Impressionist Chair

These metal outdoor chairs are very much an Austin staple. We’ve found them at flea markets, garage sales and consignment stores. Without fail, they are always $40-$45. That’s why we jumped when we found this one for $20. Bad news: it was this heinous color.

Attaching a wire brush to the drill, Tim took off the cloud-like color, only to find it had quite a few other coats hiding. You can see from the close ups below that the finish looks like an impressionist painting. What was interesting to us was that by removing layers of paint, it revealed more depth – reverse painting, if you will.

Nicole’s Crazy Succulent Project

Saturday morning at a garage sale, Nicole discovered two of the most gnarly succulent plants imaginable – paying $3 for each of them.

Carefully cutting them up and replanting, it took her 3 tries, 2 days and a total of 7 hours to replant these guys. Check out the process pics:

Drilling holes in the bottom of a cast iron pot (purchased at the same garage sale for $4.50)

Taking apart the larger plant took careful cutting. 

Close up of the roots. They grew crazy directions, which is why it took hours to replant them.

Doing this in the over 100 degree heat only serves to prove that the “weird plant lady” moniker is slowly approaching.

Many pots of succulents later. The bread tray planters are for cultivating more in the kitchen, the little pots are for gifts and the big pot is for the balcony.

Oh, and one last thing to note: this is the first project Nicole has completed solo… so, round of applause here people.

The Couch

This couch is the culmination of hours (and hours) of shopping around town and 7 weeks of waiting for it to be delivered. We picked the color slate because it was neutral without being boring.

It’s the Button Sectional from Urban Living.  From the start we set out to find a sectional (not a chase lounge), and this is the only “petite” section we could find. We were relieved that it looked great, too.

Cardboard Art

This honeycomb looking piece of art is actually cardboard packing corners which have been glued to a flattened box.

This is what Nicole saw when she walked in to the apartment. Looking at Tim disapprovingly, he said, “Can you believe someone wanted to throw these away?” her answer, “Yes.” (But, of course, as with most things, she loves the cardboard creation).

This next piece is a Frank Gehry inspired chair. Tim took a bunch of flat pieces of cardboard and cut out the shape of a chair (over and over). Using Elmer's glue, he made this little piece of wonder by gluing all the cutouts side by side.

It is very sturdy and can support almost 300 pounds (we haven’t tried much more than that…)

The Boudoir

Oh yes, that’s a sink in the middle of our extra bedroom. This little piece of plumbing marked this area from day #1 as Nicole’s space.

Of course, when the picture above is the vintage fan, vase and flowers and jewelry box that were all gifts from Tim, you can see who wears the design pants in this household.

This is a great little reading corner. The mini-sofa and curtains are from Urban Outfitters, the shelves are refurbished drawers.  Notice the little bitty pots in the windows? Those are Nicole’s baby succulents = awesome.

Balcony at Night

We love our balcony, but let’s be real – you can’t enjoy it during the (100 degree) summer days in Austin. That was a big driver of our inspiration for the space. And, it looks pretty damn good.

The pole in the far corner is actually a small trolley rail that Tim welded a little hook on the top to hold the lights.

In this top and bottom picture you get a good look at our seating. Tim built a little wooden bench to rest on top of the filing cabinet, and he rebuilt an old wooden bench in the below photo by spray painting it yellow and putting in nice Rosewood slats.

Things we didn’t make

Ok, so Tim makes most everything around the house. But, we aren’t 100% do-it-yourself-ers. Here are a couple store-bought things we just love.

The first is the N & T cup. It is ridiculously cute hanging in the kitchen side by side.

 

To balance out the cup’s love fest, here is the knife holder.

 

Last are the curtain tie backs from Urban Outfitters. They are actually hooks, but we turned them at an angle for their new use. The white ceramic pairs well with the earthy shape for a refreshing, modern look.

Lockers as Shelves

We have 3 sets of lockers in the living room. These are a great way to hide clutter, but still have storage close by (locker full of candles: check, flashlights: check…). Tim scored these years ago at an online auction that sells municipal surplus.

The 3rd set we turned on it’s side so that it would become a long desk. The end was exposed, so Tim bought an old foundry mold and installed it to the end.

Drawers as Shelves

Just above our bed and in the boudoir hangs the shelves from Tim’s old (funky) dresser. Instead of getting rid of it completely when he was ready for a new one, we pulled them out, stained and put mounting key holes on the back.

Here are some before shots and process pics:

We then took the old dresser’s frame and Tim installed 3 pieces of plywood. The new shelves are now in the shop and hold all of Tim’s tools.

Also in the shop is one of the old drawers from the filing cabinet (that’s now full of succulents). Tim put all the drawer separators into 1 drawer and then mounted it in to the wall.

Here is the full-effect of the shop:

Let there be Light

Nicole likes to talk a lot about “lighting solutions,” which is some term she picked up from too much HGTV.  This first light is in the kitchen above the dining table. Tim made it using a pendant light. He drilled holes all around the plastic lip just above the socket. From there, he wrapped wire around bulbs and weaved them through the holes.

Tim rigged this pull system so he could be sure to hang it at the perfect level above the table. Ridiculous and awesome at the same time.

The second “lighting solution” is in the bedroom. Instead of two lamps on either side of the bed (clutter), Tim uninstalled the ceiling fan and put more pendant lights.

This is Henry. We paid $5 for him at an estate sale and could probably sell him for a lot more. But, we’ll never know because it’s Nicole’s favorite piece in the house (hence the name). He bends at every joint, the lamp can turn 360 degrees and the on/off switch is the little knob on the back of his head (so cleverly placed).

The next guy is our constellation lamp. We found a cast-iron base at the Goodwill for 6 bucks. Because of the heavy base, we were able to screw together a bunch of Y-sockets. It is a very intense glow when it is on. 

And, no blog about our lights would be complete without the horse lamp.

 

Your name’s on the Chalkboard

 

We had a perfect little indention in the side of our kitchen cabinet for a chalkboard (see right). Tim also installed a small rail using a small piece of crown molding that is a perfect place to rest the chalk.  

Bloomin’ Cactus

Apartment 205 loves us some succulents. Most of our guys were bought when we first moved in March. Well, it’s now early May – and we can’t believe how amazing these Cactus blooms are.

This little pinky is funny, he opens and closes all day long.

This before and after is great. Check out the squatty guy on the far left.

This guy’s little yellow flower is a night club for ants.

This last guy was amazing. We couldn’t believe how such a small plant (smaller than Nicole’s fist) made such a HUGE flower: