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All posts for the month August, 2012

Fighting City Hall

Posted by James on August 28, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: . 7 Comments

Actually, we were fighting Oncor, our electricity provider.

Last Saturday we were abruptly awakened at the crack of noon to the sounds of chainsaws in our neighbor’s back yard. The Oncor tree trimming specialists (I should say Dudes with Chainsaws) were in our neighborhood trimming ( I should say  Butchering) trees that were hanging over the power lines. We have seen their work before and apparently their idea of trimming was either make a HUGE V-shaped gash down the center or to cut off entire sides of trees.

Then there was a very loud knock at our door accompanied immediately by an excited Doberman running back and fourth. 2 creepy looking dudes with chainsaws. They wanted in our backyard to slice off  the back side our only tree.

We have one, solitary tree in the backyard. I think it ‘s a live oak but it’s mostly mistletoe. He’s a tall slim broccoli reminiscent guy. And, AND, AND……..about 15 feet from the powerline. If he is such a threat…Shouldn’t they be able to reach him from the alley? We are understandably all for safety, if we actually had ANY trees that hang over the power lines we would most certainly want them trimmed. But NOT slaughtered.

I let them in the backyard and quickly ran to the internet to research some kind of intervention.

Jamie’s idea of intervening was much more effective. He stuck his head in backyard and bluntly told them to get the hell out of our tree. Only his language was slightly…… “saltier” …….than my edited version.

They retreated quickly and he released the Doberman to patrol the perimeter and prevent anyone from entering our backyard without our permission. Or they would be severely whined at…….

This wouldn’t be our only confrontation with Oncor…….

This morning they were back; as we knew they would be. Only this time it was two good-ol’-boys wearing very official neon vests with “Utility Forester” on the back….I can only assume they were wearing neon so people won’t accidentally run them over,…… or shoot them.

Jamie actually said, get this, ” Let me take care of this, I can speak red-neck”. Good thing too, because when the guys noticed the Whitetail deer antlers in our garage, Jamie was able to talk to them about “point counts”…..and not about how they can be used to hold up Christmas wreaths, ……….like I most likely would have. Because that’s what antlers are used for in this house.

Good news,

They agreed with us and only trimmed off about a foot and a half from the branches that were close to the power line…and they reached them from the alley on a cherry-picker with clippers. No need to climb into the tree with a chainsaw.

We feel much better. We still have 98% of our tree….

and no one was accidentally shot…..

(Quick update on this post,

One of our readers sent us this link about a similar encounter she had and the resulting article on Angieslist, Read it Here, it’s exactly how we feel.)

Quick (Real Quick) Trip to Key West

Posted by James on August 26, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 19 Comments

I know y’all are thinking that we already took a vacation this year; a cruise with our dear friends the Pecks.

Last year we stepped out of our comfort zone and bypassed our annual trip to Key West and tried out St Croix instead….big mistake.

Key West was calling us with her sweet, sweet song………and it’s a lovely song she sings.

So much so..that we thought we would squeeze in a 5 day excursion at the end of August.

Why not fly down to Miami and drive the Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys? What a great opportunity to see all the keys. We only had to make the drive once? Right? That’s what we thought .

We flew to Miami, rented a convertible, and made the 3 hour drive…..

We got to Key West just in time to pick up my little brother Ben at the Key West Airport.

Then we dragged him to El Meson de Pepe for great Cuban food. Might be a little “Touristy”. But we love the roasted pork, pressed Cuban sandwiches, sangria, and guava bread pudding. I’m almost drooling just typing this.

“Peace”

This picture I’m posting just to embarrass Ben…like that first one wasn’t embarassing enough….

In the morning, there was a possibility of bad weather (rainstorm Isaac) so we squeezed in a much fun into a day as we could.

Breakfast at Pepe’s (Not to be confused with Maison de Pepe’s). This little hole in the wall is one of the oldest eateries on the island and one of the best. Every time the waitress came to our table she told us the specials….it was a little like “Groundhog Day”.

After breakfast we headed to Fort Zachary Taylor Beach for snorkeling. The entire park surrounds a pre-Civil War fortress. The water was a little dingy and rough….so we didn’t last too long.

But we did have time to pose at the mileage signpost on the beach. I don’t see Dallas on there anywhere.

 Then we zipped (we rented Vespas to get around) over to the Hemingway house for the tour.

Key West has had a myriad of interesting residents (Jimmy Buffet, Tennessee Williams, Hunter S Thompson, Judy Blume, Kenny Chesney, John James Audubon, Harry Truman, Truman Capote, and Robert Frost…..just to name a few). But Ernest Hemingway is by far my favorite. Even though he only lived here for about 9 years, most of which he was a foreign war correspondent and before he was the fully established “Papa” writer, most  residents here consider him to be the equivalent of Key West royalty.

I just love this portrait of him …..

