Another Lifetime to go

27th June 2019

We were desperately trying to finish a dresser to take to the new space. Kelli was trying to decide what knobs to fit. One idea was to make them out of old wooden cotton reels. I mocked one up, “Nah!” She said. Next were some I was crafting out of wood. I had made six and was ready to make the last two. “Could you stain one dark?” I immediately did it. “Nah!” She said. It was as if someone had said to Michelangelo who had just finished his sculpture of David, “ It’s nice but I wanted an urn”

Eventually she settled on some knobs she had used on the old house that the landlord had returned, guess they were too outrageous for “normal” people. Still, we reused them to great effect.

When we got to the store and unloaded the dresser, I wandered around looking at pieces other vendors had supplied. I rub my hand across the top surfaces of the various dressers, desks and tables and gauge how smooth they are compared to ours. This is important to me(in a smug way) it is a feeling of quality, and it gives me a feeling of inner most joy when I scrape my hand over a surface that is rougher than the sand paper I used.

I spent the evening painting the commission pieces, with the occasional distraction of weed collecting.

Since we got the composter, it has drastically reduced what we put in the bin. “How long before we can use the compost we make?” Kelli inquired.

I didn’t have a clue, most people who have them never use the compost, they just keep filling them up, the level never changes, it’s like they’re sitting above a sink hole.

“About five years I think” I eventually replied.

Kelli’s eyes rolled.

“By then we’ll have somewhere to use it on”.

26th June 2019

Just another day of painting and staining.Kelli was not very well, so I pottered about doing stuff, and keeping production going. One of the garden chairs we picked up recently broke when I sat on it. Not due to my weight,may I add, this is a vegan household so I’m constantly hungry and thin (just joking).

The weather is hot and sunny, I have been able to expose my legs to the sun and mosquitoes. These must be stealth mozzis, because I don’t ever see them attack, I just know that they have.

I think I’m becoming obsessed with weeds. As part of my daily routine of dog shit collecting, I can’t pass a weed without pulling it out. They are so easy to pull because of the sandy soil. I can get lost for hours, bent over pulling and bunching the little critters, I must look like a question mark.

I haven’t experienced any noticeable difference in the front lawn, I was expecting thick green luscious grass, but no, not yet. I’m probably a victim of a fiendishly clever hoax convincing me to spread a sackful of black grit over my grass.

25th June 2019

Took more things to the new space, plus the usual stop at Goodwill to pick up any gems that might be there. We found a television stand in a light wood, and in good condition.7

During our chill out time we have been watching The Great Interior Design Challenge. Kelli is obsessed with the word “Bespoke”. It is used many times during the same episode. It drives her nuts.

She went on google to find out its meaning and discovered it was used to denote made to measure suits where the fabric had “been spoken” for. I did not know that.

Now she just shouts at the tv “It doesn’t apply to furniture!” I now cringe every time I hear it.

24th June 2019

Another day at the book store, anxiously awaiting that time we finished because this was the day that we made our first delivery to the new store, Our Collected Homes. This is a much scaled down operation, compared to Painted Farmgirl. It is housed within a much larger business called Not So Shabby. This has been around for quite a few years, so building a new outlet within the larger “Mothership” could be an advantage.

It is due to open on Saturday, so everyone is excited, and hopeful of it’s success.

Back at the ranch, I splashed a bit of paint around on our commissioned piece.

23rd June 2019

It is supposed to be a day of rest, but not for us. The new space opens next Saturday so we had to work hard to get the things finished.

I had a number of tops to stain, but the weather was quite humid so things wouldn’t dry very quickly. Fortunately we had a collection of things ready that we can start to deliver tomorrow.

We took a bike ride down to point west to watch the sun set over the lake. The boats were going out, opening up the throttle, and bouncing on the waves, turning round and coming back. “ Pointless” I said out loud.

“You say that every time” says Kelli.

The lake was like a mill pond, and the water level is the highest I’ve seen. Even the wash from the boats returning is enough to cover the pier. But it is a wonderful sight seeing the big orange ball sink into the water, then it’s time to climb back on to the bikes and cycle home.

22nd June 2019

I try very hard to be humorous in most situations, mainly as a defence mechanism, but often to see how silly I can make situations tolerable.

Today we had to pick up a composter that I bought on Marketplace. We have decided that it is the best thing to do as we create a load of waste. I am amazed at the stuff we bag up and throw in the bin. As we were now home owners we should be more responsible, and lead by example. So we set off into the wilderness and arrived at this house set deep in the woods. As a side note, it wasn’t actually me who arranged the pick up, it was Kelli. I had messaged the person first but got no reply, so when she did it, a reply came through. “

The composter was outside the house as we pulled up. The lady emerged from the house at the same time. I said I was disappointed there was no compost in it, but ignoring my quip(as most people do), she said that she had pressure hosed it clean, so we loaded it up and headed off to our next port of call.

We found a couple of things at Goodwill, including a side table that looked like the finish had been applied with a knife.

We picked up some compost and furtilizer from Menards, and wasted no time in applying the stuff on the grass.

It took bloody ages to deposit the granules on just the front lawn. Up and down, side to side, diagonal to diagonal many times over, I started to doubt if anything was dropping out of the spreader, so I checked that, and everything was working as expected. At the end, the thought of doing the back lawn is daunting enough to allocate a whole day plus lunch and afternoon tea.

