We keep a few frayed white shirts on hand, primarily as beach wear. On the tension rods I picked up this afternoon, they serve as temporary window treatments, anticipating the sheers that'll go in their place (soon).
After a week of version and revision we're pretty close to having the designs for the cabinets (shelving) in the kitchen and on the second floor complete. We had always had a pretty good idea what they would be, but this week we spec'ed them in enough detail that we can have the "boxes" built and afterward we will finish and install them ourselves.
I know it's still many weeks off but it's amazing how having something as simple as bookshelves is making me very happy. We should be able to place the order on Monday. The project plan said that task should be done today, but you know how it goes; last thing Friday, first thing Monday, same diff.
Many, many months back I posted about the beetle collection that was the beginning of the "hall of science" that is rapidly becoming the second floor living room. Over the past week the framer finished a few more pieces for the collection. As this is "the house that the internet built" I'm almost positive they were all ebay or on-line purchases. Wait, I take that back, the "correlated history of the earth" I got on Naxos at the end of the Greek swim trek (of course the trip was found on-line).
From left to right:
1) An early 20th century French teaching poster of the nervous system
2) An Apple I schematic signed by Woz
3) The collection of beetles (56 in all) from Malaysia
4) A raven map of North America
5) A correlated history of the earth
I'm still looking for the right periodic table
A few people have asked for detail about the diluted Elmer's glue solution we used to seal the brick walls. Unfortunately, I didn't track the forum page where I found the idea (amongst a sea of posts debating pros and cons of commercially sold sealants), but I'm sure it's out there for the industrious surfer.
Can't swear to the exact proportions, but I know I used a 1/2 gallon sprayer so there was about that much warm water to either a 1/2 cup or a full cup of wood glue. I'm leaning toward the full cup. Honestly, I think this is very forgiving approach so it probably doesn't matter whichever way one goes.
Sorry I can't be more precise. Personally, I'm inclined toward using recipes and formulas to get this sort of thing "right". I'm an instruction-reader, and I'd be frustrated if I came across a handy solution that failed to provide adequate detail. On the other hand, what DIY task doesn't involve some personalization and decision-making? It's why we do this.
We spent the weekend in PA visiting Michael's family. We had rented a van so that we could pick up a chifferobe he had in storage for WAY to many years.
Much to my surprise Carole had something special for us. Seems she had inherited a Danish modern lamp from her mother. They passed it along to us as a gift.
As I know they are our most loyal blog readers just a quick note to say thanks. You were right, it found the right home.
Unexpectedly, we found a deal we couldn't pass up. Visiting friends in Hobart New York a few years back, we became infatuated with a recliner. I'm not sure which came first our decision to go mid century Danish or seeing that chair. We never found one in the right condition until we were pretty "funitured-up".
Walking home the other day we saw a woman selling one in the local flee market. It was in mint condition. The woman thought it was "some sort of cheap lazy boy". I've been looking at them on ebay and knew that for the price she was asking we could at least resell it for a profit.
...that was until I sat in it. It is the most c o m f o r t a b l e chair ever!
We sealed the brick today. Oddly enough, motivation came by way of lighting. Plug modeling was installed ages ago with three outlets per "bay", but for the longest time we've only had a single halogen flood on each side. Something about finishing the drywall the comes up out of the stairwell prompted Toby to plug both lights in on one side and the difference was (to use a cliche) like a light coming on. And now the halogen high-hats that are in the soffit on opposite wall don't seem to off-balance the room. It's almost like we knew what we were doing all along.
But it's not like the additional light suddenly made us realize what a dingy mess the cobbed brick wall has been. Truth is we've done just about all the kitchen work we can until plumber does his thing, so we're sort of casting about for small projects and tying up lose ends. Before sealing the brick, we needed to fill a few spots where the old mortar had fallen out and crumbled to dust on our floor ever since we exposed the brick work. Read on a home reno site about someone using a cake decorating bag to grout a faux brick wall in order to minimize the amount of mortar that winds up on brick faces, which seemed like a pretty good solution for all the little cracks I wanted to fill. Then at HomeDepot we found an all-in-one bag of mortar; just add water, squish it around, tear it open and apply with included plastic trowel. We mixed it a little thinner than suggested, snipped a corner of the bag, and started squeezing.
Next day, it was ready to seal. We've been waffling over whether to seal the brick at all because we've both seen too many glossy brick walls and wanted to preserve as raw an appearance as possible while still minimizing the slow, dusty decay. Also trying to cut down on our consumption of VOC's. Once again, a pursual of the internet provided solution: diluted Elmer's glue! (What's less toxic than that?) Thanks to pressurized spray pump (another bright internet idea) application was remarkably easy.
Don't know how well the difference makes itself known in these pictures, but from where I'm sitting (about three feet away) it looks almost clean enough to eat off of.
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