Babies Can't Stop Bald Hands From Making!

Long ago, I built a changing table for our daughter.  It was in her room, and built on top of the window sill, due to the lack of space in the room (and every room).  When the addition was made, the wall with said window/changing table was smashed to bits, but not before I unscrewed the guy.  I added a jumbo storage drawer underneath, slapped on some legs, and now the newly configured monster lives in baby Nate's room!



The murphy bed also got some new neighbors. Two storage bros, and a reading lamp.

Bottom bro is tricked out with a slide out nightstand! 



Lastly, in ye olde shoppe, it's the return of the Longboard Pendant lamp in Bamboo...  My bamboo source dried up on me, so I had to find a new well.  I should have a couple made soon if I can squeeze them out admist all of this pesky child rearing.

Play Kitchen... REVEALED!

Can you even believe it? I cannot. Baldy is blogging. Don't even know where to begin with the goingson since the last entry one million years ago. Here's the heavily abbreviated version. Christmas came. I made a toy box for my nephew. January came, and we had our second baby- sweet baby Nate. We made room in our house by adding a new bedroom for Claire (see above). I made her a little table, and a kitchenette which I guess is going to get some love here today. Goes like this:

My mom-in-law had these leftover white shelves and molding from an Ikea entertainment center that she gave me. Pa and I just got done building a murphy bed (did I mention I've been busy making murphy beds too?), so we had a bunch of deck screws left over. There was a bit of leftover 1/2 inch plywood from the toy box, so I threw all that into the kitchenette stew.

Some neighbors down the street were throwing out some stuff, and I snagged this corkboard off their driveway, and tacked it to the back of the kitchen. I also had this leftover radiator grill material that I used to make a table lamp, and it magically transformed into the oven door pretty well.

Besides a couple leftover handles and an old towel rack we had lying around, the hinges, spigot knobs, plumbing parts and the oven burner cover/sink all were purchased from the hardware store down the street.

My mom-in-law lives down the street from an Ikea, so I swung by there to pick up the little pots and pans, as well as 4 mouse pads/burners that I saw someone else use when they made their own play kitchen. Claire's pretty into it. Not really in the traditional way I guess, but more in the "Let's-rip-off-the-sink-and-drop-food-down-the-hole-and-retrieve-it-from-the-cabinet" sort of way. Sometimes she puts her fancy lady attire in the kitchen. I'd like she'll still be doing the same thing in about 25 years.

What, am I NOT going to put a picture of this new addition in this post? I'm NOT gonna NOT! More posts to come??? We shall see!

Ebay and the Gems Therein

My bro EBay and I used to be real tight. Back in the house renovation/dual income/no baby days. Since none of those conditions are static, all one can do is reminisce. Remember when we bought a couple Z chairs from some sucka in South Dakota for cheep, but they tagged us back with that hardcore ciggie stench when we opened the box? Well played, South Dakota.



What about those two wickt West Elm lights we got? One to put above the couch to assist in reading West Elm catalogs, and the other in the nursery to assist in reading Frankie Stein to Claire.



Then there was the vessel sink that the contractor thought was some sort of lamp shade. This was also the dood who just told us about going crazy with his sledgehammer and accidentally whacking the tar out of his last customers' stainless steel fridge. Needless to say, he didn't help in the sink installation.

I'm not much of a "Gotta have the Eames This and the Knoll That", but Julie and I really like the Nelson Bubble Lamp, so we got a SUPER STANKY YELLOW NASTY one on EBay, and with help from one Magic Eraser, it turned lovely white at less than half the price new.. and with a cool old Herman Miller tag on it to boot.

We were very envious of our friend's cool stationary rocking chair that he got from his grandma, and we found one on the 'Bay. It rules, rocks, is high backed, and this girl can do laps around it now... hence her blurriness. I could go on and on, but then you'd never come back to read again, so I stop. For now.

M+D+F 2009 Recap

The big day in the sun has come and gone. Here's a slight recap of a baldman, his lamp, and the M+D+F Exhibition at Design Within Reach.



My pa, my daughter, my lamp, and my first admirer are in this shot. Dad came to help me hang this guy the day before the exhibit, and it seemed a little dwarfed next to the giganto Shade Pendant DWR sells. The upside is it gets to stay there all week long, and maybe it can be seen through the window if you are walking by on all fours and angling your head just so.