After a tour of his house it was only fitting to visit not only Hemingway’s favorite bar, and the most popular bar on the island as well, Sloppy Joe’s.

Sloppy Joe’s used to be across the street from its current location, but when the landlord raised the rent 1$ (which I guess was a lot of money in 1937 ) Joe Russell the owner decided to move locations. At midnight Joe enlisted every patron in the palace to help move everything in the bar across the street….including their own drinks.  The only thing that didn’t make the move was the men’s room urinal. Hemingway declared that he had flushed a small fortune down that thing and he dragged it home for himself. His wife Pauline was mortified and had it converted into a fountain where is remains today.

Fish tacos and a frozen “Rum Runner” at Sloppy Joe’s. A Rum Runner is a glorious mixture of Bacardi, blackberry liquor, pineapple juice, orange juice, and grenadine…Delicious. The girl at the table next to us was ordering one out of her “Florida Keys” guidebook……..typical Tourist. She couldn’t blend with the locals like we did.

The southern most point of the United States is only 90 miles from Cuba. And yes, we still have a trade embargo with them. I was reminded of this fact when I ordered a Cuban beer. Cuban refugees continue to wash up on U.S. soil looking for better lives.  Their abandoned “crafts” are found on Key West beaches all the time.

A little souvenir shopping at the local stores.

Isn’t this “Sponge Man” one of the absolute creepiest things you have ever seen in your life? You would have to literally pry me off the ceiling if I ever woke up and saw this thing standing next to my bed.

 

Dinner was at a remodeled whore house, the Blue Heaven. We actually ate in one of the (clears throat) “entertaining” rooms. Seriously. It’s even painted “Whore House Red”.

The food is amazing and they have the BEST key lime pie on the island…Trust us on this!

It wouldn’t be a trip to Key West without a drag show. So we dragged Ben to Aqua to see the girls. Like dear, sweet little Inga here…….

We knew that there was a tropical storm in the Caribbean. Because no one on the island seemed to be affected by it; we weren’t worried either.

The front desk woke us at 8 AM to say they were shutting down the hotel and we had 4 hours to leave. Tropical Rainstorm Isaac looked like he might be a little threatening. Threatening enough for the island Elders to ask the tourists to leave. We certainly didn’t want to repeat of our trip last year to St Croix where we landed on the island about 1 hour before Hurricane Irene and then we sat in a dark hotel room for a couple of days. It wasn’t fun.

So rental car it was, and the 3 of us drove back up the Overseas Highway to Miami.

 Even with the looming storm, we managed to get a hotel room and morning flights back to Dallas. We took a short trip down to South Beach for deco buildings gawking and dinner.

The beach was mostly abandoned, so we jumped up on a lifeguard station….

 In the morning, Jamie and I booked it back to BIG D. Seriously short trip. I don’t know why we brought so many clothes.

“What happened to Ben?”, you ask.

Funny story.

He didn’t have the same luck that we had changing our flight, and as I write this he is still in Miami waiting for a 7 am flight back to Dallas. Rainstorm Issac isn’t hitting Miami nearly as badly as expected….so we know he’ll be fine.

Maybe that isn’t that funny…….

Look What I Found

Posted by James on August 25, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , . 5 Comments

How cool is this little guy? Aged just perfectly.

VERY vintage Tom Thumb toy cash register….I picked him up for $12. Tom Thumb toys were made by the Western Stamping Co.Inc., in Jackson MI. That’s about all I could find out about him.

He even came with a “Lucky Penny”.

Making Space for the TV

Posted by James on August 19, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , , . 13 Comments

I’m not an electronic person.

Jamie is. He always has the smartest phone, newest I-pad, satellitest radio, most universal remote…yadda, yadda, yadda. You get the picture.

I could care less.

When we first met, about 6 years ago, I had a flip phone (that I think took pictures) and a (possibly designed for children) camera that took 3 megapixel pictures. My only television had a giant picture tube that weighed (insert huge weight here)  and was connected to a rabbit-ear antenna box that I bought at Radio Shack. And yes, there were tin foil flags crushed to the ends of the antenna. I really only needed the channel that had Family Guy. When we finally did go shopping for a new slim TV for me, my only criteria was that it fit in the 17 inch distance between my bookshelves because I didn’t want it to be a focal point in my living room. Took us 8 stores to find one that small.

Because I live with a “High Tech” guy now, I know that the electronics in our house will always be the latest and greatest. I now have a towerless PC with a touchscreen, several Apple devices that I couldn’t imagine life without (God bless you Steve Jobs), a camera that takes unbelievable pictures, and a thousand plus U-verse channels for me to find Family Guy on. I know that someday our entire house will be wired with zoned speakers connected to our Itunes libraries and controlled with our Ipads. We’ve dreamt of this happening…….AAAhhhhh, Someday.

