We only had the two color options when I ordered that daybed, the red/orange and the blue/gray… so of course being nuts I picked the red/orange. But now what? I’m color impaired. Well, here, how’s this?
look, I’m at work and don’t have photoshop so I had to use some really chinsy online editor, hence the crappy white artifacting around the daybed. DEAL.
We’ve been putting off organizing or furnishing the guest room/office/craft room, partially laziness and partially because the money that we would use was better used elsewhere at the time. In fact, it is the only room that still has a lot of unpacked boxes. However, with the sale, we decided to just go for it. So Saturday after class, (well, I went to class, Rob ditched) we head off to Fillmore St and bought ourselves a daybed.
I care so much that I’m willing to post this fairly unflattering photo of me with Frances:
This Sunday, Rob and I went out to Pine Lake Dog Park with our three pup girls for the SF Chihuahua Meetup. We’ve been a few times and it’s always a lot of fun for the dogs. The people are great and it’s wonderful to have dogs the same size as ours for the girls to play with. Because the weather had been so gloomy the week before and the weather was PERFECT on Sunday, we just had to go!
I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to post anything… but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on illustrations!
I had the pleasure of working with two really great people on these illustrations and I had a lot of fun doing them! I’m not a calligrapher, and in fact I have terrible handwriting, but I like having a handwritten look on banners. I like to say that my bad calligraphy has charm and heart, but it might be just something to make me feel better about my 3rd grade handwriting. Maybe one day I’ll take some classes so I can offer more styles and be confident about the writing.
I have no more excuses because we’re technically done with the new place.. for now. I’ve been working on a few illustrations, going between outlining and coloring. Sometimes color takes me no time at all, but others.. it gets really difficult and I have to take long breaks in order to sort out what I want to do.
This is a typical screen capture of my screen when I’m working.
ooo eraser. My friend!
All my illustrations have a pinkish background to begin with, so that colors stand out more and I can make sure I didn’t leave anything uncolored. If I can see the pink, then I know I missed a spot! I could use any color… but I’m pretty attached to pink.
Hopefully I can push these out quickly and have finished illustrations!
It just so happened that shortly after being contacted by a couple for an illustration commission, the bride to be got the Bee-to-Be email! So this illustration was started for Miss Dachshund before she was announced! I’m so excited to have been able to do this for her!
I love it when brides let me go a little more playful, so it was fun to play on the fact that Mr. D is a foot taller than her! So for once, we wanted to make her taller than him!
This seems to be the favorite style for couples and I have no problem with that. Drawing these little illustrations is a lot of fun, and I love that I get to draw such big heads. I love big heads! Maybe it’s because I have a big head…
My finger is missing a fingerprint (and all feeling in the tip) but the nail grew back and I’m ready to go! I finished TWO illustrations… and am ready to work on the two I have had on the back burner for a while. Rob has been very very pushy about getting them done, which is a good thing for me, and I’m always happy when I finish one and find out the couple is happy with the end product!
Here is the one I did for Mrs. Taffy:
Let it be known that I find drawing little chubby birdies really uplifting and amusing.
And now… more drawing.
I’ve been gone. I know, it’s been an up and down what with having NEARLY CUT OFF MY FINGER. It’s gross, but it’s decided to reattach and now the end just feels (and looks) a little strange. The nail is almost back to full length. Just another month and I think I will be able to get a very well deserved manicure for my abused hand. Oddly enough, the same week I nearly lost that finger, another friend of mine smooshed his into near oblivion. The same finger on the same hand! We were lame finger buddies.
In other news, I just finished the illustration for Mrs. Taffy. She was so patient with the move, and the painting, and the loss of my finger…. so I’m happy that it’s finished and that she likes it! I’ll post that as soon as I get home. 
We also hired someone to put up wallpaper. We were going to do it ourselves until we realized the ceiling is so high right above the stairs, there was no way we could do it. Not without doing a crap job and breaking our necks, at least.
And I’m embarrassed that my entry way looks like this – although it doesn’t anymore. We cleaned it and hung up the coat rack… but I’m all about being real. Here is my really nasty dirty entryway.
Next up, forcing Rob to buy me a new washer and dryer.
I’ve been trying to work on my art, but things come up. We’ve had a non-stop stream of friends coming to stay with us, including tonight someone will be with us for the remainder of this month. That put my neurotic furniture arranging on hold (which Rob is really happy about) and made me instead turn to things that are quicker or easier to manage. Ok, so this wasn’t quick or easy, really, but it was something that will tide me over until we get a full on remodel of the kitchen.
Ok, so the kitchen isn’t horrendous.. it’s showing it’s age, it’s not the best layout, and it’s just kind of blah. I really didn’t like the cabinet fronts, but really, that will get worked out as soon as we remodel. It wasn’t worth a temporary cost to make it better until we take the sledgehammer to it.
Insert 1 ambitious friend, screwdrivers, and a husband out on an errand so that he couldn’t stop us. Add some paint and some shelves and you have this:
Forgive the mess, we were just starting to arrange our kitchen wares and clean them after having been removed from the boxes. That’s my excuse anyway.
It was a very fast makeover and it made a bit of difference. I can live with it… for now. But if said ambitious friend comes over one day when we have nothing better to do, maybe we’ll take something else apart….
Ok, I don’t have the best photos. But here is the general idea.
WC Before:
Black toilet of horror. Black tiles of horror. Just generally ugly water closet.
WC After:
note tampons. Normally hidden, but not today! Out in the open for EVERYONE TO SEE. Just in case you were questioning my being a woman.
We added the white wainscoting and painted the walls the palest purple. A new light was put in, not that you can see it, and the tiles are 1″ hex tiles with light gray grout.
Bathroom Before:
This photo of Jen pretty much shows you what we were dealing with.
1. white ugly tiles all the way up the walls
2. nasty stall shower
3. black sink… that was REALLY HIGH. Seriously, the counter was boob height.
4. weird ugly light sconce things. Looks like elementary school project gone wrong.
5. Also had the nasty black tiles on the floor like the WC.
Bathroom After:
obviously pre-installation and paint
It’s already a mess, we just moved in. But yay! Same pale purple walls, white wainscoting throughout, vintage corner sink with new faucet, cute clawfoot, and new tiles. I don’t have a good photo of the tub… I’ll deal with that later. It’s a small space, so getting photos of it is very difficult. The new window is on order and should be installed some time next week.
Was it worth it? Yes. The bathroom is not a horrible monstrosity that I’m embarrassed to have in my house. I can only imagines guests panicking with the old weird black toilet that filled to the top before flushing. I definitely think the bathroom remodel and the secret window added more value than we spent, so overall a good decision. I’m sure a lot of people walked away from the property after seeing what they would have to deal with.
Next – the kitchen.
