Small Changes, New Spaces

Well I've started re-arranging the furniture again.  Probably not for the last time.

It has been weeks since I did a little re-arranging of my three arm chairs in my apartment.  And ever since I've made the change I've been struggling with one wall.  Observe:

My desk looks like a pyramid of junk.  Empty space (junked up with shopping bags a crooked lamp and a printer) next to the front door, then a desk (piled high with MORE stuff) and then mysterious empty space on the other side.  Not to mention that if I wanted to watch a movie from the couch I always have to look to the left.  Less than ideal.  

The thorn in my side wall is unbalanced, cluttered and generally bad.

So I moved the whole thing over.

Now the computer monitors can be comfortably seen from the couch, and (more importantly) it leaves me with one empty space instead of two.

The great thing about one empty space is that I now have enough room to put something new there!  Hurrah.  Check out my blank canvas:

I am pretty sure that I'd like to use the space for something like a little mudroom.  Here are some inspirations I had already hanging out on my various Pinterest boards.  

From here

From here

From here

From here

From here

I think my version will be much more minimalist than the above examples, but my goal is to make a functional, beautiful and inexpensive entry space.  That shouldn't be hard, right?  ...Right?  

~Claire Out.

"Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it."  -George Santayana

What I've Been Reading: An Everlasting Meal

I received "An Everlasting Meal" by Tamar Adler as a birthday gift from my dear friend Laura and have been reading it in short bursts since May.


This book is an ode to thoughtful and simple cooking.  It has recipes, anecdotes, and advice about using your food to the utmost.  It is also beautifully written.  The way she talks about food is so reverent and enthusiastic that it makes me look at the act of buying, preparing, eating and saving food with new eyes.  The author's love of food is evident in everything she writes.  Her chapter on eggs had me eating omelets every night for a week and savoring every morsel.  This book makes you fall in love with food all over again.

It is difficult to talk about this book since it is so unlike anything else I have ever read.  It has qualities of a cook book, but it is so much more than that.  The book suggests a way of life.  I don't mean that it is preachy, but it shows how it is possible to save the odd bits and pieces of leftover meals and turn them into something as delicious as the original meal (if not more so) for the second go-around.  The book is about using what you have and using it to the utmost.  An inspiring thesis, and an idea that I need to be reminded of from time to time.

And good books being read out there?  I finished the first book of the Abhorson Trilogy this week too. Two down, one more to go.

~Claire Out.

Ikea Sideboard Makeover

This sideboard project has been about a million years in the making.  Ever since the dawn of Pinterest I've been Pinning inspirations like the ones below for how to makeover my plane jane wood sideboard.

       

Once I saw the pin for this technique from "Just a Girl" on how to paint furniture to have that glossy black "pottery barn look" I was sold.  I waited until the perfect opportunity presented itself (Mike traveling on a Men Only weekend get away) and it was time to execute.

This is what I've been working with for the past year...

I gathered my materials and got to work.

The first step as recommended by Chris, the woman behind "Just a Girl", is to clean up the piece of furniture.  Let me tell you, I'm glad I did not skip this step.  As soon as I got my sideboard outside in the direct sunlight the dust bunnies revealed themselves.  Yuck.  With a little bit of elbow grease and some 409 I was able to get it cleaned up in a jiffy.

Then I applied a coat or two of primer with a foam roller and craft sponge.  This was not easy.  With all of the slats and the narrow legs there were basically zero flat surfaces to roller, which meant that 80% of all the painting was done with that three inch wide sponge.  Slow going, but at the end I was rewarded with this:

I kept the top un-painted since I use it so often as a cutting board and for other food prep, I wanted to keep it functional.

I let the primer dry for a few hours then it was time to do it all over again with my black paint.  Unfortunately it was no easier the second time around... but through the magic of the internet we can fast forward to the finished product.  

Ta Da!

I let it dry outside over night.  This morning I put it in place.

Then loaded it up with my dishes.  I keep all my daily plates, bowls, cups and silverware in this baby.  This leaves more storage space in my tiny kitchen for pots, pans and (best of all) food.

Here is a quick reminder of how it has looked for the past year or so:

And now the after:

Doesn't it look a bit more 'at home' in my dining area?

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I think future improvements to the side board will include adding hardware like drawer pulls, a towel rack or peg and maybe even a wine rack.  I'd also like to do something about the slats.  Maybe put a piece of wood across each shelf to keep my cups from falling through the cracks?

