Furniture Is Sexy

At least, my furniture is. Seriously. Marvel at my most recent acquisition:


It also has me all hot for winter. Me! Looking forward to the rainy season! So I can justify curling up on my beautiful chaise longue with a blanket & a book. In my slippers. Mmm, tasty.

Now all I have to do is reupholster it! Which I suspect will not be super-fun for me, but whatever. Just another step in my gradual transition to becoming a girl who can do all sorts of manly things, like hang pictures & fix futons & assemble shelves. It's like there's a river of testosterone coursing through my veins. Anyway. I have already found the fabric to replace the yellow bits. It goes somethin' like this:


Oh yeah. Now I just need to find the right touchably soft (the tactile sensation is absolutely every bit as important as the visual one) solid base color. One that will not only complement the patterned fabric but also go with my olive green walls, orange couch & purple chair. For of the many pejoratives one could hurl my direction, being afraid of color numbers not amongst them.

In other news: Prince is definitely way better than Michael Jackson. I know that's pretty obvious, but every time I answered "Prince", a little voice in my head whispered "Off the Wall...Off the Wall". That voice has been silenced.

And, also, is it just me or does Sarah Palin seem more like George W. Bush as every day passes? Ahem: "Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy."

For the record, I am really totally pissed at both the Democratic & Republican parties for actually making me care about this election. I mean, beyond my usual research'n'vote approach to elections, I am actually terrified by the thought that one particular candidate might win. Which is funny given that as recently as four years ago, I said that he was the only major party candidate who would get my vote in a presidential election. That was before he turned into a pandering, groveling jackass.

But You're So Perfect, You Don't Interest Me At All

Weekend Review:

1) I completely forgot this song existed until yesterday!

Pulp - "Seconds"

Within the lexicon of Pulp b-sides & miscellaneous errata, it's hardly one of their top-notch-ier efforts. Look to "Ansaphone" or "Razzmatazz" for overall better examples of Pulp-ish extras. Yet I nonetheless maintain a special fondness for "Seconds" which exceeds that I hold for either of the other songs. It makes me living-room dance more.

2) The record room is now officially the best room in my apartment. Check it:

BEFORE

AFTER

It is a happy-making thing. This weekend I put things on walls. I started at 2 a.m. Saturday morning & went straight through until 11 p.m. that evening. Of course, that also included framing some pieces for elsewhere in my apartment. But it was mostly the record room. This is my favorite part of the scheme entire:


I purchased that Unclassics poster years ago, but never got a frame for it. So I am both pleased that it's finally up & a bit tickled that there were not only enough pink-sleeved 45s on hand to accompany it, but I was able to choose the most suitable ones.

Y'know, if this incredibly intense concentration for fleeting all-consuming obsessions could be harnessed & sustained, I would achieve world domination. Or is it world peace? Well, it'd sure be something, is all there is to it.

3) Here's my community garden plot!:


And from the other end:


Oh, it's going to be so much work. I can't wait! Cardoons & romanesco & brussels sprouts & so much more to come!

4) This. May be the most fantastic idea ever. Ganked from AT:LA.


It's perfect for me. The bookshelves, of course. I was beginning to despair of ever finding bookshelves that would fit my loft. Now, I don't have to! Um, as long as the measurements work out okay, what with all that molding downstairs. Love the lighting on those shelves, too. If it's feasible, my only remaining book problem will be those damned oversized ones.

365 Little Days

It has been a tiny bit more than a year since I moved into my apartment with about three pieces of furniture & little else. Although I still feel I've an awfully long way to go, I have to admit I've also come an equally long way. Example:



I'm going to take this also as an occasion to state for the record that, yes, Heather, "if anything happens to me", you can have the Totoro clock (seen to the left of the couch there). As a surprise bonus, I will also leave you my copy of Trouble in Paradise, since you're the first person I've shown it to who thought it as absolutely funny as I.

I'll consider other requests.

Merry Christmas, Me

Since this evening past I spent more hours devising the following scheme than sleeping, I am generously passing the pain on to you.

