Holiday House Rules

A confession.

My "get the shit done" streak has ended. I was on fire, I tell you, for several weeks. And then? Allergies and old age hit me like a stick. 

I spent this past weekend in bed, literally. And, yes, I felt very badly for myself all the while. I was clogged up with pollen-induced phlegm, and self pity. Oh, and my knee hurt. More self pity.Yesterday I went to work all in a funk, limping and sniffling and sort of hoping that another 22 year old creative would give me a hug. That actually happened last week, you know. These kids today - I'm not even sure what letter generation we are calling them at this point - they are an affectionate bunch. And they appreciate my sapience. Or they pity me as the crazy old lady in the corner office. 

One of those things.

I totally remember when I worked at an agency many moons ago and there was an actual grown-up lady on the staff. She was 40. We mad respected her. And then, at a different agency there was a lady who was like 50. When she left we were all like, "yeah, probably time to pack it in."

Sigh. 

Perspective sure does change. 

But, that's not where I was going with this. I was going toward the crying. People cry on me. It must be a pheromone I exude or something, but if someone is going to cry at work they beeline for me. And I am so not suited. I do not cry at work. Never have, never will. And I barely know how to respond. Last week it was a gal whose dog was having seizures, today a little bitty girl whose friend had died in some bizarre scuba accident. Actual tears hit the conference table. 

Very sad. And very real. And I then sit here and realize I have nothing to blog about besides being congested and having a pronounced limp. 

I should just shut up.

The mudroom: what it cost.

So, you all know I had big mudroom dreams. But my mudroom reality was far more modest. I'm cool with it. I think it came out wonderfully and it was certainly a low cost way to enter into mudroom-ness. I might even this this lower point of entry is better. We can use the space for a few years and see what works. And we can tweak it without feeling like we are wasting money. 

So, the rundown:

1. Ikea Hemnes media unit/bench $225
2. Ikea Hemnes wall unit $100
3. Ikea Grej handles $14
4. Three Ikea Trofast bins $9
5. Ikea lampshade $20
6. Cord set for light - had on hand, so free! (also available at Ikea for $4)
7. Extension cord with flat plug $7.50
8. Four additional Flor tiles to go with those I had on hand $52
9. New Flor tiles for the front hall, since I stole those for the mudroom $120
10. Hooks $5
11. Paint  - had the bulk of it, but needed the spray paint for the hooks and some extra wall paint for touch ups, so let's say $15
12. Cushion $39
13. Tension rods $20
14. Fabric for curtains $0 (unused curtains from our last house)
15. Storm windows ...this is the big unknown, I'll get bids this summer/fall/before it gets cold again!

Total out of pocket (windows pending - oh, and SWING pending): $606.50

Total time: about 20 hours for the room and then another 4 for the curtains.

Pretty things I made myself!

This Thursday I'm not showing you anything to buy, because I bought ZERO for this project!

My mudroom curtains! No, they are not done. Not even close. But really, really, really, now, you must see what I have accomplished:

Not done. Just pinned in place, I admit. But you know my inspiration photo, right?

(Apartment Therapy)

And I did this by quickly hacking up a leftover West Elm Flax linen panel, using some hem tape and a few pins. I'm truly encouraged!

I will press on over the coming weeks, but the good weather pulled me outside just after I did this one little testy-test. But, the test is enough to convince me that I can do this, and it will be fine. Potentially even better than fine. Next rainy weekend I am all over it. Call me Martha, damnit!

 

(Shout out to Brooklyn Limestone, whose hack I used for reference in moments of uncertainly. I will do a little set of instructions myself, when I get production up and running.)

Ahhh, now that is more like it.

I still have no Manchester Tan to touch up the hot mess that is the red paint, but I do have a newly painted coat rack. Green.

Expected? Staid? Boring, even? Perhaps, but really it works, k?

I mean, I was not going to do this thing a third time, so why not go safe? Bonus for using spray paint this time. Waaaayyy easier. And way shinier. It's all coming up roses, I tell you, roses.

And, since we are talking about roses, I'll tell you that anyone doubting Global Warming should just shut the hell up. It was nearly 90 on Monday. 90. In April. Unheard of. So, after I snapped these pics (Monday was a holiday* 'round these parts, so I had an extra day to wrap this shit up) I went ahead and took all those coats up to the wash and put them away for the year.

Boo to the yah.

 

*The "holiday" is "Patriot's Day" for you folks in far places. And it's only a semi-holiday. They run the marathon through the city, making it pretty impassable for regular folks. So, if you work in the city, or for the government, you have it off. If you work outside the city, too bad, you gotta work. Grossly unfair? Yes. But since my company moved to the city a few years back, I'll just shut up about it.

Not so fast.

I mentioned here that the last to-dos on the my mudroom involved cushions and paint. I seemed to have blocked out the curtains (how odd of me!), but whatevs...