I must admit that I didn't talk to many people who made stuff because I ended talking to all my awesome friends who came to support my woody creation... so names of designers or whatevs I slacked on... I do know that the woman who made these crazy lamps was named Gian and she won best in show. I won honorable mention like all the others who didn't get some propa props/chest bumps. I'm down with that.




I was also into the double duty of these end tables. One is End Table/Guitar Amp and the other is End Table/Grill. Rad.



The dood who made this beast I did talk to- Eric. He made this giant light out of styrofoam packing that can be found inside Apple Laptop shipping boxes. Looks cool. He won the best sustainable award. Really creative.

That's all I got. There were other entries too, but they deserve better than to end up on my goofy blog anyway. If you find yourself on 2nd Street, and aren't late for your massage or whatever, feel free to stop by Design Within Reach and feast your peepers on that lamp... should be there all this week, unless it gets in a scuffle with that beefy guy next to it. My lamp would lose the battle.

Big Lights and Little Ladies

So I went ahead and put this ole bendy piece of wood up on the etsy site, and had me some interest already, so that's cool.

Know what else is cool? This little lady... Julie is about to head back to work, so it'll be just baldy and the baby making wood lamps and dirty diapers. No snide comments on who is doing what, peanut gallery...

Baldmanmoddad

Baldy's been busy... raisin him the next generation. New and improved... with tons of hair!



Please forgive my lack of action. I have another sumpin in the works that'll be up here shortly, but til then, there's this 1.5 min vid of my door thang.

Manly Wednesday: Mocktoberfest

Man, here's the thing of it... first of all, who does Scarlett Johansson think she is getting married at 23?!? I mean, I know I'm older than Woody Allen practically (and married), but... I love beaches, balls, cherries, looking at the sun... c'mon Scarlett!!!!! You've broken my bald heart.



Tonight is Oct 22nd... not only is it my good friend Allen's b-day, but it's also one day LESS than a month from our bebe's due date. Come Nov 21st, Bald Man Mod Dad takes full effect. Tonight I had this sad solo Octoberfest meal involving grilled chili cheese dogs, bbq chips, and a hearty Fat Tire beer. I says to myself I says, "Self, maybe next year, you'll be in Berlin for Oktoberfest!", and self says to me back he says, "Fat chance, fat tire fat sucka... have a double dose of those chips and call it a year... on second thought... I think you've had enough chips."



So I drag my fat, bald, Scarlettless body into the soon-to-be nursery, and put some final touches on this chest o drawers I've been workin on... It used to be mine growing up, and before that was my uncle's growing up in the 50s. Actually his daughter just had a baby on Friday. She's 6 years younger than I. I'm not sure what all this means, but I'm off to buy a Trans Am with T tops tomorrow.

Baldman the III update...

This lady be making me do stuff... bebe stuff. I be doin it bald man mod style tho, so I'm keepin it rell.



On this semi unexpected 3 day weekend, I got a lot of stuff done. Finished up th built-in veneering, completed the changing table, and today I put together the crib. Holla.



You catch you a glimpse of that Frank Lloyd Wright stencil near the ceiling? Got that for Christmas...



Amy Coe brings you her crib. It beat me senseless. Almost literally. The sides crashed down on my bald pate, and scraped my new changing table in the process...



What? New changing table? Right brah... First time using paints and finishes for the green minded/newly born. Low VOC style, and mineral oils. Actually, the velvit oil is my new fave finish... easy to apply and sand, and only needs one coat. and you can eat off it. Anyone need a wooden microwave? I'm yer baldman.

Begone Chair Envy!

So we were really lusting after Daniel's chair, but Ebay came through for us. Some Canucks had this VERY similar Danish (DAN-ish?) rocking/reclining/high backed lounger AND it was red, which goes with the bebe room theme... though we've been told red ain't no bebe room themed color. I guess they do it dfferently up North. Please forgive the hippie No VOC paint and vegetable oil based finish in said pic (and old hunks of door and jamb... you are welcome for the thin sliver of really rad lamp i'm unna make a veneered lampshade for).



I mean, for real. These pics are dark and all, but did you notice that reeeeediculously rad arm rest into chair leg? C'mon. Baby Claire gonna get her ass rocked off in that bad boy.

Baldy's First Lay Off

Welp (as Ma would say)... I finally got the boot from my job. Made it through the first couple rounds of lay offs, but the rest of us left were told we could stick around... we just won't get paid. That's cool. Guess there's plenty around the house to do these days, and if I'm not getting paid, I'd rather have my wife as my boss. She's got long legs and carrying my child as well, so it's not a bad trade off.