None of those modern conveniences would be available to me without Jamie. (He also patiently explains how to make them work)

So when I came home and found a television in our den big enough to be a “dramatic” headboard. I panicked.

It’s a focal point. No way around it. But Jamie lives here too, and anyone will tell you that I steamroll usually make all some of the design decisions.

So big TV it is. 55 inch high-def screen to be exact. It’s measured diagonally. (I never knew that until Jamie)

It’s hard to tell from the large black box in the middle of the picture, but there is actually art and books and other assorted goodness happening around it.

I had always planned on making the console stretch across the entire wall, but when we moved in our friend Doubting-Thomas said , “Don’t ya think that’s a little big?”

and I started doubting myself. So much in fact that I stashed the third piece in Jamie’s office……and settled on just 2 cabinets.

Here is that missing Ikea Expedit bookcase with the relocated TV from our den…..also a little big for the piece it is currently on.

SO……… I reclaimed it for the Den. Like it was always meant to be.

Don’t worry about Jamie’s office. He made a quick trip to Ikea and returned with a Besta cabinet. Harley helped him assemble it to the best-a her abilities.

Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

Now to fix the console in the den with that monolith sitting on it. I should just slip the new piece onto the end right? Well it’s not that easy. Remember that a couple of months ago we built a base for our 2 sideways Expedit bookcases to rest on so it looks more like a piece of furniture…..and not like…..ummm, say…..2 Expedit bookcases laying on their sides. Y’all can read all about that brilliance here.

I don’t want to rebuild the entire platform, just to add this little piece…. 

Check this out. I keep all my drawings for projects on a clipboard by my workbench, and this was still there. All the measurements for the first console base.

All the 2X4 cuts , and the mitered pine trim on the outside. I didn’t need to remeasure anything. Just trim the length down to  .Sometimes hoarding = rewarding.

So I whipped up a little platform attachment to connect to my current base. Used some left over 2 X 4s and pine boards in the garage. Because I am butting it up against the bigger one I only needed to do Ebony stained pine on 2 sides..

I drilled pilot holes on the side and screwed it into the longer base with drywall screws…..

Then we slid the big bookcase over and inserted the small one into the middle, just so the whole cabinet is “balanced” looking.

Here’s what she looks like all complete…….like she was meant to look like a few years ago.

The bigger flag also helps to “size down” the look of the TV.  We certainly Love a flag tacked on the wall, but I miss the 48 star one already. Maybe it will reappear in the garage. Now there is room for even more stuff. And y’all know that we like to see organized clutter.

Note also that I finally found just the right home for the stacked ball lamp. He’s on the very end next to Cary Grant. My custom shade arrived yesterday and I couldn’t be happier with it. I’ve never had to design a shade before and I was honestly a little nervous. But it is PERFECT.  The price was pretty good too. $40. On a free lamp (Dumpster find, remember?)…that’s not really that bad.

Check this out. Fenchel Shades, where I ordered my black bad boy from, will give all you gentle readers 10% off your next custom lamp shade order if you use the code: UG86.

So give them a shot. They will make exactly what you need.

Cedar Planking the Garage

Posted by James on August 16, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , . 20 Comments

Combining the households of 2 grown men is not an easy task. Like we did a little over 2 years ago.

Our garage, just like yours I’m sure, was a total dumping ground for everything that didn’t have a place in the house.

Get this, we actually piled all our crap to the ceiling in there.

To

The

Ceiling.

It’s almost too embarrassing to show…but I’m gunna show you anyway.

Told ya, pretty awful.

But where else are we supposed to keep our taxidermy bass? or “See Rock City” bird house? or the old theater seats?

We did manage to keep a small (someone call for a Hoarders intervention)path from the door to the outside world.

After just about 2 years of sorting, …….and adding shelves, …….and donation trips to Goodwill,…….. and putting stuff on the curb……….we managed to get to this point…

Not too bad, but not something we are particularly proud of either. We still can’t fit a car in there. I don’t even have a picture of all the “stuff” pushed to the side out of camera range. The mess is mostly contained, but the whole place is still so…… unfinished. The walls and ceiling are just plain 1970’s sheet rock. They never even did a tape-and-bed job.

We had to do something to make it feel like a “room”…..and we needed a jumping off point. Like this peacefulness…

 

Mixed with this anal-retentive organization….(like I even have to tell you that it’s from Martha Stewart Living)

A little modern, a little vintage, a little wooden, a little functional garage……that’s where we were headed.

And what did we like the most about our 2 inspiration photos? The wood, that’s right.

Fencing cedar is pretty cheap. About 3 bucks for an 8 foot board. Every time I made a trip to H-Depot I picked up 10 boards. 30 bucks a pop, not much of a bite. We used it before on the front of our house to make thick columns and cover the ceiling of the patio. Both projects we are still just Ga-Ga about.

