And the winner is . . . .

Arugula!



Just one week after dropping the seeds, it's my first thing to sprout in the garden beds. I think we have lots of good salads to look forward to this summer.

As we posted earlier this year, we finally got our steps to the garden in last fall, so I used our leftover stones from the rock wall to landscape in some flowerbeds near the wall. Our secret urban garden plan is nearly complete!


After 2010 backyard remodel


Before 2010 backyard remodel

I planted a few small perennials and lots of summer bulbs, and have a rose bush on the way. We also plan to add two small topiaries - one on each side of the steps - as an accent.

Spring Forward!

Sorry for the blogging hiatus - C and I have both been traveling recently. I went to Michigan to visit my adorable nieces for a week, and C took a "business" trip to SXSW in Austin. We're back though, and very pleased to announce that Spring has arrived in Kansas City.

While I'm not quite ready to do much planting in the ground yet, I did go ahead and get started on our window boxes, which we built last spring. They're one of the few places I do annuals - most everything I plant in the ground is perennial to save time/money/digging in future years.

My impatiens last year found our boxes a bit too sunny - while they're under the porch roof, our house faces west and gets a few hours of really bright sunlight. So this year I switched to pansies:



and asparagus fern.



In another week or two I'll add some sweet potato vines and call them done!

Austin Design Scene

I'm sharing a collection of snapshots from my trip in Austin. I'm down here for a conference, but got a chance to visit some really cool parts of the city.

While I have visited Austin several times, this was the first time I got to spend some time exploring the unique shops on Congress St.

A few observations about downtown Austin.

It seems to be a mashup of creativity and commerce. Stylish boutiques with quirky wares pop up at almost every corner. Local restaurants and food trailers set themselves apart with great names and good signs — something you don't see everywhere. Even the antique stores show you how great merchandising can make a group of products desirable.

Antiques grouped by color look prettier

Fearless use of funky colors

Repetition and variation

Black and white + brown accent color build this arrangement

Boots will always be in style

Sign sold as fine art

Candy store

Switch plates

Famous antique store

Does Kansas City need an iconic T-Shirt

When you visit Austin, you see the phrase "Keep Austin Weird" plastered on shirts, store front windows and posters all over town. It's almost like saying "we know we are cool and we don't plan on changing any time soon."

I don't know if the people of Austin still like this shirt, but I've them everywhere for years, kinda like "I heart NY."

What exactly does "weird" mean? You would probably get different answers if you asked a group of Austiners. Regardless the exact interpretation, it remains a iconic statement of city pride.

My question is, does Kansas City need a shirt like this?

Assuming the answer is yes, what message could get Kansas Citians excited and united?

Maybe we don't need a shirt, but these are the things I think about. Surely we can do better than this.

How to Make Custom Picture Frames from Reclaimed Wood

Reclaimed oak picture frames, 16" x 20".

We love artwork.

Particularly vintage travel posters. We often buy these posters cheap, but buying prints is the only easy part of the process. After you have a nice print, then it must be framed and matted (at least in our house).

$50-$200 dollars later, you have a nice piece ready to hang on your wall and an empty wallet.

Over time, I have realized we can't frame our art as fast as we buy it. It's just expensive enough to keep us from doing it often. We are left with rolled up artwork in our closets, only hoping to be hung some day.

Then the lightbulb.

Why buy $50 picture frames when you can make them practically for free?

In 2010, I removed fourteen 8"x 36" x 1" solid oak treads from our stairwell. I'm not really a pack rat, but knowing how much oak costs, I figured I would discover a way to revitalize them for later use.

The beauty of wood is that, when kept dry and indoors, it can last forever. It may look old and dirty, but if you take sawblade and sandpaper to its surface, it magically transforms before your eyes to something new and usable.

How You Do It:

Wood ripped to 1.75" x .75" sections via table saw. Make sure to remove any nails or other metal embedded in the wood before running through table saw.

Notch frame profile to allow for glass and art to rest on an inner corner

16" and 20" sections with mitered corners. Use a jig for consistent lengths.

Glue frames tight and square with ratcheting nylon strap. Clamp down frame faces to table.

Sand and finish with gel stain for smooth, dark walnut finish (or whatever you like)

Total cost: $25 (four glass panels).

Estimated cost at store: $160

Time: 4-8 hours (depending on finish style and quantity)

Gushy Design Footnote

If you have romantic notions towards oldness and history, then you probably "get" old homes and their allure. They have a story, a past, and the marks to show for it if you look close enough.

For this project, I left the old nail holes from the stairs visible on the new frames. Visible proof of their previous purpose and a new side note for home tours.

Restoration Hardware has mastered the shabby chic style with their furniture. I often visit their store for woodworking inspiration.

Now that blade and sandpaper has transformed these old steps to usable art boxes, they can once again reside in our stair well. This time a little lighter and a little taller.

Visible nail holes tell the story. Glass ordered and cut at Waldo hardware.

Art Tile Frame Inlay - Reclaimed wood

Archival Designs tile with oak frame for wall display.

Our neighbors are professional ceramicists. They make art out of clay on a daily basis. Really cool stuff - like wicked ornate backsplash relief tile landscapes. I admire their work and their dedication to the craft.

Fancy ceramic tile.

We recently purchase a humble little tile from their shop. Reminds me of Rome, which always makes me happy.

Theie tiles are dimensional and beautiful on their own, however, I have been on a framing kick of late, so I decided to make a frame for this beauty.

You can see how it all fits together below. Utilizing the table saw and reclaimed stair tread oak, this cost me nothing to make.

Only one step remains, where to hang it?

I made a 1/4" gap in the frame front to hold the tile inset and remain flush with the frame.

Kansas City Lore - Municipal Stadium

Today's post goes a little "off the menu," but it relates to old Kansas City — a time when our house was only a twentysomething and 18th and Vine hosted a grand structure called Municipal Stadium.

Last weekend, I bought a dark green baseball hat with nice "KC" lettering on the front.

As a graphic designer, I have a weakness for cool fonts and lettering. This is an example of one of those moments where the logo won me over before the team.

So I buy the hat and realize that the Oakland Athletics logo is also on the hat in the back, very small. Thanks to google, I find out that before Oakland, Kansas City was home of the Athletics, from 1955-1967.

They played in a place called Municipal Stadium, located at 18th and Vine, which was the heart of the action way back when.

I dream of walking to a Royals ball game in downtown KC. This will never happen, at least maybe not in the next 50 years, but this stadium really looks cool.

Below is a video with some footage.

Turns out that the Athletics were never really good at baseball in the midwest. They played about as good as the Royals do, average to below average. The history however, is just as sweet to me — and I love thinking about the bygone era of attending a KC Athletics game in downtown Kansas City.

And one final surprise, the owner of the Athletics, Charles O. Finley, paid $150,000 in 1964 to bring in the Beatles for a 1 hour show at their Stadium. They opened with a medley of "Kansas City" and "Hey, hey, hey, hey."

Two surprises - 1. Apparently, only half of the tickets sold to the show because Mr. Finley had some serious PR issues with the town. 2.They managed to bring them in last minute on a scheduled rest day.