tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12033981848904086292024-03-14T05:53:54.900-04:00Welcome to Turtle HouseKatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-23805585776071564552017-06-12T13:00:00.001-04:002017-06-12T13:00:33.324-04:00We're moving!...No, not away from Turtle House. NEVER. But, since we no longer need a "construction" blog, you can find me and my permaculture adventures (garden! bees! ducks! aquaponics!) at:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.ypsipermie.com/">www.ypsipermie.com</a></span><br />
(New site as of June 2017, still a work in progress!)<br />
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Hope to see you there!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-44470857948659865312016-07-23T18:46:00.001-04:002016-07-23T18:47:39.214-04:00Green beans, tomato plants, and lossI haven't posted here in a long while, mostly because there's been no "house news" to report--and after all, this is/was a house construction blog. Life has trucked along, my beautiful girl is 3 ("and a half!"), and I still stare out the window every day reflecting on how lucky I am to call this place home.<br />
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Now that we are well and thoroughly settled in, and Matilda is old enough to play on her own or even help out, we've gotten back into gardening. I have a lot to say about this, and a lot of progress to document, and so I thought this blog would be a good place. I am 100% enamored with the philosophy of permaculture, and have been <a href="http://www.permies.com/" target="_blank">watching</a> and <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/gaias-garden-second-edition" target="_blank">reading</a> everything I can get my hands on when it comes to this topic. I find myself daydreaming about plans for the garden, and feeling 100% peaceful when I'm out there weeding and watering and harvesting. I had forgotten how much I need to grow food, get dirty, and smell tomato plants.<br />
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This need came into sharp relief in May, when I lost one of the most important people in my life, Sidney Greenwald. My beloved grandfather. In lieu of spending more words trying to explain what he meant to me, and what it has to do with the garden, I am going to paste below the text I wrote for his funeral service.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdJLTRkKtpcWC4wE_-eLa9FVNidev0xOEAT-euMk1IPZ-y9Sd95d1CNqmaOAKr5_phQ03VWGW0N0uUeRl2JS-2aC0ozUZmwA2Hh7SQesldmZtk3vw3dqiihnZLPjdsqRf4ek6B37GtyA/s1600/me_and_Bakka.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdJLTRkKtpcWC4wE_-eLa9FVNidev0xOEAT-euMk1IPZ-y9Sd95d1CNqmaOAKr5_phQ03VWGW0N0uUeRl2JS-2aC0ozUZmwA2Hh7SQesldmZtk3vw3dqiihnZLPjdsqRf4ek6B37GtyA/s320/me_and_Bakka.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When my mom first asked if I wanted to speak here, I was unsure. What do you say when you lose one of your favorite people? What are the chances I’d be able to say anything at all, without crying? How could I possibly summarize my relationship with the man I named “Bakka” in just a few minutes? I can’t… so instead I just thought I’d tell a few stories.<br />
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My grandmother passed away when I was a freshman in college. I was just down the road at Brown University. She and Bakka had had tickets to everything, it seemed—so after she was gone, I started going with him. Every few weeks we’d head to the symphony, or a play, or an event at RISD. He loved going to the Philharmonic. Every time we heard a piece by a “big name composer—Beethoven, Bach, Mozart—he’d make the same joke: “This guy shows promise. He’s really going places.” It made me laugh every time. It was like the ultimate dad joke.<br />
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It’s been a running joke in our family that half of the stuff in Bakka’s house should be featured on Antiques Roadshow. After Matilda was born, he found a little silver rattle in the back of his china cabinet. When we found that rattle, he immediately went on an Antiques Roadshow-inspired riff: “Well, if you hadn’t rattled it, it would have been worth $175,000! Since you rattled it, it is valued at… five bucks.”<br />
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A lot of things have made me cry over the last few days—some expected, some unexpected. Pulling out and shaking that little silver rattle was one of the expected ones. One of the unexpected ones was weeding the garden. After I heard the news that Bakka was gone, all I could do the next couple days was work in the garden. I would try to get other things done, but my mind just wasn’t there. So I would head back out to our garden, and weed. And weed. And weed. We haven’t had a garden the last couple years, because we had a baby and couldn’t find the time, so there were plenty of weeds. As I was weeding, I remembered that this was one of the things Bakka and I always used to talk about—the garden. What I’d planted, how the different veggies were doing. He’d give me tips on the soil and watering schedule. As I was weeding, I realized that I hadn’t gotten to tell him that we were gardening again. I hadn’t told him the list of veggies and flowers I’d planted, or about how a week after we planted them, we had a darn frost advisory and had to cover them all with pots and sheets. So I decided I’d tell you all about our garden. We have tomatoes, and beans, and peppers, and peas. Brussel sprouts. Greens and herbs, Zucchini, squash and pumpkins. We planted phlox, columbine, and foxglove by the front door.<br />
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It was hard to explain that Bakka died to our three-year-old. She kept asking where he is now. We told her that’s a big question, and no one really knows, and different people believe different things. All we can say for sure is that our bodies are made up of the same stuff as trees, and birds, and flowers, and all of the rest of life. We get to be us for a while, and then that stuff goes back to the earth to make other things. She keeps asking “is that flower Bakka? Is that tree Bakka?” All I know is, when I’m in the garden this year and always, those plants will be Bakka, and I will think of him, and miss him, and be incredibly thankful to have known him.<br />
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<i>Bakka on his 95th birthday, April 2, 2016</i></div>
Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-2864638042355182762013-08-24T10:31:00.002-04:002013-08-24T10:32:08.639-04:00Pocket door, Part 1Alright, I've been sitting on a draft of this post for waaayyy too long, waiting for this project to be 100% complete before sharing. But apparently we are slower than a herd of asthmatic snails, so I'm slapping a "Part 1" on the post title and calling it a day. :-D<br />
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As I wrote about <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2013/05/shoulda-woulda-coulda.html" target="_blank">here</a>, we'd been debating how to deal with the interior bedroom window that opens out over the living room. After debating pros and cons, price, aesthetics, etc., we decided we were on Team Pocket Door. This would entail ripping out a big chunk of drywall in the bedroom, but ultimately we thought it would look cleaner. Once we'd made the call, Jeff built us a custom-sized door to fit the opening.<br />
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We'd decided to use wood that would mimic the decking on the ceiling, and paint it white to match. Jeff brought it over to the house and I painted it, and then he and Brandon spent a couple of days working on the installation while I tried to keep the baby from eating drywall chunks. Here's Jeff adding framing for the pocket door track.<br />
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I didn't get very many photos of the process, but they were able to do a pretty standard pocket door installation - the only weird thing was the door itself, which was obviously not a standard size.<br />
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Here it is in place! Open...<br />
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...and closed...<br />
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They then added some nailers so that we could patch up that big 'ol hole in the wall.<br />
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Once it's done, it will sort of act visually like a giant headboard, since it sits right over our bed.<br />
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I am absolutely thrilled with it so far. It makes the bedroom feel infinitely more secluded and private, and it blocks noise pretty well too! This means that Brandon can take Matilda downstairs in the mornings, and mama can sleep in. SO WORTH IT.<br />
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It looks great from downstairs too - I like that it blends in pretty seamlessly, and doesn't stick out and visually compete with other features like the beams.<br />
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So where are we now? Well the drywall patch is actually already done, thanks to help from our super handy and definitely non-rabid friend <a href="http://diydiva.net/" target="_blank">Kit</a>. She came over an embarrassingly long time ago to give us a hand, so it's hung, taped and mudded. We have to do another quick pass with the mud to hide the patch as best we can, and then sand and paint, and re-hang/caulk/touch-up the trim on the bedroom side. Then the last thing on the list is to find a good locking mechanism, since this little lady is getting dangerously close to mobile...<br />
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<br />Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-70922258916539416902013-08-23T10:48:00.000-04:002013-08-23T18:12:31.088-04:00OH BOY OH BOY OH BOYBig house news to share, and I am GEEKING OUT!<br />
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I probably mentioned way long ago that we really really REALLY wanted to install solar panels when we renovated the house, but it just didn't fit in the original budget. We figured it would be one of those way-off-in-the-distant-future projects. But then, thanks to a Facebook post by <a href="http://www.greenovationtv.com/" target="_blank">Matt Grocoff</a>, I became aware of the <a href="http://www.warmtraining.org/solar/" target="_blank">MI Solar Works</a> program administered by a local non-profit, the <a href="http://www.warmtraining.org/wordpress/home/" target="_blank">WARM Training Center</a>. From their website: "MI Solar Works is a state-wide initiative to solarize 6,000 Michigan homes and businesses by the end of 2014 as part of the Department of Energy’s “Race to the Rooftops” national challenge." Basically, my understanding is that if enough people are interested in solar panels within a given metro area, they can provide low "bulk rate" prices for the panels and installation. Of course I immediately signed up, but was told that they didn't yet have enough interest in Ypsilanti. Wop wop.<br />
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But then, on July 31, I received an email that they'd hit the quota for Ypsilanti! They'd also already done a Google assessment of our rooftop to make sure it was suitable for solar (the side that faces the river is just a few degrees off from due south). The next step was for me to send our latest electric bill, so that they could assess how many panels we would need.<br />
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[Incidentally, apparently our local <strike>evil monopoly</strike> power company has been able to impose regulations on the number of solar panels people can have. We are only allowed to install enough to cover our average monthly usage. Even if we wanted to buy more ourselves - and pay to have them installed - TO PRODUCE EXTRA CLEAN SOLAR ENERGY that would go back on the grid, we wouldn't be allowed to. REALLY, DTE? I would love to hear their attempt at a non-evil justification of this steaming pile of horse shit.]<br />
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Anyway! Here are the numbers, in case anyone is curious. Turns out we use about $70 in electricity per month. This is perfect, because one of the standard sizes for solar installation covers about $72/month in usage. This is a 4.87 kW system, for which the array will be about 400 sq ft. We'll likely produce "extra" energy in the summer, which will go back on the grid and we'll get credit, which we can use if we're short in the winter.<br />
