Tomato Tuesday

Thought a catchy Title would get your attention. It has been a crazy busy day. The counter manufacturer came out today to measure the counter tops and see what went so incredibly wrong. Of course it was the stores fault.... hmm all times. If the store would have written down the fact the sketches were created by someone in the field I wonder if the manufacturer would have referenced them. Oh well... it will be another few days before the new top is here.. THANK GOODNESS! (doing the cabbage patch dance).

Sunday Greg and I went to the gallery and painted my room. It is a beautiful green color. We are finishing the crown detail in the room and the base board in white and then putting in a black roman shade along with black details on furniture. The chairs are vintage with green fabric. I also have some accents which will be going into the room. Eventually I will be putting in a rug... still searching for one that talks to me... maybe some pillows too.

Today Greg made me a table for the gallery; I still need to paint the top and put fabric around it, other than that it is done. Painted the side table yesterday -- so much more beautiful in black. It is a queen anne style table with the sloped out legs.

We also worked on frames for new work. I am loving the frames!! Reworked some of my pieces and resized a few. I am really excited for this years open studio tour as I am getting a lot of new work on the walls.

We are getting closer and closer to getting done w/ the house for now and cleaning out some of the stuff we have piled over the years. Amazing the memories that come up when you are going through things.

So that is pretty much it for now in a nutshell.

Unbelievable!

We finally got the countertop... guess what.. it is wrong again! The "store" is coming out to measure etc. Unbelievable how our measurements are almost CAD like along with measuring about a million times and they still manage to get it wrong. Just no words for how insane the whole thing is and this is a different store. Very frustrating that I haven't been able to cook in the kitchen for a month and a half, do dishes nothing.. tired of take out. sheesh.

Anyway... currently working on a few things. I am designing my blog to be a bit more to my liking vs. plain. Also I will be starting up three more blogs along with keeping this one so stay tuned!

Remodeling update

We started on the basement bathroom last week. This is the room I thought would be the easiest. Finding out that may not be a true statement.

We will be reframing the shower area to support the shower surround going in and the rebuilding of the closet. The problem is the folks who built this bathroom utilized some fibrous materials when they built certain areas of the room. Also the house was built and then this bathroom so we have to contend with duct work, existing soffits etc.

What I am playing with currently in the way of ideas and design is this... do we a/ remove the drywall and framing from the soffit and just paint the aluminum and go for an industrial contemporary look only on the ceiling? This will also alieviate potential issues with insects, etc.

The closet is already getting an update to its look so this would not be a big deal. OR b/ keep the framing on the soffit, replace the existing drywall w/ the mold resistant green board variety including insulation to surround the duct work and alieviate some of the condensation problems that have existed over time.

We have done most of the demo in the bathroom. Tomorrow will be finishing off the removal of wallpaper and then bleaching the heck out of the walls as there was a tiny bit of mold behind where the shower was against the foundation. I hate mold... and I have asthma. Should be interesting.







While we were removing the sink and cabinet I noticed something red. Thought for some reason it was striped duct tape but no... it was....

WALLPAPER! ((((SHRIEKING)))). This reminds me of expensive holiday wrapping paper. Reminds me of the 70's....

If you haven't figured out by now. I fricken hate wallpaper. I appreciate the design work of the paper today. Some of it is really beautiful and I probably would put some of the newer more pricier stuff up in a clients home only if they are persistant in having it. However... I have removed enough of it in this house alone to warrant hate for it. ha!

Lost...

Feeling a bit overwhelmed in many projects this last week. Hubby has started a new job (YAY!!)!!!

Remodeling has slowed down a bit. Also adding many projects to that honey-do list. We are patiently waiting on our countertops. After it gets here I will fill you in. I am tired honestly of microwaved food, paper plates and plastic forks, spoons, etc.

After the basement bathroom is done (will have pics soon). We are going to take a break for about a month and start again after all our organization is done. We are hoping to have the bathroom done by this weekend as there was not much in the way to do down there. YAY no regut.

