Monthly Archives: May 2012

Cabinet DIY: Phase One

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Well, guys, I think I’m going to do it. I think my big summer project is going to be painting the china cabinet.

Excuse me while I take a few deep breaths and think about what I’ve just said.

I’m still really intimidated. I’m all about keeping it real with you guys, so there won’t be any false bravado here. But I have to believe that if 8 billion bloggers around the world can do it, there isn’t any reason why I shouldn’t be able to. (Right?)

So! First things first. Let’s talk colors. I’ve been looking at a lot of DIY painted china cabinets online for the last few weeks, and there are three colors that I keep finding myself drawn to. I would, however, like to get your opinions. Between the below three options, which shade of grey/gray do you prefer?

1. Behr Light French Grey

2. Martha Stewart Living Bedford Gray

3. Annie Sloan Paris Gray Chalk Paint

I think I’m leaning toward the Behr or the Martha color, but I can’t decide. Thoughts?

Additionally, I’m planning to cover the inside with a pretty patterned wallpaper, like this blogger did. I’m between these two options:

Do you prefer #1 (Black and White AP7480 Open Trellis Wallpaper) or #2 (White Black KB8652 Trellis Wallpaper)? I think I like the second one better…right?

I have to look a little closer at the construction of the cabinet as well. If possible, I’d love to replace the (deadly) glass shelves with safety glass from a hardware store, but at the moment I’m not sure how I would get the old shelves out and the new shelves in.

Eesh, you guys. I’m still kind of scared, but I’m excited too. Be sure to leave your opinions in the comments. And I’ll definitely keep you updated.

Who do you write for?

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I read an interesting blog post yesterday about the idea of influence on bloggers. Well, specifically “man-fluence” on female bloggers.

The basic gist of the article was that the writer had gone on a date with a man she admired and told him that she wrote a fashion blog in her spare time. On the second date, he mentioned that he had read her blog, which sent her into a panic about whether or not what she had written was impressive enough for him to read.

Now, she tries to write every post as if her dream guy was going to someday read it. (As he very well might. The hubs is one of my most loyal supporters.)

The article came to my attention on Twitter, where someone called the philosophy “totally exhausting, but also depressing and bad for your self-worth.”

After I read the post myself, I have to respectfully disagree.

To be fair, I think the original poster would have gotten a better response if she had left out the fact that she was a female blogger dealing with the influence of a guy she was interested in on her writing. (That particular thesis just screams “Tear me apart, feminists!”) Of course, the blogger also acknowledged that this might happen.

However, the real point she was trying to make (to my understanding) is that you should write to impress — not necessarily to impress anyone in particular.

I try to write something for my blog every single week day. That’s a lot of writing. And I am well aware that sometimes it is not very good writing. Lately, I’ve been trying to ease off a bit, giving myself a day off when I truly have nothing of worth to say. But there are still times when the old compulsion fills me, and I’ll rattle something off just to know I did it.

Is this the best thing I’ve ever written? No. Does it fill a purpose? Sure. But is it impressive? Is it anything I would ever submit as a clip in an application? Is it even something I would promote on Twitter or Facebook? And if not, what is the point of writing it at all?

I think what the blogger was trying to say is that when you are trying to write your best, you are more likely to actually write your best. Accidental genius happens, but editing exists because it doesn’t happen all that often.

Can I tell you a secret? I almost never edit my posts. I rarely even read back over them before posting except to do a quick spot check for spelling and grammatical errors. Which is why, you might notice, there are spelling and grammatical errors from time to time. It’s a tiny bit of laziness I allow myself. My blog is, at times, a mental dump to just get something out of my brain and into words.

But when I write with the knowledge that I will be sending the piece to someone, as I would for a guest post or a published article? Or when I choose to remember the fact that anyone could read what I’ve written (new friends, old enemies, family members, my husband’s ex-girlfriends), usually the writing comes out a little better. A little more focused. A little more purposeful.

There are definitely pros and cons to both styles. Either way, I like to think what I write is honest. It’s honestly me. It’s honestly how I feel at the time.

What about my fellow blogger readers? Do you do a lot of editing to your blog posts? Do you have any particular reader in mind when you hit the publish button?

DIY Dreaming

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So…I’ve been toying around with a somewhat intimidating idea. (Those of you who follow me on Pinterest might be able to guess what it is.)

