Knocked down all the knee-high weeds but everything is still a horrid mess.

Being full on freaky for furniture, I wanted to check out how the table looked in the side yard (and at least free up some storage space). I kind of feel like it might be too nice to leave out here…but maybe that’s all the ghetto looking surroundings working their magical guilt.

The ground is super uneven and it’ll definitely be a long time before that final “look” is achieved. We still have a bunch of stuff to do to get this area looking and functioning like that fancy virtually landscaped yard.

Wait? But what things?!

Things like this:

SIDE YARD TO DO

+ Rototill soil
+ Level/grade dirt
+ Drip irrigation
+ Plumb/filter pool
+ Run electrical
+ Weed barrier
+ Weld metal edging
+ Decomposed granite
+ Concrete paver walkway
+ Stain/seal fence
+ Plants
+ Tree
+ Lighting

Look at that beat up table top. This thing was ridden hard and put away wet. The teak will do well outdoors though.

I’ve got a ghetto tarp covering up the table to protect it from the harsh sun for now, but it still needs a nice weather resistant cover to keep it from getting too abused. At least I know rain won’t be an issue. Thank you wicked dry desert climate!

+++++

In other unrelated thoughts and boring stuff:

I’ve been working on the show with Laure again, as well as tirelessly on the shop and other sneaky ventures. Summer time means that it’s 8,000 degrees in the desert and working on the house is a physically torturous and sweaty nightmare. Admittedly, I’ve been phoning shit in around this old blog as of late, but in all honesty, I just got nothing. No great ideas, no fun content, no big projects I can share. I’m exhausted and totally uninspired and the house is a disaster pit that I just awkwardly walk around while trying to ignore random piles of laundry.

Otherwise, it seems that I’ve been straying away from blogs and spending more time on twitter and instagram and other micro-blogging (I hate myself for even typing that) formats which are easily accessed on my phone. As I’m traveling more and spending less and less time at a computer, these little venues feel like an immediately accessible option and are seemingly where more and faster interaction is taking place.

So, to you – you fine summer loving and attractive folks – here are a few things I’ve been asking around about:

How do you deal with crappy uninspired creative lulls?

Have you noticed a shift in the way peeps are interacting with blogs and the blogging community (please punch me for writing blogging community)?

Anyone feeling slightly burnt out? Please say it’s not just me feeling completely cray-cray crazy lately.

Here is a sneak peak at the pieces going up tonight for sale at 8PM (hopefully). As a newbie to the whole eBay listing process, I have to admit being a little intimidated and overwhelmed. There is a lot of detailed crap to figure out (Pictures? Condition? Shipping? Terms? Freight? Insurance? Pricing?) and every single template listing thing for eBay is incredibly ugly and impossible to navigate. I’m hoping all goes well and the items post when they are “supposed” to – nerve-wracking stuff for sure. These puppies are also “supposed” to end this Sunday night in order for shipping and delivery to be arranged before the big sale.

I set up a sad little eBay store HERE. I’ll update with some direct links to the listings when they go live.

But because Summer is more adept and organized than me, you can check out her MODERNHAUS listings right HERE. There’s burl…just saying…

*Also, SO very sorry for all this annoying sale stuff. I’m trying to step it up and learn from the last big sale we did – which was kind of a mess. Now I’m ultra panicky about doing it better and being more organized and awesome at it. Anyone ever sold on eBay before? Any tips? Horror stories? I’d love a little more anxiety please…

Mia recently wrote in with a rug dilemma. For someone who pretty much only has cowhides covering the floor, I seem to get a lot of rug questions. Also landscaping. Which is strange since there are weeds throughout the entire yard. Who cares! I love to have an opinion and you guys do to.

Without further rambling, here we go.

Mia writes…

Hello!

I’ve just about saved enough money to buy a Moroccan rug from Moroccan Maryam’s website – but I can’t decide which one to get!  Your taste is awesome so I thought I would ask you for advice! I really love *(#1) – but I think it may be too huge for my tiny living room.

Thanks for your help : )

mia

This is the living room in question:

ooohhh. White floors. Fancy.

This is the Room & Board sofa (in Terra) that Mia is buying to go with the rug:

And here are the four rug candidates she’s chosen:

Here is my take:

My first style choice is rug #1. You are concerned it won’t fit, (and rightly so) but at 63″ it’s only a little over 5′ wide. Now what I would need to know is the width of the room (is it 8′ or 10′?), but what may be a bigger issue is the length of the room. Rug #1 is almost 15′ long. Do you have over 15′ in that room or will you walk right through the front door straight onto the rug? Because front door to rug = hot dirty rug mess.

