Welcome to My New Purple Kitchen

So I have a feeling that when I mention that I painted my kitchen purple, most people usually think PURPLE. You know...Royal purple...Grape juice purple...Minnesota Vikings purple...Dimetapp purple...Crown Royal purple...All things-that-I-don't-like purple. It's easy to see why so many people have negative connotations toward the hue. I mean, just look at that list. Yuck, right? But the purple I chose is more of a fuchsia-y tone, and I couldn't be more pleased.

I had been set on re-painting for a little while now, but always leaned in the direction of slate blue. The first time around didn't turn out as dark and chalky as I had hoped, and I kept envisioning this beautiful slate blue wall to frame the view into our long, snowy Wisconsin winters. I thought the contrast between the slate and the snow would be pretty much perfect.
But then one evening after work I was sitting at the kitchen counter, dragging about being in such an anti-cooking funk that had started sometime around the melting of the snow. I remember staring at the walls for a while and thinking that it was to be blamed on my summer schedule. I don't get home from work until 7 or 9 in the summer, and by that time concocting a full meal sounds less than appealing. The problem with this idea was that my summer schedule had gone through the yearly rotation and I had recently transitioned to my winter job. The latest I'd get home from work would now be 4:30 or 5. 

So I decided that I'd get some new wooden spoons and a couple other things I'd been wanting, paint the room slate, and then I'd be good to go. Of course, I would have to start planning meals again but that was fine. And then it occurred to me. Changing from "steely blue" to "slate blue" was the furthest from what I actually needed...I needed a color that was fun and bold. 

While I do appreciate and even envy color in other people's homes, it's something I've never had an easy time with in my own. Our house is in a quiet town. It's rare to see more than 20 cars drive by in the day. Whenever I come home from Madison, it's like I dip into this mental valley of somber. So after driving through the golden flats surrounded by beautiful rolling hills, and pulling into my driveway to see the pale blue facade of my home, the last thing that would feel right would be to walk into a house filled with oranges, yellows and reds. 


I knew that purple would be zingy enough to wake me up and would hopefully give me the energy I was seeking. It's still on the cool side and it matched the tone of my living room quite nicely. Rather than spending a lot of money on paint, as I naively did in the past, I read some terrible reviews on the paint I had found, cringed a little, and decided that I was going to try it anyway. Something I never, EVER do if I read bad reviews. But something told me I'd be okay. So off I went to get a gallon of Behr Forest Berry. It's a paint and primer in one. I know, something you should never use, right? Well, whatever. It worked just fine for me.
 




































And I love it. I think I danced around Joe and sang how much I loved it all week long. It's fun and refreshing and so much more lively. It fits my recent mental status perfectly. And the funny thing is, I hadn't realized how depressing the blue was until after I painted. It's made a huge difference in my mood when I'm in there and has even prompted me to be a little bit more okay with color throughout the rest of the house. The color makes me feel like I can add more warmth in the living room...I've been thinking about a new rug so I can move the flokati into a different room.  But before I get off topic, especially since I've already typed your eyes out, here is what it looked like before:





































So so much better, right? Yeah. I really love it. A ton. Although, I must say, the blue was a huge improvement from what it looked like when we moved in. Ugh, that was just terrible. Here's a quick photo for kicks:

So yes. There is still a lot I want to do to the kitchen, but for now I will try to be happy with what it is rather than what it is yet not.

Hey It's October

Did I do this last year? Totally cut out for like 2 or 3 months and then swoop back in? Well okay...so I suppose I haven't really totally cut out. I did check in here and there. But that aside, I think the end the lull drawing closer and closer as the days tick by. We'll see.

Today we went to Dr. Evermore's Art Park, which absolutely blew my mind. I'll be sure to get more photos the next time I go, but for now just imagine living in a heavily surreal carnival-like world filled with herds of welded metal creatures in every direction you turn and endless amusement over the fact that you can actually touch these things. Oh man. I was totally geeking out the entire time. I highly recommend a visit if you're ever traveling through central Wisconsin. For real.

Later this afternoon, Joe and I also started Operation Shrub Removal: Part II in the yard, which was mostly gratifying except for the fact that now we have to fill these areas with different shrubs because there are huge holes everywhere now. The ones we got rid of today were junipers, and I'm pretty sure that one of them had a span of about 10'. Ugh, those things are so gnarly. I called it ganglefest, because they are really ugly and gangly and you have to lop like mad before you can even think about sawing them. I made the task more fun by naming my loppers Cindy. 10 points if you get the joke.


