Slowly but surely...

Things are coming together.  Slower than I want, but at least projects are getting finished, you know?

First, I finished the shelves in the foyer on...Sunday, I guess?  They look pretty good, if I do say so myself.

The foyer is always kind of a sticky spot.  I want to make sure it doesn't end up cluttered, but man...it seems that the flat spaces end up covered in stuff really quickly.

When we redid the office, we ended up redoing the foyer as well, and it was...it was not bad.  Not phenomenal, but not bad.

Yeah, there was still clutter, and stuff on the buffet, but it worked pretty well.

Well, I got a wild hair up my nose the other week, and decided I wanted something different in the foyer.  I was kinda tired of the mirror, and kinda tired of the lack of space and no place to put keys, etc.

So, I build some floating shelves, and moved some things around.

I put the floating shelves up, painted them, and then decided maybe they weren't as sturdy as I really wanted them to be, despite the instructions' promise that I could put the Encyclopedia Britannica on them.  So, Dena (the housemate) and I decided that I could put something under them to support them, just in case they were't sturdy enough, and I remembered my fascination with pipe furniture.

If you're not familiar with pipe furniture, here are a couple of links to get you started:

http://www.smallhomelove.com/pipe-decor/

http://www.the-brick-house.com/2009/09/shelving-unit/

So, instead of using iron pipe, which I didn't think I'd really need, I grabbed some 1" PVC, and sponge painted it to look like bronzy pipe.  I would have liked to use little flanged feet on the shelves and the walls, but I needed 16 of them, and at $4 a pop, it got a bit expensive.  So, I used pieces that looks like giant hex nuts.  Sort of.

I also made a spot to hang keys, and I think I'm going to clean out the side cabinets on the buffet to store motorcycle helmets in.

Now, we're moving on to the bathroom.  I can't remember the name of the white we picked, but the walls will be "Monorail Silver."

It's gorgeous and I can't wait to get started.  A friend of Dena's came over last night and helped cut the hole for the vessel sink, as well as the vessel filler faucet.

The vessel sink is amazing.

I can't wait to see it all come together this weekend.  I'll take lots of before, progress and after pics!

Onwards and upwards...

Or maybe sideways and diagonally, really.

I decided to put off the bathroom remodel by a week.  The primer on the dresser is being a pain, taking forever to cure, so I haven't been able to scuff sand yet, and the final coats aren't on.  So, that's delayed putting the tile on the top...and so on and so forth.

So, I'm going to use this weekend to finish up a couple other projects, or at least get them to a stage further along than "Hey! I have a GREAT IDEA!"

With that said, I'll scuff sand the dresser and spray the first coat of finish paint.  Then, I need to cut a sheet of luan to fit inside where the baskets will go.

We got some tall cabinets to fit in beside the vanity/dresser in the upstairs bathroom, so I need to scuff sand them and prime them to get them ready.  Then, I think I'm going to figure out a way to possibly install glass in them instead of the solid wood door.  We'll see how *that* turns out...

The undersink organizers also need a coat of finish paint, so that I can get them installed already!

I'm also thinking, since I'll have the paint sprayer out, I'm going to go ahead and sand and paint the sideboard thingie in the front hall.  It's pretty, but I want to lighten up a bit, so I think I'm going to go white, maybe with a charcoal glaze.  Or a silver glaze.  That would be awfully pretty!

On that note, I'm going to get rid of the mirror over the sideboard, and put up shelves.  We could use the space to move some books around, and get rid of the big bookshelf by the front door.  It's massively clunky and doesn't go with the idea I want at all.  I think floating shelves, with crown molding on the bottom will look fabulous, and we should be able to get most of the books in that shelf up on them.

Also, I need to strip the hardware off the door, fill in some gaps and attach the new 2x6 boards to make it a bit wider. Then comes priming and painting.  I think I can pick up the track for the door this weekend and it might actually go up!  YAY!

I'm tired just thinking about all this!

One more project down!

Since there is someone living upstairs now, the temperature in the upper rooms is a bit more important than it used to be.  If we're comfortable downstairs, you could roast marshmallows up, and if it's comfortable upstairs, penguins are asking you for a glass of water down. I figured using wall hangings to control the air flow might help, so we started planning to put up curtains along the half walls.

It's been a long time, at least it seems like it, but they're up.  I kinda like them!  Also, we're going to hang art along the curtain rods, so we can use some more "wall" space!

From the inside, looking up into the sewing room.

From the driveway.  It's actually kind of nice to have the curtains there, since it means that folks can move around upstairs without the neighborhood seeing them.

To-do list for Monday...

