Luxe Living

Where to begin? Actually, that is how all of my major projects start. I get an idea in my head then I spend grueling amounts of time torturing my body and my husband to bring it to life.

In the beginning our living room was stark white with a few sparse pieces of furniture.

 This was before we had anything and it was this way for way longer than what is socially acceptable.

 Then we got our awesome couch.

 And we had our street find table, our black friday TV, and our home made coffee table.

Still, the room lacked interest. So, we decided to paint with a nice bold color. Anything had to be better than walking into an igloo everyday. Blah. In order to find the perfect color I hopped on over to Sherman Williams' Paint Color Visualizer. I use their paint because there is a store within walking distance from our house; I used the visualizer because it is fun and easy to use.

I used just about every color on the website. With a big green couch and a brick fireplace it is tough to avoid what my hubbs fondly refers to as "bitch-ass beige" but clearly that wasn't an option for him. Then I remembered the advice of my sister and my brother-in-law. She said "oooooh, paint it brown!" and he said "go bold or go home" (or something along those lines). So I crept into brown territory. Gasp! Dark paint on walls?!?!?!?!!?!?!! The room will feel so small, it will be like a dark dungeon, forget igloo; cave is even worse.

So, when I was done with all of that hubbub I went for it. Hubbs and I found a color we both liked and pulled the trigger on 2 gallons without so much as a sample swatch or the bat of an eye. Um. I can't say I recommend that path but then again, it worked for us.

After a few weeks of the paint sitting in the living room and me getting increasingly nervous about the color, we decided to put up a few test spots and lighten if necessary. We got many No's from friends and family; and while I respect and love them all, at the end of the day, this is our house and we have to live in it.

Check it out:

A few notes on this method. One, use two coats. Two, just because it is SO MUCH darker than the stark white doesn't mean you should chicken out. Three, if we had only bought the sample and did this we would have chickened out.

We decided because we have 2 gallons of the stuff we should just use it, and if we hate it then just paint over it with a new color. Onward bound!

Here is what I saw on the Color Visualizer (varying colors on monitors make it difficult to get 100% accurate color):

Here is how it came out in real life: 

 No Flash:

Flash:

 In person, it looks more like a mix between flash and no flash, pretty darn similar to the color visualizer.

After it was all said and done we loved the color even if there are still naysayers. So, we have decided to keep it and accessorize to spice it up even more.

Here is the finished look:

We are so happy with the way it turned out. All of our "cave nightmares" are outta sight, outta mind for sure. The room doesn't feel the least bit smaller. It actually feels polished, put together and really suits both of our tastes.

Side note: We are not completely done with this room (is anyone ever?) We have crown moulding to install, curtains to hang and once we replace the floors we are also replacing baseboards. Exciting things to come, people. Exciting things indeed.

Until the next project, my friends.

The High Line

Our clothes line has been working like a dream, but in the standard configuration it has one shortcoming, literally.  It is slightly to short; at perfect head bashing height.
I inquired with the manufacturer about getting an extension pipe and they said they would sell me one for ten dollars, but they would void my warranty.  I figured I would eventually do it, but maybe after the warranty expired.
As luck would have it, when we got our patio set it came with a random pipe, which turned out to be the lower half of an umbrella and was not really a part of the patio set.  That pipe happened to fit perfectly into the clothes line pipe, so I got my extension for free.  Score.

It was a little tall at first (like eight feet high), so I trimmed 20 inches off and now we have an ideal clothes line.

Just ignore all the crap in the background; we're working on it.

Screw That

Our shower had two of these horrible rusty screws on the top rail, inside the shower, and they have been driving me crazy for a long time.

I recently bought a variety pack of stainless steel screws, so I put a couple to use.  So much better:

Cut the Rope

Before

Many of the blinds around the house have pull-cords that are excessively long.  Many of them reach the floor when the blinds are raised.  I'm not too concerned about children hanging themselves, but it does look tacky, so we trimmed several of them.

After

Shady Dealings

We got an umbrella for our patio set from Rite Aid for all of $20.  We enjoyed our 4th of July hot dogs and Mai Tais under it.  We plan to keep it inside most of the time to avoid it getting destroyed too quickly.

Happy birthday America!

Inspiration 8

This thing is incredible.
http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/2013/04/honda-super-cub-roadrunner-concept.html


This bike is cool too.
http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2013/4/30/yamaha-sr250-first-notion.html


This bike seemingly made a rear fender out of the exhaust.  Interesting.
http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2013/5/9/1982-honda-cb750-convertible-steel-bent-customs.html


I like the rearset on this bike.  I also like the extra detail on the rounded tail section.
http://www.bikeexif.com/bmw-k100











I like the seat/tail on this bike.
http://www.bikeexif.com/1979-honda-cb500


I like the taillights on this bike.
http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/2013/05/kawasaki-z1000-streetfighter-cafe-racer.html


I like this seat.  Room for two, but they stepped the frame so it's not too bulky in the back.
http://www.bikeexif.com/honda-cb900f


This is a nice BMW.  I like the foot controls--apparently made by Raask.
http://www.returnofthecaferacers.com/2013/06/eleven-bmw-r100-by-kevils.html


This is a really nice BMW, with tons of nice details, and lots of info on the second website.
http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2013/6/22/bmw-r755-josh-withers.html
http://sharoncol.balkowitsch.com/bmw.htm

Irrigation Issues

It took longer than I expected, really.  The back yard sprinkler with the missing top finally broke.  It still sprinkled, but the delicate mechanism that limits the back and forth motion snapped off, leaving us with a sprinkler that rotates 260 degrees more than we need it to.

This meant a new sprinkler was in order, until I realized I could simply replace the internal mechanism of this particular sprinkler.  Since Home Depot only carries the complete sprinkler, I figured I would swap out the internals and keep the new housing as a spare.  That is, until I realized you need a special tool to remove and install the internal parts, which Home Depot and I did not have, and I didn't want to pay or wait for.  So I decided I would just replace the entire sprinkler.
Of course these particular sprinklers can have the water inlet at the bottom or at the side.  I assumed this would be a pretty simple job with the inlet on the bottom, since this arrangement would make installation and replacement a much easier task.  You could simply screw the sprinkler on and off without even really needing to dig.  Any rational person would use the bottom inlet, so of course this one used the side inlet, which would require digging a big hole to allow the whole sprinkler to be rotated and unscrewed from the supply line.

Of course there was a giant root right in the way which made unscrewing the sprinkler difficult (and also may explain why they used the side inlet).  I will also note that this project finished my roll of Teflon tape, which I think is pretty impressive.  To have enough projects to use an entire roll of said tape is quite a feat, not to mention keeping track of the roll long enough to use the entire ~50 feet.

The new sprinkler went in relatively easily.

After a quick check and confirmation of no leaks, I buttoned everything back up.  Not bad for less than an hour of work*.

*And just one Miller High Life