Art, music, and two types of apples

Even though I haven't made the effort to get them framed I am the owner of three great pieces that I adore.

The first, which I also I mentioned here, is from Leia Bell, an artist who also creates concert posters in Ohio. I saw this one originally as a poster for an Elvis Costello concert using the lyrics from my favorite Elvis song, "I Want You". A few months after I put it on my wish list, I heard this rendition from Fiona Apple w/ Elvis C joining in on guitar. WOW.



I knew then that the print was coming off the wish list and was to become mine. When I ordered it I mentioned to Leia what compelled me buy it and directed her to the video above. Well, due to a delay in getting the print out (she was injured, for god sake!) as an apology (which was SO NOT needed) she mentioned that she sent me some goodies along with my print. When I opened it up, there were two of her printed magnets. Score! Well, because I didn't want to ruin the print before I could put it up on the wall, I left it in its tube.

Months later I take it out to measure for a frame and find not one but TWO prints. She had also sent me this Fiona print! Oh Leia, thank you, thank you!

Apple and Costello, together again.



Now I just need to find the right frame size for two 15 X 12.5 prints. Anyone have any idea what size would look best?



Isn't she just so intriguing? Well, she is Mysterious Genevieve, the work of Emily from Inside the Black Apple. I purchased this one two weeks ago.

And today I saw this one, Winter Coat Print:


And I might just have to buy this one because of my new jacket. See the big red buttons?

(Similar to this one but without the gathered waist, both from Forever21.)

Now I just need a stuffed bird (fake of course) to place on my shoulder and then I'll be stylin'.

I realize that despite that post on the IKEA shelf, which was actually put up in 2006, I haven't posted anything related to my personal home in a while. Well, I don't see that changing anytime soon and I feel horrible about that. I will definitely take part in the Apartment Therapy Cure in March but I don't have the time or the money to do anything new until then.

So don't expect anything to proceed on my actual home.

[Crap, I just looked outside and snow is trying to happen again. I gave it an evil look during my walk back from class an hour ago but it just doesn't listen. I DO NOT want snow today.]

Anyway, instead I will write about what I want in a home in the future, the practical stuff and the non-practical, in no particular order.

First, I want a small house. The basics: living room, dining area, kitchen, bedrooms, craft room/office. I would also love an outside workshop for construction and painting work.

My next post will be about houses ( or cottages) that are under 800 square feet, so almost a third larger than my apartment now.

Here is a book about leaving a smaller footprint on the planet regarding the size of place in which you live, Little House on a Small Planet, written by Shay Salomon, one of the founders of the Small House Society who are dedicated to promoting small housing solutions that are both affordable and ecologically responsible.


[OK, I'm really mad now. There seems to be a blizzard happening outside of my window. I swear the temperature is in the high 30's, how is this happening!!]

Better late than never, right?

Remember in November when I bought this stash of fabric for holiday gifts. Well, the gifts will now have to be surprise! gifts because the holidays have come and gone.

But I am finally doing something with them. They are all going to be headbands for my female friends and family from this great pattern by Heather Bailey. Right now all I have to do is attach the elastic and make the final stitches and they'll be done.



I am also making a few pincushions for my crafty and sewing friends, much like the one I made for myself from Craftapalooza's instructions as seen on whipup.net. For theirs I will be using some beautiful green wool felt to make them more hardy.

So WHERE is it?

I believe IKEA owes me a free desk now, what do you think?

Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 12:26:07 -0500 (EST)
From: sales_services@ushelp.ikea.com
To: ******* Subject: Re: Contact Us

--Hello ****,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We do
apologize for any inconvenience that you may have
experienced. We have researched your order and our
system shows 2 Internet orders both were cancelled
due to being out of stock. We have checked our
system and cannot find a backorder for you, we have
reissued a backorder the number is 159-8--------
once this is available our backorder department will
contact you to let you know its available and if you
are still interested in placing the order. If you
have any other questions please contact us back or
call (800) 434-4532.

Best Regards,
Dominique
After Sales

I can't wait for the next Cure!

I woke up this morning and looked around my room.

Too much stuff.

I walked into the living room.

Too much stuff.

How did this happen? Where did it all come from?

