Loft Redecorating Update

J had some downtime creatively this summer/fall so the next thing I knew, we were redecorating our loft! It was long overdue. We finally feel as though the inside of our home matches our urban environment. It's not done - a work in progress.

Entry

Chicago skyline painting by J, 2008

When it was given to us, this 6ft frame was white and had an ugly painting of Jesus in it. We've had it for 8-9 yrs and were going to put a mirror in it. This was a much better use.

Entry

This mirror was gold and hung in our guest bath in Tulsa.

J painted the mirror black, hung the shelf and added hooks to hold the kids' backpacks and coats.

Gallery of our kids' photos

8x10 b&w

Reading/work area

J collects crosses

We were driving down a street in J's home town 10 years ago when I saw this frame. I had him stop the car. It was gold. We had a mirror put in it and it hung in our guest bedroom in Tulsa. This fall, J took the mirror out and painted it gray.

View from the hallway.

J painted that canvas on the wall

Living Room Right View

Our new style is 'Mid-Century/Modern'

The lamp was a thrift store find

Living Room Left View

See the bookshelf going up the wall on the left?

That is a one-of-a-kind J Widney original.

I'll tell you the evolutionary story of the shelves another time.

J hung 6 lights over the living space.

Ceilings are 15-ft tall and hard to photograph it all.

 New sofa

 We downsized to just our 2 love seats and gave away our sofa when we moved to Chicago. We could never really stretch out or watch movies together. Now we can all 4 fit on our sofa! Love it.

I'm in the process of setting up the bookcases.

I'm adding storage solutions and will 'style' the books.

Isn't this the coolest table ever?!

Dining Room

We did 4 different chairs because we could.

Below is the console table that started it all. 

J found this on Craigslist and the redecorating began. 

It no longer matches anything and will likely be donated!

The light fixture on the table was a gift from a dear friend. 

It is an original from the '50's. 

Please tell me you notice my binoculars near the window...

And now, inside our home matches the city outside.

Telescope

Ever since we moved into our downtown loft, I've wanted a telescope. What's the point in living so close to others if you can't peer into their homes.

Recently, I decided to verbalize my desire. I began researching what to look for in a telescope, price ranges, etc. They said that for peeping tom activities, a binocular is best. To get a good set of binoculars, you should spend no less than $100. For telescopes, you should not believe the 10,000x zoom as it is not the Hubble that you are purchasing. Any telescope worth having should be no less than $3-400.

One day, I happened to be in a CVS Pharmacy where I spotted a telescope for $19.99. Perfect!! A telescope for that cheap sounds perfect for viewing close up. No way you can see stars for that price!!

Motor Mouth was with me. He was appalled. "Mom, are you buying that telescope to look into people's homes?" Naturally, he wasn't whispering. "Mom, it is INAPPROPRIATE. Do not buy a telescope."

Do you think he will lighten up when he gets older? Live a little? Take a few risks?

What I Really Want

This piece would look INCREDIBLE in our entry. 

It would go great with the brick wall of our loft that was once a factory. 

J found it on the net. I called Cleveland Art to find out how much. 

$1200 plus shipping.

Such an amazing piece and a lot less than J thought it would be. 

Considering I just want it so the kids can hang their coats and toss their gloves, scarves and hats in the winter and their flip flops in the summer, it seems...a bit much.

Seat of Our Pants!!

We are redecorating. 

In the fine J & S Widney tradition, it is by the seat of our pants!!

It all started when J found this console table on craigslist.

The next thing I know, we are selling our living room and dining room furniture. Lamps, tables, entertainment center, TV, couches, the works!!

I met interesting people. Like the man who took pictures of our dining table and chairs for his girlfriend who lives out-of-state and will be moving to Chicago before they leave to work on a boat for a year. And the really sweet hispanic guy who loves our glass tables with corinthian column bases. 

