Garden Inspiration

I got so much inspiration at the Garden Show this year. Last year hubby and I tried to go after work and it felt rushed and overwhelming. So this year I went on Saturday afternoon and spent several hours wandering around by myself. I saw a lot of great stuff and got some good ideas for our yard and garden. I love the tool gardening shed and the great ideas for outdoor seating. Seattle never seems to get that hot, but I'm hoping this summer gives us an opportunity for some hot nights sipping iced beverages out on the patio.

Lipstick on a Pig

I don't like to admit defeat, but after a weekend trying to make the bathroom more appealing, I have officially given up. I thought if I spent some time painting the walls and cabinet in our Pepto pink bathroom, I could make it through another few months putting up with my least favorite space in our house. It's hard to appreciate how awesomely uncool this bathroom is until you've seen it up close. I know everyone says it's not as bad as I make it out to be. I can't pinpoint why I hate it so much. It's probably the pink plastic tiles that look like they were grouted with brown gum. And the mauve and rose sticky tile/linoleum that kind of covers the floor. And the very pale pink aged paint that covers the walls, ceiling, and door. I know, it could be worse. A lot worse. I'm happy that the shower is a fiberglass insert and not tile that's been neglected for 50 years. And I'm happy that the sink and toilet work. I've been pretty nostalgic for a lot of this house, wanting to make sure we don't tear out too many walls or ruin the integrity of the original plan. But I have NO nostalgia for this bathroom. It must have been remodeled in the 60's, a decade that I don't love, because there isn't anything in this room that I want to save. My weekend project was to sand and paint the large vanity cabinet glossy white and paint the ceiling and walls a light grey that might offset the pink tile and look nice(r). Sadly, when all my work was done, I didn't feel any better about the bathroom. So instead of spending time trying to cover up what's ugly, I'm going to focus my energy on looking for new tile, a pedestal sink, light fixtures, and a toilet that doesn't sound like it's taking half of Lake Union when flushed.

Belated Valentine

I bought two Adam Turman prints in February (I'm posting this in May) as a Valentine gift for hubby. I finally got around to framing the first of the prints this last weekend. I love Adam's art! The coolest part about buying his prints is that he and hubby grew up down the street from each other and went to school together near Minneapolis. Most of Adam's prints are of cool Minneapolis landmarks - but this is part of a travelling series and a very unique image of the Space Needle.

Before & After

When we bought our house all of our furniture fit in 480 square feet. We moved from a studio condo into a 4 bedroom, 2200 square foot house. Technically half of that space and two of the bedrooms were basement storage, but still.

Naturally, I wanted to go furniture shopping CRAZY, but we spent so much money on the down payment that hubby had a hard time even letting me buy drapes. My solution? I became a craigslist stalker! At first I mostly stuck to the free section - but quickly moved on from there. In the beginning we needed everything, but I focused on the living room, specifically chairs. My first big 'find' was a little misleading. The posting was for a 'cool mid-century chair' for $60. I scheduled time to look at it and when I got there I found out the chair was kind of vintage IKEA. It was sort of cool but was pretty worn and really needed to be refinished and because I was already there I felt obligated to take it, so I did.

Right away I bought fabric to recover the chair. But when I finally got around to taking apart the old cover, using it as a pattern, and sewing together the new cover, I'd already fallen out of love with the 'new' fabric - so the chair sat in the basement and collected dust. Recently I discovered some really cool 70's shag fabric that came from my parents old house. It only took me an evening to put the whole thing back together. Luckily the shag fabric was super forgiving and the chair looks like it came that way!