bohemian hellhole

What happened to the last three (maybe four) months?

Since late July, our basement has been involved in a serious face lift. The whole process has gotten more and more intense, until at last I felt like I never even ventured upstairs. To top it off, I didn't even take proper photos, just phone snapshots.  I had to post them anyway, because they are the only proof I have of how much we did.

 

The front bedroom, with its spider cracks and crumbly brick. I especially miss the clown red window and exposed wires.

 

The first kitchen cabinet I picked out. (for $15)

 

This little door and frame ended up in the laundry room wall for storing soap and dryer sheets and irons etc...

 

Laying out the bathroom floor.

We moved the laundry room from the west side of the house to the east side, to make room for a kitchen, and to fufill my lifelong wish for a proper laundry room.

 

Some ill-informed person removed these cabinets from a bathroom, and I snatched them up for the kitchen. The mirrors add 'space' and light to that end of the room, they are skinny and pretty while taking up only a few inches out from the wall.

 

For a few years we had a big slab door just leaning up against the wall here, screwed to the house. We used that door for the kitchen counter, and here is our free door, with hinges and everything!

 

The old laundry 'area', destined for a kitchen. It was hard to imagine, even till the end that this space could be not-disgusting.

 

More future kitchen.

 

This is the wall and door we built to hide the plumbing and pump for the bathroom. I just couldn't look at it.

 

All the usual mess.

 

The old door turned counter top.

 

A huge free built in bookcase that I rescued from a school, once painted the color of dead skin, now primed and the new 'mantel'.

 

This is what the kitchen looked like almost every day.

 

And here it is, at 90%

 

A friend found this huge piece of metal on the side of the road, and it just happened to be the exact size of our backsplash. While it may err on the side of coorporate coffee, it turned out pretty cool.

 

Cabinets, paint, floor, window trim, a sink that works and drains without leaking....

$2 wallpaper. I just want some oil paintings of french bulldogs to hang in the hallway now.

The front bedroom, complete with a huge wardrobe and a free bed.

 

Because of all this, I have barely checked my email, gone outside (unless it involves going to the ReStore) or talked to anyone. I am very pleased to announce that I only have a tiny bit of painting and odd jobs left, so I can enjoy the holidays....I promise to take some better, non-blurry, properly dressed photos soon!

Crossing things off my list in red pen, Alice

Fabric roller shades

Roller shades are tidy, relatively inexpensive... and even better if you make your own!

One of the little things left by the previous owners of my post-war box were several old roller shades.

Got rid of the yucky vinyl 'fabric' and salvaged all the other parts. Found instructions on how to make your own shades (no sewing required) at Digs magazine, including helpful illustrations. I chose heavy, home decor fabric and skipped the interfacing.

Fabric cutting tip: Consider purchasing a rotary cutter, self-healing mat and ruler. Here's a tutorial on how to use them.

Don't have old rollers and hardware to work with? Search craigslist or ebay, or look for basic roller shade kits at a hardware, fabric or craft store.

These instructions from 1959 at Retro renovation are amusing.

How delightful

Recycled Floor Shelf

 

To make a very inexpensive, highly customizable shelf out of 'green materials', just visit your local salvage yard.

You will need:

*a saw, or access to one

*several scraps of hardwood flooring, pick colors and finishes that you like, the more eclectic the scrap, the more interesting the shelf, etc.

*{flooring comes in several widths, so pick enough pieces to create the depth you want. If you want a 12" shelf, for example, pick out 4 pieces of 3" wide flooring, and so on.}

*Shelf brackets of some kind

*wood glue

Assemble the flooring on a flat surface, sliding the tongue in the groove, mixing and matching untill you like the way it looks. Once you are happy, take it apart, and put some wood glue in the grooves, and re-assemble. Let this dry, and finally, hang it on our brackets.

This project is perfect for small shelves, like narrow ledges for photos, or collections. You can hang the shelves on small strips of wood hung on either side of a 'nook' or closet too. Here is an example from a previous post of how they can look.

Eating Pop-Tarts, Alice

Fire Pit

This may be the most fantastic use of a washing machine yet. For everyone who wants a fire pit; a place to roast marshmallows, and sing songs, the instructions for a similar contraption are here.

