DIY Pipe Bed

This is not a tutorial. I want to make that clear. This was my idea for us to get out of our coffin, but I did not make it. Tyrone did ALL of the work. He's my hero and I've never been more attracted to him watching him build this. We followed this basic tutorial and then Tyrone took it from there. I was all set to help as much as I could. I tried understanding what parts we needed to get and figuring out the design to fit our mattress. Once we got into Home Depot and started looking at all of the pieces I lost interest real quick. All of the numbers and math and metal pipe and math and more numbers and did I mention math? Blah! This took a couple of nights and part of his day off to finally complete. Meanwhile we were sleeping on the mattress in the living room but we were already used to that.

It is the sturdiest bed ever. We used 2x4's instead of thiner plank-style boards so there is no bowing whatsoever. It's really hight too. I've never had a bed this tall before. Quite frankly I'm afraid I'm going to fall off it in the middle of the night. Frederick practically rolls his eyes at me when he as to jump off of it. We could fit a whole other bed underneath it. You know I'll have that space jammed full of crap in no time.

The Hostile

Because that's what I feel like we live in, a hostile. We share a bathroom, kitchen and living area what else would you call it. Our room is the walkway to the basement so the occasional foreigner does have to walk through our only "private" space we have. It's like I'm back in high school and my car is the only safe haven I have. So many internal issues going on. But in all this we are making progress on our plan so I have to stay focused and breathe.

A bit of a mess at first but we finally made it homey.

Our little avocado tree is growing so fast since we moved. It's even bigger than this now.

Mason Jar Planter

Last Spring I made-over our balcony and planted a few things and I'm happy to report that one of them is still alive. The rest have passed on but I'm not crying over it. I'm just happy I still have one plant that isn't dead and that I've kept it alive for more than a year. It has worked out perfectly that it hates to be watered.

So naturally I think I'm an expert now and decided to plant another one. I painted the bottom inside of an open mouth mason jar, threw a bunch of rocks in the bottom of it (because it worked before) and am now watching it ever so intently.

To be honest it's not drinking any water almost at all so I'm scared. I don't think it's getting enough oxygen so I stuck a straw it in (no clue if this trick will work but some green thumb internet extraordinaire told me to do it) so we'll freaking see.

And there's the avacodo seed that I planted because I copied my cousin (Kendahl - the best stepmom in the world) who's plant/tree is a monster now. Let me tell you that if the root on this seed hadn't started growing as fast as it did I probably wouldn't have had the patience to wait the 1-2 months (according to the research I did) for it to grow. I started growing within a week and a half and since then Tyrone and I have been a bit excited to see it grow hence we've been consistent about changing the water in it and making sure it doesn't get moldy. The pic shown below is from a few weeks ago and the root is now touching the bottom of the jar and is sprouting off. There is also some little green growth on the inside of the seed that I can see from where it has cracked. I need to plant it now according to all of the research I've done but I'm scared to do it because of my murderous past.

This guy sits on the outside of our window and changes every now and then with a different slimy body and shell. Yes, I'm aware that it's probably a new snail. It looks like he ends up drying up and then eventually getting knocked off by the wind. The funny thing is that Fred will get a wind of him when he's lower on the window and tries licking at him and scratching at him. He's such a cute little critter hunter.

A new mantle for the new year 2012

I'll admit it was nice to finally put up the tree and box away all of the creepy santas and annoying caroler trinkets. I love playing with the mantle. I probably think of a new idea for it every month but I resist the urge to change it that often as much as I can.

i'm almost over the feather wreathe but i can't figure out what else to replace it with right now

blue ball (hehehe) mason jars found at Savers one extemely lucky night, they had never been used either, they weren't cheap either but I could not walk away from them, the gorgeous postcard was made by my talented friend Anika 

my Merry always did want to be a unicorn painting by my other talented friend Erin next to our framed day after wedding photo

 vintage russian nesting dolls

 pictures taken by me, the one on the left is from a small corner on an alteration shop's sign which is owned by the sweetest guy named abraham

 picture of Tyrone taken at a show by our friend uglysheep

another lovely painting from Erin if you look closely you can almost make me out, i couldn't get it with out getting a reflection of myself

past mantles

the decor hasn't changed much in a year (last year's new year mantle)

halloween 2011 mantle (my personal fav)

a simple one

A small makeover

I can't even tell you my excitement when I found this vintage mid century daisy dresser. Mid century is by far my favorite era and style when it comes to furniture and architecture. It was at Thrift Town and they were having a Memorial Day sale, 30% off!!! I had been searching craigslist and KSL classifieds for a good deal on a vintage dresser but people wanted a pretty penny for them. My old dresser has been with me since I was seventeen. It's cheap plywood and I had spray painted it black immediately after my divorce  seven years ago. I had taken the handles off and replaced it all with black satin ribbon handles. It was cute at the time but for the past few years it was really bugging me. The drawers were all broken and none of them pulled out properly anymore.

You can imagine the conversation that went on between Tyrone and I at the store. I was whining BIG TIME to him like a five year old that wants a candy bar. I even pulled at his sleeves when he wouldn't give me his full attention. It was one of those moments that could have gone really bad. We left the store with out it because we had to meet his mom and niece and nephew for lunch. He finally told me, if it's still home by the time we go home and get the Rodeo and come back then you can get it. The wait about killed me and he was damn lucky it was still there waiting for me. It was EXACTLY what I was looking for.

before

I just had to make a few changes to it. It needed to be cleaned and wiped down really bad and it needed the floral liner taken out desperately. This crap had been sitting in here for a very long time. I found the wood grain liner at Home Depot to replace the floral liner and I didn't even need to use a full roll. It wasn't too bad to put in either.

after

This is what I finally put together but it is still a work in progress. For instance I would love to find better frames for the prints but we'll see how that goes. I don't have a decent before picture of the old dresser but you can get a little idea of what this corner of our bedroom was like in our home tour.

Pray the Anchor Stays Heavy by Hid n Seek on Etsy

Mexican velvet ass painting thrifted at Thrift Town

Brown vintage ceramic owl from Tumbleweeds Odd Shop on Etsy

Vintage hiking boy thrifted at Deseret Industries

107. Japanese Juice Drinks print by Popshop Studio on Etsy

Vintage pedestal bowl thrifted at Savers

Milk glass vase thrifted at Deseret Industries

Vintage Delft Kissing Kids blue porcelain from Holland gift from my Grams