remember that vine we cut down in april 2013? with the help of mama bear, we finally updated the paint job on the garage where the vine used to be. we also covered other stucco patches and other exposed areas that weren’t beige (i.e., dunn-edwards pigeon gray).
technically, this is the best deal we may ever get in our lifetime. i’ve been waiting for the right moment to write about our new hutch and today is perfect because i took a broken tambour door to a furniture guy in the valley and he is only charging me $50. but first, some backstory…
this is the danish hutch m saw many years ago and it is her ideal. note the curvy hutch supports and rounded teak. and all that teak – so beautiful.
we gave mama bear our current hutch on jun 21, thinking we would replace it immediately with a hutch located in downtown, but turned out the hutch was too shallow for our ittala dinner plates. we spent 2 months with mugs and bowls in the guest bedroom dresser and serving bowls on the bed and silverware in a snapware with pot lids. but on august 23, 2015, we won a hutch at an auction in connecticut for $1500. after shipping, the total cost of the piece is approximately $2000.
to help us gauge the cost, we referred to 1stdibs which had a similar hutch for $5800. turns out, the hutch said “Sold” right after we won the auction. yup, it was the same hutch just marketed differently in a seemingly complex auction process. the auction house is listed as Fairfield County Antique and Design Center even though i contacted westport auction to arrange transport and payment and i registered through live auctioneers to actually bid. here are the 1stdibs photos:
1stdibs advertised a fixed tambour door but that was the only difference between the 1stdibs description and the auction description. see that white paint on the bottom of the hutch frame? ours had the same paint and i managed to buff it out when i cleaned the wood.
i’ve spent the last 2 weeks investigating which oil to use to feed the thirsty wood and who can fix the tambour door. i eventually found old friends antiques in canoga park. when i first contacted them about the door, they were very responsive and helpful. they estimated the fix to be about $150-$200 but when i showed them the door today, he quoted me $50. let me say that again: $50. so essentially, we got $3800 for $50. and he wanted to give me $6 orange oil for free but i couldn’t accept it and i insisted on paying $5. they delivered great customer service and quality craftsmanship and, in light of recent events, i know that combo is becoming very rare.
i’ve just let this orange tree do whatever it wants since we moved in. and i’ve fed it lots of citrus food. now it has mini (green) oranges and it’s blossoming. again. awesome.
i decided this wouldn’t be the photo of the day but also decided that i need to document the diy stuff that we do. i would make a diy category or tag for those particular posts, but then there would only be, like, one so what’s the point? anyway, i finally installed the privacy window film and it’s a little wonky but what do you expect when you’re trying to install a 1.5 square foot piece of plastic on a soapy window with only 1/16″ leeway from the window frame edge? i declare this now because i know m will scrutinize and ask me why it isn’t straight. but straight be damned (!) – another diy project completed with reasonable success! and now that white pillowcase can finally be laundered and reinserted into the pillowcase rotation instead of being stapled and taped to the window (so ghetto, but it worked).
you know that vine-y bush we cut down next to the garage? despite severe pruning and continual pruning to keep it under control, it still blooms:
we found out what it is:
we primed 2 coats on saturday and finished with 2 coats of foggy day on sunday. and forgot to remove the blue painter’s tape so wrapped that up on monday.