Curious? Here are a few hints:

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Did you figure it out? I’m thinking about…painting our china cabinet!

For those of you who don’t remember that particular acquisition, thar she blows:

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with it right now, it has to be said that giant pieces of wood furniture aren’t exactly my style. I always find myself drawn to painted (or half painted/half natural wood) pieces. I know there are a lot of people out there who are deeply offended by painted wood furniture, but, well, I’m just not one of them. Sorry I’m not that sorry. Plus, as you can see in these (really awful) photos, the room tends to look really…reddish brown. It’s not quite as bad in person, but…still.

Before we get into exactly why this product scares me as much as it does, let’s talk the fun stuff.

In general, I find myself leaning toward painting it a smoky grey color like the second option above. I love the look of the white with gold trim, but I’m worried it wouldn’t stand out enough on a white wall. (Though maybe it would give it the look of a built-in? Any opinions out there?)

But every so often, I get a notion to go a little bolder and paint it a rich turquoise (like the color of the new living room pillows I made) or a sweet aqua, like this:

Of course, the trouble with veering away from neutral colors is that if I ever want to re-sell it (which is extremely possible when we move since the hubs has said in no uncertain terms does he want to move this behemoth again), it will probably be an easier sell as a neutral color. So maybe I could find a middle ground, like a grey exterior with a more colorful interior, like this version:

At the very least, I definitely want to add some kind of stencil or wallpaper inside to add some visual interest, like this:

{source}

Ok, now for the less fun part. (AKA, every reason why the idea of starting this project scares the pants off of me.)

1. This is a giant piece of furniture. Meaning this is a giant project. I don’t have a lot of work space at the apartment, and because the dang thing is SO big, I would honestly probably end up painting it in the dining room (after moving the table…somewhere?) on a giant tarp with all the windows open. (Though I like that this tutorial tells me I can skip sanding with the right primer.) I can hear Joey groaning somewhere even at the suggestion of tearing our place apart for a week just to paint a cabinet we might end up selling anyway. Sigh.

2. The actual structure of the piece concerns me a bit. Our friend who helped us move it in originally pointed out that, because it’s an antique, the glass shelves are not safety glass and, if they break, “will basically turn into knives.” Um, hi. I feel like it’s inevitable that if I try to sand/paint/etc. this huge thing I will undoubtedly break something and slice my body open. Does anyone know anything about dealing with old glass? Is it impossible to have it removed and possible replaced with newer glass shelves? Is it a ton of (possibly dangerous) work?

3. I’ve never painted furniture before. (Really, never!) I mean, I’ve read about a bazillion tutorials on blogs and stuff, but I’ve never done it. What if it turns out awful? What if there are paint drips and brush streaks and the color looks terrible? After all the inconvenience, I’ll never live it down if it sucks.

Blerg. I really, really want to do it, but maybe I should just sit tight? Any advice from any crafty blog friends out there?

Book Review: Where She Went

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I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review, but all opinions expressed are my own.

I’m a sucker for a story of love lost.

To me, finally finding the person you’re madly in love with (and who loves you back) and then losing them is the most tragic thing I can think of. (This is why since meeting Joey I can’t handle movies/books/TV shows about spouses dying. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close? Sorry, won’t be seeing it. And if I need a good cry, I really only need to think about this post from one of my favorite blogs.)

The point is, I can get behind the idea of longing and regret and what it would feel like to miss someone so deeply you don’t really know what to do with yourself.

Which, incidentally, is what so much of Where She Went by Gayle Forman is about.

The book is the sequel to If I Stay, which I never read, but, if the flashbacks in WSW are any indication, is about two young, musically talented people who are crazy about each other, until one day the girl (Mia) and her family are in a terrible car accident. Her parents and younger brother are killed, and she is left in a coma. Adam, the boy, does everything he can to help her pull through, including finally promising to give her up if only she won’t die.

As you might predict, the words have no sooner left his lips than Mia starts to show signs of recovery. The first book (I assume) ends with her heading off to Julliard on scholarship for playing the cello, and Adam, an aspiring rock star, basically spirals into oblivion when she unexpectedly cuts him out of her life. If that doesn’t happen in the first book, well, it happens in between the two.

FAST FORWARD TO BOOK TWO!