To this, in a few hours….We still need to trim the door in white moulding. And add the cedar crown moulding. (Crown moulding in the garage, aren’t we fancy?) And Jamie has something planned for that door to the kitchen too. The wood tone distracts too much from our B-U-T-ful cedar.

I can not live without my air compressor and brad gun…. Best Investments Ever..

After the kitchen remodel, we saved the old upper cabinets (in the garage natch’) to wrangle in some of the clutter. 2 of them went over the washer/dryer (y’all can see that amazingness here)…..and the others we hung along the foundation at a perfect counter height. They are shallow, because these are upper cabinets and only 11 inches deep, but that will keep the garage looking more open.

Here’s the upcycled kitchen cabinets hung along the base of the left side wall….

And after taking the cedar along that whole wall and adding the cabinet doors. Notice how the sprinkler control and electrical panel were painted khaki to blend in with the cedar….Pretty clever, an I right? Who wants to see things like that? Not us. That’s for darn sure.

This is just the beginning of this “Mind Blower”. Wait till y’all see everything we have been working on out there.

Jackson Pollock Inspired Pillows

Posted by James on August 12, 2012
Posted in: New Home, Projects. Tagged: , , , , , . 15 Comments

This inspiration starts with a trip to New York.

And the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Been there? I highly recommend it. I could spend days there.

My favorite piece in the whole collection? That’s easy. It’s that Jackson Pollock that’s bigger than a school bus.

This one. August Rhythm

I imagine that he got drunk every night and tossed paint at this thing for years before he declared it finished. How could he possibly tell when it was finished?

I was there. See? You’ll have to excuse the hat, it was much more “stylish” 10 years ago.

I just love it.

And I also love this Rudy Burckhardt photograph of him. 

I love the way the photo is divided in half. Half splatter and the other half  Pollock with paint cans.  For some reason, the part with the splatter looks way more organized and cohesive. Just Brilliant.

I found this picture of a chair from a past Ralph Lauren home collection of an artists beach getaway.

Anything look familiar?

Yep, that pillow. I love it too.  Can you tell where the inspiration came from? HHHmmmm

Are you starting to see a pattern here? Well, not really a pattern, because we are talking about Pollock……and his art is pretty much “Anti-pattern”.

We started with some leftover paint:

  • RL Granite (left over from our fireplace paint job)
  • Kilz Primer (whitest white on the planet)
  • Martha Stewart Cement Grey (small tester)
  • Martha Stewart Mariner (small tester)

We added the blue and grey to keep it looking a little more “unintentional”.

I found these khaki canvas square pillows at Target a few years ago. I just removed the cheap poly inserts, and we’ll replace them with down ones when they dry.

Couldn’t be easier…..drop cloth, pillow covers, cheap brushes ……and paint slinging. Of course, we did our painting sober.

The Texas heat worked in our favor and they dried throughly in about an hour. We left the other side plain canvas incase we ever want just plain pillows again…..but not likely anytime soon.

Prepare to have your mind blown and have a look-see at the finished pillows…..

Aren’t they just GREAT?

This could be a great project for a kids …..or even a couple of grown men who think they’re still kids.

The Cavender Diary on Apartment Therapy’s theKitchn

Posted by James on August 9, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , . 3 Comments

It happened….and we are overjoyed!!!!!

The wise editors of Apartment Therapy found our kitchen update worthy of sharing with the A.T. community.

Our remodel was born of necessity, we couldn’t get past the cheap counter tops, black sink, way too short upper cabinets, institutional lighting, and that exposed microwave.

By working hard and efficiently we created a space that we aren’t only proud to show off…but also works perfectly for us.

Go check it out …..

Pinning Flags on the Wall

Posted by James on August 1, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , , , . 4 Comments

I was recently reading online about flags as home decor.

One reader commented that thumb-tacking a flag to your wall could only say “Dorm Room”….

“Yeah, the “Cool” dorm room,” is what I’m thinking.

The one where the door was always open. I could smell the incense and here the alternative music mixed with giggly girls from the end of the hall where my boring dorm room was.

What better way to express your impromptu patriotism, than tacking a flag up on the wall?…..

We have American flags in almost ever room of the house. We even pinned one in our den behind the TV,

Of course, she is linen and has 48 stars (we refuse to acknowledge Alaska and Hawaii as legitimate states in this house). We really do plan to frame it someday, just haven’t yet. So there she hangs.

I searched around the internets, and found several more rockingly cool examples of flags in decor. Some pinned, some framed….but all inspiring,

Ralph Lauren Hither Hills Living Room

Pinned Image

Why stop at just American flags?

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Pretty Groovy examples all, …….and not a “dorm room” in the bunch.

Update…

We increased the size of the American flag we have tacked over our television console in the den to counter the size of the new larger TV.

We still LOVE it, and wouldn’t have it any other way…..