I know there are a number of rugs available at Maryam’s site, so the first thing to do is to take some painters tape and outline the most appropriately sized rug for the room – in other words, where you want it to go. Obviously you want it to float under the sofa and allow some breathing room in front of the media unit. Measure those dimensions and find a rug that is similar in pattern to #1 and as close to your dream dimensions as possible.

Also, I really like THIS pattern.

I think before you do any buying it would behoove you to do a little bit of measuring work. A bit of pre-planning can save you a bunch of money down the road, since the worst thing to do is invest a bunch of cash in an oversized or undersized rug. Nothing looks weirder in a room than a strangely proportioned rug.

My other question is – where is that sofa going?  Looks like that room is super narrow and awkwardly shaped with lots of broken up architecture. Space planning seems like it would be extremely difficult. Will your current pieces be moved around or moved out? How is the rest of the furniture layout being addressed?

OK, instead of a simple answer to your question I just raised a bunch of issues.

What do you guys think? Which rug should she go for?

Since my inbox isn’t giving anyone else but me endless hours of decision making joy, I thought this might be a fun new thing to try.

Here’s the plan. I shamelessly repost someones burning question (I ask nicely), give a little context to the dilemma and of course my two cents. Then you guys can as well, since it’s fun having opinions.

Ann & Dabney Inquire:

“hi morgan-
i don’t often email people out of the blue, but my partner and i are stuck.  we went to see a rug yesterday on craigslist, and can’t decide if we love it or if it’s butt ugly.   we need a backup opinion and, in our minds, i’m afraid only you will do.  (we both have been obsessing about your blog recently.)  if you don’t have time to weigh in, or don’t want to, we totally understand.  we will still keep reading your blog, and muttering to ourselves periodically, “what would morgan do?”

usually, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but the purchase violates the $100 rule – not by much, but enough to make the decision pause-worthy.  here’s what we know: it’s a huge 100% wool, 9′ x 12′, thick berber pile moroccan rug. from the look of the label, i want to say this sucker looks like it’s from the 70s at the earliest.   we usually have strong opinions on things, but we can’t quite figure out the bright navajo meets swank beni ourain vibe it’s got going on.  and if that’s a good thing.  yet we still find ourselves thinking about today…”

Flattery will get you all over this blog.

But wait! Ann & Dabney have a really incredible (and giant) converted home.

I mean come on! They have style to spare. Check out their house tour HERE.

Below is a cell phone snap of the rug in question:

OK. Here are my two cents to rub together:

Yeah. Go for it.

Seriously, it’s a 9×12 wool rug in what looks like pretty excellent shape – that is a hard find my friends. Used Craigslist rugs are usually THRASHED and skeevy, and at around $100, this isn’t a huge investment for something that big. You already have a number of colorful patterned rugs scattered around your very awesome pad, so this isn’t going to stick out like a complete hot mess.

To clarify – the $100 rule is mostly a guide to keep budgets on track. It’s not so hard and fast, but gives a sense of where your boundaries are and context for certain purchases. I find it helpful, but there have been times I violate it of course. It’s like a mental wallet strap. Just look at Ikea, you can really only get a jute rug that big for this low price.

I’m pretty sure that this is not super duper vintage (it looks very fresh and machine made) but who cares! It’s cool and graphic and weird and is going to make a floor statement. Trust me, if you can’t stop thinking about it – you love it – it is very unique with a hint of that tribal flair that is so the jam right now. I say, throw it in the bedroom with the small white bed and if it doesn’t fit, go for the fireplace room under that great slab table. Move some things around and try it out, its always nice to switch things up.

What do you guys think? YES or BLECH?

After we rehabbed the side yard fence I started to consider what could be done about the ugly broken down fences in the front yard. Unfortunately, these are not salvageable and whatever design is chosen it needs to be sympathetic to the slatted redwood screen, provide privacy, be easily DIY’d and be cheap.

While perusing RO/LU’s landscaping projects I stumbled on a fence idea that I enjoyed very much. It appears that they used 6×6″ posts that are held in place by 3/4″ steel rods with a spacer between. The things I love about this?

-No ugly side.
-Steel doesn’t rot.
-Easy to build. (I think).

This idea sort of fits all my criteria and could be adapted for the 16′ run on the side of the house, as well as a division between the cat neighbor and us. Hooray. Problem solved? Right?

Um. NO.

So, 6×6″ redwood is not what I would call standard in any way. I called around and got a quote for $126 for ONE ten footer. YIKES. Seeing as I needed 22, that’s almost 3K in just wood for one section of fence. No thanks.

