Saturday, July 24, 2010

How We Made Shelves

Today I heard from an old artsy fartsy friend, who is currently the cutest pregnant woman I've ever seen! She wanted to know about how the shelves were made. So - here is what I told her, in case you were wondering too.

"They were super easy. Started from scratch. We bought 5 2"x12"x8' boards. I think about 5 1"x12"x8' boards for the top, bottom and intersecting pieces. We also bought 4 little L-brackets per shelf from the decking section of Home Depot, super cheap and very industrial (right up our a...lley). We just marked off where we thought a shelf would look cool and put it there, no rhyme or reason. Then we trimmed the top and bottom with the same trim we used in the rest of the room. Paint by the way came from Wal-mart, their house brand 'ColorPlace' is super cheap and works wonders for any purpose. Oh - and you'll need some giant bolts (technical term) to anchor those bad boys to the floor. If I forgot something let me know!"

Smarty Pants






Ben built these awesome shelves floor to ceiling. We show things off on both sides, because you see the back as you walk up the stairs to our loft.

Protector Birdy



For my birthday (earlier in July) my momma came down to surprise me. She brought along some pretty pretty flowers and gift cards. One just so happened to be to Pottery Barn. So, in a valiant attempt to use all of my gift cards to create a "free date night," I gathered up all of the gift cards that would get us some shopping, dinner, movie and ice cream. Foul on my part, I forgot the Pottery Barn card!!! Of course I didn't notice until AFTER we had fallen in love with this little guy. He was on SALE to boot! He's fabulous. He protects my giant book about Gauguin. Love him please.

Who knows what we'll return with when I actually remember to take the gift card with me next time!

Friday, July 9, 2010

What the Heck!

I know - I know. I haven't posted in a while. This may have you wondering, "What the heck!"

Never fear, we are here. Just busy, busy, busy.

I will write today and post pretty pictures of what's been going on.

So get ready for:
Bicycles
Backyard Makeovers
Dining Room Completion (sort of)
The Finished Bookshelf
Garage Rejuvenations

Love,
4 in 52

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Here is Life - Enjoy it.

Enjoy today. Take advantage of the things going on around you. Go for a walk/run, visit the farmers market, meet new people, go on a picnic, watch a parade, visit with old friends.

Make it a great day.

Friday, June 18, 2010

FOLLOW US!

Oh my word. We need some followers. See that thing there on the right? It's easy to sign up and free and it will make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Bookshelf Progess(ish).

A view from the studio.

Close up. Don't worry we've painted them since!

View from the bedroom.

Someday bookshelf -- books will live on you.

Oh Closet.




Oh closet. You'll be done someday. Someday when we have time, we'll organize you and everyone will wish they had you. Until then -- you're a mess. A hot freakin' mess.

Beautiful Chair. Ghastly Fabric.



Thursday, June 17, 2010

Forgive Me.

Oh my gosh...when was the last time I wrote? Sunday! I'm so sorry - this week has escaped me. Volunteering, freelance and other endeavors has just sucked up all of me and Hub's time.

I promise promise promise, I will write tomorrow! I'll post pictures of bookshelves and closets and screen doors - Oh my!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sneak Peak (Bookshelves)

Yesterday Hubs started building my fabulous bookshelves...

Tomorrow they will be done and filled with all of our books and smarty pants things -- in color order of course.

Lovely Edging

Oh so they're ripping up our street...

Boo hiss.

They've certainly done a more than adequate job edging.

Rail Station Lights

The hub's dad being confused about how to install the new outdoor lights...

I bought new lights for the outside of the house at Menard's! They're so freakin' cute! I just love them, they're perfect for our house. We live about a block away from an old rail station. These lights have a similar feel.

No Luck at Lowe's



We went to Lowe's to look for lumber and a door.

No luck.

So we played in the aisles of concrete forms and stuck our heads in form tubes...

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Dinning vs. Dining

So last night the hub's dad came home from work and said,"Hey are you writing a blog about us?" "Mary said you're writing a blog about us and she freakin' loves it!" I have not really made a big deal about the blog as I feel bad that there aren't too many posts, I haven't done 52 right in my eyes. So I showed him the blog and guess what? He spell checked it...

I don't want to toot my own horn, but here it goes. I consider myself a well educated individual. I also consider myself a pretty darn good speller. Now, of course I do resort to using spell check a lot in blogging situations, because I'm usually writing these very quickly.


Apparently the last post about about the bathroom mentioned that this weekend we'll be trimming out the "dinning" room. WHOOPS! Ok first of I know that the room in which we eat fancy meals and the pretty plates are stored is the DINING room. DINING has one "n." Argggg...



So I googled DINNING -- two "n" situation. I found out it is a word, how I made it this far in life not knowing that dinning was really a word baffles me.


FOUR in 52's word of the day will be DINNING. It means "to assail with loud noise or to impress with repetition."