We will be pulling out all of the ugly carpet downstairs and replacing all the flooring with laminate wood flooring. Along with some improved lighting, built up walls, and new paint the basement will look so much better. Also will be building a custom closet to contain all the massive amounts of clothing that we don't have room for in a normally small closet of which we have currently. The closet will have shelves on both sides and have a total of six hanging area sections. Eventually I will be replacing furniture.... The microfiber couches are not suggested for parents with ADHD children. They have had their time, let's put it that way. Eventually I will replace the furniture and remodel the livingroom. Not sure how I am going to do it as of yet but lots of ideas rolling around.

Monday we did a shoot for "The Shanti" a lovely bohemian type bar in Soulard (Allen & 9th). A friend of ours plays there quite a bit with his band. The photoshoot was for an advertisement coming up in "The St. Louis Sinner" Greg took a LOT of pics so I have weeded through most of them and have chosen what I feel are the best shots.

Early July (in the next week) I will be remodeling my room at the gallery. I am looking at painting the walls, putting up trim, putting a roman shade in, adding some plant life and building up a table. Looking into a couple of benches to put in there as well which I am thinking about building vs. buying -- so much cheaper!! I will leave all the details to my hubby which is much better at the woodworking than I. Although I am thinking a couple of nice Ikea chairs would also be wonderful.

Also coming up is the 4th Annual City-Wide Open Studios hosted by Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAMSTL). I have been busy getting lots of work together for this as last year was very successful. The gallery (Soulard Art Market) will have their Open Studio date on July 25th from 10am - 4pm. We have well over 100 folks come through in a matter of a few hours.

Have been trying to get the gallery revamped to reflect many fantastic events we have coming up including "Spoked" a bicycle themed art exhibition that runs in conjunction with the Tour of Missouri in September. This is a huge event for the gallery and St. Louis as a whole.

August -- Roxotica is coming! Cirque du erotic was a huge success and I am really looking forward to helping with this upcoming show! More Info soon!

August -- Donating artwork to an animal charity. Am excited on how this will turn out. They sent me a canvas that is roughly 8 x 10..... running through so many ideas with this one.

In August I will start planning once again "Naughti Gras" which will run in early 2010. Get your Naughti Art ready folks!! If you would like to volunteer, perform, or would like to be a sponsor please contact me.

December is not far away! I will be posting a call for art on the Soulard Art Market website regarding a show called "Remastered". This show will exhibit works from local artists that attempt recreations from the Art Masters in their own medium and style. My husband and I are curating this show. I am really excited and curious to see how the results come.

Today I am enjoying the weather outside and getting these cabinet fronts done. They are driving me nuts! Can we say get done already?

Have a terrific July 4th!!

Thumpin Thursday er um Friday...

Working on the Kitchen tile!

Here is the first coat of sponging after the grout. Lookin' good!! The Grout color is called Earth. We are getting ready to do the 2nd step of sponging then we will let it cure for about 8 to 10 hours and run a final cleaning over the tile.

Madness Monday....

My oh my what a busy day!

We have completed the bathroom, well at least all the major stuff!! YAY!! We have some minor details to get done. Can check that baby off the list. I still need to purchase all of the accessories but that can wait a couple of weeks. Along with that I will be hanging up my butterfly collection on the wall after I caulk the back of the frames to keep moisture out. Will also be installing the shower rod tomorrow; which is a hotel style rod that is rounded vs. straight across and it screws in vs. trying to balance between the two walls w/ the spring type.

What do you think so far?


We still need to put the base trim in, the towel bars, tp holder, shower rod, curtain and other minor details and it will be done. Once everything is set in place I will put a before and after pic up so you can see the transformation.


I LOVE this vanity. I know it is one of those kit deals but it actually looked nice so I bought two of them. One is the above for the upstairs bath and the other one is a white one, a bit larger with drawers.


