knock off wood.

Uh, so the power of the internets really is profound. I was glancing at the Woot! blog yesterday when I noticed a little link off to the righthand side that said something like 'crate your own barrel' and so, eh, I clicked on it. And it brought me here. To some woman named Ana's blog. And there I found something completely amazing ... plans she has made from reverse-engineering furniture from places like Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and - yes, apparently - Crate & Barrel. Why? Because that stuff is ridiculously expensive and she could not afford it, but has good taste (don't we all?). So ... she started this blog.

And a quick search of it, well - much to my amazement - brought up the detailed plans of the very bed I have had in mind to buy for a couple of years ever since first eyeing it in a Pottery Barn catalog (as apparently this post at my old blog confirms). For what I am estimating to be maybe $100 in materials and a solid weekend of my time (OK, the staining might take a few days to apply multiple coats of stain and then varnish), I will get the satisfaction of having not spent about two grand on a bed and having made it myself.

I figure with the $1800 or so that I'll save - since the plans look like the only real power tool required will be a chop saw - I can afford to buy a laser guide for my 12" DeWalt double-compound miter. Cos I will have to do a nice job, and having a laser will make my saw even more precise than it already is.

And she has dozens of plans for bookcases, coffee tables (although not the one I want unfortunately, but it leads me to wonder could I make it from plans I could come up with myself after fifteen minutes with a piece of paper and a measuring tape in a Pottery Barn store?), end tables, kitchen tables, etc. etc. I am going to build Julian a bed, too that will match mine (uh, except in size and sans canopy).

This is the most excited I have been in some time. The idea of getting something amazing and saving a ton of money is alluring in the world of remodeling. Thanks to this woman and her amazing blog - so I am just doing my part to spread the word. I will be sure to send her some photos when I am done (a modest request she has made for anyone who uses her plans).

bedroom wiring.

Wow, I cannot believe it was back the end of May that I officially kicked off this blog by saying I was going to get to the bedroom wiring. And then summer came and I took off just about every weekend and did not do anything at all on the house. So now, eight months later I finally got off my butt and did it.

Wall sconces on either side of where my to-be California king canopy bed (could not fit a regular king and still have room for the sconces and room for the closet door to open and bedside tables and blah blah blah) will go and on a dimmer (duh, of course). I am hoping they work out cos it's a bit of a pain to move them if they do not, but thanks for the good advice Dana about watching out for the bed posts – hopefully they look OK.

A closet light now – had to pull power from the outlet behind the bed up into the attic and then back down. It was, um, a bit frustrating hanging the drywall in the closet ceiling. I might have not been able to uphold my resolution of no swearing while remodeling, but there was no one around to witness and I apologized to my house profusely afterwards. Uh, assuming I was not able to uphold that. I'm just saying.

The swatch in the middle is Benjamin Moore HC-98 providence olive. Someday I will be at the point where I can actually paint, but that will mean that everything else is done, including the carpeting (which I plan on using this stuff below) ~

Which is a little ways off. OK, so anyways - the wiring is finished. But I do need to do the structured wiring still that I mentioned in that first post (low-voltage stuff). Then replace the windows before I can actually hang drywall in there so I am not looking at insulation and 2x4s. Yes, that will be good.

But I am excited about this year and the progress I plan on making. Enough stalling. Time to get back to work.

end tables.

So wandering through Target I found these end tables in the clearance section. They will match the coffee table for the most part which is just to say I think the color of the stains will match and the little drawer pulls are pretty similar. But not match in the sense as being identical like from the same living room set – lame, I don't like things to match to that extent. In the little drawer pulls I labeled one of them 'Remotes' and the other 'Magazines.' And I really did put all of the remotes in that drawer and loaded up the other with a bunch of magazines – This Old House, National Geographic, Backpacker, miscellaneous Rejuvenation/Pottery Barn/Crate & Barrel/etc. catalogs out of which I had gotten some ideas.

But anyways ... now if only I would someday get a bookshelf or two so I would not have to keep all of my books in boxes. Yeah, that would be awesome.

Oh and the book makes a great addition (if only these were a coffee table) - thanks again Dana.

living room stuff - audio/video #1.

So a month ago when Jeff was here he had to go get me started wishing I had a new TV. Now granted - there is absolutely nothing wrong with the incredible 19" CRT that currently graces my living room despite the fact it is difficult to see from the couch (I have to squint - with my contacts in - which give me 15/20 vision) and I have had it for over ten years. It still works. But Jeff was going on (OK, maybe not going on - more like mentioned) how when his ten-year-old behemoth of a rear-projection monster died he ponied up and scored a rockin' deal courtesy of newegg.com on a 50" Samsung plasma. Which got me thinking ...