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Here is a <a href="http://www.warmtraining.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/MiSolar-Works-Financial-1-Pager-4.86-KW.pdf" target="_blank">financial summary</a>. The total cost is nearly $14,600 (ouch!), but there is a 30% tax credit, bringing the cost down to about $10,200. MI Solar Works is partnering with <a href="http://www.warmtraining.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Michigan-Saves-Loan-Details-Underwriting-Guidelines.pdf" target="_blank">Michigan Saves</a> to finance all or part of this amount, and no down payment is required. If we finance the entire amount, our monthly payments would be in the ballpark of $160 over 10 years. We will probably put some money down to reduce the monthly payments a bit, but we're still figuring out what the best approach is for us financially. In any case, though, it is much more affordable than we ever thought it would be, and we are so excited! We have someone coming this afternoon to check out our roof and meter, and let us know about the next steps.<br />
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<i>Check out all that glorious south-facing roof</i></div>
Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-32372730613032729382013-05-15T13:58:00.000-04:002013-05-15T14:00:59.765-04:00Shoulda Woulda CouldaWell it seems we have our first "wish we would have..." moment with the new house. Remember our master bedroom with the <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/02/and-little-one-said-roll-over.html" target="_blank">large interior window</a> over the bed? Brandon and I have conflicting opinions about it. He is in the unreservedly pro-window camp. I enjoy the window in the morning, when I can peek out and see the river - but after living with it for a year-plus, I can also say that (a) it's a bummer when people are in the living room and you're trying to sleep; and (b) something about the empty space over my head just bugs me in an indescribably feng-shui-y sort of way. I can't really explain, and Brandon thinks I'm nuts, but when I'm going to sleep I like to feel like I'm tucked in a safe little spot. The big open expanse of space just gives me a vague feeling of discomfort and kinda makes my skin itch.<br />
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Anyway, all of the above has been applicable from the get-go... but now we're going to do something about it. Why? Because we have added issue (c) OMG MY BABY COULD FREAKING FALL OUT OF THIS WINDOW SOMEONE GIVE ME A PAPER BAG TO BREATHE INTO. No, she's not mobile yet, but it seems like she will be in... oh, another 30 seconds or so. So we asked <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/03/man-behind-curtain.html" target="_blank">Jeff</a> to come back out and brainstorm some ideas for us for a window covering. The criteria were: lockable and secure!!! Followed in a distant second place by the "like-to-haves" of blocking the maximum amount of light and sound possible, and curing Katy's neuroses (probably a reach).<br />
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Idea #1 was to do a barn-door style door on the living room side. I can't find a good photo of this side right now, so here is a crappy cell-phone pic because lazy.<br />
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Imagine something <a href="http://www.houzz.com/photos/1891281/Modern-Barn-Door-Hardware-for-Wood-door-traditional-interior-doors-hong-kong" target="_blank">like this</a>. The issue is that we (Jeff) would have to do some finagling to make that work with the existing trim, because we'd want the door to sit flush to be secure and light-blocking, etc. etc. The other issue is that Brandon apparently has some deep-seated [aside: does anyone else always want to write "deep-seeded"??] barn door issues and has made us (me) all paranoid about the door falling off the wall and onto our heads. See also: scaffolding necessary, major living room disruption.<br />
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Idea #2 was one Brandon randomly threw out yesterday, when he said "I wish we'd thought of doing this while the construction was still ongoing - we could have just done a pocket door." I think a little light bulb pinged on over my head when he said that. I hadn't felt totally satisfied with the barn door idea, partly because I enjoy the way the window looks now - between the roof beams, the white decking, the hallway bannister, the stove pipe... there is a lot going on up there, and I thought a big sliding door might look a little cray (as the kids say).<br />
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So after some more brainstorming with Jeff, we realized this would still be possible - but it will entail removing drywall in the bedroom, some re-framing for the pocket door hardware, and reconfiguring the window trim... but he didn't think there would really be a price difference if we take care of the drywall repair and painting after the fact. And thanks to my obsessive photo-documenting of this project, we know there won't be any electric to deal with.<br />
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The tentative timeline is for Jeff to build the door in the
next day or two, then drop it off so I can paint it. Then he's going to
come back Thursday/Friday of next week and we will work on getting it
installed. We may have some additional drywalling going on in the near
future, as part of an upcoming project - finishing off the basement to
use as a play/rec room. More on that once I get some sufficiently dingy
"before" photos.<br />
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So, I think I am on Team Pocket Door. What do you guys think? All I know is either way, I'm going to feel a whole lot better once this project is done.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CK29BJQVpNs/UZPLWfjkSiI/AAAAAAAADCA/HcBTRLFuYTk/s1600/morel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CK29BJQVpNs/UZPLWfjkSiI/AAAAAAAADCA/HcBTRLFuYTk/s320/morel.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>
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<i>Gratuitous adorable baby excited about a morel </i></div>
Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-40337500429520810222013-03-13T13:27:00.003-04:002013-03-13T13:41:37.777-04:00Loose endsCan it be? Posts, on this abandoned blog, two days in a row? Indeed. I've had a few people ask about projects that I mentioned and then left hanging while I disappeared into the baby ether. First, our fantastic <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/10/backsplashin.html" target="_blank">tile backsplash</a> that the even more fantastic Meryl and Chris from <a href="http://www.picardyproject.com/" target="_blank">Picardy Project</a> helped us with during their Renovation Road Trip. When they left, the tile was all installed but still needed to be grouted. Brandon and I finished that up the next day, and then I actually did try to take photos for the blog, and they all came out crappy. So I tried again today, and... still crappy. I don't know why this is so hard to photograph, but in person it is so pretty that I just want to kiss it.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hVZx2mududQ/UUCqzVd2CjI/AAAAAAAAC3I/NKREEpluwPs/s1600/IMG_7238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hVZx2mududQ/UUCqzVd2CjI/AAAAAAAAC3I/NKREEpluwPs/s320/IMG_7238.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kEWkj5XICvs/UUCqzcVTQhI/AAAAAAAAC3A/Rpv4TqgtRNc/s1600/IMG_7230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kEWkj5XICvs/UUCqzcVTQhI/AAAAAAAAC3A/Rpv4TqgtRNc/s320/IMG_7230.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The photos make it look a bit washed out, but in reality there is tons of subtle and beautiful shading in the marble. It works so well with the dark counter, white cabinets, and stainless appliances. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezQLP1dj_t8" target="_blank">It really ties the room together.</a> I seriously sit in the living room and smile at the backsplash... what, is that weird?<br />
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Oh, and here's what happens when I am trying to take photos while B is in the kitchen, and I ask him to move:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OecLf9aFS-s/UUCqzQNcGXI/AAAAAAAAC3E/yoBs3SCncoo/s1600/IMG_7235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OecLf9aFS-s/UUCqzQNcGXI/AAAAAAAAC3E/yoBs3SCncoo/s320/IMG_7235.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>We still see you.</i></div>
<br />
Anyway, the hugest thanks again to Meryl and Chris for their help with this project. It is one of those things I probably never would have gotten to without some extra motivation, which they are never short on. Seriously, the energy those two have boggles my mind... especially considering Meryl was <a href="http://www.picardyproject.com/2012/11/oh-yes-and-then-theres-this_19.html" target="_blank">secretly pregnant</a> during their visit here! We can't wait to meet the sure-to-be-awesome Cashew.<br />
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Speaking of babies, loose end #2 is Millie's nursery! When last we spoke of this room, we had some <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/07/well-well-what-have-we-here.html" target="_blank">paint swatches on the wall</a> and some <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-friends-are-talented-and-awesome.html" target="_blank">kickass artwork</a>. Turns out you need a few more items to take care of a baby... like a crib, changing table, and rocking chair, for starters. Plus storage, because this teeny little room has no closet.<br />
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But first, we had to finish painting - and ideally before it became too hazardous for me to cut in around the 12' high angled ceiling. We ended up going with a Goldilocks color... what's that, you ask? Well recall that I was whining that Benjamin Moore's Sweet Orange was too bright, but Yellow Haze was too subtle... so the friendly paint store guys mixed something halfway in between that was juuuuust right.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxP0RI0GNfs/UUCq4CowjKI/AAAAAAAAC3g/2uDSGOnKk4I/s1600/IMG_7241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxP0RI0GNfs/UUCq4CowjKI/AAAAAAAAC3g/2uDSGOnKk4I/s320/IMG_7241.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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It is bright and cheerful, but not crazy psychadelic. Millie already seems to perk up and look around when she's in there, so I think she approves.<br />
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We scored a great deal on this crib on Craigslist. It was a barely used Babyletto crib (<a href="http://www.babyearth.com/babyletto-mercer-modern-crib.html" target="_blank">this model</a>, if you're curious), and even better, came with a shwanky <a href="http://www.thelittleseedling.com/store/product/19480/Organic-Crib-Mattress-Latex/" target="_blank">organic crib mattress</a> made of <strike>angel tears and unicorn farts</strike> lambswool, coconut fiber, and natural latex. So far Millie is still sleeping in our room, though, so the crib is serving as a great storage facility for cloth diapers.<br />
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We needed a teeny little glider for our teeny little room, so I was happy when I found the one pictured above (another Babyletto product, the <a href="http://www.babyletto.com/madison-swivel-glider/" target="_blank">Madison Swivel Glider</a> in slate). It is really comfy for nursing and rocking, but I wouldn't recommend it for super tall folks. I got the footstool (with storage) on Amazon. I can go back and find out where it's from if anyone cares, but I'm afraid I'll be terrified by the amount of cr@p I've ordered on Amazon since then, so I'm going to hold off on doing that.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_G0zXMKpdRI/UUCq7uGh04I/AAAAAAAAC3w/BR5d0BDu8A8/s1600/IMG_7251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_G0zXMKpdRI/UUCq7uGh04I/AAAAAAAAC3w/BR5d0BDu8A8/s320/IMG_7251.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here's the "changing table," actually just an IKEA Hemnes dresser. Millie used to hate diaper changes, but she's reconsidered her position and now thinks this is the most awesome place ever. We frequently have "happy changing table time," which involves lots of leg kicking, squealing, and grinning. Cutest thing ever.<br />
