A Picture Perfect Launch

 
Chris and I are officially in post-launch bliss. We spent yesterday watching the internet wallpapered in fun, pretty, beautiful, quirky and (insert any number of adjectives here) Shapely images all over social media. Intrigue spread quickly, and soon we noticed not just friends, but friends of friends and eventually complete strangers using Shapely.

Here are a few of the images we enjoyed from the last week.

Shapely images courtesy of @eleshop, @bjemas, @chrisjonesdesign, @jead, @katiegisborne, @kcchorale, @kenychang, @leokempf, @mattk2, @motleynif, @natehofer, @orionkinkaid, @pshehan, @rcwphoto, @rslr, @rusty_wright, @sheasylvia, @shoutoutloud, @ssfantastic, @thedaviddunn, @thelaurajane, @tylerhenderson, @whitetablestyle and @zackkc via Instagram.

Thank you to all who played a part in our Shapely Launch Day - there are too many of you to name, but we know who you are and we can't begin to fully express our gratitude. It was a wonderful launch, and it is only the beginning.

So keep going! Shape your world!

Shapely - Our Fun New Design App

Chris and I are very excited to announce that we're launching an app! Shapely allows you to design custom images using photos, graphics, patterns, text and more. The images are great for making cards, enhancing photos or just making a simple text message a lot more fun. And with Chris' great design eye, it's nearly impossible to make anything ugly (trust me, I've tried) - which is a very great thing for enthusiastic designer wannabe's like myself.

As of approximately 2:00 this morning, Shapely has been submitted to Apple for their approval - a major step a year in the making!

I'll get into the history of the app in a minute, but first I want to give you all a chance to participate with us in the launch process! We have a limited number of spots for people to beta test Shapely - meaning we give you a pre-launch version to play around with while we wait on final approval from Apple to send it live. If you are interested in being a beta tester, email beta(at)shapelyapp(dot)com and we will send you instructions.

Here's a general idea of the sorts of images Shapely can make, but this is only the beginning. Chris and I and a few close friends have been designing with Shapely for the past month or so, but we can't wait for more of you to try it out and show us how else you will use it.

Ok, now more about the origin of Shapely. The big idea came to Chris when we were in Austin for a few days last winter. We both found ourselves overwhelmed by the character that the entire town seemed to ooze. Everything was unique, personalized, stylish and eclectic.

    
I think what most impressed us about Austin was that while our surroundings were very well designed, nothing was pretentious. These were people who appreciated the creative and individual side of making things look cool. No two buildings, stores or streets looked alike. Every place we went seemed a reflection of the people behind it, and we found that immensely charming.

And from there Shapely was born - the app to democratize design. Totally reasonable goal, right? But seriously, our hope is that regular people (like me) can have fun making cool images that demonstrate their interests and personality, and that in the end, these images will look great because the pieces and layouts were hand-picked by my oh-so-talented designer husband.

We have some big, fun launch plans coming up and we will keep you in the know, but for now let us know if you want to test Shapely out, and cross your fingers for us as we walk through the Apple approval process.

Happy Bench

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Chris and I were driving home and saw this sad little bench on the curb. Upon inspection we saw that, while the wood slats were beyond shot, the size and shape of it was very charming, and the wrought iron of the bench was very nice and in great shape. So we brought it home and planted it in the garden. 

The wood appeared to be maple, but someone had painted it dark red a while ago. The red paint was peeling and the wood was rotting. I liked the idea of painting it - our garden is surrounded by beautiful cedar and if this bench was going to live there, it needed some color to get the attention it deserved.   

The first step, though, was replacing the wood slats - all of the ones on the seat were rotting, and one of the pieces of the back as well. So CJ and I headed to Habitat ReStore - a materials source that has been very good to us - and we found a 1"x6"x16' piece of pine that would work great. It was a nice clean piece of wood - no knots - and would be just right. It was truly 16' long though so we borrow their saw and broke it down in the parking lot so it would make the drive home. 

Once we were home my handy hubby cut them down to size

and installed them.

I tested the new and improved bench out, and it was nice and sturdy. 

At this point it was getting pretty late in the day, and it just so happened to be an absolutely beautiful day, so we decided to quite our work for the day and put that old rotting wood to work. 

 

We didn't burn quite all the old lumber though. Wrigley claimed this slat for himself and insisted on fetching it as we relaxed by our fire. 

 

 

So this morning, here's what our little bench looked like:

I looked through our stores of exterior paint and found we had about 3/4 of a quart of Glitzy Gold left from painting the back grate of our house. This cheery yellow seemed just the right thing for our new seat. 

So we painted.

And a few short hours later this little bench looked like new. The yellow brings out the green in the metal, and shows brightly in front of the trellis and fence.

The last painter got red paint onto some of the hardware, and for now we're leaving it. It could be fun - an homage to its former life. Or if it bothers us I will drop some matte black paint into the recessed holes to fake the screws' original color. 

There are also a few spots where dabs of paint bled through tape onto the metal. I have a feeling it will flake off pretty quickly, but if it does not a little steel wool will correctly it quickly.

In all, I'm thrilled with the upgrade. We probably won't sit on this guy a ton - maybe occasionally here and there when we're enjoying the garden. But it will be the perfect inviting spot when we want to. The rest of the time it will likely be a set down place for garden tools and vegetables while I'm working.

At a total cost of $4.80 (for the pine from Habitat ReStore), I'd say this was a great upgrade.