basement remodel: more demo

I'm sure Lottie is thinking wtf are you guys doing to my basement!?

what's new at the ranch

a) little piece of swedish pottery.
b) my new kitchen corner... yellow baking dish (thank you haus proud!), dansk pitcher, tall haeger vase (an oldie but a goodie).
c) danish blue glass vase.

basement remodel update: demo

Old moldy drywall is gone. Drop ceiling tiles are gone. Linoleum floor removed. The pool table has become Mark's work bench. Next up...treat interior concrete block foundation to control moisture and prevent mold. Excavate the patio to see where sump pump exits from house - it might need to be extended. Then frame up can begin for new walls.

danish chairs and lacy dogs

Damon Locks and Eve Fineman

Date: Friday, March 19, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Heaven Gallery - 1550 N Milwaukee, 2nd fl, Chicago IL

The Invisible City is a joint show by architect/furniture designer Eve Fineman and artist Damon Locks, both showing individual bodies of new work. Though different in medium and expression, the work that they do ideologically crosses over in many ways.

As a designer and design educator, Eve Fineman approaches her work with a social consciousness. Her current project, a sustainable furniture system called Interstice, incorporates an innovative use of materials and processes. All of the pieces in her designs can be interchanged, reconfigured or melted down and reused, presenting a closed-loop system of manufacture.

Artist Damon Locks is a Printmaker that works with digital printing, silkscreen and relief printing. His pieces stem from a desire to explore and comment on ideas of culture and community. The work has aspects of literal political intent but it also displays a looseness and abstraction that enlivens the issues at hand.
http://damonlocks.com/art/index.php?/project/a-school-complexion/

The Invisible City speaks to unrealized potential, the underground, the marginalized, and the spaces in-between. This show presents two different approaches toward bringing the otherwise unseen and unimagined into focus. The Invisible City is about dualities: noisy and quiet, questions and answers, seen and unseen. As these opposing elements are placed in each others’ proximity, the combined works offer a new way of looking at what already exists.

There will be a musical performance by Spectronix (Dan Bitney) and A Grape Dope (John Herndon).

Wallpaper May/June 1997

With the basement remodel in full swing, I've been trying to convince myself to throw out old stuff that I just do not need to store down there. But my magazines... nope. I can't throw them out. What if I need to go back to that issue of Dwell from 2001? The May/June 1997 issue of Wallpaper is partially to blame for my Scandinavian furniture obsession. I fell in love with everything in this featured Stockholm home. I needed this furniture and pottery. I can remember thinking back then how amazing it would be if I could EVER live in a place like this. Oh Swedish flat, you still look so good to me. Even after all these years...






I ended up getting my bangs cut back in '97 after looking at all the cute models with their bangs. A highly influential issue in so many ways.

Vessel Architectural Pottery

I highly doubt that I'll ever have $1700 bucks to drop on the Vessel Peanut Planter but I can dream, right?




http://www.architecturalpottery.com/gallery1.htm

before and after: the old dresser makeover

I love looking at before and after pics of projects. If a site has that section, I always go there first. This is one of my favorite "before and after" projects of 2009 from Monica Ewing's craftynest.com site...







You can check out how it was done here...
http://www.craftynest.com/2009/07/old-dresser-rolling-tool-cabinet/

let there be light

My latest lighting addition. I expect that it will not be installed until May with all the remodelling going on in the basement (as I hear hammering in the background). I hope this can solve my dark corner of the living room problem. We'll see. Just wait until I tell you how little I paid for this pendant.



Photo taken from the dark corner...even Lottie walks away from the darkness. I can't wait to get this light installed.

Ladybird (aka Gabby)

After spending some time yesterday with this sweet gal, I have decided to call her Ladybird. She came to a local GSD Rescue Group with the name Gabby but she seems like a Ladybird to me. She is in need of loving home. Ladybird is approx 3 years old and has had some babies but now is fixed. She's had a bit of a rough life but that doesn't keep her from being super loving and outgoing. She's in the best possible foster care home an animal could ever ask for and is getting some basic training and socialization with 3 other dogs. Obviously she has won me over and I hope I can help to find the right human for her. You can email me for more info. She's a great dog and I would take her if I could.

hey, it's more bird photos

These are my favorite backyard visitors...the downy woodpeckers.

five years in our happy home: the house tour

We became the official owners of our 1969 ranch 5 years ago today. It's hard to believe that we did not own a digital camera 5 years ago but it's the sad truth. The 35MM shots I did take of the remodel in progress ended up ruined as the photo machine at Walgreens broke while developing my roll. Sigh. There were a few pics that were saved during that developing fiasco but the quality of them is pretty crappy. Mark and I had 1 year and 5 months to remodel this house before our wedding. Yes, we got married here in the backyard! We had the smallest budget and did everything we could possibly do ourselves...we let the professionals install the new pool liner but naturally Mark moved all the pre-existing pool equipment and did some prep work to cut down on the cost. Mark working in the granite/kitchen/bath industry is what really made any of this possible. He's a self taught carpenter with an art degree and was willing to take on an overwhelming project. Me, an interior design magazine junkie and fan of all thrifty-crafty projects, was also up for the challenge.


BEFORE...

We had no idea glued on velvet and foil wallpaper was hiding behind that peach striped panelling - surprise!


AFTER...



Mark and a few friends installed the hardwood floors here, in the dining room, and in the hallway. Some of the smoke damaged brick on the fireplace could not be saved so Mark designed and installed a solid slab granite piece and built a mantel with the clean bricks removed from the damaged half. We have a matching granite top on our floating sideboard in the dining room. I repaired drywall throughout the house and painted every room before we moved our furniture in which made things a whole lot easier.

BEFORE...


This was pre-privacy fence days that lasted about one year. The neighbors, while nice, were just a bit too close. yeah, that's me holding a Budweiser.

AFTER...

I hate that we have a TV in our dining room but Mark lives here too and we actually do live here like regular people. Mark drilled a small hole for the cable to run through so all the cords are on the other side of the wall (in our garage) and the TV is easily removeable when i need to use the sideboard as a buffet for dinner parties.

BEFORE...



AFTER...



All new appliances (except the dishwasher - it was fairly new and we couldn't see replacing it just because it wasn't stainless). Mark and his friends put in granite counter tops as a wedding surprise for me. While not my favorite cabinets, getting new cabinets was not in the budget so adding more of them and some new hardware was the way to go. I dream about getting new cabinet doors someday. Maybe someday. The microwave cabinet wall came as phase 2 of the kitchen remodel. We lived for 2 years with the microwave in a super awkward spot in the kitchen and then I came up with this plan for adding a functional microwave area on the wall across from the fridge.


BEFORE...





AFTER...




Now this is a bathroom!

BEFORE...

the look on my face is "we really bought this place, we are really doing this. really?" hey look - more dirty carpet!

AFTER...










BEFORE...


AFTER...

The smallest powder room in the world gets a makeover complete with vessel bowl sink made from an antique wooden bowl I bought in California back in 1997 and other pieces of wood and marble we had collected over the years. We installed a french door with frosted glass panels to let some light in from the connected room.

BEFORE...


AFTER...

Yes. This really is the same yard. A huge transformation!

Worst part of the remodel...

Removing that wallpaper was the hardest thing I have ever done. Truly the worst. The only thing missing from these photos is me laying on what became known as the back rejuvenator while my sciatica was in full flare up.


Mark insisted this picture be included to show how much fun I had tearing out the previous homeowners landscaping. I look like I'm about to punch Mark in the face for busting out the camera on me. Nice green chain link fence. I got the worst sunburn on my shoulders that day!! Look closely and you can see the pool was just a rusty hole.