Missing in Utah

I know, I know!  I've been MIA for WEEKS!  I decided to bring my boys down to Utah for an extended visit with my sister and their cousins.  I thought we would be doing tons of cute projects and in the evening I would be blogging about them.  As it turns out five and sometimes six kids under the age of five take the full attention and capacities of both my sister and I to manage.  We have managed to take them to a play date with our cousin's kids, throw an over the top birthday party for the now five year old, take them to the museum of natural history in Salt Lake, and most impressive of all, not kill any of them.

Here are a few shots I've captures of the kiddos at their most adorable.

I did manage to shoot a few of my favorite parts of my sister's amazing house.  Her husband, with her help and occasional help from family members build the house.  Phoebe has done an amazing job outfitting and decorating it.  Take a look.

I love the architectural detail in the front entry/ living room of their house.  What you can't see in this photo because of the lighting is that at the front of vaulted areas of the ceiling are big beautiful dormer windows that let in a ton of natural light.

Here is a shot of the enormous overhead fan.  I normally don't care for overhead fans, but in this case it looks like a beautiful, old wood, airplane propeller and it is stunning.

And to go with that wood propeller, did you notice the front door?  Burt made that door.  Yes, he made it.  It is much larger than a standard exterior door and is a beautiful statement from both the inside and the outside of the house.
Also notice all of the molding.  There is eight inch molding throughout the house.  There is also beautiful custom molding around every door in the house.

These chairs were in my grandmother's house.  They were a vintage green color similar to the green of that adorable pillow (which may just mysteriously disappear when I leave.)  However, the fabric was rough and wearing out.  Phoebe had them re-upholstered in this classic hounds tooth fabric and they look as if they were made for this house.  

I had to show you the cool legs with the old casters.  I know how we are all just a little bit giddy over pretty furniture legs.
This shot also shows off the banister.  Because Burt doesn't just do incredible wood working, he's a welder too.  It is made of "off the shelf" steel (you know, just go into your local steel dealer) welded together and finished with a chemical finish that gives it that beautiful aged copper color.

Phoebe, who is an avid thrifter had been looking for a sofa table for quite some time.  She even was having me look in Oregon for just the right piece.  She was never able to fine exactly what she wanted, so she drew Burt a picture and me made her this.  Yes, ladies, it's OK to be jealous, but Phoebe will remind you that all of this custom work also means that she spends an awful lot of evenings alone while her husband is out in his shop.

The awesome vintage furniture continues in Phoebe's boys' room.  This is their 'dresser'.  They found it in a old shed on the property they built their house on.  Phoebe said it was in very sad shape, but after a lot of scrubbing and some paint, her boys had a seriously awesome alternative to a dresser.  It holds a ton, has a shallow footprint, and looks AH-mazing!

Across the room another shelf echos the one above the lockers, both of which are filled with vintage items, original art, and special items.

 

There is so much more awesomeness in Phoebe and Burt's house, but the kids are running around unsupervised outside while I'm writing this post.  Heaven only knows what I'll find when I go out there.

I did want to show you one more favorite piece of art in my sister's house.  This is a mosaic that my dad did before I was born, so let's say 30-some years ago.  He had taken it to a man a few counties over to turn into a stain glass window.  The man never got to it, and never got to it, and my mom and dad forgot about it for a long time.  10 years ago while I was living in that county my mom called me and asked me if I could look him and see if he still lived in the same place.  He did.  I called him, he had the piece tucked carefully away in his workshop after all those years.  He told me to come get it in three days.  When I showed up this is what he handed me.  Isn't it beautiful!

My sister loved it so much, she asked my dad if she could hang it in their house.  (Why didn't I think of that?  I don't know.)  Anyway, it looks like it was made to go in this home that is an amazing showcase of Burt's craftsmanship and Phoebe's unique design style.

If the children don't explode, I'll write try to get a few more pictures of the house and the yard as well as show you the few projects that we have managed to work on here and there. 

Embrace the Adventure

Sometimes you set out for the ocean and you end up in the mountains.  Sometimes your GPS fails.  Sometimes you prepare for Cozumel and end up in Helsinki.

I love the ocean and the mountains.
I think my GPS box is possessed.
I would love to go to either Helsinki or Cozumel.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded that even though it might be frustrating to only have a bathing suit to wear skiing, that with some creativity and flexibility I can probably figure out that even if I can't go skiing, I will very much enjoy relaxing in the ski lodge's hot tub while taking in the beauty of the mountains around me!