Really, this is getting nuts.  I have a lot of energy, though, and I want to take advantage of it.

Finish putting the second dresser together, and move John's clothes.  (He's going to get a bonus, because I'll end up refolding them all.)

I bought curtain rod brackets from Ikea, and rods to go with them, so those need to go up.  I think I forgot the corner section, though, so I'll need to zip over and pick one up.  After that, it's time to cut, serge and hem the curtain panels.  I don't think I'm going to line them, because OMG lotta work, and the backside of the fabric isn't UGLY.

Later this week, I've got more projects!  Edge-join boards for the new sliding door and paint it.  It's going to stay red, at least on the bedroom side, and I'll paint the side facing the bathroom the same color as the trim.

The sidelights need to be reset into frames that aren't too big for the openings and painted.  I have the hanging hardware for those, so that'll be easy.

There was this door, see...

I don't have any pictures, yet, but I did fix the HUMONGO hole in the door.

Right now, I need to caulk the exterior patch plywood, but holy smokes I love the red color!  On the inside, the door is white again (which makes the trim look really dingy...) and I will be putting some extra paint on the MDF because I totally forgot to prime it.  However, I did router the edges, and it looks NICE!

It looks nice, but oddly dark, now that there's not a window in the bottom of the door.  Of course, when it rained on Sunday, the smaller door didn't let the rain in, so that was WONDERFUL!

I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how much help the Beloved Boy was this weekend.  No Badger Boy, just helpful and sweet and encouraging!  Also, the Yeti came by, and helped hold the door while I futzed around with a jigsaw, and was THAT helpful!

More on the subject of "stuff I did this weekend..."

The sewing room got put back together Friday, which was really nice!

At one point, there were five people in the room, and it wasn't too crowded to work. YAY!

I don't have any pictures of Dave's subarmalis, but it's done and he seems pleased.  I think I see some places where we can tweak the design, but overall...very happy with it.

Then, yesterday, because the Beloved Boy and I had some major steam, we tackled the master bedroom closet.

I don't have any real "before" pictures because there is no way to handle that level of humiliation being posted online, but there is one "in the middle."

 You really can't see how many shoes were under the lower rod on the left, but it basically made the lower rod unusable.  So, we tamed those.

The boxes with the mesh on the front are from Ikea, and there's a surprising amount of room in them.  Some have heels, some have boots... And the larger boxes with the handles on the front are also from Ikea.  Those are boot storage.  The ones are the end are labelled.

The sort-of end result.  Well, the end result for yesterday.  There's another dresser to put together, and I'm going to cut the rail off, but it's a start.  John's clothes will go in here, and we'll move the tall dresser out of the master.   I'll post more pix when I'm closer to done.

Now, on to planning for the master bath and the sliding door.  I've already removed the two stupid half-doors that lead into the master bathroom, and the new sliding door is waiting to be put together!  YAY!

Stick a fork in me...

'Cause I am DONE.

Done with the new tables for the sewing room, anyway.  The room's not 100% done, but it's at about a 95% solution, which means I can work in there tomorrow and finish up projects for friends.

I'll have to see if I can dig up some before shots, but here are the end results.

The long shot:

The serger table:

Eventually, that shelf will be stained pink.  As soon as I find the pink stain.

The sewing table:

All in all, I think it's a great improvement and gives us way more room to work in there.

Now, I'm going to eat something and fall over.

Nicknames...

Or, since the good Lord knows my real name is all over the internet, I'm wondering if it's funny or silly or stupid to use nicknames.  A lot of my friends from my Usenet days know me as SoldierGrrrl, or SG.  My beloved husband has been JMA, or SapperSgt, or Decurion, or Dekarch or... wait, I think that's all of them.

In my earlier post, I referred to my beloved as Beloved Boy, or Badger Boy (mostly because he was channeling a badger with a rash this morning) but I don't know if I should find funny names, or still with real ones.

Any thoughts?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Getting back in the saddle... I hope! (Picture heavy!)

Lord, but it's a been a while since I updated this thing.  Then again, it's been a while since I did anything crafty, too.

But now, I have a storm of ideas swirling around in my head.  Lots of projects, which I'll try to get better about updating.

First up, at the request the very patient Beloved (Badger) Boy, the back door.  We installed a HUMONGO dog door for the Moose, and well, since the Moose now lives on a horse ranch, the door is slightly oversized for Moxie and Louisa.

For an idea, this is the door, with Louisa in mid-jump:

This is Moxie:

Not only is the door HUGE, but it's about five inches off the ground, and Moxie's not getting any younger so it's getting harder for her to make that jump through the door.  I made steps for her, and she decided she'd rather pee on the floor than approach the Dog Mugging Steps of Doom, so we needed another solution.