And so after much searching (of my soul - cos there really is nothing wrong with that 19" beauty - and of the web) and watching prices I came across this website called todaystvdeals.com which I would highly recommend for anyone looking to buy a TV and not interested in hitting up the local Big Box. It has lots of deals and random "coupon codes" and such that only seem to last for a few days, so I got a smokin' deal on a 42" broadband-enabled LG LCD (read: stream video over our LAN from Netflix and possibly Vudu).

It's pretty. And I'm sort of stoked regardless of the fact I really do not watch all that much TV. Our Xbox Media Center will look way cooler - which I do use on a daily basis.

So anyways - that's really not the cool part of this (at least not to me, but afterall this blog is really only for me anyway). The cool part is the fact I need to find an updated audio rack for my stereo stuff. Updated because I have had the same Ikea cabinet for at least ten years, too. And no - there is nothing wrong with it, either. Well, the doors fell off a few years back but it looks perfectly fine without them. They were actually sort of in the way. But I want to hang my TV and move the stereo in between the two sets of windows in my living room.

And out of nowhere got a killer idea. Again, killer only to me I am sure but whatever.

Instead of some lame wooden stereo cabinet like everyone else has - why not go the route of a Gator road cabinet!?

That was rhetorical, by the way. Of course I am going the route of a Gator road cabinet. These things are awesome - and how even more awesome they will look in my living room as a stereo cabinet. Granted - my audio equipment is not made to be mounted in a rack like this. But that is precisely why Gator makes rack shelves. This thing is modern and retro and cool all rolled into one burly (albeit slightly expensive) package. And when my fifteen-year old stereo components finally give up the ghost - my plan is to simplify and upgrade at the same time to pro-level amps and a preamp (because that's all you really need anymore with servers and Xbox media centers and the like hosting all your music) - rack-mounted of course.

OK - I am done now.

Oh - one more thing: this means over the holiday weekend I get to crawl up in my attic and snake some wires for the surround speakers. It is about time I set up my whole surround sound system now that I will actually have a TV that can match the sound level.

new old mixer.

So on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon we decided we would take an adventure and bike up to Milton to the Garage Sale Store. Yes, in Milton, WA there is a garage sale store. It is only open on Saturdays from 9-3 (no earlies!) and was rumored to having been shut down. Well, the rumors were false and we had a fine time biking up to the top of the hill (which I thoroughly enjoyed after so much biking around on flat ground).

Anyways, perusing the many aisles I came across this mixer which I immediately took a liking too (if for no other reason the chrome was cool and a KitchenAid version of this would be at least $300) ~

I turned it on and it worked through all the speeds perfectly, and it comes complete with a little wind-up timer. I did not already own a stand mixer–just a crappy hand mixer that I bought years ago at Kmart or something like that. I know the whole 'retro' thing can be taken too far but I do not think I have crossed that line. And this one–like the fan–is just cool.

Oh, and it was ten bucks.

Then it was just a matter of fitting this in my pannier and making the bike ride back down the hill and home. No problem. I love it.

More ideas.

So Friday was a good day on the idea front thanks to a forwarded link from Katie. In that single link came two really big ideas: one to solve my fireplace dilemma and another to provide me with the perfect kitchen cabinets for the real kitchen remodel in a few years.

The problem with my fireplace has always been (despite the gas insert someone installed, which I will remove and return it to just being a wood-burning fireplace because there is nothing better than the sound of crackling wood on a chilly winter evening) the fact someone painted over the bricks at the bottom part of it. And I have always wanted a brick fireplace (one of the things the house I bought had to have was a fireplace–along with a big, covered front porch and window over the kitchen sink among a few others) and I was looking at either a) somehow successfully stripping the paint off all the bricks or b) completely tearing it out and redoing it. Neither one a great prospect. But here is this idea ~

Now I realize it is not brick and I am still coming to grips with that (there could be nothing cooler than a wall of old bricks in my house–especially in my bedroom). But I could make this work with the top half of the fireplace and have a great mantel dividing the two. I could perhaps figure out a way to create a border of bricks and paint them black just like this idea (along with the inner hearth). For the outer hearth right now it is some lame ceramic tiles that were laid (but not grouted) when I signed on the dotted line. But I never grouted them because I knew I was going to rip them out. I had envisioned a nice big (it's 18" x 5') slate slab (ideally, one big piece as opposed to tiles) but I am not 100% sold on that yet.

Okay, and then for the kitchen cabinets ~

What I noticed of course right away was the moulding at the top of the cabinets. Uh, which totally matches the moulding around the windows and doors and will go with the crown moulding that I'll hang along the high ceilings (from that earlier post). I am not sold on the supports they have beneath the cabinets and probably will leave that part out because they don't fit with my style, but this was priceless. Even the lower cabinets with the baseboards are perfect. I love the bin pulls for the drawers but would have to replace the small circular cabinet knobs with these because, well, I like squares and rectangles and right angles in my designs.

