Monster Chair

Happy Halloween!  I have been planning and executing an attack on a monster in my house.  A monster chair that is. 

It has been hard to make progress on this side of the office with a giant chenille rusty red chair in my path.  I toyed with getting rid of it but decided it would be more economical to try to work with it.  While at JoAnn's Fabric one day I grabbed a swatch of a fabric that caught my eye.

It was a fun navy houndstooth but a little overpriced.  I was determined to find it online for a better price.  And I thought I had.  But then my fabric came in the mail.

I had accidentally ordered a 44" wide printed fabric.  No bueno.  Not one to be deterred I came up with a solution.  I bought a few $2.00 a yard 72" yards of felt to back my flimsy purchase.

My plan was to use spray adhesive to back the fabric with felt, making it a little more durable.  Here's a sneak peak of what the chair will eventually look like once recovered and back in the room.

Much better that the rusty red, right?  With my fabric problems solved I began on what would become an entire week of staple removal to strip down my chair.  More on that Friday!

More Pins!

My parents located my old ski jacket and sure enough, my ski pins were still attached!  I was allowed to take the pins on the condition that I also took the jacket.  They claim that last part was a joke but I'm pretty sure a small part of them was trying to hint that they are not a free storage facility.  :) 

Upon seeing the jacket once again, I think the real reason they wanted it out of the house was because it was probably keeping them up at night.  It is seriously Day-Glo green.  Think green highlighter.  Here's a better picture of the actual color.

My nickname on the slopes was Lightbulb.  This jacket paired with my black stretch ski pants ensured nobody was losing me on any mountain.  It is actually a great coat, color aside.  Very warm and comfortable.  Maybe I should lend it to Pablo.  He's not loving our recent cold snap.  You know it's bad when he willingly wears clothing.

Anyway, now I have 5 pins to add to my shadow box and still room for plenty more adventures to be added!

Odd Collections

I've collected a lot of odd things throughout the years.  I think this happens to everyone.  There's just something satisfying about creating a collection and adding to it.  One of my first collections was "Photos of McDonald's Restaurants Around the World".  It was a wordy and strangely specific collection.  I amassed photos with my point and shoot camera and via my dad's business trips.  I had huge dreams of turning them all in to a coffee table book some day.  I no longer take photos of foreign McDonald's restaurants but seeing unique ones in new cities always stirs up a smile.  And I still have a thing for coffee table books.

Later in my teens I got really into Gumby and had quite the impressive collection of Gumby  licensed products.  I sold the collection on Ebay for a handsome profit.  As a flight attendant I started collection magnets of the states and countries I visited.  Still today I can assemble about 85% of the US on my fridge if challenged, though the magnets live in a drawer now.  When I started skiing in high school and college (recreational once or twice a year) I would collect pins from the various mountains I skied.  Lapel pins that I would attach to my neon green poufy ski jacket that screamed "TEXAS" to all the native Colorado skiers.  As a matter of fact, I think the pins are still on that jacket. 

Lapel pins are probably the one collection I still keep up with today.  I received several during my time as a flight attentdant and then have picked up other ones along the way.  I don't have tons but each one I do have comes with a special memory.  I've been lucky to visit a few cities hosting the Olympics.  Last year I attended my first World Series game.  This year the UT Co-op handed out Red River Rivalry pins with purchase.  I would take each pin and stick it in my lapel pin Ziplock baggie.  Not an exciting display of my collection.  With the office renovation in full swing I decided I wanted to put them in a shadow box.  Shadow boxes are not cheap but I found one at Michael's on clearance for $8 since a piece of wood had broken off the interior frame.  That's at least $20-30 in savings.  What a deal!

I considered painting the wood first, but it grew on me.  I punched my pins into place and then hung it in my office.  I like that I see it when I walk in the room.

I still have plenty of room for growth, which is good.  I probably only acquire 1-2 pins a year.  I like to think of it as my own version of a charm bracelet.  Oh wait, I have a charm bracelet and collect charms for it too!  I forgot about that.  Excuse the mess of my office.  I'm starting with that far wall and slowly working my way across the room.  Making progress.

I feel like my collection is now official and not just a plastic baggie I've held onto over the years. Now if I could just track down those old ski pins...

Front Hall Finished

I finished up all my trim work on Friday and by Saturday it was time to begin painting the Sterling Grey so that my front hall could match the rest of the house.

It was a hard area to paint since there in no light in the hall.  I had to rely on natural light coming in through windows and the other rooms' lightbulbs.  This was particularly hard on Sunday when the sun kep ducking behind clouds but I finally for it all finished.

