One of the big design type projects Laure and I have been working on so diligently is a very stylish (come on, obviously) salon in Laguna Beach that’s just recently opened up called Morrison Hair. Located in an older Spanish style bungalow, Rachel and James wanted the space to remain cozy, comfy and inviting like a great house, but still be stylish and modern for getting your hair did.

A particularly important and big need furniture-wise for the waiting area was a pair of chairs that were unusual, comfortable and made you desperately want to sit in them. So of course my first thought was these slingy bad bays that I have always wanted to reupholster.

Yup.

THOSE slingy cantilever bad boys. Pictured above in the BEFORE situation of upholstery hell.

For sure these were living in Ugly Town, USA and must have seemed like a complete stretch, so trust that it took a lot of convincing and begging to get anyone to believe they could be comfortable and stylish and awesome and not just a hot mess of browntown disgusting.

BOOM.

Reupholstered and reimagined.

I always knew they had a kind of Max Gottschalk or Paulistano type vibe buried deep inside their tubular chrome frames.

For the new slings, I decided to go with a bit of an unusual material. Any guesses? Hmmmm?

Screw that nonsense since I can’t shut up about it and am way too impatient. So, these slings are actually made with vintage wildfire tarp! I know. What?!

These tarps are used by my local Park Rangers and Firefighters in the San Jacinto mountains – located just a few miles from this Brick House. When the forest catches on fire, these giant heavy duty waxed canvas tarps are used to move burning brush and burnt up timbers or whatever else is on fire and needing moving. Eventually they get beat up and decommissioned and end up in retirement with this local canvas fabricator type guy I found.

I loved that the material already had this amazing patina and color and was this super heavy duty weight that I couldn’t find with newer fabrics. Plus, who has wildfire tarp chairs? Who?! No one.

Well wait, I guess Morrison Hair does now, BUT come on, don’t you just want to sit in them?! They turned out super sexy and are shockingly comfy to boot. Like a big hug from a firefighter.

Oh man, I can’t wait to show off the rest of the salon. Sorry about these few quick snaps I tried to grab.

We have a few finishing touches and a photo shoot to do, but I’m desperate to post the rest of the space. It turned out pretty much spectacular with a few custom features that are killer and was an overall great project to work on with some truly outstanding folks.

MMMmmmmmmm. Slingy time. Sneaky sling peek. Sleaking.

Now I totally want some slings for my house again. That is not how this works, right? I can’t be jealous.

Dang.

More soon.

Apparently this is Hazel’s house? Or maybe Hazel is a bit of a camera hog? Is it possible that this kitty likes to work it for the camera? Hmmm.

I have no excuse and will not apologize. I cannot resist photographing pets.

Anyway.

I had been crashing on Laure’s couch while we worked on the home makeover portions of Extreme Clutter this past summer. Production hours can be nuts and after a full day of creating pure magic and transforming cluttered homesteads into places that were both organized and stylish, we would stumble into Laure’s pad and pretty much pass out. So, when the second season wrapped up, it definitely felt like time to tackle Laure’s 450 sq.ft apartment – which might have suffered it’s own touch of the neglect style clutter. You know, seeing as Laure was working all day, every day for months on end and I was making myself at home in her living room.

Check out some of this BEFORE action for reference.

Now scroll back up to those afters. I’ll wait.

See? That was amazingly fun.

Over the course of a day or so I helped tackle (what my terrible with names brain is calling) a No-Cost Makeover of Laure’s living room and bedroom. We reused the furniture and things she already had in the apartment, pulled a couple things out of her storage and then fairly quickly the whole apartment functioned better and felt way more cohesive with just that basic rethinking of the floor-plan and restyling of her accessories. So, in total, we spent about $40 at Home Depot for a smattering of plants and a couple light bulbs. Cheap, quick and good-looking to boot. In the end everything came together so well that I’ve been testing out this makeover idea and love how quickly a space can transform with a couple layout tweaks and careful editing. Sometimes it takes someone with a fresh pair of eyes, ruthless ability to edit down all your crap (with fantastic taste, obviously) and style it all up to pull that space together.

The No-Cost Makeover : One room. One day. Solving those big design problems with the things you already own.

Sound like fun? Maybe something you might need at your house? I think this could be kind of amazing, but need to figure out the having time issues. I’ve been super slammed and now my house is suffering the neglect clutter. To the EXTREME.

