10 Questions

ApartmentTherapy asked us, in January, to consider ten questions to gain greater insight into the design and decor in our homes, and our interaction with them.  I thought I'd take a moment to answer them here (since I have nothing else to write about at the moment, lol):



Do I wake up in the morning feeling rested? 
You know what?  NO.  I love my bed that I built, and my bedroom decor - it's restful to the eye and to my spirit, but my cheap, 4-year-old Ikea mattress has already gone to the dogs (erm...literally, since it's recently come to my attention that a certain black canine who shall remain nameless has been sleeping on the bed while I'm at work.  Good thing I keep it covered during the day!)

 

Can I play music in my home, including in the bedroom and bath? 

I love that this question made ApartmentTherapy's list:  music is as important to me as breathing, and sound is just as important in the feel of a space as smell or color or texture.  So, yes!  I have a stereo or at least a CD player in nearly every area of the house, and my living room and guest room are full of musical instruments.  There's almost always music playing somewhere, whether people are visiting or not; and I always load up my big stereo with at least 6 hours of music to play in the background when I have a party.  

Do I have a comfortable spot in my home to read, nap, etc. that's NOT the bed? 

Eh...I'm gonna have to go with "no" on that one.  The couch would be a great spot, but I can't seem to find a way of sitting on it that's really comfy for long periods of time, myself (although Kress sleeps on it all the time, so it must just be me).  My little meditation corner could be, but it doesn't yet have nearly enough cushioning for my creaky butt.  I'd really love to have a big, floppy, overstuffed chair somewhere in the living room, but I don't really have any place to put one.

Om and stuff.

Can I walk around barefoot in my house? 
 I do, actually - my home is pretty much a barefoot one.  I have a "landing area" near the front door for purses and keys that is also a shelf for putting shoes into.  That said, with three dogs and a backyard with weak grass that can't stand up to their play, my hard floors get gross in a HURRY.  Especially when it rains!  I don't have rugs for allergy reasons; it feels sometimes like I never do anything but vacuum and mop.  But it's worth it to have floors I'm not embarrassed to have people put their feet on.  

Does my home smell nice? 
I hope so.  I have *eight* pets, so I worry about that issue a lot.  I open the windows as often as possible (allergies, argh), wash all the curtains and pillows and throw rugs every week (more allergy issues!) and keep incense and candles going about 70% of the time that I'm home.  So I hope it smells good...and not doggy or litterbox-y.  
 

Is there a convenient spot for a guest to put down a coat or hang a bag? 
See above re: landing area + shoe shelf.  Oddly enough, though, when I have a party, more often than not people carry that stuff into the living room and drop it on the floor next to the computer desk, instead of putting it on the shelf provided.  I have NO idea why that is!

How about a spot in which to entertain guests? 
I have tons of room for tons of people; and I don't quite have enough room for all of them to sit - but when is everyone sitting at the same time?  I'm  not a dinner-party type of gal, you know? People mill.  People dance.  They go out into the backyard to hang out on the patio.  Mostly they stand around in the kitchen, which used to bug me, but really, I don't care, as long as everyone's having fun. :)

maybe it's the magnets

Can I vary the mood in my home with lighting to serve that room's functions?
You know, I tend to ignore lighting, aside from just ...having some, which I understand is a common "mistake"  (it's not 100% my fault, you know. Lamps are expensive). I'd like to have more focused lighting in the living room  - a few lamps is much cozier than a blaring overhead light - but at the moment, I have NO clue how to do that without having cords scattered all around.  It's something I'm thinking about.

I recently took a short trip out of town, and I put my bedside lamp on a timer to make it look like there was activity in the house.  I left it that way when I got back for a while, I really loved the way the lighting just kinda took care of itself; and I think when I get around to doing lamps in the living room I'll probably do the same thing.

Bwahaha!

How organized is my home? 
That depends on who you ask.  Other people say it's organized.  *I* feel like my house has been hit by a tornado most of the time. Mileage varies.

