This weekend...

Wouldn't you love a giant print of this photo by Kim Ludy of trampoline? We have a disco ball hanging in our living room- you know, so we're always prepared for impromptu dance parties. I'm signing off early to finish up some projects. Here's to a happy weekend filled with dance parties!

Next project...

We have a plethora of renovation projects left, but I think the barn is the next big project we need to tackle. It needs a new roof, new windows, new electricity, and it needs to be shored up, re-sided, and painted. Yikes. It's already started though! We took down diseased grapevines...

and found a building underneath...

Here's another before shot from the side. The vines are gone and so is that dog house...

Then we moved on to the little white building. We removed the roof and non-functioning overhang, cleaned out the building, and replaced the roof (this is a before shot)...

A few weeks ago, PRH cleaned out behind the barn (before shot). He took down the vines, took down that fencing, and just generally cleaned it up...

Here's another before shot of the back, taken in the Spring. That patchy, leaky roof makes me cringe...

Speaking of cringing, brace yourselves for the interior. Check out those gaping holes in the roof. Yikes. It's all about potential right now though. You're looking at the future game room...

Piles of stuff everywhere? Yes. Hello, future workshop...

Oh, is that you, future studio?

This space, photographed by Paul Brissman, is what I'm imagining for the interior of our barn (found via Sycamore Street Pressvia Desire to Inspire). Yes, really.

This barn by architect Derek Sanders is our inspiration for the exterior...clean, minimal foliage, black with white trim, and a single red door (image via Derek Sanders).

Is it just me or does this look kind of overwhelming? Another cup of coffee and some sort of 'barn fairy godmother' would be great right about now.

High five...

My five favorite things from around blogland recently (the DIY valentine edition)...

1. You should have a dinner party just so you can make these fun place markers. Tutorial by fellow fellow (found via Ez Pudewa).

2. I'm obsessed with all things himmeli, so this valentine by AM Radio is right up my alley (found via Jen Craun).

3. I've never made a prize ball, but what better time than now, right? Yes, I realize how ridiculous that sentence is- sometimes I just can't help myself. I am making peach prize balls today, people. Check out the tutorial at The Sweetest Occassion (found via Capree K/Curbly).

4. This heart garland by Duitang has a lot of potential (found via Elise Blaha Cripe). I'm thinking ombré.

5. Waxed paper, a sewing machine, and some candy? Yes. Easy DIY from Martha Stewart.

Naming the future...

Besides finding (and subsequently returning) a perfect dog, Kicky and I also found this old slate chalkboard at our local thrift store last week. It's really heavy, so it's sitting on the dining room floor, waiting for a permanent home. That's $5 well spent, my friends. As far as Eero/Buddy goes, the positive thing (besides him happily reuniting with his family) is that we now know how much we enjoyed having a calm, older dog at our house. When the time feels right, I think we'll eventually adopt or try a Golden Retriever Rescue program. An Eero 2 would be nice...or maybe we'll name him after a different mid-century designer. Which name would you go with?


pictured above: George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom in Playboy Magazine, July 1961 (image found via The Selvedge Yard)

Eero update...

We really enjoyed our first weekend with sweet Eero. He appears to be about 8 or 9 years old and has settled in nicely. He's really calm, only barks when someone is at the door, likes to run around with the kids, and can sit, shake, and roll over. Such a lovey dog!

It occurred to me that this may have been the second attempt at dropping him off. I have occasional bouts of insomnia and, last week, I found myself still awake at 4 AM, watching episode after episode of The Sopranos (...instead of doing anything productive). We live on a rural road that's always quiet at night so, needless to say, I was startled to hear a vehicle stop in front of our house at 4 AM. I saw lights and heard it idling for a few minutes, so I flicked on our porch light and the car pulled away almost immediately. It seems like someone probably tried to drop Eero off that morning and didn't expect one of us to be awake. I don't like that this person trespassed on our property in the middle of the night, and imagining the circumstances that would've made someone abandon a dog makes me sad. I certainly don't condone abandoning animals at random farmhouses. That said, we're happy that Eero's here- his presence makes us all a bit more chipper. As PRH said, fingers crossed no one drops off a cow or a horse.

UPDATE: Not sure what the deal is with the dog treats, but Eero, whose real name is Buddy, has wonderful owners after all. Apparently, he took off with his cat friend last week and his owners have been frantically searching for him. They were thrilled to find their sweet dog and he was thrilled to see his family. We'll miss him (and I'll eventually stop crying), but we're happy that Buddy's reunited with family.

