Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Season 2! Massive Blog!

Welcome to the Country Cottage Season 2! So many fun projects are in store for us this season! Thanks to the good ‘ol US education loan system, we are ready to get started! Unfortunately I am not able to upload beautiful bean footage due to the fact I got a new laptop and my den is gutted along with my connection, so it will be a small wait until you get quality blog, sorry!
“Gina, are we finally starting the porch?”
Sorry kids, the porch is still a luxury, I NEED a functioning den! As previously covered, my den is a hodgepodge of surfaces, no drawers, not enough shelves, and extremely poor lighting! This room has the most potential, and houses the most important aspects of my life. My design friends understand my pain when I say during design studios I can spend up to 15 hours straight in there, and it helps to enjoy the paint, ya dig?
I have found furnishings I really liked, but they all total to about $3000! I knew I had to design smarter, more efficient, more creative and CHEAPER! This lead me to my soapbox, could you get the light in the back? Thanks.
I would like to take this small moment to recognize the academy and my brother Gil, who exposed me to the wonders that ARE the IKEA-cheap-ass-furniture-and-meatball-expo-center! Don’t forget the Dame Tart and Swedish coffee on your way out! Good-cheap times! Here’s the plan!
Mass shelving! That mofo is going to look like a library! Shelving is WAY cheaper than closed storage, so I found the GORM shelving @ IKEA. It is solid untreated natural pine, and has a wonderful blond luminescence to it. I was hesitant due to the fact that the wall color is butter cream, I did not want it to become a monochromatic nightmare, but I found the butter cream enhances the blond highlights in the wood. I will now have shelving for my 2 businesses as well as college, work , and personal affairs. I also have plans for a S&S craft center that will house all of my packaging, ribbon, clipboards, calendars ext. The best part of my design is the tension wire that will span the bookcases above my craft table incorporating both stability, efficiency, and conveniently thread my many spools of ribbon, and even hold stamp! I found corrugated storage boxes for all my design sample, (thanks Gil) and all of my mags.
The Palette:
Butter cream, white, stainless steel, and bitch red, YEA! As my design friends remember from color theory, red increases your blood pressure, raised your energy level, even increases appetite. Yellow is a warm welcoming color, so this office is going to be a virtual shot of B-12! (and it’s right of the kitchen for snacks!) Exxxcelent! Red is like salt, if you don’t have enough, it’s bland, too much, it’s ruined, you should have just enough to enhance all the flavors in the pot! Wield your mighty accessory shaker with precision and gusto!
Butter cream will cover the existing paneling, and white will cover the other 2 walls with the intention of yellow cream wainscoting and crown molding applied later. The desk is white and glass, and mounted curtain rods will hold my architectural plans (they can get up to 4 feet!) and a collapsible table will serve as additional storage and surface usage. I am taking lighting this spring, so I consulted with Abby “Goat Feet” Smout, a 4th year senior extremely versed in lighting design. Together we concocted a reflective ceiling plan with adjustable oculus lights highlighting the corner shelving, and red pendants over the craft table and draft table for task lighting. A new stainless fan with adjustable halogen lights will wash my desk and highlight the area rugs and add ambient light. The area rugs are a lesson in rhythm kids! A red circular rug brings definition and whimsical flair to the desk area, and has a level cut pile and a raised pile asymmetrical circular pattern throughout. This shape nestles into the surrounding furniture arrangement, and a red rectangular rug with linear raised pile nestles in the rectangular area adding the same design elements. With all this powerful color on the floor, I must raise the color to balance the room, and will use that in storage, labels, and light fixtures. Whew! There you go!
Star Date
12-15-16
Christmas ended early at the Country Cottage this year. I had to dispose of my x-mas tree early to make way for all of the contents of my den. I was sad. I told Dad about it, and he immediately asked
“Well, where is it?”
“In the back with the brush”
“Lemme back the truck up!”
Yes, it is as you all are envisioning, he collected my deposed tree and it is not proudly displayed in his front window! It has a Christmas Story Leg Lap feel to it now….
I emptied the den save my gynormous draft table, and sent Dad packing with the mix matched shelving and desk they so kindly let me borrow. Tuesday I will prime the entire room, and Thursday I will paint! Due to the fact I have 3 colors it will take 3 days to cut into the edges of the walls and ceilings. Ready for the really good news? Troy “runs with scissors” handyman is slated to install my new window in early January! SWEET! I will then take final measurements and take a caravan up to the meatball expo center and load up on EVERYTHING! Gil doesn’t know it yet, but I will be housing some of my wares in his garage for a day or 2 to get it all back to San Marcos. I will assemble and start organizing, and about the time spring semester rolls around, I will be ready to go! The lighting will have to wait a few weeks after that, but for all practical purposed, it will be done! Wish me luck!
Star Date 12-20-06
I have a piano in my hallway. That is satisfactory foreshadowing of my first evening of realization. I knew this room was going to be difficult to paint, it has paneling, and as Candace Olsen tells us all, paneling is a B****! So I embarked with my primer and began with the ceiling, and I never noticed but the texturing is so deep and jagged, my regular roller was not getting into the crevasse effectively, so I had to really lean into it to get adequate coverage. After half a gallon of primer and some muscle spasms, I know I was going to need another gallon of paint, Saturday Night Fever sdtk, and some Jolt (now banned in 7 states!) I started on the paneling, and held small hope the roller would push the paint into the ribs, yea, no. Since the paneling is such a smooth surface it took 2 coats just to get quazi-satisfactory coverage! I then proceeded to use my brush to fill in the ribs and have to do it in 3 stages, from top to bottom. HAND CRAMP! I went until I ran out of primer. I am excited though to see the white walls, the room seems so much more spacious. So my original plan to colors on Thursday is replaced with finishing the primer. This works out because it takes some stress off me, and it is going to be about 3 weeks until I can get the furniture anyway. I am getting used to having no living room, did I mention I have a piano in my hallway? With fumes seeping into my pores, and no lighting in the den, I am able to hit the town in the evenings! ALL of you know this is a rare treat! FYI I had a great night watching Apocolypto awesome movie! Anyone up for extreme put-put? Beers on me! Troy is stopping by tomorrow to measure for the window! Wish me luck!

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