Phone Photo Friday

08/26/2011

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Studio Murphy Workbench: In Progress

08/24/2011

Jason and I came up with an idea for a murphy bed style work table in his music studio utility room. We didn’t want something that would eat up precious floor space but he needed a work surface besides his desk or the floor for changing guitar strings, repairing effect pedals and soldering. It’s a fairly simple concept but I think Jason did a great job implementing it. It’s not a finished project yet, as you can see. He still needs to add drywall, mud it, prime it and paint it; and finish out the workbench with banding and add built-in hidden shelving and a power outlet.

The legs fold out on hinges like a drop leaf table. The table top is unlatched so it can fold down and rest on the legs.

It’s standing height or stool height. I have a specific kind of stool in mind… one of these retro chairs that doubles as a step stool. I saw one at a vintage store once but one of these replicas look like a decent option.

My old acoustic guitar is serving as a test dummy. We plan to add some felt or a rubbery soft surface to the table top that can be removed when he’s soldering.

I’ll be back to share the finished project whenever it’s done.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

House Tour: Master Bathroom & Laundry Room

08/22/2011

Master Bathroom

Oh man. So much to say about this room. And most of it has already been said. Once upon a time this room was a bedroom. The people who renovated the house before us quickly turned it into a bathroom with a washer and dryer in it. Basically it looked like a bedroom with hardwood floors, a washer and dryer in the closet nook, small shower, pedestal sink (zero storage) and a toilet in a little room. We re-renovated it into a much nicer and more practical master bathroom with a huge (4’x5′) hand-tiled shower with duel rain showers, tiled floors and a sink vanity made from a vintage piece of furniture. And, we did it ALL ourselves. If you have a few hours to burn, you can read all about our renovation project here.

Laundry Room

One of the best parts of the master bathroom renovation was creation of a separate laundry room. I remember having this floor plan epiphany while I was driving home from work one day. Originally we were just going to put doors in front of the W&D, but as the designated laundry-doer, I really wanted a walk in laundry room. Clearly, it’s not finished yet. Projects of higher priority caused us to stop when it was functional and say “good enough for now.” I have plans, though. Plans involving a craft/sewing table and prettier storage baskets for the shelves. Hopes of tiled floors (using the same tiles as the bathroom that we have in storage.) Dreams of attached drywall, mudded, primed, painted…

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

08/19/2011

Pardon me if this is crass, but yes, this is real. Jason and I drove past it a few weeks ago (on Charlotte Pk. in Nashville) and busted out laughing. We had to go back for a photo.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

IKEA 2012

08/18/2011

Have you looked through the IKEA 2012 catalog yet? I’ve skimmed but I haven’t had a chance to give it a thorough inspection yet. (I do that when I get the paper copy.) If you have, are you excited about any of the new products? I was intrigued and challenged by the Small Spaces video series.

I noticed that our SOMNAT crib went down $20 in price.

I’d love to have this poster…

Other than that nothing jumped out at me but I really enjoy browsing through the catalog every year. In several places IKEA succeeded in making these spaces look real and lived in. I love this. It’s a nice change from staged, perfect catalog images.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

You say tomato, I say t’mater.

08/15/2011

Did you know tomatoes are the state fruit of Tennessee? They grow wonderfully here. Our peach tree was a big disappointment (again) this year. They all rotted. Our black raspberries and (tiny) strawberries earlier this summer were delicious but this time of the year, it’s all about the tomato. Our area of town even has an annual Tomato Art Festival, which we missed because we were out of town. (Post from 2009.) Bummer.

Between Jason’s tour schedule and our new foster parenting adventure, we kept our garden small this year. We had originally planned on adding two more 4’x8′ beds. I’m very glad we decided to wait until next year for that! We have two tomato plants on one end and strawberry plants on the other. We also had romaine lettuce and arugula before it got too hot.

Incidentally, Tennessee’s state bird, the mockingbird, loves to eat the state fruit. Darn birds. There are still plenty of cherry tomatoes to go around though. And very soon (we started them late) we’ll have ripe beef steak tomatoes. Yum!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

08/12/2011

Splashing in puddles on the patio chairs.

Please pray for us today… it’s an important day. Thanks!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Thank you, Ohdeedoh!

08/10/2011

I failed to mention it here last week (crazy week, you know?) but last Monday—4 days after Ladybug arrived—Ohdeedoh ran a very kind interview with me and a tour of our kids’ room. I’m honored that they would choose to share our story with their readers. Also thank you and welcome to all of you who have been stopping by here after reading about us on Ohdeedoh! I hope you’ll stick around and share in this exciting new journey with us.

8 Comments | Art, Art: Bedoom for Foster Kids, Art: interior design, Art: kids room, Family, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Mystery Girl

08/09/2011

Perhaps you’re wondering why all of the photos of our little girl are faceless and why I’m not using her name. It’s not a strict rule from our training, but Jason and I have chosen to protect her identity. First of all, we’re not her legal guardians; the state is. Secondly, someone may be looking for her and it’s our job to keep her safe. So, her name for the purposes of blogging and facebook is L. Or lately, I’ve been calling her Ladybug. (Which is incidentally now a blog category in the “FILE UNDER” menu to the left, Family: Ladybug) I thought I’d explain that in case it seemed bizarre that I was cropping out the best part of the photos… her beautiful little face. And believe me, I am taking tons of pictures that aren’t creepily-cropped, for my personal use.

I need to come up with some creative, identity-concealing photo tricks. Any photographer friends or fellow foster parents out there have suggestions?

4 Comments | Art, Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Ladybug | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Front Garden Expansion: Phase 4

08/08/2011

Look! A blog post that isn’t about the kid! 🙂 I’ll get back to writing about her tomorrow, probably. I didn’t want to leave this series unfinished.

We got our gravel delivered and spread in the front garden. It’s close to being finished. Jason asked the delivery guys not to spread it all the way to the edges because he wants to had a landscaping border first, to keep the gravel from spilling into the grass. Weed eaters and pebbles are a bad combination… our front window can testify. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this since I identified the plants in the Phase 3 post. So, on with the pictures…

1 Comment | Art, Art: gardening, Art: God's creation | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

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