But not as interesting as the woman that looks like a stripper who was moving to California the next day and gave J a great deal on a leather chair. Or the pregnant woman who was going to leave J alone in her home while she went next door to borrow tools from her neighbor. Or the woman that met J in a bathrobe when he went to pick up this wing back chair.

The other day, we walked in to a warehouse and down the stairs to the basement. A buzzer rings and around the corner is this older guy riding a fork lift in a sparse, dusty brick space. We follow him into a room that has furniture stacked wall-to-wall and almost to the ceiling. 

We walked out of there with 4 dining chairs (all different by choice) and we proceeded to stuff them in our COROLLA!! Haha!!  We got 1 in the trunk and 3 in the back seat with the window open and the back of the chair was sticking out a foot. 

We bought a few new items.

Again, they went in our sexy little COROLLA!

On the highway....

Gotta sell a few more items, paint some walls, and then I will show you the final result. 

Streaming Rain

At 5:30 am this morning, I awoke to the sound of water pouring into our loft. J had placed towels in the offending areas at about 1:00 am. 

The water was not dripping when I saw it. 

It was coming down in one continuous stream - like a faucet!!

This is how much water I collected in 1 hour this morning.

So living in a converted box factory that had a flat roof is maybe not all perfect. But it sure makes for interesting blogging!!

Finished for Friday - Toy Closets

I wanted to spruce up the kids' toy area. We keep their toys behind closed doors - Motor Mouth's closet. Each kiddo had a wooden stand for their toy bins. However, wood does not do well when your 3 yr old stands on it! It was time to come up with something new.

The bins were in perfect condition so I didn't want to throw them away. I searched the Internet and then, one day, while walking through Staples, I got inspiration: a wire stand like the black ones Motor Mouth has for all his stuff.

I couldn't find black stands in the shorter height, so I went with the stainless steel.

What do you think?

Now, head on over to the home of Finished For Friday at Lit and Laundry's site.

End of an Era

One of my brothers made this little bench/foot stool in high school shop class. He was 4 grades ahead of me so that makes this stool almost 30 years old.

When I moved into my own apartment in Toronto, I stole it from our mom's house. It's not like she was using it. For almost 10 years, the bench had just sat in Mom's living room (that we weren't allowed to go in unless we had company). Like many women of her generation, our mom cherishes the things she loves by setting them aside and not using them.

I've kept this bench ever since and have loved and cherished it as well. Like many women of my generation, I use the things I love. This bench is used almost daily to reach things on the top shelf in our kitchen. I'm 5'9" but the stool makes it so I don't have to strain as hard. My kids, especially Mini Me, sit on this while they are watching me in the kitchen. There are flecks of paint from every one of the homes I painted.

If you look closely, you can see where the finish is darkened in spots where my feet rubbed.

This little stool has travelled to numerous apartments and homes with me in 7 cities and 2 countries. Just a little shop class project my brother has most likely long forgotten, but it has brought me so much joy. My brother has not visited any of my homes in the States, but having his stool helped to make that okay.

(He's a really busy guy.)

Then I found this last night.

Which led to this.

And now, I am heartbroken.

J says we can fix it with carpenter's glue. But I will be scared to use it after that. Sadly, my little bench might have to sit in a corner of my living room, unused.

But much loved.

Recommendation FAIL - Purex

A few months back, I sang the praises of Purex 3-in-1 laundry soap, softener, dryer sheets. I still think they are revolutionary but I no longer am a proud supporter. Turns out, they are WAY too expensive for my tastes - to the tune of $135 for a washing machine repair plus months of lugging a family of 4's clothing to a laundromat at $20-$30 a trip!!!

Our washer and dryer unit is less than 2 years old. Just a couple months after it's 1st birthday, our washer quit draining the water from our clothes. Sometimes, I could get it to work if I put only 3-4 light pieces in on delicate, prayed really hard and hit spin cycle 3 times, turning a 25 minute wash into a 2 hour event. I can't tell you how much sleep I have lost trying to get 1 load we needed in the morning. Or how many evenings I spent away from my family so I could go to the laundromat.

