Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

Bedroom

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

I tried blue. Then gray. Waited a few days and settled on Behrs Ashes. Hmmmmm. Now, why did I want to do an accent wall?

It may have something to do with being consistently dissatisfied with the tiny main bedroom. Something deep inside needs it to be more snazzy or possibly wants to distract from those asymmetrical windows (which are a huge pain in the ass when it comes to placing headboards or furniture or anything really).

I think I like the color. It’s hard to judge since the bed linens are not working at all with it and I’m having a problem figuring out what to do with the bed frame. My suspicions are that beds are the hardest thing to put together well.

Here is a reminder of what the other side of the bedroom looks like and those burl wood tables will be nightstands.

I’ve been going through my tumblr archives trying to figure out what it is that I hope to achieve. Below are some shots that seemed to have a coherent aesthetic scheme running through them.

I’m feeling a little stuck and broke. I’ve been combing through all the affordable bed linens I can find on ye’ old interweb and nothing is approaching being acceptably perfect. Well, except for EVERYTHING made by Area. Area is incredibly lovely, but also very, very expensive. I know that the bedding answer seems sooo obvious, but we can’t do white. I would totally go for full on white bedding in an instant but The Boy has put a kibosh on any and all white bedding.

The bed will need to be lowered in order to have a room for a headboard and allow easier access for Iggy’s little short butt to jump up. Nothing affordable, short and amazing is popping up so it looks like we might have to DIY a platform bed as well as some sort of headboard. The closet door handle situation will also need to be addressed, which requires some more fancy DIY action. Bedside lighting has proven to be difficult issue over the past few years and I’ve been seriously considering an Akari table light to keep things casual.

Maybe many potted cactuses is the answer.  Maybe a visit from the money fairy is the real answer…I’m thinking this whole remodel business would be a lot easier with bags of money.

Stock Tank Pool

Monday, June 28th, 2010

The clever and talented Lily from bigBANG studio just posted about an impromptu swim party in Joshua Tree at a friends large live stock tank pool. I’m dying. DYING.

The Brick House is only a short drive away from Joshua Tree and I am desperate to know where these stylish folks  found this tall galvanized water storage tank, how they added that sweet custom ladder and what kind of filtration system they are using. So many logistical questions! So hot and in need of our own livestock pool with a killer deck and better views to lounge in.

This baby puts our own livestock tank pool plans to shame.

Side Yard

Monday, June 7th, 2010

With my new found welding powers I am psyched to start welding up a fire pit, edging, shade structure and a planter for the side yard. Ambitious yes. Impossible? Maybe. I’m going to start with the fire pit and go from there.

Unfortunately the summer heat that has finally hit Hemet and with it I’ve started to wonder how we can add a small cheap pool to The Brick House. A tiny pool, just big enough to get wet and cool down in but not ambitious enough to need to meet codes and require professional installation. My sister suggested this puffy thing, but while we were in Joshua Tree last week I saw a really amazing DIY galvanized livestock tank pool. A similar version can be seen here at Waldorf Modern.

I was never really happy with what we had going on in the landscaping of the side yard, so I redesigned around the idea of installing a little DIY livestock tank pool.

I visited my local livestock supply and found that they had a 10′ and an 8′ version of the round tank.

The 8′ version is $374 and the 10′ is $560. Ouch, pricey. Delivery is only $10 though! Our house is literally right around the corner from this place and yeah, it can be a little rural around these parts. When I called the other 15 or so livestock supplies in a 50 mile radius I found that this local place was the only one that stocked a 10′ version, and surprisingly, had the best price.

Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics.

I also went to the local pool supply place to check out pumps/filters. I found this small one for about $50, but it seems like a pretty temporary solution and the filters would need to be changed every two weeks. At $10 a pop, that seems like some pricey maintenance. This Hayward unit is $269 and the filter needs to be changed yearly. This more expensive unit seems like a bit of overkill for the size of the pool. I want something in the middle, something to filter 750 gallons easily and that can be installed on a pretty permanent bases. I was also thinking of doing this whole pool with salt water instead of worrying about chemicals and such.

Needless to say the pool store workers though I was a fucking idiot. I felt like one. I’m not sure how to solve the filtration / salt water / pump situation.

If this pool idea somehow works out then we would adjust the rest of the landscape. I want to throw down pea gravel in a big L shape over a base of decomposed granite. I also want to add a Palo Verde tree with a hot rolled steel ring around the base to echo the pool shape and a big cactus in the back. Then we would use railroad ties as a stepping pathway to the pool. I found this great image of a railroad tie driveway that inspired the idea but have totally lost it. Damn you internet!

This is what it would look like when you are floating comfortably in the pool. We could get a couple of loungers to relax and sun bath nude on. No tan lines! Horrified neighbors!

We would still have a sun shade over the pool to keep it all cool and shady and the masonry wall for privacy.

I think a small pool would be really great and usable thing to have out here in the desert. It’s hot like 75% of the year and we’ve been just so desperate to take a cool dip for the last few years. So for $500 – $700 we could probably build this thing. Is it worth it? Or do we go the ugly doughboy route?

Here are some tank pool images I found over the week. I totally didn’t keep track of where I found them at because I’m a terrible blogger. I haven’t been able to track down a whole lot if info around on how to build one of these things…

That green one looks horrifying. But its got a slide!

Stupid idea or brilliant? I can’t tell yet. There is a whole lot of potential for failure.