Maybe if I can get past the shame of it all, I might share my dirty secret. The clutter. All that clutter!

The kitchen needs a bit of help.

After sixty odd years of use, some parts of the kitchen (*cough* countertops *cough*) aren’t faring so well. Worn out, busted up, whatever you want to call it, this not looking clean thing isn’t cool anymore.

Seen from afar? Not so bad.

In person? Kind of gross.

Here’s my idea mash-up board. Now get in my kitchen all you things.

Of course any updates need to be affordable and the plan is to reuse some stuff that’s already laying around the house.

NEED

Counters :  IKEA Numerar. Cheap easy lovely wood. Not the dream top, but sometimes budget wins.
Hardware : Brass pulls you said? Possibly.
Paint : BM Kendall Charcoal. Actually just for use inside the cabinets.
Faucet : Still working on that. Something simple. Something affordable.
Backsplash : Kismet Tile – C4BW S17

HAVE

Floors : Black VCT
Lighting : Danish copper cone
Chairs : Eames wire chairs
Sink : Our sink

Laure shot an incredible floor installation of Kismet tiles at Jon and Tyke’s new place. I’m in love with Tracey’s patterns and colorways and just the finish in general with these Moroccan-made cement tiles.

Hey now. This is the Kismet tile patten I’m currently digging.

Our black-splash area and the space behind the stove is pretty petite; we really only need about 60-ish sqft of tile to do the whole kitchen. I’m hoping that a nice dose of graphic black and white might just be thing to bring the wowser factor into what would be pretty basic overhaul and tweaking of the current kitchen…since the gut and rebuild strategy isn’t ever going to be an option.

A little while back Laure and I went through her storage and pulled out a few portfolios filled with large scale photos she had taken during art school. We framed one great landscape for her bedroom and it looked so crazy amazing that she graciously let me borrow this softly colored desk shot so I could have a big ‘ol framed photo as well.

I hung it and looked at it and then texted her a picture of everything installed.

While it’s a great piece, we both agreed that it was being completely overpowered by the fireplace. Off to another spot with you!

The area above the fireplace has been an ongoing struggle, with many unsatisfactory incarnations including these – HERE – HERE - HERE.

The problem is scale.

Our ceilings are a standard 8′ tall, but the fireplace rides pretty high on the wall allowing for a mere 37″ of white space above the mantel. Two thin windows flank the fireplace on either side and their top moldings create a weird invisible horizontal line across the wall. When anything hangs near or above this strange visual trickery the ceiling begins to feel really low, while conversely, the art appears to be hung way too high.

Then there’s that mantel.

Blech.

Overly fussy and completely under-scaled, this has been one of those “I’ll get to it projects” that never seemed to be gotten to. All I’ve ever imagined doing was installing a simple but chunkier wood mantel over the top of this thing. Something boxy, something easy to build, something budget friendly.

Excuse my terrible photoshopping, but a solution as simple as this uncomplicated wood box would be better scaled and suited for the fireplace mantle, easily constructed and pretty cheap materials-wise.

Screw it. Why not go all change crazy and paint the brick a lighter color like a soft gray/almost white. Or go slightly less nuttier and paint the thing a true black.

(I’m leaning lighter – if for no other reason than to shake things up)

Over the mantle art-wise is still an issue. I’ve hunted for the perfect long and lean piece to snuggle up into that strangely proportioned spot and have come up with ZERO things after almost four years of searching. Time to DIY.

Surprise surprise. I can’t afford a Stella or a Judd or any blue chippy art. I mean, I wish I could – that would be INCREDIBLE – but I can’t even find an affordable no-name modernist abstract painting or mid century fiber art wall hanging, let alone ANYTHING that’s both famous and super long and lean.

Making some fauxart has long been a noodle in my brain (and something I have done before). Why not. Faking it is fun.

I’ve been mocking up a few different (easily made) options – but SHOCKER – this long/thin composition isn’t widely popular with artists whose work I dig. Or really any artists. ‘Cause it’s weird.

Firstly, a fake Ed Ruscha, well actually it’s from his art book THEN & NOW. I don’t know, it’s not a favorite – I just always liked that project and this typography. Plus this would be so easy to make.

Next idea was a fake Matthew Brannon. I always liked his larger scale installations – like the Whitney limply coiled eel, a reoccurring motif in his work. It’s the right scale and I love an eel.

