The Kitchen Picture Ledge

For the last two weekends, I've been working on the first project in forever that I have actually been excited about.

Here's what the kitchen looked like before, a few months ago.

Part of my fun came from paying hardly anything for the project (maybe like $25 in various wood and a few bucks in getting some prints made) and finally finding homes for art that I'd had for a long time and never could quite place. It also solved the issue of art in the kitchen, which I've been struggling with.

I knew whatever went up needed to unify the four wall spaces, because any way I diced it in my head, hanging a picture on each wall didn't really work, but it also seemed awkward to leave one wall blank (or only have a piece of art on one wall and leave the others blank). I toyed with the idea of gallery walls that wrapped all the way around, but while I and every other design junkie on Pinterest love a good gallery wall, it seemed like a chore to try to put one together and worried me that it might clutter the space.

Then one day, inspiration struck with this ledge. No unnecessary holes in the walls, adds a nice bit of contrast, unifies the space and is super easy to build. Bingo. I love it just as much as I'd hoped, and it'll be incredibly easy to swap out art when I run across something fun and new. Here's the one on the right side of the kitchen...

And on the left. The clock is probably going to get relocated, because it's hung too low for me to put anything underneath without it looking weird.

This afternoon, I successfully completed a subproject of this project: building a large frame with mitered corners for a 12"x18" of this picture I took, in this very kitchen. (Is this what people call "meta"? Not sure. Maybe.)

I accomplished this feat using this AMAZING ratchet corner clamp. This thing is brilliant and it's only $6 (which I didn't realize until just now...what a STEAL). I don't actually recall the last time I was so jazzed about a tool, though I do tend to get pretty darn enthusiastic about a good clamp. There's just nothing else that solves problems as effectively as a clamp doing what it was designed to do. 

 

I decided to go clamp shopping today after having an attempt at a mitered corner frame go seriously sideways on me yesterday evening. Literally and figuratively. There was a lot of muttering and prying and poorly placed glue and tacks from my staple gun (including almost one in my finger...don't tell Todd or I'll lose my air compressor privileges). It took forever and I ended up with three out of four neat-fitting sides, which, for those keeping track at home, is one fewer than the standard picture frame features. 

This afternoon, I cut and assembled two functional frames less time than it took me to screw up one frame yesterday. Right tool for the job makes all the difference :)

I'm about to become a picture-frame-making fool. I can get glass cut to size from Lowe's for pretty cheap and this clamp actually makes mitered corners fun. Something I never thought I'd say. 

The Office, Pretty Much Done (!!!!)

This day, like every other "it's finished" day, has been a looong time coming. Not only is pretty much everything on my March sabbatical list for the office checked off, but I did a few bonus projects too. (Out of school for eight years, still looking for extra credit.) 

First, the picture ledge. I've wanted something above my desk since we move back two years ago, and I batted around all sorts of ideas. I have this great original piece I got from One Kings Lane three years ago and have yet to frame. It's on top of the crates on the shelf on my desk, where I've been trying to protect it from getting bent or scraped up. It's kind of big though, and I felt like if I did a gallery setup (another idea) that it'd overwhelm the whole thing. It's a fairly large space, but not huge, and just to the right of the lamp will be filled in once I get a monitor. My computer sits on top of the crate in the middle. So I scrapped the gallery and the single piece.

Then I happened upon someone talking about a ledge out in the blogosphere and thought, I could TOTALLY build one of those in like two seconds. More like 30 minutes including finishing time and an hour to install because I was tired and stupid (always a great time to start drilling holes into your wallpapered wall...) but luckily Todd came to the rescue with a great suggestion on how to hang it and saved my wall from many unnecessary holes.

Plus I have a bunch of already-framed art that needed a home. That's not counting the lighthouse watercolor all the way on the right, painted by my talented late grandmother, that I haven't yet put in a frame. Nice associations with each one, all gifts and things that make me happy to look at. Perfect for right above my desk where I spent a decent about of time looking.

I also moved this seashell print so it's centered above the cabinet. Its previous position was a foot or so left, which was where it lived when the room was configured differently. It took me about 3 minutes to move it, and it'd been bugging me for months. I have no idea why I drag my feet on easy fixes like that.

Side note, maidenhair ferns really need even indirect light. I had the one in the terra cotta pot on a shelf on my desk where it got light from the window and the back door, and it grew into this really demented-looking shape, half of the stems pointed at the window, the other half at the door. Hopefully I can rehab its shape.

The fern on the left is a type of Boston fern, which I've heard are rather notoriously fussy plants. This fluffy version is awesome. When it needs water, it just turns a lighter shade of green looks a bit pathetic, and then I stick it in the tub and give it a good soaking. I got it as a teeny start four or more years ago (an indication of its hardiness, since I have for sure killed more ferns than I've kept alive) and now it's almost two feet wide with no signs of slowing down. If I put it in a bigger pot, it might take over the whole room. The dimension of it doesn't really come through on camera, but it's so wild and textured, I love it.

 So, here's my office. I'm calling this one done for now, though I'll probably never stop tinkering.

Lastly, in honor of Easter Sunday, a line from my favorite Khaled Hosseini book, The Kite Runner: Come, there is a way to be good again. Hope this and all of your other days is filled with the spirit of redemption.

What's New, Part II

Since there was plenty of light to still take some decent pictures, this is a much better update. Starting downstairs, with the dining room... I'm thrilled that the dining room table is finally cleared off and everything is put away. Some of it ended up "put away" in the guest room (more on that later) but at least I'm not walking past it 10 times a day.

Side note: love having trash dresser (the white one, behind the dining room table) downstairs so I can see it. I thought we wouldn't have space and it would have to live in the guest room, but it doesn't!

 The dining room is far from perfect, though. There's still this situation. Three things wrong with this picture: 1) burnt out lightbulb, 2) paint job, 3) THAT THIS ABOMINATION OF A LIGHT FIXTURE IS STILL IN MY HOUSE.

 I also put the books back in place a few weeks ago.

 I read somewhere that there's nothing like moving a book collection to make you rethink having it in the first place. So true. But they do look good.

 This is in the living room. It's one of the first pieces of art I've hung, which is kind of a big deal because I had hardly any art, period, when we last lived here, and very little actually hung. Paint needs to be touched up below the picture. It's a stolen sketch from One Kings Lane; I saved the image, turned it into a vector graphic and blew it up to the perfect size for the $3 clearance frame it's in. Stolen art is so satisfying.

Lastly, for this post, these are some of the colors I'm considering...

For this closet off my office, in which I've stuffed my decrepit stairclimber. (Bad light, bad pic, whatever.) Obviously this is where I work out, and I think it'd be fun to paint it a super-energetic color. I love purple on walls, but fuchsia or tangerine would complement the navy in the office proper. We shall see. I have plenty of other priorities at the moment.