Archive for 2009

Burn out

Friday, June 5th, 2009

I don’t know if all home owners go through this (this being our first house and all) but I am a bit burned out. The projects keep piling up and there seems to be no end in sight. We have no money, little tools, and we lack basic knowledge to solve major issues with electricity, plumbing, wood working, ect.

Everyday I come home and see this patio and just want to cry.

There are at least 5 major problems that need to be solved in this small back patio that serves as the main entrance and exit from the house.

1. Water heater of doom (in the crappiest box in the world shoved into the worst corner between the 2 doors.

2. The door to nowhere (the unpainted door is nailed shut and serves only as the exhaust for the dryer)(on another note – why are there 3 doors in a 10 foot span?)

3. 220 electrical for the dryer (its literally runs through the frame of the door to nowhere)

4. The kitchen door (its installed backwards and I guess the glass pane used to slide open at some point, but theres no hope for that anymore)

5. The random gas line (it runs across the patio from the water heater to where? Oh, nowhere of course.)

I’m just so overwhelmed with all of it all of a sudden and this is just one area of the house. Most every part of the house has at least this many issues or more.

It just seems to take a lot of energy to do the research and try and solve problems creatively. We also have to figure out how to pay for stuff and make the whole house look cohesive as opposed to a hodgepodge of cheap ghetto fixes. I wish I had access to a designer or architect or contractor that could tell me what to do. Its like I have it in my head EXACTLY what I want – but no money to make it happen.

I’m about to go on a little vaca from work since the summer session doesn’t start till the end of June. I want to do projects around the house but feel pretty crappy and beat down.

So how do you battle rehab burn out?

FILED UNDER: exterior, question

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Living room

Friday, June 5th, 2009

I used one of the cowhides I bought from craigslist to replace the Ikea Stockholm Rand Rug I had in the living room. I was thinking of using a kilim, but the organic shape of the hide is nice and the neutral color is less overwhelming than the graphic Rand Rug.

The living room still needs some work:

– New leather sling for butterfly chair
– Reupholster orange lounge
– Roller shades for two front windows
– Front door hardware
– Ace Hotel inspired shelving unit on the back wall
– Art
– Make the bookshelves pretty (doors maybe?)
– Aesthetically stacked firewood.
– Fix stupid ghetto cable coming out of the floor.

The list will probably keep growing…

Forget all that “work” that needs to be done. Right now this is whats totally inspiring my living room.

Check out Kitka Design. John and Juli have such great style and I’m super jealous of their amazing vintage collection. Their space is always so well edited and stays very modern with all their amazing vintage pieces.

I’m aspiring to go for a more sleek, eclectic and elegant style. Now the giant challenge is to quell the kitschy bit of my personality that gets really excited about truly horrible crap at thrift stores. (Art collection, I’m looking at you.)

FILED UNDER: after, before, craigslist, living

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Musical chairs

Friday, June 5th, 2009

I moved the pair of Bertoia diamond chairs from the living room into the master bedroom to modern things up a bit…well and because they got pushed out of the living room by the new butterfly chair and orange lounger.

The Bertoia diamond chairs replaced this pair of Brown Jordan chairs. So, to keep track…the bedroom before is above with the more regency style chairs.