Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

The "Halloween Spirit" is slightly lacking in our household this year. I got the usual decorations put up this year, but we've both been sick. Mostly Bill, for a couple weeks now... and it even enjoyed a lovely trip to the emergency room (for Bill and only because urgent care was closed).

We finally bought pumpkins on Saturday. We're never really good at buying them ahead of time, so this was normal. There was possibly some specials going on...? We got two big pumpkins, a small one, some funky gourds and MUMS! I love mums and every year I want to get some but have a hard time justifying the purchase, but they were half off. Nice.

Last night we carved pumpkins. Just in time for trick or treaters tonight. I decided to keep it simple and just do an "S." Bill decided on a mustache... I'm not 100% sure why, but I think because it was simple. He some other good ideas, but they were complex and transferring them into pumpkin compatible mode would have been work. Remember, he's the super sick one right now.

And now for the pumpkins...




On a sad note, I will now have to wait until next year for my favorite Halloween candy. My grandma used to always give these to us when we were kids... They're just simple chocolates with caramel in the middle from Rainbow Foods. I've never seen them anywhere else... but I love them. A lot. And that full one pictured below is my last one... So, unless I go grab some today (unlikely) I will be anxiously awaiting next Halloween to get another bag of them.


Well, I need to go finish getting ready for the kiddos.... Happy Halloween y'all!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Free Roadside 1956 Desk.

In the late winter, very early spring Bill and I were running some wedding errands... I believe we were actually coming back from Michael's, when we stumbled across this little 1950's desk. This happens on occasion... we both look at each other and just know. We used to have to say "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" but it's not even necessary at this point. We've gotten a couple great things this way... a dresser, a sideboard, and a not so great broken weed trimmer. It required some skillful driving and parking on a side street and then an awkward run to the car while carrying a desk, but we got it in Bill's lovely winter car, a mid 90's wagon.



Side note: If you see something for free on the side of the road, GRAB IT! In early August, we were going to a birthday lunch for my dad when I spotted a wonderful 1950's coffee table. Bill didn't want to go back and grab it, so I said if it's there on our way home, we're grabbing it. And then it was gone... I still think about what could have been with that wonderful coffee table. I hope whoever took it is loving it.

We didn't really take much time to look at it and really just brought it home, pulled it out of the car, noticed lots of ick still in the drawers, tried to empty them, and just threw it in the basement. I figured I would make it a summer project sometime after the wedding... Well, I managed to sort of forget about/put it off until recently when I got this bug to start a new project (never mind all the in progress ones I already have going).

I still hadn't taken a real good look at it. I just new it need some work. I really wanted to strip the ugly paint job and re-finish it to an appropriate 1950's wood stain. So, we went to Home Depot and bought all of the supplies. We got home, hauled the desk out of the basement and into the drive way and started pulling out the drawers. This is when I noticed that the sides aren't a solid wood... Ugh.



So, back to Home Depot we went to return the stripper and other supplies and picked up some paint instead... I'm not really happy to be painting it, but I guess that's the option I have unless I want to replace the sides and back of the desk. And lets be serious here, that's not going to happen...

I started the process of preparing to paint. I pulled out all the drawers, pulled out the rest of the ick I didn't get out before, and cleaned the whole thing (which was real nasty...). I started sanding it down to roughen up the paint finish. I would have started painting, but it was excessively windy and wasn't really into picking leaves and other things out of the paint. So, that's where I've stopped for now.


Found this on the bottom side of the top, middle drawer. It would have been nice to know where it came from... Maybe I'll try looking harder for more marks when I'm painting.


It's looking better already... but I'm still not a fan of the weird yellowy faux wood grain type finish.



Over the past couple days, I've seen a few things where parts are painted and other parts are stained wood. I think they look great! I'm just not sure if that would look okay with this desk.

I think I'll paint the body of the desk and then see how I feel. And maybe keep looking for more furniture done that way.

Some Examples...

This Moda Desk over at Room & Board has the general idea. I'm not really a fan of the light wood finish, but if you go to the link, it is also available in a darker wood stain and some funky colors.

Room & Board Moda Desk
A couple days ago, this credenza was featured on Apartment Therapy. Rachelle over at Adventures in Creating had this credenza completely painted in white and decided to strip the faces of the drawers and doors to get this look.

Credenza over at Adventures in Creating
This dresser was featured on Design Sponge. Although, I don't think I would do this to something that was already looking good... I really like how it turned out. It's exactly what I would hope the desk would turn out like...

Design Sponge Vintage Dresser Revamp

Saturday, October 15, 2011

More Fall Colors.

Just a few more photos of the change in fall colors from earlier this week.

These first couple are in WI, from the same area as the photos from the other day.






And when I got home, I noticed how pretty our little tree out front is. I figure I better take a couple photos while it still has the leaves on it.



And we can't forget a couple of shots of Behr... He was waiting for Bill to get home.


Friday, October 14, 2011

A logo for every lake.

Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes.

That's a lot of lakes... On Wednesday, the Star Tribune published an article, "She's creating a logo for every lake."



Nicole Meyer is a graphic designer who has decided to take up a personal project of creating a logo for every lake in the state of Minnesota. I personally think she is insane. She is predicting that this will take her about 27 years to complete. Insanity.

Check out the ones she has completed so far... they're looking great!

http://Branding10000Lakes.com

One more... I have to plug my hometown!


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Minnetonka Apple Orchard.

On Saturday, we went to the Minnetonka Apple Orchard in Minnetrista, MN. It's probably my favorite orchard ever. Ok... maybe it's the only orchard I've ever been to. It's the orchard I went to growing up, I think we even took a field trip or two there in elementary school.

It's always been a great family owned place and it's grown a ton over the past few years. It seems as though there is something new every year. In recent years they've added a corn maze, some animals, face painting, and an awesome giant slide.

It was an insanely gorgeous day for October. It was probably well over 80 degrees and the apple orchard was the busiest I have ever seen it... It's great to see something you loved so much as a child still doing so great when you're an adult.

Here are some photos from our trip out there...

Hay Ride







This is the newer section with the animals, corn maze, etc.














Corn Maze!




The awesome slide.



I sort of made Bill do this...


Most awkward thing to pose in ever. It's made for little kids so it's super low and you have to do this weird crouchy thing that I'm sure looks super flattering from behind...