November 10, 2006
jelly jars...movie stars...
Long story about the jelly jar lights. We wanted the Otis from Rejuvenation, but it would have cost over $1k for all the lights we have. And we didn't like it that much, so we spec'ed cheap ($2.71) jelly jar lights for some of the lights and kept shopping for the others. The electrician installed the jelly jar lights in all the wrong spots, but we liked how they looked, so we left them there.
A porch light should light the ground and your house, but not your neighbor's bedroom. So I thought I'd wrap cut up peach cans around each light. The peach cans started to rust before I could eat 11 cans of peaches, and I was really starting to hate canned peaches.
So a couple of weeks ago I had an idea for putting something in the glass to shade and direct the light. I found a roll of roof flashing at Home Depot and cut it into strips, and drilled some holes for a mid-century feel.
Viola. 11 cool mid-century lights, 40 bucks.
Posted by David at 09:49 AM | Comments (3)
September 07, 2006
Things I'd Do Different #1
Originally, we talked about painting each room in the house a different color. Over time, picking these colors as well as paying for the difference (our contractor didn't bid more than painting the whole house apartment off-white) caused us to scale down and choose some neutral tones.
We ended up painting almost the entire upstairs a beautiful buttercream, light enough to be unobtrusive but warm enough to make the bedrooms glow in the evening light.
I'm definitely glad we went with this color in the boys' rooms. It goes with almost any color scheme, so as their decorative tastes change, the room won't require a new paint job. But in the master bedroom, the creamy tone is a bit too blah for my tastes. I'm not really sure what color I would have gone with, but the walls are tall enough to take a darker shade without making the room feel small.
Posted by Christiane at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2006
Everybody Must Get Stoned
Last Wednesday, the mason finally showed up to install the stone wall. No joke, I hadn't felt like blogging because the stone wall was unfinished. I know that sounds pretty lame, but it is true. There was something about that wall that felt monumental to me. It felt like the last thing, even though it wasn't--isn't.
Anyway, the guy showed up with two helpers and began prep work. Before laying the stone, he needed to nail chicken wire to the wall and coat it in a primary layer of concrete. It looked like mud.
Now, try keeping two young boys off of a tower of mud in the exact middle of the house. Yeah. Right.
It was a crumbly, dusty mess, but I wasn't the least dismayed. The mason said it would take 24 hours to set, but he'd be back to lay the stone then. I thought, "Hey, we can handle this for 24 hours!"
Thursday passed. So did Friday. On Friday night, we called our contractor and asked what was up with the mason. He called us back. Saturday, he said. The guy would be there on Saturday.
So, while we went to Breakfastland, and made a trip to Target (the thirty-fourth trip that week), and while I napped with the younger set and David took our eldest to piano lessons... they layed the stone. All but the last eight bricks.
They ran out of corner pieces at the end, but returned yesterday evening to finish up. It looks incredible. I told David that the stone wall makes everything, every room, even the stairs, look better. I don't know how or why, but it just gels the whole thing.
I only have one complaint: It may take years to get rid of the dust. As they lay the stone, one guy would spread the mortar, and the other guy would scrape off the bits of concrete and stone around it to make it fit properly. The result was a thin layer of dust over every surface in the entire house. David and I swept, mopped and dusted in a tizzy after they left, trying to clear the air. I am still removing the residue today; it seems to settle when the A/C clicks off.
Posted by Christiane at 09:37 AM | Comments (6)