Otherwise, most of the artist’s work that I love looks awkward as hell squished into a format like this or is too labor intensive for my quick and dirty faker style. I though I could pretty easily pull-off something text based like a Weiner or a Holzer or a Shrigley or a Nauman or even a Baldessari – but nothing felt quite right (even though I love me some Weiner).

I’ll always remember this story a teacher once told me about going to another rather famous artists studio. He was admiring all the Jasper Johns and Warhols (or things equally blue chippy) and asked about the pieces. “Oh those? They’re all fakes – I just made them. Come on, I can’t afford that shit.”

Mantel first, forgery later, methinks.

I still thrift. All the time. I swear.

It’s been about three months since any thrifty action has seen this blog.

BUT, the master bedroom has been begging me for a tall dresser for months now. Finding the right piece has been wickedly difficult considering it had to be both the right scale and cost. Guideline-wise, it had to be vintage (DUH) with a basic no-fuss design that slanted Danish. The curse of thrift shopping  is: if you’re needing something specific, you’re never going to find it.

I gave up hope, getting by with the wrong credenza in the meantime. Recently, during some local thrifting rounds, I spotted a complete bedroom set that included this simple but incredibly dry looking highboy. In it’s entirety, the set appeared abused and neglected for the last sixty year and cried out for the old vintage wood regimen. Luckily, the set was being sold piecemeal, making it easy to grab the highboy and nightstands and jet off.

Not to digress, but when I’m thrifting with folks or get emails from folks with thrifting dilemmas, their biggest challenge is usually just looking past the ugly florescent lights, piles of garbage and disorderliness of the place to spot potential. This dresser looked so depressing, so cheap and soooo gross in the store, but wood – good wood? Wood loves to be prettied up and treated right.

Spending the time and putting in the effort of sanding everything with fine steel wool, slopping on a couple coats of Danish oil and hand rubbing a final finish of Howards Feed N’ Wax, returns the luster and richness to wood that appeared derelict and shabby at best.

Of course this dresser is still vintage.

Over the last sixty years it’s been used and misused. Vintage wear and tear goes with the thrifty territory, but I prefer to live with furniture that’s been well used and developed an understandable patina. This way, instead of fearfully living with a perfect museum piece, you can knock stuff around and use pieces day in and day out without getting heartbroken if something gets dinged or nicked.

Case in point, the left side of the dresser has a large gouge from a careless handler dragging against something pointy. Sometimes, you can’t sand down very far when attempting to remove a big gouge. Most vintage furniture is finished with veneer, and that veneer is usually too thin to handle aggressive sanding.

In this situation, instead of freaking out and throwing every fill and repair trick at the damage (to just have the scratch continue to show up), a basic oiling helps minimize most of the damage. Vintage actually looking vintage is fine by me.

For most of the restoration, I didn’t spot markings that could help determine the dresser’s provenance. Not till after futzing with the base did this little blue MADE IN SWEDEN stamp pop up. At this point, I had pretty much assumed the set must have been American made and designed by some company in the states.

Those sneaky Swedes. Being all coy about marking stuff.

BEFORE & AFTER

Hey now.

Sexy time.

Of course this looks stunning framed by the weed infested backyard.

BUT…

Perfect-o for the bedroom.

BOOM.

It’s mother-effing fauxdenza* time.

We could flashback to the rough beginning of this particular fauxdenza via the power of HYPERLINKS or maybe just scroll down for a refresher.

OK. Let’s get our DIY on.

FAUXDENZA

Dimensions: 10′ long x 13-1/2″ deep x 33″ tall

Materials:

Ikea

8  -  Applad Doors (15 x 18″)
4  -  Akurum Wall Cabinets (30 x 18″)
8  -  Integral Hinge (2 pack)
2  -  Akurum Suspension Rail

Lumber

1  -  Wood  (14′ L x 15″W x 1″T) *I used Afrormosia

Tools:

Drill
Circular saw
Level
Tape Measure
Ratchet
Screws + appropriate anchors
Shims
Steel Wool
Fine Sandpaper
Danish Oil
Feed n’ Wax
Clean Rags

This poor, strange living room wall…

There was once a pipe shelf. Then I got bored with that. Then nothing for a bit. Then a floating storage credenza sounded good. Yup. Fauxdenza.