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(Some of my long-time buddies will recognize the polar bear picture on the wall in the photo above - it's good old Kobe, from the Roger Williams Park Zoo, subject of the undergrad research project that set me on the road to grad school! Also a super adorable picture.)<br />
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Speaking of artwork, here are the paintings <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-friends-are-talented-and-awesome.html" target="_blank">I posted about before</a>, <i>in situ</i> over the crib. Love them!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fDgXv670rzM/UUCq4Dz3qeI/AAAAAAAAC3c/p_udvn_q2nE/s1600/IMG_7243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fDgXv670rzM/UUCq4Dz3qeI/AAAAAAAAC3c/p_udvn_q2nE/s320/IMG_7243.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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And here's the other side of the room, where we have an antique armoire that we already owned, and the IKEA Hemnes bookshelf.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mn8Jdq-WgM/UUCq7uoZ0BI/AAAAAAAAC30/FAqt31KP1J4/s1600/IMG_7247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mn8Jdq-WgM/UUCq7uoZ0BI/AAAAAAAAC30/FAqt31KP1J4/s320/IMG_7247.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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We got blackout shades from <a href="http://www.selectblinds.com/" target="_blank">Select Blinds</a>. We've been really happy with them - they were easy to install, and really do block a ton of light. Plus, I was somewhat irrationally happy to find the perfect colors to match the orange walls and turquoise accents. Because I'm a dork.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NEIR-6I3E2M/UUCq7g1yz3I/AAAAAAAAC34/uO5qiHDgHi4/s1600/IMG_7245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NEIR-6I3E2M/UUCq7g1yz3I/AAAAAAAAC34/uO5qiHDgHi4/s320/IMG_7245.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I think there was something else I was going to write about here, but I'm on borrowed time because Millie has been sleeping over two and a half hours! Let me know in the comments if there's anything interesting I forgot about.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-EdIn1fIX4/UUC5oeEA1TI/AAAAAAAAC4Y/B9mI07HmGqM/s1600/IMAG0392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x7_qRoi36V0/UUC5oCOcF3I/AAAAAAAAC4Q/HQDelKnJKZ8/s1600/bumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x7_qRoi36V0/UUC5oCOcF3I/AAAAAAAAC4Q/HQDelKnJKZ8/s320/bumbo.jpg" width="191" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-EdIn1fIX4/UUC5oeEA1TI/AAAAAAAAC4Y/B9mI07HmGqM/s1600/IMAG0392.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-EdIn1fIX4/UUC5oeEA1TI/AAAAAAAAC4Y/B9mI07HmGqM/s320/IMAG0392.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>
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<i>Oh hi, I'm adorable. </i></div>
Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-80277126588969374322013-03-12T11:58:00.001-04:002013-05-03T18:24:40.454-04:00Matilda GailOh hi, blog. You're still here? That's good. Whew, the last few months have been a blur! So much for the "catching up" I mentioned back in... October. What have I been up to? Mostly a whole lot of snuggling with this little peanut...<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z0NNBsAV1hY/UT82wrpOh7I/AAAAAAAACzY/m0JVkYs8SwY/s1600/Matilda_Jan4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z0NNBsAV1hY/UT82wrpOh7I/AAAAAAAACzY/m0JVkYs8SwY/s320/Matilda_Jan4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>Millie, 3 days old</i></div>
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We welcomed our daughter, Matilda Gail, on January 1, 2013. A New Year's baby! Which was just a little bit of a surprise, considering she wasn't due until January 22. She was in a rush in more ways than one, and I thought I'd share her birth story here because I want to remember every detail.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mmnDwYjGEEo/UT82yPGFDuI/AAAAAAAACzo/6v_tTVslLnM/s1600/gym_2013.02.25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mmnDwYjGEEo/UT82yPGFDuI/AAAAAAAACzo/6v_tTVslLnM/s320/gym_2013.02.25.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Yep, it was that amazing.</i></div>
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But, I should warn you, this is likely to be very long and include the word "placenta." Read at your own risk.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DfpwE82UOY/UT8224buzDI/AAAAAAAACz8/MtvybR6VrRQ/s1600/smile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--DfpwE82UOY/UT8224buzDI/AAAAAAAACz8/MtvybR6VrRQ/s320/smile.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>
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<i>Placentas are hilarious!</i></div>
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We are very lucky to have a midwife unit in our local hospital, so that is where we'd decided to deliver. My hope was to have a natural birth, with minimal interventions. But, never having done this before, I was also trying to keep an open mind and realize that this was something that I wouldn't necessarily be able to control - and the only important thing was bringing home a healthy baby in the end.<br />
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Brandon and I attended a New Year's Eve party on 12/31, with no idea of what was in store the next day! I felt fine that evening, except for a backache at the end of the night from standing up for several hours. Brandon gave me a back rub when we got home, and we joke that he must have hit the "eject" button by accident. I woke up the next morning at about 7:30am with VERY mild contractions - like, I thought they were still just the Braxton-Hicks I'd been having like crazy, but there was also the slightest bit of a period-like cramp with them. I timed them for a while, and they were 8-9 minutes apart, but so mild that I thought it was just false labor. I didn't even wake Brandon. He got up at 9:30 or so, and I said "don't freak out, but I'm having these contractions, but it's probably nothing..." haha!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a7CuzO3m1PM/UT88IuutTvI/AAAAAAAAC0k/jatdR7Xj6g4/s1600/36weeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a7CuzO3m1PM/UT88IuutTvI/AAAAAAAAC0k/jatdR7Xj6g4/s320/36weeks.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>The last pic we got of me pregnant: 36 weeks on Christmas Day</i></div>
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Interestingly though, I got VERY WORRIED that we hadn't yet washed the newborn-sized cloth diapers we planned to use - so Brandon got up and did a load of laundry first thing. I guess unconsciously I may have known something was going on! We had breakfast and took it easy the rest of the morning; I just laid on the couch that morning and looked at things on my computer. Then at just about noon on the dot... my water broke! It was one of the strangest sensations I've ever felt. I jumped up and leaped over to our slate hearth, so I wouldn't soak the couch or <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/12/ohhh-dreeeeeam-weaver.html" target="_blank">my beautiful orange rug</a> (yes I was worried about the rug). I shouted "my water just broke!" and poor Brandon was like "are you sure?" Once he walked over to me I am pretty sure he was sure too. I'll leave it at that.<br />
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At that point we called our amazing doula <a href="http://www.pregnancyarts.com/" target="_blank">Deb Rhizal</a>. If anyone out there reading this is considering a natural birth, and is on the fence about hiring a doula, I can't urge you strongly enough to do it. Deb was absolutely indispensable in a multitude of ways, both during and after our baby's arrival. Going through this for the first time, it is incredible to have someone there who has seen hundreds of births and can tell you "you're doing great" - and you believe her! I just found her presence so calming, it was such a huge help. (All this despite the fact that our meeting to discuss the birth plan was scheduled for January 3, ha!)<br />
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At this point Brandon went out to get pads, since we didn't have any in the house (three weeks early!) and I was going to need them for the sake of our car upholstery. In his my-wife's-in-labor headspace, he decided to drive to a Meijer on the other side of town - in the meantime, passing a CVS, two Walgreens, a Target, and a couple grocery stores. Poor B. Strangely enough, I was in such a zone that I had no idea he was gone for so long. Oh, he also picked up a six-pack of one of my favorite beers, so I could have one after the baby arrived.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Um8okE_7eU/UT9A7VmnNFI/AAAAAAAAC04/I66UkPkasks/s1600/espressolove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Um8okE_7eU/UT9A7VmnNFI/AAAAAAAAC04/I66UkPkasks/s320/espressolove.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Priorities.</i></div>
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<i>(Image found <a href="http://mittenbrew.com/2012/11/arbor-espresso-love-breakfast-stout/" target="_blank">here</a>)</i></div>
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I planned to labor at home for a while, so Deb came over at 2 or 2:30 to assist me. I wanted to hold off going to the hospital until things were really moving along (getting there at 4-5 cm dilation can help avoid labor stalling out, and subsequent interventions like pitocin). It was very hard to figure out what stage I was at, because I was having a really weird pattern of contractions. They were only ever 30-45 seconds long, but right on top of each other (often less than a minute between them), whereas a more typical pattern would be one minute contractions, four minutes apart. The contractions had also gotten very intense very quickly. We decided to leave for the hospital a bit before 3:30pm.<br />
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At this point we had an INTERLUDE OF ADVENTURE!! I should really let Brandon tell this part, but let's be real, this post is already long enough. Brandon had been packing up the car, and on one of his trips down he heard the ominous sound of a car spinning out on the icy, hilly, one-lane driveway that leads from our house to the road. Thinking that Deb had gotten stuck, he ran out to try to help push her car out. He got there and found it wasn't Deb, but a friend of the neighbors. He asked if they needed help, but they were going to try backing down the hill and getting a bit more speed to try again. He asked them if they'd mind waiting five minutes... at which point I imagine they were mildly annoyed, until he remembered to add "because my wife is in labor and we need to go to the hospital RIGHT NOW!" That probably helped put his frantic demeanor in context, and they backed down the drive and waited so we could get out.<br />
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So, no problem, right? We hop in the car, start to back out of the garage, and hear a CRASHBANGSCRRRAAAAAAPE.<br />
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Me: What was that?!<br />
Brandon: #$&@! [those of you who know him can probably interject the correct exclamation here]<br />
Brandon: ...I backed into the garage door<br />
Me: *mid-labor peals of laughter*<br />
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Somehow the garage door had not opened all the way, so the bottom panel was still hanging down and the top of the car had hit it. It was popped out of the tracks, so Brandon had to get out of the car and wrestle it back in so that he could shut it. (We had to replace the panel, and we haven't been able to paint it brown to match the rest of the door since it's been so cold. Even now, two months later, I get a giggle when I drive up to the house and see that white garage door panel...)<br />
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<i>Awesome.</i></div>