It seems I need to discard again. Just like before, there is stuff I have no idea where to put when I'm not using it. I don't want to just hide it when people come over, I want it all to have a place where it BELONGS and where I can FIND it.

So I am itching for Apartment Therapy's next Cure on March 5.

I guess I could afford a house sooner than I think...

What do you think of this room? Lovely, right?

A perfect little example of cottage living?

DOUBLE-WIDE


Yes, that is what I said.

This is a double-wide trailer in Woodside, CA.
It is 60 feet by 24 feet in size. They fixed it up with a $40,000 budget, with paint, shutters, french doors, new flooring, appliances, and a deck. The paneling throughout was made to look like bead board with paint and 6 in. deep baseboards.

For the owners; this is the half in their 2 and a half homes, but I think I could do it as a primary residence for a few years, at least.

It just shows you what you can do with your imagination.


Article from the San Francisco Chronicle can be found here, written by Ann-Minh Le.

Help! The IKEA LACK shelf..

is driving me crazy.

After two years, I finally decided to tackle the IKEA LACK shelf. Well, I was thoroughly justified in putting off installing this shelf for so long.

I went to my local small hardware store, Pleasant's hardware. It is a chain but much smaller than Home Depot or Lowe's. The people who work there actually know what they're doing when it comes to DIY. I described to them what I was doing and they recommended the right screws and anchors for the project.

Difficulties:Had to find the placement of studs in my wall
Had to buy a stud finder to do this
IKEA does not provide the hardware or even suggest what type you need for this item. (That is why this shelf is notorious for faulty installation and stability failure.)
I found I had metal studs instead of wood ones, which changed what type of anchor I needed.

No. of trips to a store in one month for this project:

I have receipts from 4 trips, but then there were the fruitless scouting missions here and here.

The trips were to buy these following items:

Black & Decker BullsEye level and stud finder
Nylon self-drilling anchors for drywall also known as wallboard (see picture at top of post)
No. 8 sheet-metal screws
Black & Decker 6V PivotPlus rechargeable screwdriver/drill
3/8-inch drill bit (came with the PivotPlus)

Total price of purchases: $70

What I learned:

• Small hardware stores beat the Big Box stores (Lowe's, Home Depot)
• Target has some of the same tools for less money (Black & Decker, McCullouch, etc.)

I bought the highly recommended Black & Decker BullsEye laser and stud sensor. However, no matter how many times I read the directions I kept coming up with different locations for the studs in my wall. After I don't know how many tries, on how many days, I had pencil dots marking some fairly consistent studs. However, I waited to put the shelves up on a weekend when I would have a whole day to deal with anything else that might come up.

In the mean time, I made a paper cutout the size of the shelf (43.25 X 10.25) and taped it to the wall to try out placement. I had to change where I wanted the shelf so that I could have one side of the shelf attached to a wall stud. One of the things IKEA did make clear on their packaging was that the LACK shelves need to be installed into at least one stud to be stable; two sides if you are lucky.

I was now ready to attach the back plate to the wall. The LACK shelf is actually a shell that is slid over this plate and two small screws attach the shelf to the back plate.

The anchors would be used on the side not attached to a stud. They were very easy to install. I inserted the Phillips Head bit on my screwdriver into the hole of the anchor and pressed the point into the wall. Then I just had to twist the anchor into the drywall until it was flush with the wall.

I placed the back plate up and inserted the screw into the anchor and drove it in until it felt secure.



The side of the shelf attached to a wall stud does not need anchors. Because my studs were metal not wood, I had to go back to Pleasant's to buy metal screws that work with wood and metal. I drilled a pilot hole with the drill bit and then twisted the screw into the wall.

After the back plate was completely installed I slid on the shelf, attached it to the back plate with the two small screws that IKEA did supply for this purpose. Voila! It was finally done.

The funny thing is I always loved the way these looked.

Well, I am over it now.

Happy New Year!

Goals for the new year:

• Take more classes, work less hours
• Excel in school
• Explore careers involving historic preservation of buildings
  
• Make new friends
• Volunteer more of my time.
  
• Continue to make my apartment into a home
  
• Find a way to travel more
• Make more of my own clothes
• Create more in general
  
• Support the dreams of others who supported my own
• Find love and more ways to show love
• Stay true to myself
  
• Live each day to its fullest