The whole fauxdenza thing boils down to just installing Ikea kitchen cabinets way, way too low. Since the tops of the wall cabinets aren’t meant to ever be seen and are all uglified, making some sort of aesthetically pleasing top becomes necessary. But first, installation.

The Akurum suspension rail system is designed to levely hang Akurum wall cabinets very simply. Of course, to install the rail you have to choose appropriate wall fasteners for your walls. For our plaster walls, screws into studs plus heavy duty anchors worked perfectly.

I test mounted the cabinets to see what the plumb/level situation was going to be when confronted with our old plaster walls.

Obvious shocker. Old plaster walls are really uneven.

The walls are wonky, but the other installation hurdle was that creepy giant non-functioning heater thing. Not only did it ugly up  the place, it’s location blocked the centered installation of the loooonnng fauxdenza.

So we removed the internal bits, framed out the wall, patched and painted it up (although, finding matching molding and large floor grates are still an issue).

Old house + plaster walls = Gappity gap gap

The last cabinet had a pretty large gap since the plaster wall took a sudden curve.

To correct the gap, first we shimmed the rail with some broken paint sticks from Home Depot, because that’s how we roll (unprofessionally). It was clear that the initial shim was nowhere near deep enough. We tested out how deep it had to be by sticking those little furniture foot pads onto the rail (unprofessionally).

Turns out, the last cabinet needed over an inch of the wackiest shimming you’ll never, ever see.

With the extreme shimming resolved and stuff hanging level, hiding the enormous new shim gap was the next quandary. The simple wood top I had planned on installing had to continue and wrap around the sides of the cabinets to disguise the monstrous shim gap.

For the newly expanded wood wrap, it felt best to find a better grade hardwood than I could grab at Home Depot.

With some brief googles I found Peterman Lumber, a local mill/lumber yard that specializes in domestic and exotic woods. They have wood wood, you know, wood you take seriously. Wood that won’t take crap from no one, no how.

Tight budget in mind, I settled on a 14 foot long piece of Afrormosia, which is an excellent and – cough* cough* - cheaper teak substitute. Fauxteak.

At about 15 inches wide by an inch thick, the piece I picked ran about $100 and looked purtty.

We used a handheld circular saw to cut the wood down to size. No fancy woodworking, no miters. Just simple straight lines.

I traced along the front edge of the cabinet door onto the wood sitting on top of the cabinets and pressed flush against the wall. No brainer, no craziness. Cut on the traced line for a superb custom fit.

Each joint, as well as the edges, got a quick sanding to knock down any unevenness and smooth things out.

The rest of the wood got prepped with a once over sanding using super fine steel wool. Pretty much, I went with the same process that I use to restore vintage furniture to treat this new wood. Slap on a few coats of Danish oil and a few coats of Feed n’ Wax and…

Bam.

That untreated wood darkens up and looks incredible.

To attach the wood, I predrilled a few holes through the inside of the cabinet frames and screwed into the bottom of the wood to secure it; of course, do not go through it completely. It only takes a few strategic screws to set the wood solidly in place, all fancy looking.

Initially, I had planned on using the Ikea Strecket handles and tested them out a bunch during the cabinet installation. Once the wood went on though, the handles suddenly looked way too fussy and got nixed.

Having no handles on the doors has been fine. The cabinets are high enough that I can comfortably grab the bottom door edge to open things up without any awkwardness.

Done and done.

For about $300, some labor and some problem solving, we custom-built a ten foot long floating credenza that adds tons of storage while being perfectly scaled and custom fit on an awkwardly long and barren entryway wall.

Being both super customizable and easily constructed, the fauxdenza seems a clever DIY solution for a wide spectrum of storage conundrums. Plus it looks sexy doing it, which never hurts.

Like many home fans who browse the internets, I fell in love with Andrea’s Greektown loft many years ago and have off and on toyed with the idea of creating a long minimal storage unit using basic Ikea kitchen cabinets like the one installed in the main living space.

This is such a simple and clever idea that is totally DIY-able and has an exhaustive abundance of variations and customizations that can be applied in any space. Which, really, any great DIY sort of should have a kernel of that customizable component built into the initial design.

I’ve always imagined I would eventually use this idea to build a floating media credenza that would hide all the ugly TV components in a super minimal floating unit that’s both affordable to build and has oodles of hidden storage.