I've decided that my Christmas present to myself is going to be finishing up the record room. As my loyal reader may recall, I recently-ish painted the walls up there. And never did the rest of what needed doing. BUT. I am finally utterly fed up at having all of my CDs & records & DVDs in boxes. Even if it's only been a year & a half. SO. Thanks to the miracle of the Christmas bonus, I am going to get my ass in gear & do the following:

(1) Paint the floor! Unfortunately or fortunately, depending, this is absolutely without question the first thing I have to do. It's going to be a fair bit of work, which may or may not involve sanding the whole floor &/or primer, but will definitely involve some serious cleaning, painting & multiple coats of polyurethane. It will probably take me days.

(2) Finalize my media storage plans. I think I have, but it's hard to tell. Last night I stayed up waaaay too late taking measurements & I decided that the record room is clearly the most ridiculous room ever in the history of the world. Check it:

All the height weirdness is due to the fact that nearly every one of the eight walls are angled in totally bizarro ways. To wit:


(3) I figured out that only the right part of wall 1, plus walls 2 (pictured above) & 5, are usable for shelving (I'm putting a table for the record players in front of the windows, eventually). Which means that contrary to my clever notions, only my records are able to be shelved in the record room. I've decided that three of these Expedit bookcases (turned on the side, of course) are going to have to do the trick. Hopefully, I can fit all the records on them. Hopefully.

(4) Since the CDs apparently aren't going in there anymore, they will have to go in the actual loft, against these walls:


Which are also problematic, as you can see. Ignore the fact that I'm not done painting the loft, either. I'm thinking my best bet here is to go with four of the Benno CD towers in silver (or possibly red, depending on how it compares to the red I will (one day) paint the loft) & keep my fingers crossed that they hold all my CDs. I mean, 180 x 4 = 720, sooo...I hope that's enough. I don't know. I've got boxes & boxes & more boxes of them & I haven't exactly done a thorough count.

(5) And then what of my DVDs?!?! There are far fewer of those than anything else, at least. Ultimately I determined that they will simply have to go in the living room. Appearances to the contrary, there actually is an unphotographed angle in my apartment, but they will be going on the wall above & to the right of the buffet:


I'm going to grab six of these Lerberg wall shelves in dark grey; turned vertically, they will hold DVDs. Ideally, I will only need five of them, & then I can put the sixth horizontally on the wall near my stereo, to hold whatever CDs I have in current rotation.

Bleech. The only thing I can do right now are the DVD shelves, because in a matter of hours I will be in hardcore insurance dork mode through Saturday. Luckily, the Sheraton is right near the IKEA, so I'm gonna go pick up the shelves tonight!

Narrative: Renting An Apartment In Portland

Per the Oregonian's story on renting in Portland, Oregon:

"Inner Northeast and Southeast are popular with young professionals because they're more affordable than the west side, yet close enough to make commutes downtown to work and the nightlife easy. But inner and central Southeast Portland have the lowest open rentals percentage: just 1.6 percent of units available [emphasis added]. That's a 21 percent decrease from 2006 and a nearly 75 percent decrease from 2005."

This explains why I had such a hard time finding a place to rent last fall! I just thought that late autumn had to be a tough time to find good affordable apartments. It really is crazy out here, though. I was so excited to go apartment-hunting when I got out here, because I'd never looked for my own place before (looong story), & it was NOT FUN. At all. Even a little bit. Because things go so fucking fast.

My "favorite" was the one-bedroom in Belmont (I walk past that building all the time actually). I called about 40 minutes after the ad went up on Craigslist. The woman said she'd already had 10 calls. I made an appointment for 90 minutes later, & by the time I'd parked my car (I had to leave work in the middle of the day. From Lake Oswego, mind), she'd left a voicemail saying the apartment was rented! Granted, the monthly damage was only $550, which is super-cheap for my neighborhood. But things really do go almost that fast.

This is what worked well for me in my search (I hesitate to call it "advice", but I guess it is):

1) Do whatever you can to be the very first person to see an available space. Apartments seem to work on a "dibs" basis. If you are the first person to get your application in, as long as they think your credit's okay, it's yours. I got my apartment because I checked the Willamette Week's online ads before the print edition came out. By the time it did, & people started calling my landlord, he had already rented it. To me. Oh, by the way, you will probably not find an apartment unless you have already moved here & can look at it in person. Because there are already 12 million people in Portland whom a landlord can physically meet who want to rent that space. Why should they bother with someone who lives 2,000 miles away, even if you are the nicest most perfect tenant ever?
2) You will probably find your apartment on Craigslist. It has the most & best listings, but you will have to keep the page open all day & refresh no less than every 30 minutes. I was the first person to look at three places using this method. Every place save one that I looked at was on Craiglist. BUT, it is definitely worth it to keep an eye on the Willamette Week & Portland Mercury websites. For some reason my landlord only listed in Willamette Week. Bless him.
3) Expect to fork over some dough for credit checks. This will depend on how your hunt goes. Me? I spent about $100 on 3 credit checks for potential apartments. The first one didn't like my credit. The second was the place I almost took, until I found the third place. (I also paid a credit check fee for a fourth place, because I wanted to think about the fourth vs. the third, & the property manager said they'd hold it & refund if I decided not to move forward. Which they kindly did.)
4) Be overly honest & give too much detail about your credit (if it isn't perfect). The first landlord asked, & all I said was that it was "not perfect, but not terrible". He rejected me. (Which worked out for the complete best for me, for the record.) Lesson learned! For the next three apartments I gave an exquisitely detailed narrative of my credit. Before they did the check. I said, "This is exactly what you are going to find." Then I told them why they would find it there (making it sound as nice as possible, of course). I threw in some personal information. I was not above mentioning my most recent living situation & its possible effect on my report. I even said that I didn't understand why so much importance was placed on letter-perfect credit. After all, what's the very first thing you're going to pay every month? RENT. And every one of the three offered me the space.
5) Have patience (if you're fortunate enough to have that luxury). I started looking for an apartment immediately after my arrival, in the beginning of October. I didn't find the perfect space for five weeks. And when I did find it, I couldn't move in for another three weeks. Which was really hard. But now? I'm totally in love with my apartment. With my neighborhood. It's perfect. Then again, I hate moving, so crashing in my friend's dining room in Wilsonville for two months was worth it to me.

Because I'm not moving again until I buy a house. And in this market, that's not likely to happen for a while.

Furniture Madness!

(1) I bought a couch! I bought a couch! It's perfect for my space. Ridiculously perfect. I will take my own pictures of it soon, but in the interim here's one my friend took:


The futon will ultimately go upstairs. I'm thinking I'll put it in the record room & use it as a guest bed.

(2) I have decided the time is nigh. I am tired of talking about getting a real bed. I am going to actually get one. However, I am very torn between these two IKEA options:

Noresund. This is the one which I've always said I was going to get. I like swirlies. I really like this frame. And it's super-cheap.
BUT, I've recently been lusting after the Hemnes frame, because I think I've secretly always wanted a four poster bed:
Currently I'm leaning toward the Hemnes frame. There is a pro. There are two cons.

Pro: Four poster bed! I am super-excited by the idea of having "curtains" on my bed (don't know the technical term). Also, there is no heat in the main loft space, so I'm thinking that if I get some decently thick but still sexy coverings (including top), it will help keep heat in. Maybe? Am I a crackhead?

Con: Ugh. Light wood. Just not my style, I guess. The bitch is, this frame is stained solid pine with a clear polyester lacquer. Now, I know it's not impossible to repaint or stain it another color. But I also know it'd involve a lot of sanding, priming & painting or staining. Then again, the futon will be up there & that is a similar wood/stain. Could I learn to love light-colored woods?

Con 2: Take away the poster thingies, & that is one boring-ass frame.

Any advice?

Testing, Testing

I must admit, I'm both excited & terrified to paint my loft. It's just so damn big. And I've already concluded that a breach of the ladder code ("do not stand on the very top step") will be required to enable me to reach the upper limits of the loft, er, walls (it's got a tiny patch of ceiling).

