Razor Blades- Revealed/Concealed

I saw Lisa's comment on the last post, and thought I'd share what I got to see down inside my wall... My razor blade dreams have all come true! Now for the house of slots! As a side note, all razors found inside the wall behind our old medicine cabinet were preserved in the exact place they were found. Drywall has been cut and pasted over the hole where the cabinet used to be, so come another 60 years I can only hope that someone knows what the hay is going on when they run across this dangerously sharp time capsule.



In related razor blade news, there's this awesome etsy shop run by a lady here in Austin called Fetosoap. Check out these soaps. I should have donated our wall treasures to her!

Bathroom Chronicles, Part Two : Floor Tiling

Oh bathroom... how I love and hate you. Sometimes you let in the cold, and contractors neglect you, but someday, you'll be a star. New walls are up, and the shower pan poured.



Two baldies at work. Pa came down to Austin to help lay some of this wickedly large 12x24 inch tile. You'd think a kind son would be down on his knees instead of letting the old man oldman do it, but...



look at the thinset that guy lays! Julie said, "textbook." She would know... Mine always looked really gloopy and bad. In a few years, when tiles start cracking, we'll know which few I had a hand in.



We rented a tile saw, and went to town. This tile was our Piece de Resistance.



Like a friggin glove.



This tile is NOT the daltile Fabrique, but it's a knock off brand called Strands. Can't find anything about Strands on the internet, but the old Tile Guy is always in the know... Made by the same company and cost 1/4 as much per tile. With saw skills peaking, it's like this tile just grew up and over the shower curb. Baldy's getting a little toot tooty up in har.



Still have the walls of the shower to do... and some grouting, but it's looking pretty sexy.



Oh, and BOOOOOOOOOOOOYAHHHH!

Bathroom Chronicles, Part One

Observe the master bath. It's this here 5ish by 5ish square foot zone. It's hard to take pictures of because there ain't no room. I take a shower in that tiny area behind that door there. Picture that, ladies.



Welcome.



Please enjoy your dank cavern shower.



It's easier to take pictures of the area when big boys knock out a wall. Unfortunately, the toilet was the newest feature of the bathroom, and it took a sledge to the face.



This area is about 5 feet from where we sleep at night. Julie's freaked out about what is going to crawl into the house and cozy up beside her.



I feel like the morning light is going to look a little nicer when it shines in the bathroom window in a few weeks from now. To be continued...

It's gittin grilly in here..

I've been toolin around with this here lamp the past couple o days. Well, it started last week, which began with me divin willie nillie into electricity city without doing my homework, and sparks and smoke arose from my outlets. After some proper learning, I built this lamp! I could have kept it like this here, but I had these curved up bamboo pieces that I wanted to incorporate.



I slapped em on.



First I thought I'd use some rice paper for the innards, but that seemed more blando than this stuff up at Breed and Co. It's a radiator grill cover piece, though I wonder how many homes in Austin have old radiators that need covering.

Luckily, I had a lamp that could use some covering, and this stuff worked out well. It also casts cool shadows that can soothe a wailing baby, when singing Yankee Doodle just doesn't cut it any more.

Maybe I'll sell this gem. It has it's prototype qualities, which could be smooved out, but if someone has their wits about them, they'll pay top dollar for the prototype that changed the face of lighting... or if they are sick of being in the dark when the sun sets.

Thangs of Wood that Normally Ain't

During the blustery cold nastiness, the pendant lamp workshop moved into the living room momentarily. If someone needs them a lamp, they ain't caring if it's wicked cold outside and the garage hasn't any heat.



Also got to take the new vacuum press for a trial run, and it bends some veneer like a champ, and all I have to do is sit back and watch.



Also, I got this supercool ashwood record player for my bday in spirit from my friend deanna. I got it in spirit, b/c the 1300 dollar price tag is something I'm definitely not worth in real life. In Spirit Life, I own rare wooden records to play on this bad boy. Back in real life I got the mono box set of the beatles from my awesome wife for my birthday. Though I'm deeper into decrepity, it's good to know that the fab four will always be older.. and more decrepity.

Schoolhouse RAWK

My friend John mentioned this here school is for sale out in Smithville Texas. Maybe we'll move in!



It was built in 1905, and takes up an entire city block... My only fear is that come 3am, all the ghostly schoolchildren would come out to play. I have no doubt about nightly kid laughter/fingernails on the chalkboards/paddling/wailing, etc.



Not only does the place come with an apartment ready for livin in, it also comes with a stage to rock. That would make Julie's annual lip sync party a superrad hit... nicer to watch John and his sister on an auditorium stage than in our backyard, like below...

What Am I Doing?

This friend o mine wants me to refinish this stereo cabinet for him. I says to the man, I says, "Lookit man, I've made this and that, but I've never done me any type of refinishing before. You sure you want me to do this?" He tells me it can't look much worse, but also follows it up with, "my grandfather gave it to me when he passed away, and it has a lot of sentimental value." Awesome.



So I take my sander to this heirloom piece and see what happens. Startin to get somewhere. Gonna whip out the dremel and harness me some new skills in them hard to get to spots. Did I mention this stereo is sitting under my leaky party cover with a tarp on it, and there's a hardcore chance of rain this week? No worries, brah.



In other I-Don't-Know-What-I'm-Doing news, I purchased a vacuum press kit thinger, with a motor and many brass fitting type parts. After a couple, "How do i do this??" emails and a trip to Breed and Co, I got my gearhead on, and now it's wired up and runnin fine. I'm in the big leagues now, and gonna be vacuum pressing veneers into bendy wood objects like nobody's bidness. Let's let Little Eva take it out with her appropo hit Bend it!

- - Little Eva - Bend It Found at abmp3 search engine