the outside

 I hope all you Mamas had a great day yesterday!  

I know I did.  I spent it laying pea-stone...

 Our backyard has been a dirt pile since we ripped the old sunroom off and I was fed up with how much sand and filth was being tracked in.  I told my husband we have to finish the patio and put some stone down ASAP.  Well it turns out if wanted it done I would have to do it myself.  So I grabbed a pick axe and hummed "Hi-Ho" and leveled the area last week

 It took 3 days, totally sucked, but I tried to think of all the calories I burned.

My husband finished it up by making sure it was graded level and I planted some shrubs...

 Then for Mother's Day I got just what I wanted.

10 tons of pea-stone!

 And the party started...

Landscaping fabric was laid down to keep the weeds out, and stone was dumped.

 It was hard, I am pooped, but it is shaping up...

 Kid's even helped...

 Still have the area around the beds to finish and some edging to do, as well as trying to decide how I am gonna layout out the furniture and plants...

 but I already christened it last night with a bottle of wine.

Be back with some real "done" pictures at the end of the week!

(I also have some garden magic I am working on along the fence)

Right now I need to let my arms recover.

Yo Mama...

Its almost Mother's Day, so I just wanted you to know O'verlays is giving 15% off the entire site with code MOM15.

Why? Because Moms are awesome! 

And check out this nod to mid-century Malm makeover by Sarah Hearts.

If you thought you had to O'verlay every drawer, think again.

Just two will do.

sale runs until May16th

What's happening...

I have had a the deadly blog trifecta strike.

1) Nice weather.  2) Heavy workload.  

3) Messy desk syndrome that makes me do all my biz from an iPhone instead of my computer- therefore no blogs 'cause I am not smart enough to iBlog.  Insta-Facebook gets my love.

So here is what has been occupying my creative minutes.  

A whole bunch of unfinished, non-glamorous stuff with a cloud of ozone depletion.

Lets begin with the last post.   The upholstery class.

Moldy chair update- I have spared its life... 

I am a masochist.

And can I say hand tied springs suck.  

I am learning that there are things I don't ever want to do again.  Like grain alcohol punch, acrylic nails and hand tied springs.

I will appreciate every penny I pay my upholsterer in the future, because I really don't like or understand this mess...

 Sunroom chairs are done, but I wish I painted them white.

Still might ... I want calm out there and I think it might happen if they are white.

(You can see the base of the one in the back is still white primer... I like it better)

P.S.A. time...

 Make sure your children wear helmets when crafting...

 (and get a tetanus shot too)

Also, Rustoleum Automobile Primer works great for ceramic lamps, 

just add a high gloss color over 

Rustoleum Orange in Gloss

(- P.S. call me Rustoleum, I like you. Lets do drinks.)...

before

after

 and I tried spray painting a stained dhurrie rug with white paint....

it turned it a soft gray, which actually wasn't bad.  But I just couldn't leave well enough alone.

Stay tuned, still trying to fix this one.

I discovered cheap black Home Depot plastic planters actually look OK with some Hammered Bronze spray-spray

 (Hey, I live in the North, so I totally overindulge in spray paint once it thaws out up here)

and the old porch railings got trimmed into trellis panels for the garden...

and finally, this nonsense came to my town on Saturday...

We had an American Idol "Homecoming" parade and concert over the weekend.

Turns out that one of the top 3 American Idol finalists is from my little town of Beverly, MA.

Watch all about it tonight (if you do that stuff), you might even see my youngest Joe.  He got some camera time during the parade with the guy in gray below.

 My kids were so excited.  Not gonna lie, I totally got into it. 

 Like 8th grade minus the mushroom cloud perm.

Good times.  Don't judge.

Upholstery 101- A scary tale

Warning: this post has graphic and gross images that might give you the heebeegeebees

Yikes!  I did something out of "self-taught" character, I signed up for an actual class!
After years of attendance to the University of Google, I decided to get some hands on experience in the field of upholstery. Why?  In the past I have managed to figure out how to upholster many things, including a couch that looked like it came straight from the set of Boogie Nights.  With all these projects my impatience got the best of me and I would cut corners, like skipping the welting and zippers and other time consuming boring (IMO) tasks.  I just wanted to finish, and I didn't feel confident in those areas, so I just left them out.
Maybe I am growing up or something, but I finally want to do something the right way.  I enlisted in the Upholstery at the Eliot School in Boston (and I dragged my Mom along with me).  It is a 10 week program that teaches you how to reupholster, and you bring in a piece to work on.  I also figured it would give me some good stuff to blog about.

I was all excited.
I've had this chair that I wanted to redo for a while now:

I found it on my neighbors curb and thought it had great lines, I even posted it way back when in a trash picking confessional.  This chair was finally going to have its day!

I brought it to class this week, and in the first class we got right to business.  We were given some pliers and flat screwdrivers and told to strip off the old upholstery, starting at the bottom and working up.  Once it was cleaned off we would be gluing any wobbly legs and such.