Most people want something more like this, along with a good book from Oprah's book club and a glass of something expensive reccomended by the market sommelier.

Let's meet in the middle. Take a trip to your local home center, buy eight pier blocks, an eleven gallon (or about 20") galvanized washtub, and a bag of sand. Arrange the blocks on their angled sides, so that they form a circle, with a raised edge that slants inward. Put the washtub in the middle, fill it with the sand, and you have a $20 firepit that looks quite modern. Here is a visual shopping list.

I have recently learned you can use a tractor tire rim as a redneck fire pit. And finally, here is a tiny option for everyone short on space.

Having some late night coffee, Alice

Thoughts about Kitchens

These are the pieces of the puzzle. With a bit of scouring they might present a solution for my  9x9 room. {that 9x9 is wall to wall, not floorspace.}


I recognize that most photos I am drawn to are the Before, not the after.
The use of sink space is actually very intriguing to me. The dirt, not so much.

Thinking about enlarging our doorway into the dining room, something like this, but sans sage green and white beadboard.

This leads me to my favorite kitchen so far, the Frankfurt Kitchen.


The floor reminds me of McDonalds, just a little. I am so fond of all those little drawers with big handles, and how everything is built in.

Just in case a child ever draws with a laundry sharpie all over your hardwood floors, and nothing can remove it, use an S.O.S. pad. It works, Alice

Wall Art

One of the most annoying things about plaster walls, is how stupid they look when you mend them. All this age, and contour, and then a patch of extra flat putty knifed Spackle. I am not fond of it. So, late last night, like at 4 AM, when I am usually up working on the high priority items like patching holes in the wall, I had an idea. The idea was born mostly out of desperation, since there seemed to be a mass exodus of putty knives from the tool cupboard, so I grabbed the next best thing. A spatula. All the things that a putty knife doesn't have, a spatula has. The ability to bend and mold along uneven surfaces, and leave a frosting-like finish.

Seriously, for those of you with wonky walls, this is for you.

All my love, Alice

Underfoot

via flickr

I love these painted floors, even though when I look at them all I see is about 500 hours of tedious work...

via Grace Wood Design

Oh if this were in my bathroom!

via About Some Things

This pattern is so simple, I think even I could handle the workload. I have little tolerance for floor projects that require waiting while paint dries. Also, what about that crazy beaded, crocheted, pom pom doorway thing? I love it.

via Flickr

A floor from a set {rather intensive stenciling...}. I think this color of green would be fantastic in an entryway or mudroom.

via House To Home

Classic black...and shiny too. Decorno has a bunch of really great photos in this direction: black floors, dark trim.

via our own Hellhole Celebrity

When our Celebrity homeowners stripped their floors, the condition was 'paint only'. They opted for a rich grey green that is friendly with all their furnishings, and still stands on its own.

via Home Restoration

If you are considering stripping {your floors} this is a handy little post {with pictures} about some different methods, good and bad.

via The Floor Pro

There is something I love so much about old beat up floors. I have spent hours devising ways to beat up and stain our floors to resemble years of abuse, but have yet to get the green light.

Catching up and falling behind at the same time, Alice

  

Black Dog

via black dog salvage

For anyone in VA, Black Dog Salvage is your hometown salvage yard. For me, it's just another excuse to stare at library ladders I will never have. Also, the horse? If I had a spare pile of cash I might consider it, since he is quite fantastic.  Have you ever watched the movie Black Dog? It is hard to pass on a movie with a cast including Patric Swayze, Meatloaf, and Randy Travis.

Stay safe - stay moving, Alice

Someday...

Someday my backyard will look like this. Tall trees, old lanterns aglow, a secret house hiding in my little urban jungle.....

Right now it is part debris, part gravel, a sad carport and 60 sq. ft. of sod. Something about this photo adds a little fuel to the fire though.

Pulling up dandelions taller than me, Alice

Tile Story

Photo from Ballardia

The last twenty minutes have been spent here, admiring this bathroom's progress, and wishing it were mine. Our bathroom is on the list of rooms to be redone. The trouble is, it's the only one we've got. The basement bathroom isn't finished yet, so it would be a little problematic to tear apart the main bath now. I still want to.

Trying to think of a terrible accident that could happen to my bathroom to make it necessary to demolish it and start {almost} over. Alice