We started back up on the kitchen again and installed the backsplash which is gorgeous! Went to install the main counter area and major F-UP on the counter. Either the guy @ the store screwed it up OR the factory screwed it up. We double-checked our sketch w/ all the meausurements that were given to the clerk and our measurements are perfect. Either way Greg will have a bitch session tomorrow on his hands. At least the counter is nice looking though....


WHAT THE F? Yep this was not the only issue with measurements. They messed it up completely; every measurement was off.

Faux Copper backsplash. Love that!!

Technically what it all looks like. Tomorrow I will be sanding down the doors and drawer fronts and hopefully the humidity isn't bad and I can paint these babies.


On top of that stroke of genius... the composite sink is split exactly in the middle so that will also have to be returned and exchanged. Not sure how that could have happened. We just opened the box to find it broken... boooo hooo!

Ok back to work.....

Weekend update pt 3

I am thrilled that the kitchen tile is FINALLY laid out. The stairs were perhaps the worst of it all as we have a small step down to the basement stairs and garage area-- "pass through" that had the old tile down. Took up the old stuff today and was happy to find the concrete board still in a decent enough condition and thick enough to lay the new stuff down. So we are taking the chance. The stairs were the worst of it all and very time consuming to get perfect.

Needless to say I may need hip replacement after all of this.... or a really expensive massage. Or maybe a strong drink.. or drinks.... several of them placed in a line in front of me waiting for me to consume them. :)

After all the work it is truly all worth it in installing this floor. It is needless to say, beautiful! Reminds me of a storm with the sun trying to peek through or aged slate. We will be applying the grout tomorrow after the mortar has a chance to set completely. The mortar bought was setting after a few minutes which is fantastic. It is some mix specifically for kitchens and bathrooms and it has a nice cushion to it. I almost shit earlier when I dropped the tape measure on the floor thinking I broke something. PHEW!! Good floor!!

Weekend pt 2

We are getting closer to reaching our goals of getting the house done. Greg has been working very hard to get the bathroom finished and it is looking fantastic!! Yeah I am tooting your horn honey!

The flooring in the bathroom has been grouted and the floor looks amazing. Greg is now working on the caulking around the surround.


Before Grout......
After Grout..... did I mention I LOVE Italian tile?
Greg playing with his caulk! :)

We have a few touch-ups in the bathroom and some clean up and then we will be installing the major fixtures, new vanity set-up and the shower rod. Yippee!! No more running to the basement bathroom to pee! HA! My bladder thanks you honey.

I started again on stripping the remaining cabinet doors and drawers today. Wishing they were done already ugh. Although the process is a little lengthy it will all be worth it in the end. I have to leave on the Citristrip for up to 24 hours. Sometimes it works in a matter of an hour or two.


The paint running through the process of lifting from the cabinet surface... pretty cool to watch.

Looks like a wrinkled ass!


After stripping the Citristrip from the surface and applying mineral spirits...

Unfortunately the neighbor is having a backyard bbq so I am feeling guilty that I may disturb them if the sander is turned on to finish the third step of the cabinets to get them ready for paint. ugh. HURRY UP & Go home people!!!!

While I am waiting for the Citristrip to work I am working on other projects to keep me busy. I repainted the old cooktop with a paint that is made for heat. Originally it was a stainless steel color (silver). Time to clean it off and apply another coat or two. Today I am going to attempt to remove the oven doors, microwave door, and dishwasher door to paint them as well. The fridge will also be black ... have to wait a little bit until the fridge starts to empty so it will be easier to lift out.


We will also be installing the kitchen floor today. We have already applied Hardiebacker board (a better concrete board) to the floors and I am pleased with the results already. I am really looking forward to seeing the results of the tiling. Our only obstruction is the fridge as we are running out of places to put things w/ all the construction going on in the house.

This porcelain tile is called "Solid Earth". It has a nice finish to it containing coppery colors and dark browns. In a small kitchen this was the only major detail that I wanted to have in terms of a dark component to allow the room a bit of contrast.

After the flooring is completed in the kitchen we will then be installing the countertops, fixtures and finally the cabinet fronts & drawers.