Here are my three fence design ideas. Floating in spaaaacccceeee.

6×6″ option. I love you. You will not happen, unless someone has a clever idea about where to get 6×6″ redwood for cheap.

4×4″ option. Hmmmm. I am not loving you. I think you are too busy and I like the beefy of the 6×6″. You need 32 4×4″ posts plus 1/2″ spacers. You will cost something like $300.

1×12″ option. You were my very first idea. I liked you, I just did not like that you had an ugly side.

You need five 4×4″ posts to keep you in place and then they are all naked for the world to see. I got some quotes on you and you will be about $300 in materials.

What do you guys think? Remember, from our backyard we will see this:

Plus you will be really close to the fence while lounging in the stock tank pool. Also, we need privacy for swim time.

And the front will be important since it dictates the little side fence and will be the backdrop for our minimal landscaping and we got to show off that sexy sail.

Modern fences. Why must you be so complicated?

F-f-f-f-FRIDAY! Oh yes please, break out the wine spritzers. I am ready to take a break – and by break – I mean run around all weekend working on the house and other projects.

Check it:

-Iggy gets his own personal interview over at Pawesome. Learn interesting facts about how he prances and loves crappy beer.

-Design*Sponge shares Brick House oily advice.

-Seems like some of you guys really want The Captain’s Chair. I’m getting a hefty amount of emails offering a new home for that bad boy…so I’m wondering…should I do the honorable thing and host a chair giveaway when my Womb comes in or go the greedy route and support exterior projects with a chair auction? I’m leaning towards some sort of giveaway! But cash for landscaping sounds awesome! What? So many confusing and morally ambiguous thoughts…

Go nuts! Enjoy your weekend! Stop looking at the internet box! Forget all this unnecessary punctuation!

We bought our sofa in a pinch from Alex at Modern Furniture Rental in Orange County not so long ago. After having four (four!!! wtf) sofas in the den I have to say that this has been my favorite so far and the first I wasn’t imagining immediately removing from the space.

Alex recently emailed to let me know that he is doing a custom order on Oct. 15 for some clients and wanted to know if there was any classic piece my greedy little heart desired.

Yeah, of course. Womb Chair pretty please. And then he said sure, no problem – it’s yours.

AND then my brain exploded with joy!!!

I’ve always loved the Womb, but never thought I would have one (even a knock off). Now the big decision. What fabric?!?!

Alex sent the solid options:

And the tweeds:

I think the new addition would end up in the master bedroom (which I’m still working on…ugh…) which means that my thrifted rocker will have to go.

Looks like one astute reader called it.

jenn, “i don’t want to rain all over this parade, but you are gonna hate that chair in a month. bets? regardless, it’s a good find!”

to which I replied,

THE BRICK HOUSE, “I actually really love the chair, but if something better came along…well…yeah. I’m a bit of a whore, so I would probably switch.”

Apparently I called it as well, I’m a whore and I am switching – but I do still really like the black chair. So Jenn, I owe you half a coke. The scary thing is that I think it would make a perfect nursery chair. It rocks and swivels and is super comfy and would be good for some momma and her baby…just not this young lady with no babies.

Back to the Womb, not mine – but the chair. What do you guys think? I’m leaning towards a light gray tweed or maybe go crazy with navy? I can’t decide. I’m stumped.

If you guys are looking for a classic piece at a good price, let Alex know. He can order just about anything but needs to know before the 15th.

Wow. You guys have some opinions on porch paint.

Awesome.

To be fair, I thought it might be prudent to show some daytime images to give context to the twilight photos. At dusk the gray looks much darker, but during high noon it bleaches out a bit. I shot some pics real quick like (sorry for the deep shadows, this is probably the worst time to take pictures).

The porch and stairs seem really dark but those are just shadows, don’t let them fool you! In real life it’s more like a darkish mid-tone warm gray.

There isn’t a second coat since we were still debating on what to do. We lived with it yesterday and now today and I think…I like it. Maybe I did have color shock.

Yikes. It really needs a couple more coats. Check out those kitty prints.

Some voiced concerns were:

Heat ||  That cement is getting hot no matter what. Try walking on the back cement porch during noon and your bare feet will hurt. We just know to wear shoes during the summer.

Darkness || There is plenty of light on the porch at night, tripping won’t be an issue. When we landscape we will be adding a pathway and lighting which will help out as well.

