Reclaiming Part of The Guest Room

Here's the deal - on either side of our staircase we have matching rooms. Had our house not been hacked to bits by the former owners, one would have been the dining room (which it is) and the other would have been the living room. Follow?
Unfortunately, the one that should serve as living room had been turned into a bedroom at some point. So it has a closet and an ugly plastic coated bathroom. We've been using it as a guest room slash my office because we have so few rooms done in the house. It hasn't been gutted - so it still has a yucky dropped ceiling and paneling (which we painted to make it more tolerable).
Recently, I had a brainstorm as to how we might make it more living room-like. Our budget? Roughly zero.
Behold: OK, this is not a true before picture. I had already started moving things around, so the room is super cluttered. But you get the gist.

Big console holding the TV right in front of the pretty fireplace. Bed immediately to your right when you walk in the door. CLUNK.


Oh wait, here's another before (pre-console days).

And here is the same view now, walking into the room.

walking in one more step...

Turning to the right where the bed used to be. There you can see my desk sticking out. Now, the TV is on it. Kinda janky, I know - but it'll have to do for now. We need either a flat screen above the fireplace, or a TV cart that can roll out when needed. And I need my desk to be in my office (currently used as the shop). Sigh.


Here's another before:

Here is the wall that the bed used to be against. I'm so jazzed to have this couch out of the dining room where it was sucking up so much space. This still needs tweaking. I should use different lamps, and the end table situation is iffy. There are also some smudges in the paint where the bed rubbed against it.Those paintings are by my old friend Mathew Brannon (hello, solo show at the Whitney). I may hang a bunch of photos on this wall as well. Haven't decided. Stay tuned.


Here's a before for contrast:

This is where the real work happened. I draped the hell out of the closet, and moved the head of the bed into it to create a little sleeping nook. That made the bed (a queen) much less obtrusive in the room. Joe and I also made some great little shelves for reading lamps out of books from Goodwill. I'll post a tutorial in a sec. Don;t ask me why I have that stick over by the fireplace. It's been there for over a year. I'm insane I guess. There, I said it. Are you happy?

I'm having weird camera problems, so forgive the spots.

We can finally admire the pretty fireplace in this room. Both mirrors were "dumpster dives," I found one on the street, and got another from my friend's house-sale for free. The topiaries were also free from the same sale. Oh ps: the great sissal rug is one of two that my aunt Mimi just gave me for free. Hate me yet? It totally makes the room because the floors desperately need to be redone.
Over by the fireplace you can where Terminex tore a bunch of holes in the floor to show us old termite damage. Thanks, Terminex. Don't look at the ugly baseboard heating either please. You're looking! What'd I say?

How hilarious is this picture of me (swoopy bangs) and my little sister? I love it. My Father In-law asked who the boys in the picture were. I don't know what kind of Flock of Seagulls dudes he's hanging out with. PS: could we have looked any more miserable in the shot? 7th grade I think.

Here's the nook with Bernie admiring.

All for now - more later. The little shelves we made are so great. I can't wait to show them to you you.

Weekend Yard Project

Even though I should be blogging for one of my paying gigs right now. I'd rather show off a little proj progress from the long weekend. It was such a nice break. We worked like crazy in the yard, but also had some awesome home cooked dinners with friends, and walked to a gorgeous double waterfall nearby. But I digress.

Here's the deal. I snapped up this table and chair set at my favorite affordably priced Warren Street haunt (there are a few I promise!) Carousel.
When I bought it, the chairs were white vinyl.
Ick.
Sticky summer legs, where do I sign up. Right?
Anyway - I'll probably put a clear coat over them so they don't continue to chip and rust. I like the current ratio.
Before...


After (one is an armchair and one is a side)
I'm not super awesome with the upholstery projects yet - I don't suggest starting with stripes btw - but I'm happy with it even if they are a little wiggly.



The cuteness comes together.



The over all sitation:
What you don't see is the huge pile of crappola including but not limited to posts with huge concrete globs on them (deck carcass), tons of rotten wood, three (why) rusty propane tanks, snarled metal fencing etc. etc. etc. that was piled up directly behind this little patch of concrete paradise. That's cause we lugged it outa there!



The yellowish grass is where it lurked.