The lesson learned? Always ask yourself, "Do I have a room in which I dine (dining room) or a room in which I make loud noises and impressions?" Now I know what your saying, "Well shoot -- I suppose you could make loud noises in that room. You could also make impressions if you're a good entertainer." Oh my gosh -- we might just have ourselves a DINNING room.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Getting Closer!

The tiny bathroom is getting closer to being finished. Today we put up the trim, never mind that it's not all painted yet. Tomorrow I will have myself a little Friday painting party. Anyone want to help?This weekend has quite a lengthy list of "to-do" items. Some of these include building the monstrosity that will hold our absurd amount of art and design books we've accumulated. The hubby and I will also work on trimming out the dining room and starting work on the backyard. In case you're wondering -- yes we plan on someday not living in sawdust anymore. This day will come eventually...I hope.

Ha -- By the way our street is getting dug up for some reason to put things I don't understand in the ground. This means no parking on the street and they will be tearing up the driveway. Perfect timing as I'm sure we'll be back and forth from Lowe's and Home Depot and Menard's this weekend.
Oh -- and no we have no favorite hardware store. We love them all for different reasons. We hate them all for different reasons. Each one serves its own special purpose for us as I am a master of price checking. I have a detailed mental list of where to go for what type of supplies and who will be busy at what time and who to go to if I'm confused as hell. Maybe this weekend I'll write about this mental list -- maybe I'll get lucky and someone from these hardware havens will read it. Then we'll have PERFECT hardware stores that NORMAL people can shop in and feel well informed and not like a lost puppy who's being stared at rather than helped.
**In case you're wondering today's posts fabulous photos were brought to you via the hub's smart phone -- we know, we're super fancy. Don't want you to get too spoiled now with fancy photography and other who-zits and what-zits.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Grace-inator


We have a dog.



We used to call her Gracie.


Now we call her "The Grace-inator."


We feel this makes her more fearsome.




Our sweet face licking creature. (This used to say face 'liking' creature -- Thanks Khaki's for the error check!)

The Aloe Room





Ok ok...not the greatest lighting, I know. It was a long day of moving boxes from the garage to the attic after work, but I wanted to show off the finished bathroom.

I was so excited my good friend Megg's boyfriend stopped by today to pick up a tent, I made sure to show off the bathroom tile that his main squeeze helped me put in! He was very impressed with her handiwork!

Most of the jars are Anchor Hocking pieces. Others are found objects or vintage bail lock jars. We also put to use photo boxes which will eventually have labels. I purchased three matching baskets from Meijer that seem to be made out of plastic used for lawn chairs.

The hubs says tomorrow we will finish organizing the garage and getting our room back in order. Ugh...maybe I'll become a professional organizer.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Crazy Decisions

We've decided to leave the chairs leopard.

Because of this woman...

This is a sexed up version of the Black Canary. She was painted by Michael Owens. This was the first painting the hubby and I bought together. We purchased her when I was a junior in college. She was on display at the Stonewall Exhibit in at Garfield Place (which is where our wedding reception was held 3 years later).

The Black Canary has super sonic scream abilities. That's why there are rings coming out and the word "skreeeee".

We've decided to go crazy. We'll use her as our inspiration for our studio space/ bedroom. A modern industrial meets comic book meets fine art decor. Get ready -- this is gonna be nuts.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Our Bathroom Redo

I've never owned a home. I've only ever rented. So buying things like bathroom fixtures is sort of overwhelming. What kind do I buy? If the current spigot has two handles can I buy a single handled one? What do I do with plumber's putty?

Anyways -- I found this pretty fixture for a very pretty price at Lowe's. Also, because of our move they sent us a nice coupon for $10.00 off of a $50.00 purchase. This was an excellent trip to the hardware store.

I learned quickly thanks to my hubby's dad that plumbing isn't too hard, you just have to remember a few simple things and you're on your way. (O.k. the plumbing I was doing wasn't too hard. There are a lot of things I would never dream of doing myself, and certainly call a professional)

I spotted this shower curtain at Bed Bath and Beyond. I liked it well enough and it is nicer than the one I ended up buying. I opted for a slightly cheaper (look and price) from Menard's.

I know what you're thinking, man she cuts costs everywhere. Well -- not on the floors kids. I wanted our bathroom to have a similar feel to a hotel spa. I chose a smoke gray glass tile for the floor. Luckily, I did find it on clearance but it still cost me around $150.00 to tile the floor of a rather small space.
I thought I would share this heartbreaking story. When we went to pull up the hideous linoleum tile we found GORGEOUS hardwood floor. Soon we discovered that it was severely damaged and not worth trying to salvage. I thought for a few moments that I could return all of the tile and get my pennies back. Back to plan A.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Going Blue



The living room has gone blue. Presidential blue really. It's a fantastic room that will be the focus of family laughter and memories to come. It is also the room you enter into through the front door. This room is full of character already.