And I also really dislike dark cabinetry because it's, well, too dark. And makes the whole room darker. So I would paint them (most likely) just white. Or maybe a light grey. But the point would be to have light cabinets contrasted then with a dark (maybe granite, maybe concrete–not sure yet) countertop. And stone flooring (like a dark slate).

Another thing about it that caught my eye that I'll be debating is the wainscoting. Wainscoting is super-classy so I might just be inclined to put it in my kitchen like this, reaching up the walls at least four feet (maybe more) with a dimensional stock border going around it (4" or 5" I think–like the window casing along the sides). And of course then the color of the kitchen would be a rich one that would contrast with the white wainscoting, moulding and cabinetry (not–like this picture–white!).

So anyways, a couple of really good ideas all from one post. I was excited. And thanks Katie.

painting option #1.

Okay, so I did this earlier in the Summer (after I finished laying the sidewalk)–took a photo of my pretty-crappy-on-the-outside-needs-a-new-paint-job house and then went to work in Photoshop creating masks for every different section and applying different paint colors to them. The trim. The porch floor. The gutters. The railings. Etc. etc. Good times. But it is cool that it is possible to try out different color combinations and colors easily before ever dabbing a brush in a can of paint. Or–for that matter–before even buying a can of paint (see–there actually are practical uses to Photoshop!).

So the before ~

And then the after ~

This is Benjamin Moore Historic Collection Peale Green (HC-121), a brilliant white trim and some grey or other (there are a couple in the HC collection). I will try other options before I actually go out and buy paint but if anything it goes to show how crappy my house actually looks right now–in case I need motivation (although painting the exterior of my house ranks fairly high in the category of projects I would never look forward to doing myself).

Oh yeah, I also 'Shopped in a new door more along the lines of what I will be getting. What I did not bother doing was replacing the crap metal railings and the crooked stairs. But I will for real. Oh–and get a classy porch light. I love how I did not even bother to move any of the shovels or broom before taking this. Now that is classy!

hanging out to dry.

Katie turned me on to the idea of hang-drying towels because they remain slightly stiffer than when tumbled in the dryer and I have really taken to the concept. So much so that I, um, might need to get a bigger (or an additional) clothes rack.

(Music note soap courtesy of Julian for this past Father's Day)

And a little over a year ago, had I taken this same shot it would have looked like this–not sure if I have mentioned or not but I am way into before/after shots of my house. They are entertaining–at least to me.

fireplace idea and other moulding musings.

So a year or so ago I was wandering around downtown Olympia with a friend and we found ourselves in this tiny little bookstore with an actual decent sampling of Bungalow books (hard to find unless you are browsing around Powell's in Portland). And I found this perfect little book called Small Bungalows that was filled with a smattering of good ideas for my house and so I had to buy it. One of those ideas that I will be incorporating in my living room is this one of a fireplace ~

This will go wonderfully with this idea for paneling that I got out of some advert at a local door and trim shop ~

Which now just happens to match the pattern on the rug. Perfection.

And then finally–the idea for all of the crown moulding of my house probably starting with my bedroom once I get to that point since that will be the first 'real' completed room (the kitchen and guest bath will be torn out eventually so I did not hang this moulding up in those rooms when I updated them) ~

A piece of crown molding combined with a piece of dimensional stock (probably 4" I am thinking) and then at the bottom a piece of fillet that matches the window moulding (in the background–mine already is exactly the same which is why I loved this idea). I got it out of a painting book I think I found at the library and think it will look quite nice when finished.

rug.

Well, on this very rainy Sunday instead of out in the mountains on Matthew's and my epic Stuart Range traverse I found myself instead on my couch caramel latte in hand reading a bit more of David Roberts' memoirs On The Ridge Between Life and Death and various browsings on my PowerBook and then the sun came out for a brief moment which made me remember I had wanted to take a quick photo of my new living room rug that I (well, someone may disagree) found at Ikea that is perfect. Not only is it perfect for my living room–because of the rectangular pattern and all the right angles which will match the paneling I will be installing in here whenever it is I get around to this room (and despite the fact I have done literally nothing to this room I still like to look back on what it looked like when I first moved in)–but it only cost thirty bucks! And rugs are expensive. And of the things I do not mind spending good money for, um, rugs are not one of them. So this worked out amazingly and the only question that remains which I have mostly already answered is should I get the slightly larger one?

Eventually I am going to be getting this coffee table and I think the bigger one will look slightly better with that in place. But regardless, it is the perfect rug and it is nice to have even a five-by-seven soft piece of something to step on in my house (all hardwood and vinyl-to-be-stone-or-tile flooring right now). And there is a lot to do in the plans for this room but I will save that for another day.

Now back to reading. If the sun stays out–later, a walk.