Chez Larsson

So How Did I Do?

  
Remember my to-do list from back in May? I promised I’d repost at the end of summer and over here I’d say this is it. Summer, at least in my mind, is over. So how did I do?

* Scrape west facing side of house

* Prime west facing side of house

* Paint west facing side of house

*Scrape south facing side of house

* Prime south facing side of house

* Paint south facing side of house

* Paint fascia boards south, west, east, north

* Scrape south window

* Paint south window

* Scrape patio door

* Paint patio door

* Paint white trim outside

* Clean trim in hallway

* Paint trim in hallway

* Paint interior doors to bathroom and stairwell

* Paint stairs

* Paint trim downstairs

* Paint doors downstairs

* Craft new house number

* Cut boards for botanical prints

* Paint boards for botanical prints

* Mend stucco on west side of house

* Sort out papers from hanging files

* Order fly strips for windows

* Clean shower head

* Sort Wille's stuff in basement with him

* Sort Wille's stuff in his room with him

* Continue scanning negatives

* Assemble travel scrapbook pages

* Add photos to albums

* Prep for gravel in back yard

* Order gravel for back yard

* Buy and plant summer flowers in pots

* Weed, weed, weed

* Plant Dahlia's

* Sow swiss chard

* Paint bedroom walls

* Prune roses

* Sew patchwork pillow

* Bake more

* Top dress lawn

* Mend rotting corner by patio **

* Trim lawn edges

* Adjust leaky kitchen faucet **

* Paint livingroom walls

* Sort out water pressure and temperature in shower

* Add wheels to ottomans

* Paint stairwell

* Change fabric in stairwell

* Trim hedges

* Rebuild craft corner desk **

* Move and reorganize dresser **

* Do a kitchen drawer switcharoo

* Add wheels to antique arm chair

* Add shelves in bedrom closet

* Figure out a way to hang longboard **

* Add wheels to ottoman in bedroom

* Reinvent large cans

* Sort out downstairs pantry

* Paint parts of front steps

* Turn garden composts

* Change lock on patio door **

* Change locks on two doors upstairs

* Change handles on four doors upstairs

* Refinish edges of bathroom shelves

* Paint bathroom shelves and brackets

* Touch up fuse box door

* Staple new fabric on fuse box door

* Sew patchwork quilt

* Fix chipped ladder bar in stairwell

* Caulk gaps in top of stairwell

** Martin helped

 
I have to say I’m pretty proud of all I did do. I haven’t been lazy. I’m pooped though so I look forward to doing the more fun and crafty bits this fall and winter and the yard things which are still on the list next spring. And I’m sure I’ll be adding to the list next year…

* Paint fascia boards south, west, east, north (Couldn’t face another race up and down the ladder)

* Paint white trim outside (To few hours in the day!)

* Cut boards for botanical prints (Not sure I’m into this any more…)

* Paint boards for botanical prints (… I’m not loving the yellowed paper of the prints.)

* Sort Wille's stuff in basement with him (Still to do)

* Order fly strips for windows (I NEED these next summer, I used some other type and they sucked!)

* Continue scanning negatives (Cozy fall project…)

* Assemble travel scrapbook pages (… another cosy one…)

* Add photos to albums ( … and one more!)

* Prep for gravel in back yard (Next spring, I promise!)

* Order gravel for back yard (Definitely next spring!)

* Sew patchwork pillow (Fabric and supplies have been ordered…)

* Paint livingroom walls (Paint has been bought!) 

* Sew patchwork quilt (… and there’s enough for this one too!)

 

Yay!

Fresh Coat Basement

After I won all that paint before Christmas it sort of turned into a marathon painting session all spring and summer. Here are some before and afters of our basement.

Staircase from above ~ Before

Staircase from above ~ After

Staircase from below ~ Before

Staircase from below ~ After

Door from garage into house ~ Before

 
Door from garage into house ~ After

And one more just because I’m so happy it’s no longer green ~ Yay!

 

So I was asked if I have any advice on painting stairs. Not really, it's just like painting any other wood in my book. Do plan an escape route though, mine was to leave through the garage after I was done painting and then to enter the house again from outside upstairs. If that's not an option for you you can paint every other step first so you can walk on the unpainted ones and then once the painted ones are dry you step on those and paint the rest.

