Did A Bomb Just Go Off?

February 2, 2012 by 1 Comment

We have this really bad tendency to allow the office to become the place where legends go to die.   We throw things in this  room, shut the door, and pretend like it doesn’t exist.    Then, every day, we come into this room and complain about how terrible it is.  When did we get this bad?  Where the heck did all of this stuff come from?  More importantly,  how are we doing to handle it?

When we first moved in,  we were in a frantic hurry to get some semblance of an office put together because the semester was starting a week later.   The his and her work space was born.   Functional, yes.  Comfortable, no.   The line of sight when walking into the office are our two L-Shaped desks butt up against the wall, and giant black chairs in front of them.  For a room that doesn’t get a lot of light,  it can look really heavy.

Another big problem?  No proper storage!  Our glass top desks lack drawers and it drives me crazy on a daily basis.   To offset it,  we bought two black three drawer carts.  They serve a purpose, but not really all that functional and/or pretty.

Oh god

Mess Party

Messy

Clutter

Honestly

Textbooks

None of you out there are envying me right now.

But you will.

Because I have a plan!

Planning an office overhaul can be tricky, confusing, frustrating and kind of terrible.   To make it less horrid,  I started with a sheet of paper and a pencil in order to draft out what I’m looking for.  Ideally, I’d love to run a long counter top against the wall to the left of the entrance.   The counter top would be supposed by two drawer units with lots of storage.   In the right corner of the office,  I’d love to have another table that I could designate for sewing and crafting.   It’s really annoying taking all of my crafty items out into the dining room since that’s the only table with space.

Here is a rough draft of what I’m thinking.  Don’t mind the fact that Ikea hasn’t updated their home planner since 2009, so I can’t even configure current lines of furniture.

I adore the Expedit Workstation from Ikea because it’s the perfect table top for crafts, but it also has storage.   I could keep all of my crafts, fabrics, and sewing needs neatly organized in baskets, and tucked away beautifully in the bookcase.  Imagine this bad boy in the right hand corner of the office rendering.

Countertop

Now picture this counter top running from wall to wall, with two drawer units as support.

Drawer

I’m thinking this is going to come together quite nicely.   But, in order to make all of this happen – I must save, save, save.   Between furniture, organizational items, accessories and rugs –  we’re looking at 700 dollars!  Crazy, right?  When you think about it though,  it’s not all too bad considering the outcome and how great it’ll be!   Like every project in the Evans’ household,  this one will most certainly be done in pieces.

Dare I say it is Craig’s List time?  Purge party!

Love, J and A

Filed Under: Design Ideas

Impossibility Challenge(d)

January 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
the space between

Here it is. The last day of  the Impossibilities Challenge over at The Space Between, and I have nothing to show for my pledge.  When Karah first let me know about the challenge, I was so eager and excited to get out of my bubble and explore a new opportunity. One of my biggest fears is writing.  You wouldn’t think it, because I am currently writing. But, it’s true.  I read a lot of books. A lot. And I always think “God, I would love to do this.”  I wouldn’t even expect it to be good, I would just want to know that I did it from start to finish.  I challenged myself to write one short story,  just to get my feet wet. But not only did I want to write the short story, I wanted to share it. You see, the fear isn’t writing so much…it’s  the fear of readers and criticism.  This challenge was the perfect opportunity to move away from that fear.

So,  for the past three weeks – I’ve been typing away.  I’ve got about 10 different thought processes going and 10 different segments of copy – but nothing copacetic.  I’ve been re-writing, deleting, editing, screaming, crying,  and throwing my laptop.   At the end of the day,  I’ve got a lot of half-stories.  A lot of incomplete things, which is not unlike my house projects.

I may have nothing to show for the challenge in the sense that nothing is finished.  But it did get me writing again.

And that’s what I’m really happy about it.

In the words of the impossibility challenge, I can do it (kinda)!

Love, J and A

P. S: Make sure you check out The Space Between today, because everyone is linking up their finished challenge project!  I can’t wait to see what everyone completed from start and to finish! 

Filed Under: Announcements

Brown Thumb Savior

January 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Terrible Curb Appeal

This is our house.  Our house that we love so much, but somehow can’t figure out a way to rev up the curb appeal.  Ever since we bought the house in 2009, we knew the front yard was going to be the bain of our existence.   When we bought the house there was no drive way,  the ground was very uneven, and the bushes in the front yard had all gone and died.

Well, we got ourselves a drive way now…and that’s about it.

Epic fail number 1.

After we had the driveway poured, we made an effort to start fixing up the front yard.  It started by tearing out the dead bushes in front of our dining room window, and put in a flower bed. We were so excited about the hydrangeas we bought, as well as firecracker orange plants.  It was going to look amazing! And it did for about two months.  You know, until some random fungus took over and killed it all.  Ooops.  Despite our lack of green thumbs, we did learn that underneath the window was probably the worst place for the flower bed since its right under a pine needle that sheds like the dickens.   It was impossible to keep the pine needles out!  Next time around, bushes again.  Definitely.

Poor Flowers

Epic fail number 2.

About two years, we’ve gutted the front yard and tried to re-seed with St. Augustine grass.  It didn’t take.   A year later, we gutted the front yard again and planted clover as a ground cover.   It didn’t take.   Now, we’ve let the weeds take over simply because they are green enough and that’s the best we can do.   But, it’s something that really bothers Andrew and I.   Such a cute green house, but with such ugly curb lack of appeal.

Lack of Grass

We started taking inspiration to what we know is already growing well in the hot Florida climate.  No point in trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the occasional dry spells and blazing sun.  We need something that is native, hearty, and fool-proof.  So why not take inspiration from the medians of major roads that have absolutely no shade and still manage to look amazing?

Florida Groundcover(Source)

That’s where ornamental peanut comes into play.  Don’t you think that would just look adorable in the front yard?  Bonus is that you hardly have to mow it!  Even without the yellow flowers in bloom, the greenery is still very hardy and lovely to look it.  Plus,  it grows like wildfire.  You can buy it in sod (ideal!), or if money is an issue – you can buy potted peanut and go section by section.  Eventually,  it’ll spread out on its own.     We think it’s lovely.

Lay down some peanut,  fix up the picket fence and throw on a new coat of paint,  and we’ve got an instant spruce!  I’m thinking that’s a really excellent stepping stone!  Hmm,  I think I know where are tax return is going this year.  Do you?

Love, J and A.

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