Anyway, that's all for now. But like I said, this house and project hiatus that I took this summer seems to be ending, which can only mean that there are more blog posts to be had in the near future. So till next time...

Rack = Finished

Hello hello! I just made the worst enchiladas in my life and I'm recovering from the disappointment through blogging. 

Today I finished the rack that I used my new design on. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. :)






































Check out the DIY on houzz if you are feeling so inclined.


3 things:


+ I painted our kitchen. Purple! Photos to come, but you can catch a small glimpse in the last post.
+ Scarf and sweater weather is here!
+ We're getting rid of our hot tub on Saturday! This is awesome! We've saved about $30 a month after we unhooked it and lots of money on chemicals. It came with the house but we're happy to move onto better things. More to come on that topic.




 

New Design

Hey guys! Yesterday I was sitting at a red light and I started thinking about blogging and how it seems to come in waves. For awhile I'll blog like crazy...and then it suddenly seems as if I've jumped ship. Ah well, that's life I suppose.

I'm on training day 8 of 8 at my 'winter' job. I have to leave in a little while but thought it would be nice to check in first. I can't stay long...I have to shower, get ready, make lunch and figure out what I'm going to wear all within, ooohhhh, the next 56 43 minutes. Soon I will start at 6 a.m. and that's usually when things go awry. No time for coffee, cereal and internet before work? Heh, that always screws with me more than I wish it would, but anyway...

Last night I started carving a new block. You'll see the freshly inked pattern soon. I work with rubber whenever I do patterns that I'm going to print on wood because it transfers much better than wood to wood or linoleum to wood. On my list of things to get are nicer tools (one day...one. day.).

But everything on said 'list to get' is on hold right now, because I am currently saving my pennies for my solo canoe...a Bell Merlin II. It's used and I'm getting it for a great deal. Kevlar. Super easy for me to sling up onto the Pilot...and perfect for a person my size. I can't wait. :)

Still

Hello to anybody who still comes around these parts. Blogging has really taken the back seat this summer. While I do have a lot of fun projects planned, I have been in such an anti-project, anti-house funk.

It could be subconscious efforts to kill my perfection issues. Or that I've embraced some new escapes. Or that I am tired of not having "fun" things and who wants to buy more paint when there's a solo canoe on the wish list?

But it's most like a combination of all those things. This summer I have been enjoying life at a slower pace. Going with the flow. Trying not to care about things that don't really matter. Like the damn garden I spent hours upon HOURS cleaning up this spring. Yeah, gardening is fun and all, but sometime in June I realized how much it stressed me out, how much time I wasted to just watch things whither away, how much I resented the backyard by the end of the day. And really....what's the point of that?

I have come to the conclusion that it's never what is done, but always what's not done. Rather than exhausting my energy on trying to look find the positive, I have chosen to pick up and move to things that don't require me to actively look for it all the time.

I have to say- Since taking this new approach to the ins and outs of my day to day, it seems as if I'm the only person I know who doesn't feel like summer "flew by". I've been setting a lot of time aside for myself. I've sat in the coffee shop for hours on end more than a couple times, just to people watch and write letters, wondering how I never found the time to do that before and answering with "oh yeah. because i'm always gardening. painting. doing and re-doing just to re-do once more. running errands for various house projects. stressing. wasting."

So anyway, yes, I will return soon, once the weather cools. I've been doing lots of hiking and canoeing this summer. Hoping to do my first solo trip down the Wisconsin River within the next couple weeks. Of course I'll give you the full report once I do. See you soon.

Still Here

Hey friends! I'm still alive...don't ask me where my time has been going, because I can't really tell ya. I haven't felt busy, but I've been taking it easy and enjoying the summer at a slower pace.

I know people keep saying "Oh my gosh, it's already August?!", but for some reason, I'm not feeling the "summer's almost over" emotions that most seem to be. 

Anyway, nothing fun to share right now...except for this sweet outdoor space that was bookmarked the minute I saw it.

Camping this weekend. See you next week. :)

Block Printing

We're in the wallows of summer and I have to say that it's probably the best summer I've had in quite awhile. I cut down from 5 days to 4 days at my job, and I can't tell you how much it's improved my general mood. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job, but I also enjoy having 3 days to scatter the other things that bring me happiness. By the way, this shirt makes me smile and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. Just in case you wanted to know that. $10 Target Halloween score last fall!

Anyway, after ditching my studio for over half a year, I finally found the pull to bring me back. I generally reserve making art for the winter, as Wisconsin winters are quite long (but fun if you can get outside and enjoy it) but I've been feeling the groove lately, so off I went.