And, most importantly, do I feel happy walking into my home?  Am I proud of it? 
Most of the time: yes, and yes.  Sometimes I hate it and I want to take off and nuke the site from orbit and start all over at a new house, LOL.  I imagine everyone feels like that, tho.

Just like everyone who blogs periodically just gets sick of the whole process and doesn't feel like blogging anymore...and I think I've hit my first one of those.  Sorry for the erratic posting lately, but, thanks for playing, all the same.  I'll come back around. :)

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5 Things I Didn't Think I'd Like But Totally Do

1.  Visible media on open shelving:  no!  You must HIDE your dvds! Or else!  Except...not so much.  I'm finding I really, really love this in my living room:

like a home library, but you don't have to read anything ;)

2.  Open cabinets in the kitchen.  But...it'd have to look nice all the time, and then where would I keep all my STUFF?   Turns out, I didn't actually need all that STUFF.  I love the way the cabinets look - opening them up and painting the innards light blue-gray took some of the weight out of them, so they feel less looming; plus the openness forces me to keep the cabinets clean!

*sparkle*

3.  Gray walls...I mean, really, HOW boring.   Until I painted my craft room gray a couple of years ago, just to paint it something (wanna know a secret? That gray was a mixing mistake)...and fell in love with it so much that last year I painted the entire Known World gray (kitchen, dining, living room, hallways).  It's restful, relaxing, neutral without being blah or too pale, and really makes my treasured teals and greens pop.  It's like a quiet, rainy afternoon in my house all the time. <3

 4.  Piles of stuff:  believe it or not, when I first really got into decorating, I was totally into anything minimalist, especially asian/"zen" design.  I know, right?  You wouldn't know it, looking at my house now.  I suppose it may have been a reaction to my mother's houseful of fluffy pink Victoriana, hehe.  And I tried for years to exclude all things "clutter" from my living spaces, until I embraced the idea that "clutter" doesn't have to be, if it's stuff that's meaningful, fulfilling to the soul and senses to look upon.  Yay, beautiful things that I love...on every available surface, LOL:

oooh shinyyyy

5.  A haphazard riot of colors.  My bedroom started out monochromatic, and I loved it, but on a whim, three years ago, I decided to try just throwing a bunch of stuff together...and it turns out, I absolutely love it.  It's not exactly a "riot", since most of the colors are dark or at least muted...but I love it, all the same. :)

more bedroom stuff coming up the next 2 weeks!

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What's a "Resolution"??

Yeah, I generally don't do those.  My lists and I have a love/hate relationship.  I must make to-do lists...but I almost always bite off more than I can chew and end up with an ever-growing list of stuff I was gonna do but then...didn't.

"There is no try, only do."

How am I supposed to work on anything when I'm tangled up in my to-do lists like a cat with a ball of yarn?

1. organize the lists
2. choose a focus for one month
3. pick one thing to work on each week - I can do bits and pieces every day
4. schedule large projects for specific weekends
5. allow myself time off when I need it, without feeling guilty for "not being productive"

Because, after all, none of this is any fun when it becomes work.   I have one big "master" list with everything on it (organized by category, type of work, and cost, because it's me, lol);  usually when I'm bored I go through and find something I can do for free...but the list is rapidly wearing down to stuff I keep putting off. 

I think what I'd like to do is start keeping a list for each month, with a few items on it from my big list that I will do whether I want to or not (I'll want to as soon as I get started!)  Some fun stuff, some small projects, some painting, some maintenance (that I will no longer allow myself to postpone - bedroom ceiling fan, I'm looking at YOU!), and some yard work. 


For instance, January's list might look something like this:

• finish the living room blinds
• finish the artwork I started in December
• paint the guest/music room & closet, and hang new shelves
• clean up the baseboards in the dining room
• repair/adjust the ceiling fan in the bedroom (it knocks)
• paint the insides of both the front and back doors
• refinish the mirror I bought at Goodwill in November October
• design a new entertainment center FOR REAL THIS TIME and actually draw up plans so that I can build it next month
• repair/adjust bathtub faucet (pressure issue)

But will it get done?  Guess we'll see.

