Archive for the ‘living room’ Category
Posted by rocketgirlsf on July 14, 2009
Before: The Beast
We’ve been saying for months that we’d like to get a new television. The idea was purely for upgrade’s sake–our four-year-old JVC 27″ worked just fine. But it weighed in at 40 pounds and measured two feet deep, so abandoning it in favor of a sleeker, thinner model was just too tempting (even though we agreed having an earthquake-proof television isn’t such a bad thing). So July 4th weekend, we headed over to Video Only on Van Ness, then ended up at Best Buy down in the Mission, and came home with Best Buy’s store-brand 32″ LCD TV, the Insignia. We paid barely more for it than we did for the JVC when we bought it, and though the picture isn’t as clear as the CRT TV was, it has all the other amenities we’d hoped for: no digital antenna box necessary, easily hooked up, and best of all, hangable.
After two weeks of experiments, we’re still in progress (we’d like to get something to cover up the tangle of wires at the top) but our home entertainment system has been lifted off the floor, installed into shelves, and will be out of prying hands’ reach for at least another two years. Most important, though, is that we gained a full eight square feet of floor space in one of the more visible areas of the living room! (And our old JVC found a very good home, as well.)
Since the TV mounting arms cost from $80 (Video Only) to $150 (Best Buy, my ass), RocketMan got out his toolbelt and began sifting through the various planks of wood we have laying around the apartment. Wainscoting has been a much-used feature in our apartment—holding candles, clocks, Christmas ornaments, and at one point, an art installation of milk cartons— so he put it to work again. It’s as simple a setup as you can imagine: a plank of wood, strong hooks, and metal straps screwed into the back of the television. And it cost us nothing, as we had all that stuff around (we’re guessing it would cost in the range of $15-20 if you bought everything at the hardware store). And, yes, we performed our usual stress tests: shaking it, swinging it, and pulling on it, and it passed. Don’t know how it’ll fare if a 40-lb person decides to hang like a monkey from it, but I doubt even the factory-produced mounting arms are tested for that.
After: The Beauty
Enter shelving: RM’s new favorite method, the metal spine-and-bracket method, worked brilliantly, and the spine even supports the unit’s power strip out of sight, behind the TV; with all the wires running along the wainscoting and molding, no wires come close to the floor, and most are hidden from sight. FYI, the reason the cords run along the wainscoting into the next room is simple: between our sun room and living room, we have exactly three two-cord outlets. Those outlets power the entertainment system, computer and lighting setup. Don’t worry, I dry my hair in the bathroom’s one outlet. Gotta love prewar buildings!
The entire unit (not counting the television, of course) cost about $50, although I don’t have a full itemized list since so much of the wood and pieces were pirated from other projects. Much better than the $80-plus-$200 installation fee the Video Only guy was trying to charge us. And one of the bonuses of building the stuff yourself? If it breaks, replacement is much cheaper. Especially if you pay for the extended four-year warranty on the TV, as we did.
Posted in furniture, living room | Tagged: CRT TV, entertainment unit, Insignia TV, LCD TV | Leave a Comment »
Posted by rocketgirlsf on June 8, 2009
Once again, the Alameda Flea Market came through for us. We headed out yesterday with one goal: find a rocking chair built to the specifications listed in my last rocking chair blog. I sat in about a dozen rocking chairs yesterday (poor me!), and as with any piece of furniture, our primary goal was to strike a balance between comfort and looks.
The first chair we thought about rated a 9 on the comfort scale, and a 3 on the looks scale. Alas, I didn’t think to take a picture, but imagine worn used-to-be-mint-green upholstery, a wide, alien-head-shaped back, squat bottom, and pounds of overstuffed comfort. And, best of all, a $40 pricetag. After playing the get-up-sit-down game a few hundred times, we decided to keep walking a few rows until we found something more our style. As our friend put it, it was shabby chic, except not chic.