 

As for the paint itself, I ended up choosing ordinary indoor oil based paint, the kind I used on all the trim and doors too. It's not a special floor paint but I used this the last time too and it held up well for over ten years. We don't wear shoes indoors though so if you do you will probably want a more hardwearing floor paint or maybe painting the stairs or floor for that matter isn't a great idea for you.

About the shoes indoor thing btw, do you wear shoes inside your home? To most of us Swedes it's very weird to do so. We take our shoes off after entering a house and walk around barefoot, in our socks or put slippers on. Personally I'm a slipper wearer. If you do wear shoes indoors, don't your floors get really dirty and scratched? I'm always amazed when I see photos of people wearing sneakers or even boots indoors. All I can think is that they must get very sweaty feet and wonder if there are separate indoors shoes and outdoor shoes and how they keep their carpet clean.

The Desk ~ Part I

So, this is now partly gone. There are probably a few of you who are sad to see it go because it's one of the most favorited photos of mine on Flickr but it just didn't work for me any longer.

I spend so many hours on the computer at work and at home and after standing at the desk at work for eight hours I added another few at the standing desk at home and needed an option where I could sit down. Also I've had the need for more desk top space for when I use the Bamboo and when scanning negatives and for more time consuming crafts. This had to be done at the dining table before and I hated to bring everything I needed out there and having to clear it away before dinner.


So the first thing that needed to go was the dresser that stood in front of the window. That now resides in the boat room.


Then we started to dismantle the unit we built earlier. Turns out it was pretty well built and more solid than we remembered so a what I thought would be a minor dismantling job became much bigger endeavor.


After everything was disassembled I could do a little test drive with the pieces that were to stay. I decided that there would be a narrow unit for the muji drawers to the left and then we debated whether to keep the slot for the gift wrap rolls to the right along with the other mujis but as you know we already we ended up skipping those.


This is what we came up with instead, some shelves. It was at this point where we started thinking maybe we wouldn't put the top part of the original unit back up again as we had planned because it looked so neat with that blank wall above the desk top.

It did mean there would be a little bit less storage but I'm always game when it comes to purging so I sorted my belongings and decided there where quite a few things that could be donated and quite a few things that didn't need to be stored here but could be in the storage room instead.


I know I'll get comments on the radiator and the desk top covering it so I took this shot to show you that there's a cut out in the desk top below the window where hot air can escape upwards. Yup, that radiator could do with another coat of paint seeing it from this angle, but one never really does, this was for your eyes only.


Another little rad detail (rad as in radiator, not as in cool) is the round hole to the left. It allows for a hand to reach the thermostat knob. It's also almost invisible in the room because if you want to see it you'll have to step inside Martins closet. That's where I was.


And since I'll be sitting here with my lap top from time to time I added a "permanent" cable for it. I got a second one (the one that came with the lap top is hidden away in the home office) and disguised it and the lamp cable with a "sock" on one side  and a plastic cable tube on the other. It's what I had at home and it will have to do for now. They are both white and that's what matters. The black chunk can't be seen unless you're on the floor looking up and I somehow doubt that Mini and Bonus care.
 

And finally, here it is! We salvaged part of the desktop and the sides and one of the plinths and added the rest. I love it already at this bare stage. Stay tuned for a more styled version.         

Those Cans

Remember these ginormous cans which I brought home from the recycling area at work? Well I want more!



Three holes tapped with a hammer and and a fat old screwdriver (use a big nail or an awl if you only have good screwdrives so you don't ruin them) and some coats of spray paint later and I'm a happy camper.


I ended up not painting the silver and gold ones because I ran our of paint but in retrospect I'd have preferred at least the gold one to be white.


So what's in them? After putting some pottery chards at the bottom for drainage I added soil and planted two with basil and two with mint.


And as I said, now we want more! On my to-do list for when I go back to work on the 19th is to see if there are more of the largest cans to be had. Hopefully the restaurant in the building has been using a lot of pickled cucumbers during summer...

Surprise Lampshade

Ok, so what's the surprise?

Surprise!

So thy taketh a simple white lampshade...

...and sticketh some adhesive office dots on the inside...

... and hey presto a polka dot lampshade!