I-Phone Art
March 14, 2010
Fionnuala made this on David’s I-Phone. So I’ve decided that I can stop buying all of those 20×200s and just let Fionnuala make our art. Actually, I’ll bet if I submitted this for a 20×200, she’d probably be selected.
Transformation
March 12, 2009
We used to have a study. The study had a huge desk along one wall, 16 feet long. The rest of the room was basically a long hallway to access the master bedroom. After much demolition, a little paint, a little more paint because the new paint made the other walls look old, some new furniture, we now have a den.
The only additions to the room - besides the paint - are a futon sofa ($300 at Futon Planet, including the futon and frame), an IKEA dining table ($279) which we are using as a desk, a shaggy rug ($70) from Walmart (because every other rug - shag and otherwise - was completely unaffordable), an ottoman built out of scrap wood, and a few new pillow covers.
And somehow we now have a room which is the hub of the house. Right now I am here typing this on my laptop, David is across from me on his laptop, and Finn is at the round table on her laptop. Our dog is usually lying on the sofa (had to cover it with a towel); not sure where she is right now, but she seems to have abandoned her chew toy there.
When everything came together, not only did the room miraculously become the center of our lives, but it also took on an inexplicable 70s vibe, like the cool pad I’d have had in the 70s if I would have been a hip adult instead of a pre-teen. Maybe it’s the shag or the orange or the futon. Maybe next we need to add a conversation pit…
Chopsticks
March 8, 2009
Benk and Ginny and I took a trip to Albuquerque, and all agreed that we needed to visit Ta Lin Market. This is where you can stock up on Irish tea (and even Lucozade), achiote paste from Central America, pad thai noodles, Japanese ponzu sauce… While we were there, Benk and I went to the tiny-random-dishes section and found these “rookie chopsticks” for $1.95; we each bought a pair for our kids, but I mostly bought them because, wow - what a cool shape! If you don’t have a version of Ta Lin, you can get them here
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Art You Can Afford
November 24, 2008
I am not the biggest 20×200 junkie, but I definitely have a habit. Because here’s the thing: we can afford things like toilet paper, nice jam for crostata, even splurge on some yarn (because it gets turned into something useful like a scarf or a sweater). But there is definitely not any money for art. Most people wouldn’t think that was a problem, but I think art is a necessity, like toilet paper or nice jam for crostata.
I was at my friend Anna’s office, and she was really happy because she’s purchased some monoprints for the walls. And so cheap, too! How cheap? Six hundred dollars!? That’s not cheap!
Art with a $20 price tag is more in line with our budget. I’m serious; for $20 you get a one of a limited edition of 200 prints. You can also buy a larger print (limited edition of 20) for $200 or even larger (limited edition of 2) for $2000. The image above is Far and Wide, by Ann Tarantino, and it’s still available. Check it out at http://www.20×200.com/.
Thermostats
September 27, 2008
This past weekend I replaced all of our old-school thermostats with brand-new programmable thermostats. This is Something-You-Can-Do-Yourself. (But first turn off the power to the furnace or boiler). There were several surprising things that I learned about thermostats:
- There was a humongous blob of mercury in the Old Thermostats that really scared me (I tend to drop things)
- The new thermostats, even if I never end up programming them, and even with their constant digital readout, are a lot better looking than the old thermostats; I would’ve thought it’d be the opposite, considering how I like that retro look
Actually that’s only two surprising things.
So, step two is to wait for a cold day, and then (with the thermostats set at a constant 68 degrees) chart hourly temperatures at each thermostat all day long. If you know me you just shrugged when you read that. The thrill is in the charting and tracking, and the puzzle! The puzzle is: how do you program a programmable thermostat if you have both radiant heat and some solar heating.
Low Commitment Baby Room Decorating
March 9, 2006
What to do on date night
Once a week, David and I have date night. It’s nice to go out for dinner, but dinner takes about an hour and a half and our babysitter’s minimum is three hours. The enforced exile from our own home was disconcerting, but we quickly realized that if we come home we have at least an hour to do anything we want while the babysitter is still looking after Finn. This can be: taking a bath, writing entries for this website or napping.
Last week we painted Finn’s wall, something we intended to do before she was born. Alas, she came early and the paint came late.
Low-VOC paint
First, about the paint: we used Wellborn paint partly because I use it on my projects and the very nice paint reps gave us a gallon for free, and partly because Wellborn has low VOC’s (volatile organic compounds – nasty stuff). And I have to say, after we painted the odor was gone after about 24 hours with the window open.
It took me forever to decide on the color, because all greens are not created equal. Too much blue and it would look minty, like toothpaste. Too light, and it would look too pastel. Too dark and it wouldn’t look appropriate for a little girl’s room.
Stickers!
A blank green wall is not very fun, but I found the coolest thing to put on the wall: blik. Blik is removable surface graphics (ok, they’re stickers) in fun designs. We didn’t end up using blik on Finn’s wall, though, because I couldn’t figure out if the surface graphics (stickers) are repositionable in addition to being removable. If anyone has used them, I’m keen to know.
More stickers!
I did find a blik-like product from Modernseed called Freckles that is both removable and repositionable (stickers which are a little bit like giant round post-it notes), and looks great on the wall while not being fussy like a wallpaper border or cutesy like a painted mural. Wallcandy Arts makes a similar product that is a little more expensive, but offers a lot of choice in patterns. Liking the word “blik,” I have a tendency to call all of these removable surface graphics (stickers) blik.
I need to mention one last thing: blik, freckles, wallcandy - incredibly fun to put on the wall, and I’m fighting the urge to stick dots everywhere. Also, blik is a fun word to say, and David will tell you I manage at least daily to insert the word “blik” into conversation.
blik update - You can now get blik for your car! I am trying to convince David that this is a good idea.