This is an older design, but it was still fun to be printing again. I like the rush of printmaking; I think it's one of the most beautiful forms of art, and although I generally only dabble in small designs, it still does the trick for me. I often think about doing more "art" with printmaking, like actual images with multiple colors, but I don't think it's quite right for me. I'll leave that to the people who are already great at it. ;)

I also found a few minutes to sit down and draw a few new designs. Admittedly, this has always been the hardest part for me. But then I found a super secret magic trick. Markers. Why didn't I ever think of that? I mean, it only makes sense. Why draw with pencils or pens that only provide the thinnest of lines when you can play on the same field as the finished blocks, with big, thick, bold lines? 


Anyway. The photo above were my first pattern drawings in like...2 or 3 years. They'll get better. For now I'm testing the waters I suppose. I do like the circle one on the bottom, though. It's probably going to be the next design I carve. It will be about 2.5" wide and I'll use it for coat racks and mixed media. Hoping to carve and print over the next week. We'll see.

Wisconsin River

Joe and I returned home from a beautiful trip on the Wisconsin River this afternoon. Everything about it was perfect. Here are a few photos from our 48 hour adventure.

This is the island we stopped at for lunch. The Wisconsin River is a wide and sandy stretch, dappled with islands big and small. It eventually feeds into the Mississippi River.

The canoe we paddled is a Nova Craft Pal, which I borrowed from work. I'm lucky enough to have a job that offers incentives like this; it's pretty cool to have free access to boats. I'm hoping to buy a solo canoe soon, though.

After paddling for a couple hours, we decided to find an island to rest on for the remainder of the night. The one we found was pretty cool. We were hidden from all 2 of the people who passed us...we pretty much had the river to ourselves.

Camping has become so much more enjoyable since we started buying good gear. We have an MSR Mutha Hubba HP tent, a Sierra Designs Diamond Spring 15 and a Thermarest NeoAir.

The sun finally sank into the horizon and we were able to enjoy a fire while listening to the ripples of the river nearby. I was beat and felt pretty jacked up, so I only lasted until about 10 PM or so. Or maybe it was like 9:30...

Now it's morning, which is my favorite time of day, especially when camping. Time to make coffee and oatmeal! I have an MSR WindPro stove and MSR Quick 2 System, which make this task a breeze.

Once we were packed, we snapped a quick photo and got back on the river. The sun was shining and it was supposed to get hot, so we headed out to find our next site. It was Friday and I thought it may be harder to find an island later in the evening, so getting out early was nice.

After paddling for a bit, we found our next island by about 2:00. We had a huge beach to ourselves, which was perfect for playing frisbee. By now the sky was becoming overcast with slate blues and pewter greys, which is my favorite.

It started to rain around 8:00. I'm a big fan of rainy weather because it stimulates the senses of sound, touch, smell and sight. I wish more people could appreciate rainy days. Rain coats help a LOT. Anyway, on went the rain fly and we built a fire. You can see another fire on a neighboring island, too.

We enjoyed our fire in the rain for an hour or so and eventually retired to the tent for the evening. Next on my purchase list is a tarp so we can extend our time in the rain and sun and wind.

We didn't take any photos the next day other than this one. My camera batteries were dying and I didn't feel like changing them and I was out of space on my memory card, as usual. But now we were home from our quick adventure and already planning our next one.

Once we were unpacked, I took a shower and a 3 hour long nap. Then we headed out to the Old Feed Mill to celebrate 8 years of being together. It was a great few days. Today is supposed to be in the mid 90s and I have a garden to water, so I better get going. Oh, and it's National Ice Cream Day, so I have to go to town and buy some. Ice cream is one of those things that I have recently allowed back into my life, along with peanut butter and ketchup. Oh man. Anyway, back to ice cream- our favorite non-local brand is Breyer's. What's yours?

DIY Fire Pit

Photo post! So as you may know, I've been working on the fire pit on and off for quite some time now. Before that was the major garden overhaul. The main reason behind all the work on the fire pit (lately) was because I had an article to write for Houzz, and I needed a finished fire pit before I could submit it. It was published today, so I have officially decided that the rest of the summer will be for hanging out and having fun. Not that I don't consider house projects to be fulfilling and fun. I mean, that's why I do them. But I need to be camping and canoeing and just hanging out.