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We got to the hospital around 3:45, and the nurses in triage seemed to be taking FOREVER... chatting to each other, wandering in and out of the room, checking the fetal monitor hooked up to me. I know I was probably only there a few minutes, but the last contraction in the car, and the few I had in triage, had started to feel really different... like I needed to push. Finally I mustered myself out of my fog enough to say "I feel like I need to push!" No one seemed to believe me except for Deb. The nurses were like "oh no honey, you can't do that yet... here, we have to monitor a few more contractions, just lay still." I AM GOING TO HAVE A BABY ON YOUR TRIAGE FLOOR, JERKS. Luckily I remembered a secret code phrase that a friend had told me, that had worked magic during her super-fast labor (thanks, Jean!). <i>If no one believes you, tell them you need to poop.</i> No joke, I said those words (even though they weren't exactly true) and all of a sudden, like magic, there was the midwife. She checked me and I was at 8-9 cm dilation. Well well well. I TOLD YOU I HAD TO PUSH.<br />
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At this point there was a kerfuffle about whether they had time to get me to a birthing room, or whether I should just deliver in triage. Deb stepped up and said I'd like a birthing tub, and really helped expedite things to get me moved to a birthing room and into the water. And lo, it was glorious. It made the pain so much easier to deal with. The pushing stage was really hard for me - I felt so tired between each contraction. At one point I heard Brandon say "wow, she has a lot of hair!" That somehow really focused me - like, "wait, no fair, I want to see her hair!" Haha. In the next couple pushes Matilda Gail was born in the water, at 5:11pm. I had been so worried because she was early, but the first thing I heard was the midwife saying "wow, she's not that small for a 37-weeker!" (She ended up weighing in at 6 lbs 9 oz). They put her on my chest, and she was so alert - looking all over the place - and then she just WAILED and I knew she was OK, and I just couldn't stop looking at her and crying. It was the most amazing moment of my life.<br />
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<i>Sniffle. </i></div>
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They got us out of the tub for the placenta delivery, but I got to keep holding her - they did just about everything they needed to do with her on my chest. I really can't describe how amazing I felt - like I was high, like I was the strongest person in the world, just in awe of this amazing little person. I still get teary just thinking about the experience. I am just overwhelmed with thankfulness about how well it went, and how healthy and amazing she is.<br />
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TL;DR: I had a baby, and she's awesome.<br />
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Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-21948264803412680742012-10-24T10:44:00.000-04:002012-10-24T10:44:54.726-04:00Backsplashin!Only have time for a super quick post, but I just had to share the posts that the amazing Meryl and Chris of <a href="http://www.picardyproject.com/">Picardy Project</a> wrote about their visit with us. First of all, these people are so fun, friendly, hilarious and easy to talk to - I seriously felt like I'd known them for ages. We did our best at convincing them to move to Michigan ("check out our house prices compared to the Bay Area!") but I'm not sure we were successful - they'd have to leave a pretty awesome house of their own. That said, it was SO fun to get to meet these two in person, and I hope we'll get together again someday!<br />
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But enough rambling - check out our awesome new backsplash! Here are the Renovation Roadtrip posts at <a href="http://www.tinkernation.com/renovation-road-trip/renovation-road-trip-stop-2-turtle-house-ypsilanti-mi/">Tinkernation</a> and <a href="http://www.bobvila.com/blogs/renovation-road-trip-backsplash-turtle-house/">Bob Vila</a>. I've finished the grouting and it looks even more completely stupendous now. I'll be back soon with finished photos, whenever Brandon finishes sealing the tiles so we can reinstall the outlet covers (ahem) (I did the first pass with the sealer, but it was a bit stinky and we don't want Cletus developing a habit).<br />
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In other news, we have an (almost) finished nursery! I know, bad blogger... we've been doing tons of little projects and I've been totally failing to post about them. I'll try to get things all caught up before this blog turns into a baby picture repository (in less than three months?!).<br />
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Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-72992520068273177702012-08-13T15:42:00.003-04:002012-08-13T15:42:53.425-04:00I'm in!Hello from lovely Vancouver! I am in the middle of a conference, and actually giving my talk in an hour, so I’m going to make this one quick. Remember how I was <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-friends-are-talented-and-awesome.html">just bragging</a> about how my friends are talented and awesome? Well it turns out that this applies even to my friends who I haven’t officially met yet. I am SO excited to let you all know that we’ll be part of the cross-country <a href="http://www.tinkernation.com/featured-author/picardy-project-renovation-road-trip-2012/">Renovation Road Trip</a> that my blog buddies Meryl and Chris from <a href="http://www.picardyproject.com/">Picardy Project</a> will be undertaking in October! Their trip is being sponsored by <a href="http://www.tinkernation.com/">Tinkernation</a> and the plan is for Meryl and Chris to visit five blogger’s houses in two weeks, helping with projects for a day at each of the stops. I am really not sure how I snuck in with this awesome crowd, which also includes <a href="http://www.86nit.com/">86-n It</a>, <a href="http://diydiva.net/">DIY Diva</a>, <a href="http://www.russetstreetreno.com/">Russet Street Reno</a>, and <a href="http://www.justagirlwithahammer.com/">Just a girl with a hammer</a>. I’m sort of like the high school nerd who gets an invite to the post-prom party because she's been friends with the popular girl since they were babies. But I DON’T CARE, I’M GOING TO THE PARTY! Haha.<br />
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Check out Meryl’s amazing blog to see some of the fantastic work she and Chris have done on their house, and you’ll understand why I’m soooo excited to have them helping around Turtle House for a day. I am hoping – hoping! – that we can finally tackle tiling the backsplash behind the stove, since (a) they are <a href="http://www.picardyproject.com/search/label/tiling">tiling wizards</a>, and (b) the paint behind there already has an oddly-shaped blotch from some mysterious mishap - be glad I’m not at home, or you know I’d share a photo. And no one likes mystery-stain photos.<br />
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OK, seriously gotta go practice my talk (send me lucky thoughts at 2pm Pacific Time!) but I just want to thank Meryl and Chris for including me on this awesome adventure trip - can't wait to meet you guys! Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-24742566015912613212012-08-08T12:33:00.000-04:002012-08-08T12:33:01.417-04:00My friends are talented and awesomeDo you guys remember my friend <a href="http://theartpocalypse.tumblr.com/">Corey</a> and his amazing <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-seriously.html">Turtle House painting</a>? Well, in the spirit of nursery-related news and bragging about how awesome my friends are, I had to share my latest art acquisition. These four panels (each about 10"x10") were featured in a show Corey did in Columbus.<br />
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But sorry to the poor suckas who saw them at the show, because THEY WERE ALREADY SOLD. That's right, I got an inside line on the awesomeness that is these paintings and I snapped them up right quick. When I first saw them, I thought "must go in nursery!!!!" (with four exclamation points). Then I immediately started to feel bad, like I shouldn't put them up there because then no one will ever see them, and maybe they should be somewhere on the main floor of the house to be properly appreciated? But won't Cletus love them, and wouldn't they be such a perfect accompaniment to snuggling and reading Darwin at bedtime??<br />
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<i>"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers,
having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that,
whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of
gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and
most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."</i><br />
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(Cletus, apologies in advance for sealing your fate as a complete and total nerd. Middle school is gonna be rough.) <br />
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So, you guys all have to pinky-swear promise that when you come over after Cletus is here, you'll be all "OH CAN I PLEASE SEE THE NURSERY" even if you think mobile's a city in Alabama and cribs is a show on MTV. Because then I won't feel bad about wasting these super awesome pieces of art on a tiny human who is going to spend the vast majority of his/her time sleeping, eating, pooping, and admiring the amazingness that is having TOES attached to your FOOT. OMG.<br />
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(I mean, I am also glad to have toes.)Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-86205977298238954192012-07-31T21:12:00.001-04:002012-07-31T21:14:11.682-04:00Vanity, thy name is DONERemember, waaaayyy loooong agooo, I bought a cheap Craigslist dresser with plans to <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/09/lazy-sunday.html">refinish it</a> and <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/wood-boxes-in-my-world-right-now.html">turn it into our master bathroom vanity</a>? Well, it has sat at about 80% completion for, oh, the last six months or so. We got the drawers in, but they lacked a certain je-ne-sais-quoi... namely, they didn't like to OPEN or CLOSE. Call me high maintenance, but I feel like that's an essential component of drawer-ness. After our frustration level escalated from side-eye to angry glare to outright cussing, we (Brandon) decided it might be time to do something about it. And so we were back to this. Sigh.<br />
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Oh, plus this.<br />
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Yep, that's the entire contents of the vanity, spread across the floor for extra easy access. Ten points if you can spot the dozen or so pee tests I took before I believed <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/07/well-well-what-have-we-here.html">I was actually pregnant</a>. And yes, I saved them...? I'm gonna go ahead and blame the hormones.<br />
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One of the big problems with the drawers was the bottoms, which appeared to be made out of what I'll call "fancy cardboard." It had started to warp and fall apart, and in fact completely collapsed out of one of the large bottom drawers.<br />
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Brandon ripped them all out, and replaced them with plywood - they are MUCH more sturdy and less likely to randomly give out and dump toothpaste, deodorant, and contact solution into the void below the vanity.<br />
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Along with reinforcing the drawers, Brandon took off all of the metal drawer slides, as they were the source of our INFERNAL DRAWER-FAIL ANGRRRRR. He decided to just yank them, and put wood supports into the frame of the dresser to support the drawers (should have photo'd these, but I forgot). He also took care of the last two "finishing touches" - installing the baseboard that I'd stained and poly'd way back when to cover the gap at the bottom of the vanity, and picking up some hinges so we could attach the door front that covers the middle set of drawers. To save you some scrolling, here's where we sat a few days ago...<br />
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...and here we are now!<br />
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Suddenly it looks like a nice, substantial piece of furniture, rather than a repurposed Craigslist dresser. I love it! Big props to B for his hard work on finishing up this project; we all know if it were left up to me it might never zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsnoreKatyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-22645098755967071732012-07-19T12:23:00.000-04:002012-07-31T21:13:49.281-04:00Well well, what have we here?Dang, it's been so long since I've posted that Blogger went and completely changed the layout of the "new post" screen... I feel so disoriented... where am I? Who are you? And what's with all this paint on the wall?<br />