I showed you yesterday what I was up to with the cushions. Haven't done it yet, but having the three of them in the room was enough to nudge me to move on the paint. And, with gray cushions, I felt like the world was my oyster. Or really, the dozen or so cans of paint under my basement stairs was my oyster, anyway.

Down I trudged to survey my choices. Hmmm. I was not terribly inspired. I had been thinking of a happy orange, but the orange/coral samples I had were matte finish. And not terribly happy. Hmmm. In the end, I settled for the glossy red I used to paint my basement steps. Yes, I painted my basement steps. They were gross, 115 year old, wood basement stairs. And they have seen a lot, I'd imagine. And I didn't want to step in that lot.

So, anyhow. The paint was fot the coat rack. This simple little jobby was once in our kitchen. I primed it while I was priming the mudroom trim.

I won't bother telling you what this red is called. I don't even know. All I know is that I hate it.

As soon as I finished the first coat I knew it was bad. Very country and not at all rock and roll. But I soldiered on. Maybe it would sing once it was all dry and even? Nah. As JWH said, it's "too heavy" for the space. It clashes with the wood trim in the windows.

It's just bad.

And to make matters worse?

Yeah, it bled under the tape. And I currently have this much Manchester Tan to use for touch up:

{               }

Yeah, that's fancy for "none." Hooray for another trip to the hardware store. Paint and, um, paint, please.

Ikea hacking at Holiday House.

Hello and welcome to mudroom week at HHR. Yes, it's time to wrap this sucker up! Really. Truly. Let's call this done. Or at least done for now???

So, the cushions for the bench are something I have been talking about, thinking about , Googling about. And then? That last trip to Ikea? Well, I went ahead and bought some cushions. 3 of them, in fact.

They look nice, right? Yeah, from a certain angle.

But, I'm not silly enough to think that 3 little Ikea outdoor furniture cushions are really going to do the job, straight out of the bing box store, as it were. We will need to modify. See the gaps?

I need to address those gaps. I'm thinking of sewing the three together to make one long bench cushion. Or, I might use velcro to make them stay in place. Or I might do both of those things.

Crazy times here at HHR, I tell you, crazy times.

 

Oh, note the shovel leaving against the window in the top picture? Classy right? I mean, I'm all anal retentive and such about some things, and then I go and let a crappy blue shovel sit next to my front door for 4 months. 4 snow-less months. What is up with that?

An update on summer attire.

Last week I posted about the sporty skirts I was considering as part of my plan to wear shorts less often this coming summer. 

Well, the big 'ol box of zappos came on Friday and I finally got around to trying things on Sunday night. How can I let a box of new clothes sit for 2 days? Well, turns out that Erwin, my intrepid cleaning guy, failed to show up last week. And with Easter guests coming I had to get all old school with the Clorox Clean Up. Sure, I could have done a quick fakey-wipe and called it good, but I had been meaning to do a deep clean of the master bath anyway. So I hit it hard. That grout and caulk has never shined so well. Booyah!

But, anyway, back to the clothes...total fail. 

Why? Well, 40% of the problem might have been trying stuff on after a day of Easter indulgence, including french toast (as a side dish! Oh, how I want to shake the hand of the chef who put french toast on the list of sides as if it were akin to breakfast potatoes or toast! He is a man who understands the torment I go through when I know that an egg dish is better for me, and will keep me full longer, but, oh, how I long for just a little but of butter and syrup!), huevos rancheros, Reese's eggs, lemon cookies, wheat thins and Fage. See how I tried to save it at the end there? Yeah, no dinner of Fage will make up for the Reese's and the cookies. Sorry, Charlie.

But, the real fail factor was just about age. Yes, age. I am simply too old to wear the Patagonia Lithia skirt. It's short, and flippy, and would have been great had I been able to hold on to 25. Not that I looked all that different at 25 (well, somewhat different, but not hugely different...at least that's what I tell myself and you are supposed to just nod), but at 25 I would not have known to do the "bend over and pick up the kid" test. Yes, The playground movement routine. Bend, twist, sit, squat, kneel. Are your panties showing? Not the skirt for you, my dear!

But, there was one bright spot. The prAna skirt. It was lovely. Soft, comfy, loose without being too loose, knee length, and less "flippy" in shape. It's a total win I will be sporting that action this summer. Watch for it. 

(zappos.com)

I'm so encouraged in fact, that I'm going for  second option that looks similar:

(zappos.com)

Shorts be damned. I'm in a skirt!

A taste for design.

Where does it come from? Nature or nurture?

Two recent events have made me ask this. Both things involve compliments paid to me, so, yeah, I'm going all narcissistic for a sec.

But, no, really, it's not about me.