That was in row CC. (All the way in the back.) By the time we got to row X—about an hour later—my legs had begun having an avid conversation with my back, and I don’t know what the topic was, but I have the distinct feeling my back is libertarian to my definitely socialist legs. I was slowing down, and I knew we’d have to make a decision. “Two more rows,” I said, “and we’ll go back for the chair.”
Rounded another corner, and there she was: a sturdy arts-and-crafts Mission style rocking chair, with faux leather upholstery, tagged at $60. Far smaller than the Green Monster, but less cozy, and leaps more attractive. It could use some TLC, for certain; the wood could use a good polish, and we’ll need to prop a pillow in the back. But it rated a 7 on the comfort scale, a 7 on the looks scale, and a 10 on the price scale, and besides, what California home doesn’t need an arts and crafts rocking chair? We paid for the chair on the spot and came back for it an hour later.
Extra bonus: we found a Le Creuset fireproof casserole for $33, which cooked up some lovely scalloped potatoes last night.
The Teacher's Pet, The Spitfire, The Rocket Girl, and The Assassin
One last note: Saturday night three Devil-Ettes and I played hostess at a benefit for Creativity Explored, an art studio for developmentally disabled adults in the Mission; we did coat check and danced in the window a bit. And only three people figured out I was pregnant—a bartender actually offered me absinthe. The girls tried to tell me was a compliment, but I think everyone just assumed I had an ill-fitting costume. The bonus of having a night off of visible pregnancy, though? I can eat salami and cheese from the platters without worrying about getting the hairy eyeball.
Posted in furniture, living room | Tagged: alameda flea market, arts and crafts, creativity explored, devil-ettes, mission style, rocking chair, shabby chic | 1 Comment »
Posted by rocketgirlsf on February 20, 2009
I’ve made no secret of our love for found furniture and recycled goods — half of our apartment furniture has been literally picked up off the street. (See the dresser from the bedroom blog.) Sometimes, RocketMan finds a bit of trash that’s every bit as useful as furniture, even if he doesn’t know how useful it’ll be when he finds it. And sometimes, when we’re purging old items from the apartment, we land on something we just can’t bear to part with. We’re also big fans of lighting concepts (I’m a fan; RM is the true connoisseur), so naturally, the favorite answer to “What should we do with this?” is “Make a lamp out of it!”
Making lamps is, as far as I can tell from a distance, totally easy. Well, actually it ranges in difficulty from totally easy to Who Had This Idea So I Can Smack Her? (Laine and Dave, send me pics of the awesome Ski Boot Lamps and I’ll post them.) These lamps both fall in the Totally Easy category, fortunately, and were constructed and finished within a day.
 Canola Lamp The Canola Lamp
RocketMan came home from the restaurant one weekend with this empty jug that formerly housed roughly a quarter-keg of Wesson canola oil, and we had our traditional conversation:
“Why did you bring that home?”
“I don’t know. I like it. Maybe a lamp?”
“Well, clean it first.”
Clean it he did, and after a few experiments, he landed on this design: a hole cut in the bottom to vent the heat (light bulbs is HOT!); and the light itself is just one of the long cords ending in a light socket that you can pick up at a hardware store or, in this case, Urban Outfitters. (I bought it for a lamp I’d had in my old apartment.) The socket was slightly larger than the spout of the jug, so he slipped it through from the inside and glued the fixture to the lamp. Add a 40-watt bulb—brighter than we usually use—and presto, a lovely golden light that fills a room nicely. All for the bargain price of nothing.
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 Vacuum lamp The Hoover Lamp
When I moved into the RocketDigs fiveish years ago, I brought with me a vacuum cleaner that had been designed after cell phones became popular. RocketMan wanted to toss this old beauty, but my love of household appliances (see the toaster) wouldn’t allow it. The Hoover Lamp was thusly born. This one’s even easier than the Canola Lamp—after removing the bag and the tubes, RocketMan jammed a wire-framed worklight into the base (see below). Because it’s a decorative lamp, it’s plugged into a timer set for 7 PM – midnight every night. The light it sheds is diffuse, patterned, and has all the charm you’d expect from a 30-year-old vacuum cleaner.
