Ishi & Lou's blog

Blast from the Past

This is a long post, but worth it. Trust me. 

It's the time of year that I go through my external hard drive (like a nerd) and re-sort my photos chronologically (like an OCD nerd). And I decided to look through my older items, from 2004, 2005, and 2006 just because I didn't even remember what photos were there.

And I found some very interesting things to say the least. Now, I have to say that my first semester of college was really me just being bored in Utah. I had spent the first few weeks after graduating high school in NYC and then found myself in southern Utah much sooner than I had anticipated- both are polar opposites of each other, and also opposites of my home town. It was a strange, strange time filled with Art 101 classes, slides of JC Penny catalogs as "interior design" inspiration and some massive color wheels. 

I moved back to my home town after my 1st semester since Utah sucked and promptly into my 1st non-student housing living situation. My new room was 9'x15' with the door just off center to fit the closet on the left side, and a window directly across from it. Oh, and the place for some reason didn't get the heat from the rest of the house, so I had a space heater gifted to me (also my 1st round of landlords that did not care about my feelings, or health). It was a newer condo, and it cost me all of $266 a month before electricity- shared with 2 others who lived in bedrooms upstairs. SCORE. How I wish I would have known how lucky I was to pay that little amount in rent at the time!!! I digress. The point is, I had no TV, internet consisted of OMGMyspace and a boring uneventful site called facebook, and MSN.com for celebrity gossip. The world of DIY blogs was either not there in late 2005 or I just didn't know it (both?). And this, my friends is what happened when I decorated:

[WARNING: These photos contain "design" elements that may make even the strongest stomaches cringe] 

Bless my Incubus loving heart! I got those 2 posters after the 1st concert I'd ever been to, which was Incubus when I was 16. They were the 1st items I hung up in every house. Sources include Ikea for the duvet, my own flower art, folding table from Fred Meyer (which I must admit right this minute is still with me, currently with my keyboard on top and a sleeping puppy under it), a sweet stereo from Sears, Mac G4 laptop, and a clock radio/alarm clock from Walmart. Don't forget my underage shot glass collection next to a beanie baby!! Classy.

And it gets BETTER. 

GIANT sexyman poster from Pac Sun (I worked there), Butterfly curtains- JC Penny, Ikea lamp (that's 2 Ikea items now! foreshadowing much?), more art from Art 101 classes. And that bed is from Sears - it was a queen size Aero Bed. 

What's that over there????

A messy closet (duh), an array of cheap sunglasses, and a lamp WRAPPED IN LIGHT VIOLET TUELE? You bet your ass it is. That lamp was annoying since I needed it but was kinda over the bright pink so instead of painting it- much to my moms delight having been the purchaser of it- I wrapped it with the extra long curtains from Ikea that I never ever wound up hanging up. It seems I'd also just moved in since the box for the table is in the corner there... 

And lastly, one more gem of horror: 

For being such a large room, it was lacking in storage. I at least organized my paints in a shower caddy... what??? I was really lacking in know how on how to get it together. Here we see a hand-me-down Walmart lamp, more Art 101 delights, space heater of sanity, and please do not miss the giant stuffed CAT under the window. It was from Disneyland, and a gift, I think. 

Lucky me, I only stayed in this place for about 4 months and it was at the next house that I for the 1st time had cable TV and thus, my life began to evolve. HGTV was the beginning of the end for this non-sense. That, and I bought a real mattress set too. Then got a power drill for my 19th bday, and then built my own bed... that whole story is for later. 

I hope you enjoyed my look back on what could be considered my most humble beginnings into a world that now is my entire life. I am happy to say, I've come a long long way. 

CHEERS! 

-Ishi

 

A Dresser: Before & After

Loulee has this great old dresser that was either our moms or dads, not sure. And it used to be a really great shade of split pea soup green. Happily, our mom painted it to match her personality about 6 years ago. It was adorable and bright, just like she is (ha!) but since she is 20 and it's not quite the french inspired loveliness that is currently her rooms inspiration. So while we had everything out in the kitchen painting Scouts house, we tackeled the dresser project. 

She was happy! 

Here is the before, showing the cute pink, teal and green that matched everything at the time:

She chose to paint it all BLACK (Glidden Onyx Black) and got these fancy faux crystal drawer pulls for it. It looks much more chic than before and her room is looking great (a room update post is in order). 

Someone needs to clean her room! just kidding, it's clean today. Loulee is out of town for a school conference in Vegas currently, and I've evidently found motivation to get a TON of house things done. More awesome updates to follow :) 

CHEERS!

- Ishi

Scout Gets A House

This adorable pup of ours recently got her own outside house! Mama L came out to see us and brought the project over. She had pre-cut and measured everything and then labeled it so all we had to do was paint it, then assemble it. Awesome. 

Since it was POURING rain, we had to set up shop in the kitchen. Painting clothes were on, and the drop cloth down- time to start this project! 

We used Glidden Exterior paint in Dark French Chocolate (Satin). But as I have learned, dark brown is pretty freaking purple. And it seems the fine folks at the Depot that day may have missed a button so my vision of a dark brown house for the dog was altered when we saw this: 

That is purple. Luckily that was my 2nd choice of color so we went with it. A few coats later we had everything drying in the kitchen. 

