Monday 31 December 2012

Phase II: Kitchen Island.b.

Kitchen Island:
Phase II complete on the Island... yup yup she's a creamy shade of teal.

Boom.

Doors + hardware still to come...

Here's some more life in the hub:


Wednesday 26 December 2012

Phase II: Kitchen Island.a.

Kitchen Island:
Phase I, complete.
The man's craftsmanship is stellar as always. Me adores my carpenter: loaded with love... and patience.
Wood conditioning, paint, doors/hardware, electrical, lights, and install yet to commence. But... hoo damn!

Saturday 22 December 2012

Intermission: Still life in 619

Wintersleep is seeping into the house life... with the major reno's of our living spaces at a bearable comfortable level of not stripped down to studs completion, we're taking a break to enjoy each others' company, appreciating just how far we've busted ass to get exactly where we are today, and enjoying some well-deserved afterglow.
Hello neighbours! Hello previously-in-storage vinyl collection! Hello 6 precious hours of daylight! Hello reading! Hello nog! We are so pleased to see you again after what seems like a year of the solid-house-grind jitterbug...




Stay in tune... we will continue the journey of house-stuff in the near future (beginning the last "major" living-space project of the Family Bath, finishing the Master Bedroom to resemble human beings living in it, and planning a garden). We've let the Dining Room plans slide, and watched other things we thought we'd want to do over the winter break degrade into meh in favour of loving our life together a little deeper... good for us! Bring on Lou Reed and a teenagers newfound appreciation of vinyl, ubiquitous mimosas + morning snuggles, snowshoes and horror frost, studio organization & fabric lust, the man's island craftsmanship in walnut, late nights of heady philosophy & RISK!... it's on.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Intermission: In da House!

Projects on the-go:
Master Bedroom:
Remaining decor to resemble a living-space. It's kinda like a beige-tainted carpeted cave with AMAZING luxurious flocked velvet pooling teal curtains right now... difficult to sleep in without personal effects smattered about. There's an echo. Seriously.

South West Bedroom:
As a guest-dwelling for the Holiday influx of jet-setter pals, we are rushing to slap this one together! Giddyup.

Kitchen:
Island construction & lighting on the way! One step closer to completion of our hub. Then, we be done Kitchen construction (but not decor, as we're already craftily brewing "Changes: Phase III").

We're in the kitchen... a lot. With Winter break coming up, this is only to increase with cometh of the foodie.

We're enlightened bah humbug folk, who hate don't like appreciate Christmas et al. Perhaps due to the culture of disposable materialism destroying our planet? Or maybe because our birth-family relationships are annoyingly difficult laden with bullying emotional baggage due to us being so exceptionally different from them awesome. But we LOVE anyway, so embarked upon finding ways in expressing our time-off-work-and-school-in-Winter together that did not involve over-consumption of material goods to express familial guilt love. We settled to run parallel the trend, and initiate over-consumption of perishable goods to fill the emotional hole of not being unconditionally supported by our birth-families. It sounds terribly sad... but shed not a tear for us dear sensitive reader... we eat bacon wrapped lobster and drink Starbucks until we are at the speed of hummingbirds... there is no room for sadness.

My OCD (depicted above) in action, creating digital menu's for the gastronomical festivities. We splurge on local delicacies (wild boar-ham, northern pike, farm-eggs, local wines) in tandum with the exotic (like seafood! we are miles + a mountain range away from the ocean), with Starbucks (ode to the culture gods) at the helm.

This will be our third annual celebration, and FIRST in the Kitchen we built together... with an Island. Exiting!

Dining Room:
Oh yeah bitches. Wallpapered and trimmed and painted... yet. This beauty is supposed to be ready for the festivities. Keep fingers crossed.

Later:
Updates and visuals forthcoming.
Until then... here's some random eye candy.











Sunday 2 December 2012

Phase II: Master Bedroom.c. (update)

What happened here?
Ah gawd.. the '80s threw up on our Bedroom.

I am blaming beige.
Yes, that explains everything.

I am sorry.

Progress:
PAX wardrobe and other allen-wrench wonders assembled.

Next Up:
Saving ourselves from beige.

This will be interesting.

Monday 26 November 2012

Phase II: Master Bedroom.c.


Progress:
Walls and floors ripped & reconfigured, patched, painted, new Low-VOC Eco-carpet. Have a looksee at the difference a coat of paint & carpet can do!

The Elephant:
Yah... I know... BEIGE. WTF? Life is too short for beige. Especially with colour being so sexy.

I admit it. I chickened out. Not worth having a Xanax moment over it, especially with so much going on around here these days... so the man suggested this brilliant piece of wisdom: "We can paint again later". Huzzah! I knew I kept him around for a reason besides his good looks.

Besides... I found this flocked velvety teal fabricgasm. Hot diggity. I promise to love it and cherish it and dress this room in it's luxurious glorious flockity-tealness forever and ever. Nomnomnom.


