Hope springs eternal from the arm of our couch.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Finally that ugly thing is gone!
I haven't cared much for Steve's TV stand since the day he bought it. In the past six months or so, my feelings for it had devolved from what I'd describe as vague annoyance to nagging contempt.
(this is the only picture I could find of it - it was taken in our previous rental house)
Steve and I looked at new TV stands, but we found them to be either just as industrial and ugly or ridiculously expensive. So we decided to convert a cheap buffet or dresser of some sort to get the look of "real" furniture we desired.
We looked at Salvation Army and Goodwill multiple times and didn't find anything suitable. Finally, on a rainy day in Oakland, killing time with friends J and Eric, we found the perfect thing:
Anytime we show it to someone they say the same thing. "My mom/dad/grandma/grandpa had something just like that!" It is, of course, a console table designed for a record player.
The side cabinets held records.
The center had a sturdy shelf for the record player with a hinged lid. The front panel slides out to show a cabinet that, I assume, was for a speaker.
We go the piece cheap we presume because the backing was so badly damaged.
The rest of it was in pretty good shape though, and felt very sturdy. The date stamp reads "Feb 15 1962."
It was missing the original shelves for each of the side cabinets, so Steve measured out and cut us some new ones.
We then attached an iron-on veneer edging to make the plywood edges of our new shelves (and the existing center shelf) look more finished.
I stained the new shelves (and the existing center shelf) to match the existing wood and then we slid in our new glass panel for the center cabinet. Steve's receiver and our Reply TV need line-of-sight to operate remotely, so replacing the existing solid panel with glass made the most sense to us. My parents took us to a great stained glass place in Orange County to pick it out. We selected a wavy glass to give it a little more visual interest. For Christmas, my parents took us to pick out a new rug for our living room. I loved this funky one... Steve wasn't entirely convinced at first, but he likes the look of it now that everything's put together.
We got rid of Steve's giant old CRT TV (the thing must have weighed 250 lbs... it was probably amusing to watch me attempt to help Steve take it out to the truck). We brought down our little TV from the bedroom to use for now. Even though we have the funds (and he has the wife-ly green light), Steve can't decide on which new TV to get. We may have a new one eventually.
Some things never change, though. Gotta love that tangle of cords.
(this is the only picture I could find of it - it was taken in our previous rental house)
Steve and I looked at new TV stands, but we found them to be either just as industrial and ugly or ridiculously expensive. So we decided to convert a cheap buffet or dresser of some sort to get the look of "real" furniture we desired.
We looked at Salvation Army and Goodwill multiple times and didn't find anything suitable. Finally, on a rainy day in Oakland, killing time with friends J and Eric, we found the perfect thing:
Anytime we show it to someone they say the same thing. "My mom/dad/grandma/grandpa had something just like that!" It is, of course, a console table designed for a record player.
The side cabinets held records.
The center had a sturdy shelf for the record player with a hinged lid. The front panel slides out to show a cabinet that, I assume, was for a speaker.
We go the piece cheap we presume because the backing was so badly damaged.
The rest of it was in pretty good shape though, and felt very sturdy. The date stamp reads "Feb 15 1962."
It was missing the original shelves for each of the side cabinets, so Steve measured out and cut us some new ones.
We then attached an iron-on veneer edging to make the plywood edges of our new shelves (and the existing center shelf) look more finished.
I stained the new shelves (and the existing center shelf) to match the existing wood and then we slid in our new glass panel for the center cabinet. Steve's receiver and our Reply TV need line-of-sight to operate remotely, so replacing the existing solid panel with glass made the most sense to us. My parents took us to a great stained glass place in Orange County to pick it out. We selected a wavy glass to give it a little more visual interest. For Christmas, my parents took us to pick out a new rug for our living room. I loved this funky one... Steve wasn't entirely convinced at first, but he likes the look of it now that everything's put together.
We got rid of Steve's giant old CRT TV (the thing must have weighed 250 lbs... it was probably amusing to watch me attempt to help Steve take it out to the truck). We brought down our little TV from the bedroom to use for now. Even though we have the funds (and he has the wife-ly green light), Steve can't decide on which new TV to get. We may have a new one eventually.
Some things never change, though. Gotta love that tangle of cords.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Oregon Seagull
We went to Oregon last summer and I picked up a little wooden seagull as a souvenir from one of the coastal towns we passed through. The supplies to make a stand for him have been sitting on our entry bench since then, but I finally got around to doing something about it last weekend.
We had a scrap chunk of wood from our planter bed project, which I "distressed" to use as a stand.
I then used a hot glue gun I acquired from our friend J to attach some rope to hopefully give the stand an ocean pylon look.
Using a tape-marked drill bit to get the proper depth, Steve drills holes for his feet.
And, presto! A little seaside vignette to try to distract from the ugliness of our metal shed.
A slightly silly project, but I love this kind of stuff.
We had a scrap chunk of wood from our planter bed project, which I "distressed" to use as a stand.
I then used a hot glue gun I acquired from our friend J to attach some rope to hopefully give the stand an ocean pylon look.
Using a tape-marked drill bit to get the proper depth, Steve drills holes for his feet.
And, presto! A little seaside vignette to try to distract from the ugliness of our metal shed.
A slightly silly project, but I love this kind of stuff.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Christmas 2010
We had an obscenely busy visit to Southern California for Christmas. Getting caught up with friends, we ate out more in a little over a week than we normally do in several months. But we felt very lucky to have so many people interested in seeing us.
We arrived late Wednesday night the 22nd, and found that my mom made sure the bunnies (staying in the garage) did not feel left out at Christmas.
Beginning with cookie baking the next morning, we were busy straight through until we left to come home on the 31st. It was our first New Year's Eve alone, so we naturally did what you'd expect of a married couple: watched TV and fell asleep shortly after midnight.
Hopefully, 2011 will be good year for all. We look forward to Steve's continued success in grad school and some exciting research expedition opportunities for him to Indonesia & the Virgin Islands. And me... well... I look forward to using my less than thrilling occupation to save money for more interesting endeavors, like a home of our own someday.
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