J managed to find someone who fixes GE stackable washers/dryers AND goes south of North Ave. - not as easy to find as you would think... The repair man had never seen a Purex 3-in-1 sheet before. Certainly never 2 of them stuck in the drain, preventing our washer from doing its job.

I am pretty anal about using dryer sheets so, I'm surprised I didn't notice the sheet didn't get put in the dryer. I don't know when or how sheets ended up in the drain, but it was pretty early on because this has been happening for months and months.

This was an expensive lesson.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Letter to Our Roomie

Our friend moved in for 4 days while between homes.

Here is a letter I wrote him the night he arrived.

Hi Roomie!!!

Welcome to Widney Loft!

If you promise to make yourself at home, we will promise to keep our clothes on when walking in common areas.

Sorry about the pink sheets, Dude. Washer is broken. Please enjoy the mints on your pillows in lieu of ironed pillowcases/sheets. There are 4 pillows on the bed. 2 are flat and firmer. 2 are soft and fluffy.  Like mine and J’s tummies - before and after.

If you need an iron, the ironing board is in between the big and small hall closets. The iron is in the big closet with the coats, at the top in a bin, marked – get this: Iron. Feel free to take it all and leave it setup in your room. You can also throw clothes in dryer on ‘dewrinkle setting’ with a Bounce dryer sheet. I should go make sure none of my undergarments are in there. Wouldn’t want to traumatize a boy.

Motor Mouth’s closet door fell off yesterday and J has not been home long enough for me to tell him about it and get it fixed. But that just gives you a better view of the shirt and pant hangers you are welcome to use.

There is a welcome ‘basket’ in your bathroom. Feel free to help yourself to what you need. The glass shelves are there for you to put your toiletries on. The kids know not to touch that stuff. There is a shower caddy just for you as well. If you need extra toilet paper or a make up mirror or something else, check under the sink. Might be there. If not, I have extras of stuff. Just ask.

Help yourself to whatever food you find. Waffles in the freezer. Syrup in the pantry on the lowest shelf. Don’t eat the salad in the crisper. That stuff went bad. And you wonder why we are fat? No eat-y the salad-y.

There is a key on this letter. Try it in the entry door downstairs. I hope it works. The guy screwed up 2 of the other keys he made for us.

Sometimes brick dust falls on Motor Mouth’s head at night. Think of it as fairies sprinkling fairy dust on your dreams. Instead of sugar plums dancing, think tuck pointing.

The TV in your room does not have cable. Use the black DVD player on top of the TV. Mini Me broke the TV/DVD part. You want? I sell her for cheap. Motor Mouth has 2 DVD cases on his shelf. They might be of interest.  Feel free to use the cleared off space on the shelving unit. I wouldn’t use the alarm clock… It’s set to turn on/off with the light switch. Do you see the problem that would cause in the morning?

Enjoy the U2 concert if I don’t see you!

Pretty Patio

I LOVED our patio this summer. 

It felt like we really made it our own this year.

New patio table and chairs

Lots and lots of flowers

It's like our own sanctuary in the city

Curtains - What?????

Can you believe it?? We have curtains!!

I'm soooooo glad we took the shorter curtains back. 

They only went to the top of the door. 

These curtains are more impressive.

I must say, it is ODD to have curtains up. The effect of the light coming through in the morning is almost completely gone. The curtains are great at blocking light. But they also block the comings and goings of our neighbors. I LOVE our neighbors and enjoy feeling a part of their lives by seeing them come and go. It makes me feel like I have more adult contact during the day.

Having curtains is AWESOME because I can wait an extra day or two before putting away all the stuff we accumulate in the kitchen. 

That's probably good and bad....

Curtains are great because the chances of our neighbors seeing something they shouldn't are greatly reduced...provided we actually close the curtains!

I like our curtains. Thanks for hanging them last week, Babe!!