New nautical room

My daughter has long been obsessed with pirates and all things nautical. Even though she begged me three years ago to let her have a pink room (only a month after I'd painted it yellow), she spent the better part of the last six months begging me for a blue room. Pink and blue are the two colors I don't like on walls or in houses. I'm partial to warm neutrals. Alas, what's a pirate's mother to do in the end. We now have a blue room in our house.

New laminated nautical world map, blue striped duvet, and shark sheets. Arrgh!

Rope hung shelves to display all things nautical and trophies plundered and earned for feats of bravery.

Desk made by Captain's mum for arts and crafts and plotting ship's course.

Ship's wheel clock for steering young pirates to activities on time.

Book cases made by pirate's mum to hold treasure maps and booty and such.

Look! Space for more booty!

Savannah still has her treasure chest at the foot of her bed, filled with the egg money she saves and other personal treasures. We are only awaiting a low-pile chenille rug on back order to complete the project. I can say with great accuracy that this pirate's mum is looking forward to relaxing for the holidays now that the captain's quarters are in tip-top ship-shape.

Busy bee me

I know it seems like I let a time slip by without posting much. Summers are challenging because they are so busy. One of my projects has been renovating the guest/project room. It is a small bedroom and I needed a project room much more than we needed a guest bedroom so even though it took me two years to do it,  I finally sold our super-comfy queen size bed that didn't fit in the room no matter how you tried to arrange it. And then I built two more to fit into the space (yes two more!)

This is the XL Full daybed I built with a Full-size trundle beneath it - two beds in a smaller space. I already love how the smaller beds have transformed the space in the room. I also made the drapes and pillows (after all this room is also my project room!)

The dresser is an antique yellow pine one that I fell in love with at an antique show in Boston and have had ever since. I wouldn't dream of painting it antique white to "match". I like the Bohemian look to this room.

Kevin helped by finally replacing the closet doors in this room. They had to be removed during the radiant floor-retrofitting, but that was two years ago... The quilt on my design board is the most recent one I've completed.

On the other side of the room is my somewhat organized, always in use, sewing space. I built this desk as a Christmas present to myself last December but it's been in use from the day the paint dried so I've never taken a photo of it. I custom-built it 2" lower than average so it suits my height perfectly (no more stretching my toes down like a child to reach the sewing machine pedal!)

I've tried to make the most of the space by adding shelving to store fat quarters, peg board to keep my sewing tools within reach and a fabric covered design bulletin board for my lists and ideas.

On the corner wall I painted a pair of thread-holding racks and mounted them to keep my thread with reach as well. The sewing desk is large enough to accommodate both my serger and my regular sewing machine at the same time and for large projects, I can pull the table away from the wall to let the fabric drape over the other side as I'm sewing. Forms follows function is the motto of this room.

Laundry renovation

When we first moved into this house, the laundry was in the basement, crowded in the mechanical room where we needed to put a whole house water filter and mini-furnace for the radiant floor. So we moved the washer and dryer upstairs, to a hallway in the master suite area. After the move, I really wanted to put cabinets up but there was a window, our only window for that area nearly flush with the wall and cabinets would have blocked half of it. I finally settled on open air shelving.

I'm glad I finally finished this project. I had cabinet-grade plywood ripped to 15.5" strips for wide shelves and painted them to match the trim in the room. The baskets on top (one is missing) hold little used items like candles and light bulbs (with the new energy-efficient bulbs, it seems we never have to change a bulb!) And the basket on bottom holds the things we use for doing laundry like stain removing mineral spirits, etc. Now it's easy to clean off the tops of the washer and dryer and they don't collect trinkets like rocks and acorns and coins from people's pockets.

I am still considering add a small ruffle curtain beneath the bottom shelf to hide the outlets but at the moment I kind of like the cold, utilitarianness of it. (Did I mention laundry is not my favorite chore?)

