rocked out.

It has been a long DIY hiatus for me. I haven't had a lot of motivation and our place also is small and there really haven't been projects to do. Except for one. When Grandpolly died this rocking chair was something she passed down to me. The story I always heard about the chair is that some of my grandfather's patients who couldn't pay their bills used to pay him with what they could, and this rocking chair was one of them. Apparently, one of his poorer patients was a woodworker and made this rocking chair to pay his medical bill. Is it true? Not sure - but I like the sounds of it and it makes me love it more. Anyway, a couple years ago, my Mom was in a rush to get it out of her house, so it made the trek to DC and then made the move with us to SF. Since getting out here last year, it has sat in a corner just staring me down. In addition to needing to be reupholstered, I also need to find someone to make a new seat (note the garbage bag wrapped seat) and that's because the seat (and I am worried maybe the whole thing) is stuffed with straw. That shows how old this beauty is...

So, step 1 - I just ordered some fabric samples and emailed an upholsterer in SF to see how much we are talking. And in the meantime, any thoughts, suggestions? You'll see that the back of the chair is also upholstered, so could even do a coordinating but different fabric on the back? I want to do something simple and classic but welcome ideas!

week's end.

Oh man, I am really ready for the weekend. What are your plans? We don't have all that much scheduled. We are, of course, going to MK's spinning class tomorrow and a long training run on Sunday morning. And we'll be watching the Final Four games tomorrow night and going to dinner up at my brother's in-law's house in Orinda on Sunday night. A nice and casual spring weekend...hope that you have something good planned!

And, for your weekend reading, here are some links of interest...

• Loving this throw - especially the price point on it. 

• Hannah - my sister-in-law - started a new blog all about her reads and you'll love it!

• This NYTimes Magazine piece from a couple weeks ago about public schools. 

• San Francisco Date Spots according to Eater.

• I really want to buy this side table for our patio. Thoughts?!

• We are a strong PB&J house - this is a great NPR spot. 

• Bay Area real-estate is nuts. Nuts!

• Mike sent me this song this week - happy listening!

work it.

It is amazing how long it can take to feel settled and comfortable in a new place. We have now been in our apartment for just over a year and it is finally feeling pulled together and put together. For those who haven't seen it - our apartment is a loft in the mission. Ben absolutely loves it. I have taken more time to warm to it - I have joked that it feels like a shipping container and openly mused about missing doors and having a bed for guests to stay in. Nonetheless, it is great and we are so lucky to be in it - and who the hell knows when we will ever live in a loft again.

This little corner under our stairs has come a long way since we moved in. Here it is last spring...

It actually stayed like this for a long while, until I couldn't handle it any longer and forced Ben to go to Lowe's with me and pick up supplies so we could turn it into a functional space. We picked up some wood (I can't remember now exactly what it was), some white paint, pipe, flanges and screws and threw this together in a quick afternoon.

And after we cleared out the space, this is what we have basically been living with for the last 5ish months.

A significant improvement, but oh so plain. I am slowly adding to the corner and while we have a little bit more to do on it, I figured I needed to bring you up to speed. We have added the CB2 wall pockets (not currently available) and also these CB2 metal memo holders.

Slowly but surely, this corner is coming along - more to come soon....

hot mesh.

A while back in October I posted about getting some stools for our kitchen, and here is the update. We did indeed end up getting two of these Blu Dot Hot Mesh Stools and we love them.  Our report back is that they are super comfy, have a foot bar, and an easy back rest and they fit perfectly. Even Ben, who wasn't totally sold on the whole "we need stools" campaign that I launched last fall, likes them. So, there you have it and for what it is worth, I am a big fan of Blu Dot. Great customer service and great products....

stooled.

Oh stools. We have an awesome kitchen island that we designed and had made soon after we moved into our apartment out here. The plan all along was to add two stools to one side for some seating in the kitchen and because I love a good stool seat with a big island. But we have dragged our feet and been generally indecisive about what we want. But then last week, I happened upon this picture in a Domino Instagram post and I can't get enough of these Blue Dot Hot Mesh Stools...aren't they awesome?

take a seat.

This Leather Rhys Chair is a total looker.  I just love it and it comes in seven super rich colors.

riding the bench.

Loving this West Elm Mid-Century Upholstered Bench...

sunday fun day.

