Saturday, August 20, 2011

The Skirted Roundtable

One of my favorite design blogs is The Skirted Roundtable. I love listening to these professional interior designers chat. You hear the story (and real cost) behind the photos you see in design magazines. Their recent post features James Swan who has just written this book, 101 Things I Hate About Your House. Here's how you can find it on Amazon. After reading the preview there, I can't wait to get this book. It starts with the entryway and he works his way through the house. This is what my version of the book would start with: "Welcome, do you have to use the bathroom? Cuz it's right here-right by the front door."
Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of nice things about my house. Like the kitchen.
and the recently finished playroom:
Right now I've been working on the bedroom and BOY DO I HATE THIS WALL:
The space behind the ironing board is a nightmare. Here's what I've got to deal with there:
2 light switches 
(notice one is poorly placed because of vent that runs through wall)
large (dusty) vent
temperature sensor
alarm
vacuum
outlet with co2 detector

Other challenges include: 
3 UGLY oak doors
bad paint color
TV 
DVD and Tivo
old carpet

This is my latest solution for the wall. These photos where drawn by my mom in college. They used to be in a neat row above the hedboard. I put them up last week to see how this solution would work. And see the paint swatch by the door? That's another story. 

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Collect-tag.

In April of 2008, I found this photo on the internet. Inspired, I started my own collection. So here we are, three and a half years later with the result of my effort.
I now have about two and a half inches of tags. Based on my calculation, there are about 12 years worth of tags in the top photo.