I did as I was told, and my first thought was "This is going to be a piece of cake! I should be gluing in an hour..."  I even had some extremely cocky thoughts like "How is this class going to take 10 weeks?  I finished a sofa in a day and a half?"  

Curses.  

Sometimes things are on the curb for a reason.

I got the bottom fabric off and started pulling off the back.

I was greeted with a very nasty discovery.  Mold, lots of mold. 

I had the instructor come over and look, thinking he'd be just as horrified as me.

I was wrong.

"Totally salvageable, see it all the time".

 It looked perfectly fine on the outside, but the vinyl had kept in plenty of moisture.

I kept going, and it only got worse. 

 I wanted to cry. I wanted to put my chair back on the curb.  The freaking chair was alive!

It looked like it had its own network of veins and nerves.. see?

 I wanted a respirator and some gloves!!!!

(we were told to only bring 2 drop cloths and the piece of furniture to the first class)

I had to touch the thing!  

See the horror in my eyes?  I was so glad I wore turtleneck and my glasses:

"It can totally be saved!" is what I was being told.  I just wanted to quit.

I was not making any friends in this class with my cootie chair.  

Even my mother next to me was inching away from me.  

She was lucky, just horsehair and cotton in her chair:

Lets just say I didn't do any gluing. Instead I had to take my chair back home wrapped in a trash bag to "de-mold" it with bleach and Murphy's Oil.  

( I think I scrubbed part of my skin off after that class.)

The chair still sits in the bag outside. I haven't worked up the nerve to open it up.  

I have actually been trying to find a different chair to strip down and bring back to the next class.  

I just can't believe that that nasty thing can actually be saved. 

I will keep you posted and let you know what I do.

Part of me wants to just throw in the towel, while the stubborn part wants to prove that it really can be saved.  What should I do? 

Do you guys want to see me save it or do I just move on?  I promise to document either way.

Regardless, I am bring a mask and some gloves to the next class 

AND I went and got a tetanus shot the following day.  

Back to the basics!

Feeling grateful and so much lighter today, 
my brain is working again after a good nights sleep.

Today I am full of mojo and I just want to dive into the weekend.

For me that means a big to do list:

working on those above chairs,  whipping the new screened porch into shape,

some gardening and painting, a birthday party and maybe even a yard sale or two.

Follow me over on Instagram (danikaherrick) for some creative chaos and project bouncing.

Stuff is gonna get done!

Update from Boston

I will be back with regular design stuff soon.  

Funny thing is yesterday I started painting/upholstering stuff in my house and it felt great.  Lulu DK and orange painted chairs were happening, I took pictures for DIY's, felt like life was normal and all that... but today has been intense and I have no interest in yesterday.   

I actually only had about 3 hours of real sleep last night, so that might be magnifying things.  That and the glass of wine I just had.  I had nightmares- horrible "kid-like" kind of nightmares,  where you wake up every hour and it is the same dream- and at 3 AM I just decided to stay awake.  I chalked it up to the week.  I chalked it up to the fact that I was worried about my 7 year old and the fact he had wet his pants twice yesterday... something he hadn't done since he was 4.  

Life has been strange around these parts lately, and having kids home for school vacation week only makes it stranger. 

 Having to explain bombs and terrorists were not in my plans for happy family fun-day vacation week, but that is what my 7, soon to be 8 year old got into today.  Duty calls, and I birthed an old soul. 

 "Why did someone set off bombs in Boston?" 

(he had heard two women talking about it at the park)  

I knew he had friends that were at the Marathon, and on Monday shit was going to get real once he was back in school- I had to fill him in.  I needed to prepare him- he was a deep inquisitive kid, and despite my best efforts to keep it light, he was onto me. 

Q&A didn't go quite as I planned... he wanted answers, real answers (hey, me too)...  

"Who are they?  How old? Can I see a picture of them?  Why? Why? How? Why?"  

(Meanwhile, I left out the part that a boy his age and 2 girls close in age to his cousin, 

and a cop were killed-because his imagine is a rival to mine.)
His questions were intense, and exhausting... but I realized that he was much smarter and in tune than I wanted to give him credit for.  

I have no idea what this situation is like in the rest of the country or the air play you are seeing.  Here it is 24/7-we don't even see weather reports on the local news channels.  

I also still have no idea what motivated these guys to do this, and having to explain it to a child is even harder.  I know answers will come to light over the next few days- hopefully.

As I typed that last sentence my husband just walked in the door from work an told me they have the second suspect in a boat. I am relieved. SO very relieved.  My son is relieved, more importantly.

I just want peace.  For families of those lost and hurt and the families of the suspects.  I am sure they hurt right now too.  

No more hurting people.

We need to listen to this little angel's message right now.

 Praying for Boston and no more hurt.

today

Pretty can wait.  Paint can wait.  Everything can just fucking wait.

Its just all too close, too real.  Thats my city.  I had friends running, friends watching, a niece across the street in lockdown... the waiting to hear from them, and then hearing their accounts, the news- constant news- its everywhere.  I am angry and sad and my heart hurts, I'm lost today.