What did you do any overdue home improvement projects this weekend?  Do other people wait for their significant other to leave town before tackling home improvement projects?  No?  Just me?

~Claire Out.

A Really Good Idea

This really good idea is not mine.

It isn't even particularly new.

But when I was presented with this idea I was struck by the incredible right-ness of it.

Penny Arcade is "crowd funding" their website. 

Instead of advertisers paying for Penny Arcade to make comics for fans, they are proposing that the fans themselves pay for Penny Arcade to make comics.  This seems brilliantly logical to me; consumers paying for a product.  It's so simple.  Instead of companies paying for a product that they bundle with pictures of their products and give to consumers for free?  When did that become the norm?

From Wikipedia

For those of you who don't know, Penny Arcade is at its heart a webcomic that comments on video games and the community who loves them.  (A warning for my relatives and any young readers, some of their comics are quite vulgar.)  Eleven years ago the site ran on donations for the period of almost two years.  Back then it was a much smaller operation, but their fans alone paid for the food, rent, and video games for two (three?) grown men.  Currently they are able to pay their employees and fund their various projects at least in part by selling advertising space on their website.  In a post by one of their creators, Mike Krahulik, writes: 

"PA has fourteen employees now, we put on two massive conventions every year, we run a worldwide charity, we produce our own video games and web show.  It's a major operation now and running it off of donations again seems impossible.  Or is it?"

From PA's Kickstarter Page

They have created a kickstarter* with the proposed goal of having a site free of advertising.  They actually wisely broke everything down into bite sized goals.

I think the part that excites me the most is the hint of more (great) content than they would be able to create if they worked without advertisers.  In one tweet @cwgabriel, again Mike Krahulik, said "I don't want to spoil some of the un-lockables but if we aren't making projects for advertisers we are free to make projects for you."  Being able to pay an artist to make art for me is a thrilling idea (and I do consider both the creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins to be artists).  I have delusions of being one of the great patrons of art a lá the renaissance despite my lousy $5 donation.  


I think as the gap between the art creators and the art consumers becomes smaller, the art will be better.  That is a bold claim, I know.  However, I feel strongly enough about it to back it up with a portion of my embarrassingly small paycheck.  I encourage you to do so too.  If not for this project, for some other artist you believe in.  


I'll step down off my soap box now.  


~Claire Out

*A website where people can post ideas and funding goals and take donations to execute said idea.

What I've Been Reading: Self Help...

I was a little reluctant to share with you all about reading this book.  Admitting to reading a self-help book seems... I don't know... weak?   However, when I consider that one of the major themes of this blog is self improvement I feel much better about admitting to reading a book to help myself along that journey.

This book was recommended to me when I described myself as a worrier.  The book is aptly titled: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie.  I was warned (and rightly so) of some outdated language, but I have to admit I found useful advice in every single chapter.  There were personal stories and historical references to support each point brought forward by Mr. Carnegie.  

Many of the ideas brought forward are not completely novel, however they helped bring old ideas into the forefront of my mind.  It helps me remember to let worry go.

I found it incredibly helpful 1. to realize that people from all eras have had deal with worry and 2. to realize if people who were living through the great depression and World War II could get over their worries I certainly could too.  I found the antiquated writing rather charming and enjoyed hearing the antidotal stories that were told to support each concept.

If you are a chronic worrier like myself I would recommend this book as a fun read that will remind you of some useful tips you already probably know about conquering worry.

~Claire Out.

Car Kit

Normally on Monday's I try to post a little home improvement project for you all, but this weekend was all about my car.  My home away from home and my office away from the office, I spend so much time on the road that I figured it was time to show my personal charriot some love.

I am pretty good about giving my car new oil and the right kind of gasoline, but I sometimes neglect to keep it tidy.  This weekend was a chance to make up for that.  I cleaned out all the pockets and cup holders and organized my trunk.  I originally planned to go to a car wash too, but the weekend got away from me.  Soon.

I even revitalized my "earth quake kit" that I keep in my trunk.  I have inherited the tendency to keep an emergency kit in my car from my mother.  It is a practice I've kept up because 1. you don't want to be caught in an actual emergency without it and 2. it comes in handy for non-emergencies all the time.

