Weekend: Bike Ride

Eric and a few of his buddies did the MS 150 bike ride this weekend.

They won the award for "team spirit"

And then five of us (and three bicycles) crammed into a tiny hotel room.

But before meeting the guys in Red Lodge, I got a new end table. At a garage sale I happened to drive past. For $3.

I LOVE the base of this thing. So pretty.

Ah! Love!
The top, however, is gross laminate stuff. I would not have purchased this thing if it had been much more than $3. I figured for $3 I could clean up the base, buy a new hunk of wood for the top, and have a brand new, super awesome table! Even if I never replace the top, I still have a new, super awesome table! Yay projects! Yay weekend! :)

The Admiral at Rest

Rearranging

Now that the floor is finally in the den, I've been hauling furniture around the house, finding new places  for it to live. AND, I've been hanging art. One of my college friends is an awesome printmaker; she's given me quite a few pieces which would be up already, except that their unusual sizes have prevented me from finding suitable frames. Tape will do for now :)

From left: Airplanes print by me, Typewriter print by Kayla Horn, Pressed Paper print by Kayla, Love Note drawn by Eric. 

I spent some time trying to figure out how to put the rest of our artwork in the dining room, but we need more. And bigger. You can see my "frame-sized" papers hanging on the wall. 

Gosh we need a better table.

Other additions to the dining room:

My favorite little dresser will (for now) serve as a mini buffet, holding extra dishes, and grandma's candlesticks. That runner should end up in front of our (soon to be installed) sliding door. Am still looking for an 8x10 rug for the rest of the room. Something that can withstand a lot of traffic. 

More rearranging has the den currently looking like this.....

I need to hang art, buy a rug, and fill the bookshelves completely. Also, I hate to say it, but the fiber art will have to go.

I think we will put a credenza on this wall. It may some day hold a small tv so we can curl up by the fire and watch movies in the wintertime. 
I don't quite know what to do about this corner, though.....

I'll get a little lamp to set on the type chest in the corner, but other than that....While I really want to have the drafting table in this room so I can cut and paste and draw while we watch movies and soak up the warmth of the fire, I feel like the den may be getting a bit crowded. Maybe I could take out one of the lounge chairs?

The living room is looking sparse again, maybe I could put it back in there??

I see more rearranging in my future. I'm not complaining, I like it. :)

Holy Iceland

We.....are going to Iceland, people! Next February! To see the northern lights up close and personal! And to hopefully make out in some snowdrifts!!!! Holyyy smokesss I'm excited!!! I had better start packing!!!

Seattle - the run down

Day 1:
(1) Rental house; (2) View from the backyard - lots of walks in Queen Anne; (3, 4, 5) Air & Space Museum; (6) Mariner's Game!

Day 2:
(1) Beach hang-out (with caramel apple suckers); (2) BEST FRENCH FRIES I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE - in Ballard; (3) The one store I wanted to see in Ballard was closed for the weekend. Bummer.

Day 3: Probably my favorite day. I got to spend a lot of time with ERIC!! :)
(1) Wandering around the Freemont Street Market; (2) Missed this table by 10 minutes. So sad; (3) Would have bought this chair if it had been $200 instead of $500; (4) Beers below the space needle; (5)  The Space Needle!! (6) Eric on top of the Space Needle; (7) Us on top of the Space Needle; (8) View from the top of the Space Needle; (9) Same table as the one I missed - 3x as much; (10) Back to the Space Needle that Night

Day 4:
(1) Wine tasting; (2) Watching fish jump and boats come into the lock

After all my sighing and moaning and worrying about whether or not I'd be able to buy furniture, it turns out Seattle doesn't have what I want, either. Well, they have it, but it's overpriced. Boo.

This trip was pretty sweet, though I must say it's so, so great to be back home. I'm not made for city life.

Ah HA!

Not to say that I'm totally awesome and right, but I'm totally awesome and right.

Fibers do rock.

Check it: Nightwood Weavings

The Admiral Takes Up a Defensive Position

The Trek West

We decided to leave Billings last night so as to spend more time in Seattle. We swung through Bozeman to pick up Joe, then continued on until Butte where we decided to camp. At the top of Pipestone Pass. Without setting up a tent. Because, you know, tents are for babies. 

We woke up to frost covering everything. We may have to eat Joe for survival. If we don't make it, tell my mom I love her. 

Lookit I Made: Lino Prints, Papercuts, Chairs!

I'm glad things are coming together so nicely at home, because my hopes for Seattle are vanishing before my eyes.

First, I was informed that the behemoth red truck will NOT be making an appearance. There goes my dream of bringing home lovely furniture. Then, I was told by my husband that a stop at ikea (for a couple of sheepskins, a blanket, picture frames, and a rug) was out-of-the question because he has some MUSEUMS to go to. MUSEUMS. Gosh darn learning. 

Sigh. It stinks, but, realistically, the cost of driving that beast out there would have been ATROCIOUS, and there really was no guarantee that I would have found something worth hauling back in the first place. As for ikea, we can go the next time we're in Denver. It makes more sense to wait and do it sometime when our car isn't packed with man flesh. 

I'm just a little disappointed. Hopefully there will be lots of walks and days filled with cute little shops. That would be fun too.

But I digress. 

I've been working on some stuff. I finally finished a couple of prints I've been working on forevvvver. You would not believe how difficult it is to find white paper in Billings. Not ivory, not off-white, not cream. White. And then getting that piece of paper home without crinkling it....especially when you have a watermelon rolling around in the back of your car....even more difficult. 