With that in mind, I decided to create a sign to help me remember to "Embrace the Adventure."  I wanted it to have an old skiing/hunting/mountain lodge feel to it.  Not my style, but then, isn't that one of the main purposes of this blog?  For me to learn to marry my love of eclectic shabby chic with log house design and for all of you to enjoy watching me stubble through it!

So here it is hanging on the wagon wheel that is on the front of our house.  Yes, we have a real, full sized wagon wheel on our house.  No, I didn't put it there, it came with the house.

I made it from a beat up piece of plywood from our scrap pile.  I didn't even bother to paint the board before I painted the letters on.  They are hand painted, by-the-way.  I wanted it to look hand painted and rustic, so I figured what better way than to actually hand paint it.

After the letters were painted I glazed it with three different colors, roughed it up and bit and well. . .

As a friend of mine would say- It was an adventure.

_____

Hey, the boys and I also found yet another awesome use for drop cloths.  Come find us on facebook to see how we put it to work today.

Acknowledging the Lighting Problem

I know, it's true, I have too many lamps.  Currently there are six in my living room, let's not talk about how many I have in storage.  I keep buying more in the hopes that somehow someday I will figure out how to light my living room w/out overhead lighting.  I know overhead lighting is often considered a design no-no, but seriously, who wants to 'live' in a dark cave?  I like being able to see my family - they're cute!  Yes, I do love my lamps (well most of them - there are a few that need a little lovin') but sometimes they can feel like too much of a good thing, particularly at night when I have to walk around and turn them all off!

Seriously, in my next house I'm going to pass up any house that doesn't at least have recessed lighting in the ceiling of the living room.  Until then, I will continue to collect astounding numbers of lamps and struggle with a my own personal 'enough light vs. cluttered room' battle.  Right now the lamps are winning.

This is my new pretty.  I bought the base for $1.00 at a yard sale.  The shade, which is in perfect condition, was a little more pricy at $5.00 at a local thrift store.

I painted the base, which was the ubiquitous medium oak, a pretty gray.  I mixed the gray myself so I can't tell you what color it is.  I then roughed it up a bit and dry brushed over it with a teal glaze.

I wasn't sure this shade would work with the chunky base, but I really love how the feminine lines of the shade compliment and soften the substantial base.  Plus, heaven knows this house needs all the help it can get in the 'soft and feminine' department.

Here is a close up of the base.  It's easy to let the lamps have a few wins when some of them are this lovely!

Just One Corner

Sometime is the midst of chaos, you just have to have one spot, one little corner that looks happy and peaceful to keep you from going crazy.

Right now, the Apple House is in a total state of chaos.  There is furniture in all sorts of places it shouldn't be.  My front porch has furniture on it that won't fit in the house, the play room is partially filled with boxes and furniture.  I think a small storage unit may be in my future, or possibly enclosing our lower back patio.  Anyway, while I'm happy to have a plethora of 'junk' that needs a little AHR style love, I also get a little twitchy when all of my surroundings are crazy like this.

So a few days ago, this happened.

It's just a small space in this overwhelming world of projects that need to be done, but it is a small space that makes me happy.

This angle isn't as good, but the lighting is better and you can see one of my five hanging baskets (another post about them is coming soon.)

I hung my 'Welcome' sign above the door.  I love the contrast of the green against the brown logs and the red door.

I also created one of my multi-colored sign backgrounds for the "W", but it isn't a sign.  I have no idea what that thing actually is.  My friend, Sarah, found it in one of the junk stores we visit.  I asked her "what is it?"  She said "It's a W."  OOOOOOH!  Of course it is!  Who cares what it ACTUALLY is, for us it's a cool monogram for our front porch.

And I picked up this old rusted tool box (also full of cool rusted stuff) from a local garage sale for $2.00.  I cleaned it off and sprayed it with a clear coat to preserve the rust and also prevent it from rusting further.  Some potting soil and a few pretty flowers later and I am giddy!

And so you'll know why, here is the rest of my porch.  Actually it looks worst than this now.  I added an old table that needs to be reassembled and revived to the mess.  Yep, that is what people see when the pull up to my house.  Sad, huh.  I'm working on it, but in the mean time, I just needed one little corner of pretty.

______

I'm sharing at
Funky Junk's Saturday Night Special

Pillow Therapy

Sometimes, there's nothing to beat a bad day like making a pillow, right?  (I know, I'm crazy.  I'm OK with that.)

 Doesn't it look happy on my favorite chair?

 I made it with scraps of the sheets that I made my ruffled shower curtain with (I'll blog about it soon, I've got to get it hung) and the scraps from the sheets I lined my curtains with, along with my favorite jute twine.

 Yes, pillows and flowers are excellent therapy!