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Everybody Else Was Doing It

...so I'll jump off a bridge, too.  I suppose it's only fitting that since I started my blog in May 2010, I should do my first yearly recap as a last "first" for this year.  Right?  Right.

Construction/Woodworking Projects

• wooden pot rack/shelf for the kitchen
• inserted a board in the larger window in my living room, painted to match the walls, to give the illusion of two tall, narrow windows instead of one big square one
• built a wooden guitar rack
• built a small table for use as a computer desk in a side room;  moved later to living room to use as the main computer desk (to replace the larger, broken one that I broke down and harvested for lumber)
• built a small, baithak-style low meditation area for my living room out of used pallets
• repaired kitchen fluorescent light fixture by wiring in a new ballast (new electrical skillz FTW!)
• built-in shelving in laundry room
• cutting boards made from butcher-block countertop salvaged from workplace move

Furniture

• black Ikea KAUSTBY ladder-back dining chair, for computer desk
• Ikea EKTORP sofa, no slipcover
• refinished and re-purposed a small 2-d dresser
• purchased a new, smaller, round dining table on Craigslist
• re-purposed an old console table, from "aquarium stand" to "entertainment center
• SOLD on Craigslist this year:  an old entertainment center console/cabinet,  an antique
• antique, probably Victorian-era plant stand side table (gift from friend who was getting rid of stuff)
• small round Ikea FORNSBRO side table (same friend)
• Ikea UNG DRILL frame, which is not furniture, but it's big, and I've wanted it for like three years, so I'm listing it.  SO THERE. 
• re-painted some shelving to coordinate with my craft room
• steel rack salvaged from work move (haven't done anything with it yet)
• small rolling file cart salvaged from work move; painted and re-purposed as a tool cart in the garage
• Repaired, cleaned up, and painted a wicker chair for the living room

Fabric

• Teal seat cushion for computer desk chair from Ikea SARITA curtain panel
• quilt made from Indian sari edges given to me by a friend, hung on the wall in first the bedroom, then the living room
• brown linen-weave slipcover for Ikea couch, made from Ikea RITVA curtain panels
• new curtains for the living room windows:  Ikea's LILL (mosquito netting; first step in an ongoing process)
• large ironing board re-covered in Ikea's PRESSA ironing board cover (which had to be cut down and re-shaped to fit)
• small ironing board re-covered (pre-blog, but this year)
• dumbass green-white damask-print balloon shade for my craft room window, which I'm already sick of looking at
• new shower curtain for guest bath (which turns out to be WAY TOO DARK OMG, but I haven't done anything about that yet)
• new covers for the cushions on the wicker chair in the living room

Painting

• living room, dining, kitchen, and small hallway:  Behr's "Woodsmoke" (soft, warm dove-grey)
• bedroom:  light, muted aqua-blue, a color I mixed myself
• laundry room - leftover bedroom paint (walls and built-in shelving)
• buncha artwork, only about half finished, in a single crazy spurt in November

Crafts & Other Projects

• chalkboard made for kitchen pantry door with masonite + chalkboard paint (pre-blog, but this year)
• painted a large bulletin board for my sewing room so that it looks like a chalkboard, but is still a bulletin board. 
• blog/home featured on Of Peacocks & Paisleys!  :D
• art wall in the bedroom
• started re-vamping my bedroom closet and then...just...didn't. 
• covered several small cardboard boxes with wrapping paper to coordinate with my craft room, until such time as I can afford to buy nice storage boxes
• Cleaned out and re-organized garage, and finally purged years of pack-rattiness that was verging on "hoarding"
• Replaced dishes!  I'm not really including small things I bought this year, but this makes a HUGE difference in the way my kitchen presents, because I have open cabinets.  I just went back the other day and got the rest of the set, too. Yay!  Next stop:  serving pieces!

Outdoors

• de-gardened the entire backyard in the Fall (starting from scratch in 2011...stay tuned)
• removed about a third of the front garden, also in the Fall, to make it look neater and to make it easier to take care of

Found this picture while going back through my blog entries - this was me after five straight HOURS of remo-ing the entire laundry room all at once.  Totally cracked me up.  This is about how I feel most of the time by the time I'm done with something, lol:

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One List To Rule Them All + Painting Stuff

I keep a running list in a gmail draft of ideas and planned projects. Everything is broken down by room, type of project, and cost.  Painting is almost always in the "free" column, since I have a metric ape-load of paint at home leftover from other projects, and that people have given to me.