Yesterday turned into an unexpectedly great day. It all started because I was determined that we wake up early and drive up to Baltimore Farmer's Market & Bazaar. Not exactly sure why yesterday had to be the day to do this, but I was fixated on it. So, we woke up at 6:30 and jumped in the car and headed up. I had seen mention of the Farmer's Market a while ago and been meaning to go....it is under this huge highway underpass in the middle of Baltimore.  In reality, the number of actual farm stands probably isn't that much more than DuPont, but it has a bunch more vendors serving up food and the whole feel of it under the highway is kind of cool...we definitely doubled down on buying enough veggies to make it worth the drive up there...

But then we decided that while we were in Baltimore, we might as well pop over to Woodberry Kitchen for brunch. Obviously, this should happen, right?! (If you don't remember Woodberry Kitchen - here is the past post). But, since Woodberry Kitchen wasn't open yet, we decided first to check out their coffee shop we had never been to but had heard was cool. So, we ventured over to Artifact Coffee. Awesome spot - you should go!

Caffeinated and now finally 10:00 am, we headed over to Woodberry Kitchen, sat outside in the beautiful non-humid weather, and brunched it out!

We got back in the car with the full intention of heading home but we decided that since it was kind of on the way, we should stop to check out this place called Second Chance that might have some cool furniture or old vintage pieces. We had no idea what we were about to discover. This place is unbelievable! It is a giant (giant!) warehouse with everything.

It was started to save and reclaim materials in houses and buildings that are going to be destroyed while also providing job training and employment for the unemployed. It is more than 20,000 square feet of neverending stuff. Bathtubs, lights, door knobs, sinks, stained glass, art, furniture, doors, windows, etc. Yes, some of it is useless but wow, there are some pure gems in there. We couldn't believe it!

This stained glass was stunning....

 Old vintage stoves...

 Beautiful paned doors and windows...

 So much stained glass...and bathroom materials...

When I say everything, I mean everything! It was amazing. It was a DIY dream. It made me want to quit my job, buy a giant house and start renovating tomorrow...

We wandered around for the better part of an hour...and then we happened upon this beauty! I had stopped and looked at it when Ben was in the bathroom, and then Ben stopped and happened to look at it later by himself. We decided we had to take it home with us. We asked the story behind it and they told us it had come in with another piece of expensive art from a wealthy home (or it was from a public showcase) - either way we love it. It is a Yves Klein silk screen print of his famous Blue Monochrome. And the frame on this is gorgeous - we couldn't pass it up. It reminds me of visiting Yves' Majorelle Gardens in Morocco a couple years ago and Ben remembers studying exactly this piece years ago.  We have no idea what it is worth (not that that should matter, right?) but we are pretty sure we snagged a treasure. And it is now beautifully hung in the guest bedroom.

And by 2:00 we were back home! We had really only planned for the farmer's market but the detours along the way were wonderful....hope you all had a great weekend!

benched.

Next time I need a bench, I am going straight to Barrington Blue. I spotted these benches online a couple months ago and I keep coming back to them - big fan. Love the texture, love the color, love the style.

target practice.

My computer is seriously broken, hence the lack of posting. I am hoping to get myself to an Apple store soon-cross your fingers for me that they can work their magic. Anyway, over the weekend I fell in love with this little bench at Target. I wasn't able to really spend enough time with the bench and decide whether to grab it (because Ben hates Target and we basically have 15 minutes in the store before he starts to unravel) but we are going to make a second field trip to pick one up this weekend for the entryway. More soon. Once I have my computer back and running - I can show you the grand plan for this bench!

side show.

I almost forgot to update on the bedside table. I don't know what took me so long, I have been putting this project off for months and in painful stages when it really could have all been done in an afternoon. The lamp in the guest room has been sitting on the floor since July. I finally got around to doing a quick paint job - yay for productivity! Here is the table before...this was actually a leftover piece from the apartment I rented in 2010. The previous tenant had left it for me, and so it traveled to my next apartment and then on to our house. I always liked the shape of it - just wasn't big on the color/stain.

A couple months ago, when it was still warm and wonderful outside, I took the sander to it.

And then when it was cold and frosty outside, I dragged it back outside...

Then I left it in the hands of my new best friend, Graco the paint sprayer (click here if you want to know all about her) and did a very easy paint job. And here is the final product. Admittedly, the paint job itself isn't great if you get up close (I had some control/valve issues!)...but for now, it will do. I will probably sand some of the edges and do a second coat in the spring when it is warm again...

Not bad, right? How great does the little alarm clock look? I had mentioned it a while back here. It is from Anthropologie - great holiday gift idea! 

And here is the full room shot as of now. There is still work to be done but coming along. Next up are headboards....so stay tuned!