Anna of D16 deemed this type of installation the “fauxdenza”, a newly minted hybrid word describing the floating credenza/wall/storage piece that she built in her pied-à-terre.

Sarah from AT posted a step by step breakdown of how to install one of these bad boys.

Matt of Wood&Faulk applied it to his kitchen remodel with the addition of a beautiful custom wrapped walnut top.

The Zerbey’s, architectural overachievers and DIY champions, took the idea to the extreme and built a floating stair wall and transformed simple Ikea cabinets into a full on built-in buffet with all the custom bells and whistles.

So, this concept is obviously a time-tested, tried and true solution for stylish folks needing minimal + modern + affordable storage.

After the pipe shelving unit was removed, I’ve hunted around for a solution for this long awkward entry wall in the living room. The main issue with the pipe shelving was the lack of hidden storage, and frankly, I just kind of got exhausted looking at the clutter that was always on display.

The ten foot long open space dwarfs most furniture and I knew I didn’t want to use another tall, open shelving unit to replace the previous tall, open shelving that had driven me crazy. After months of resistance and fruitlessly searching to find the right piece, I recently gave into Ikea and bought the requisite components to build my very own simple fauxdenza.

Well, I’ve been working on it and like every other project in this place, have run into some issues. I had lofty ideas of using a live edge slab or creating a brass top, but the costs have been outrageous when it comes to something that needs to span ten feet in length. Eight feet? Not as much of an issue, but somehow those two extra feet have ended up killing all my hopes and dreams.

We removed the non-functioning weird heater thing and patched up the wall since that vent thing is an eyesore and is physically in the way. Unfortunately, all these boring prep details have turned into a bigger hassle than expected. I’ve been looking around for the right kind of top that’s interesting but still affordable and I still need to find a larger than normal floor vent (since we aren’t talented enough to patch the floor) as well as find a chunk of baseboard that matches the vintage baseboard installed throughout the house.

The metal thing is gone, the wall is patched, but all in all it’s still a hot mess.

I bought four Ikea 30 x 18″ AKURUM fan cabinets with white APPLÅD doors and STRECKET handles. Pretty basic stuff that rounded out to cost a bit under $200.

Since the plaster walls are so wavy and uneven, the metal hanging rail had to be shimmed and fussed around with to create some semblance of flush evenness when the cabinets are hung.

Between annoying repairs and shimming, finding and customizing the top as well as trying to get the cabinets to hang without giant gaps, the project has been slow going. Hopefully soon, I’ll have it all up and finished and storing things.

Hopefully.

I have so many things that need to be stored.

Somehow between new jobs, new endeavors, busy schedules, rain, blazing heat, more rain, hotter blazing heat, low funds and neighbors breaking the lawnmower…we neglected the side yard. Now it is a beautiful field of knee high sun-bleached weeds.

So embarrassing.

With summer here and outdoor activities gearing up, I wanted to whip the side yard into shape for entertaining + swimming. Besides the weeds, a major obstacle of having folks over for outdoor shenanigans is the lack of a decently sized dining table. Guests tend to sort of wander around with their plates and sadly huddle around the beat down Ikea Docksta table. I’ve casually looked around for a big ‘ol rectangular dining table, but hadn’t found anything that was quite right or quite cheap enough. Of course, I then imagined it’d be a fantastic idea to build a DIY outdoor dining table that looked something like THIS ONE used for planning out the design of the side yard.

As with many of my other “imagined” projects, I put it off and suddenly realized it was already ‘effing June. Of all the months, this is the month for outdoor parties. After June it gets waaaayyy too hot to even live here, let alone make company hang out outside.

So. Quick table solution? Craigslist? Yes?

Sorry for the bad images, but these were the CL ad pictures that piqued my interest. I saw this “dining table” listed at an insanely low price and thought it looked uncannily similar to my reference table. Located only four miles from the house, it was kind of a given to go see it.

Well, we went Friday night and tried to see the table (in the dark) while it was sitting on a virtually inaccessible trailer and blocked by a big ugly credenza. Ultimately we couldn’t get a good look, but for $25 it seemed like no big deal to just buy it and throw it in the truck. It was for outside, I mean, why really worry all hard?

The next day (in the daylight) I got my first real look at the thing.