I have written and deleted this post too many times already, and words don't make sense.  I feel like a rambling mess.  Not much makes sense actually.

My heart and prayers go out to all the families affected by this tragedy and to all the responders that selflessly risked their own lives to help others.  And for peace.  
This violence can happen in any city, and I pray that it will just stop.

My niece slept over last night and we talked about the day.  

She had gone down to the finish line on her lunch break and left shortly before the blast. 

 She just kept telling me how awesome it felt to be down there watching finishers... it was a beautiful day, the crowd was so excited, she said it was one of those days where you just felt so proud to be a Bostonian.  "It was awesome..." is what she kept saying.  That statement is what I am trying to hold on to and focus on despite the horrific events that followed for her shortly after, despite the gruesome images that keep filling my brain.  I was hit by an M-80 firework on Halloween when I was 17 by a bunch of asshole kids throwing eggs (and an M-80) from a car, and I remember the pain and terror I felt when it exploded right next to me and how that is nothing, nothing at all in comparison to what all these bystanders experienced. I cannot imagine, and I am doing my best to squelch my vivid imagination.  

Knowing that we will grow stronger and prouder and that despite a cowardly asshole's attempt, people will continue to run and cheer and say "it was awesome".  We need to hold on to that feeling.  The goodness and happiness we felt before, the innocence, and not let it get taken away by fear and evil because then they win.  

That is what I am trying to focus on today, and it isn't easy... because not much else makes sense.

Porch Talk

 (Exterior) stuff has been getting done around here!  

 We converted our open air porch to a three season porch this weekend.

It is SO much better, and I can't wait for it to warm up and switch out the screens, because I feel like I have finally one up'd the local mosquito population a bit.  The whole triple E and West Nile drama they bring is such a downer, and those pesky little bitches always figured out how to get around my mosquito netting.  

Here is a Before and After Montage for your Monday

(just because I love B/A Montages since they let me see the slow change that has been happening over the past 3 1/2 years and make me feel productive)

2009 when we viewed this beauty to buy, WTF were we thinking?...

 2 1/2 years ago after paint and a landscape/ramp rip up...

yesterday-

please ignore all the crap strewn around the yard- we have no landscape plan yet, so stuff is  everywhere ...                       

And again...

Mosquito Net, pretty but not the most effective...

take that mo-fo-squitos!

The entire process was done using Brosco Combination Storm Doors

We measured the opening of our porch, and figured out how many panels we would need. They come in a few heights and widths, and you can trim them down easily.

We ordered the unprimed pine to save money and painted ourselves.

The openings were framed out...

And the panels went in and get trimmed out and attached...

And then the windows or screens go in. 

The panels we chose came with both since we are in the North East and we want to use this room as year round as humanely possible (space heater required).

Insta-Room! Now I get to decorate.

On other porch fronts, the front porch is done! 

(well almost- trim is not painted and we still need to add the screen door...)

My Dad installed the decking with a very cool product called Tiger Claw Deck Fasteners.

They hold the decking in place and no nails are needed.

You need 2 people for this, and there is a learning curve, 

but the end result are smooth planks and no nail holes.

You take a metal clip and insert it into the rubber holder...

 Line up the clip with the floor joist, and hammer the rubber holder so the clip gets tacked into the outer decking board...

Screw clip into place, and continue adding clips down the rest of the board length...

Lay your next board in front of the last board and using a piece of wood as a buffer, hammer the new board into the clips while making sure to stand on it to keep it flat.

Then repeat the steps by adding clips to the front of the new board.

And boom! No nails!

OK, I am off to get some stuff painted! 

Be back soon with an easy DIY for you all.

The trail of inspiration...

As I go about life in my "squirrel brain project land" I hop from one idea to the next, continually changing the game because I see something new that inspires.  So much of creativity comes from sparks of inspiration that are then compounded upon and altered.  The trail of inspiration is quite a messy, tangled fabulous web if you ask me.  So it makes this blog all the more worthwhile when I am able to inspire someone else's creativity. 

I recently got an email from decorative artist Jessica Jones. 

 She sent me some pictures of her amazing scalloped bathroom walls: 

She painted them by hand, and what

 I found particularly cool was her trail of inspiration.

It started on Pinterest with this image:

and then she saw a tutorial I did for this journal cover using different sized coins as a template. She had a lightbulb moment as to how to achieve the look for her walls:

(Speaking of trails, this was my inspirational spark for the journal:)

This is how she achieved the look:

"I made different sized stencils using foamcore board, grabbed some metallic paint, and went to work transforming my sad, windowless bathroom into a room full of fun, metallic pattern. I love the art deco feel and glints of metallic!" 

 She just super sized the coin idea with foam core and created a much grander idea!

Besides being clever, she is quite the talented painter.

Check out these malachite walls she painted on her website...

amazing!

Thank you Jessica for sharing your work, keep it coming!