I painted the cabinet frames on and off throughout yesterday into the wee hours of the morning today missing two openings last night. However there is another opening tonight at Soulard Art Market (www.soulardartmarket.com). The exhibition is "Women are Goddesses" and also next door at the SAM Annex is Erika Kavanagh's work which is definitely worth stopping by! I hope to get away from the house for a few hours to check it all out.

"Nude on a Hill" -- at the Large and In Charge exhibition. Exhibition Opens June 12th and runs through August 8th. For More Info: www.artdimensions.org

More updates to come soon!!

My Weekend

Wow the weekend really flew by! While my hubby was out of town I had my own honey-do list to contend with. First to avoid the chance of dust getting onto wet paint I decided to strip the kitchen floor of the torture it has endured for many years. When first tearing away at the floor you notice that there is mortar on straight wood flooring. At first glance, you think OMG what am I getting myself into and how long is this going to take?!? Tearing away with an air chisel I start running into what feels like concrete board aka underlayment. With a deep sigh I was thrilled to run into this as this meant the job was surely to go by much more quickly.

Ahhh the first layer of tile -- no problem....

second layer.... underlayment (that should have been used for wall tile)......

third layer ..... masonite WHAT? obviously this is why the tile was lifting and breaking because somewhere along the line the masonite expanded from spilled water, and who knows what else.


fourth and final layer... 30+ year old nasty brady bunch tile....


All... finally.... gone....


YIPPEE!!

After the floor was all completed and cleaned up I started working again on the bathroom. My goal was to finish the painting by midnight. Goal completed. The look I am going for is serenity. Bathrooms that are this small should try to maintain simplicity within certain boundaries. Too much pattern or crazy colors can sometimes be a burden in the long run and leave you feeling a bit suffocated. I LOVE spa's and the tranquility that you walk into. With natural essence like lavender or jasmine.

Chose among several ideas of color this particular one I kept going back to. I knew it was important to keep some sort of brightness to the room. I am exhausted with beige!! Let's take it up another notch here. I kept hitting the green family and it kept calling for me. So at further glance this color kept popping up at me.

After 3 coats of kilz latex and 2 coats of Baize Green I would say the room is starting to finally come together and should be completed over the next couple of days with the kitchen completed soon thereafter. We are tiling both rooms the same day.


The kitchen I feel has more components to it but overall will be much easier to deal with as a whole. We are repainting all the cabinets and adding new hardware. I thought to myself is there ever going to be a time where I will need to spend 30K+ on new cabinets? Ok well maybe when I win the lottery, however the liklihood that will happen is slim! Along w/ the cabinets we are redoing the counter tops to the main area and the movable island with a laminate counter which I was actually impressed with -- laminate has come a long long way!



This illustration below shows what the cabinets will look like when I am done. Most of the cabinet doors have been done I have a few more doors and drawers to strip paint off. The process involves applying the paint stripper which I have used "Citristrip" Be sure you have the following available before you even get started:

--Bottle of Citristrip -- obviously.
--Bag of rubber gloves. If your skin is very sensitive invest in a few pairs of long rubber gloves -- dish gloves for example.
--A cheap chip brush
--Dremel tool with the wire wheel brush (the one that looks like a miniature chimney sweep) -- IF you do not have a dremel tool you can use tooth picks, tooth brushes, etc to get into the fine detail).
-- Paper Towels for clean up
-- Steel wool (plain).
-- mineral spirits
-- plastic tarp or plastic drop cloth
-- safety glasses
-- breathing mask (just in case you are sensitive to fumes) -- The fumes were actually not bad at all -- pretty much like oranges with some liquor is truly what it smells like.

It is pretty fascinating to watch the paint literally lift and start wrinkling up after just a few minutes (results vary).

Once that entire process is completed I will spray them with a lovely off white color and then utilizing faux finish glaze along with a coffee brown paint I will start creating what you see below. Truly I am excited to see how these turn out.

More to post soon!!