A Natural Solution

We are still working away at getting our guest bathroom to the spa like state that we want to offer our guests, and like the rest of the house, there are a lot of things that we would choose to change if we owned this house, but can't because we don't.  The ugly 1970's light fixture feel flat into this category.  It's all good, though, because it gets our creative juices flowing and forces us to be inventive instead of just buying something new.

 I spray painted several apple tree branches a creamy white (The branches are from last years new growth that had been recently pruned off.)  Then I bundled them together into two bunches, hot glued them to a scrap piece of 1x3, tied them up with some twine, then hot glued each bundle to the existing light fixture (using the flat part of the 1x3.)

There are CFL bulbs in the fixture, since they do not get very hot, I don't have to worry about the hot glue heating up and releasing its hold.  However, when I want to take them off, I will be able to use my hair dryer to heat the hot glue and remove the bundles.

We were also worried about blocking any light in this bathroom, as it is a rather dark room.  This address that concern nicely.

I'm excited about how this room is coming together.  Just a few more things to do and we will have one room done- even if it is the smallest room in the house, it will still feel good to say that something is finally finished.

Down with the Door

Let me apologize right off the bat for the less than stellar pictures. There is no natural light in this hallway at all.

I finished up my solution to our weird linen closet.  In this fairly narrow hallway the door on the right leads to the boys' room, the door on the left leads to the guest room.  Some crazy person decided that the linen closet which sits between the two should also have a door on it.  Not a bi-fold door, a regular old bedroom type door.
The contractor had taken it down to install the tile and when they came to put it back up I told them not to bother, I had a better idea.  I had an old twin duvet cover.  It was the perfect length (with a little pooling, which I love.)  I just stapled it right to the molding, again, using inverted pleats because i *heart* them.

To finish it off I made a "fresh linens" sign and nailed it right over the top of the pleats, again, straight to the molding.

Hopefully, one day soon, i will be able to talk our land lord into letting me paint that scary paneling.  We also still need to get the ceiling textured and painted where Link fell through it while prepping the attic for insulation and get the trim back up, but for now, the the fresh curtain and the fresh sign lighten the space and function better than a door blocking another door.

A Simple Skirt

I love this old potting bench.  Lincoln thought I was 100% out of my mind when I begged a very good friend to drive 40 min. to pick it up for me.  They both thought I needed to be committed when I said it was going in our house, not in our yard.  It's just one of those pieces that sings to me.

It's a polarizing piece.  Most women LOVE it, most men dislike it.  Thankfully, Lincoln is pretty indulgent when it comes to decorating.  This lovely girl sits in our dinning room.  Yes, she is a girl, and I decided that she needed a new skirt (and I needed some more discrete storage.)

It's everyone's favorite, the drop cloth.  I had a 4'x15' cloth and after I washed and dried it, I simply held it up to the bench to get the right length, then ripped down the entire length of the fabric.  I used the entire length, all 15 feet of it, because I wanted the skirt to be very full.   A few minutes with my staple gun later, and my girl had a lovely new skirt.  I gave her inverted pleats because I love how they look.

 I'm still working on what to display on her.  I'm not in love with the arrangement I have up there now.  I do, however, love these antique pharmacy pots.  And look at that beautiful old chippy finish on my girl.  Isn't she lovely. 

I also like this set of serving spoons.  They aren't old, they were a wedding gift, but I have never polished them (or used them for that matter.)  I LOVE the patina of unpolished sliver.

Sometime Small Things

can just make your day.  You know, like having a toilet paper holder again after not having one for a month.

The bathroom makeover is coming together.  I am just working on the details now.  This is the fun part!  These were the existing builder grade bathroom accessories.  I primed them, painted them and distressed them.  They look fantastic if I do say so myself!

Curtains

You know how curtains are supposed to be really easy to sew.  Well, as we are quickly learning, nothing is going to be easy on us around here.

These simple curtains turned into a major project when we realized that they had to be lined because they were too thin and because they needed to look nice close up from the backside.  The two windows these ladies will adorn look out onto our front porch.

This isn't a great picture because it is pretty difficult to take a photo of something that is blocking the major light source to the room you are standing in.  The colors are not even close.  It gives you an idea, though.

The curtains are lined and finished on both sides with custom bias tape (read, I cut, ironed and sewed for HOURS.)  We also needed to be able to tie them up to keep them from catching on fire in the winter, courtesy of our very ugly base board heaters.  The ribbons were also made (and top sewn down both forever long sides to keep them nice and flat) from the same fabric as the bias tape.  While I will be letting them down as soon as it's warm enough to turn the heaters off, I kind of love them tied up like this right now.  They look like little French Country Girls who are holding up their skirts to keep them out of the spring mud!

