new couch!

It arrived this morning ... here is a photo play-by-play:

Now, back to the home office for the afternoon:

But I can hardly wait to get all the furniture moved back in! Decorating is the best part.

first-world lighting woes

I'm not exaggerating when I say that half the light bulbs in my house have decided to go out at once. It's comical, really. One (of two) in the bathroom, two of four in the basement, two of two in the upstairs hallway ... getting around at night before I was able to replace the bulbs was interesting, to say the least.

But not nearly as interesting as my encounter with the upstairs hall light fixture.

To set the scene: I know next to nothing about light fixtures. Paint? Sure. Gutters? I'm learning. Furnaces and water heaters and fuse boxes? Fixable.

But light fixtures scare the hell out of me. I don't understand them. I've never really had to deal with them. And fixing them requires ladders and turning off circuits and buying the right bulbs and all sorts of other stressful things.

So last Saturday morning, motivated by a coupon to a nearby hardware store and tired of almost falling down the stairs in the dark, I tackled the light fixture at the top of the stairs. It isn't a fancy light fixture. Just a shade attached to a fixture that comes straight out of the ceiling.

How does it stay up there? Not by screws, no. Heaven forbid.

Magic, my friends. Or at least, that's what it seemed like when I reached up to twist off the shade and instead the entire fixture came down from the ceiling into my less-than-receptive hands.

Again, how does it stay up there? The hardware inside wasn't giving any clues. In fact, there was insulation everywhere (and I know enough about that stuff to know I wanted to be nowhere near it with bare hands on a hot day.)

Did I mention I'm up on a step stool, alone, holding a light fixture above my head?

So I did what any rational person would do. I let go. And then I grabbed my camera.

The electrical wires weren't going to hold it up for long, I knew. But I had to risk it - I had no other choice. The dang thing was still dangling from the ceiling when I got back from the hardware store, where I'd cajoled two different guys into explaining how light fixtures attach to the ceiling. (They even opened up the box of a similar fixture to show me the hardware and instruction manual, the dears.)

But the magic piece they said I should look for? Definitely not there. Not even close to existing. All I saw was a whole lot of nothing.

Boo. I still had a heavy light fixture hanging from not-very-strong electrical wires, and I knew that if it dropped, I'd not only have a lot of glass to sweep up but a substantial electrician's bill to get a new fixture put in its place. Ugh.

Then, cousin Maria swooped in to save the day. She helped me unscrew the heavy part of the fixture, the glass shade -- the part I'd been trying to get off in the first place. What was left (some metal, insulation, aluminum foil and light bulbs) wasn't heavy at all, so we felt much better about leaving it dangling from the wires for a while. (In fact, we were so convinced it would be fine, we ran off to Lake Calhoun to bask in the sun. I got sunburned. Probably karma.)

On our way home, we stopped by her house to see the progress she and John are making on the upstairs (they bought a fixer-upper about 14 blocks south of me just a few months before I bought this place). And because John is a wunderkind when it comes to DIY house stuff, he had all sorts of ideas for how I might be able to get the light fixture back into its rightful place.

In case anyone else out there encounters this and doesn't know what to do, here's the secret: Underneath all the insulation (which John says is superfluous and really only useful for cutting down on heat loss through the electrical box), there were two keyhole-shaped cutouts that were supposed to catch the screws coming out of the ceiling and hook (hard to explain but common enough that maybe you know what I'm talking about?)

When I'd started screwing off the shade, I'd accidentally rotated the entire fixture just enough to dislodge these screws from their place in the keyholes, thereby removing it from the ceiling. I never would have seen the holes without taking the insulation out (and I probably wouldn't have done that without the approval of someone like John who actually knows what they're doing ). So, that went in the trash:

Gross, huh?

And with a few careful twists, the light fixture was back on the ceiling! Like magic, I'm telling you.

Now my problem is not liking the way the new bulbs change the shade of paint in the hallway (the yellow looks more yellow-green than mustard yellow like it did before). But at least it's not dangling precariously from the ceiling. And if it ever does again, I'll know what to do. And I managed to fix it without a shade or lightbulb crashing down on my head. So all that is good, right?

Right.

Like I said, first-world problems.

xoxo

independence day

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all had beautiful weather like we did here in Minnesota (for the first time all year, it seems). I spent the majority of the three-day weekend either working on house and garden projects or lounging by the lake like a good Minnesotan. So I have all sorts of sunburns and bug bites, but a very happy and clean house. Look for more updates soon!

xoxo LG

name that berry!

Today I discovered a berry bush on the south side of the yard that I don't remember being there last summer:

The berries look like blackberries, but I'm not sure if they're safe to eat.

Anyone know?

PS -- Happy 4th of July weekend, everyone! I hope the weather is as beautiful wherever you are as it is here in Minnesota. It is hands down gorgeous here.

a grecian sea in the living room

I watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader while I was painting. I blame that for the oh-so-brilliant title you just read.

And speaking of painting... guess what I'm done with now? Yep! No more painting for the foreseeable future.

Yes, Apples, I'm getting to the pictures. (Another slightly obscure reference, but Netflix won't help you this time. Sorry.)

So. Two weekends ago, after the first coat:

Last weekend, after the second coat:

And this week, after Keith and Julia helped me re-hang the curtain rods:

The paint color is Grecian Sea, from Dutch Boy, although I used two coats of a paint/primer from Pittsburgh Paints. And I love love love it. Keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well with the sofa that is set to arrive in the next few days!

it feels like I'm moving again

But don't worry, I'm not. In fact, today is reminding me why I hope to not have to move again for many, many years!

With that, a moment of silence please for my beloved red napping couch.

Which these people came today to pick up and take to their beautiful little home across the freeway:

And now my living room looks like this:

And my dining room looks like this (for the purposes of maneuvering oversized couches through teensy tiny doorways):

And this lovely friend will be picking up the love seat shortly.

And then the room will be empty.

And I will sweep and polish the floors, and tape the trim, and paint paint paint, and in less than two weeks, my living room will look nothing like it used to.

If things go as planned, maybe something kind of like this:

source

Or this:

source

Or even a little like this:

source

Which is fantastically exciting, and also a little sad. I guess that's what the word "bittersweet" is for.

And I'm glad the red couches are going to good homes where I'll still be able to enjoy them once and a while :)

the first harvest of the summer

First harvest of 2011 is in!

Kale. Rhubarb. Chives (not pictured because they went straight into the pan).

And peonies. "Harvest" is quite literally the right word for these bushes - one day they're all green, and the next there are white and pink flowers the size of a baby's head just falling all over themselves in the yard.

The only possible solution is to cut them all off and fill every available vase in the house.

They're pretty, and they know it. Diva flowers.

But I love them anyway.

When I've recovered from being back from vacation (isn't the catching up the worst part of going away), I'll have more garden, kitchen and painting escapades to share...