The first incident was when my father in law complimented my kid's unique sense of style. She does not dress herself or carry herself like the other 5 year olds. She got a pair of Twinkle Toes for Christmas, as gift from my sister who thinks I am depriving the poor girl of sparkles. Well? She will not touch them. She says they "have too many colors" and she isn't sure what they "match." Huh. 

Don't get me wrong, she likes pink and purple and all that, but she tends to be a bit matchy and restrained. She has an eye and her "favorities" (sic) tend to be thing you would not expect. Like a black Marimekko dress with a very simple pattern.

Huh, again.

The second incident was with my cleaning man, Erwin. He's a super nice guy, and, even without much command of English, he is unfailingly polite. He says things like, "you make this house so nice," and such. Aww. I love that he notices my updates and approves of them. I understand it's a low bar to impress the man who pretty much is mostly happy that I'm not a slob, but I take what I can get, okay??? So, anyway, a few weeks ago I ran into him, which is not common since he comes just after 8 and I leave no later than 8:01. On this particular day, he gripped the new kitchen chairs, the Wegners, and said, "I love these chairs, these are the nicest chairs I have ever seen." And he stroked the back of the wishbone. Yes. Stroked. Now, I don't mean to over write his backstory, but to suggest that he knows about Hans Wegner is ridiculous. He does not. But he knows good design when he sees it. He also covets our Tivoli radio. See? The man has taste.

So, I posit, love of good design in instinctive. I suspect it sometimes gets overwritten by desire to conform to trends. And I am pretty sure it's not universal. (Yes, 40 year old fat lady in the teal tights, I'm looking at you.) But, if you are among the lucky? I think you know good when you see good. 

Now, how to make sure those people take over the world?

 

Make a LEGO Travel Box Finley and Oliver | Apartment Therapy

Consider this results #3. Not home decor, but crafty as all hell. I saw this:

via www.apartmenttherapy.com

And I did it:

Yep, in that pile of stuff I showed you on Tuesday, under the linen and ribbon, was this box and a Lego baseplate. A few coats of primer, spray paint, ModgePodge and superglue and Bob is, indeed, your uncle.

I even "improved" on it a bit, by adding a way to hold the thing shut. No one wants a backpack, or car floor, full of loose Lego. No one. So see that little flap of ribbon on the end? It's just a scrap that I stitched some velcro to, leaving a little "tail" to grab on the other side of the velcro:

Then I put the adhesive-backed mate to my velcro on and placed the non-velcro end between the Lego base plate and the box lid. It got pretty well glued in there when I attached the plate to the lid. The velcro bit dangled over. I removed the backing, stuck it on down and she was good to go!

The Bun is delighted. Now we just need a roadtrip to test it out!

*The decoration of this box was done by putting some pink (of course) paper on it with ModgePodge and then letting the kid stick on a bunch of random scrapbooking pieces that I had in a drawer. The front edge also has her name on it. Then I ModgePodge'd it again. If it seems to show wear and tear I'll coat it all with some poly.

Results #2. The out of doors.

More actual results of my guilt induced "buckle-down and do some damned projects" spree:

For three years running I have hated the toys-in-the-yard situation. The Bun likes her sandbox. A lot. And since our yard is not terribly child friendly, I'm inclined to let her do her thing out there pretty unimpeded. Hence:

Yes, that is a backpack and bunny ears. Why not have festive attire for a sandbox session? Try it sometime, I hear it's all the rage in Paris this spring.

But, really, my point is about the toys. They scatter. And putting the little bits in a big bucket only serves to convince her that big buckets are where it's at. She must have it. Over there. The little bits need not come along.

Sigh. This is today:

But, as I mentioned here, we picked up a better* storage solution when at Ikea a week or so ago. I started here on Sunday morning.

And in just about 10 minutes I was here:

Pretty speedy, huh? But, not done yet!  I suspected that, to weather the, ummm, weather, this sucker would need a little help. In the basement I had a few half empty gallons of Australian Timber Oil - the stuff used on our wood steps and landings.  So, I gave it a little coat of water seal love. I'm hoping this small step takes us from a 1 year Ikea fail, to many years of storage wonderfulness.

I also had JWH put some hinges on it. Because, really, it should have had hinges from the start. Ikea, get the memo, no one wants a "storage bench" with a lid that slip slides around. Unless you are going for a Three Stooges sketch at your next BBQ, that is.

Whoops, there goes Curly into the beverage cart...

Stay tuned for pictures of it in action next week once the timber oil dries and I con JWH into carrying it out the hatchway!

 

*"Better" implies that this storage will allow enough permeation of A) water: to disperse spider webs and bugs and grime, and B) air: to dry said toys and prevent collection of muck in crevices

Feels like spring.

Again. Let's hope it's not another "False Spring..."