Almost the Money Pit

We are almost completed w/ the upstairs bathroom. It is actually starting to make me crazy a little bit. After the bathroom we will be getting on the kitchen and the bathroom downstairs thereafter.

Here are some pics of where we are in our progress.

Before:

Hello banana meets diarrhea. I am listing this as the worst bathroom in history.

Pic 1,2,3/ taking it all down

ahh love progress.


Currently we have the surround up. The surround we chose has shelves and is not my first choice but is more economical. Also this type of surround you cannot cut into to allow a window kit to apply. The window was oversized anyway so we will be putting in an exhaust fan within the ceiling.



More to come soon :)

Weekly Check-in

As per my usual... busy busy busy. We are planning our remodeling which has to be done in about 3 weeks time CRAZY!

Tonight had the pleasure of going to a benefit art auction for the Epilepsy Foundation that my lovely friend Thomas had put together. Great turn out!! Also gained a commission off of the piece that I had donated. Really happy to see that the piece ended up in the hot hands of someone I know; one of my com padre's Mr. Dan Jaboor. I am very hopeful that the benefit raised a lot of cash for a great cause. Unfortunately we left early as our children were starting to become stir crazy.


Putting together more and more work for the July show @ Mad Art. Getting excited!! I definitely need the commission to come in so I can purchase more materials -- wood for frames, more paints, brushes, etc. My rule of thumb is I won't spend money on materials unless I have sold work. So I have been doing well on and off and it all goes towards materials and shows.

I have another benefit coming up this month for one of my best friends brother. He is headed towards the Paralympics in London 2012 and will be playing wheelchair rugby. I am really excited to see him striving so far. Putting together a piece for the benefit and hope to have it completed early next week. Along with that I have some artists donating work and hope to help in bringing in some extra funding for offsetting his travel and equipment expenses. Clayton and his family have been in my life since I moved to St. Louis and are like an extended family so I am always willing to jump in and lend a helping hand.

It is not often that I donate work, maybe a few times a year at the most. If it is for a worthy cause I am always interested in knowing more information. It is nice to do a nice thing for people with all that I have vs. what I don't have. Unfortunately I have to consider paying work always as a priority. Have to pay the bills :)

This weekend I will be shopping like a crazy person for the house. In my previous post I listed what we are changing. Just to recap we are remodeling two bathrooms almost entirely gutting the poor dreadful things and also remodeling our kitchen w/ exception to the appliances, those can stay for now. That project will be added in the next couple of years. Will also be sewing some curtains over the next few months for the bedrooms, living room, and kitchen/dining. Although I am thinking it may be cheaper to actually buy the curtains.... ugh.

Along w/ the remodeling we are going to be clearing out our garage of all our crap. Will be painting the patio furniture and recaining part of the table leg on one of the pieces. Darn wicker! In the next couple of months I know I will get a wild hair and sew up some new seating pads for the furniture outside.... waiting for the super duper delicious fabric store sale... usually towards the end of the summer. Although in this economy it may be that super sale all the time. hmmm.

Well folks that is all for now :)

xoxo

Remodeling 101

As I am finishing up my bachelor's (about 1 year left) in Interior design (residential & commercial) our new house is finally going to have some major changes. The city we are in are sticklers about the outside as well as the insides of homes. I mean really who is going to see the inside except you and whomever decides to visit? So the conditions of the bathrooms have to change and really they need some help!

Bathroom one -- the first bathroom is on the top floor, a full bath and it looks like whomever built the house (oh yes folks it is original to the house which was built in the late 50's/ early 60's) decided bananas were an inspirational theme for color I am guessing. The tile is an ugly brown almost reddish in the hue. Along with that the bathtub is yellow. Luckily it is baby yellow vs big bird. In the many thoughts and ideas I have had in trying to work with this I have come to a conclusion. It just doesn't work and I hate it and it must go. Most of the time I try to work with what I have and make things appear much better than they really are when it comes to design. For awhile I thought hey if I bring a hint of green in this bathroom it can be a beachy bathroom, but really I hated that idea too. Then I thought of resurfacing the tub and tile (you can do this), with a different color, but then, we had a discovery which ended up being a pretty major thing. Whomever had done the tile in the first place did a piss poor job and didn't have enough grout behind the tile in the first place; tiles started popping off left and right. To me I took this as fate. This was almost too good to be true!! YAY I have an excuse to remodel!! ha ha!! Along w/ this fateful fact was the wall behind the tile. Ants have been eating the wall. uh oh. So we have alievated that issue now it is time to demo!! I am still deciding on colors but it will have a spa feel to it and for a tiny bathroom it is going to be an exciting challenge.