I've just finished a woodworking project;  as often happens after one of those, I feel like doing something new, but something that's the complete opposite of woodworking.  For me? That means painting.  So I'm going through my list today, looking for something to do.



A Few Items From My Painting List:

The ceiling of my bedroom, which is currently "The Wrong Blue" by Behr, I think.

My dining room table and chairs.  They don't need to be really painted...but I'd like to distress the table a bit, and then adjust the finish on the chairs to match. 

The walls in the spare room, which is currently being used for storage and a drum set, but which will soon be transformed to a music room that can double as a guest room when we need it. 

I don't have any pictures of it, so here's a picture of my dog Shelly.

 My front door.  Some of you who know me in real life just laughed.  Stop that.  I know I paint this thing like every two years, but I'm not talking about changing the color, LOL.  There's just a little stenciled detail I've been meaning to do on the black that haven't gotten around to just yet.  :)

I'm also thinking about painting the inside of it.  And maybe the back door.

There's a floor-stamping idea I've waffling about for a year, mostly because I had no idea how it would hold up.  But between the durability of the paint I've accidentally spilled on the floors and not cleaned up for several months (shhh) and how hard I had to work to get the bloody footprints off the floors at Halloween, I'm convinced, and ready to jump in.  Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I still haven't started working on the mirror that I got from Goodwill for $7 in October.  It's still sitting in my craft room, reflecting messy shelves.

I don't have a picture of this, either.  Here, have a cat.









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Running Around With My Hair On Fire

The pre-Thanksgiving to-do list:


The Small Stuff (none of these things will take me more than 30 minutes): 

• Take the Goodwill stuff to Goodwill (it's already in my truck; so I can do it on the way home any day...just not today)
• Dust the blinds in the living room
• clean up the dogs' water bowl area
• go through the blanket cabinet and bring out the winter throw blankets for the couch and bed
• test out Thanksgiving centerpiece design ideas with various clippings from my gardens
• sew the strap on the new bag I got at the renaissance festival so I can use it as a purse (it's too long, but easily altered)
• re-arrange the curtains on the bed
• quit screwing around and *fix* the bedroom art wall situation
• re-pot two large houseplants
• move a couple of houseplants to different locations
• "wash" the cats (I don't bathe them, but with three dogs + hard floors, the cats get really dusty, so about once a week I kind of buff them down with a damp towel, both to keep my allergies down and so the cats don't have to work as hard to keep themselves clean.  I don't need anyone developing an obsessive-licking thing).

The Big Stuff:

• finish making the cushion covers for the couch;  also remove the base unit cover, wash it, put it back on, and stapled it underneath to make it "finished"
• scrub, degloss, and repair scratches on the coffee table, then  give it a fresh clear-coat (which wouldn't take me that long, except I'll have to take it out to the garage in order to keep the cats off of it while the poly dries)
• paint the frame of this rattan chair in the living room (that I've never shown you, sorry);  and, if I have fabric I like for it, make new cushion covers - if not, cover it with an awesome throw blanket.
• wash the dogs
• clean up the cats' litterbox area (under the guest bathroom sink;  I scoop every day and vacuum up over-spray, but once a week I pull the pans out and scrub under the cabinets and wash the pans themselves)
• wash the plants (I dust them regularly, but every 3-4 months I take them all out into the yard and hose them off and leave them in the sun to dry - they LOVE it). 

Have a good weekend, everyone!


*edited to add:  strikethroughs Sunday Nov. 21st - done over the weekend!


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Lust: The Ikea Post

Having recently acquired my beloved Ung Drill frame, after which I'd been lusting for over a year, it ocurred to me to share more of my Ikea-wants...in lieu of a "real" post, since I haven't done anything this week except play video games and work on my costume for the renaissance festival this weekend.  :)

I have no specific purpose in mind for any of these items, or any place to put them, really.  These are just things I love, because of their look, their feel, their design, or just for no reason at all. 