This weekend...

We woke up this morning to find a beautiful golden retriever sitting on our front porch. He's wearing a collar without tags and, when I took him to the vet this morning, he didn't have a microchip either. We've spent all morning trying to spread the word and get him back to his owner, but haven't had any luck yet. EZ E and Kicky (and maybe all of us) are hoping this is another Velma the cat sort of deal- she's been with us since September. It looks like we'll be spending the weekend trying to find this guy's owner and enjoying being the temporary caretakers of this sweet dog. If anyone in Owego is missing a golden retriever, please let me know hownowdesign [at] yahoo [dot] com. Have a happy weekend!

UPDATE: Just found a pile of dog treats that someone left in our driveway. It appears as though we may have a new pet.

UPDATE 2: We've decided to name him Eero and spent the afternoon playing fetch and running around the yard. We're in love. He got a bath and a fancy new collar, leash, toys, and treats. Next stop...vet. :) Three cheers for our beautiful new dog!

UPDATE 3: Not sure what the deal is with the dog treats, but Eero, whose real name is Buddy, has wonderful owners after all. Apparently, he took off with his cat friend last week and his owners have been frantically searching for him. They were thrilled to find their sweet dog and he was thrilled to see his family. We'll miss him (and I'll eventually stop crying), but we're happy that Buddy's reunited with family.

Bathroom renovation...

With the exception of the floors and a few more pieces of trim around the door, our 1st floor bathroom renovation is pretty much done. Remember what this room looked like before? Gross! This project took 6 months of inconsistent work and cost $385 total (cost breakdown below). My dad helped me rip out the original sink, but PRH and I did the rest of the work else ourselves. It is refreshing to have at least one bathroom in our house that doesn't make me feel sick to my stomach. Let's take a tour around our miniature bathroom, shall we? (please forgive the sketchy photos- it's kind of tricky to photograph a tiny bathroom with zero natural light.)

As you know, every other room in our house is painted white- I tend to prefer bright white walls and pops of color. For this project, however, I decided to leap waaayyyyyy out of my comfort zone and experiment with dark colors and pattern. The wainscoting and trim appear black in these photos, but the color is actually a deep navy blue (Valspar's Corduroy Black).

We kept the toilet, but the old wood toilet seat had to go. I was sort of shocked by how much cleaner the room looked once it was gone. The t.p. holder and towel holder came from our local Habitat for Humanity Restore. We stash extra toilet paper in a vintage gym basket. We bought a huge supply of gym baskets at a school surplus auction several years ago- they've come in handy.

I found the cast iron pedestal sink on craigslist and was happy that it cleaned up so well. I still have to do something about that light switch cover- maybe swap for a porcelain cover? We're also trying to find a small shelf to hang above the sink.

Funny story about the mirror: on Wednesday afternoon, Kicky and I drove past our dear friend Ken, an avid thrifter. I flagged him down and asked him to keep an eye out for a crusty, old, gold-framed mirror at the thrift store. He laughed, ran over to his car, and pulled this mirror out of his trunk. Apparently, he paid $5 for it a couple of weeks ago and had been driving around with it in his car ever since. It's exactly what I was looking for and he wouldn't even let me pay for it! I'm sending happy thrift store mojo Ken's way.

The flush handle...a weird little detail I couldn't resist.

You may remember me hemming and hawing about wallpaper. My friend Renee, probably exhausted from listening to my incessant bitching, mailed several rolls of this wallpaper to me and I love it. It's hand-screened, vintage wallpaper designed by Alan Campbell. This pattern, called Criss Cross, is still available through Quadrille Fabrics. Hanging wallpaper was the most difficult DIY project I've ever tackled and I don't plan on trying it again.

PRH made this drawing in grad school. We played around with smaller artwork in this room, but nothing seemed to work as well as this large drawing. I found the 'magic moon machine' flashcard at the thrift store.

You can't see the light fixture in these photos (trust me, it's nothing spectacular)- it's this. It's a cheap stand-in until I can find a light we actually like that doesn't cost two million dollars and my first born.

We still have to refinish the floors, but are planning to wait until we can open windows.