They took a long time to make, but I really like how they turned out.  Now I just have to get my act together and make yet ANOTHER set for the window next to this one.

Sigh, just getting curtains in this house has turned out to be such a big job.

Fresh Eggs

OK, I might be a tiny bit excited for spring!  :)

I took down all of my winter decorations (Christmas had been down for awhile, but I left winter up.)  I know we still have at least another month of winter up here and probably longer, but I just am DONE with winter.

I have been planning and decorating for SPRING!

The boys and I went down to the feed store to find out what breeds of chicks they are going to get in and when so I can order the breeds I want from them and arrange to have to rest that I want shipped to on or around the same day.

I'm planning out the design for our chicken coop.
 

AND. . .

Well, did I mention that I might be just a little bit excited?  :)

 My mom gave me a Silhouette for Christmas.  With so much going on today was the first time I had a chance to sit down and really figure out how it works.  I am IN LOVE with my new sign and I am IN LOVE with my Silhouette.  What a great machine!  I've all ready thought of a dozen more projects that this is going to be very helpful with. 

I used the Silhouette to cut a stencil and then used the stencil on an old weathered cedar shake.   I love the character of aged cedar.

For now, it is going to be a part of my spring mantel.  Later perhaps it will hang on the coop to inspire the girls!

Little Things

So one of the things that I knew I had to change out were my flour, sugar, rice containers in the kitchen.  The ones I had in the town house were flat squares reminiscent of a patterned glass block.

source

Very retro, very cool, very un-log house-ish. 

On our recent trip to Utah I had an Ikea shopping list that I took care of.  One of the things that was on my shopping list but I was not expecting to find at Ikea were new kitchen containers.

They are all flat, that's the fish eye effect on my wide angle lens.  I didn't fix it because I think it looks kind of cool.

Thank you Ikea for having exactly what I was looking for!

An Apple Wood Mantle

My sister told me yesterday that mantles and banisters are the best for Christmas decorating.  How true, right?  The Apple House has a very special mantle and banister, they are both made of apple wood from the orchard.

I have never had a mantle before, so I was very excited to get to decorate it for Christmas.

 It's not a small job.  The mantle is 10 feet long and about 5 feet off the ground, much higher than your typical mantle.  That posed some challenges.

 Off to the far right are the three little trees I made from burlap, tea stained coffee filters and buttons.  I painted a piece of scrap lumber to provide some variety in height.  I bought those cute lamb skin boots for Leo, but they didn't fit the giant baby.  Oh well, they make a charming addition to a winter themed display.  Link and I purchased the jug on our first trip to this area several years ago.  It was made by a local artist.  I would have never thought then we would be every be living over here!

 The polar bear print was a gift to my parents from my uncle many years ago.  It doesn't fit well in the style and decor of their home, and it eventually ended up in their basement.  When Link and I got married I went "shopping" for art to hang on our walls down there.  This is one of the items that I took and it has hung in various places in our homes ever sense.  I love it.  It reminds me that in nature, with no need for pretenses, the most ferocious hunters living in the harshest climate find no need to disguise sweetness and affection.
The nativity set is one of a few that I own, but it is my favorite.  You will probably laugh, but it was given to me by the younger brother of my high school boyfriend long before Link and I ever dated.  I love the simplicity of it.  I found a weathered piece of lumber to provide some height variation and to prop up the baby Jesus a bit, as the mantle is so high that you could not easily see him.

 We don't know where the giant pine cones came from.  They were in the house when we got here.  They are very cool, though.  We think they are from a Jeffery Pine, but aren't sure.  The cone tree in the back I also made.  I hot glued some leftover Detra in a cone, then covered it in craft paper and tied a ribbon around it.  Simple and cute.  To the left is another simple nativity that I made a few years ago.
All of the greenery was cut from a huge pine tree in my front yard.

 I picked up these ornaments last weekend at a craft bazaar.  The woman who makes them pours them, fires them, and paints them.  I HAD to have this one for Leo's first Christmas ornament.  Could anything be more perfect for my little chunk?

John Henry is currently loving a game we call "Amazing Tricks!"  The kid can twist himself into all sorts of crazy positions and move in ways that humans really weren't meant to.  This pose happens to be one of his favorites right now.  Perfect.

I will add the stockings I am working on under the mantle before Christmas along with my favorite advent calendar.  Link's aunt gave it to me.  Each day has a little knit hat or mitten with the appropriate number knit into it.  Inside of each is a cute hand painted ornament.  John Henry LOVES to get out the ornaments and hang them on the little tree we got for him.