Anyway, I'd previously bought testers of the reds I was considering using:


Obviously, it's Ralph Lauren. But this time both shades are from the Thoroughbred (hee hee!) line. On the left, Balmoral Red. On the right, Hunting Coat Red. The problem I had was, the Balmoral was too dark but the Hunting Coat was too bright. I needed something inbetween.

And here's what I came up with:


Malaya Red, again from the Thoroughbred line. Capri Pink from Vintage Masters (this will be used sparingly - it's going on the straight wall you see here, & I also think I'll paint the built-in furniture that color, & a couple other little accent-y things. Unfortunately, I've fallen madly in love with the color & am determined to use it). Golden Candlesticks from Regent Metallics for the trim. I just bought a quart of each, to make sure I liked it before committing. I rather think I do.

When It Comes to Closets, There's No Such Thing as Garish

While waiting to be able to afford to tackle the loft (which looks to be a royal painting pain), I figured I'd redo the closets, one in the foyer & one in the living room. Although I once figured I'd leave them be (they're closets, for heaven's sake), all those big huge holes were really starting to get to me. And once the holes were fixed, naturally they'd need to be painted over; & I'm allergic to nearly all white paint.

I wanted bright, bright, bright for these; I'd like to think I succeeded. I'm so glad I got to use hot pink somewhere - while I don't think I could handle a whole room in this color, it's a really nice way to brighten up the insides of a dull place. Plus, oddly enough, the color actually makes the closets look bigger. I guess the color gives it more dimension? Dunno.


Ralph Lauren, of course (I'm so his bitch). Island Brights (hot pink is far too tacky for the Vintage Masters, dontcha know). Aruba Pink. Flat finish. The trim in the living room closet was so riddled with holes that I decided to spackle & paint over it, using that endless gallon of Regent Metallics in Iron Gate.

New Record Room!

I had planned to paint this room, which is sort of part of my upstairs loft but really its own little room, a sort of sky blue & then sponge clouds on the ceilings & slanty top parts of the walls, & had long ago determined that the Ralph Lauren Vintage Master color Spanish Bluebell was precisely what I wanted. And it was absolutely lovely, once I got it on the walls. But somehow...clouds just didn't seem right, what with the visible horizontal planks. Also, I had the sudden urge to use a nice brown with the blue, as brown & blue is one of my very favorite color combos. Then, like a lightning bolt, it struck me: STRIPES! And here you see the results:


It's a shame I can't photograph the room in its entirety (it's full of odd angles & such & is comprised of no fewer than eight walls), because it's simply marvelous. I haven't felt this immediately right about paint since I did my living room. So: the details - Ralph Lauren. Vintage Masters. Spanish Bluebell & Chocolate Souffle. The trim is Ralph Lauren Regent Metallics in Iron Gate. Naturally, I've still got the floor to paint. I'm planning to do it in the same brown sometime this week. Apparently they've got this thing they call "floor paint" which I'll need to use.

After that I plan to attend to the matter of getting shelving. So I can actually get my records, CDs, DVDs & books out of the boxes in which they've been living lo! these many months, & into my newly fabulous record room.

New Bathrooms!

My bathrooms. There's only one toilet. There's only one bathtub. They're just in different rooms. I refer to them as the WC & the bathroom.

Anyway, I realized it'd been a couple months since I painted anything. Long enough for the stinging tediousness to have faded to a dull sheen. So I decided to finish up the downstairs & paint the bathrooms. I'd chosen the colors a long time ago; it was mostly a matter of having the extra money to spend on it. (How I can make a decent income, with only myself on which to spend it, & still be constantly broke, is one of my life's mysteries.) Anyway. On to the story!