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This is the upstairs spare room, a.k.a. snake-and-guitar room, a.k.a. random junk room, a.k.a.... nursery?!?! Yep, the rumors are true, I am officially parasitized.<br />
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But ain't it cute? I mean, except in that top right pic, that is some straight-up alien sh!t right there.<br />
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Cletus The Fetus will be arriving (and most likely renamed) on or around January 22, 2013. We are going to find out the sex (hopefully in early September, if Cletus cooperates), but we are definitely forgoing the pink-or-blue color selection for the nursery. In fact, B ruled out the blues in the pic above (L to R: Crystal Blue, Tranquil Blue, and Icy Blue, all Benjamin Moore and all left over from our frenetic whole-house paint selections last year) on the grounds that JUST IN CASE Cletus is a boy, he can't have a blue nursery, too gender-normative thankyouverymuch.<br />
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I love green in theory, but we have so much greeny-yellow (Summer Lime) going on everywhere else in the house that all of the greens looked a little clashy from the hallway. So call me crazy, but orange it is. I have a somewhat long-standing <strike>obsession with</strike> partiality to <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/12/ohhh-dreeeeeam-weaver.html">orange home decor</a>, so this isn't really that shocking. That said, I also don't want a color that will glow in the dark (I hear getting babies to sleep at night is recommended if possible), and a couple of these were just too bright.<br />
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Nacho Cheese (L) (I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO BE ABLE TO SAY I PAINTED THE NURSERY "NACHO CHEESE"... SOB) and Sweet Orange (R). These colors do not look as psychadelic in real life as they do in this crappy cell-phone picture, but they were still pretty bright (and would probably be overwhelming in larger quantities).<br />
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These are the colors one shade lighter than each of the ones mentioned above - Yellow Haze (L) and Morning Sunshine (R). I think something in this ballpark will work better given the very tall expanse of wall we have going on in this room. They look pretty washed-out here (again, crappy cell phone photos, sorry, have been meaning to buy camera batteries for ~2 months) but in real life they are still bright and cheerful without being ker-azy.<br />
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I really thought Morning Sunshine would be the winner based on the paint chip (OK, and the name), but in person it's a little banana-y, and I wanted creamsicle. If that makes sense. Humor me, I'm pregnant. So anyway, I think Yellow Haze is the one, despite having the least cool name <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5n8v7ZXb9jI/UAcM-bbdUGI/AAAAAAAACvs/euyp9dVgoig/s1600/IMG_20120718_150558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5n8v7ZXb9jI/UAcM-bbdUGI/AAAAAAAACvs/euyp9dVgoig/s400/IMG_20120718_150558.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And so ends today's poorly-illustrated tale of paint selections and knocked-up-edness, and proof that YES I still know how to type, it's just so haaaaaard to fit in between eating pickles and taking naps.<br />
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Oh, plus I owe you all an update to the <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/04/after-months-of-obsessing.html">dining room table</a> saga that you probably don't recall from three months ago. And when I say "saga," I mean that the current "table" is still a discarded door (complete with knob, for extra class) perched on two sawhorses. Because we're fancy.Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-13898422889437367912012-04-13T23:59:00.000-04:002012-04-13T23:59:36.161-04:00After months of obsessing......I finally ordered a dining room table and chairs! As a reminder, this has been the pitiful state of our dining room for an embarrassingly long period of time...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koR3GXHQZO0/TwEzCUwfjnI/AAAAAAAACfM/71m3i6KlNn4/s1600/043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koR3GXHQZO0/TwEzCUwfjnI/AAAAAAAACfM/71m3i6KlNn4/s400/043.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Actually, it's even worse now - we moved the too-small table out to the porch, and replaced it with an old door on two sawhorses. Avec doorknob and hinges, for extra classiness. Wish I were kidding.<br />
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I've <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/dining-room-daydreams.html">always pictured</a> a big, rustic-but-not-too-log-cabin-ish farmhouse table, with a bench on the side closest to the kitchen, and Parsons chairs on the side closest to the window and the ends. We even had a little <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/02/road-trips-and-dining-room-tables.html">road trip adventure</a> to look at some options. Well, things got really strange the other day when I was doing yet another Google search to see if I could find the table of my dreams... and I came across this picture on a website listing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.artfire.com/admin/product_images/thumbs/--90000--66325_product_1624645630_2_thumb_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://static.artfire.com/admin/product_images/thumbs/--90000--66325_product_1624645630_2_thumb_large.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />
It's perfect! It's stunning! It's... strangely familiar?? That's because it turns out it was, literally, the second thing I ever pinned on <a href="http://pinterest.com/kgreenwald/turtle-house-inspiration/">Pinterest</a>. And here it was, for sale!! Of course I emailed right away, and this beauty should be arriving in 2-4 weeks. In an even stranger coincidence, the seller was actually in South Carolina - but has family right outside Detroit, and so they're bringing the table when they visit (!).<br />
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So that left the question of chairs. I had been considering these Parsons chairs with a fun, bold floral pattern.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmDPIOrRVQ4/TwpYaHsZbDI/AAAAAAAACiQ/Z_FSWVH7LLE/s1600/chairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmDPIOrRVQ4/TwpYaHsZbDI/AAAAAAAACiQ/Z_FSWVH7LLE/s400/chairs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
But the more I thought about it, the more I questioned whether these would work. First of all, I worried that the pattern might just be too busy. I was also nervous about ordering them online, since the colors might be different in real life - and in fact, many of the reviews hinted that the light color was closer to cream/khaki, which I didn't think would work as well. I was also worried about the brown clashing with all the other browns we have going on (beams, counter, table)... so I was really iffy on these, and decided to consider solid color instead. So the obvious choice would seem to be brown, but again, see issues with brown above. Hmmmmmm. After much thought (and squinting at the dining room), I decided the safest and most complementary choice would actually be a pretty bold one... red!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media-cache4.pinterest.com/upload/71846556525548430_8kriJPGI_f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://media-cache4.pinterest.com/upload/71846556525548430_8kriJPGI_f.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Yep, red leather Parsons chairs - am I crazy?? I think these are gorgeous, and I'm hoping they'll work with the brown table and our paint colors (the color in the background of the picture above is actually pretty similar to our dining room color). Plus they had terrific reviews on Overstock (4.9 out of 5.0 with 75 reviews!). As an added bonus, they were even less expensive than the patterned ones!<br />
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As an aside, some people who know me may be surprised that my vegetarian self bought leather chairs. Here was my reasoning. More and more, the arguments I find most compelling for my own vegetarianism have to do with the efficiency of using resources - and much of the time, leather is a byproduct of the meat industry. I also think these will hold up forever, so they'll be efficient in that they won't end up in a landfill a few years down the road. Finally, I try whenever possible to use natural (ideally local) products - I've always tried to do this, but definitely with big purchases I am making an effort to avoid plastic and other synthetic, petroleum-based materials. These things are all playing into my definition of "green" and how it fits into my life and decision-making right now. So all that rambling is to say: here's to many years of locally (backyard!) grown meals at the new dining room table!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-55692468007285538182012-04-12T20:02:00.000-04:002012-04-12T20:02:01.714-04:00Then this happenedSo this is what I came home to this evening...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-61OdNAcbz3U/T4dsD-rYXlI/AAAAAAAACu0/-OQp1B3Vkcs/s1600/IMG_20120412_194508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-61OdNAcbz3U/T4dsD-rYXlI/AAAAAAAACu0/-OQp1B3Vkcs/s400/IMG_20120412_194508.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Yep, Brandon had had enough of the complete chaos surrounding our house, and rented this baby for the next week. See ya, dirt cliffs of insanity. It was nice knowing you, giant mound of busted concrete block. Don't let the door hit ya, crazy pile of driveway gravel. He's only had it a few hours and I can't believe what he's already cranked out! Don't worry, we got a bunch of "before" pics, so I'll post again in the next few days with a progress update. Which will most likely include me learning to operate that beastie, because I mean... that looks like fun.Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-71087939636829410812012-03-30T21:28:00.000-04:002012-03-30T21:28:17.015-04:00The man behind the curtainNo, he's not the wizard of Oz, but you do have to be some sort of wizard to take a house from this...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EdL4bm0O7ls/Ti2I-Zr-yJI/AAAAAAAABFg/f74WblU2Ntk/s1600/2_2011.06.19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EdL4bm0O7ls/Ti2I-Zr-yJI/AAAAAAAABFg/f74WblU2Ntk/s400/2_2011.06.19.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
...to this...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oh0qm3OvKqo/TwNRUczmj1I/AAAAAAAAChs/kT8GwN1zGtg/s1600/2_2012.01.03.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oh0qm3OvKqo/TwNRUczmj1I/AAAAAAAAChs/kT8GwN1zGtg/s400/2_2012.01.03.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>...while sticking to the timeline and the budget, and dealing with crazy clients talking about <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/12/im-selling-all-furniture.html">barn wood floors</a> and <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/11/love-and-jellyfish.html">jellyfish chandeliers</a> without even batting an eye. I've had a lot of questions about who the mysterious GC is that has been running the show here, but I wanted to make sure to get his permission before using his name on the blog. Now that everything is said and done and we are beyond thrilled with the results, I want to give a huge shout-out to Jeff Clark of <a href="http://www.giraffedesignbuild.com/index.html">Giraffe Design Build</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IhyZkMeZsoI/TwMWoDstvhI/AAAAAAAACg0/NPi1b87fDy8/s1600/IMAG0043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IhyZkMeZsoI/TwMWoDstvhI/AAAAAAAACg0/NPi1b87fDy8/s400/IMAG0043.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The man behind the <strike>curtain</strike> stove</i></div><br />
Jeff was a pleasure to work with. He's a true professional who did things right and didn't cut corners - something would bother him and he would fix it before we even noticed it. Moreover, he's an honest and ethical person who we came to trust and just genuinely like. I miss chatting with Jeff now that he's not stopping by anymore to take care of the punch list!<br />
