Bloggy

I thought I was done with interior design for a while. I like how everything looks and feels in the house. Eclectic, collected, sentimental, and MINE. But, recently two people poo-pooed my lion wall. This makes me think they don't know a thing. Or, is my lion wall not as great as I think? The wall in question. This wall is in the living room; a tiny, open, 15x20 room squished next to the kitchen that functions as family room, den, living room, and office. The left (in photo) side is flanked by the bar, with two stools. It has the world's frumpiest couch (but very, very comfy), and two chairs. On the right is a picture window. The couch faces the TV. I have struggled with this wall several times. Should it be an accent wall? House a large piece of art? If so, what? I've tried to make several montages of family photos, found things, and it always comes out mish-mashed. Until I found the lion. She came from an antique store in Reno, and was living on the tallest part of...

I realized that I have had a Bloggy Renaissance lately, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I miss writing. Maybe I have stuff to write about these days with this house, rather than just bitching about the daily grind. I like to have a place to put all my pictures and stories too, like a proud mama. Maybe it's because the "transition" is finally coming to a close, and I have a real life back after traveling, living in four different states, school, marriage, house, career, etc. This morning before it warmed up enough to paint, I spent a couple hours going back to 2006 and reading my bloggy. Woah. This blog was very different then, and I kind of liked it. In '06, I was struggling, and searching for something. Mostly money. I did a lot of philosophizing, and ranting. Man, those next couple years were stressful. It's funny though... all the things I wished for have come true, and I have emerged a different person. My blog has changed too. I think is has become kind o...

When we first moved into this house, it was unbelievable the amount of shit that came out of nowhere; donated from friends, parents, family members etc. Somehow everyone thinks that new homeowners are in dire need of their old crap. At first I was welcoming of this stuff, our house was pretty empty. But after a year-and-a-half, most of these "donations" are on their way out. However, once in a while I come upon a use for something. Like these dry-rotted 20-year old redwood deck boards from my parents' house in California. Dad loaded up his car one day and dragged a couple dozen of these beauties almost 200 miles. They have been sleeping under the deck, until now.  Gratuitous Dewalt sander placement...so pretty. They actually came in pretty handy, and with my newly found chop-sawing talents, these benches were put together in under an hour! Sure, there are spots in the seat that can be poked through with a finger, but hey-- they're rustic. The spiders have been sw...

Man, I LOVE having 4 days off every week. It may just be the best schedule on earth. Sure, some sort of rich or famous person who gets every day off may think they have it better, but honestly, I get bored out of my mind after a few days and need to get back to work. Then, sure enough, the long weekend rolls around and I feel like I deserve it, every time. I am so lucky! This month I am trying to save money to pay down credit cards with Burning Man stuff still on it, and ski season, etc. So, instead of going shopping on my long days off alone, I decided to stick around the house and make stuff. We have been needing a firewood rack for out front. Last year we just stacked firewood in front of the house, but I learned that that can introduce termites. Also, the front (and just the front) has a new paint job, so logs can't go near it! Wheelbarrow firewood rack, with Mo the neighbor dog. We need some wood to be dry, so under the patio roof thing in the front of the house is the ...

Last week a raging wind storm ripped through town, starting a huge blaze that destroyed 20+ homes. The coolest thing that came from that storm was this photo, with the downtown casino lights. I would love to buy this photo, or print it out and blow it up--it's a once in a lifetime shot!! Amazing! But it's so puny...I think it was originally nabbed from Facebook. Oh well, now I can enjoy it here.

Since the painting project has come to a halt thanks to snow, I'm posting about something else today! Meanwhile our house is literally half old paint, half new paint, and I don't really care. Actually, I am happier about it looking this way than I was before we tore into the project. So what if it stays this way until June. We dragged this bed across the country with us from Louisville. It's a pretty basic queen, just standing in until we get an awesome king. I always kind of wanted a headboard so the pillows wouldn't get sucked off the head of the bed down to the dusty abyss. But, headboards are a stupid thing to spend money on, I decided, and it would be easy enough to make my own! I tried several methods. One was making a large wooden frame and screwing it on to the metal bed. That worked for about a night. Then I found some old shutters under the deck, cleaned them up and painted them green (sorry, no photo) and attached them to the wall. Very cottag-ey. For my l...

I have to say, living in the country has its benefits. Over the last month while I was out scraping paint off the house, two different neighbors stopped by to offer their paint sprayers and tools, and another offered a paint sprayer when he saw Brandon at 7-11. That's 3 paint sprayers. How awesome is that? We borrowed one this weekend, and exactly half the house done as of tonight. Tomorrow we'll get out there early and bust ass, and hopefully get most of it done before the next storm rolls in. It's such hard work, but such a great payoff! Our super sweet fort is totally coming along!

A project we've been dreading since we moved in is now underway... painting! The south wall of the house was peeling so bad we were afraid it wouldn't make it another winter without dry rotting all the way through. So at the beginning of October we started scraping. And it's November now, and we're still scraping in between snow storms! But, I have most of the front of the house painted, first coat anyway. See all the area on that wall that is white? That was all bare wood, scraped off by me, the hubby and my parents! It will eventually be red again. The trim is all going to be brown instead of white... I love it! We really thought hard about changing the color. The red was ok, but was very barn-y, and since the former owner showed up a couple times, I've been all about changing the look of it as a reminder that this is MY house! Not yours! But after a few walks and drives around the neighborhood, we realized that 95% of the homes are some sort of brown, grey, beig...