Here is the bathroom before:


Now, I love blue. In fact, I intend to paint my record room a lovely sky blue & then sponge clouds on it (shut up. It will be classy). But this...this is grotesque. The worst part is, it's actually TWO nasty shades of blue. To wit:


Et voila!:


It definitely photographs very, very oddly. If I don't use a flash, it's too orange. If I use the flash, it's too pink. Slow synchro seems to work the best, but it's a little too bright. Heh. The funny part is, I actually really like this, but at night, it seems as bright as the first picture. With daylight, it calms down a bit, like the below picture. Both were, for the record, taken at around the same time.

It's definitely somewhat disconcerting to stand in the living room & look at the kitchen & the WC simultaneously. The kitchen is done in such cool colors, & these are so hot, but with the Olive Tree of the living room in between them, it works. For the record, I used Ralph Lauren Vintage Masters in Gertrude, Pink Sunset & Olive Tree with a satin finish (yuck. I HATE shiny finishes, but the paint guys told me you have to use 'em in bathrooms). There were two nice things about this round of painting: one, painting bathrooms is not nearly so inconvenient to the flow of daily life as painting the living room & the kitchen were; & two, at this point I've painted enough that I can chill out about it & not get super-stressed.

But the bestest part of all? I finally got to put Tom where he belongs:


In the WC, facing the toilet. Aaahhh...a little something is right with the world once more.

Revel In The Purple

After an extremely questionable first half of the evening, I managed to put as many finishing touches on my kitchen as were at my disposal. My lingering question is this:


Why do I need to bother with that silly plastic thing (I believe it is called a "molly screw")? I have never used one before. I had to ask somebody what it was & what I was supposed to do with it. And I still only managed to get one in, & just used the screws alone for the rest. (This is why I still haven't hung pictures up in my living room. I've never hung a picture in my life, unless you count thumbtacks & posters. I have all this stuff that you can use to hang a picture, & no clue how any of it works.) Helpless female, much?

Anyway. Here's before:


Ew. Clearly, the color is hideous. What may not be so clear is that in the top right of the picture, there's a black pot rack on which I never successfully managed to hang more than four kitchenware items. Which the previous painters did not bother moving prior to painting. So it is generously splattered with "pink". Little matter, as I'm not reinstalling it. Additionally, & you can see the top of it here, the previous painters did not bother to paint behind the stove. So it looked...disgusting. You could still see the red brick wallpaper some idiot had installed years ago.

And now? Voila!


While I fear the shades of purple are actually too cold to flow well with the green of my living room, & also that they are too dark to suit the small space, it's PURPLE!!! And I think actually it would be impossible to make the kitchen look smaller even if I had painted it black with black trim. Overall I am quite pleased. It glows in daytime, it's the darnedest thing. (And yes, I know. The walls are crap. They are old & muchly painted. I constantly run into the dilemma of wanting my apartment to look perfect vs. the fact that I am only renting & the question of whether I really want to put that much effort into it. It tends to end as a tie; ergo, I spackle cracks, repair holes (actually had staples come out of a hole in ceiling, oddly enough) & paint walls & ceilings but generally feel disinclined to go beyond these measures.)

But anyway, who can complain with kitchen protectors like these:

From left: Marty Mushroom, Spike & the Unknown Pony. They keep a lookout for malfeasance & evil-doers & they live on frumenty & mince pie.

Next up: the WC & the bathroom.

Disco Kitchen

Oh, beauteous creature! I lust after this kitchen. I want to make this kitchen happen in my life. (Except maybe without that island in the front. I'm not actually all that big on the wall tiling either. & I'd probably want handles on the cabinets.) Unfortunately, c'est impossible for so, so many reasons with my current kitchen (let's ignore the fact that I literally JUST finished painting walls'n'trim). No...this is a post for...THE FUTURE. Right about two years from now, I should be buying a house. That is when I will make these kitchen dreams a reality. Picture stolen borrowed from here.

Sigh. I love it. Can you imagine how much fun it would be to cook in this thing?

Phase 2

Ever since I completed painting the living room, I have been aching to paint the kitchen. If your kitchen were this horrible & watered-down a pink, hell, wouldn't you (& I like pink)?:

Pardon the mess; this picture was taken in the midst of painting.
Pardon the blur; the flash renders inaccurate color representation & thus is useless for my purposes.