While in rough shape, it was MUCH more awesome than I had initially thought. It had a great simple design and the construction was so very nice…although, there was some kookiness…

For instance, the entire table top was shifted to one side. So, one side had an overhang of six inches while the other was almost flush with the base. Which was so WEIRD. Even the trestle support was centered with the top and not the base. Which was so much WEIRDER. I suppose it might originally have been a desk? Or work area type thing? It definitely wasn’t a dining table.

Unfortunately, the top and legs had a considerable amount of damage. Lots of deep scratches, water damage, weird stains. Pretty much the trifecta of crappy damages you don’t want to see.

But it was teak!

And fantastic!

It seemed a simple fix to take the top off and center it on the base to create a more dining style table. As for the off-center trestle support? I hoped it wouldn’t be a big deal once there were chairs, plus who really notices trestles anyways?

No one who wants to eat dinner. That’s for sure.

I flipped the table over to remove and remount the base and…

BOOM.

Hidden on an interior support was a stamp and a tag. This thing was Danish and made by H.P. Hansen and vintage and uh oh.

CRAPFINGERS.

Suddenly I wasn’t so confident about screwing around with the design and using this as an outside table. This table had survived for decades before I considered finagling around with it. It’s solid teak and has provenance and is an unusual design – but it is also so very awkward as well.

Is it a desk? A table? It’s not a classic or rare or highly desirable piece.

Ultimately, this thing was just so very fucked up.

The damage was such that I knew I couldn’t fix it completely; I could make things better, but the rough spots would never truly disappear. Choice-wise, I could either sell this surprise but damaged discovery (since I couldn’t use it for anything besides an outdoor table) or I could keep it, fix it up as much as possible and then own a really nice outdoor teak table that gets it’s own special weather resistant cover.

Frankly, in the end, I didn’t feel comfortable selling something that was in such bad shape. It didn’t seem worth the shipping and time and possibility of a buyer getting really upset over condition issues.

So. Nice outdoor teak table? Yes?

Once decided, I removed the top and centered the base. The trestle support is still off-center, but it didn’t seem worth removing to only have weird patched holes and will mostly be blocked by chairs AND SHALL BE IGNORED.

After adjusting the base and tightening up all the bolts, the table got my full restorative treatment. There are still scratches, deep gouges, major color inconsistencies and stains from what I imagine were markers – like a kid used to sit and draw here and the ink leaked through.

BEFORE

AFTER

Not so bad. Not bad at all.

For $25, some hours of labor and a slight flesh wound, it looks like a much nicer table than I should have sitting outside.

I have always planned on pairing the exterior table with my set of Bertoia chairs. Now these roughed up wire suckers are looking super janky next to the shiny restored table.

The set of Bertoias need full on restoration (the white coating around the wire has chipped and come off in big hunks). Powder coating is the more expensive and better option, but maybe a good exterior spray paint will get them through awhile longer and protect the metal until we can afford to fully restore.

Now to just get the side yard to be a little more inhabitable. That’s going to be some filthy, hot, backbreaking work. Better get the pool plumbing installed for sweet watery relief…but that will also be filthy, hot, backbreaking work. Clearly this is why the side yard was so casually ignored and fell into ruin.

Must not be a lazy jerkhole. Must get side yard fixed up.

I’ve been helping out Shelly Leer – aka ModHomeEc – with the design of her brand new upholstery workshop in Indianapolis. Shelly is a fantastic upholster and hosts classes to teach folks the ins and outs of fixing up and reupholstering their old forlorn stuff (a skill I can really appreciate).

With this open warehouse space, one big design issue Shelly needed help with was figuring out how to layout and define areas for various work and private “zones”. She needed areas for tools, areas for storage, an area for a personal office, a waiting area, an area to teach and work with students and so on and so forth. Functionally, this one big room had to be used for many many purposes and still be open, accessible and of course look awesome.

Since cost is always an issue (and this space is a rental), it wasn’t prudent to dump a bunch of cash into building traditional solid walls that would split up the space and make it feel smaller and darker. My solution was to build these vertical jute rope division walls that allowed for defined “zones” but still retained light and visibility throughout the entire space. A plus when using this type of jute rope is the added benefit of bringing in a chunky / graphic / warm texture to an otherwise cold and hard industrial room.

The construction process is pretty simple. Wood boxes were custom built with evenly spaced rope sized holes drilled through the top and bottom. Precut sections of rope were strung through the top and tied off at the bottom, allowing for the interior knot to hold the rope in place and taut. Just screw close the open side of the box and all those ugly knots are hidden away.