Bathroom 2 - Basement Bathroom. This bathroom is interesting to me because it is double the size of the upper floor bathroom. I wish it was the other way around and the upper floor bath was larger. What is hideous about the bathroom visually is the fact it looks like it met victorian vs the 70's. The colors were hardly as offensive as the lighting, horrid linoleum tiling and the sea shell sink (cannot believe they still make those). The colors are white and blue which I am going with in the redesign. Also the layout of this bathroom makes no sense. The shower can fit two people comfortably for the most part. However, the linen closet built in next to the shower makes no sense and should have been placed on the other side of the bathroom giving more space allotment for a larger shower, and overall a better planning of the space. People just don't think. So we are working with what we have as far as what is there already. The fun part of this remodel: the builders of this did the bathroom entirely wrong in the construction phase. The wall behind the tiling in the shower the builders didn't put in the right wall and now we are paying for it. We will have to completely gut this room and install new walls as the moisture spread through the walls. Mold is no joking matter and we as well as most folks are highly allergic to it.

I finished the story board for the basement bathroom as this is the one that will need more work. The remodel will include rebuilding the structure of the bathroom, fixing the plumbing and installing tile floors, new lighting, new cabinetry/vanity/sink as well as a shower surround, shower doors and painting, moulding, etc.

Ok now moving on..... The kitchen. horrible horrible kitchen!! I spend more time in this room than any in the house. It should be a cohesive space that is worth of the attention that it gets already and the heart of the home. Currently you just want to get in there, get what you need done and get the hell out. If you stay in there too long you find things to complain about. Paint is going to be an important role in this room. We have already done the walls but the cabinets need some help. Currently they are the cathedral type cabinets and I think a few coats of paint and a faux treatment will help. Along with that a new faucet would be a wonderful thing as well as new flooring. Once that is all done we will be on the right path. My mother found this wonderful faux tin ceiling tile that you place as a backsplash. Pretty ingenious! They sell them at home depot and you can pick them up pretty cheap. They come in the silver, brassy and copper colors.
I am sticking with earth tones in this room. The tiles I found are GORGEOUS!! They are coppery and almost look like a dark stone. We are doing large tiles in this room as it will make the space look larger than it is. I am going to paint the fridge with appliance paint (black) and the cabinetry will be an oatmeal glaze color. Fortunately the cabinetry has inserts where the inset is so they are removable, may consider glass later on --- will frost it. Am also looking at different lighting for the dining room. Found this great piece that reminded me of an old world feel. Will look great in the space. The faucet is bronze. Am looking at double- apron sinks in the future to replace the ugly steel inset sink that we currently have and a different cooktop and double-oven. The cooktop believe it or not is probably original to the house. It works well so for now we are keepin it. Eventually this stuff will be switched out with restaurant grade cooktops. The tiling in this room was not done correctly and tiles are lifting left and right or cracking from the lack of grout underneath them. The tile used was not the best choice -- if you drop something like a few drops of water it is like ice skating through the room.

This is where we are now -- finalizing the details of the remodel. The house is going to be INSANE for about 3 weeks. As we are in the midst of remodeling we will also be clearing out our garage. Figure while we have a huge trash bin rented out might as well get that done too. We are clearing out LOTS of stuff and will probably send some to craigslist, while others will be sent to charity. We have compiled a LOT of crap over the last few years. Time to clear it out.

Now if only I could clone myself a few times this would get done so much faster. Will post pics soon!!