Utiliarianism, in architecture:

1. The belief that the value of a feature is determined by its utility.
2. The aesthetic of exposing necessary materials and features, such as metal or heating pipes, which are normally included in a design for their utility rather than their aesthetic appeal.

Bathroom display wall

You might be wondering why you haven't heard from me in so long. It's not for lack of news. We thought would have to move in July for Kevin's work so I've been working like a mad person to complete all the unfinished home renovation projects on our house. Of course, Kevin was "transferred" to a new position in the same town so we get to stay for another year - yay!

I've been working hard to renovate the master bathroom, which has a large wall space that is not easily accessible. To me that screams display. Using Ana White's simple plans for ten dollar display shelves, I created a pair for the wall and painted them the same color as the vanity, which I've remodeled and the wrap-around built-in bench in the master bathroom. It's such a simple project, but I think they look great without cluttering the space too much. I wanted a subtle beach or shell-themed room since we take an annual vacation to the Gulf Coast of Florida and really love it. The only pictures on the wall are of us at the beach and shells that we've collected or purchased while in Hawaii or Florida. There's still plenty of blank space left to fill as we make new memories, although we've thought of adding a corked bottle with a secret message inside. I can't wait until the entire master bathroom is complete and I can show you the whole thing.

Office bookshelf

I'm embarrassed to say that since we've moved into this house, our office area has been a mess. This is partly because we moved from a house with a 16' x 12' office with a 12' built-in floor to ceiling bookcase, full closet, and his and hers desks and filing cabinets. Now we share a small desk in a tiny space that is shaped like a triangle and not an equilateral or isosceles triangle, but an irregular scalene one. For an extra challenge with two "real walls" and the third open to the stair banister. But enough of the excuses, here's a before and after photo of the mess.

We painted the office walls a while back when my mother was visiting. Paint is always the first requirement for renovating a room here. The desk is against the top landing, with the printer adjacent to it, the window wall has one small bookcase holding a jumble of supplies and there are boxes of files, paper and other electronics stacked against the long wall - in short a disorganized mess! I had the idea a while back that a single long bookcase could solve the problem. My husband was a disbeliever. Over a two-week period I had the chance to sneak out to the garage during nap times to start building this thing. Because of my lumber diet (our beater of a farm truck didn't pass inspection and I don't have another way of transporting lumber at the moment), I had to use what was available to me. I had a piece of 3/4" thick plywood in the barn that I'd only cut the corner off of to make my potting bench. So I got to work with my early Mother's Day gift and built this.

Here's the new bookcase built from plywood and framed in pine 1"x 2"s.

I generally followed the plans from Ana White's website, Knockoff Wood for Grace's bookshelf. My shelf is sized for the space though and the materials I had on hand so the dimensions are about 60" wide by 32" tall. The cubes on the bottom are 15" x 15" x 13" deep.

Here it is all filled up with office supplies and ah- organized.

Because of the small space of the office, even with my widest angle lens, I couldn't fit the whole shelf and wall organizers in the photo. Above the wall is a file organizer on the left, a cork board in the center and a white board on the right. And yes, that is an outlet in the middle of the wall six feet high. The whole office has oddly placed outlets like that one.

Here's the window wall with the new curtains I sewed to match those on the stairwells. Perhaps you'll notice two more oddly placed outlets to the right of the window. At least the view from the window is great.

I'm very excited about having an organized space again with all of my files at my finger tips. Really I have to thank Ana White for showing me how easy it is to build solutions to all my problems. Thanks Ana!

Piano bench for Savannah

A while back I built a piano table for my daughter, who spent the better half of the year practicing piano on the floor. The problem was that after having to sit on the floor, she then had to stand up to play.

So finally, I made her the piano bench she needed, and just in time with music starting in September.

Of all the things I've built, I think this was the quickest, nicest one of all. The pine wood was smooth and straight and a dream to work with and despite the more complicated manner I chose to assemble the bench, it turned out perfectly level, more a relief than point of pride.

