Desk-ed

Since Steve's and my house's front door opens directly into the living room, we've had to be a little creative in carving out an entryway. Against the wall beside the door, we have hooks for coats and a repurposed fireplace tool rack for shopping bags, umbrellas and the like. I wanted a skinny piece of furniture of some sort to place on the other side of the door to create a landing strip for items coming in to the house, and to store office and art supplies. I decided the perfect piece of furniture would be a secretary desk, which folds up slim but can be opened up to provide a desktop. I looked at various pieces online, but didn't find anything that inspired me. Then, it occurred to me, I think my parents have one of those they're not using at the cabin. Sure enough, they did.

Dad sent pictures for scale and to give an idea of starting condition:

Realizing it was quite literally a perfect fit for our space and needs, we retrieved the desk and brought it back to Santa Cruz. The piece originally belonged to someone in my dad's family, though he doesn't know who. My dad was kind enough to fix some of the loose joints for us before we took possession. 

Another before picture (in our backyard):

After Steve sanded the heck out of it of me:

Then I got to work. I forgot to take in-process pictures of this project, but after primer and many coats of paint (including highlights in a crazy vibrant green I love named "favorite plant"), here's the result:

I need to organize this drawer at little better, but there's plenty of room for various supplies:

Desktop opened, showing built-in organizer and a little hint of the crazy fabric I chose to line the cubbies:

I am loving how the desk turned out. It's a wonderfully versatile piece of furniture and looks fabulous in the space beside my beloved "mango" front door. The yellow cup on top of the desk is for receipts, which works wonderfully to prevent them from being scattered about the house. 

On to the next project...

Family Miscellany: A Picture Poaching Addendum

I've swiped a few pictures from my future sister-in-law's blog that I particularly liked. So... enjoy!

My brother makes me feel so very small (I'm 5'6" for reference):

Me and my brother, full of energy (and Fanta), totally pumped and ready for action:

On my brother's birthday excursion, Steve definitely needed a picture in front of the bad chemistry puns, brought to us by (Franken)Stein and (Ein)Stein: 

Family Miscellany

Steve and I went down to Southern California a couple weeks ago to hang out with my parents. My brother Jim and his fiancee Brooke coordinated the visit with us so that we could all spend some time together.

In an exciting bonding activity, my mom and Brooke sort my parents' CD collection:

Jim gives me stink-eye for taking a picture while he does his homework (he's gone back to school to study computer programming, his first degree is in mechanical engineering) and Steve assembles storage boxes for the aforementioned stash of CD's:

Steve zests limes for key lime pie preparation:

Brooke and Steve "working" on said pie:

My aunt (my father's sister) and uncle visited, which was the first time I'd seen them in nearly a decade. My mom set up a nice lunch for us all in their front room:

(me looking nervous for some reason, Aunt Teri, Brooke and Jim)

(Jim, Uncle Bob, Mom and Dad brandishing dessert fork)

We stopped in to visit briefly with Steve's brother Philip (while dropping off a planer for him to borrow). Philip's boys demonstrate their father's sturdiness for our viewing pleasure:

Later that evening, I sit around casually in my wedding dress (and a bunch of my mom's jewelry) as one does on a typical Saturday night:

I was trying on the wedding dress to see how it fit after 9 years. It was actually a little loose, but still pretty close. My parents had been storing it, but I finally took the dress home with me as I plan to get it altered (shortened and possibly dyed or re-lined) so that I can wear it around (since I am presuming I won't have need for another wedding dress in my lifetime).

*          *          *

On my brother's birthday (the big 3-0) this past week, Steve and I accompanied Jim, Brooke and their friend Patrick to the Chabot Space & Science Center in the hills above Oakland.

Steve and Patrick give the "black hole" demo a whirl:

Patrick, Brooke, Jim and Steve enjoy the plasma globe:

I am ready for space travel (in that I technically fit in a Mercury space capsule):

Observatory grounds:

I read about and admire one of several telescopes:

My hair has been thinning somewhat dramatically for awhile now, but I was still taken aback by the hair loss at the crown visible in that last picture. Eh, who needs hair anyway? One of these days I'll just buzzcut the whole darn mess.

We are awesome at selfies:

More exciting adventures undoubtedly to come as summer heats up...