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Other people we heart: <br />
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Of course I have already mentioned Steven Varnum of <a href="http://www.caddisdesign.com/">Caddis Design</a>, the house genius who drew up the plans for Turtle House. Steven is an absolute gem. If you live in SE Michigan and need some design work done, I give him my highest recommendation times a skazillion billion. Just scroll up and look at those before and after pictures again, people.<br />
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We also had interior design help from Mandi Wise at <a href="http://www.manta.com/c/mwkc26w/oyl-design-ltd">Oyl Design, Ltd</a>. Mandi has a great eye and picked up on our style/aesthetic tastes before we were even aware of them. She was a huge help with light fixtures and paint colors in particular, and if it weren't for budget constraints I would still be paying Mandi just so I could hang out with her at the paint store because she's rad.<br />
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There were other subcontractors we were impressed with, but many don't have a web presence so I can't provide links. In particular, we loved working with our carpenters, electrician (Jeff Grubbs at Jaaco Electric), and painters (Al Ayala and team). The flooring installers (David and Rick at Lakeland Hardwood Floors) deserve special mention for taking our insane pile of barnwood flooring and basically turning it into a work of art. Not to mention being super nice guys. If anyone reading is local and wants contact info for these folks, hit me up!<br />
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<i>(This post has been sitting in "Drafts" for ages and is looong overdue!) </i>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-58984569093920544202012-03-12T20:13:00.000-04:002012-03-12T20:13:38.289-04:00Black holeNearly a month without a post! I only have two words of explanation (and they aren't "black hole")... FIELD SEASON! This is what I'm up to for the foreseeable future:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgOkSYULiMU/T16Oxo8DjZI/AAAAAAAACt8/binb-O98r74/s1600/Katy+catching+Sallies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgOkSYULiMU/T16Oxo8DjZI/AAAAAAAACt8/binb-O98r74/s400/Katy+catching+Sallies.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Actually that is an old pic from a summer field season. I am currently much more bundled up (it's March in Michigan after all, even if it is unseasonably warm). But see how happy I am in a swamp? I know, I'm not right in the head.<br />
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Gratuitous yet adorable salamander photo from yesterday:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2k-6PvlTooY/T16P2UUfKzI/AAAAAAAACuQ/cRJYEiwEH8c/s1600/tiger_sally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2k-6PvlTooY/T16P2UUfKzI/AAAAAAAACuQ/cRJYEiwEH8c/s400/tiger_sally.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Hopefully back to report more progress on house projects once I rinse off the mud. Until then, happy spring!!!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-71321860376936463382012-02-19T22:19:00.000-05:002012-02-19T22:19:11.187-05:00And the little one said "roll over"Let's just say you could fit a LOT of little monkeys in our bed... which finally arrived yesterday! We ordered this bed from <a href="http://www.woodfurnituremichigan.com/">Naked Furniture</a> in Ann Arbor, and it took FOREVER to get here. As in, we ordered it December 10. We were told at the time that it should be ready in 5-6 weeks. So after 7 weeks with no news, I called... and was told it would be another 7-10 days. So after two more weeks, I called again... and was told it would be another week. Seriously?! The delay was extra annoying because we've had boxes of clothes shoved in our closets all this time, since the storage bed doubles as our dressers. It turned out some component of the bed was back-ordered - but it would have been nice to get a call informing us of this fact, instead of calling and calling and having no idea if the thing would ever actually show up. That said, it took so long that we just about have the credit card charge paid off, ha!<br />
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Oh plus, it's amazing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nwpF3hkLX2Y/T0ErtdHWySI/AAAAAAAACsk/pOSBynhA_ko/s1600/IMG_7024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nwpF3hkLX2Y/T0ErtdHWySI/AAAAAAAACsk/pOSBynhA_ko/s400/IMG_7024.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h-yDeAlk81k/T0ErsaPu4LI/AAAAAAAACsI/isplfbjACiM/s1600/IMG_7027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h-yDeAlk81k/T0ErsaPu4LI/AAAAAAAACsI/isplfbjACiM/s400/IMG_7027.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BLWpgpiYShY/T0G5ULlBTiI/AAAAAAAACtc/Mqkd6gv4DTc/s1600/IMG_7042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BLWpgpiYShY/T0G5ULlBTiI/AAAAAAAACtc/Mqkd6gv4DTc/s400/IMG_7042.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I can't tell if I just got used to the "mattress on the floor" set-up, or if it really is ridiculously enormous... Now I walk into our room and it's WHOA BED in my face.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QjZCEMgITAA/T0ErsaLhiHI/AAAAAAAACsE/CfEks-EbWH0/s1600/IMG_7026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QjZCEMgITAA/T0ErsaLhiHI/AAAAAAAACsE/CfEks-EbWH0/s400/IMG_7026.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
We spent a bunch of time yesterday getting the boxes of clothes unpacked into the drawers, but I figured no one really wanted to see photos of my sock drawer. We also mounted the bedside lamp/tables that I posted about <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/brilliant-ideas-that-werent-mine.html">a while back</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-44iFw8jwVX4/T0EruIP1ZxI/AAAAAAAACso/1ZDedooKspM/s1600/IMG_7031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-44iFw8jwVX4/T0EruIP1ZxI/AAAAAAAACso/1ZDedooKspM/s400/IMG_7031.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e4wmVWbcuWQ/T0G5UjJTnhI/AAAAAAAACtg/2x-byGme9Qo/s1600/IMG_7040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e4wmVWbcuWQ/T0G5UjJTnhI/AAAAAAAACtg/2x-byGme9Qo/s400/IMG_7040.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I think they look great on either side of the "window." Which, by the way, allows me to pop my head up in the morning and do some bird-watching from bed. This morning I spied some common mergansers by our dock.<br />
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Here's the other side of the room, where we've stashed a rocking chair that actually belongs to my sister. We still need to get a proper cushion for the little window seat between the closets.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b5PWQNxyysI/T0ErtV6LCFI/AAAAAAAACsY/ujKOVOuCHlY/s1600/IMG_7030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b5PWQNxyysI/T0ErtV6LCFI/AAAAAAAACsY/ujKOVOuCHlY/s400/IMG_7030.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
Anyone who has known me for at least 25+ years will recognize the pair sitting in the window... Tigger and Erica! You can tell by the level of bedraggled-ness how much I loved these two as a kid.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2AbMopFQITc/T0ErubJs9DI/AAAAAAAACs0/xwBMzEKmGH8/s1600/IMG_7032.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2AbMopFQITc/T0ErubJs9DI/AAAAAAAACs0/xwBMzEKmGH8/s400/IMG_7032.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And speaking of cute pairs, here's a gratuitous shot of the boys. Elmo apparently thinks the carpet is just as comfy as his bed...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ACYv2sGz71M/T0EruztMkyI/AAAAAAAACs4/qeP5TczOE_c/s1600/IMG_7039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ACYv2sGz71M/T0EruztMkyI/AAAAAAAACs4/qeP5TczOE_c/s400/IMG_7039.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
...However, they both agree that we clearly need to order some <a href="http://www.petco.com/product/100222/Deluxe-Doggy-Steps.aspx">Doggy Steps</a> so they can enjoy that ridiculously large bed.Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-24769605268856183212012-02-12T19:30:00.002-05:002012-02-12T19:36:28.063-05:00Road trips and dining room tablesWhat, those two things don't automatically go together in your mind? Just us? Haha.<br />
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I gave a talk yesterday morning at a conference way up north. (Being in Michigan, I have a state-mandated requirement to illustrate this by showing you my hand and pointing to my middle finger middle knuckle.) Brandon came along, and since we were kinda close to Traverse City (pinky fingernail... "close" was relative), we thought we'd head over there to check out dining room tables at <a href="http://www.woodlandcreekfurniture.com/">Woodland Creek Furniture</a>. I mentioned them in a <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/dining-room-daydreams.html">previous post</a> about our ongoing quest to be real grown-ups with dining room furniture. Specifically, I'd seen this barn wood farmhouse table that I was dying to check out in person.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YG-aWtjaIdA/TwpYaIGTNOI/AAAAAAAACiU/W12tlOVZjJA/s1600/Dining+Table+-+Farm+Style.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YG-aWtjaIdA/TwpYaIGTNOI/AAAAAAAACiU/W12tlOVZjJA/s400/Dining+Table+-+Farm+Style.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Photo from <a href="http://www.woodlandcreekfurniture.com/">Woodland Creek Furniture</a>)</div><br />
Well we did check it out, and unfortunately I have to say... I wasn't in love. In person it is MUCH more rustic than it looks here - which maybe I should have guessed from the rest of the Woodland Creek website (seriously, <a href="http://www.woodlandcreekfurniture.com/">check it out</a>). They have very neat stuff, but it's much more log-cabin than our style, which definitely blends rustic with some more contemporary elements. I just wasn't sure that it would work with some of the other things we have going on in the space. </pretendingtobeaninteriordesigner><br />
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Anyway, happily,Woodland Creek has an associated company/showroom for us non-log-cabin-dwellers. Hooray! It is called <a href="http://www.urhouzz.com/">Ur Houzz</a> and it was full of many things I wanted to buy. There were two potential tables, and I should have taken photos because I can't find a good representative photo on their site. The first one was another farmhouse style, made from reclaimed wood, and painted with a distressed finish (in whatever color you want!). This is the top, but I'd just get simple square legs instead of the trellis style:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.urhouzz.com/images/Dining%20Table3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.urhouzz.com/images/Dining%20Table3.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Photo from <a href="http://www.urhouzz.com/">Ur Houzz</a>)</div><br />
Actually now that I look at that again, it may not really be the same at all - because I think the ones we saw had much wider planks on top. Blog fail! Anyway, this of course set my head to spinning about colors... I hadn't even considered a painted table as a possibility, but these were really beautiful. I'm pretty sure I woke up out of a dead sleep on the way home, snapped my head around to look all bug-eyed at Brandon (who was driving), and said "OMIGOD THE TABLE COULD BE <b>PLUM</b>." To Brandon's credit, he kept driving and didn't look at me like I was a psychopath.<br />
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The other possibility - which has been floating around in our heads since the beginning - would be a slab table. I just think these are ridiculously gorgeous. My main concern is that we already have so many different types of wood going on, with the floor, beams, counter... would it be too much? Oh also they are like a million dollars.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.urhouzz.com/images/Dining%20Table4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://www.urhouzz.com/images/Dining%20Table4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Photo from <a href="http://www.urhouzz.com/">Ur Houzz</a>)</div><br />
But seriously.<br />