Vika "Fintorp" leg,  $10/each.   I'll never buy them, because they're just sheet metal (I will cut myself on these, I just know it), but I love the curvy lines. 

The "Trollsta" sideboard.  I love the look of this thing. I love the magnetic-catch drawers.  I love the versatility.  I love the details at the bottom, and the way they contrast with the smooth quietness of the rest of the piece.  It's also WAY too big for my house.

"Trones" shoe storage system, $40 for a set of three.  They seem like such a great idea...but they look really plastic in person, and I just can't see putting these out anywhere they'd be visible...but they might make great storage for something else, like in my craft room or garage.

"Tanja Brodyr" duvet cover & shams set.   I don't need a purple bedset, and I have no plans to make my bedroom purple.  But I loooooove this color in and of itself, the fabric is gorgeous, and the little star-shaped tucks in the fabric just thrill me.

Alas, I'm not gonna pay that much for a duvet set only to rip it apart and use the fabric for something else. 

"Gravyr" cabinet pulls (which I can't stop calling Gravy-arrr! in my head).  I don't want them, I just like to feel them every time I go into the store.  They're just about the only knob/pull/handle that Ikea carries that isn't uber-modern looking and overly shiny.

"Spraka" spice mill.  Which I would never, ever use (I know this because I don't use any of the ones I already have).  It's just neat. 

"Alseda" ..."stool."  I'm sorry, Ikea, but this is a floor cushion.  A stool is much taller, and usually has legs.  (This is also not a stool, it's an upside-down trash can).   But I love this little thing.  It's pretty.  It's simple.  And it's made of banana fibers, and I looooooove the way those smell.  I actually would buy this - as many of them as I could get away with owning, except that my dogs would probably eat them and my cats would either scratch them to pieces or pee on them.

I therefore admire Alseda from afar.  Sigh.

Aw, they don't have the Ludde throw rug in blue on the website!  Every time I see one in the store, my friends and I are like, "COOKIE MONSTER!  NOOOOO!!!"   Heh.

But, um...no.  Animal skins in my house: not so much.  Ew.








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Hafta vs. Donwanna

What I Should Be Doing

• working on the sewing room
• finishing the freakin' couch cover, which STILL needs cushions!
• tending to my Bird of Paradise plant, which is infested with scale insects
• cleaning up the garage, which is in quite a state after all the business with the laundry room and sewing room

What I Want To Be Doing

• Pretty much everything else I can think of to avoid everything on the first list.

Sigh.


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Lists!

Although the painting project is going really well, I have no pictures.  Yet.

I have lists instead.

Things I HAD TO HAVE When I Bought My House

Lots of large windows
"interesting" "architecture" - funky doors and windows, nifty angles, etc.
a good-sized yard
high ceilings
lots of space between my house and my neighbors'
a dishwasher
a large master bedroom/suite
NO homeowners association! 
a fireplace

Of Those, I Did Not Get

a good-sized yard.  I got a postage stamp.  Which I thought I would be fine with, but I'm not.
lots of space between houses.  NEVER. AGAIN.
no homeowners association:  instead, I HAVE ONE.  And they're FUCKERS.

And Here's the Stuff I Don't Care About Anymore

a dishwasher:  I wash my dishes by hand, yo.  Dishwasher = takes up what could be more storage space

Stuff I Wish I'd Thought of Then

the quality of the appliances that the house came with
kitchen layout
location - the next time I want to be "out in the country", I need to move to the country,  not NEAR it.
more rooms than just the ones I needed, because nowadays? I want an art studio. And a dedicated
   Music Room, and a mudroom/large laundry room, and and and and and. 
That the fireplace I wanted?  Be situated in the room where it lives in a way that makes SOME sense.
Rooms/floorplans that allow for versatility of furniture arrangement.  Having spent six years thus far trying
   to place a fucking couch, I'm pretty sure this was an important factor that I apparently overlooked.
The electrical box in the front yard:  I thought, "Oh, who cares, I'll just plant some crap around it and it'll
   be fine."  It's NOT.  *^&!@#!$ electrical box! 

