Castles, Houses, and Trains

We have quite the little builder in the house. (A rare still photo, with Great Aunt B.'s doggie ("Hannah") and "picture truck." There are ice cream trucks, cement trucks, and fruit trucks. This one has pictures on it, so it's a picture truck of course.)


O. needs some help with assembly, but he's definitely progressing in home and castle design. Notice the careful application of roofing to "Aunt M.'s house."

Aunt M.'s house, complete with Aunt M.'s car.


The blocks made by Grandpa have inspired some truly unique castle designs. Here we see a neoRoman/Escher structure. Unfortunately it is more for looks than function.



The blocks also have enabled adding another height level to the trainset. Sadly, derailment is a frequent problem.



And the trusty duplo blocks are seeing a high level of use these days. We call this one Orthanc.


And like all skyscraper designers, you have to know when to stop building upwards.


Still working on that.

Conquering the To-Do List

Well, not so much "conquer" as "scratch off one item": rearrange the bedroom wall decorations into something more presentable. This process was assisted by the generous stocking stuffer gift from my parents, which is now the central framed print. (Kathy--it's beautiful! Thanks for making such a wonderful work of art!)



This process was also aided by the purchase of the metal bee ($2.50!). It was found on a recent trip to an unfinished furniture store while looking for another project that we don't have enough time for. The remaining framed objects are prints from J's hometown, a print of a sketch my mom's friend made (the house is my childhood piano teacher's), a doily I crocheted a few years ago, and a random print thrown in because it matches the general style.

The grouping concept may be getting a little tired, however, and at least in my house, it's looks like I appear to be obsessed order and symmetry. But really, I'm not.

Bedroom, North wall

Bedroom, South Wall

Obsessed? Who me?
Dining room, North wall

Living room, East wall

I swear, not obsessed!
Bathroom

Well, maybe a little. Plus a healthy dose of trying to incorporate the small scale things that I loved that I collected while on a grad student budget with the larger scale of the new house. But I think the grouping 5"x7"s is tired, in the future, I think I should resist the obvious but worn-out solution to the scale problem.

Re-upholstery project

I'm thinking about reupholstering the dining room table seats. The fabric has thinned out considerably, it's been stained and cleaned so many times, and one chair is beginning to split. The fabric is 10 years old, and it served us well, but it's time for the fabric to go to the great sewing machine in the sky.

I've decided that I'd like to go with something different than the original fabric. The original fabric was offwhite in an striped pattern. It was chosen because it was neutral and would match almost any apartment. But lately I've noted that all of the neutral things I've chosen over the years for the apartment reason look like cream of wheat together.

I rented four fabric sample for the week, and I haven't decided if any of these are on the right track.

Robert Allen Home, Bristol Stripe in Seafoam, $40/yard. This one looks better up close than it does from a distance. It goes to off-white, and the seafoamy colors look too beachy with the wood in the chairs.



SMC Designs, Sequence 88, Ebbtide in Patina, $45/yard. This is the current front runner. The greens in this match the greens and reds in our house, and it goes with the tones in the wood. I wish the fabric was a little heavier though, it may not wear as well as some.



Platinum, Elsbeth in Juniper, $60/yard. I like the idea of this, but not the execution. I like the idea of of having the single stripe down the middle (we'd have to be careful to buy enough to do this). The colors aren't right with the room or the wood though. The green, I think, is the problem. Too much celery, not enough broccoli.



Waverly, Garden Ottoman, in Sage $45/yard. Another fabric that looks lucious up close, but goes to mush from afar. The green isn't right here either, although I think the fabric is substantial enough to do the job.



Two more photos of the fabrics, taking a couple of steps back.





I don't think we've found the right fabric yet.