Next Up...

The impetus for bike room finishing has arrived:



That, friends, is a brand spanking new pneumatic bike lift courtesy of moi, in celebration of Boy being another year older. Kind of one of those gifts that's a bit of a cheat since I'm sure I wanted one just as much if not more than him, but what guy is going to complain about being gifted swank stuff for motorcycle maintenence? Am I the best Girl ever or what?

And of course, just like all the critical design details around here, it's red :)

Now, what to do with those walls and what should the cabinetry and workbench space look like?
I can't wait to get started on this fun space!

The Big Reveal

Didya see it? Did ya? Did ya?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

I must say that aside from being more satisfying in the way that only a real newspaper can be, the print version is also better in that my photo caption actually contains information (and the modern in mn blog address) about what's in the photo. In the online slide show, you rather pointlessly get only my name with the bathroom vanity photo and because the article text lacks any associated reference to the cabinet hack, I think it leaves one wondering WTF. On the other hand the desk lamp hack is captioned better in the slideshow (if you can ignore the typo).

Cubby Completion

At long last.
After a few weeks' delay, I finally found time to take up the paint roller again and finish up with the foyer cubby project:



It would have been finished sooner, but I had originally painted the inside orange, and, after four painstaking coats, decided I didn't like it and went back to clean, gallery white which took another three coats. Truthfully, I'm still not super in love with it in white, but I think it provides a nice backdrop for what's in there and whatever I may decide to display in the future. It's still missing something for me, though, so if I get some time during the week I may experiment a bit with hanging some fabric panels. And if I'm feeling extra ambitious someday, I'm going to try a dark charcoal/blackish paint or a rasterbated image in there. (Now that I look at it in pictures, I really don't like it white at all so that may happen sooner than later.) So the only remaining detail is to treat the "floor" with something more durable than paint on sheetrock, probably either black VCT or large format tiles.

Anyway.

The slight fiasco with the orange cubby was the result of a previously completed but as yet unrevealed decision to go out on another orange limb for the upstairs bath/guest room wall:



Like most things in this house, it's nice to have it actually painted, but I'm not sure I love it. Since it was so dang much work, those four coats and all, I'm forcing myself to live with it for a while, but I suspect that eventually it will succumb to the Naples Blue of the foyer, et. al.
There are a few select views where I think it looks great, but my overall feeling is that it's looking just a bit too circus-ey for my taste, like a color wheel vomited, particularly when seen in context with the red (since it's a holiday and you're probably relaxing, I am going to refrain from scaring you with that view right this second).

Sigh.

And speaking of Naples Blue, (I never thought I'd be so embracing of such a color), it's also making an appearance in the media room, where my most loved stained glass panel is now safely and soundly installed, rescued from it's three years in storage in perfect shape. Of everything we packed up, moved and stored from our old house way back when, it's THE thing that completely stressed me out so it's a huge relief to have it back and properly displayed:



And yes, the TV cubby could use being painted a charcoal/black and tidied up a bit, but there are just not words to describe how much I hate screwing around with electronic equipment and the cord jungle that goes with it so that's just going to have to wait...