Dirt || Yeah, I agree. It’s going to get dirty. No matter what color it is it’s going to get filthy. Mostly from cats walking on it instead of people since our friends and neighbors tend to come to the back entrance to stop by. This is a habit I need to break with unexpected visitors. Sometimes you don’t want people pepping through your back windows, because, say your blogging without pants on or something. Not that I would know anything about that.

The dirt issue will also be helped by landscaping. When our driveway was all dirt, everything was CONSTANTLY covered in a layer of filth. Since we graveled it, that issue is so much better. Now we just have pines needles everywhere from the neighbors gigantor stupid monster tree.

I think I’m going to paint out the rest of the porch with “Intellectual”. I mean, come on, it’s the smart move right? Don’t worry I just punched myself in the face.

BOY 1. ME 0.

You win this time sucker. Stop gloating and go paint the second coat.

After running around all weekend, entertaining guests and working on some killer new design projects (like this one!) by Sunday afternoon I was pretty pumped to prep and paint the porch in wickedly hot 95° plus temperatures. Pysch! Seriously, I wasn’t pumped at all.

Sometimes we have to do things even though we don’t want to (is that what the psychiatrist lady said to bratty little Sally on Mad Men? Which was AWESOME, BTW). Or maybe it came down to the recently purchased paint sitting on the porch for a week mocking me with our inefficiency.

The cool looking red robot? That’s a power washer. Best thing ever.

The ugly maroon paint? That’s about thirty years of ugly paint layers on the cement. Why couldn’t the P.O.’s just leave the cement alone? Jerks.

Check out my caulk. We caulked a bunch of cracks and holes and all the edging around the house. The boy swears by caulk and loves to prep everything with it because it totally works miracles. Caulk makes painted areas look a ton cleaner since it fills the gap between two unlike surfaces – which are usually riddled with cracks and weirdness.

Check out all that caulk!

We also scraped and sanded all the areas where the paint was flaking or scratched up. That was awesome fun.

So…

I gave up one important decision to The Boy. Of course, if you haven’t inferred this yet, I’m a bit of a design nazi when it comes to the homestead. That was always sort of my gig in the partnership. But The Boy has been going on and on and on about what color he wanted for the front porch. He wanted something dark, something to break things up, some color. My immediate reaction was CRAP, those are the three things I’m trying to avoid. I want light, lots of cohesion and a neutral backdrop for landscaping.

While we were painting his choice of color, he was like “You are going to put this on your blog and blame me if it goes bad.” Yeah, totally. Duh.

I mean really, he drinks tall boys of Bud Light (check out the photo evidence). This dudes choices are a bit suspect. I mean come on, he’s been with me for over eight years now and I’m a nightmare. So, like I said – suspect.

He picked Behr’s “Intellectual”. I kind of want to make clear why we always use Behr. It’s not because I love it, in fact I think it’s super crappy, but there is no Benjamin Moore or good paint within a fifty mile radius of the house and Home Depot is pretty much our main source for everything. Not a lot of demand in Hemet for the classier things, so we make due with the options available and the price is always right.

Anyhow, it was super hot and the paint was drying too quickly, so we had to wait till the sun went down to try and finish the first coat at dusk. We didn’t finish painting everything, but from what I’m seeing so far my big main concerns might have come to fruition.

I know it reads a bit darker because the sun was down, but that is DARK gray. Really dark. Like, looks like a battleship or a shark, dark.

We aren’t done obviously, that whole white bit of the planter will be painted out dark as well. I’m trying to imagine it with tons of Mexican Feathergrass billowing out of the planter and the landscape softening things up a bit…try imagining that too. I think I like it, but still feel a bit worried.

My question for you is this: Did The Boy do good? Or do I need to do the second coat in a shade similar to the roof?

]]> http://www.the-brick-house.com/2010/09/porch-painting/feed/ 125 http://www.the-brick-house.com/2010/08/3987/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=3987 http://www.the-brick-house.com/2010/08/3987/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:51:28 +0000 THE BRICK HOUSE http://www.the-brick-house.com/?p=3987

Tough times my friends, tough times.

The Brick House is now accepting advertising. I am also now available for any freelance writing, photography work or design consultation you may need. Also, if you are in the Inland Empire and need a whip smart, design savvy and motivated employee I’d love to submit an application. I can be reached via: contact@the-brick-house.com

Any suggestions for available positions or firms to approach would be much appreciated. I will be combing the employment pages.

Thank you readers, fellow bloggers, new friends. You are my constant joy to read, exchange ideas with and be inspired by. I’m looking forward to transitioning into a new career and would be ecstatic to receive any suggestions, tips or advice.

xoxo

Morgan Satterfield