Jamming out together: Savannah practices for her evening concert "The Wheels on the Bus", while William copies big sister as best he can.

It fits both of my rascals and is hard to tip - a must for my rascally little climber. The wood was so beautiful, it was almost a shame to paint it, but in the end, I opted to paint it to match the white piano table. It has two coats of white, the same paint I had leftover from all the trim work, and two topcoats of a clear semi-gloss enamel to make it easy to wipe down and smooth to sit on.

Can't wait for all the evening concerts Savannah will treat us to. We are ready!

Front door

When we moved in to this house, the front door was red and the back door and side doors were bright royal blue, the shade of blue you see all over Greece on the domes of churches. I had planned to replace these door colors eventually but we continued to disagree on door color. My mom wanted eggplant or blue, Kevin wanted brown or red and I wanted green. Then this summer in the blazing heat and humidity, the front door began peeling, first a red layer and then a blue layer of paint until we were left with a metal door that was primed only.

Ugh! All the paint peeled off, leaving behind white primer. I sanded the door with the orbital sander and then painted it.

It was time to do something about the door color and perhaps conveniently, my husband was out of town and therefore, didn't get much of a say in the color I selected. He was home though to watch the kids play in the sandbox while I painted it.

The color is Forestwood by Sherwin Williams and I think it coordinates very well with the exterior of the home as well as the new muted brown stain on the deck. So far I've painted the front door and the back door, inside and out but the deck door is still eagerly waiting its turn.

Compostalicious

We really like compost around here. Any of my plants that grow outside in our garden flourish in it, especially when compared to the plants in my greenhouse that are grown from organic soil arriving in bags from Agway.

There are many styles of composting, usually dependent on the composter. I happen to be a lazy composter - that is, the type of gardener who piles things into the compost and lets them simmer on low for a full year, without doing a thing. The chickens are very helpful in this department, as they regularly till the compost with their capable feet, seeking bits of food scraps and juicy worms to supplement their diet.

The old scrap wood compost bin on the left and the new scrap wood compost bin on the right. Once we till last year's compost into the garden soil this fall, we'll face both the bins in the same direction.

But one thing we do not like about composting with chickens is that they flatten out the pile so that instead of a neat mound of compost, (with a hot middle) you end up with bits of corn husk blowing around your lawn after the chickens have clawed through it. So, it was time for me to build another compost bin. With the slim bits of scrap wood left over in our barn for the task, it was much more of a challenge this time than last time. I solved the problem by using a middle support beam so that I could use smaller scraps of wood. I still need to add one or two thin boards to the bin. Kevin shoveled and raked up all the compost, which was as rich and dark on the bottom as chocolate cake, into the new bin. Let's hope it holds up for a good few years against the chickens!

Floating shelves

For too long I've been working on these floating shelves. I built the shelf arm supports a few weeks ago then put the sleeves on hold for two reasons. One is that my little guy was sick and has needed me 24 hours a day so there was no escaping for mommy to the garage. The other is that I was afraid to get started with rip cuts on my circular saw, mainly because the directions include so many warnings about things that can go wrong...and the saw is heavy, not exactly a girl friendly tool but a necessary one.

 Here are the frames hanging out in the garage on Sunday.

And finally here they are screwed into studs on the first floor, awaiting their sleeves, which were drying in between coats of paint in the garage. The new shelves are intended to display my daughter's artwork and her slowly growing collection of awards. I wanted a way to quickly change out her artwork since she creates it regularly in her weekly private art lessons and I don't have the room (or the intention) to drill holes in all the walls to hang everything up.

Now Savannah has her own "art gallery" and she can display her karate belts and trophies.

You can find these floating shelf plans are from Ana at Knock-off wood. Thanks Ana!

A grownup picnic table

One more item on my "build" list has been crossed off. I started building an adult size picnic table using plans from Ana at Knock-off Wood last weekend and finished in less than a week (that's with two kids running circles around me, allergies, work, and a million other projects that are in various stages of progress at the moment). When it was all done, we hauled it out to the shady area near our largest maple tree and enjoyed our first dinner outdoors together. This was a big improvement for the little guy who, upon finishing his dinner, got to crawl around in the grass and play in his sandbox, instead of throwing blueberries on my oriental dining room rug...