(But hey - it's my first house.  Like I knew what I was doing!  Actually, I did my homework - and I came out better off than most first-time homeowners, in most respects).

What I Wish I Was Doing Right Now

ANYTHING else but sitting in this stupid office.  *repeatedly bashing head against wall*

Lists!

I love lists.  I have about a thousand of them, each detailing a loooong list of things I won't ever get around to, either because I can't afford to, I've changed my mind since I jotted down an idea, or I spend 99% of my time at home doing exactly what I've been doing all week this week: sitting on my ass playing video games.

(In my own defense, it's because my PoS2, which stopped working on me about two months ago, is magically working again.  I'm celebrating.)

I may or may not get off my butt and DO something tonight. In the meantime, here are some more lists:

5 Decorating Trends I'm Sick of Already

1. Fur (or faux fur) bedding.  Fur is evil. End of story.  It's also hot, and ugly, no matter how you slice it. 
2. Animal skin rugs.  WHY, everyone, why?  
3. Those little ceramic Chinoiserie stools you see everywhere these days (Target has an affordable version for $65, if you really, really need one).   I've never really loved those; and I'm tired of seeing them on every. single. blog. 
4. Wallpaper.  I've seen some nice ones, but honestly, just because it's popular again doesn't mean it's any less a pain in the ass to remove in ten years, or any less likely to be seen as dated and fugly in the future.  Remember the flowered walls in grandma's kitchen that you joke about when talking about decor to your friends?  Your kids are going to be talking about your house that way one day. 
5. Mirrored furniture.  Breakable, and always, always covered with fingerprints and weird smudges from pets and kids and who knows whatall.  Just no. 

5 Things Spell-Checker Thinks I Meant To Type Instead of "Chinoiserie"

1. Trichinosis
2. Chimera
3. Miniseries
4. Echinoderm
5. Chiffonier

Hee.

5 Decor Trends I'm Really, Really Loving and Wish I Could Have In My House

1. Wallpaper-like painted wall motifs and/or stencils...done in pearlescent glaze for a subtle, light-catching effect.
2. Blue + brown.  Lots of folks say it's old, tired, used - but I adore the color combination, and will have it in my home as much as I can.  (Disclaimer:  where brown = wood, that is.  Except for my couch, which is soon to be covered in brown microfiber faux suede). 
3. Big fluffy white sheer curtains over windows flooded with sunlight.  I'm SO happy this is "back."  
4. Painted/stenciled wood flooring.  My floors are laminate picture-of-wood; but if I had, say, an old farmhouse with aged wood floors beyond refinishing, I would TOTALLY paint them. 
5. Pink.  SIKE!  I fucking hate pink. 

 5 Things On My Radar This Week That May Or May Not Actually Get Done

1. Starting on the trim painting in my living room, in preparation for The Big Paint Job (I have a 3" band of white paint all around the top of my walls and the edge of my ceilings, a kind of painted "crown molding".  It doesn't fool anyone, but it's a decent look.  I'm planning on expanding it and trimming it out with real molding). 
2. Starting on the mural I plan to do on an accent wall in the living room.  I know, I know, accent walls are "out" - this wall will look just like all the others when I'm done, just with a hint of maybe something was painted underneath it once upon a time.  It'll make sense when you see the "after" picture in a few weeks. 
3. An actual painting.  Like, artwork and stuff.  If it comes off the way I want it to, I'll probably do a large version to hang over my fireplace.  
4. Priming the small hallway between my living room and bedroom.  It's a gorgeous deep eggplant color that would look just awesome in a spooky old Victorian, but while it's been fun, it goes with *nothing*.  Plus I have a faboo idea for in there.  
5. Weeding the vegetable gardens in my backyard, which has exactly squat to do with decorating, since my backyard has no "outdoor room" or anything nifty - it's basically a collection of weeds - but I'm sick of looking at it, and it HAS to be done. 

So...that was pointless.  Ta!

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