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Posts Tagged ‘decorating’

As Pictured Below: House of Cats

Posted in As Pictured Below, Cats, Family, Home, Photographs, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2010| 3 Comments »

Several years ago, my grandmother gave me an old rocking chair that I kept meaning to have re-caned. Last year, I decided that it did not go with any part of my decor. Neither was it very smart furniture to have around our two long-tailed tabby cats, constantly underfoot and underchair.

Turns out that my mom thought she should have had first dibs on the chair anyway. Done deal, right?

Wrong. Yang, the larger of the underfoot tabbies, claimed the chair as his own not two weeks after Mom claimed it as her own. Cushioned with a Mom-made afghan and a blanket, it’s one of his favorite nesting spots.

So, the chair complements nothing, needs refinishing, and technically belongs to my mom. It stays, of course, because a 13-year-old, 12-pound cat likes to nap in it.

Welcome to the Crow Haggerty House of Cats. We’re all mad here.

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The littlest two-headed angel

Posted in Christmas, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 16, 2009| 2 Comments »

My college roommate and lifelong friend Jennifer has always been the crafty sort. Whereas we could both always visualize how we wanted a project to look, she could actually make it happen, whether it was by sewing, painting, or just moving stuff around.  She can choreograph a color guard routine or a complete house redecoration with little stress.

We rented a house together for 1.5 years, and we had the coolest Christmas tree of all time. Jennifer procured a dead, leafless sapling that we decorated for the holidays.

We were all about the avant-garde.

(We were apparently also all about the not-taking-pictures-of-our-own-stuff. While others took photos of our tree of awesomeness, we don’t seem to have any visual records of it.)

Given her creative flair, it wasn’t surprising when she broke out the arts and crafts supplies one night and informed me that we were going to make scrap angels for our tree – one for each of us.

She also broke out the wine.

We were, at the time, given to purchasing the largest bottle of Riunite Lambrusco that we could find for our parties, drinking as much as we wanted during the festivities and saving the rest for wine spritzers (made with Sprite, if I recall).

I don’t precisely remember the scrap angel-making process, but I do remember a lot of pouring and giggling, an exhausting amount of pouring and giggling, and at some point one of us said something along these lines: “Why don’t we just make one angel with two heads instead of two angels?”

Genius, right? One angel, two heads – one for each of us.

It certainly seemed like a good idea until the next morning, when we awoke to discover a TWO-HEADED ANGEL ON TOP OF THE CHRISTMAS TREE.

I think Jennifer quietly made two angels to replace the polycephalic messenger we mistakenly manufactured – no need to involve the craft-averse again – and all was well and much less weird in time for our Christmas party.

I miss those days of wine and giggling. I even kind of miss the creepy two-headed angel. Maybe I have some old pillowcases I can cut up  tonight …

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As Pictured Below: Sensational Santas

Posted in As Pictured Below, Christmas, Photographs, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 11, 2009| 4 Comments »

For several years, my grandmother has been trying to send me home with items from her china cabinet. I think she’s always a little surprised when I pick out things like the tiny collapsible tin cup that belonged to my grandfather or a weathered aluminum cake carrier instead of fine crystal platters and silver pitchers.

For me, memorable beats fancy every time, which is how I ended up with these four Santa mugs. My grandmother would break them out once a year for eggnog, though I’m not sure how many family members actually drank from them, given their paltry size (they may hold 4 ounces).

They’re the coolest retro Christmas accessories I have, but most importantly, they store memories that the fanciest crystal glasses could never evoke. Best of all: no polishing required.

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As Pictured Below: A Cat-Resistant Christmas

Posted in As Pictured Below, Cats, Christmas, Home, Photographs, tagged , , , , , on December 8, 2009| 2 Comments »

This is the most complicated Christmas display that I’ve dared to put up since obtaining two rambunctious cats 13 years ago.

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The Tiles that Bind

Posted in Home, Photographs, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 21, 2009| 5 Comments »

I’ve toured a couple dozen brand new bathrooms over the past couple of weeks. The Huntsville/Madison County Builders Association’s Parade of Homes gives renovating rubberneckers carte blanche to take a look at the latest and greatest in home design and decor, without that awkward “We’re not really looking to buy a house” moment that invariably occurs during the average Sunday open house.

I currently have a deconstructed master bathroom awaiting further action, so I need inspiration. If only beige inspired me, I’d be in business.

tile4

The color: Every Bathroom in Town Beige. Nice tiles, and excellent installation, but so incredibly beige.

There seems to be an “offend no one” movement in the home decor business, with beige being the No. 1 non-offending element. I’ve never purchased a brand new house, so I’ve never had the opportunity to turn up my nose at walls that are just the wrong hue of olive, or kitchen cabinets that are too shiny. With any house over, say, 10 years old, you’re pretty sure you’re going to be redecorating anyway.

Which brings me to the tile dilemma.

I like color. Lots and lots of color. Tile is reasonably permanent – it’s not like paint, which can and should be changed on a whim. So I stand the chance of picking out something that will offend the delicate sensibilities of some beige-loving potential buyer down the road.

But in the end, how much of my decor should be dictated by some imaginary future buyer, especially when I have no idea how long I’ll be living in this house? Do I have to live with beige because it’ll make it easy to sell the house in three years? Five? Ten?

I’m looking at glass tiles now. They shimmer in the light, and the color spectrum is endless. I found two bathrooms on the tour that featured some fantastic examples of glass tile use.

tile 2

Still working the beige tiles, but a glass-tile design in the middle really gives it some flair.

tile1

These blue circular tiles are more vibrant than they appear in this photograph.

There are plumbing and window-installation problems to be solved before I have to worry about the final tile decision, so I have plenty of time to stew over it. It’s going to be one heck of a shower when it’s all done, whatever the final color scheme turns out to be.

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As Pictured Below: Our House

Posted in As Pictured Below, Cats, Home, Photographs, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 12, 2009| 1 Comment »

plumbingIt’s just not proper homeownership without holes in the floor and exposed plumbing.

Like zombies, renovation projects take on a life of their own.

Window leak + crappy bathtub = tear out the tub to fix leak. We were going to replace it anyway.

Ah, but the floor tiles should go down first to line up properly with the base of the new supershower. And if we’re picking out tile for the floor AND the shower, shouldn’t we be thinking about what the new countertop is going to be made of? And if we’re getting new countertops, we’ll have to have the cabinets refinished.

What? We’re not sure we have cabinet refinishing in the budget anymore?

HGTV, you magnificent bastard. We’re going to have a proper chat one day.

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