Because we already had the paint, I decided to also paint the adult version in cilantro, just like the Big Kids' version I made last month. Hmm, reusing the outdoor paint I already had, how very green of me. (Hee, hee!)

My mom helped me with the kiddos while I was building and sanding, and also helped me paint the table boards and hold the leg supports in place as I predrilled the holes for the deck screws. I modified Ana's plans only slightly because I thought a 5 foot long table was too small. This one is 6 feet long and a bit of a challenge for little me to move with a helper. Instead of spray painting with two topcoats of Rustoleum's clear enamel for outdoor use, I painted it on this time. I will definitely paint my topcoats in the future, the enamel goes exactly where you want it to and nowhere else,it's faster and easier to handle with less fumes.

Thanks Ana for providing so many great plans! Turns out I love building things and enjoy the smell of fresh pine sawdust, which is a good thing since these days I'm pretty much finding it everywhere... (think of all the places you  find sand after the baby plays in the sandbox and you'll get the idea!)

Piano table

My daughter has been taking music classes this year from The Music Studio in Albany. This program is definitely one of the jewels of our area and we are lucky to have discovered it so early. Savannah loves her classes and practicing on her keyboard at home. Up until now, this has been her keyboard at home...

Yes, I know, it's on the floor of her bedroom so she has to sit down and sort of bend over to practice. And when her little brother decides to attend one of her "concerts" he ends up crawling all over it and inevitably pushes the button to play "Livin' la Vida Loca" at high volume.

A week ago I decided to design my own piano table for her. I built it on Mother's Day and finished it today. It's 24" high and 36" wide and 15" deep to accommodate the keyboard and the space in her room beneath her window. The legs and aprons are 1" x 3" but beneath the aprons are 2" x 2" supports. The top is made from two 1" x 8" pine boards.

Here it is, ready to move into its new home this afternoon! I think she already has enough pink going on in her room, so I painted it with two coats of white paint and two of a satin enamel. The white paint is Sherwin-Williams' Harmony, a no-VOC paint that's great for environmentally minded people and for painting indoors since there are no fumes.

And the after photograph! I'm so relieved my measurements and design plan worked out. There's just one little thing...I forgot to build her a piano bench! But, I bet you can guess what I'll be building next.

Modern farmhouse bench

I finally finished my modern farmhouse bench. I built the bench during one William nap, but have been "finishing" it ever since.This bench has impressed me with how solid it is. It is only 37" wide to fit the 38" wide hallway.

I wanted a walnut type finish but after four coats of an oil-based stain, I still wasn't happy with the results. Oil-based stains are not nice to work with in my opinion. The volatile chemicals in them require wearing a NIOSH mask and because it's important that the piece remain dust-free while you're staining it, you basically must stain your work indoors, but because you need really good ventilation, the only truly safe place you can do this work, is inside the garage with the doors open. And then after each application it continues to stink for hours. I love the look of stained wood and will try a water-based stain next time I have the hankering for that look. I also like how easy it is to work with and the changing nature of it. If it's not what you envisioned, you can always add another coat.

Finally, I bought a can of walnut spray paint and dusted over the stain with the paint. Then I sanded once more with 120 grit and ended with two coats of an indoor semi-gloss coat. It still needs a colorful pillow or a basket of books beneath it, the window needs some sort of curtain header and the wall, which is recently painted needs pictures and perhaps a floating shelf or two or three...but here it is in the home it was built for.

Here's my lovely bench sitting in the garage back in April, waiting for me to finish it.