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And just to add to the confusion, here is one additional possibility that my BFF Craig found for me on his list. This is an unfinished farmhouse table made by Amish Chic Furniture (I know, awesome).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-24Ir5upUxj4/TzhKsYW20eI/AAAAAAAACrc/mmt-U4B58I0/s1600/amish_table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-24Ir5upUxj4/TzhKsYW20eI/AAAAAAAACrc/mmt-U4B58I0/s400/amish_table.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(From the Amish Chic Furniture <a href="http://s1094.photobucket.com/profile/AmishCHICfurniture/uploads">Photobucket site</a>)</div><br />
This particular one is sold, but they can build another one in a couple weeks and finish it however we'd want - and it is significantly less $$$ than any of the other options. In a sad little twist, their warehouse is about two and a half hours away from here <i>in a town we drove through yesterday</i>. But of course we didn't know that at the time. Sigh.<br />
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Here are a couple more photos of their tables that other people have bought - a natural finish, and a darker stain.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-29qK7_rerck/TzhKsnWECiI/AAAAAAAACrg/nPywwzD3yKw/s1600/amish_table2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-29qK7_rerck/TzhKsnWECiI/AAAAAAAACrg/nPywwzD3yKw/s400/amish_table2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtBX7OGsEzI/TzhK4Dj_pZI/AAAAAAAACrs/2OGK0ftjRGk/s1600/amish_table3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtBX7OGsEzI/TzhK4Dj_pZI/AAAAAAAACrs/2OGK0ftjRGk/s400/amish_table3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Both photos from the Amish Chic Furniture <a href="http://s1094.photobucket.com/profile/AmishCHICfurniture/uploads">Photobucket site</a>.)</div><br />
Super pretty, right? Not reclaimed wood (at least I don't think so), but local, so that's a plus.<br />
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I am still thinking that in any case I'd like to get a bench for one side, and then Parsons chairs for the other side and the ends. I'm still in love with these, but trying to decide on a table before I commit to ordering them...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmDPIOrRVQ4/TwpYaHsZbDI/AAAAAAAACiQ/Z_FSWVH7LLE/s1600/chairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zmDPIOrRVQ4/TwpYaHsZbDI/AAAAAAAACiQ/Z_FSWVH7LLE/s400/chairs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Photo from <a href="http://overstock.com/">Overstock.com</a>)</div><br />
So what do you guys think? Painted farmhouse table? Or a dark stain to match the beams, counter, and chair legs? Or scrap the farmhouse table altogether and go with a slab? Decisions! As a reminder, here's what we're working with now... so any of these would be an exponential improvement.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koR3GXHQZO0/TwEzCUwfjnI/AAAAAAAACfM/71m3i6KlNn4/s1600/043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koR3GXHQZO0/TwEzCUwfjnI/AAAAAAAACfM/71m3i6KlNn4/s400/043.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-29672622954657824812012-02-09T09:44:00.000-05:002012-02-09T09:44:28.194-05:00Oh deer!In the backyard this a.m... Don't tell Brandon, he's already worried enough about his as-yet-hypothetical garden!<br />
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I know they're wildly overpopulated and ecologically disastrous, but they're still darn purdy.Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-39047894055850749712012-02-04T19:36:00.000-05:002012-02-04T19:36:47.417-05:00The stankThis may have been the longest break between blog posts since I started this darn thing back in July - but there hasn't been much to report! I've been buried in work (actual job work, not house work) and a little sick, so progress on projects has been minimal. And to be honest, it's been pretty fantastic to just be living in the house rather than working on it nonstop. Brandon did make some great progress today on organizing the spare bedroom (a.k.a. random junk room) upstairs, so I will have to get some photos of what is turning into a neat little music room. This may even motivate me to get the trim painted in there... maybe.<br />
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Anyway, none of this has to do with what was a monumental event this morning: I showered in non-stinky water. Why on earth was I showering in stinky water, you ask? Because that's what was coming out of the shower head. And the sink faucets. And into the washing machine and dishwasher. UGHHH. It didn't smell at all when we first moved in, but within a couple weeks it went pretty rapidly from "a little sulfury" to "gag-worthy rotten egg geyser farts." Let me tell you, a shower in Old Faithful does not leave you feeling so fresh and so clean clean.<br />
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So what's a girl to do? Obviously turn to the best research tool on the planet, Google (<i>just kidding</i> EMU undergraduates who may one day enroll in my classes! Haha! Funny joke!). Anyway, "the Google" told me that the stank could be emanating from one of two sources: either the well itself, or the hot water heater. Being the scientist that I am, I designed an experiment.<br />
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<b>H<sub>1</sub>:</b> The stank is emanating from the well.<br />
<b>Prediction:</b> The stank will be present in both hot and cold water.<br />
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<b>H<sub>2</sub>:</b> The stank is emanating from the hot water heater.<br />
<b>Prediction:</b> The stank will only be present in hot water.<br />
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<b>Experimental Design 1:</b> Sniff water of various temperatures.<br />
<b>Results:</b> Cold water: NO STANK. Hot water: WICKED STANK.<br />
<b>Conclusion:</b> H<sub>1</sub> rejected!<br />
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<b>Peer reviewer:</b> But what if the stank is indeed emanating from the well, but in such a form that it must be heat-activated??<br />
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<b>Experimental Design 2 (follow up study):</b> Obtain non-stanky cold water; place in tea kettle and heat on stove.<br />
<b>Results:</b> Stove-heated water: NO STANK.<br />
<b>Conclusion:</b> H<sub>1</sub> re-rejected! Take that, peer-reviewer!<br />
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So after I sent the results of my study to <i>Science</i>, I looked into how to fix stanky hot water heaters. Turns out that hot water heaters contain an element called a sacrificial anode, which is typically made of magnesium or aluminum and keeps the hot water heater from rusting (and is also a terrific name for a rock band). However, it also somehow provides excellent breeding conditions for a harmless but stank-producing species of bacteria that releases hydrogen sulfide gas as a waste product. Everything I read about this problem said something along these lines: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES REMOVE THE SACRIFICIAL ANODE IT WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND RUST RUST RUST OMGRUST YOUR HOT WATER HEATER WILL PROBABLY EXPLODE AND FIRE AND BRIMSTONE WILL RAIN DOWN AND YOUR HOUSE WILL COLLAPSE INTO A GIANT SINKHOLE OF DOOM AND SADNESS.<br />
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So then I called the guys who installed the hot water heater, and they say all nonchalantly "oh yeah, we see this all the time with well water - we'll just come out and remove the sacrificial anodes. No prob." ?!?!?!!!? I expressed my concern to them about the rust and the brimstone and sinkholes and all, but they said that they would cover the warranty (instead of the manufacturer doing so) and that this was really the only guaranteed fix (they told me zinc-containing anodes, which some websites had recommended, only fix this problem about a third of the time). And I just could not handle the stank anymore, so over they came, and out went the sacrificial anodes. So here we are on Day 2 of flaunting the #1 rule of <strike>Fight Club</strike> hot water heater maintenance. But you guys, that shower? It was amaaaaaazing.Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-59022247881859122822012-01-25T21:47:00.001-05:002012-02-19T12:31:53.854-05:00Brilliant ideas that weren't mineWhen my parents visited a couple weeks ago, my mom mentioned that it would be really helpful to have some kind of shelf or storage unit by the pedestal sink in the guest bathroom. I had never thought of this, and while I love the sink, I subsequently noticed that guests' toiletry items were either balancing precariously on the narrow sink edge, or were migrating over to the windowsill. Not the most convenient arrangement for tooth brushing, face washing, makeup application, etc.!<br />
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I pondered this for a bit, because I thought something big and clunky on one side of the sink would make things look crowded.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RvMBcz9Xvss/TyC5gF7jvBI/AAAAAAAACpo/Mjj9b-38kb4/s1600/027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RvMBcz9Xvss/TyC5gF7jvBI/AAAAAAAACpo/Mjj9b-38kb4/s400/027.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
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Then the other night it popped into my head to see if I could find a glass shelf that would match the other bathroom accessories we'd picked out (as an aside, selecting things like towel bars, tp holders, and robe hooks may have been the ultimate "I have never given a single millisecond of thought as to what style of this item I would like in my house... and now I have to pick 'em out" moment in this whole process; see also: light switches, doorknobs).<br />
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Luckily for me, the bathroom stuff we ended up picking (the <a href="http://www.gatco-inc.com/bathware/jewel-satin-nickel.php">Gatco Jewel Collection</a> for those who are curious or care more about tp holders than I do) has a matching glass shelf. Even more luckily, it fits perfectly on the wall by the sink! Sign me up.<br />
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The shelf arrived today, and I armed myself with a tape measure, level, and pencil to figure out where it should go. We just finished getting it installed, and I think it looks great! It is not too intrusive, matches everything else, and should make things a bit easier on guests.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ApDbpcPtU4/TyC5hN4vfNI/AAAAAAAACqE/7uJ6tjyWe1w/s1600/038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ApDbpcPtU4/TyC5hN4vfNI/AAAAAAAACqE/7uJ6tjyWe1w/s400/038.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aWlLFEcd4Ak/TyC5hXfrjGI/AAAAAAAACqM/4CKQhLcJ7FM/s1600/042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aWlLFEcd4Ak/TyC5hXfrjGI/AAAAAAAACqM/4CKQhLcJ7FM/s400/042.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Just for fun, here's the little nook you see as you enter the bathroom. Brandon's had this small wooden shelf his whole life, and it fits perfectly and is a great spot for guest towels, candles, and a few decorative items (the odd little bowl at right was a $5 treasure found on one of my <a href="http://diydiva.net/2012/01/junk-hunt/">Junk Hunts</a> with Kit). Sorry for the odd angle - this nook is completely impossible to photograph without some kind of periscope camera attachment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jgKRKAQw9gk/TyC5gvyuG_I/AAAAAAAACp0/JeKcTkv4yk0/s1600/034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jgKRKAQw9gk/TyC5gvyuG_I/AAAAAAAACp0/JeKcTkv4yk0/s400/034.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
The second brilliant idea actually WAS mine, but someone beat me to it. I've posted previously about the fact that we're waiting for our new bed to arrive, and that it's a storage bed with drawers in the sides. It's going to be a great space-saver (not to mention that we won't have the dog-fur-tumbleweed problem going on underneath since it sits right on the floor). However, it means that we can't use regular bedside tables since they'd block the drawers. I'd considered using floating shelves (like <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50103618/">these</a> from IKEA) instead of tables, but thought they might be a bit crowded with lamps, cell phones, water, tissues, etc. Then I thought to myself, "self, wouldn't it be cool if there were such a thing as a combined wall-mounted swing-arm lamp plus shelf/table?" Well sad to say I am not the next Thomas Edison (although maybe I'm onto something with the periscope camera attachment??)... but happy to say that I found just thing thing I was looking for!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/71846556525142711_suWjEu5m_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/71846556525142711_suWjEu5m_c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(image from <a href="http://www.wayfair.com/Kenroy-Home-Tabula-Swing-Arm-Wall-Lamp-in-Brushed-Steel-20947BS-LO4488.html?refid=FR49-LO4488">Wayfair</a>)</div><br />
