Comments (10)

By Mom Unplugged, February 10, 2010 11:18 am

BLAST FROM THE PAST POST (Originally published on May 23, 2007) – Having fun digging out some old stuff!

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I did a silly thing.

With child number three, we finally outgrew our small kitchen table. I ordered this great table with the green chairs from West Elm. The table arrived and I LOVE it! It looks fabulous in my green kitchen area and is nice and big for meals, homework, projects (clutter), etc.

But…I ordered the cushions too. The chair cushions are a lovely, minimalist white. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? They have washable covers, but do I really want to be removing cushion covers and washing them every day? I have enough daily laundry to do without adding more to it. Plus, what about spaghetti sauce? Will that come out or will I need to dye the covers red to match the stains? Maybe we should just eat white food from now on. Potatoes, pasta, milk, ice cream (vanilla)…

This reminds me of one of my pet peeves. Decorating magazines that feature “families” with cute little blonde curly-haired angels running around the immaculate garden in adorable white outfits. These families always have elegant minimalist living rooms in varying shades of white with sisal rugs. The room is completely decorated with “flea market finds” and boasts (and this is the kicker) a WHITE SLIPCOVERED SOFA on which the family greyhound is reclining comfortably.

The glamorous, yet natural-looking mother always offers up some savvy decorating wisdom, such as: “Seek out flea market pieces that have good bones.” Or, “I like to decorate with white slipcovers because you can just pull them off and throw them in the wash!” With a house full of toddlers and sofa-sleeping greyhounds, this mother (or her maid) must be washing her slipcovers five times a day.

My slipcovers would be living in my laundry room. My sisal rug would have cat barf on it (How does one clean cat vomit out of the fibers of a sisal rug anyhow? With a toothbrush?). Do Lazy-Boy recliners have “good bones?” Where do I find a flea market near me? We have garage sales, thrift stores and a “swap meet,” but unless your decorating style is “Early Salvation Army” or involves antlers, you might be a bit disappointed with the availability of elegant antique bargains where I live.

So, this brings me back to my dilemma. What do I do with white kitchen chair cushions? I am simply not as brave as those “magazine moms.” Mine are in a box in the attic to be brought out when my children are in college.

PS. I thought about cleaning off the table for the photo, but decided that it was more interesting to simply capture a moment in time from a “real mom’s” house. I hope you appreciate my honesty.

Comments (4)

By Mom Unplugged, October 23, 2008 11:13 am

Fall is here in the Arizona mountains.  The cool morning air smells faintly of piñon smoke left over from evening fires.

The chili roaster is tumbling down at the little local grocery, producing baskets of lovely, soft charred green chilis.

Ponderosa Pines are beginning to shed some brown needles and fields are brimming with bright yellow wildflowers.

Maximilian Sunflowers line the roadways.  They are tall this year which means, according to local legend, that our snow piles will be tall too.

Squirrels are getting busier as they rush off with peanuts and sunflower seeds to hide away for the winter.

The Humming Birds have left, and the Robins. Even the golfers are leaving, along with the thousands of people who spend their summers here in our mountain paradise to escape the scorching desert heat.

Peaceful silence will descend upon our town as we hardy year-round residents retreat from our porches, gardens, and decks and take to our homes in preparation for winter snow.

Comments (8)

By Mom Unplugged, September 8, 2008 10:18 pm

Yahoo! My bedroom extension is finally finished! Ever since I moved into this house four years ago, there has been a horrible leak in the playroom ceiling which was underneath a deck off the master bedroom. Look at this sad picture!

The leak was obviously coming from the deck, but where? Floor? Wall? Windows? (If so, which one?) Door?

After a few expensive and unsuccessful attempts at repair, I decided to get drastic. A remodel. I never used the deck anyhow. With three kids, who has time for a quiet morning tea on the bedroom deck listening to the birds? I figured it would be wiser to spend the cash making the bedroom nicer and hopefully getting the money back in the additional square-footage at resale.

Neither I nor my husband are in the least bit handy, so we obviously hired a contractor. It was all a bit complicated and involved shoring up rather minimalist foundations (probably the cause of the leak in the first place).

I LOVE the new space, but with the wonderful new window, it is a bit of a fishbowl.

The problem however, is that curtains don’t really work with a curvy window like the one I chose. They would have to go on the remains of the old exterior wall that I decided to keep as an accent feature, but that would mean a rod that would span 184″ (467 cm). Custom rods were going to run $250-$300 (ugh), so I decided to head to the hardware store in search of creative inspiration.

In case anyone out there wants to give this a try, I will share my experience with you.

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This is what I brought home from the hardware store:

Two 1/2″ (1.3cm) diameter copper plumbing pipes, a copper connector, three copper hanging brackets, two cute little copper end caps (labeled “valves” but I thought they’d make great finials), and six screws (unfortunately not copper but I can always touch them up with copper metallic paint later if they bother me).

The pipe was sold in 10′ (305cm) sections, but the hardware store cut each section down for me to 92″ (233cm) for free!

Also, if anyone out there wants to try this, be sure to buy the cheapest copper pipe. At my hardware store they had two types: L (blue printing) and M (red printing). The M was a bit cheaper and lighter than the L. Cheaper and lighter is what I wanted in a curtain rod. Glad I asked someone!

By the way, my 2 year-old gave me lots of “help” with this project. When I started, she left to get her “tools” and reappeared with some tweezers from my oldest daughter’s microscope kit. Tweezers? Hmmm…..