Kevin was patient about not parking in the garage for two weeks and didn't make a big stink about my unfinished project that was taking longer than expected. The plans for this bench come from Ana at Knock-Off Wood. Mine is modified to fit a much smaller space though. I wanted a bench to fit at the end of this little-used hallway where there's a nice window view. I recently painted the hallway with Sherwin-Williams "baguette" in Harmony, which is a no-VOC paint, and plan to hang some pictures and redo the trim work in the hall, which I discovered was plastic, sometime this month. Then perhaps it will truly be a finished project!

Update May 22, 2010: Here is the bench in its finished reading nook.

Closet Renovation

In the basement we had a closet that was intended to be devoted to wine. However, the amount of wine we drink in a year could have fit in just one of the small diamond cubes of this rather large wine closet. In the meantime I need more pantry space, more room for towels and sheets and more general storage space. So, my mom helped me rip out the old wine closet shelving so I could build a new one.

Here are the four generous shelves I constructed from pine. I was only able to do this because my mom was helping watch the kiddos while I cut the wood and screwed them to the shelf supports on the wall. Because I like wood smooth, I used the sander on all the edges and especially rounded out the front edge. I sized and spaced the shelves to permit two of Savannah's large plastic bins (for organizing her crafts) to fit beneath.

After the shelves were ready, my mom painted it white with Harmony's Snowbound. Harmony is a Sherwin Williams paint that contains no VOCs, so it's fine to paint with it even in cool weather when it's hard to ventilate. Snowbound is the color we use on all of our ceilings.

I love my new shelves and can't wait to put them to work organizing my home. Now that the girls have done their part, we just need Kevin to add the sliding door back to the closet. It was removed months ago when we tiled the floor over the radiant heat, but now that the ball is in his court, it might take a while.

Entryway makeover

When we first moved in, none of our existing entryway furniture worked well in this house with its odd contemporary angles. We temporarily used a cheap bookcase to hold our mittens for the winter but the unfinished entryway bothered me because it gives the first impression of a home. So I came up with a "plan." I like to sketch out my plans on dotted graph paper to be sure the furniture and pieces I like will fit together and to help me think about and decide what will and won't work before I buy or build anything. Here was my entryway idea:


The plan...


and the current result.

I think it turned out very well. I painted the wall in Divine White (Sherwin Williams) then added a matching set to the mix - a bookcase to hold our hats, mail and other indoor/outdoor items and a cabinet to hold my gardening and craft books, photo albums, and stationery. The bench is great for taking our Wellies, sneakers or snow boots off and I like the way the red in my grandmother's rug is picked up in the accent pieces. The bench is not part of a set but the nice thing about black furniture is that there's not much variation in "black" so you can mix and match and pick up vintage items. I may change the fabric bins eventually but these are the ones we used before so they are doing the job for now.


My "catch-all" bowl to hide the little odds and ends that inevitably accumulate when you have children and a full life. Looks great with the rug and adds a small Asian touch to it all. I love Asian art. I found this item on my favorite handmade and vintage web store, etsy.


Three-quarters of the chalkboard came from the dump - a wooden window pane. The back is a thin sheet of plywood with two layers of the chalk paint. I love this color - Colonial red from RustOleum's American Accents. Makes me want to paint the front door the same color! I might add some hooks along the left side of the chalkboard for our keys.

Solar installation complete

We are now officially a solar farm (with the exception that the paperwork hasn't yet caught up to the work so the power we are generating now isn't being collected--ahh! bureaucracy getting in the way of "free" green energy!).


Here they are installing the panels. Even on a day this foggy, the test run showed it was collecting 4.9kW of energy on our 5.2kW system, pretty good!


I think the solar panels standing in a row of three arrays and turned up to the sun like sunflowers are beautiful, our own modern art sculptures. We plan to seed the area beneath with grass to keep the wild tall grasses and saplings from putting down root there.

The best part about this project? I haven't had to lift a finger, which is great because most days I haven't been well enough to do so. Instead I get to spend my time:

collecting laughs on my camera,

and first practices at tummy time,

and homeschooling this beautiful, smart, and rascally big sister.