Later:
Craftsman trims, window treatments, assemblage of furniture, lighting, decor, change everything all over again (haha...), move in! 

Things change, especially with our ideas and design (a more accurate term would be design whiplash). So we are learning that it is necessary to let things go simply for the reason that they are heavy.

Best part: we are getting so damn good at working in flux, it is becoming fun. Hang ten!

Furniture:
We gathered a microbus-load of IKEA (shame spiral pending). 
PAX wardrobe is on the go, and MALM bed pending SKORVA midbeam in the mail this week ("SKORVA" translates from Swedish into "return to the store"). DIYing the heck outta this bedroom!

Fun Times:
There was panic and hilarity for the man and teenager when fitting the King sized mattress up the stairs, PAX-induced fits are still rampant, and kitties HEART cardboard.

Ohyeah... IKEA sent us too much stuff. Yay? Want some PAX cupboards in white? We have four with your name on them. Call me.

News about Sleep:
Still under construction.  
Please send beer.

Saturday 3 November 2012

Phase II: Master Bedroom.b.

Reconstruction:
On our way... subfloor coming along, ceiling joists sistered, bathroom wall framed, electrical routed.

Goal is to be moved in & enjoying the King Size bed by December. Long way to haul yet, plainly. Lack of exuberance in blogposts reflection of lack of sleep. Ugh.









Dreams:
Blue, grey, yellow, purple? Blue AND purple? Yellow AND Purple AND Grey? Still deciding... I feel this will come down to the wire. Oh colour... why you so sexy?

Next Up:
Walls, trim, paint, carpet, furnishing, decor. And oh gawd SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Phase II: Living Room.c.


Much like the Dining Room, the Living Room is in a state I am embarrassed to call design... because it is not.

At least we have waltzed into the progress-stage and created a cozy little oasis to snuggle while we plan the garden over Sunday morning coffee... a clear inspiring space for evening meditation & Yoga practice... it is simple, warm, and inviting for winter napping.


Progress: 
Upper portion of walls painted, energy boosting draperies, re-arrangeing the furniture... and coziness commencing.

Next Up:
Wainscoting on the lower half of the walls, and a re-do of crowns & baseboards are coming this wintersleep: adding more architecture to the space. Our efforts in this room will be concentrated on the permanent fixtures.

I've got indigo and neon ideas  for in here... just have to wait for it.

Ohyeah... and still waiting to be blessed with the chair... ahem ahem. 

Phase II: Dining Room.c.

 Remember this weirdness? Still in an embarrassing state & I really didn't want to post like this... messy girl! But... it's about the journey, and it's winter, I'm full of excuses, and I'm being too hard on us from lack of sleep because we're working.

Progress:
It is very nice to not have this room as a catch-all hallway as it has been over the past almost-year. Although walls, trims, etc. are still in progress, this is now a functioning space for us.  

Isn't is fun how things change? We think so. 
Those Wegner chairs ended up (for now) in the Kitchen nook, as a happy surprise. It dumbs down the decor: the ghost chairs play off the chrome & crystal of the chandelier... and makes us feel badass. This is the motorcycle of our house brrrrwrnnnnnn brrrwrnnnnnmm MMM MM mm!

Luxuries:
Cowhide: 
Homage to the man's roots. Layered over a hemp 12x9 for a warm style.

Danish Teak Credenza:
Another thrifted find, for a fabulous price ($70!). I have become a bargain-hunter thrill-seeker. It is perfect. We love.

Sacrifices:
Tweaked design because of time & money (I sense a theme developing?). But, more so than in other rooms, I'm pleased with the restraints.

Original Wood:
Original wood trims will be painted-over if they can't be salvaged and restored. I know, we are awful people disgracing your 1980's aesthetic values. Hey... you don't get to judge us.

Up Next:
More Yellow:
Searching for crushed yellow velvet for the curtains to span the entire north wall. Anyone got a lead on some for our miniscule budget? This crappy baby-poo yellow curtain will be a stand-in until we are blessed with said yellow. Please, close your eyes for a moment & bless us with yellow. Thankyouverymuch.

Walls/Ceiling: 
Removing that gawdawful Hummel-shelf over the Library door; wallpaper & paint on the walls (white on white on white); heavy crowns, trim, and wainscoting; and black glossy ceiling. It'll be a stunner.

Patience:
Yes. please. 

Monday 29 October 2012

Intermission: Things are happening...

Here is something that is happening in our Foyer:
What is it?
Well... we can say that it comes along with a new gig we're been conceptualizing for our other creative work... yes, you will have to wait & see. We know... we're turds for making you wait. 

Also, a lot of thrifting happening...
Who knew we'd find an outrageous deal on a George Nelson pendant in our Podunk town? Me, that's who, because I'm a superpower.
 Boom.

And plenty of dreaming keeps us warm as the winter cometh...








Next Up:
We are working on a bazillion things at once... all to gel soon & pretty posts about it will follow.