August, 2008

Stephanie had encouraged me for awhile to get prints made of some of my pictures, so that we could hang them up in the house. A couple of months ago we finally sat down and decided which ones to use. As often happens, Stephanie added a minor constraint to the project (such as squashing my desire to use the free, white mattes that came with the frames), I complicate matters by balking once I find out what a custom color matte would cost at a frame shop, and then she solves the problem by finding a $3 can of spray paint that is pretty similar to our ceiling color. If you ever need to change the color of a matte, we found that they take spray paint very well. It is so much cheaper than buying a custom matte, and using a stock frame was, of course, a fraction of the cost of custom framing.

Here are the pictures we have up in the dining room. The one on the left is a section of Portland skyline at night, and the one on the right is of the crane sculptures at the Portland Japanese Garden:

Portland skyline as seen from grain elevators

Crane sculptures at Portland Japanese Gardens

Here are the pictures in the living room. All four are from the Japanese Garden.

Portland Japanese Garden pictures

Since the pictures are hard to make out in the room shots, if you are curious, here are the actual pictures that we used:
Click to continue »

Although these pictures are actually “in progress” pictures, they give a pretty good idea of what the drywall looks like now. We ended up getting a bid from a contractor we’ve used before for $800 vs. the ridiculous $2200 that the guy who did our upstairs wanted to charge us. $2200 to do one room and a hallway ceiling?? As you may remember from the last post on this room, we decided to cop out and have someone drywall over the heavily-cracked plaster in this room. We got a bid by a plasterer, who said it all had to come down and be replaced (for $3200!), so that was out of the question. And since we are really trying to accelerate progress on our house, we decided to spend the $800 and just get it done. If I were doing this myself, it’d take me longer to just acquire the drywall then it took these guys to get the whole project done. It’s such a great and unfamiliar feeling to see progress on a project when I come home from work! I really like how they installed the drywall. They got 4′6″ x 12′ sheets, so there is only a single horizontal seem on each wall, making for really smooth walls.

We don’t have good “before” pictures of these areas, but the hallway ceiling, in particular, was in horrible shape. There had been some exposed pipes run to the upstairs sink, and the corner where they had penetrated the ceiling was a big, gaping hole. A long-ago leak had turned much of the lathe and plaster black, and most of the ceiling was cracked. Going over the whole thing with a smooth sheet of drywall has made such a difference…

Drywalled family room

Hallway ceiling remade

With as much demolition and construction as we’ve done since moving here four years ago, we haven’t had much time (or money!) for furniture shopping. Thus, many of our rooms are fairly empty. So when my mother-in-law announced that she was planning to downsize and asked if there was anything at her place we might be interested in, I didn’t hesitate to ask about her wicker furniture.

Family folklore has it that when Julio’s great-grandparents bought their summer cottage in 1920, the previous owners left behind a five piece set of wicker furniture. This same wicker suite has been passed down through several generations. In fact, our daughters will be the fifth generation of kids to claim the petite rocking chair as their own. Unfortunately, back in the the 1970s, the third generation painted everything shamrock green. (Pleased to meet you - I’m Paddy O’Furniture! Sorry - couldn’t resist!)

1920 wicker wearing 1970s paint

Julio couldn’t understand my interest, mostly because he had a hard time seeing past the bright green paint. But I knew it would be a lovely addition to our home. First of all, it’s roughly the same age as our house, and I really loved the idea of having something of the same vintage. Secondly, the scale is absolutely perfect. While our house is roomy by bungalow standards, most modern furniture is too large to fit comfortably in our living room, but this wicker set fits as if it was made for the room. Lastly, I’ve always loved the interior photographs I’ve seen of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms, in part because of the unexpected juxtaposition of curvy wicker chairs and settees against Stickley’s masculine, rectilinear wooden furniture. Beautiful!