Yeah, I just make a Lemony Snicket reference. We are knee deep in that series. Actually, more like shoulder deep, since we are reading book 11 of the 13 total books that make up this ca-razy adventure. The children's book publishing wonks are brilliant, I tell you, as they have gotten me to shell out for 13 hard cover books in the space of 2 months. Why? Because I'm trying to encourage reading. You know, the essential life skill that all her super-advanced classmates seem to have mastered by age 4? Yeah. I'm a sucker. Someone send me and Educational Toy Catalog, quick!

Anyway, not only do we buy the books, but we spend hours reading about, then talking about, Count Olaf and the Baudelaire orphans. Someone overhearing us in a restaurant probably thinks we are from a majorly screwed up royal family. "Cousin Bruce? Oh yes, he was the herpetologist wasn't he. He took Uncle Monty's animals after the snake bite killed him. I think Count Olaf and Esme will break up, though, don't you?"

Right.

But, it's Thursday, and although I have a few more completed projects to show you, Thursdays are usually for Pretty Things. And this time, the pretty things are about me. This summer's version of me, to be specific. You see, I have, for years and years, suspected that shorts on me = bad. Okay, more than suspected. I knew it. But I felt helpless to do anything about it. I wanted to look less bad, really I did. But in summer I need clothes that are easy, light, and playground-friendly. 

I think this year I'm onto something though. I was trolling the land of Zappos and I stumbled upon a category of clothing that I did not know existed. I was looking at skirts in general, and a category for the sort function was "Outdoor." I was all like, "wha?!?" But, apparently, outdoor/athletic companies like Prana and Patagonia make these things. Cotton, good quality, machine washable...dresses and skirts. Not for doing sport in, but kind of for, I guess, wearing post sport??

So, I ordered a few to see what is what. I'm starting here:

 

(Patagonia Margo dress)

The key to this one will be the neckline. It's not a summer staple if I need a cami under it. July + cami = sweaty back. And I promise to never stand like that. Ever.

(Prana Tammy skirt)

This skirt totally hits on the color trend this year, and I like the length.

(Patagonia Lithia skirt)

This black skirt seems fun and easy...but the description mentions something about it being able to be worn as a dress as well as a skirt? Wtf?

(Patagonia Lithia skirt)

Holding my quite rational fear of convertible clothing at bay, I ordered it in green stripes, too. 

I fully expect to keep only one or two of these items. But, since I have spent the last week sending boxes back and forth to Zappos due to an inability to decide what size the Bun's (finally!) growing feet are, I now order in bulk and whittle it down after the fact. Damn, maybe I should have ordered multiple sizes, too?

I keep UPS in business single handedly.

Go big or go home.

Results #1a.

From this:

to this:

Yep, I replaced the smallish drum shade in the mudroom with it's larger cousin. Much better.

Results 1b will be when I put the smaller one up in the guest room next weekend. I've been in that room a lot lately tending to my pile of crap-to-do and it's too damned dim in there. I would have liked to have both parts done this weekend, but I am only human.

Okay, okay, I sucked. Mea culpa.

Last week I really did suck at blogging. And I'm sorry. I had no time for the prior 2 weekends to do any projects... and work has been busy... and my knee hurts. Might as well blame solar flares in there, too. And Republicans.

Yeah!

The good news? This past weekend was "dude, get something done" weekend.

And I had a whole pile of stuff ready to get cracking on. And I did some actual projects, and then I also photographed them and I plan to tell you all about it. Really, that's what I do here...normally. 

See? That's my pile. Oh...you thought I was being metaphorical? Nope. There was a real pile of stuff. See if you can puzzle out what went down and check in tomorrow to see the first part of the results show! 

Another "duh" moment.

...happens a lot lately, really...

So, on Friday I posted about how I was suddenly smacked in the head with the reality that I could get some pretty nifty curtains going on in the mudroom without spending too much buckage on it. Since the mudroom is in it's nascent stage, and so much still depends on the window situation (they are, yes, still drafty as all hell), so I really am not looking for custom drapery at this point.

So I was going no-sew faux. Say it three times fast if you can.

Saturday morning rolled around and I happened into the office, where my usually-in-the-guestroom pile of in-process projects was living due to a delightful visit from Pete...well, I went in there to open the chest to see what fabric samples I had on hand. (Sometimes seeing what I have on hand and why they will not work, helps me focus in the fabric store. Like if I have a grey fleck and I'm thinking "hmmm, maybe grey?" it helps to have one in hand that I have already discarded as "too blue" or "too nubby." I'm scientific like that.) But, really, before I even cleared off the chest, it hit me. Duh. I have yards and yards of flax linen at home. The leftover West Elm curtain panels - 2 of which are in the living room, but 2 more of which are folded up in the guest room closet. 

So, I rounded them up. Will this work? Dunno. Let's try and see. Stay tuned!