21st June 2019

We were back in Saugatuck for another day at the book store. It was hot and sunny, two of the worse things that can happen to Kelli whilst working inside.

I went to the coffee place and stood behind an old guy who wanted an orange juice.

“Unfortunately we’ve run out” said the girl behind the counter. This was met with a groan of disappointment, “but we can make some more if you want to wait a while”

The guy looked surprised, “ What do you mean? I don’t get it”. The girl repeated her answer.

“What, you’ll go and get another bottle?” he didn’t grasp the concept of taking a real orange and squeezing it. I was standing there ready to step forward and draw him a diagram.

Eventually he agreed, ordered the juice then sat down at a table to wait. I got my coffee and settled down to write my blog. When he received his juice, he stared at the contents as if he had asked for a turd in a glass. “It’s got stuff in it” he muttered to his companion “ It’s not what I’m used too”

I did refrain from repeating my episode with the weeds and shouting “ That’s what bloody real orange juice is like”

After our wedding we had an agreement that every time we heard “America” by Simon and Garfunkel (our outro song) we would stop what we we doing, and wherever we were, come together and dance. Most of the time we would’ve been at home, but today it played whilst we were in the store. I was just about to grab Kelli and swirl her around the floor when a damn customer interrupted us wanting to pay for a book, damn him. We managed to get in a couple of sways as the song died away.

After my “issue” with the lawn, and doing more research last night, I decided to make a rough measurement of both lawns so I could calculate the amount of fertiliser I needed.

I concluded that I would need two sacks for the front and three for the back. Considering how large the bags were, I could imaging the lawns would crunch underfoot.

19th June 2019

We needed to do the rounds of Goodwill to search for more things to work on. First on the list was the place closest to us. This was the one I used to pass everyday on route to the Design Yard, never did I think I would spend so much time there many years later.

Entering the place we were immediately hit with a couple of wooden garden seats that would be perfect for our back garden. Kelli couldn’t reach the “hold” sign fast enough.

The visit did result in a couple of good finds, so it was off to the next.

We had already been to this one a couple of times this week already, so expectations weren’t great.

There were a couple on massive entertainment centres in mock oak. With everyone changing to flat screens, these dinosaurs are difficult to use for anything other than multiple burials. We have converted a couple of them in the past (I have one at the moment that has been work in progress for a year or so) but they are tall, heavy and often slow to sell.

Kelli found some small items to sell on market place, including egg cups with lids and a rabbit motif set in to it. This led to a discussion of why a rabbit, and not a chicken. After all the design should be a clue to what’s under the lid. No one would expect rabbit eggs or worse, a poached bunny.

When we got back home I walked round the front and back garden swearing at the weeds. The lime I had put down had little effect on the moss, so I swore at that as well.

Kelli had picked up a cute side table and wanted to strip the top. She went at it with a sander exposing strips of bamboo wood, not the best examples, but we had to make the best of it. She rummaged around the paint cupboard and found several cans of spray paint which she proceeded to use on a spare piece of wood. She settled on a dark aqua green, giving the frame and top some serious coverage. When she had finished, the grass looked like a tribute to gay pride, but hopefully that will be cut off next time.

18th June 2019

I made a start on the “wood” desk top by sanding through the lumps. I was left with patches of MDF exposed that I sealed with polyurethane. The edging was solid, and the old finish came off easily. However our orbital sander decided to give up the ghost, which was a little inconvenient.

Kelli decided that it was sun bathing time so plonked herself down on the lounger and sizzled.

I started my lawn treatment project by filling my spreader with garden lime. Hopefully this will piss the moss off sufficiently to get the heck out of here. Most people in the area use professionals to treat their grass. They arrive with their trucks loaded with apparatus of all kinds. There was me rattling along with my spreader depositing a various array of lime particles. I had watched a number of YouTube videos on the subject, so many that Kelli’s eyes must have hurt from rolling so much.

Over the weeks I must have become an armchair expert on so many things. I do get side tracked so often, I start off on floor laying, this then leads to antique restoration, which then moves through guitar building to architectural model making. By the time I hit car restoration my phone dies.

The most annoying thing is watching part one of something, and there is no part two.

17th June 2019

When someone says “ it’s solid wood” I just don’t believe them. Most of the people we deal with haven’t a clue what that means. To them anything that has a woodgrain is real.

We have been caught out often, and even asking a direct question about the material, the answer is often “Wood”.

We agreed to upcycle two pieces of furniture for a recent customer. One was a bookcase, the other was a small desk. They wanted them finished in the same colours as the piece they bought from us previously. This meant the tops would be stripped, stained and finished to match. We gave them a price for doing that, and today was the day they delivered it to us.

The first thing I noticed was several blisters in the top, on closer inspection I found it to be a melamine panel that had water damage.

My enthusiasm waned a bit, as I was looking forward to getting stuck in to it. I explained the problem and we agreed to paint the top and stain the wood edge.

I finished stripping the small dresser. I have decided to call it Jacob as it has coats of many colours. There is brown over red over aqua over white. This will excite Kelli who likes old crusty objects, as well as the furniture, it’s one of the reasons we get on well together. She will love to distress the corners to show all the previous colours.

We had some good news, we got our money from the Painted Farmgirl owner. After weeks of anger, she actually came through which was a relief.