She also made off with the screws, and several important bits of hardware just as I needed them. She had to go potty at least four times, always when I was up on the ladder at a crucial moment.

What should have taken even a not so handy person like me about 45 minutes at most, took two and a half hours. Oh well. Such is the life of the mother of a 2 year-old. My advice: find a baby sitter for your 2 year-old.

Anyhow, once you have your 2 year-old nicely tucked away somewhere else, you can begin.

While using nail polish remover to wipe some sticky labels from the pipe, I happily discovered that it also very easily removed all that ugly printing on the pipe:

Next I marked in pencil where the screws for my brackets would go, then I drilled pilot holes for the screws. First mistake: In an effort to be sure not to drill the holes too big, I drilled them too small. Pick a drill bit that is just a little smaller than the screw, but not too small. I had to redo.

I screwed in the brackets with the drill, but whatever was underneath the wood was so tough that I had to finish by hand with a screwdriver (and still didn’t get them quite all the way in, but they are good enough).

Next came the fun part, the valve “finials.” I slipped one on to an end of each rod. Aren’t they cute?

I was sorely tempted to simply hang my four Ikea “Arden Blom” curtain panels and let gravity have its way with the wrinkles as I DESPISE ironing. But, I heard my mother whispering admonishments from beyond. In honor of her memory, I decided to iron the curtains. I used her old iron and ironing board and knew she would approve.

Well the cats had a great time rolling on the curtains as they were draped over the ironing board. Also, I hadn’t ironed in so long (did I mention that I DESPISE IRONING?) that the elastic was all gone on the ironing board cover so it kept coming loose and bunching up. Even worse, the iron decided to steam out rust all over the white curtains!

I washed the rusty spots in the sink, threw out the cats, told my 2 year-old to go “bake Mommy cookies” in her play kitchen and was finally able to finish pressing the curtains.

I then threaded the curtains, two on each pole.

First I put up one pole:

Then I fitted on the cylindrical connector and slid on the other pole.

I had to undo the second end bracket to get the other finial end of the pole up into the bracket which was a bit of a pain, but honestly, how often will I be changing (and IRONING) my curtains?

Here is how they look closed:

Here is how they look opened:

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Total cost:
Rod (pipe & hardware): $43.52
“Quality time” with 2 year-old: Priceless

Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, May 23, 2007 10:56 am

I did a silly thing.

With child number three, we finally outgrew our small kitchen table. I ordered this great table with the green chairs from West Elm. The table arrived and I LOVE it! It looks fabulous in my green kitchen area and is nice and big for meals, homework, projects (clutter), etc.

But…I ordered the cushions too. The chair cushions are a lovely, minimalist white. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? They have washable covers, but do I really want to be removing cushion covers and washing them every day? I have enough daily laundry to do without adding more to it. Plus, what about spaghetti sauce? Will that come out or will I need to dye the covers red to match the stains? Maybe we should just eat white food from now on. Potatoes, pasta, milk, ice cream (vanilla)…

This reminds me of one of my pet peeves. Decorating magazines that feature “families” with cute little blonde curly-haired angels running around the immaculate garden in adorable white outfits. These families always have elegant minimalist living rooms in varying shades of white with sisal rugs. The room is completely decorated with “flea market finds” and boasts (and this is the kicker) a WHITE SLIPCOVERED SOFA on which the family greyhound is reclining comfortably.

The glamorous, yet natural-looking mother always offers up some savvy decorating wisdom, such as: “Seek out flea market pieces that have good bones.” Or, “I like to decorate with white slipcovers because you can just pull them off and throw them in the wash!” With a house full of toddlers and sofa-sleeping greyhounds, this mother (or her maid) must be washing her slipcovers five times a day.

My slipcovers would be living in my laundry room. My sisal rug would have cat barf on it (How does one clean cat vomit out of the fibers of a sisal rug anyhow? With a toothbrush?). Do Lazy-Boy recliners have “good bones?” Where do I find a flea market near me? We have garage sales, thrift stores and a “swap meet,” but unless your decorating style is “Early Salvation Army” or involves antlers, you might be a bit disappointed with the availability of elegant antique bargains where I live.

So, this brings me back to my dilemma. What do I do with white kitchen chair cushions? I am simply not as brave as those “magazine moms.” Mine are in a box in the attic to be brought out when my children are in college.

PS. I thought about cleaning off the table for the photo, but decided that it was more interesting to simply capture a moment in time from a “real mom’s” house. I hope you appreciate my honesty.

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, March 31, 2007 10:52 am

When I die, I DO NOT want to be reincarnated as our sofa!

Our sofa is a practical sort of sofa. I found it years ago for a great price at a consignment store. It is a good solid sofa, with nice high sides, plump pillows and cute little bolsters. It has some style, in a slightly retro kind of way. It is wonderful for reading with a cup of tea, lounging with the laptop, or even sleeping on all night. Oh, and did I mention the color? It is upholstered in a sensible, kind of baroque-like pattern of goldy-browns and dark browns.

But, look closely at our sofa and you will see chocolate milk stains (well hidden by the pattern and brown color), cat claw snags, sags in the back cushions from too many cats and kids sitting on them, and a small split on one arm that has been sewn back together (easily covered by a throw). TV-free kids can be a little hard on a sofa.

This is what happens on our sofa:

The moral of this story is that if you are not going to sit your kids down neatly in front of TV, you’d better have a sturdy, brown consignment-store sofa!