Of course, Stickely’s wicker was natural wicker, and our recent acquisition was bright green. Since you can’t easily strip wicker, we decided to go with a deep espresso colored paint that seemed at home with our dark tables and woodwork. Next on our list will be finding an upholsterer who can recover the cushions in something more bungalow-appropriate, but for the time being I suppose I will have to live with the existing cushions. Eventually I would also love to add a small tabouret table next to the large rocker, and an area rug to serve as a room anchor (Oak Park Home and Hardware has a few drool-worthy contenders) but since we need a few slightly more important items before we can purchase a rug (new roof, anyone?) the rug won’t be joining the family any time soon.

And so, without further ado, here are some snaps I took of our recently painted family heirlooms. (Julio, who is quite particular about photography asked me to specify that I took these photos, so that if you find them less than technically flawless, you won’t blame him!)

Living room as viewed from the front entry

Wicker furniture - close-up view

Living room - alternate view

Last summer, just prior to Ginger’s birth, we posted some photos of Chloe’s room just as Julio was wrapping up construction of her bed.  The hot pink paint on the walls was Chloe’s idea.  I thought it was a touch toxic, but figured, if you can’t have a hot pink room at age 4, when can you?

Chloe's bed

The room is still bare as we’ve let other projects get in the way of finishing it, but the bed itself is functional, and Chloe loves it!

Ginger's room

Ginger has finally moved into her room, just in time for her first birthday!  It’s not *quite* finished as it still needs closet doors and a wall sconce,  but it’s definitely functional.  I’m a bit frustrated by my attempts to photograph it, however.  It looks so cramped and weird in the photo but it’s actually quite cozy in real life and doesn’t feel cramped at all!

When she gets a little bigger and moves into a ‘big girl’ bed, we’ll remove the crib and changing table and relocate the rocking chair to playroom.  I suspect when that happens, the room will feel positively palatial!

Chloe’s kindergarten teacher is taking a three week vacation in Germany this month, so we are caring for the classroom fish while she is out of town.

Chloe requested that we park the fishbowl in Ginger’s room underneath a photo of a pond full of goldfish so “he won’t get lonely.”

Chloe's school's fish on vacation in Ginger's room

As regular visitors to our site know, our daughters’ playroom has been an ongoing project.  Prior to moving in to our house, we gutted the entire second story to the studs.  And then we ignored it for about two years.  Since then progress has been slow, but steady.  The second story is now home to Chloe’s room, Ginger’s room, a small half bathroom, and the above-mentioned playroom.

Over the past few weeks, the playroom has seen the addition of some new accessories (framed artwork, new lamps, new pillows) and some handy new storage benches.  It’s still not “finished, but it’s getting closer every day.

So, without further ado, here are some updated photos of the playroom:

Playroom Kitchen Area

Playroom facing Chloe's room

New lamps and storage benches

A few weeks ago, the Bungalow Insanity family was lucky enough to visit British Columbia’s gorgeous Sunshine Coast.  If you haven’t had the pleasure yourself, you may want schedule a trip ASAP!

Sunshine Coast

One of my favorite blogs is ikeahacker. It’s both entertaining and inspiring.  Sure, a few of the hacks are “whack,” but that’s half the fun!

Not being handy myself (Julio is power tool god in this house – I tend to avoid motorized tools at all costs. I’m actually quite accident prone - to the point that even electric can openers freak me out. “That’s right doctor. I severed my finger trying to open a can of soup.” But I digress.)  Where was I?  Oh yeah.  Not being handy myself, I especially enjoy “hackeas”: simple IKEA hacks you can do in 30 minutes or less. They are right up my alley!

In a previous post, we discussed our own hackea involving IKEA’s Deka curtain rod. Today I plan to wow you with my startling transformation of the Skimra lampshade. OK – maybe not so startling, but pretty cute, I think!

The Skimra lampshade before:

and my post-hack Skimra lampshade:

And its twin:

in Chloe and Ginger’s playroom:

Crafty, eh?