Amber Dusick

House Progress..."pieces of the whole" sneak peek

Here are some signs that the pieces of the whole really will come together.  We really will be able to move in and create a home out of the mess that we made.  Really, we will!  (writing this is more what I need to hear than anything...)

 
Testing grout for the bathroom floor tile.  This one was too dark. 


Patching and priming for a new coat of exterior paint!  It sure looks silly right now.


Picking the "happy yellow house" color that I've always wanted.  We're going with the middle one. 


Only finishing touches, like electrical outlet plates, cabinet doors and hardware remain in the kitchen.  We finished tiling the counters & backsplash!


Kitchen cabinet doors drying on wooden boards outside with their fresh coat of paint.


Even the cabinet hardware got a spritz of spraypaint to freshen them up.



A whole pile of 1955 shutters removed from the interior windows.  While I love them, they just made the rooms too dark.  I'm keeping these for DIY projects though, yay! 

And there is more.  Lots, lots, lots more.  Unfortunately, nothing is 100% finished though, so I'll have to keep you waiting for the real before and after shots.  In fact, there is so much more there is an entire website worth of DIY remodeling/decorating content.  Hmmmmm?  Did someone say "new website"?  Stay tuned! 

 

Late Summer on the Front Porch

I will miss this front porch when we move.  It isn't anything "special" just a brick front patio, common all over our 1920's - 1940's built neighborhood.  What is special about it is how I feel when I sit out there.  Peaceful.  No matter if you live in "the city" there is something about cooking (and eating) your meal outside that makes you breathe slower and the food taste better. 

We had an impromptu barbeque last night (the best kind)...will it be the last one on this porch? 

I sat there on the step and tried to capture the images I've seen over and over for the last five years before the sun went down. 

And then savored that special brief moment of dusk right before the streetlamps light. 

Saying Goodbye to Summer

Where did summer go?  I can already feel fall in the air and although fall is my favorite season, I feel like summer went especially fast this year.  No matter how often we go, I feel like we don't get to the beach nearly as often as I'd like for example.  Nor do we eat quite enough ice cream cones or popsicles. 

The last two weeks have been filled with summery activities...pools, swings, ice cream, bubbles, being silly in the yard and beaches.

Still, I feel like something is missing.  Perhaps more ice cream?  Yep, that is definitely it.   

Apple Tree History & Harvest Soon

"The happiest people aren't those who make or have the most,
but who make the most of what they have."

At our new house (which is still a pile of construction mess - but I won't complain about that) we have a lovely apple tree with a history.  It was planted in 1969 from an apple that the original owner's college aged son had just eaten...which itself was picked from a tree on Berkeley's campus.  The tree actually started life in his dorm room where he planted it in his window.  Soon, it grew too big for the window so he put it in the back of his VW and took it along on a visit to LA to plant it in his parents' backyard. 

On the way home, he was pulled over by a cop who saw his VW, his long hair and a plant in the back seat and assumed it was a marijuana plant!  Imagine the cop's surprise to find it was an innocent apple tree.  The family planted it in the backyard and ever since jokingly referred to it as their "marijuana tree".  Well, now it is ours and what a beauty she is! 

Without any effort on our part she is showering us with hundreds of apples.  I plan to make the most out of the gifts from this little tree.  So, if you have a moment, please, pretty please, share your favorite apple recipe or idea!
     

Work in Progress Wednesday: Simple Dry Pantry

I've always wanted a beautiful pantry.  Organized shelves lined with same sized mason jars with cute labels filled to the brim with basic ingredient staples.  Like this photo from Country Living, below:

Unfortunately, stuff in my "pantry" (which is really just a bookshelf next to the washer/dryer) is piled up with things generally all toppled over each other, like this: 



Combine that with the fact that I have no idea what much of it is and it is time to simplify!  I sorted and purged my dry goods pantry and dug around to find some unoccupied mason jars under the sink.  No, they aren't the same size jars and no, I don't (yet!) have cute labels for them, but this is a step in the right direction.



Just seeing it all out front and organized more has helped me tremendously already!  I made bean chili with bulgar wheat today because I found some beans and bulgar and chili powder - none of which I knew I had buried in there.



Some day I will have a beautiful pantry.  Until then, I'm pretty pleased with my simple and functional one.  And I'm still gonna make some cute labels!

Deck Your Walls: How to Get Free Art in Four Steps

1) Gather the materials: watercolors, brushes, water, Arches watercolor paper pieces, masking tape and the backside of a cutting mat

2) Carefully tape down the arches sheets to "frame" the paper, brush plain water on paper and hand a toddler a brush...and step back.  (until you are needed to remove the tape and tape down a new canvas which is usually at 60 seconds intervals)





3)  Marvel at how toddler's technique and choice of color is way more interesting than yours will ever be again.  Ah, the innocence and playfulness of childhood!





4) When the paper runs out, you now have a whole wall full of free art ready for framing

 

I love the instant white frame masking tape creates around the art when you remove it.  This does not look like toddler art, it looks like professional abstract art when done this way.  I'm definitely going to frame a few of these for our new home. 

We used "wet on wet" technique for all of these, you brush on plain water to wet the paper first before painting.  This allows the colors to spread, fan out and blend effortlessly.  It is a great choice for toddlers to play with color blending and not feel pressured to "paint something" recognizable. 

 

My Garage Studio Tour - Goodbye Old Friendly Space

I've never shown these photos of my garage studio and now I'm about to say goodbye to it since we are moving.  We'll call this the "goodbye tour" then, shall we?  It started out as an average, dusty garage:

I made hundreds of toys in here back when it looked like this.  The more time I spent in here though, the more I realized this was no place to bring toys to life!  So I got to work and wound up with a very humble (but bright and friendly) garage studio workshop:

 

Now for the official tour of DIY projects that brightened the place up...

This polka-dotted chair was a sidewalk trash find about 12 years ago in Madison, WI.  It has followed me ever since and has been upholstered in satin purple, nubby dark red and now finally polka dot - which yes, is the same fabric I used to make these baby pants recently.

The work table is from Ikea and the white shelving was $15 from a hardware store and was originally silver colored - I spray painted it white.  I decorated the entire studio with my main source of inspiration...children's books. 

I have a HUGE collection of rusty, huge, scary looking tools, pulleys and other old rusty things.  These hang out nicely with the books and toys. 

My supplies were all organized in stuff we already had laying around.  Old wooden shipping crates, wooden wine boxes, baskets and even a few planting pots.  The fabric panels hide all the "garage" junk I have to share the space with, like shovels and cans of paint. 

My saw table was made for me when I was six years old by my uncle.  It is made out of recycled pipe tubing.  I spray painted it white and glued on the colorful vintage buttons.  This is my very old saw that bit the dust nearly two years ago now.   

This is the pathway out my back door and to my studio:

Here is the humble space from the outside, although the roof was redone about a month ago:

So there you have it!  Thanks for letting me take this "goodbye tour" of my studio.  I'll miss it dearly, but a fresh space in our new home is waiting for me to transform and make mine.   

PS - I'd be lying if I told you I didn't miss woodworking and making wooden toys.  I miss it.  Dearly.  The wheels have been turning with all sorts of new ideas and I'd be willing to bet I'll be back with a vengence come next year sometime.  I can't wait.  

(***This post was part of DIY Day, A Soft Place to Land.  Every Thursday there are hundreds of inspiring DIY projects to browse!)