Ok so maybe this IS too many pictures.
Whatever. It took a long friggin time people, so please humor me.




Bernie loves it - so there.



I made a little DIY firepit out of some of the pretty antique bricks we had. I salvaged these from one of the "chimneys to nowhere" that we took down from the roof when we had it repaired. Note to self, find out city fire laws.
I've seen other neighbors with firepits but God knows I live my life in fear of a scolding, so I'll have to check.



Here's where all the stuff is now - cause I know you wondered.
Note: Alleys are rad!



Here's more of it.
Sometimes things take a long time around here becaue Rainman loves him some organization. But I look the other way because I have found over time that his methods generally pay off.



Anyway - we will probably lay flagstone on top of the little cement patch - or box it in and pour pea gravel. Either of those would be preferable to cement. And both will be fairly simple to do since we don't have to level anything.
But this will do for now.

And after all that Joe mowed


So there's the dirt patchy, former pool area on the right and the cement island on the left. The former home owners sure loved to break up flow. If you are wondering what the heck's up with the rusty pole center frame, why it's half of the gigantic clothes line that diagonally cuts across the lawn.
We know.
It's next on the chopping block.
Joe's totally looking forward to digging out the concrete pilings holding it in place.

More soon!

Kitchen Floor Part Dos

So then over the weekend, Joe and finessed that sum bitch.
This delightful photo shows the Zinzer shellac that I hit all the knots with so they wont bleed through the paint - and the puttying that Joe did to fill all the obvious machine made dings and staple marks.


If I had a dollar for every meal this guy eats sitting down I would have like three dollars a month. Ka-ching!

Yeah, the Kid still has a lot to learn about how to relax. It's true.
But it's on his five year plan, swear to God.
Yep there it is, #127, learn to relax more.
Right after #126 - finish the book Guns Germs and Steel.
(Side note: goals 1 through 100 are pretty much all house related)
So anyway, yeah - then we primered the whole shebang.

More delectable views. Now that it's primered we really see that it needs some distressing and face nailing because it's way way too pristine. But it looks nice, no?

Here it is put back together so we can use it this week.
Bad kitty!

We didn't primer under the stove and the fridge, we have so many other little things to do to the floor before we start the epic paint job - so we kind of want to put off moving everything out of the kitchen until the last possible minute.
I still have camping memories from October when I moved up here and lived off microwavable nastiness for months.
Good times. Good high sodium times.

Ooh that's a bad kitty!
Dunno if you noticed, but I knocked the middle moulding bits off the cabinets. Not only was it very satisfying - it's one less unnecessary dust-collecting ledge in house full of dust collecting crevices. So there's that.

Kitchen Floor Part Uno

So here's what we were up to late last week slash last weekend.
OK the me part of we didn't get super involved until Saturday.
This was really Joe's baby.
That's him and his friend Ryan who came up from Brooklyn to help him lay that mofo.


They started Thursday and Joe finished it by himself the next day. It's white pine, which yes we know is super soft. But what we are going for is an old looking kitchen floor that will blend well with the house around it. We plan to beat it up a little, add some face nails and paint it. If we do it right, it should look fairly authentic.

The obligatory Bernie shot. Please do not call child protective services on us just because he is oh so close to a pneumatic staple gun. Bernie knows his way around power tools. Mkay?

There's Ryan taking a moment to admire his own workmanship. Like they like to do.


Is this not gorgeous? We decided to go with a few different widths to give it some more texture. We will be quieting it all down with paint - so I thought the varying widths would be just enough.

Joe and Bernie taking a nice long look. Like they like to do.
With appliances moved back in. Hey, this is what construction looks like when you are living and working in it. You pretty much have to put the house back together at the end of every night. It's bliss. I'll tell you that right now.
Anyway - there's more to come. Stay tuned.
Oh wait - just for old times sake...

The Murderscene Kitchen. OK so the cabinets still hurt your heart? Mine too, mine too.
Just wait. I swear we will put a salve upon your wound soon enough.
Just be thankful that the frilly curtain complete with rust (ahem blood) spatter is gone.
Not to mention the icky back splash. Baby steps people. Baby steps.

Progress Report: The Crystal Meth Room

OK, I know this is boring people. But I think it's only fair that I show stuff Joe has done. That... aaaaaaand I'm kinda scraping until I take a few more pictures around here.
Anyway - you may recall?


