Urban Gardening

Yesterday we went and picked out some flowers for the yard and flower pots to get ready for spring. Ki ran across this strawberry plant and instantly went nuts over it. He asked if he could buy a small pot to plant it in, but like normal I seem to take it to the next level. I didn't take it too overboard though, just a little bigger than a small flower pot. I basically used cedar fence pickets and built a basic box and lined the bottom and edges with plastic. I thought it would be fun to make this little project truly his so I put his name and the year it was established on the box as well. He helped with the whole thing and already ate one strawberry from the plant (he made sure he found a plant with an already ripe strawberry on it)

This will be his little project so we'll get to see if he gets to enjoy the fruits of his labor.....get it, fruits of his labor, because strawberries are......nevermind. I'll keep you up to date.

Up The Stairs And Take A Left

I have visited a few blogs where people have put together house tours and taken pics of their "cribs". Well our crib is nothing spectacular, however it is ours and I have tried to make it different and trendier than what I feel the other houses in the neighborhood are like. I get a lot of inspiration from blogs and visiting hotels and restaurants and bathrooms and bars, the list goes on and on. Our master bedroom is pretty minimal, but that's the way we wanted it. I do want some nice artwork on the walls and eventually will add a sliding track door going into the bathroom as there is no door into the shower and vanity area. The color is Modern Gray from Sherwin Williams with dark, almost black stain on the bed, dresser, and floating nightstands. Oh by the way I built the bed and the nightstands. I got the tree tapestry from Urban Outfitters and had my Mom "quilt" it to a bedspread we already had. The pipe shelf is a recently finished project made from threaded galvanized pipe sprayed a flat black. The wood for the shelving is from a shelf that my dad built me when I was in like the 6th grade. I kept the wood almost the way it was dismantled with all the years of use and patina it had acquired. I sanded a few spots and filled in a few dings and knots but mostly just used it as is. It's a nice compliment to the dark stains and clean square lines.

As normal the pics aren't that great of quality, but I'm a builder not a photographer. So any of you photographer types that want to take awesome pics for your portfolio or trade services let me know, until then then you get what you get.

Say Hello To My Little Friend

I have been wanting a deer or moose or rhino or some sort of animal head for my basement for a little while. The other day there was a post about making a cruelty free deer head out of foam board from http://www.manmadediy.com/. It has a template you can download and all the steps. Some people spray paint them, some people cover it in contact or wrapping paper, and some boring people like myself just leave it white. The tutorial showed using x-acto blades to cut it out, but I decided to fire up my Dremel Trio and route it out and then lightly sand the edges. Seemed to work out fine to me, I do however want to enlarge the template and make a huge on of these in some sort of crazy color or pattern.

Second Hand Catch All

I've been all fired up with using wood tones and reclaimed wood and rustic pieces lately. Is it a trend? Maybe. Is it me getting older and trying to be more mature? Ummm could be and it's cheaper and not as dorky as a yellow convertible Corvette. Is it a true appreciation for repurposing and breathing new life into materials and pieces? I think that's most of it.

The basement has been a second hand room for as long as I can remember. Meaning we get new stuff up stairs and the basement gets the leftovers. However lately I have learned how to make these second hand and repurposed pieces work together. I was going for a modern lodge feel with wood tones and lighter colors. Sometimes it feels beachy and sometimes it feels lodgy(sp?). This coming weekend I am picking up a deer skull with antlers attached that will definitely drive home that lodge feel.

This a Restore find that my mom found for $20. It must have been from a hotel liquidation because you can tell it was a totally mass produced piece. I sprayed it a gloss steel gray color and it serves it's purpose well. You can't tell in the picture but it has a cool brass raised bar on the back of it, it's just hidden by the TV. I also made that little cabinet underneath to hold DVDs and whatever else. I put in on those furniture sliders because I couldn't find casters small enough to clear the bottom of the cabinet.

I know these aren't true mid century butterfly chairs but those are hard to come by and super expensive. I bought new canvas cream colored covers for them and painted the frames black.

Just a random view of the room. You've seen the wood wall on previous posts.