Well, all the charm I’d expect.
 Inside the Hoover |
Posted in found objects, lighting, living room | Tagged: canola, cord set, DIY, homemade, hoover, lamps, lighting, vacuum cleaner | 1 Comment »
Posted by rocketgirlsf on February 12, 2009
Occasionally I’d like to share some of the mini-features of our apartment—the little touches that make our apartment a home. Not all of our little bonus items are useful for anything other than visual fun, but quite a few of them actually have a use beyond French-word-for-little-art-things.
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The Amazing Toilet Paper Swivel Arm
This appeared one day about a month back, after RocketMan had added one of His Famous Shelving Units to the bathroom wall. While not everyone might have a conveniently-placed shelf to which to attach the ATPSA, this idea works just as well for paper towels, dishtowel racks, or anything else that should be hidden but accessible. Here’s what he did, as far as I can tell: went to a Ajax Plumbing over on Fillmore to find pipes, joints, and a flange (the anchor) for the shelf; screwed in the flange and attached the pipes; put the orange cap on the end; and slipped on the toilet paper. All in all, about $10, and it’s pipes, so it’ll last pretty much forever. It doesn’t get much easier than that. The beauty part, of course, is that it swivels neatly back into place under the shelf when it’s not in use, pretty well hidden from everyone who isn’t sitting on the toilet.
The real test, of course, will be when RocketBaby gets to be somewhat mobile and decides to play “Toilet paper swings out, toilet paper swings in,” for a half hour. But that’s at least 18 months away.
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Return of the Toaster
Before you ask, yes, that’s Luke Skywalker trapped in the top of the toaster. I don’t know how he got there, but he’s wearing his Tatooine outfit, so pre-Jedi training, anything could’ve happened to that little scamp. Standing guard at the side is Mon Mothma, one of the most excellent action figure finds ever, I must say. She was a senator, and her big scene was in “Return of the Jedi,” when she said, sadly, “Many… Bothans… died… to bring us this information.” She was found in the bottom of a shoebox at WonderCon, and I screamed “MANY BOTHANS DIED! IT’S HER!” and RocketMan wouldn’t believe me until I googled her and proved that we had, indeed, acquired the toy necessary to play Debate The Chandrilan Stimulus Package.
Anyway, I bought this toaster for $4 at a Goodwill about seven years ago, for no other reason than I liked it. After one nostril-burning attempt to turn it on, I gutted the insides (the handiest thing I’ve ever done) and it’s been either of a tchotchke or a something-or-other holder ever since. I think it’s found its true calling in its most recent incarnation, which is as a wire-hider. We slid the cell phone and iPod chargers up through the innards, out the top, and now the toaster has a use beyond anything it could have imagined in 1976. Although it would be a bit familiar with the square thing on top—it’s a 21st-century version of rabbit ears. (BTW, the digital box? AWESOME. Tripled the number of channels we have, perfected our reception, and we still don’t have cable!)
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Posted in bathroom, living room, organization | Tagged: bathroom, cell phone holder, flange, hiding, ipod holder, living room, mon mothma, pipes, star wars, toaster, toilet paper holder, wires | Leave a Comment »
Posted by rocketgirlsf on January 20, 2009
Living in small spaces can be difficult, but little pleasantries make up for it: the rent, the convenience, less cleaning, smaller electric bills, fewer chances of losing stuff. When it comes down to it, though, you’re still sharing a tiny place with another human being, one who was likely raised in a very different household than yours, and who probably didn’t have a dad who blew his nose in bathtowels.
So system implementation hits the top of the priority list–figuring out what works, what doesn’t work, and coming to some compromise. I’ve only been married 18 months (living together for 4-ish years) but I’ve heard that helps with other aspects of a relationship, as well.