Adam’s band, Shooting Star (anyone else think that’s kind of a lame band name?), has become an out-of-control success, due largely to the popularity of the album he wrote while writhing in heartache. As his celebrity starts to outshine the rest of the band, tension is high and Adam is wondering if he wouldn’t be happier just giving the whole thing up. (It doesn’t help that he has never really gotten over Mia, who unceremoniously dumped him without actually dumping him and without explanation.)

The day before he’s supposed to leave for a European tour, he happens to notice that Mia (who he hasn’t seen or heard from in years) is playing at Carnegie Hall. He attends the show, and she has him called backstage, where for the next 24 hours they act awkward until they finally get around to drudging up the past and asking the questions they never did before.

Ok, so we all get the picture right? They’re both pretty darn successful with music, she’s mad at him, he’s mad at her, and they’re both the worst communicators you will ever meet.

Here is the first thing I think when I ask myself the question, “What did you think of this book?”

Oh. My. God. It. Is. So. Slow.

The actual story takes place in about a 24-hour period, but there is so much flash back, so much inner turmoil, so much stalling that you get about a decade’s worth of information. Which is not a problem, except that the story is so halting and painfully dragged out that you almost care less about the sad parts. Maybe I would have been more invested if I had read the first book (anyone out there who has care to share thoughts on that?), but most of the time I just wanted to tell them both to move on with their lives. If it was this difficult to just have an honest conversation, a relationship might not be the best choice.

Plus (and, again, this could be because I don’t have any history with these characters), I just didn’t really like either of them. Adam is bitter and more than a little whiny. Mia seems so vindicated by her “reasons” for abandoning Adam after he was so dedicated to her, but all of her supposedly noble excuses fell flat and were, it has to be said, just cruel and selfish.

The biggest issue I had, though, is that nothing really happens. Throughout the entire story. I didn’t have any big chunks of time to read the whole thing (though it’s pretty light reading, so if you do, you could probably knock it out in a few hours), and every time I would pick it up again and remind myself where I had left off, I would think, “Oh right, I’m at that part where…nothing has really happened yet.”

Not a good feeling when you’re supposed to (I assume) be super emotionally invested in whether or not these two crazy kids work it out.

And this isn’t an issue of me being above young adult literature. I love YA lit. I took an entire class on it in college. I can totally get behind books written for teens. I just don’t think it was that great of a story. Maybe this is one of those cases where the author had a great idea for a book, and then her publisher wanted to know if she could manage to crank out a sequel. (AKA, the worst story-writing plan ever.)

Have you read this book? (Or the first one?) Am I totally off-base with my judgements of these characters? Am I just missing something?

Want to get in on the discussion? Join us at the BlogHer Book Club.

If I wasn’t a renter…

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Renting has a lot of perks. You never have to mow the lawn, rake leaves, shovel snow. You (in theory) don’t have to fix things when they break. (Though in our case, sometimes it just means they NEVER get fixed…cryptic grumble…)

Of course, as any renter knows, it also comes with a lot of…shall we say, downsides.

You know my beef with not being able to paint. (IT WILL BE A BEEF FOREVER.) But lately I find myself staring around the apartment making mental adjustments to other things. Unfortunately, they will have to stay mental because I am not allowed to touch those things (plus, it would be a huge waste when we eventually move on to nicer digs), BUT. The best part of having a blog is that I can imagine it a bit further.

So, without further ado, here are three things I would change about our apartment if I could:

A chalkboard door. {source}
I don’t know why I’ve become obsessed with this idea, but I think if we painted the back of our door with chalkboard paint, it would be the cutest thing ever. It’s already metal, so it’s magnetic, but being able to write out little notes, things to remember, etc. would be so handy. Plus, I think the black door would look really cool in our mostly white room.

Dining room built-in cabinets. {source}
I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. I would do a smoky grey. Open shelving mixed with closed cabinets to hide the less-inspiring stuff. And it would be perfection.

Open kitchen layout. {source}
Ok, so pretty much nothing I could do to the current apartment would make it look like that, but I love the look of an open kitchen. If I could, I would knock out the (totally useless) wall that turns our kitchen into a cave separate from the living area, instead turning it into a bar/work surface area. Then when I’m cooking, I can still be involved in what’s going on out there. Plus, it would make the whole space feel so much bigger.

Obviously, I have a lot more I could add to this list. (Including a complete overhaul of the bathroom and kitchen.) But those are posts for another time.

To my renting readers: What’s on your short list of “things I wish I could do to this place”? Misery loves company, so tell me about it!