This is my weathered american flag find. It looks cool against the reclaimed wood on the wall.

The two pictures on the wall were from my parents. I remember these being around forever. My dad always had them in any of his designated rooms - office, instrument room, wood shop, etc. The other two are silhouettes of a moose. It's gloss black on flat black and I just outlined them with a gray colored pencil.

This chest was in out master bedroom for years. It works as a keepsake chest. Marriage stuff, Ki's stuff, just important memories stuff. Works so much better in the room though.

Kind of tough to see this picture to show this table. I made it from leftover 4x4 fence posts. I would love to make a dining table like this one day, though I would have to rent a small crane to move it.

This is some sort of army back pack. Not sure what it was used for, but now it used to hold blankets. One of those is my baby quilt and one of them is a quilt that the Hope Lodge made my dad while he was at Barnes in St Louis. The other is just a cool southwestern style blanket.

Flag again. I just really like this for some reason.

Here is a coffee table that my was given to me. I think it was used as a chicken coop back in the day. It has a glass top on it so none of it hidden and you can see the hinges door on top. I put some small steel casters on the bottom to get it off the floor.

Hopefully the next picture will be the deer head. Can't wait to get that nasty thing on the wall.

All Hands On Deck

This summer has been full of projects around the house. It seems that each one has revolved around the deck remodel though. After our big hail storm in April I figured it was time to redo the deck the way we always wanted to. We get afternoon sun that just beats on the back of the house and makes it uncomfortable to enjoy the deck until the sun goes down. We tried an outdoor steel/canvas canopy from Target that was nice but didn't quite cover the whole deck, however it did provide some relieve from the heat. I've been envious of pergola's and shade structures for a long time so decided it was time take back our deck from the big ball of fire. I researched different shade fabrics, sails, and solid top structures. I figured we wanted the versatility of shade, but aesthetically pleasing at the same time. I used all reclaimed wood from a friend of mine that was remodeling his deck and then just started building. I had an idea of a flat straight lined Manhattan terrace that you would see in a Manhattan penthouse loft. However this Kansas and this is what I came up with. Thanks to my father in law for the labor of the structure and two of my good friends for the wood donation.

This is an outdoor rug that I free handed a zebra pattern onto. I seamed two 6x9 rugs together to create a larger rug.

I used canvas drop cloths for the outdoor curtains hemmed about 6 inches on the top and bottom for a more finished look. The rods are galvanized conduit and the rings are just normal clip rings to hold the curtain. I plan on doing a chevron stripe on these soon.

That chandelier was made from a bradford pear that I trimmed up this summer. I chopped up some of the larger branches and stapled them together with my air nailer. The string light is just randomly wrapped around the branches and wired into the light outlet so it can be controlled from an inside switch.

I always liked the louvered look of steel awnings and wanted to somehow incorporate this into the design. I think this finishes off the slight overhang of the shade structure too.

I did the floor in a gray color to match the shade fabric and to break up the black.

I wanted some natural wood tones also. Reclaimed cedar pickets from a fence is what I used to wrapped the lower half. It provides shade and hides my sons toys and my lumber for other projects.

Another floor view with the rug.

A view of the shade structure and fabric. It cuts out about 80 to 90% of the sun and still allows good ventilation.

Now that the extreme heat is over it is time to enjoy this bad boy. No invitation needed, just stop by and relax.

Pipes, Pine, & Paint

Got a nice little project in the works with these 3 elements. Should finish it up this weekend.

What Did You Do This Weekend....

Well here is what I did. It was only 105 degrees out Saturday so I decided it would be a great day to pour a concrete countertop for a friend of mine. He is in the process of building an amazing deck and is putting in this huge bar equipped with a grill, small fridge, and sink to take full advantage of the outdoor living space that is so inviting and popular these days. He had been talking about different surfaces for the bar and I suggested concrete, after having fabricated a few bar tops, kitchen countertops, and vanities in the past. Soon it will be complete with a few shade structures, rock veneer wrapped bar, and lounge furniture. But until then here is how it started. A few pics of the forms and freshly poured and then the edge forming removed. More pics to come but it's starting to take shape.