The smaller one is a lino print, and the larger, geometric shapes are paper cuts. I kind of wish I had done them the opposite of that - airplanes as a paper cut, shapes as stamps. It would have been cool to have some texture in the shapes, I think.

Yay for more pictures that I probably won't hang on the walls!

This brings me to my most favorite project in the history of the world - my chairs! I have had soooo much fun sanding and oiling and waxing and upholstering these things. Uh. I seriously want to do this forever. So. Much. Fun. So far, I've completed two of the four.

I ended up getting some linen to cover the seats (sale! only $6!), and while I'm not the best upholsterer, I think they look pretty sharp! Hurrah for me!

Shall I show you "before" pictures so you're more impressed?? This is what they looked like when I first got them:

The seat backs were by far the worst. They were really faded and had quite a few nicks and gouges in them.
This is after I sanded the heck out of them:

And this is after being oiled:

This picture does not do them justice. It's amazing, but after being oiled and waxed, these chairs practically glow in the sunlight. And they're so silky smooth....

A side-by-side comparison:

I'm really proud of myself :) I'm having so much fun!

 Here they are hanging out in our freshly painted dining room....

Now to find a table! And a rug!

OTW: Best. Weekend. Ever

I had so much fun this weekend!!!!!! Sooooo. Much. Fun!!!!

We put flooring in our den.

If you'll remember, it used to look like this:

And then we pulled up the carpet and it looked like this for like, ever:

But then, by about noon on Saturday it looked like this:

And then at around three on Saturday it looked like this:

And then at nine last night it looked like this:

Ignore the air compressor in the middle of the floor; we ran out of trim and will finish that tonight. Also ignore the empty bookshelves. Eric promised that we can fill them after he attaches them to the wall/each other. Also happening tonight.

But that's not all I did this weekend. Eric's buddy, Clay, was in town, and while they were off doing manly things.....

......I worked on my chairs!! I'm only going to show one little pic because I have a lot more to post regarding them and a few other little personal projects. Here's a peek:

Kind of a before/after picture. This was so much fun. I want to refinish chairs always and forever.

I was so excited last night about all the progress we made, that I could NOT fall asleep. I kept planning where I was going to put furniture and what kind of rug I wanted in the den and how to arrange an "artsy corner" with my new drafting table. The fireplace room is going to be so cozy this fall! I'm incredibly excited! I hope you understand that I'm excited!!

All that tossing and turning gave me another brilliant idea. I got up this morning, ran to Home Depot for paint, and then attacked the dining room. I finally can now that the bookshelves are out of there!

Hm. You really can't tell what color this is in the picture, and it's all splotchy from drying, but it looks dope in real life. I like it a lot.

I LOVE WORKING ON OUR HOUSE!!!!!

I'll show you some of my other little projects tomorrow.....

The Admiral Waits

SchlEric

My husband is a stud. Last night we went to "some dinner for work" and he ended up being an awards dinner where he and his team were recognized for their outstanding work at Exxon. Ridiculous. My hubs is ridiculous.

Summer Vaction

Have I mentioned that we are going to Seattle this summer? We're going to Seattle next Wednesday for nearly a WEEK!!! I'm super pumped. The plan is to hang out, see a baseball game, hit up some museums, eat some great food, and (hopefully) do a little shopping.

In scouring the interwebs for things to do, I came across this great city guide (well, great if you enjoy boutiques, hand-made goods, and restaurants that aren't found in every county in the country), but I also discovered that Seattle has some really amazing vintage furniture stores.

I have to go to there.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I know this is a family vacation and family time is all-important, but really, how many days can they possibly spend with me? They're going to want me out of their hair at some point. And, at that point, I am fully prepared to accomodate their wishes.

And mine.

I have mapped out each store with directions to and from the house we are staying at, and I've even made hand-outs in case anyone is foolish enough to want to come with me; you know, so they can memorize them and help in the hunt. This isn't fun, people. This is a mission.

Don't freak out, those prices next to these pieces aren't what I'm going to pay. I've just written them there so I know what to expect, and I'll know whether or not I'm getting a good deal. I think I'll feel pretty lucky if I'm able to find even one thing on these lists that's in my price range.

Oh and, this all hinges on whether or not Eric's brother Joe drives his dad's giant red truck back from Colorado, and even then, Eric has to decide to let us drive that thing all the way there. Not the best gas mileage, as you could guess. I keep telling Eric that he and his super tall brothers will be much too crammed in our little Subaru. Their giantism is the perfect excuse to drive that thing to Seattle. And the perfect excuse for me to fill the back of it with treasure.

Trying not to get my hopes up.

Too late.

Fingers crossed, people.

Over the Weekend

We saw this, this weekend:

And I got started on a really, really fun project. Hint: it involves legs, oil, and lots of waxing.

Give up?

I started working on my new chairs!!! I've done a lot of sanding in the last three days, and I'm headed to the fabric store today to see if I can find something I like for the seats. Wish me luck!

I'll show you pictures when I'm all finished :)

The Admiral Senses Danger

Flooring

At long last, we have decided on flooring for the den/fireplace room. After wandering around every flooring store in Billings last Saturday (discovering that they all carry about the same products for about the same cost), we bit the bullet and ordered some. Since we couldn't find any that we loved for a reasonable price, we decided to go cheap. We went to Home Depot and ordered some for $2.98 a square foot. Do I love it? No. Am I thrilled that it's hand-scraped? Absolutely not. Am I worried that it's going to be too dark? Red? Bumpy? Yes. But whatever arrives in 7-10 business days is what we are going to install. I will just have to find a nice rug when we go to Seattle in two weeks and cover that (potential) mess up.