Because I am brain-damaged...creative... I thought of the ways would could do this without spending between $250-$645 for a new door.  I mean, it's not that I'm totally cheap, but daaaaang.  That's a fair chunk of change.

I ordered a new, MUCH smaller dog door from Amazon, and then went to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore to see if I could find a door.  Not a whole lot of luck there, but I did pick up a door for $10 as a backup.

It's missing the glass, which caused me to go through some major brain contortions to figure out how to replace the glass without paying another small fortune.

I was thinking about an MDF frame for the inside of the door, with a plywood frame for the outside with two pieces of Lexan, and moulding and this and that and the other thing... when I realized I could do something similar with the hole left by the HUMONGO door.

So, here's the idea.  I'm going to pull the door off the hinges, and remove the huge dog door.  While I've got the door on sawhorses, I'm going to scrub it down really well and tape off the nine-light.  I want it as clean as it can be, and right now, it's pretty...well...it's not clean.  Let's put it that way.

I'll measure the hole in the door, then cut wood to over that (including a bit lower so we can install the new smaller door at a better height for Moxie).  After cutting, I'll put the dog door template on the wood, making sure the two pieces are clamped together so the holes are in the exact same spot.

Then, I'm going to use a heavy-duty construction adhesive, and probably some bolts, to attach the two pieces of wood with the hole for the NEW door.  I'll have to cut some out of the door, because the bottom on the new door will be lower than the bottom of the old hole (does that make ANY sense?), but I can do that with a jig saw.  (I hope.)

Then, I'll secure the new pieces of wood to the door, and insulate the large open area with spray foam.  After that, I'm going to put some paint on the door (because I can), and install the new dog door.

As a recap:

Normal 9-light door:

Our current 9-light door, complete with HUMONGO door:

Proposed door repair:

Yes, those are hand-drawn, so don't laugh at my mostly-kinda-sorta-to-scale images.  It's an idea, at least, and gives me something to show the Badger Boy when he gives me the hairy eyeball as I babble on about yet ANOTHER project...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

St. George- Heavy fighting

St. Sebastian- Archery

Archangel Michael- Light fighting

I have decided, I think, on the scrolls for Baronial.  I should now get started on them.  *headdesk*

Sooooooooo...

Baronial scrolls...I can has to do them. 

I am, evidently, batshit crazy.  I mean, we all knew this, but now, there is  proof.  (Again.  Like we needed more, right??)

I have been asked to do the Bryn Gwlad fall Baronial event scrolls.  Yes, three of them.  One for heavy combat, one for light, and one for archery.  Honesty, since the event is "harvest festival" themed, with no real time or place nailed down, I was at a bit of a loss as to where to start looking for ideas.  There are TONS of illuminations out there, and when you've got "use your judgement, I trust you!" as your guidelines, it can get intimidating.  FAST.

So, I poked The Laurel Brain of Awesome and Niceness (really, she's amazing.  And REALLY sweet.  And doesn't mind me asking six million questions, thank God).  She did a bit of thinking and mentioned that the event falls on the feast of Michaelmas.  From Wikipedia: "Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel (also the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a day in the Western Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September. Because it falls near the equinox, it is associated in the northern hemisphere with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. In medieval England, Michaelmas marked the ending and beginning of the husbandman's year, George C. Homans observes: "at that time harvest was over, and the bailiff or reeve of the manor would be making out the accounts for the year."^[1]"

So, she suggested maybe using St. Michael, at least for the heavy scroll, and I think it's a fabulous idea!  After doing some research, though, I'm going to use the Archangel Michael for the light scroll, St. Sebastian for the archery scroll and St. George and the Dragon for the heavy scroll.

Below are some of the images I've been looking at for the scrolls.  (Yes, St. Sebastian is usually depicted as a human pincushion in his undies.)

The Archangel Michael.  Yes, that's a dragon.  Evidently, St. George was not the only dragon-slayer. 

This is a very modern take on it, I think but it's still GORGEOUS.

St. George and the Dragon.  I REALLY like this one.

St. Sebastian.  I think I like this St. Sebastian the best.  And yes, he's always in his undies, doin' the Human Pincushion.

I think this is the most striking Archangel Michael I've ever seen.  I'm in total love with this.

An awesome Archangel and Dragon.  I think if I didn't include the wings, this would make a decent St. George.

An amazing Archangel Michael. 

It's a pub sign, but still.  WOW.

I'm guessing this is a post-period Russian icon, but it's still a great depiction of St. George and the Dragon.

St. Sebastian.  I don't think I like this one as much.

The last St. Sebastian.