A few hours later (and another project completed in the mean time) Mama L set out to put the house together.

This thing is a beast by the way. With Scout set at 63 lbs already and STILL growing we had to make this big enough for her at her full grown height & weight. Luckily it still fit perfectly on the awkward cement area of the patio to keep her out of the elements even more. She immediately took to it also, which is good since that would be lame if she'd ignored the thing we built for her! 

Of course we took a group photo :)

Cheers! 

- Ishi

FINALLY. sort of.

Okay, I have to tell the background story for this to really make sense.

When Loulee decided to move out west to the big city (ha) we had only a rather old, floral, fold out to a foam bed, worn out excuse for a tiny love seat. It was formerly my grandmas and I know that when I was a kid my cousins and I would sit on it while totally messing up the intricately sorted sewing supplies (sorry Grams). So I was super thrilled at it taking center stage in our living room. Along with the rug that totally matched. NOT. So I started a search for the perfect couch. Being in a city that doesn't have a huge interior design network, my options were pretty slim. Craigslist is beyond creepy or overpriced, or I could get the same sectional that I know at least 3 close friends have from RC Willey.... And neither was the price points at any of the chain furniture stores, seriously $1500 for a faux leather contraption that's not comfy??? Gross. 

One day while aimlessly Craigslisting (yes it's a verb around here) I came across a post for a couch and matching chair for $50. Being an avid house blog reader, I knew what I had found- Danish mid century modern at is finest. So I called the listing and arranged to be there an hour later. The two pieces had been in the church offices for as long as the guy could remember, and he wasn't sure how they got there. I however was stoked that since they were in a church the chances of feral cats living on them or active meth heads was significantly decreased (these are the 1st two things I think of when looking at used furniture BTW). I then set up for the two items to be brought to my lovely apartment. They needed some significant cleaning, and so after a lot of elbow grease they were now in the living room. 

There were no clear indications of where or when they were made sadly, only a small scrap of a tag remained on the bottom of the couch. And it didn't give me any clues really. The fabric is pretty generic brown tweedy that is supported by the only negative aspect of the couch: vinyl straps woven together and then stuck in a slatted frame by metal ends that are now not holding up very well. I really have tried to figure out the mystery of the matching set since I want to know if it's worth it to invest in a permeant fix, or to scrap it for some sort of other project? 

Here are the photos taken in the apartment last spring: 

And what under the cushions looks like: 

And the couch: 

So these are the lovely things. And I have never ever been able to find any couch that has the swoopy arms. There might technical term for them, but I like swoopy, or swooshy. Until tonight. I was doing some more research and found a picture of one with the same arms!!!!! 

SAME SAME as my nephew would say. Well same strcuture that is, the cushion is one piece whereas mine is 3, and mine is dying for some Teak Oil. The main problem is that this was a post from over a year ago, and provided no source or information on the photo: See the post here. But, now that I've seen a twin to my couch, I've got a new hope to figure out the mystery. Wish me luck. 

Oh, and I am aware it's pretty house nerdy of me to be researching a couch so throughly. There is no question that I'm meant to be one of those people that knows WAY more about the history of buildings and the furniture in it than ever needed. And I am okay with that. 

Cheers,

Ishi

 

Holiday Season!!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and today Lou decided to buy enough sparkly ornaments to cover 3 freaking trees. I guess I'm lucky she waited this long, since I'm sure she was tempted before Halloween. More on that to come. Combine that with record lows and record early snow storms, I'm officially in hibernation mode. I live for the days of sunshine, shorts, laying lazy on the grass, flip flops and sunglasses!!! But until next year, there isn't anything I can do but layer up and deal with it. 

So the three trees. Lou spent about 2 hours in Hobby Lobby today. The store of amazement and DOOM since you cannot go there in a hurry and their music slowly chips away at your sanity while buying so much glitter you can bedazzle a car... all for no real reason too. Lou bought what looks to be about 10 bags worth of sparkly plastic things in blue, silver, and even grey. Of course mini roommate was on hand and insisted on all things sports, so he got his own mini tree. 

Here is our not so tiny anymore puppy Scout with the 1st of the three trees. This one is for Jax, since he loves baseball more than anything. 

We might be making a trek to visit grandparents tomorrow for some holiday festivities, but it just depends on the weather. So if not, we'll have the other trees up by the end of the weekend. 

Cheers! 

-Ishi

 

Wall of Photos

Our DIY mastermind of a Mom was in town this weekend and she helped us build Scout a new house for outside (post to follow) and hang up the photos in the kitchen. Though really, it's just a wall of photos pretty much only of the toddler roommate as a baby. Since he was just so dang cute! He still is plenty cute, but when things like "I can do whatever I want" and "I knnnooooow already" are all he says, I do wish he was back to the chubby drool machine.

Here is the cell phone photo taken after we'd setteled on the placement for the photos. We may add a few more to the left of these since we have a TON of wall space still there. But for now, this is a perfect way to remind both Lou and myself of how awesome mini roommate is :)

 
 

Weekend Project Idea!