Now it's our in-house shop. Bucept fancier, cause there's spooky red carpet for more splinter retention.
But seriously, the carpet is not coming up until we are ready to renovate this room for real. The floors underneath are too nice to expose right now.


Note Joe's organizational skills. Stop with the snoring! He worked hard on this crap I tell you.

OK so the ceiling is still relatively horrifying. But it's serving it's purposes as a shop roof. Ick. The color scheme in there still kicks up my gag reflex. Sorry black and red, you still combine to make a heckuva great 80's outfit. But no thanks on walls.
Anyway - I pledge to shoot some more stuff later this week so you can get a look at other, prettier things.
Ciao.

Guess What?

Cat Butt!So yeah, another thing we (OK Joe) accomplished is the removal of the linoleum in the hallway. Finally! Now the hall connects to the rooms on either side so much better. The wood is patched in places, I think there may have been a trap door to the basement near the front door. But I love how it looks. For some reason, Jack (aforementioned chubby white kitty) really wanted to be involved in these pics.
Kinda crusty and dusty.
looking backward toward the kitchen.

Oh - if you check out the top picture you'll notice how the doorway was once large and lovely and is now crappy and home depot-y. They basically framed it in and put up the lamest front door they could find at the neighborhood big box. Anyway, we discovered that there were large hinge-notches on either side of the space, so it used to have double doors. Yay! Not that they are cheap or anything but I love those and when the time comes I'll dig shopping for them. I think I have a picture of my friend Dawn's front door - for inspiration. I'll dig it up and post it when I find it.

here's a before... you'l have to enlarge to note the linoleum on the floors.

And here's a before that...
Shudder. See? From now on, when I tell you that every visible surface was blanketed by a thick coating of ugly, you'll know that I was being gentle so as not to hurt the house's feelings.
It was really covered with a gooey layer of scream and run.
Which is probably why we got it for a song.
It gave everyone else who saw it a rash, a wheezy cough and bad dreams.
OK, I'm exaggerating, there were actually other offers. But still. Total song.

Cutting off the Crust

In happier, better smelling news...
We have been making progress in the front entrance hallway. We (Joe) are using it as an opportunity to learn how to plaster. I tend to not be super interested until he gets to the top coat. But I've already had a really good time tinting up joint compound to make a poor man's venetian plaster. It looks gorgeous when dry. who knew?

Ripping off the lovely perma-sheen faux wood walls and dropped acoustic tile ceiling revealed actual curves.
There aren't many of those around here so I was super jazzed.


The door will go soon but for now it's a welcome dust barrier.

What's that you say? You don't remember what it looked like before? What???
I can't believe you didn't swipe a picture for your flickr account labeled "inspiration." Enlarge for full effect.
Stop that dramatic wheezing, you aren't actually IN the hallway from hell. It just feels that way.
This one was taken on day 1, about an hour after we closed, and seconds after I ripped the orange carpeting off. I'm pretty sure it was made entirely of cancer and scabs. Bernie was glad to see it go. Although it still haunts him as evidenced by his eyes in this picture.

this is how the surface looks after stripping three layers of paper. Like most other rooms the top layer is really plain, like craft paper and the other layers are really pretty (from what I can see) but I haven't been able to separate them except for little quarter inch chips. Kinda sucks, as I'd love to preserve a bit. But I love how the walls look just like this.

this is where Joe has repaired it most of the way. Scratch coat and brown coat? Check.
Now we are going to try to match it somewhat with the patching. Fun proj!
It kind of looks like a science fair project involving topographical maps.
the aforementioned curve. So sexy, so elegant, so not a dropped ceiling meeting fake wood paneling at a 90 degree angle.
Yeah, so the linoleum is still there. We cant tear it up until I can afford to have another load of demo'd materials carted off. All of our reserve tanks are full of rubble. KWIS?

Besides repairing it and then sealing it so that it doesn't dust all over us, we won't be doing much to change the look of it. The colors are rad. There is a blue gray vein here and there that doesn't pop out in photos but it really looks gorgeous. I'm not really a yellow person, so let's just call this color what it is - yellowed.

Another look...

And another... I promise to show you where it ends up this weekend.