Projects | BulgingButtons

August 12, 2014
by BulgingButtons 8 Comments

Damn You, Pinterest Divas

I’m sitting here in my office/studio/craft room (I haven’t settled on one name for it yet) surrounded by boxes waiting to be unpacked, and cursing the people who have posted all those amazing office/studio/craft room pictures on Pinterest. I have the room, I have the furniture, and I have the stuff, but I don’t have the office/studio/craft room of my dreams. I don’t even have one worthy of a photo. At least not yet.

I had an idea in my head of what my space would ultimately look like, but as I’m sitting in it, the reality of my environment is slowly sinking in. It’s not Tiffany Blue. It doesn’t have a hardwood floor. There is no chandelier. There are no built in cabinets. None of the furniture is white. In fact, it looks a lot less like Pinterest and a lot more like a cluttered suburban bedroom with a desk stuck in the middle. Go figure.

More or less my fantasy studio

The funny part about it is that the desk isn’t really even a desk. It’s a table, and it used to be my kitchen table. It’s from IKEA and it’s not terribly fancy, but it’s a great size, and it gets the job done. Add in two matching floating shelves for my flying pig collection and family photos, my four double cube units for quilting fabric, and my two big bookcases, and you might think I would be golden. You would be wrong.

I also have a set of matching IKEA drawers and a small Closetmaid nine cube unit. The fabric cubes and the big bookcases are brown, everything else is black. The walls and carpet are beige. Not a dull, ugly beige, but a modern pretty beige. Still, beige is beige. Stunning, right?

I can’t have a chandelier, I need my ceiling fan, and frankly it’s new and it looks pretty good. I won’t be getting hardwood flooring. I live in a super-dry climate and wood doesn’t do that well. Besides, the carpet is new. The paint job is new too, so Tiffany Blue will have to run its course in other people’s homes. I do love it, but will I next year? Beige is forever, people. Looking around, it occurs to me that I actually sort of like my space. I have my books, my fabric, my pigs, my computer, and my sewing machine. I have room to work, and if I’m in the middle of a mess I can shut the door and nobody has to know. I more than like my space, I’m growing to love it.

No, there are no cute decals on the wall about home and family and living and laughing and loving. And no, I don’t have color coordinated bins for my supplies or a chevron printed office chair, but I have space. I have space to think and plan and create and design and write and sew and dream and wonder. I have space to display the things that inspire me and space to store the tools I need to help me turn those inspirations into finished products. My room may not be Pinterest worthy, but I do love it here. Now if I could only get the rest of those infernal boxes unpacked…

May 10, 2014
by BulgingButtons 4 Comments

May Mantra – Sell This House

Good Morning Swiffer. Hello vacuum. How are you this beautiful Saturday, duster? I feel like these implements have become my dear friends. Friends that I would like to take a break from. It’s not that they aren’t helpful, it’s just that we’ve been seeing a little too much of each other lately.

As of today many people have walked through my house, deciding whether or not to make it their new home. So far they have all decided not to. There is someone, however, who is on the fence. Their realtor called to schedule a second look. They are narrowing down their options. Apparently their concern is not the construction project across the street (over which I have no control) but the small size of the yard (over which I have no control).

The realtor told me the client is downsizing. Perfect. A small yard with no upkeep should be just the ticket. There’s room in front for puttering if they want to put in more plants, and they can container garden like crazy in the back. I wonder if the flowers were there the first time they came through. They look great now. Maybe that will inspire them.

It’s too bad that my umbrella broke. One afternoon while we were at work the wind picked it up and smashed it against the wall. At least it didn’t leave a gouge. The umbrella provides some much-needed shade and a pop of color. My mother is adamant that I replace it immediately. Should I?

This is what I do. I obsess about things which may or may not make any difference at all. In a perfect world a person should scout out the neighborhood, then walk through a house, to get a sense of the floor plan and amount of space it offers. They should carefully observe what types of updates and repairs the property might need. They should ignore things like current furnishing, wall colors, decor, and the like. They don’t. Most people see what they see, and if it looks pretty they’ll like it, but if it doesn’t they can’t see past it.

This accounts for my obsessing over the tiny details that I can control, since there are big things that I can’t control. So off I go, to Swiffer and vacuum and dust, and to replace my broken umbrella, so the tiny backyard looks like the desert oasis it is.

April 20, 2014
by BulgingButtons 4 Comments

Spring Renewal

Today being Easter I can’t help but think of renewal. I’m not a Christian, but I do understand the significance of this day, and of the concept of resurrection. I find the idea that people can get another chance, even after death, uplifting- as do countless believers. While I’m not in the running for an eternal heavenly placement, I would like yet another chance here on earth.

I’m taking this opportunity to do some spring cleaning of various sorts. First there’s the bodily spring cleaning that needs to be done. Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with my doctor to review some lab reports. They were standard, nothing too worrisome, yet once again they pointed out that I’m stressing my body in ways that it doesn’t like.

Fewer calories, more exercise. Fewer sweets, more fruits and vegetables. Fewer stressors and more physical activities. I know all of this, and yet, here I am again, back where I began. Don’t believe me? Check out the 47 for 47 page that appeared last July. My progress has been poor, but I’m going to print out another check sheet and see if I can’t turn things around. I know my cheerleaders are here to help me, as always.

Another clean up project involves the blog. Not cleaning up, exactly, but straightening up. I almost deleted the projects page, until I realized that I still have projects to share, they’re just different than I originally anticipated. I’ve also included a Best of BB page so you can quickly find posts that others have found noteworthy. I do appreciate shares and reblogs, as long as you link back here, so by all means have at it.

Finally there’s the house. The blasted, blessed house. I’ve been working on cleaning and staging it so I can sell it at last. Today we did some landscaping touch ups, and it looks quite lovely, if I do say so myself. Yesterday we took another walk though one that I quite like, even if it does need some TLC. C’mon house, SELL!

So, in the spirit of new life, new growth, and renewal in general, I wish you a happy spring, and a season of joy and love.