The Man Cave

Tea tins as tool organizers.

So, I have to take a moment to brag about my husband's handiness, which benefits our little house very much because he can make us cool, custom things like this amazing alarm cover. I love that I can say "I wish we didn't have to look at that ugly alarm" and a few days later a perfect little frame just magically appears on the wall.

Chris has talked about wanting a wood shop since we moved into the house, and this winter we finally got around to getting it set up. The purchases of a woodworking bench and some must-have tools, and the cleaning out of our basement, allowed us to get his shop started.






It wouldn't be a designer's woodshop without some well organized wall decor.




One of C's favorite things - vintage Kansas City postcards.

Every once in a while Chris disappears from the house, and then after a few minutes I can hear a saw fire up in the basement and know we're in for a treat. I'm heading out of town for the week, and he's hinted that there might be a surprise project brewing while I'm gone. I can't wait to see what he makes next!

Five

Remember that oppressively long paper chain we've been using to count down the weeks until we're ready to begin remodeling the kitchen? Well, it's looking much less daunting these days.



In addition, the beginning of the month of March means the project start is only 5 months away. So, since it's almost March (and it's Friday so what the heck!) I'm rounding a few days to make the big announcement . . .

I'M GOING TO HAVE A NEW KITCHEN IN 5 MONTHS!

Here's a bit of history on the planning process:
- Elephant in the Kitchen
- Architects Beware
- Bathroom Reading

The project has changed (ahem . . . grown) a bit over the past few months (if you can call throwing in a bathroom renovation growth), and we're planning a contractor meeting very soon, so we'll have lots more details in the very near future.

Almost Spring!

Something feels wrong about writing about spring as I watch it snow outside. Nevertheless, we're almost out of winter and I've begun preparing for this year's garden. You may remember, we turned a neglected, overgrown old alley into a garden patio last year. All winter I've been planning this year's crops and earlier this month I began growing some of them in the basement.

Yes, I have crops in the basement.

I started some seeds under a grow light a few weeks ago, and now I just love going downstairs to see the progress of the little sprouts every day. So far we have tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, celery, basil, rosemary, marigolds and nasturtium sprouting. Broccoli gets planted this weekend.




Tiny basil sprouts, reaching for the light.


Tomatoes are taking off.


Little bitty celery plants.

According to Farmer's Almanac, I should be able to move these outside within the next month or so, and at the same time will begin planting seeds into the ground outside. I can't wait!

How to hide your ugly home alarm

Hinged picture frame with hidden alarm system box

As shameless design snobs, we admit to being super picky about what hangs on our walls.

At our house, one eyesore that has been bothering us for a while was our alarm system. While I appreciate the false sense of security it offers us every day, I do not care for the way it looks.

Basically, its a clunky white plastic box with buttons.

Solution? Make a hinged box.

With some old stair tread material, I utilized my new table saw and wood clamps to build this trap door picture frame. This trick could work with many eyesores, such as thermostats, panels, alarms — anything that can be concealed and still function properly.

Photo documented process below.

Materials used:

2' red oak

8 nails

2 brass hinges

2 magnets

wood glue

stain

Happy Friday from our Abominable Snowdog

This has been the snowiest winter I've ever seen in Kansas City. While all the snow can be a bit of a drag, we have some help staying entertained. Wrigley LOVES the snow, and we think he is hilarious to watch. Here's a peak.



Too bad he often looks like this when he comes inside.


Photo courtesy of our favorite dog-sitters, Jeremy, Laura and Chloe Thomas.

Eureka!

Anyone who's read many of our posts has probably figured out that Chris and I are suckers for old houses. We love the craftsmanship, the history - we're just hopeless romantics about the whole thing.

For my birthday this year, we spent a weekend in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We were amazed at the very cool old houses there, and came home feeling refreshed and inspired. Here were some of our favorites.


How's this for a before and after? Wow!






My personal favorite. Notice all the copper accents. Detailed view below.










Best paint job I've ever seen.


And even one for the birds!

Sentimental Sandwich

One of many amazing European meals on our honeymoon.