With the main kitchen overhaul is complete we are still left with a few smaller projects to tackle. One of them being create a bench with storage for shoes/baseballs/puppy toys that is by the door. We tend to use the stairs as a catch all currently, yuck. So while we were doing the kitchen make over, my mom and I discussed using my old dining table for the bench. It only needed to be cut down to the right height, we have the foam from a previous dissection of an old futon couch and I'd just need to get fabric to cover it. So she transformed it from cheap "bistro" table to bench height but I've not had time to do much else with it yet. 

Cue Apartment Therapy this morning:

 
Benches: The Bold & The Beautiful

It then had numerous other links to examples of creating the perfect bench. My plan however is also to make the cushion cover removable & washable. I love my 3 year old roommate and my puppy more than anything, but I don't trust either after playing outside to not bring in dirty and grass (and soon enough snow). An additional feature then is to add Velcro to it so that I can keep it in place easily.

 The main color pallet so far has been dark brown, dark grey, creamy white and the rather bold teal. Something like this:

Now that I've been in the space for a few weeks it needs more pop. The teal is wonderful, but I've been on the look out to add a few more zesty items, mostly from this color pallet:

 
The teal is tied into this of course since it is a major wall color. And the grey wall provides a good backdrop for anything to stand out. So the fabric for the bench will be something along these lines. I also am painting the wood on the bench and the two stools that were part of the dining set to match each other. I'm considering adding the same fabric to the stools but we'll see how ambitious I get :) Now here's to hoping JoAnn's hasn't gone totally Christmas yet.....

Cheers!

 

Kitchen Make Over

This past weekend it finally happened - my grey drab kitchen got a much needed face lift. I will remind you of what it was...

BEFORE: 

With the wonderful help of our Mom, who spent hours and hours sanding that $@#(% bead board, and kept my sister and I from pulling each others hair out, we were able to get it all done and put back together in 3 days. 

AFTER: 

 

 

We switched out 3 light fixtures total, painted the walls, bead board and trim, hung up curtains and scrubbed the whole thing a time or two. The colors are Martha Stewart (teal and slate grey that I can't remember the exact name of off hand) plus a gallon of Behr off white that I'd had from before. I know I have wanted to squash all the grey in the house, so painting the kitchen area at first seems contradictory but when it comes down to it, the counter and back splash would not have worked out with any other color. So instead of fighting it I opted to add more depth with the dark shade. It mellows out the vibrant teal as well. 

Sources!! The mirror was from the vanity set that I picked up a few weeks back, and we'll be adding a plethera of photos in frames along the teal wall in the next little while. The print in the dining room is a photo my friend Ray J. Gadd took that I had printed after it was my computer back ground for a year. You can check out more of his amazing work and contact information through his blog here: rayjgaddphotography.wordpress.com/ 

Table and chairs were from the store that should not be named, Walmart (online only, and surprisingly modern), light fixtures, wine rack, and curtains are IKEA, and all the paint was picked up at Home Depot as well. 

During the day it's also much brighter in there, and we have control over it with the curtains. I simply love it now and might actually start cooking! HA, just kidding. But I will upload some day time pictures soon, I just couldn't wait until day light to show off the new space! 

CHEERS! 

A peek at a different house

My friend MA (short for Mary Ann) is house sitting this entire week and invited me to come see what she could only describe as "the most amazing house ever, but so not our style." And boy was that an understatement. She tried to warn me and prepare me for what I was about to see as we pulled through the gate to the long drive way, and my first thought was "that's a LOT of house!" I only saw maybe a 1/4th of the space and snapped some photos before we left just because I was amazed and slightly overwhelmed at the time. 

Walking in what looked like one of 4 different front doors, I was greeted by numerous chairs, couches, tables, lamps with crystals and shades on them, decoration and details in every square inch. And the most important part, is that it worked. MA was totally right - it's the opposite of my style no question, but I can totally appreciate it for the beauty that it is. I know it took a team of people to put the house together since it was the ENTIRE house - even the tiny half bathroom was done up 110%. I have no idea who was responsible for the work, nor any idea of the cost but in a land so full of Ikea and DIY, it was simply impressive to be standing in the space that was a world away from that. 

Here are the photos that come no where near doing the 3 rooms I was in any justice: 

STICKS IN A VASE!! And then some :) 

Sooo many patterns!! Seriously the cords to the lamps were covered in velvet fabric. 

Looking into the kitchen, how many lamps do you see??

The hand painted formal dining room area.... 

I'll leave you with a final image, that made me laugh actually. There is clearly a lot of time and energy put into this house, and I have to say that at the end of the day, they have the same shelving in the pantry as the rest of us :) 

Cheers! 

Kitchen: Sneak Peak 1

Mama L has been busy today- she happily drove over to hang out with Lou & myself this weekend to help us get the kitchen make over compelted. Here is the beadboard all sanded down and clean! I can't wait to get this project completed :) She also helped me set up new shelves in my room last night too, so greatful she is here!