Last summer was a wash between being sick for so long and the other various sad and bad things that happened and as a result, I don't even remember it being summer last year. So I think it's time that I stop going going going on house stuff and just hang out for a bit. I'm banning myself from feeling like I NEEEEED to finish things for at least a week. I know, that's kind of short...maybe I'll try for 2 weeks. We're going to kick it off with a trip down the Wisconsin River for a few days. Photos to come. For now, here are a few fire pit shots from beginning to end. Check out the full story here. *PS: I am absolutely elated and in super high spirits after reading all the lovely feedback over at Houzz. Thank you SO much, Houzz readers! :) :) :)

Weekend

Over the last couple of days, I spent a large portion of my time working on the area that surrounds our fire pit. I bought these flowers to put somewhere in that general vicinity about a week and a half ago and still haven't planted them. All because I haven't decided where to put them yet. I need to just pick a spot and move on already. I mean really, if I end up hating it, I can just move them.

Yesterday I transplanted a lot of flowers and laid more mulch and did some other little things here and there. It will be a much welcomed feeling when I'm finally happy, or at least content, with that area but we'll see when that happens. Looking at this photo that I snapped today does make me happy and helps me to remember that I need to appreciate all that I've done rather than dwell on what I feel like I still "need" to do.

Sometime this afternoon I opened my mailbox and found the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living resting inside and it made me cringe a little. I think I should probably void this publication from my life because I'm pretty sure it only fuels my struggles with perfectionism. I wish so badly that there was a switch I could turn off and just be fine with things rather than spending countless hours trying to get to the point where I'm okay with something. That would be the coolest thing ever. Or maybe the second coolest thing ever. But either way, I'd love it.

House Paint

In my last post, I mentioned that Joe and I did a bunch of fun things over the weekend. I don't know how much fun most people consider painting the outside of their house to be, but it definitely increased my mood, and that's coming from somebody who doesn't even like to paint.

We made the jaunt out to Home Depot on Sunday morning to look for paint. Joe yanked a small piece of siding off the back of the house for comparison sake. The idea wasn't to change the color of the house, but to make the painted wooden area off the front of the house match the siding on the rest of the house. The wood was always a little bit more lavender-blue while the rest was more of a sky blue with slightly green undertones. When Joe pulled the siding off, we realized that the reason it was different wasn't because of a bad color match, which was always the assumption I had, but because the siding had actually been painted at one time, and the wood was not. The wood was still the color of the original siding! Oy...

So anyway, while I was at Home Depot, I started grabbing swatches to try to get somewhat close to the siding color. I just wanted to paint the entire front up to the corners where the difference wouldn't be noticeable. First I picked up Martha Stewart paint swatches...of course...but didn't find anything close. Then I went through some Glidden, but nothing still. Another brand was next, and I found one that would work if it had to...and then off to the wall of Behr swatches, where I found an *exact* match. So basically, I found the same color that they used when they painted. The color is called "Harmonious".

So far we've only gotten one coat on, and haven't even touched the siding yet. We plan to do the back as well. A lot of the siding is faded and it drives me nuts! We spent a couple hours scrubbing the exterior and that alone made it look 5 times better, but paint is still necessary. More front of house photos to come. I'm sloowwllllly trucking away at the adhesive left on the cement of the deck, which is a project I started last summer. I think I'm about 90% finished, which means that I only have like 2 hours to go! Yay. ;)

HEMNES Bookcase

Hey friends! I hope you are all enjoying your holiday weekend! Joe and I have been lucky enough to get 3 days off together, which is quite a rarity 'round these parts. We've been kicking ass on the house project list and it confirms that I do indeed have to find a weekend-less work schedule at some point in my life if I want to continue to have fun AND get house stuff done.

We kicked the weekend off with a super fast trip to MN to visit a friend and go to a baseball game. Of course, we can't make a trip to the Twin Cities without a stop at IKEA. I had a long list of things that I'd been saving for, but then I made a $200 mistake a couple weeks ago and there went over half of my budget. Ah well, such is life. But we did come home with one item from IKEA...

A HEMNES bookcase, in grey brown. I must say that I'm really super excited about it. And contrary to the popular "IKEA is such a pain in the ass to assemble!" nonsense I always hear, it was actually quite easy. It probably took about an hour, which included the various interruptions from the cats (side note: Clem is about to find a new home outside if he doesn't stop being such a dick head.)

 

































Pay no attention to the lack of shelf styling thus far- I just kind of threw the books and decorations on half ass-edly and stepped back to breath a sigh of relief- there are no more book piles in every corner of the house! I have been trying not to collect books since we didn't have anywhere to put them, so we don't really have very many, but now we can start the gathering process. Yay!

We did a whole bunch of other stuff this weekend, although you'll have to wait a bit for the stories as we're preparing for some friends who will be arriving shortly. Joe's smoking pork shoulder on the gill and I just made potato salad- yum! Hope you all had a great wknd!