ThomOli: January 2007

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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

it's not a stretch to be trashy


This weekend we'll be preparing for a small superbowl-related get together. And by preparing I mean, Thom'll be drinking beer and gluing his eyes to the screen. Meanwhile Jesse will be stopping by for commercials and half time. But hey, any reason to make some special drinks and eat junk food.

While Justin Timberlake will not be gracing us with his presence there will be CHEESE BALLS. No, I'm not kidding - I've been waiting years for an excuse to get these from Costco. Yesss! And Thom's drool worthy vegan buffalo wings.

I'll try to catch any manly displays of can crushing on camera. Of course this could be difficult considering we tend to drink fancy, imported beer. Not so much with the cans...sigh.

(In case anyone is wondering, while this may not be the exact jar of cheese balls this is the correct size. Let's just say it dwarfs Jasper.)

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

staying warm


check out the new Jasper do...

Monday, January 29, 2007

look out martha


This weekend I exercised my inner rebel. I spray painted both chairs shorta shiny black. Not too shabby for my first official DIY.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

this one's for sarah...

Flocked Fabric - usually a cloth of wool, cotton, silk, or rayon, which is pulverized to form velvety patterns. Flocked fabric is used for automotive, home furnishing, packaging, and other applications.

But what I really meant was the tufted trend - tufted, not flocked.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

flocked



I know what you're thinking - you've just ordered a new couch/daybed (arriving mid-March). But I've become obsessed with the new "flocked" trend. And I've been daydreaming about where this one could live... Especially in the lovely green.

I'll keep daydreaming.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

shiny, new cellar doors


They installed our new cellar doors in the front and back of the house yesterday. The one in the back has a custom goose neck (no more carbon monoxide in the cellar - yay!). Don't they look pretty?

We decided to go for the non-waterproof ones since we haven't had any water issues (and you saw what decrepit covers we had before) and because they were considerably more expensive. Plus I got the distinct feeling that the guy thought he could charge us anything he wanted thinking we wouldn't know the difference. Oh the joy of homeownership!

For those of you who don't have cellar doors of your own - they exist as a method of lowering items into and out of the cellar. When these houses were all built at the beginning of the 20th century they were rich vacation homes. This way the servants could bring in supplies without going through the house.

Thom working hard shoveling snow in front of our house this past weekend. Of course it melted later that day...

our local bar

This is the sign on the bar around the corner from us - if you look closely, the sign says "No Do Rags. No Hood's. No Lower Riders."

Huh? Welcome to the neighborhood...

Friday, January 19, 2007

love my thomas paul

In anticipation of our new daybed (6-8 weeks), we ordered pillow inserts. I can't wait to fluff them on our couch :)

our first snow



This morning we woke up to a light snow and I immediately shoved Thom awake to alert him of his duty. Needless to say, he was delighted.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

a little elephant in brooklyn...

Wall decals are all the rage right now and since I'm totally susceptible to fads I want them. But considering we have crumbling walls that need to be plastered and painted I don't think we'll be getting them anytime soon.

But I'm so tempted with this one. I mean who doesn't want to look at elephant butt all day?
Yesterday I escaped from work (and braved the bitter wind - what, winter?) to make a trip to the tile store a few blocks away from where I work. We are coming up on a few possible tile projects - the new 1/2 bath, the entrance way, fireplace repair and ultimately the kitchen (floor and walls) and I wanted to survey the possibilities.

First I started by showing the salesman a filthy, broken tile I had plucked from the parlor level fireplace (pink - might I add, much like the bathroom). He proceeded to screw up his eyebrows and tell me they have nothing even similar to this. The owner of the store did point me in the direction of a different tile store that might carry them but in the meantime we're living with a crumbling fireplace. Whatever - we have bigger problems.

As frequently happens in "Jesse Land," I had a clear picture of exactly what I wanted for the entrance way and was merely dropping in to the store to find what MUST already exist. Sigh.

I explained to the salesman what kind of tile I wanted in the entranceway and he sent me to the "warehouse" (around the corner) where they had the traditional hexagon tiles in a range of colors. Try black and white. But I found a few that I liked and asked Lenny (who runs the warehouse) how much clearance I would need to install these in the entrance way between the two front doors? And could I do it myself? (To this he shook his head "not really that great of an idea. but if you want to try...")