Got this monster to take care of. This is the current state of the future baby zone. It's a catastrophe. The upside? Lots of built-ins for storage. The downside? Behind every door (except that top corner spot) one will find boxes and boxes of unsold Licorice Tree merch. So lots of figuring out to do. And I'm going to wicked up the doors of these built-ins (see below).

I mahoganied up some of the doors, and I think they look pretty nice. Thinking about doing the tall doors in a light maple veneer too, but that would qualify as a "purchase-post-layoff", and maple veneer isn't at the top of the list of absolute must haves. Probably located in closer proximity to "let's get Rock Band" on that list than, "we need some bread".

We also got this Amy Coe crib delivered last week... Babies R Us said we were the first to buy one at their location. I'm chalking that up with buying the first kitchen from the Round Rock Ikea location. Anyway, the crib is not in this state currently. It's in a giant flat box, about 900 lbs, and in a room that's NOT the baby room. I'll keep busy. And I AM looking for another job. Mostly doing that actually... with the help of some fab friends and fab dads of friends. Also updated my portfolio with some CAD stuff I've done. Carbonmade is currently winning my Carbonmade Vs Behance head to head portfolio-off. Need a Bald Man? They come cheap.

Rock Me Baby

Baldy and his wife are needing them a modern rocking chair, and it ain’t easy to come by. Seen a couple that are okayish, but Julie is a tall lady, and needs a high backed chair. Saw the perfect chair at our friend Daniel’s the other night, but he ain’t giving it up… “Been in the family for generations.” Blugh. Sappy a-hole. Don’t know what to do, as the baby gets closer, and a cool rocking chair becomes mo outta reach. Could have bought this Vladimir Kagan rocking chair pictured if I felt like dropping $9600 a couple years ago. I would have also felt like flying my platinum encrusted Concorde jet to New Jersey to pick it up.

Mod Mom Furniture

In a world filled with good ole boys turnin’ canes on their lathes, it’s awesome to see this wild woman cranking out cool furniture in her garage.



You know about the Mod Mom Furniture already? Possibly. As I’m finding out slowly, gitting your hands on cool kid furniture requires hardcore searching/readily accessible gold bullion bars. That’s what Kiersten the Mod Mom realized as well, and now she’s cranking out stuff like this here Bertie Box. Hot!



Her stuff is all birch ply wickedness, like this Eamonn Table… mini green lazy susan in the middle? Yes, ma’am, think I will…



Just knowing that she’s making stuff like this creative Owyn Toy Box, in her garage, next to the washer and dryer, AND she has people out there ordering as fast as she’s assembling, gives a bald man hope. Did I mention I had a question or three to ask this lady, and she answered/gave me invaluable knowledge on how to not gouge myself with my biscuit joiner? Tis true. Buy those goodies she makes and put them in my house.

Manly Wednesday- The Tuff Baby Entry

So yeah, baby coming. It’s hard to do a Manly Wednesday baby post, but here’s an attempt.



We are having a girl, so I feel like it rules out quite a bit of the tough baby clothing and gear, but there must be some crossover, right? Take this pink skeleton onesie for instance…



The rest of these goodies are over at Sourpuss Clothing… I’d like to work there just to type descriptions of their items. This Eat Brains bib really taps into my love for zombies. I’ve been waiting to play a zombie in a movie for a million years. And we have friends that make movies. Heavy undead sigh.



These Misfits shoes are awesome! I don’t know why I never got into this band as they are what I love really. Cornball songs, band in makeup, punk with 50s undertones? Anyway, had I been into these guys, like many are, these would be a must. Doesn’t seem to scream feminine, but…



THIS SCREAMS IT! There’s something inherently wrong about a “toddler mini skirt”, but if it comes in neon green, with skulls and stars, consider it on the registry.

Hot News- Baldman Family Grows by One

Word is Baldman is having a baby. Well, Julie is having it, and the Baldman is the one cutting the cord and smoking a stogie. And it's not an "it" but a little lady.

So here's the thing... what do we do? Day Care? Work part time? Quit altogether? We're pretty clueless... I'd like to work from the house but not sure how... If anyone is dumpin the day job, it'd be me, as Julie has a great job that she also loves. Anyone have a daycare they love? What this baby daddy supposed to do? Strap her to my back as I work in the field? Seriously, suggestions are highly suggested. Also giving me your super awesome crib/changing table/high chair is highly suggested.