Archive - April, 2010

Honor Roll

Sometimes I come across something so cute/sweet/charming/funny/pretty/inspiring/lovely that I just want to share it with you.  These are the things that have made my  honor roll.

Twelve Months Old (Eleanor’s Monthly Photo)

Happy first birthday, Eleanor!

Twelve Months Old (Eleanor's Monthly Photo)
Twelve Months Old (Eleanor's Monthly Photo)

(I’ll be taking a photo of Eleanor sitting in the Eames rocker and wearing her pin each month until she’s two years old.)

Previous Photos
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Modern Plant Stands

I’m obsessed with modern planters on stands. How amazing are these Pod Planters? Or the Walnut Stand and Vessel? And I’ve always been fond of the colorful Retro Bullet Planter.

Unfortunately they’re all on the pricey side. Sure I could spring for one, but what I really want is a whole grouping. I do already own a set of similar planters from CB2 though, seen in this photo from three years ago…

front porch

The problem? They tip over really easily. And maybe that’s a problem with the others too, but I think they look sturdier. Another problem? The white paint is flaking off and the planters have become chipped and rusted. That’s not such a problem though because that gives me the opportunity to go ahead and spray paint them guilt-free. They’re already less than perfect, so I can only improve them by painting them!

I’m thinking yellow.

Cooped Up

I spent a good portion of yesterday researching chickens. I’m fascinated by the idea of keeping chickens in the backyard for eggs! I don’t know if it’s right for us, but I had a lot of fun looking at chicken coops and imagining having one out back.

  1. Chicken Crib
  2. Eglu Cube
  3. Modern Chicken Coop
  4. The Saltbox Coop
  5. Eglu Go
  6. Portable Chicken Coop

Design*Sponge recently wrote about keeping chickens, and Apartment Therapy wrote about the subject a couple of years ago. As people are becoming more aware of their food sources and sustainable living (both things I’m working on), it seems chicken keeping is making a big comeback. I haven’t met anyone keeping them in an urban (or suburban) setting, though it seems they’re out there! Do you or any of your neighbors have chickens?

CD Storage and Organization

Brandon and I have just finished transferring all of our CDs into slim CD sleeves. We kept the specially packaged discs as-is, but I wish we had switched out the generic plastic cases long ago because getting rid of them was a fantastic way to condense our collection!

CD Organization

I know many people keep their discs in binders or just go completely digital, but CD sleeves work best for us. Yes, we’ve imported a lot of our music into iTunes, but there is something to be said for being able to grab an obscure CD and pop it into the stereo rather than having to update a playlist and resync the iPod.

CD Organization

Organizing our collection this way allows for easy expansion while still keeping it all alphabetical. We also like that we can keep a handful of discs by the stereo safe in their sleeves, rather than having them sit out unprotected as they would be had we grabbed them from a binder. We ordered from JewelSleeve after Ana mentioned them when I asked for CD storage advice. Brandon and I love that the sleeves can hold the booklet and the tray card, leaving the spine with the artist and album title visible for easy browsing. If you’re looking for CD sleeves, I highly recommend them!

CD Organization

We’re storing all of our CDs, DVDs, and video games (we have a lot of media) in three hopen drawer units in Brandon’s office.

IKEA Hopen Drawers

They look great and they’re working well for us, but I do have one complaint; the drawers don’t open fully and it’s hard to see what’s at the back. To counteract this, we placed blocks at the back to push the CDs forward. The blocks are made of 5″ wide boards of thick foam-core (available in craft stores), stacked up to make 3″ tall blocks. Then I cut single strips of thin foam-core to separate each row of CDs, keeping our rows nice and neat.

CD Organization

The random stacks of CDs that we didn’t have room for are gone now. All of our discs (1500 or so) fit nicely into four drawers, and it feels so good to have solved one of our biggest storage dilemmas.

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