Lenny then told me that I had selected tiles that were not really conducive to an entrance way and would likely become wet and very slick. Did I want to die? Our conversation went something like this:

You really need a tile that has no glaze in an area that could potentially become wet.

I'll put down a mat.

How will you close the door.

Oh. (pause) But those aren't pretty. They're dull. I want the glaze.

Who lives in the house? Just you.

And my boyfriend.

Do you love him?

But it's just going between two doors. What could happen?

Do the doors have glass? (I nod) I recommend you fall away from the glass.

I brought the samples of the pretty tiles home anyway and explained the situation to Thom. He refused to see my logic and said simply that we could not have slick tiles in the front of the house. My whiny shrieks of "Yes, we can!" had little effect.

In the end, I think we'll be making a trip together to tile store. Perhaps then Thom will see that I am right. Beauty ahead of pain (and a potential broken leg).

Our entrance way (icky concrete painted red)...
The tile samples I brought home. The white hexagons are "ok" according to Lenny (not glazed but not as rough as he would recommend) and the penny tiles are highly glazed and reflective (though you cannot tell in the picture). I couldn't find a light blue in the hexagons.

Monday, January 15, 2007

how to find a place under a million...

come join us!

baby steps



Today we ordered the cellar doors for the front and the back of the house. Considering their condition it's a miracle we haven't had leaking issues. (If you look closely there are even weeds growing out of the cover) Now we're going to have fancy, custom metal doors. The door in the back will even have a goose neck ventilation system that will vent the dryer from the cellar.

Next on the list the front door window and the pantry...

rainy monday



Unfotunately it was another wet and gloomy day in Brooklyn and I wasn't able to sand and paint the chairs today. But I did reupolster the seat cushions and I think it's pretty clear that if this whole marketing thing doesn't work out I have a decent backup. Well, ok it wasn't exactly rocket science but they're not too shabby! Hopefully once I paint the frames it'll complete the look.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

happy MLK day



I'll be taking advantage of a rare day off tomorrow and (weather permitting) attempting my first DIY project - painting and reupolstering these chairs. Fingers crossed I don't screw it up - maybe we'll end up with some nice side chairs.

pepto-bismol anyone?






We've kept it behind closed doors long enough. I thought it might be time to share the reason why we're planning on knocking out the bathroom on the parlor level. It's actually a decent size bathroom but the den can use the space more than we need another shower.

The toilet no longer works (at least that's what the previous owner's told us - thankfully, we haven't tested it). In fact, we were considerably paranoid that someone would try to use the bathroom during our New Years craziness.

Apparently the previous residents also used it as a phone book. Odd location, no?

I doubt Thom will be sad to see the pink go...

2 years later...




We celebrated our anniversary this weekend with some beautiful flowers and fancy wine. I'm a lucky girl...

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

cat naps


We're still waiting for a contractor to come out of the woodwork before we start breaking down bathroom walls. In the meantime, we're trying to make the rest of the house a little more comfortable. We've ordered the Simone Daybed from Crate & Barrel for our anniversary gift to each other. (Yes, we're just that cheesy) I'm looking forward to putting the Thomas Paul pillows I got at a sample sale last year on our new couch.

I'll be posting some pics once it's settled in its new home.

Monday, January 08, 2007

so you thought we were crazy to do the backyard in November?


Ha! It was 70 degrees this weekend and we took full advantage of it - taking a long walk into the slope and relaxing in our backyard. Yup, that's SUN TEA if you look close!

pretty, pretty house





We were lucky enough to get a bunch of beautiful things for the house as gifts this holiday season. Thom's mother and sister gave us the perfect display piece for our dining table and a gorgeous vase. Jennifer also brought up a purple wall vase which will fit perfectly in the kitchen. Right now it's hanging on a temporary nail by the door...

Friday, January 05, 2007

deprived all my young life

Fried, crispy okra...yum! Susan always hated okra so I had no idea just how tasty it was until I happened upon it at Devi about 2 years ago. Who knew?

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

thanks to jennifer for all the pics!

in the end



We were exhausted and sad to see our friends go... We hope to see everyone again soon.

the final countdown




At the last minute we gathered round the TV and created a very colorful mess on the parlor floor. Thanks to Jackie for picking up silly string - I'll never forget peeling that off the floor.

no snow here



It was so incredibly warm that we made ample use of the backyard.