The ones I bought (with a gulp and a small apology to my credit card) have white lampshades instead of the dark color shown here, and were $107 a pop. They had great reviews though, and arrived today and seem very well made. They also look pretty cool! I'd love to get them up on the wall and share some photos, but we want to wait until the bed arrives so we can be sure to locate them in the right place for groggy snooze-button hitting. Once the bed comes (hopefully in the next week or so) I'll report back with photos!Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-82768819867389409292012-01-22T14:36:00.001-05:002012-01-22T14:37:19.852-05:00Getting decentNo one will truly appreciate this update as much as our only neighbor (who doesn't read the blog... as far as I know)... but we've finally hung some curtains! There is really only one window in the house that needed them, and that was our bedroom. All the other bedroom/bathroom windows face the woods, so while I'll eventually get some blinds for them it just hasn't been at the top of the priority list. However, I was getting tired of wandering out of the shower and into our bedroom in the dark (or hiding in the closet to get dressed).<br />
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Hooray! I ordered these on Amazon, and also the new comforter/duvet set. I really like these colors together, so now I'm on the hunt for some more pillows and wall art with the turqoise/dark red combo.<br />
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The bedroom still needs a lot of things - for example, a bed. We've ordered one but it will still be another week or two until it is ready. I can't wait for it to arrive, since it's a storage bed so we'll finally be able to get rid of the boxes of clothes in the closets. (I might well throw a party once the last box is finally unpacked!) Once the bed comes I am thinking of mounting a couple of small shelves on either side to serve as bedside tables, since we won't be able to use regular tables (they'll block the drawers). Then we need bedside lamps and some art on the walls... oh and let's not forget I STILL haven't painted the darn closet doors. Even though they bother me every single day. Maybe I'll go do that now.<br />
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Also wanted to share a few quick photos of the completed <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-nook.html">book nook</a>! There is one more shelf that will go up at the very top, but we still have to cut it down to size.<br />
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I poly'd the shelves, but it really didn't change the color much at all so they still look pretty raw. I may get motivated someday and stain them, but for now I am just enjoying having the books put away and no boxes (a.k.a. tripping hazards) on the landing!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ztUDwYE8JE0/TxxgXiszZnI/AAAAAAAACo4/bhHN3R3RcGA/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ztUDwYE8JE0/TxxgXiszZnI/AAAAAAAACo4/bhHN3R3RcGA/s400/015.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-29840476909154415562012-01-18T19:43:00.000-05:002012-01-18T19:43:28.259-05:00Book nookRemember the <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-seriously.html">charming tower of boxes</a> that has inhabited our stair landing since we moved in? Well, we're finally trying to do something about it by working on the built-in bookshelves. We had a fantastic visit with my parents this past weekend, so of course we put 'em to work helping on projects (to be fair, Roy is always up for kicking it on the stairs with a drill).<br />
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Partway through the project the landing was basically an explosion of tools, books, boxes and wood pieces.<br />
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That last pic shows the two bottom shelves in place - there are seven in total. After doing some upper-level painting yoga to prime the undersides of the supports, I decided to curtail the installation until I could get the rest primed and painted BEFORE they were attached to the wall. This involved some late-night painting in the PJ's avec beverage.<br />
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You can blame Brandon for that <strike>blurry</strike> artistic shot. But at least he looks cute with a level and safety glasses.<br />
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During this process I learned that the air nailer makes him reeeeeeal happy. Simon the dog, not so much - he was cowering in my lap during most of this process.<br />
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Yes, that's a single 37" board with 31 nail holes. Yes again, I counted them as I caulked (side eye Brandon).<br />
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Six of the seven shelves! Here's a shot of what it will look like as you climb the stairs, but I'd taken the shelves out to caulk and paint, so you'll have to use your imaginification.<br />
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The original plan was to paint the supports and shelves the same white as the rest of the trim... but after doing a lot of staring and hmm-ing, I am pretty sure I'm going to poly the shelves to hopefully match(ish) the treads and bannister - they are all red oak, so it should be pretty close. What do you think - white to match the trim, or natural wood?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9pEDAm04rLI/TxdhagM_kGI/AAAAAAAACnY/YhNtlqQi86M/s1600/034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9pEDAm04rLI/TxdhagM_kGI/AAAAAAAACnY/YhNtlqQi86M/s400/034.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"But will they hold... a book?!"</i></div>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-5312279283861173622012-01-15T22:25:00.000-05:002012-01-15T22:25:49.594-05:00Rootin' tootin' photo-shootin'Turtle House designer Steven Varnum came over the other day with a wide-angle lens to get some interior pics of the house, and just posted them to <a href="http://www.caddisdesign.com/projects/featured">his website</a>. After doing a moderately unreasonable amount of squealing and clapping, I stole them (with permission) to share. I have nothing more to add except that we heart Steven and still can't believe we really get to live here...<br />
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Also, wide angle is awesome, unless your thighs are in the photo.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wExv7GaqQTw/TxOTnzQWsdI/AAAAAAAACk4/7ltquo4xsr8/s1600/_DSF9302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wExv7GaqQTw/TxOTnzQWsdI/AAAAAAAACk4/7ltquo4xsr8/s400/_DSF9302.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R04FiOUg-GQ/TxOTn0B2ovI/AAAAAAAACko/gp2a3mJZXsQ/s1600/_DSF9309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R04FiOUg-GQ/TxOTn0B2ovI/AAAAAAAACko/gp2a3mJZXsQ/s400/_DSF9309.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> (this picture is an accurate depiction of how I write most of these posts)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--JFpJMs1pco/TxOTn90aIEI/AAAAAAAACks/tJ5lWtdPTk4/s1600/_DSF9323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--JFpJMs1pco/TxOTn90aIEI/AAAAAAAACks/tJ5lWtdPTk4/s400/_DSF9323.JPG" width="347" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fwsTFhGQHZg/TxOTop1TUII/AAAAAAAACk8/35e1C5ru2-E/s1600/_DSF9329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fwsTFhGQHZg/TxOTop1TUII/AAAAAAAACk8/35e1C5ru2-E/s400/_DSF9329.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(I moved to get out of Steven's photos... SNEAKY, STEVEN) </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hGBjgEwp24s/TxOTrPs8G9I/AAAAAAAACmA/5NE0G3nwUb4/s1600/_DSF9394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hGBjgEwp24s/TxOTrPs8G9I/AAAAAAAACmA/5NE0G3nwUb4/s400/_DSF9394.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ0oDK-Xe7s/TxOTrfGpOwI/AAAAAAAACmE/ELWQDzWwfOM/s1600/_DSF9405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ0oDK-Xe7s/TxOTrfGpOwI/AAAAAAAACmE/ELWQDzWwfOM/s400/_DSF9405.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> (dueling dog-butt photobomb)</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qb2R9mAMI2c/TxOTr90wuHI/AAAAAAAACmQ/fFKdkQ4Jyjw/s1600/_DSF9411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qb2R9mAMI2c/TxOTr90wuHI/AAAAAAAACmQ/fFKdkQ4Jyjw/s400/_DSF9411.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1203398184890408629.post-60299924516154260092012-01-12T20:39:00.002-05:002012-01-12T20:43:28.108-05:00Wood boxes in my world right now<b>WOOD BOXES #1-6: the bathroom vanity drawers</b><br />
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Remember the <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/09/lazy-sunday.html">old dresser</a> that I refinished to use as our bathroom vanity? Last time you saw it <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/12/house-of-different-color.html">without its drawers</a> (scandalous!)... and so it sat for quite a while, while I contemplated the best way to deal with the inevitable drawer-plumbing conflict. Well, we finally went for it and created what must be the most grotesque set of drawers... ever. But hey, they'll only be seen by us, right? (I'm pretty sure there's no one on this whole "internet" thing.)<br />
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The top drawers (above) had to get huuuge chunks cut out of them, and I contemplated just removing them altogether and attaching the faces permanently to the dresser. But, that six inches or so of extra storage space won out, and we cut pieces of wood to keep our deodorant and contact lens cases from falling into the abyss.<br />
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The two bottom drawers didn't need to be chopped nearly as much, since the pipes run much closer to the wall down by the floor.<br />
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What did I tell you, they ain't pretty, but they get the job done. Except, they don't really, because the slides are all wonky and they don't shut right. This is going to require drawer surgery #2, in which we remove the slides and attach pieces of wood for the drawers to sit on instead. Regardless, some drawers and storage is a big improvement over this!<br />
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Yes, I took that picture from inside the shower. And yes, I forgot to take an "after" picture with the drawers in. Don't let the suspense kill you!!<br />
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<b>WOOD BOX #(lucky)7: the toy(?) box</b><br />
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Don't you love when the internet gives you things like <a href="http://turtlehousemi.blogspot.com/2011/12/ohhh-dreeeeeam-weaver.html">magical rugs</a>? You know what's even better? When you find an "internet friend" and then you meet them in real life and they are hilarious and super fun and you can have adventures! <a href="http://diydiva.net/">Kit at DIYdiva</a> posted about our first <a href="http://diydiva.net/2012/01/junk-hunt/">junk hunt</a> (and the recounting made me laugh ALMOST as much as the reality). Well it seems to have become what we will call a "recurring pattern" (rather than a "bad habit"). (I prefer the term "genius," actually, now that I think about it.) The difference between me and Kit is that she has big plans for her thrift store finds, whereas I buy strange things and retrospectively try to figure out what on earth to do with them. Like... this adorable little box on wheels.<br />
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It was only after I decided that I completely needed this absurd item that I came up with the idea of using it to hold kindling for the wood stove. And it's adorable. And Brandon thinks I'm crazy... but isn't it so cute?<br />
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It may move down to the entryway to hold mittens and scarves or something, we'll see. Or dog toys, or sweaters... really the possibilities are endless. Strange little box, I dub thee "$20 well spent."Katyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02054776062178368034noreply@blogger.com1