Shade Crazy

I went a little shade crazy at Lowe's the other day. I went for one shade and somehow came home with five. Four of the same kind! umm? What can I say. I am crazy when it comes to a good deal. It also probably had something to do with the fact that I have not been able to buy anything do to budget cuts (see previous post) and I somehow justified it since it was for the house and not my money.  (Thanks Casey) Anyway they were $3.94!!! for an 11" shade. I am not sold on the tan canvas fabric but it will do for now (it has a bird on it). Here is one of my $4 shades on a crusty brass lamp that was left in the house when we bought it. I spray painted it an orangey red.

The second shade is tragically ugly but was only $6.00 and measures in at 14"around the bottom.  I really just wanted the hardware and will recover it somewhere down the line.  Here it is atop my last score of the day, an $8.00 base. The base is actually plastic but for $8.00 who cares. I got two of these babies.

In the process of spray painting the base I kind of fell in love with the primed version.  I finally understand why DIY bloggers spray paint everything white.

For a moment, I had a glimpse an alternate life where I came home at 3:00 AM to my stark white and empty minimalist apartment from my glamorous job as a big city architect, designing skyscrapers for 80 hours a week.  I quickly snapped back to reality, where I live off the grid in Vermont, barely scraping by on kitchen remodels and where nothing is white for very long. Yesterday, I spent two hours stacking rocks around our front door walkway. Then I spent another two hours shoveling gravel into the pickup truck and off again into the washouts in our driveway, while pining for a tractor.  And so you see why the white lamp had to go. 

It received the same treatment as the brass lamp.  You can see the eye-searing, high gloss, orangey red peaking out the of the closet. It is by far my favorite part of the room. Packed with our winter gear it doesn't hurt the eyes anymore but still provides enough whimsy to relax the very serious, grown up furniture gifted to us by my mother in law. 

Next up for this room: art and accessories, doing something with that ceiling and an area rug.

Month One of Self Employment

One month ago today I quit my dead end, depressing, not at all architecture related job and decided to explore the possibility of working for myself. So far I have spent most of it on our own basement build out project. Which is indeed work for myself, however not the kind that pays the bills.

Basement Bathroom Sneak Peak

With the project very close to completion, it is time to figure out how to make some money.  I have not felt that financial worry rock in the pit of my stomach yet, but the savings are dwindling fast and I need to start looking for design work and start to make some product before they are gone.


The last stint of unemployment, I spent most of the time moping around our newly purchased house worrying about bills and retirement. This time I feel so excited about the future, with the nervousness only creeping around the outskirts. The difference is this time is voluntary. After one year of unemployment and two years working a job I was embarrassed to tell my college friends about, I am finally free from the fear of failure that has dictated the decisions of most of my life. I realized that I did indeed fail.  Guess what? I am just fine, happy even. And If I fail at this too?  Well, I will still be just fine.  Broke, but just fine.