I'ma make a long story short. To wit:

Benjamin Moore. Matte finish (shiny paint is hideously wrong). Charmed Violet for the walls; Heather Plum for the cabinetry & trim.

My initial impression was, My God, that's too much even for me. In fact, I only took pictures to obtain second opinions. The more I looked at it, though, the more I liked it. Sure it's bright; but I like bright. See the first picture in the post for an example of modest color use = ugly as fuck. Also, purple? I'm a fan.

When it occurred to me to paint the interior of the cabinets silver, though, I knew that I actually really loved this. Frankly, it was a bit disconcerting this morning when I went into the shoebox...er, kitchen...to feed the cats. But it's so gloriously purple, I can't even front. I love it.

More pictures no doubt to follow, once I've actually painted the kitchen beyond this miniscule strip of wall. Although I suspect this is a rare time that tiiiiny kitchen will work in my favor - there's not all that much more to paint.

Silver cabinets! So fantastic.

The Fabulosity Process Begins!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(All right, I need to clean my camera lens. Sorry.)

Fortunately for you, dear reader, during the interim of when I finished painting my living room through when I photographed it last night, my desire to spew forth on the various vagaries & horrible circumstances of painting has largely exhausted itself. Suffice to say, it was hell. The one rather perfect anecdote I will proffer is that after a solid 5 days of standing on a ladder, bruising my shins & feeling my weak ankle getting weaker, it happened that last Wednesday not two minutes after I officially finished painting, said ankle snapped & I found myself on the floor, my face contorted in an unnatural grimace of pain. Actually, it still hurts. Never again will I be so foolish as to disregard numerous offers of help in painting, as I imagine that actually having other people would greatly increase both the speed & fun of the process.

BUT. The ceiling is now a nice warm yellow shade of white from Benjamin Moore called "Linen White" which improves greatly upon the previous stark Wal-Mart white, not that the difference is apparent to anybody save yours truly. The ceiling's peeling cracks & water damage were largely eradicated by mesh fiberglass tape, joint compound & oil-based stain blocker. As for the walls? I love, love, LOVE the color, though I'm unsure as to whether the nighttime photos truly represent it at its best. I need floor lamps in half the space (the Ventana Lamp is the one for which I currently lust). The shade is "Olive Tree" by Ralph Lauren. (Naturally, I've fallen in love with the most expensive line of paints short of YOLO Colorhouse.) It's fantastic & PERFECT. A green enjoying such a yellow undertone that it's a very warm color. Saturated sans garishness. Technicolor without tackiness. Plus, it meets the goal of indulging my purple/green fetish by its effortless harmony with my purple velvet chair. The one bummer is that to me the color looks so natural in the space that I almost feel like I didn't do anything. John at Powell Paint Center was absolutely correct when he said it was "bitchin'". It's too bad that the retarded monkeys who painted the room that nasty pale piss yellow had never heard of a little thing I like to call painter's tape, because now I have to figure out what to do about all the woodwork that's splashed with yellow.

In conclusion! Lots o' work left. Touching up the paint. Acquiring artwork for the walls (when I went out on Saturday to find some, I ended up buying a buffet (shown in the second "after" picture) instead. Which is fine, because I really needed that too). Rearranging the furniture. Getting more furniture & a nice rug. Figuring out whether I want to go to all the trouble of staining the futon a darker color, or if I should just sell the sucker & get a new one. Plus then there's the rest of the place. But nevertheless. I've completed an important first step in the fabulo-zation of my apartment. And I'm extraordinarily pleased with it.

Such A Great Idea

How cool is this? There are several bare hanging light bulbs in my apartment. Okay, there are two: one in the bathroom & one in the water closet. There are other hanging lights with, whaddayacallem, shades or something. But still! I'm so doing this. Not sure I like the bottle so much, but no doubt I could dredge up a modicum of ingenuity if I put my tiny mind to it. It even comes in three forms: lamp proper, PDF instructions (two euro!) & DIY kit. More info here.