Is Five Years Too Long for a Project?

Five years ago I started this project: re-cladding my garage with cement board and stucco paint and creating a mosaic on the yard-side of the garage. Here we are, at the end of summer in 2016 and I have finally completed this project.

When I picked the project up a few weeks ago, the wood was quite worn and needed re-working. Random tile, where I hadn't grouted, had come loose and was falling off.

I finished the tile work and re-painted the trim and things were ready for grouting this weekend.

The door I put on several years ago was looking pretty shabby as well. Luckily, I have a new one, salvaged from my neighbor's house. They were putting a new Home Depot special on their place so their gain is my gain.

I removed the hardware and cut it to fit. I added a few coats of paint and it was ready to go.

Yesterday was grouting day. I am very happy with how it all looks. Getting to door on was a little tough but it also came out great.

It will be nice to finally enjoy the back yard and patio without having this project looming over me.

Updating the Window Art on the Garage

About 8 years ago, my daughter and I took on an art project; painting some windows and mounting them on the back fence. You can read about it HERE.

This year, we did an update on the windows, featuring my daughter's artwork again. She loves to sketch animals from photos she finds around the net or in magazines. We desided to blow up a couple of her favorites and use them as the template for this year's art. 

She still did most of the painting but I helped to guide things so that we could have a complete project. It took the better part of the day but it was well worth it.  

After we finished the artwork, we hung it on the garage. I asked her if she had fun doing it. She kind of shrugged and said, "well, if you weren't going to let me watch me TV and I was just going to sit and do nothing, this was more fun than that". Not the highest praise but I think she enjoyed it much mroe than she wants to let on.

Figure Drawing at OPAL

Yesterday, I finally got to do something that I've been meaning to do for a long time.  I dusted off my art supplies, purchased some new paper and went to the weekly figure drawing session at the Oak Park Art League.

The Oak Park Art League or OPAL is located in an old carriage house designed by local architect E. E. Roberts.  It is a neat little unassuming building just up the street from Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio.  Oak Park has many artistic outlets like this gem of a place and it is unfortunate that I don't seem to have the time to get out enjoy them.

OPAL runs these sessions weekly on Sundays from 1 to 4.  The session starts with many quick two-minute poses and slows to a final hour-long pose.  For those of you that have taken figure drawing as a class, you'll recognize that it is a pretty standard format.   I don't believe that I have been to a figure drawing session in over twenty years and my skills are pretty rusty.  I still had a lot of fun and hope to make this a regular thing.  I could use a little additional creativity in my life and the ability to see and draw is always useful.

Painting

I had a couple projects planned for the weekend. I wanted to paint one side of the garage each day, I have a big non-house related project (which I'm sure you'll read more about in the coming days), and I had hoped to start my fall landscaping. I've resisted the urge to move plants around most of the summer so it's time for me to go crazy.I finished one side of the garage and like the color. I wish I had gone darker with the gold color but I can live with it because it is a huge improvement. We are having ANOTHER spectacular weekend here so I decided to start attacking the landscape. I want to expand the beds in the front and move some stuff from near the garage in the back, out front (I have a major garage project that I want to be ready for come spring).Just as I started digging the new beds in the front, my daughter approached me, saying that she wanted to come outside. She wasn't interested in gardening so I tried to engage her in something else. "Want to paint?" She was excited. What kid can resist cups of paint and a big paint brush? We decided to re-paint the art windows on the back fence with animals. She wanted a squirrel, a purple dog, a green cat and a sunshine. She went at the sunshine and the dog and filled in the blue skies and I helped her do the rest. Her dog ended up looking more like an octopus but it looks neat and she's starting to understand the back-painting technique, which is great.

Adirondack Chairs - Part 3

My plans to do some much needed work on the garage were delayed but the weather was so incredible, I had to get something done. Since it was so nice, I moved all of the wood for the Adirondack chairs outside and started sanding. The overall project was pretty uneventful but I accomplished the task and was cleaned up after only a couple of hours. I didn't think this was too bad. Now I just need to block out a day to assemble.

I've been adding some more curiosities to our garden. I installed my terracotta Brancusi a few weeks ago. If only I had more pots...This morning, my daughter was in a creative mood so we decided to build a Chinese Crane and nest in the front yard to celebrate the Beijing Olympics. We used left-over cedar from the Adirondack chairs. This otherwise would have become kindling so I think it is a good use.