Over A Month...Really? C'mon!

I hate that it's been over a month since my last post, and that wasn't even my post, just something I found interesting. I said it before that I had a lot of projects going on and was having a hard time finding the strength and inspiration to blog...cry cry cry. Excuses be no more!! I got a new phone with fun camera apps and it's super fast and I hope to be able to blog on the fly.

Here is one of the past redesign projects that has been going on. Our living room is starting to look like something and more will be added as time goes on, but it's a start.

This wall was inspired by the 25 most important mid century designs. Thanks to curbly.com for the free download and thanks to my mind and corner wall that needed some pizazz.

This is my 6 dollar chair rebuild. A little cleaning and a fresh coat of teak oil and this thing looked brand new. I found a faux fur throw to dress it up a bit for 2 dollars and it turned out pretty cool. Not bad for an 8 dollar splurge. I saw one yesterday just like it in an antique store for 300 bucks, that makes me feel pretty good about it.

You guys remember this right? 20 bucks. It's what started this whole love affair with mid century design.

Here is the "wow" factor of the room. I thought it would be the first thing people see when they walk in but it usually takes a little time and then BAM! 25 dollars at habitat, a little cleaning and construction cone orange spray paint is all it took. 

This was a gift from the ladies that help us out around the house. Carolyn and Jamie are the best and we get them little gifts throughout the year to show our appreciation and they bring us awesome baked goods around the holidays and this. A retro orange foot stool that is so perfect. I remember walking in one day and wondering where in the hell this thing came from. Talk about being thoughtful, this blew me away. 

I was searching and searching for a round glass coffee table forever and could not find one. I ran across this on craigslist for 10 bucks and decided it may work. I ended up being boring and just painting it a gloss black enamel. It works for now until I can build what I want.

And this is the view from up above in the kitchen over looking the living room. This pic could or needs to be better, but it gets the idea across pretty good. So far, so good. 

6 Bucks!!??? I Got 6 Bucks!!

Well, well, well. Here we are again, at Restore, with a fistful of dollars and a shopping list. We were visiting family this past weekend and after our Saturday morning breakfast outing decided to hit the Restore just so I could rest easy that same night about at least making an attempt to go and not worry about what I may have missed out on.

You see lately I have missed out some incredible furniture finds because in my little obscure working mind, I feel I am the only one looking for what I am looking for....Does that make sense. Let me explain. Say I was looking at a dresser to refinish and use as a media cabinet with storage and I find the perfect one. Well my brain says " Dude, don't worry, come back tomorrow after you have thought about it all night and day and pick it up." So my brain wins, I have multiple hours to mull this over and design the most awesomest media cabinet ever. There is excitement as I drive to pick it up. I am almost shaking thinking about how flipping fabulous my ideas are and how I should have my own show. As I walk through the doors I laugh quietly at the people that have no clue at how awesome I am and as I turn the corner I ..........wait, wait, oh they must have just moved it. I make my way around to the other isle feeling a teensy bit of anxiety......where the hell is it. I start quietly freaking out and frantically walk around the whole store until I run into a sales clerk and grab him by the collar and yell "WHERE IN THE HELL IS THAT DRESSER THAT WAS HERE YESTERDAY AFTERNOON!" "SOLD!!" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOLD, NO ONE WOULD PAY FOR THAT PIECE OF"........Ok it didn't quite go like that, but what I am trying to say is that it's depressing and a huge let down to miss a great deal on a great piece because of procrastination. Apparently I am not the only design star out there with great ideas or tastes, weird huh.

Well Saturday morning it didn't get the best of me. For you see I had some cash, I had a mission, and now I have an unbelievable chair for 6 bucks! It will get cleaned up and reupholstered and it will be loved by the many eyes that see it. give me a few weeks and it will be new again, be patient until then.

Here is Ki enjoying his donut in my new chair, funny thing is out of all those chairs this is the one he picked to enjoy a nice glazed donut in. I'm either brainwashing him or the kid has taste.

And a few more before pics.