Problem is, I’m an Ernie. I always have been. Cookie crumbs in the bed, splashing bubbles out of the tub, a feeling of real perplexity when my sister (the Bert in my life) became enraged just because I left her YMCA 45 out in the sun. Fast forward twenty years, and I move in with RocketMan, who’s more Bert than RocketSis ever was. He washes the dishes immediately after meals. He puts the cap back on the toothpaste. He puts his shoes away the moment he gets home. He hangs up his jacket (on the coat rack, even). All of these things come easily to him, too; it’s inhuman.
In classic Ernie fashion, though, I wanted to appease Bert, so I began changing my habits. Dishes are a non-negotiable; between the size of our kitchen and the threat of bugs, I adapted. Cap on the toothpaste? No problem. I was long-tired of the Stuff my childhood toothpaste seemed to spawn, anyway.
Other little pickups took longer, though, and we’re still a work in progress. We’ve created systems that work around my forgetfulness and his fastidiousness. Instead of demanding that I absolutely put something away every time, he creates an interim place close at hand–a staging area for my later cleanup. Or he notices I’ve lost something again and builds around it. Fortunately, he’s not so anal that he demands absolute minimalism, and I’m not such a slob that I don’t care about what our home looks like. The real trick is that I’m willing to do something I wouldn’t normally do–if it’s within the bounds of my messy tendencies–and he’s willing to make a small compromise, knowing at least I’m putting something in a home. With any luck, some of our systems might inspire the Berts or Ernies in your life to dial it up or back.
| My Favorite Systems |
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Ponytails and Crosswords
I love crossword puzzles. A lot. I don’t know if you saw The Simpsons episode this year in which Lisa gets hooked on crosswords, but at the end, when Homer builds in a secret code with Will Shortz? I leaped up from the couch screaming “That was a clue from today! FROM TODAY! OHMIGOD THAT’S THE CROSSWORD I JUST DID!” It was like I’d gotten some SuperGeek decoder ring from the PuzzleMaster himself.
After a few months of working on crosswords daily–I pick them up, put them down, come back to it a day later–I came home one day to this ingenius system. RocketMan had sticky-Velcroed my correction tape to the corner of a clipboard, attached a pen to the clip, and arranged all of my in-progress puzzles under the clip. He’d done it out of sheer frustration in seeing puzzles flutter to the floor and hearing me ask “Have you seen my pen?” for the sixtieth time in a week.
Next to the crossword clipboard, you’ll see a little appetizer dish serving up two very unappetizing ponytail holders. I have long hair, but I hate wearing it down, so I generally wear it back all day. By the time I curl up on the couch, my scalp needs to relax (and who wants a big ol’ ponytail digging into a pillow?), so I pull out the ponytail, set the holder on the coffee table… and two hours later, I stumble up from the couch, having fallen asleep, and into bed. Two days later, the one holder has multiplied into four, somehow, and RocketMan is wondering how many women actually live in the house. To answer your question, yes, we tried getting me to just take it off in the bathroom, or put it away en route to bed, but it just didn’t happen. So RocketMan set out the little dish, designated it the official Ponytail Holder Holder, and twice a week or so I empty it into the REAL Ponytail Holder Holder in the bathroom.
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The Not-Actually-Laundry Laundry Basket
We implemented a similar system several years ago, when RocketMan noticed a growing pile of clothes on my side of the bed. It was out of sight of the rest of the room, so I didn’t see what the big deal was, but I consented to consider a possible alternative to dumping my clothes on the floor. Here’s the thing–I get home from work, change into my comfy clothes, fall asleep on the couch, and then remove the comfy clothes in a sleepy haze before climbing into bed. They’re not really dirty at that point–I’ve only worn them for five hours, after all, and the most strenuous thing I do in the evening is wash dishes–so they don’t belong in the hamper, so… where do they go, besides the floor?