A full day in the yard

I spent about 12 hours in the yard trying to do some major overhauling today. I made some progress on the back and got about half the front yard done. I stopped work because it started thundering but then the sun came out again. I didn't have the energy to finish so I did an art project for the back fence with my daughter instead. With the art windows and the hanging baskets, I think the fence looks nice. I am sure in some circles, folks might think it looks trashy but I think it brings an air of elegance to our plastic-filled yard.While working in the flower beds, I added a lot of the compost I have been making (actually, the little worms and other things have been making it, I've just been putting the stuff in there to help it along). The compost seems to be a huge success. It is litterally infested with earthworms. I swear that there were a few in there that scared me - HUGE. I tilled it into the beds I dug up. My wife exclaimed, "thank God we don't have boys." Hopefully this will make for happier plants. I think I moved about 25 3 gallon containers of the stuff. Not bad for one year's worth of kitchen and yard waste. Time to start over. I prepared for the day's work the night before at a local "temporary" nursery buying plants, mostly perennials. They had some really nice plants labeled native. I got some more black eyed susans, delphinium, and shasta daisies. I got three of the native plants but I can't think of their names. I better keep the little tags with them so that I can remember what they are in the future. As they flower, I'll blog about them. I want to throw down some more seed but haven't done that yet. I filled in here and there with some marigolds and alyssum and otherwise made do with transplanting what I already had. Can't wait until everything takes root and is bigger next year.

Final choices for the picture frame

The picture frame is almost complete and I cut a mat for the photo last night. Of course, the wife weighed in while I was working. She thought the white mat board was "too white". Needless to say, I'll be going to the store today to get some ivory board and cut a new one. We looked at it in the room - it is amazing how different things look when the flash is off (which is typically how the room looks in the evening). You can also see the size difference between the original photo and the new one.

Keeping busy in the cold weather

It’s been cold here – very cold. Contrary to what you might think, Chicago has relatively wimpy winters. This year has been the exception. The nice part about all the bad weather is that I can keep working on the bedroom.

My plate is pretty full and I have several projects going on. After a short argument with my wife, I gave in and did not run out to Toms Price and buy a new Stickley night stand for the bedroom. Inspired by some of the woodworking I’ve seen on the houseblogs, I decided to build one instead.
I came up with a design (actually, I came up with several) that had a mission style appearance and would fit nicely next to the bed. I simplified it, simplified it some more, fretted for hours about how I would put it together and I finally have something to show. I’ve cut all the pieces except the top. I am particularly proud of the tapered legs. I am not a woodworker and I actually made a jig to cut them all the same. I am sure that you woodworkers out there are not impressed but when you spend more time making a jig then you do the actual product, I consider it a big deal.

I won’t be using any fancy joinery on this one - baby steps. Instead I got some ball-head screws to hold most of the pieces together. I will blog more on my furniture-making exploits once I get some sanding done and start assembly. Who knows, a trip to Toms Price may still be in order.
We also made a decision on the border in the bedroom and it arrived yesterday. It is from Trimbelle River and is a forget-me-not pattern. Now we just need to experiment with some colors and paint the border. This scares me more than the furniture project.

Finally, I got my photo of Mt. Lushan enlarged and will be making a frame for it out of some mahogany I bought (by the way, that's my leg-tapering jig sitting next to the pile of mahogany in the basement). The colors in the photo were my inspiration for those on the walls and the Asian view fits the style of the room pretty well. I can’t wait to start that project – probably by April.

Seriously though, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on the bedroom. I picked up all of the toe molding and then all I have left is to strip and re-finish the closet door and I am done.

Inspired by a trip to Garfield Park

One of the great places in Chicago is Garfield Park and though the city really needs to get its shit together and fix this place. Most of the park is deplorable and an embarrassment to the city but the area around the Garfield Park Conservatory is looking pretty good. We went to the park this week to see the installation of Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures. For those of you that are into sculpture or perhaps if you have been to Paris, you may know the sculptor’s work. One of her most notable works is the Stravinski Fountain, a collaboration with Jean Tinguely adjacent to the Centre Georges Pompidou.
The installation is amazing. The landscape and conservatory are dotted with massive, highly colored figural sculptures. If you are in Chicago this summer, this is something you should not miss. If you have kids, they will love it as most of the sculptures are installed so that they can be climbed on.The trip to Garfield Park inspired me. We spent the day on Sunday planting and fixing up the garden. With the help of my visiting mother in law, we potted flowers and planted the tub and beds. I think it looks nice. There are no big colorful sculptures but my wife is glad to see my collection of large terra cotta ornament outside in the garden as opposed to in the house.
Another project I tackled was a landing for our garbage cans. Since we moved in, this has been a brush covered mound. Though we try and keep our garbage in this area, precariously balanced on various CMU pavers, it has never really worked. Almost as a message to us from the garbage men, at the end of trash collection day, scattered garbage cans would barricade us from the garage door. Hopefully this week, they will find their way back to the pad.
In case you were wondering about yesterday’s post, the stumps are still there. I am crossing my fingers the landscaper shows up today to take them away but I am not holding my breath anymore.