Not a huge difference but the color brightened up the area that was once drab beige.

Before

The hall now blends in when you see it from the dining room and entry area.

before

after

 I still need to finish the nasty ceiling.  That's going to require taking the vent out and spray painting it, painting the attic door and then finishing up the normal ceiling.  With 20 mph winds this weekend, I just wasn't up for spray painting.  I also need to replace the nasty string that hangs down from my attic.  I'm sure I'll get around to it.

A Sad Pumpkin Tale

There once was a girl who gathered with her friends to carve pumpkins.  She labored over an intricate design and was pleased with her final product.

"Welcome!" the pumpkin screamed.  The pumpkin looked great amongst all the other creative pumpkins.

The "m" and "e" then fell out, but the girl was able to wedge them back in place.  Everyone decided to move the pumpkins to the front porch steps for a better picture.  No one is sure what happened on that short journey but by the time the pumpkin arrived out front, "c" and "o" had crumpled to pieces leaving only "Welme".

Welme was not long for this world and eventually became Wel.  As if the poor pumpkin was sighing at his own lame existence. 

By the next morning, the raggedy pumpkin had just given up and the girl was sad. 

The pumpkin sat across from beautiful robust pumpkins on the porch feeling like just a shell of a man.  They were constant reminders of what he could of been.  He cowarded behind some young whipper snappers.

And then the sad girl came out of her castle, picked him up, gave him one more glance of disappointment and tossed him in the trash.  The End.

Painting Resumes

Last night I convinced myself to pick the paint brush back up after a brief hiatus.  I blame all the Fall TV premiere season for this lazyness.  I finally reopened the white paint and started working on the doors in my office.

Not a huge improvement but I will have another coat to do.  While I was at it I decided to give my hallway outside the office some attention.  It's not a huge area but it has 4 doorways so it is labor intensive.  And since you can see this area from my front dining room, I'd really like to get it freshened up.  Here are the before shots:

Ideally this area will eventually look like the other hallway off the dining room that heads to the livingroom.

It is going to take some time, but at least I got the first coat of white on all the trim.  Just cleaning up the trim makes the area less blah.

These are the biggest updates but they are enough to motivate me to keep on painting.  Eventually the bathroom and guest room off this hall will be painted as well.  At that point I will have repainted EVERY piece of trim in my house.  Whew.  I'm about a year and a half in.  I predict all painting will be done by the 2 year anniversary, May 31, 2013.  Please note this prediction excludes ceilings.  Who knows when I'll get around to all that mess.

Green Plastic Thumb

My backyard green thumb continues to florish.  As a matter of fact, just this morning I found a bunch of new tomatoes growing in my garden.  Unfortunately the same can not be said for my indoor gardening abilities.  First there was the The large tree thing I brought home from the office and put in the dining room.  Granted it wasn't in the best shape when I brought it home but conditions have not improved since.

I also managed to kill the other plants I brough home from the office.  What hit me the hardest was probably the cute succulent I got for my living room.  It was a brand new plant, not one that had lived most of its life in a 60 degree office with no real sun light.

This was what caused me to give up on my indoor green thumb and imbrace my indoor plastic thumb.  Thanks to the fake plant section at IKEA it was a pretty cheap fix.

For just a few dollars I now have the same look on the coffee table but no longer have to worry about watering.  I also got a plant for the window ledge in the kitchen and one that will eventually find a permanant home in my under construction office.

I gave it my best shot when it comes to indoor gardening but it looks like fake plants are the way I'll have to go for now.  I think they look great.  Hopefully they are not a gateway drug.  Otherwise next I might be telling you how I gave up on my front lawn and put in Astroturf.

Backyard Update

I've been coming up with various master landscaping plans for my backyard lately.  I think I may be able to get some of my beds formed this fall/winter and then have them all ready and weed/grass free by spring planting season.  This past summer taught me alot about the sun exposure in various parts of my yard.  I learned what plants thrived and which ones just died.  Luckily, my main plants are all doing good. 

The new roses I planted went through a bit of shock at first but they are now sprouting new growth so I think they are going to make it.  They aren't the prettiest things right now but I see their potential.

And my crape myrtle is looking good as well.  I have no idea how long it will take for it to grow another 8 feet but I haven't noticed any movement as of yet.

And of course my garden is still growing like crazy.  I'm picking peppers a few times a week to keep up.

The challenge coming up will be to connect all of these features into some sort of flowing backyard landscaping.  Nothing like a little manual labor.