With this design the overall costs are kept pretty low for such a big impact. Rope is cheap, especially when bought in bulk, and wood boxes are very low cost to build. The true cost is going to be labor and time – it’s just a tedious and super repetitive process.

Come on. Hotness.

I think the outcome is pretty spectacular. Not that I’m bias or anything.

This roped off area is actually Shelly’s office!

I’m completely thrilled with how these rope walls came together and so happy I didn’t have to lift a finger and do any of the actual labor. There is another wall in the works that I’m pretty excited to see completed as well as other awesome ideas that came from designing Shelly’s new workspace to be affordable, functional and downright ‘effing stylish.

The house is mostly a blank slate when it comes to fixing up the landscaping, well, except for the spring time weed “lawn” that shall be pulverized. Though the plan is to do everything in stages as budget and weather and will power permit, I have to admit to being a bit overwhelmed by the scale of the project. This will be a massive undertaking requiring oodles of hardcore filthy labor and serious cash. My brain refuses to acknowledge how long this project will drag out (years, likely) or how many new skills are needing learning or that the future holds face to face dealings with nests of earwigs, feral cat crap and other horrifying surprises lurking in the dirt.

Thankfully, I’ve been working with the talented and soothing (and award winning) Ryan Prange of Falling Waters Landscape fame to help quell my anxiety and give the low down on drought tolerant low maintenance landscaping. We’ve whittled out my landscape needs (cheap, low maintenance, desert modern, neighborhood appropriate, water friendly) and he’s been pulling together some design recommendations for plantings.

In response to the layouts and ideas Ryan’s been sending over, I’ve been screwing around with SketchUp to flesh out the landscape.

Admittedly, the free version of SketchUp’s plant selection sucks. The program also goes wacky with the 2-D face me plants which wander out of place as the viewing angle shifts – not just a little out of place, but jumping 10 plus feet out of their plant “zone”.

These renderings are supposed to include a bunch more feather grass or rush or grassy bush type things to help fill out the blanker areas. Putting the right amount of plants in the model causes it to start resembling very sloppy and confusing photoshopping. The pared down renderings do illustrate basic layout of the major plantings and hardscape elements which are still getting fiddled around with and finalized.

In terms of making this stuff physically happen (without hiring contractors and workers) I need to learn some new skills like pouring and finishing concrete. Initially, concrete seems messy and hard and fits neatly in my frustrating projects that I suck at category. I also want to figure out how to install drip irrigation and exterior lighting. Sexy and thrilling projects like those will need some in-depth research, which is is fantastic, since there is nothing more exhilarating than researching piping or timers or whatever.

The neglected side yard needs some attention and extreme weed annihilation. The more obvious question though – who the hell installs a spigot like that? Extend that sucker over one foot to the right and out one foot please. Perfect. Logical. Extra functional.

We picked up the ridiculous blue spa cover at the local thrift store for a couple of dollars.  The cover is a few feet wider than required, so it’s rocking a stylish droop and devil may care attitude whilst keeping leaves out of the empty tank. Trust that I know it’s looking kind of ghetto.

Still working out the plan of attack in the side yard, but the idea is to keep it simple and add an eating area. We need to rip out the brick planter and install hot rolled steel edging, pour some concrete pavers, plumb the pool, build a deck, stain the fence, grade the yard, throw decomposed granite everywhere, plant many plants, build a table, install lighting and then done? Maybe? This is going to take years.

Above are a few of the design options Ryan has been sending my way. I’ve been picking and choosing ideas and incorporating a little of each into the finalized plan, which shocker, might ultimately change as we dive into the nitty gritty of finances and skill levels and what stuff actually looks in real life.

Landscaping. You soul crushing monster.

The big sale will hopefully raise funds to help get us going on some projects. I can’t wait for the exterior to shape up a bit and be usable.

Also, if you have a landscaping project in need of some help, design, project management or otherwise, give Ryan & Falling Waters Landscape a shout. He’s good people, with a great eye and super easy to work with personality. I might know, because admittedly, I’m a demanding she-beast with a highly specific design sensibility who worries that it’s not as easy to switch out trees as it is sofas. Then again, I don’t have to sit on trees and constantly look at and criticize them.

Should be fine, right? Right?! RIGHT. We are nowhere near ready to plant trees.