Going Green

Weekend accomplishment: My first compost bin! Made out of stakes and garden wire. It's ugly but it should work. Now to collect my kitchen scraps!

I also transformed an empty plastic coffee container from work into a simple compost bucket for the kitchen. I've seen cute ceramic and stainless steel ones at various kitchen supply stores but it seems more than just a tad silly to spend $20 on a container to hold decomposing food!

My drapes came! Well, they came last week but I had to have Jake help (read: just do) re-hang the hardware higher on the wall because I bought 96" length. 84" would have been too short. i am convincing myself the room looks bigger in order to justify the high cost of the longer length. They still pool a bit on the floor but in what I hope appears to be an I-totally-meant-to-have-my-drapes-drag manner.

The other notable update is the paint. It's now Oyster by Behr. I don't know what manner of hallucinogenic I was ingesting when I went with a boring beigy brown last year. I have generally bad taste in paint colors (save the master bedroom). Note to self: just copy what color you like from the shelter mags, you cannot be trusted in front of the wall of LowesDepot paint chips.

Open Up and Say Ah!

Our house, built in 1965, still has some *lovely* original details. Like these louvered slats in the living room.We'll I'm assuming these are original. I seem to recall a phase in the 80s where design elements similar to these enjoyed a revival. We have two sets dividing the dining/living areas and the others are on the wall overlooking the entry way pictured below. After being gifted a reciprocating saw for Christmas (thanks, Harriett) it was time to attack these babies.

Here's the before:

And the after! Doesn't it open up the space so much? Now we have to refinish the top of the 1/2 walls with a little wood filler and paint but that's easy-peasy.

We actually dig that light fixture hanging in the entry way. It's definitely original and one of the elements we want to preserve.