nicely as we have had decent rain - little extra watering needed thus far.

Sedona is racked out after a long day being a cat in the cats' favorite dirt rolling patch. We refer to our beasts as 'schmutzmobiles' as they love to roll in dirt, especially Jerome, and then bring it in the house.

K relaxes after a long day in the yard.

Just a pretty picture.

The yard is coming along. Remember how our grass looked? Well check out how it looks now!

Niiiiiiiiiice.

I am thinking of making it into a putting green. Well, not really.

The other day I was folding laundry while watching the big game. Sedona chose to nap on the towel pile. The other clothes have been put away but Sedona's bedding is still in place days later as she sleeps there almost all day and night. I haven't the heart to put away her new happy spot.

The Reading Nook [Again], a Light, and Two Acquisitions

2011-04-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

K made this kicking footstool for the reading nook. I know I have been writing a lot about the nook lately but we really like the space and have been putting in time to get it together. It is an evolving process and will continue.

Here are some BEFORE shots of the footstool that K found in a little shop here in town.

As you can see it is pretty disgusting and lumpy.

So yours truly took his big ole knife and went to work on the thing to get it ready for restoration.

Now it just needs a final cleaning and it will be ready for the K magic to take place. K's magic is protected by copyright or some such legalize so there are no images of the process. So enjoy the results.

Oh yeah, we also put in a shelf in the reading nook.

Behold the footstool in all its restored glory!

Our latest art acquisition:

One night K and I were watching American Pickers and they had this guy on there named Butch Anthony who made funky art and collected oddball things that the pickers dug. Well we dug it too and thanks to this newfangled invention called the internet we found some stuff from him and broke the ice. He has these cool modified paintings where he draws in the skeletons. Ours is an antique photo. We love it. Check him out!
Butch Anthony's Museum of Wonder
Some of his Artwork on Etsy.

We put up a new light fixture in the kitchen. Nothing too fancy but not bad for a $1 find at a yard sale.

Before:

AFTER:

Our latest yard sale acquisition:

Not bad for $20 - and it comes with a mirror. It needs a little bit of polishing but should be rocking out somewhere sometime soon. Jerome is fascinated by our latest find.

Artwork, a Chair, and Dinosaurs

2011-03-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick little photo featuring the artwork of Greg Murr and our Japanese print.
More coming soon.

The Garden, Daffodils, Dirt, and Weeds

2011-03-12T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here in our new state we have learned that raised garden beds are really your best bet for success. So we hopped to the home improvement center a couple of miles away and got the goods we needed to put it together.
What follows is a K design through and through. I was there merely for manual labor.

Not the most flattering angle of yours truly with regards to the puffy shirt but I got to break out the circular saw. And Sedona got to eat outdoor nibbles.

Beer and power tools don't mix so I didn't break out the cold tasty treats until after all the wood had been cut. We made the command decision that the power drill did not actually constitute a power tool as it could not actually sever a finger let alone an entire limb.

I cut the wood and K cobbled the structure.

K relaxes in the driveway with her latest creation.

The garden bed is placed for optimal sun / shade. K admires the placement.

I wanted a lap pool but will have to settle for tomatoes and peppers and other assorted veggie goodies.

Sedona investigates...

... and is not too impressed.

We didn't get enough soil, humus, manure so I could only fill it halfway.

Some succulents smuggled in from NC on the plane from our last visit.

The tomato and pepper plants. We are trying to start them from seed this year. Wish us luck!

The weeding of the front yard has begun.

And it continues.

K planted daffodils a couple of months ago and they have started to come in - rather magnificently I might add. Jerome likes how they accentuate his svelte physique.

The house across the street - the leaves have started to come in nicely. The grass in the neighborhood is starting to come online as well. Our house is a touch tardy as the next photo will illustrate perfectly.

The picture speaks for itself. Grass has a hard time out here so every house seems to have a different strain of grass as you have to start from scratch with it and it comes in at different rates. So ours isn't quite as bad as it looks as it is a strain that starts later than the neighbor's!

Ok this is an interesting story. This is Clarksdale the 'neighborhood' cat. He is feral and hangs out in the neighborhood. We started leaving food out for him and created a bed for him in the garage and he has adopted us. Now that the weather is getting warmer and the doors are staying open he wants to come in and hang out. We still can't pet him and he scares easily but he does like to sleep in the green chair in the reading nook. He is also a bit of a drug addict - street cat / hustler that he is. I put some catnip on a cardboard scratching box that is in the front room. The other cats - more of a wine and cheese set - don't really care for the hard stuff and don't mess with the scratching box, but Clarksdale sneaks in now and again to get his 'nip fix. We are keeping an eye on him to see if he qualifies for Celebrity Kitty Rehab on MTV. Stay tuned.

Curtains & Crates!

2011-02-03T17:24:00.001-08:00

K made the panels and C installed the wire rods in the reading nook. This is now officially K's favorite part of the house at the moment and I am rather pleased as well.

The reason I haven't been posting or working on the house:

I've been busy building crates for my new show. This is my first attempt at building crates and I am pretty proud of the results. I am now officially a huge fan of wood glue. And now that the paintings and crates are done I can focus on new paintings and working on the house a bit more. And maybe I can start going to the gym again!