Saturday, May 9, 2009

Blooming




Salsa garden is outside growing (with a bush pickle to make gazpacho and vinegar pickles)... peonies are pink and in full bloom, new white and purple irises are blooming in front (a surprise to me), and my knock-out rose has exploded. Wishing I was close enough to moms and grandma's to give a great bouquet from home. I am so happy to have some soil to tend to.

Wallpaper is off the wall- and drying in the studio. I'll assemble the room tomorrow depending if we are done removing the glue.

Lawn needs to be mowed, and I'm assembling the compost bin.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Old Floor vs. New Floor

While sanding down to match the front room to the hall and bedrooms, the quality of our wood floors was pointed out to us (I gasped when we came in to see the progress and the wood was exposed. It was beautifully grained). We decided to have the floors sanded down and the old finish removed on the whole first floor so there wasn't wax on part of the floors and not others. The color of the Red Oak from the Ozarks doesn't need stain and the rooms look brighter.



Before: Cloudy golden stain (original to house) in front room. The hallway changing from a golden yellow to dark walnut brown (irking us enough to want to change it now). The walnut brown of the master bedroom.


After: The same hallway area and the master bedroom. The color of the Red Oak from the Ozarks doesn't need stain and the rooms look brighter. Since I am going to focus my homemaking on simple, minimal and careworn or textures I love- having easy to maintain, bright floors was worth the expense of hiring professionals. The finish should last as long as our mortgage (yikes!).

We are loving the Tawny Mushroom in all areas where the wood floors are. It goes from taupe to sage to olive depending on the light and looks warm. The kitchen, adding an inch to put in smaller baseboards, the basement windows and perhaps the doors are the only paint amendments we are making.

The Seed of Installation Two



I found this beauty at the corner of the driveway and front of the house. Not sure how it will be incorporated but it will definitely serve as inspiration.

Deinstallation and Installation Number One


I'm slated to have three galleries at McHenry Community College to fill in August and have been waiting until I have studio space to tackle some of the more space-invasive components of creation. Before we get all the furniture delivered from IL, we are trying to tackle the messier jobs. The most destructive processes are what has made me feel like this is mine. Taking out the registers, removing curtains, refinishing the floors, and now removing wallpaper has been cathartic. The sweat and attention involved has made me feel affection and ownership (if the hefty loan doesn't on a daily basis affect the same).

We are planning on replacing the cream small patterned paper with a rich blueish-red. Alizarin crimson was my favorite oil paint color, so I was happy when Brad suggested a deep red to replace the paper. A dark color will make the tile floor and backsplash look rich instead of washed out.

Installation One: I will be reassembling the shell of removed wallpaper. The labor-intensive process of removal has me conjuring the chrysalis attributes of a new skin. I haven't figured out if I am going to stitch to reassemble or mount it onto fabric or just velcro it to a carpeted gallery wall. We began the process of serious removal last night at about 8:30, and have only a small dent in the square footage of blue and pink flowers.



Possible titles: Ski(e)n, Shedding, Wall Covering, Re:Place. I am open to responses and suggestions.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Floors in Progress

Here's Mike of Floor Designs and the bare wood- Red Oak from the Ozarks. I got a phone call on the way to work about the wood being high quality and "a shame to put a stain on"...
The protected wood is as gorgeous as I imagined while talking to Reg on the phone.

New Favorites...

Well, due to lots of harassment by friends and family- a few pictures of the new place and my favorite parts of it. Brad's quality photos are buried deep in cyberspace since our computers are no longer networked since the move. I am sure that will be a project once the floors are dry and we can move into the office. Obviously, the lawn is another large project that needs tackling...but the perennial plants are bringing me joy...


Wiffleball in white shelving in the garage, the chandelier, and the woodfloors are definite pluses.