Valentine's at the Capitol

Before the weather took a bitter turn (turning cloudy, windy, and dropping over 20 degrees >_<) on Sunday, we took a nice trip to the capitol! It was such fun times I thought I'd share some photos ^_^

 

  

  

  

  

It was lots and lots of fun! :D And the grounds are beautiful to walk. After the capitol building, we made our way down to 2nd Street to peruse shops. Notable stops were to Mercury (where I saw some Necklush products!) and Design Within Reach, where we drooled over designer furniture:

Some day, my pretties, some day...

I also made a drawing of what I wore and the day's events (preview), but I want to ink & color it! Hope you don't mind the photo-heavy post! I'm more than happy to hear your thoughts on it ;D Happy Tuesday!

a room, a box, and a book

Happy New Year!

(This post has nothing to do with that though.)

Here are some things I found today that amaze me...

A Mario room designed as an art installation by Antoinette J. Citizen.
Alex and I have decided that our child's room will look like this. We'll make the question mark boxes light up though ^_^ Blik sells decals for Super Mario Bros, new Super Mario Bros, and Donkey Kong :)

The Shit Box (please excuse my French) by The Brown Corporation - a lightweight portable cardboard toilet. It's completely degradable! Pretty amazing, right?

And I got this book today at Book People. I passed up two other books on my list to get it, so you know it's good. I like that instead of a how-to (which the other two were) it simply shows great design that's out there. Inspiring :-)

Credenza Makeover

Alex and I just finished refurbishing a credenza to makeover our dining room. I'm responsible for a good portion of the design, and Alex is to be thanked for the bulk of the work (as I was recovering from oral surgery). He spent nearly all his free time for nearly a week to get this thing finished, and I couldn't be happier with it!

We turned this crazy, cluttered looking space:

And this old, crusty credenza (originally with an enormously heavy top):


Into this:

I'm so proud! We took time to do everything the right way - including primer and handpainting. One drawer became a shelf with a hinge top (on the top right). Two drawers (bottom right) turned into one large drawer with a partial plexiglass front - tall enough to hold all our liquor! We added an extra shelf inside. We obviously painted the whole thing (outside grey, inside yellow), and we added new handles. To see more pics, go to my flickr site :) I'm really glad to have a safe place to store the precious glassware and china (not pictured) I inherited from my grandmothers. And now no one has to worry about knocking things over!

Oh right, I think I'll eventually add a yellow accent to one of the doors....Forgot about that...;)

Tammy's Bag: Finished

Alrighty, the bag is finished! It's much like my Batman bag, but is a slightly different shape, and with different pockets. I love using the contrasting fabric for the inside of the pockets! I think I did a really great job on this bag, I must say. And I'm getting faster, too! It only took me...maybe 6 hours? to complete. That doesn't include shopping for materials, of course, but that was really fun as well. Take a look - I hope you enjoy!





(Can you tell I had fun with the photoshoot again? :D)
(PS: In the background are the bookshelves Alex and I designed and built. Aren't they beautiful?)

And I just uploaded it to my etsy shop! Can't wait to finish some more projects!

Dresser

I finally finished refurbishing my dresser! I used a darker blue than on my other dresser, but with accents that match it. I bought brushed nickel knobs that match the handles on other one, too. It's all very exciting. Alex and I also rearranged our small, messy closet (it was about time), which makes me very happy.

Here's the before:

Notice the fake double drawers, the molding, and the lovely brass handles and knobs.

First things first, we took off the molding above and below the bottom drawers. We recarved the feet. Then I sanded down the entire thing. I was hoping to get it down to the wood and restain it, but the varnish was unbelievable thick. But at least I got to use my new electric palm sander!


I did the drawers first. I used wood putty to fill the old holes, and redrilled new ones for just two knobs on each drawer. Then came the spray paint. Parts of them got this weird stippling effect, but I was too cheap to buy primer or anything, so I just agreed to let that be an interesting texture. I love this photo: the clouds reflected in the blue.

I painted the entire dresser blue, except the feet, which I painted the lighter color. Alex sawed the front molding piece out of a flat board and I painted it the lighter color, too.



Finally I added all the knobs and screwed the front piece, then put in all the clothes! Yay finish!