Cost breakdown of our bathroom renovation:

• pedestal sink $20 [vintage- craigslist]
• light shade $5 [Lowes]
• light fixture $17 [Lowes]
• toilet handle $10 [Lowes]
• mirror [gift from friend]
• toilet seat $25 [Lowes]
• wallpaper $30 [vintage from Renee Garner- Criss Cross pattern designed by Alan Campbell]
• wallpaper paste/supplies $28 [Ahwaga Paints in Owego]
• towel holder $5 [Habitat for Humanity Restore]
• toilet paper holder $3 [Habitat for Humanity Restore]
• trash can $15 [Target]
• soap holder $10 [Target]
• artwork $0 [by PRH]
• vintage gym baskets $2 [school surplus auction]
• Paint/supplies $46 [Lowes- Valspar's Corduroy Black]
• Electrical outlet/light switch $10 [Lowes]
• plumbing $50 [Home Central in Owego]
• wainscoting $49 [Home Central in Owego]
• drywall/spackle/screws $60 [Home Central in Owego]

Grand total: $385

Giveaway winners...

A big, big thank you to the lovely folks who entered the Pistachio Press calendar giveaway. Rachael and I really appreciate all of your comments and support. The five winners are...

1. Erin Dollar said...oh gosh! these are great!! crossing my fingers :)

2. Gretchen said...Love these...please pick me! Not very subtle, but sincere!

3. Jaimie said...That would look amazing in my office. I've been trying to find a nice calendar that size for 2012 and no such luck yet!

4. Beth Lehman said...love them!! and i can't wait to see the bathroom....!!

5. Dale said...These are beautiful!

Winners, just shoot me an email at hownowdesign [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll send your calendar right out. Thanks again, everyone!

High five...

My five favorite things from around blogland recently.

1. I love everything about this kithen. See those two tables pushed together though? I asked my brother to make us two tables very similar to those. Won't they be perfect for large dinner parties? Photo taken for Real Estate firm Brown Harris Stevens (found via Joslyn Taylor).

2. Pilar Guzman's bathroom in Martha Stewart is perfection (photo by Matthew Hranek found via Emma of The Marion House Book). I'll be looking at this image as inspiration for our upstairs bathroom renovation...wait until you see an image of that room! Whoa.

3. Dana Tanamachi is brilliant. Did you see her work was on the latest cover of Oprah's magazine?! (found via Sandi D.)

4. Doesn't this studio space look awesome? Photo by Carina Olander via Bolig pluss (found via Uncle Beefy).

5. How cute is this custom kids' art duvet made by Jen of A Thousand Words (found via Rachel Hobson via Craft)? We have two prolific artists here who would love blankets made with their drawings. So sweet.

Shed finds...

I mentioned yesterday that we spent Saturday cleaning out our shed. About a year before we bought this place, the owners had a massive auction and sold almost everything in the house. Remember what our house looked like before? Instead of getting rid of the leftovers, they stashed it all in the shed and barn. Thanks to a bunch of creepy little rodents, I put off cleaning out the shed until this weekend. As it turns out, the rodent nest I mentioned a while ago was built by a herd of squirrels (or whatever you call a large number of cohabitating squirrels). The friskiest of the herd jumped right out when I grabbed a box of junk. Aaaaggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Irrational fear of squirrels. Who me? Yes.

I digress. We found some awesome stuff, including this Bingo tin full of glasses and old advertising ephemera. Remember what I found the last two times I attempted a clean-out (this and this)? Hmmmm...almost worth all of that screaming and running in terror. Thank goodness the shed is finally cleaned out, right?

Cookbook love...

Last week my very sweet friend, Renee, sent us the book Chicken and Egg: A Memoir of Suburban Homesteading with 125 Recipes by Janice Cole. In the Spring PRH and I are planning to start raising chickens. To that end, we spent part of Saturday cleaning out a little shed and researching chickens. My "research" involved reading Chicken and Egg from cover to cover, drooling over Janice Cole's recipe for Blueberry Sour Cream Tart, and then making, photographing (above), and devouring said tart. Beyond yum! We brought it to my parents' dinner party this weekend and everyone, including kids, loved it.

The book itself is both engaging and absolutely gorgeous, with page after page of perfectly styled/photographed recipes, several of which are in our dinner queue for this week...

I also loved the hand-drawn chapter pages by Caitlin Keegan (thanks for the tip, Kathleen!)...

and this sweet looking little chicken...

Chicken and Egg made me excited about raising chickens and cooking...a feat in and of itself. You can pick up a copy here and read Janice Cole's blog here. Special thanks to Renee for the thoughtful gift!