They go in this Canvas Stacking Basket from the Container Store. I wear my comfies out of it until I toss them in the laundry, and in the meantime, it’s near enough to the bed that I have no trouble remembering to not leave my clothes in a heap, teenager-style.
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Posted in bedroom, living room, organization | Tagged: basket, bert, clean, clipboard, clothes, container store, crossword, ernie, fastidious, laundry, messy, organization, organize, ponytail holder, puzzle, sloppy, systems, the simpsons, will shortz | 2 Comments »
Posted by rocketgirlsf on January 15, 2009
Although I’m not drinking as much as I used to, RocketMan still enjoys a cocktail, and our friends certainly enjoy when he shakes up a Manhattan or a Negroni at our home bar. For a long time I’d wanted a supercool art deco bar, or a 70s-style bar like my grandparents had (of which I cannot find a reasonable facsimile).
Obviously, space and cash stood in our way. Clearing out six square feet of floor space for a beautiful piece of furniture was a hard sell, especially when we had other needs beyond the basic bottle placement. Space prevents us from being collectors—we don’t even own martini glasses—and we needed room for wine as well as cookbooks. (We’re not wine collectors, either; we have four bottles we’re saving, and other than that, the drinks get drunk.)
We’d inherited two hutches from a friend–very basic cube-shaped stained-wood hutches, the kind of furniture that you never, ever notice. At least I never did. I knew something held up our vacuum lamp, but it never registered that it was actually a piece of furniture in its own right. So RocketMan strapped on his toolbelt, threw together a bookshelf, tinkered with the hutches, and here’s the result.
It stands in the corner of our living room, right next to the kitchen, for easy cookbook/booze access.
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MY FAVORITE FEATURES
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Pretty, pretty bottles!
Back to Tap Plastics for this piece of translucent plastic–cut by the kind folks at the store, and costing a whopping $15.
- It’s hinged to the hutch with basic hardware, and tethered by a piece of wire pulled through a small hole drilled in the corner. That’s a skeleton hand fastened to the wire.
- It closes with a simple magnetic latch.
- Add a fluorescent light to the back wall of the hutch, and presto—some nice mood lighting and instant decoration. The switch to the light is attached to a light switch that controls all our low evening lighting. (That’s another blog.)
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DIY wine rack
Below the liquor is our wine rack. It’s exactly what it looks like: sawed-off cardboard tubing glued together and stacked. I’ve never seen anything like it. Only drawback: larger bottles like Pinot Noir and sparkling wine will not fit in these holes, so they go on the bottom shelf, which is tubing-free.
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Handy cookbooks
For a long time, our cookbooks were on the top shelf of our kitchen—well out of my reach and as a result, underused. When I use cookbooks I like to sit on the couch and read them, spread out a few on the coffee table, compare notes. This solution was perfect: well within reach and between the kitchen and the couch. We have a few more cookbooks on other bookshelves; these are my favorites.
If you’re a little handy with a drill and saw, the construction is simple. It’s all pine, and the side panels have the adjustable holes built in; the shelf is another piece of pine resting on supports. Another piece of wood shores up the back, and metal brackets fastens the whole shebang to the top hutch.
- A pencil-thin fluorescent light attached to the bookshelf illuminates the workspace.
- No bar is complete without a cutting board. Knives are right around the corner on the magnetic strip.
- The juicer initially seemed like a frivolous wedding registry idea, but it turns out we love it! Nothing like a fresh mimosa to start your weekend, and this baby does the trick.
FYI, those are our dinner napkins (we eat at the coffee table). And the little green bottle is cheap liquor our friend brought back from the Beijing Olympics. The other bottle she gave us smelled like candy-flavored lighter fluid, so we’re just enjoying the green bottle for now. |
Posted in bar, kitchen, living room | Tagged: bar, bookshelf, booze, cocktail, cookbooks, cutting board, hutch, juicer, kitchen, lighting, liquor, living room, mixers, shelf, shelves, wine rack | 2 Comments »