I have a handy little plastic bin I got from the container store.  In it I keep the following:

Small First Aid Kit
Small Fire Extinguisher
Rags
Rope
Bungy Chords
Jumper Cables
Umbrella
Extra Sunglasses
Plastic Grocery Bags (for muddy or sandy shoes)
Plastic Silverware
Cork Screw
Bottled Water
Spare Shoes / Socks
Spare pair of Glasses

Keeping everything in one bin means that all this stuff doesn't take up too much room in my trunk.  With this box of goodies and a blanket (used often for picnics) I feel prepared for everything from a spontaneous picnic to having to wait out aftershocks of the 'big one'.

Have you showed your car some love lately?  What is one thing that you often wish you had on hand in your car, but your never do?

~Claire Out.

What I've Been Reading: Lirael

I hope you all had a great 4th of July.  I spent mine sleeping in, grilling hot dogs and playing board games with Mike.  'Cause nothing says 'Happy Birthday USA' like sitting indoors and playing boardgames...

Since I took the holiday off from blogging I will use today to fill you in on what I've been reading*: Garth Nix's Lirael.  I took it off the library shelf at random expecting something neutral and was surprised when I fell in love with the story.

It is a young adult fantasy novel that has an interesting world of its own within the broader fantasy genre.  The world of the book is unique with likable characters and an unpredictable storyline (which I find a rare quality in fantasy).

One of my favorite elements of the book is how little the author labors over describing the mechanics of the magic, it is left a little mysterious. (As magic should be.)  I may have to eat these words when I go back and read the first book in this trilogy Sabriel.  That's right, the downside of plucking a random book on the shelf is sometimes you find yourself accidentally in the middle of a trilogy.  (I'm suppose I ignored the subtitle that said "Sequel to Sabriel")  I hope that when I go back and read the beginning of the story that the author doesn't fall into the trap of having to explain in tedious detail his (obviously intricate) take on how magic works in his universe.

The other major attraction of this book for me are the complex characters.  Maybe it is just my own bias, but I have a soft spot for characters that are tragically unaware of their own potential.  It is easy for characters like this to appear a little weak or winey, and in some scenes they are, but the really impressive thing is that I found myself liking them anyway.  I found myself rooting for them to come into their own, (sometimes cheering out loud...I'll admit it) I was proud of their successes and understanding of their failures.  I found it to be a refreshingly realistic portrayal of insecure yet destined-for-greatness young adults.


What have you all been reading?  What is your favorite character archetype?  Did you do anything bombastic to celebrate the founding of the good ol' USofA?

~Claire Out.

*Well I suppose that 'reading' may be slightly misleading.  As someone who spends a disgusting amount of time in their car (one of the joys of living in L.A.) I have taken up the habit of listening to books on CD from my local library.  So just know that sometimes when I say 'reading' I mean 'listening', though you should also know that I always go for the unabridged version.

Weekend Bookshelf Shuffle

Happy Monday dear readers.  As promised I am reporting back to you about my daily walks.  I was true to my word and walked every day but one.  I missed walking on Thursday due to a late night at work and ended up getting sick the next day.  Coincidence?  Absolutely.  However, I was able to take two short walks even on the worst two days of my sickness.  In fact my walks were basically the only times I left my apartment this weekend, so it was probably good, if only to give my sick bed a chance to recover from the Claire sized dent.  

I've been trying to work on doing a little home improvement project of some kind every weekend.  Nothing too crazy required, but something that perks up this little apartment I call home.  This weekend, even in my fevered state, I was able to come up with a little project I could easily tackle: styling my bookshelf.  

This is something that would never have occurred to me to do two years ago, but after reading countless blogs and scouring Pinterest looking at beautiful homes, I noticed a trend in bookshelves that offer a little more visually than rows of books.  

I have a beautiful bookshelf that dominates one wall of my bedroom.  It is home to books from school, childhood, college and modern day and it needed a little attention.  It containted rows and rows of books with a rattly empty middle that I was always intending to 'do something with'...but never got around to.  

Here it is a glimpse at the before:

Yes that is a lightsaber on top of my bookshelf.  Be jealous.  

And here is the after: 

Basically I tried to break up most of the full shelves of books.  I tried mixing it up with little keepsakes, or vertically stacked books.  

I wanted to keep it visually interesting without falling into too much of a pattern.  As a newbie at shelf styling, I was pretty pleased with the results.  I think the shelf still feels a tad more full than they do in the model homes on Pinterest, but I think I keep it from looking too utilitarian with the new set up.  

 Any suggestions?  Any thoughts on bookshelf style or organization?  Anybody else spend this beautiful summer weekend sleeping in a dark room recovering from a fever?  

~Claire Out.