I hate to brag, but Chris and I had pretty much the best honeymoon ever. We spent a week in Italy, and a week in southern France, enjoying lots of great food, delicious wine, beautiful sights . . . it was amazing. We occasionally try to recreate parts of the trip, and our latest is the caprese sandwich. It's delicious, and very easy to make.

Start with good bakery bread, a good tomato, fresh mozzerella cheese, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Fresh basil is optional. Lightly toast the bread and add thick slices of the cheese and tomato. Finish off with spices and dressing to taste and eat. That's it!



This sandwich is all about quality ingredients, so I recommend a good home grown or farmer's market tomato, great sourdough or French bread and high quality mozzerella, which is usually either vacuum sealed or in fluid in the deli area of the grocery store.

I recommend enjoying your sandwich with a nice cold stout! Bon appetit!

New Linen Shade

Front door with new linen shade

As much as I love our six glass panel front door, it does not provide much privacy from the street. If you drive by at night, you can pretty much see into the entire house from the front door.

We had to get creative with a solution that was not too boring or stuffy. Becca picked out a nice yellow linen for the fabric. We found something call "gallery rails" at Van Dyke's that could function as the mounting piece.

We are happy with the results. And +1 for Becca's nifty sewing skillz.

View from outside. Orange + Yellow = fun

Plaster = Mess

This is why you don't see people using plaster and lathe anymore. A total mess.

Sanding made a mess that took weeks to clean up. I suppose a master plasterer would not need to sand their finished surface — that they could simply apply a perfect smooth finish. But as the picture shows, I needed alot of patience and sandpaper to get my wall back to normal.

Guess I won't be poking into our wall carelessly anymore.

New Mantel Plans

Our fireplace and mantel

Our current fireplace is, well, just kinda boring.

The rest of the living room has been nearly perfected, but we don't really dig the dirty old brick mantel and hearth. It's time for an update — and I can't wait to get started on it in a few weeks.

Until then, I am perfecting the design plans, which you can see below.

Initial mantel design with marble tile

My initial photoshopped solution is super simple. I made the design last winter, which carries the look of our house's millwork through to the mantle. Kinda a shaker/craftsman style.

Updated design with future fireplace insert.

The second design(more recent and to scale) is where I am heading with the look. We added some more details, changes in the profile and a ornamental footing.

Our plan for the area between the mantel and the firebox is to use Grecian White subway tile marble. For the hearth, similar subway tile, but in a dark Saint Laurent marble.

Saint Laurent and Grecian Marble

If you have any suggestions or ideas, let me know and maybe I can incorporate it into the final plans.

Quick Refinish

Our new and improved entryway table.

A few years ago my grandmother passed along her 1970's Viking sewing machine to me. With it came this sewing desk:



When it's folded up it looks like this.



We keep it in our living room right across from the front door, so it's the first thing you see when you walk in.



I love having the sewing machine so accessible in the living room, and the size of the desk is nice for an entryway table, but we've never loved the look of it. So I attacked it yesterday.

This project was completed overnight, and cost a whopping $12 for these pulls:



to replace these tired ones:



I used gel stain leftover from our handrail project.





And this is what we ended up with:



I'm really please with the results. My favorite part is that the details really pop with the nice dark, uniform finish.

Holy Handrails

Sometimes I wonder if I am ocd. I will get fixated on a project, and build it in my mind a hundred times before I actually make anything.

I have been thinking about doing this project for two years now, so its been meticulousy considered - probably too much.

Well, the timing was finally right to update our staircase with some classic handrails to match the rest of the dark oak trim in the house. The process went like this:

Buy/Order all the parts ($200)

Prep the plaster and remove old ugly handrail.

Measure and assemble handrails. (this was the hard part)

Sand and stain oak to a dark walnut finish

Install with railing hardware

Pictures below document the entire process.

Original staircase had no handrail. Boo.

Handrail endings

Rail bolts and glue makes the wood turn magically

Two 90º turns with rosette endings

Stud finders don't really work on a plaster wall

Bare wood test on wall

Sanding smooth

Staining with a gel, really nice to work with.

Downstairs handrail, finished

Upstairs handrail, finished.

Detail of turn and rosette

Wrigley wishes he had thumbs

More angles

Detail

Trial run. Approved by Becca