Marla Good's Profile

Yes, it's fair - when it's acknowledged. That's all I'm saying. And it feels strange to find myself motivated to post about it, and I didn't mean to sound peevish. I'm going to go back to lurking - but I do hope my comment was received as constructive in some way. It's a credit to the original author(s) when something like this is nice enough to re-post, and some mention of that should be included. As a regular reader, if not commenter, I just find that it's usually noted when this is done. And again, it's nice.

Yikes - hit send too soon after forgetting a word. Sorry.

Hovas is the new Ekeskog.

The state of our roof is scaring us. Because we have to trust roofing guys. Or get others to confirm their diagnosis, and then trust them. And it's leaking, and now on top of a leaky roof, we have water damaged ceiling and attic! These shingles here have worn thin because they're in the most exposed space where the sun beats on them and the rain beats on them the most! $350! Still leaking?! Your flat roof needs another layer! $750! An extra row of shingles over this eavestrough will fix that leak over your window! $150! But, because I am pee-myself terrified of heights (had to get taken off a kiddie ferris wheel in one of those parking lot carnivals last summer!) and will not go up there with them, and even if the husband did so, we wouldn't know anyway just by looking ourselves, we're all "Duh, okay!". It leaves me sweating, huddled in a ball whimpering "just fix it", then I pray for drought so I don't find out that anyone was wrong, and then I use lots of exclamation points on AT just talking about it.

That exact article inspired our basement reno last summer! I'd saved it for years, and when it was time to make-over our basement, I brought it out and that's what we went with after much discussion.

It was perfect for what we needed - to cover a lot of nothing, to keep it light in colour but cosy and to be really really affordable. The biggest problem was that the article claimed that the panels used were something like $6 or $8 (US) apiece, and they couldn't have been. Our contractor told us that the quality shown in the images are much more expensive sheets, more like $15 per panel, and that they had to have spent hours flipping through finding only the most gorgeous ones. He told us that a little too late, though neither we nor our contractors were the type to stand at Home Depot and agonize over the grain in plywood panels anyway. Looking back, since we only used about 10 panels, I'd say that upgrade would have been worth it for any other place, but for our basement rec room it's fine. About $100 more in materials is nothing compared to the labour. We also had to use a more obvious strapping to hide the seams, but decided that didn't matter much to us. "Unfinished" is all it was ever going to be, as we kept the cement floor and just painted it, and kept the ceiling (joists, really) unfinished and just sprayed all that white once we'd emptied the room. We wanted to spend more fixing up an awful old bathroom down there and turning one small room into a walk-in cedar closet for our vintage and winter clothing. We live in a circa 1903 semi-detached home, and have no closets upstairs.

Ours have three coats of a satin varnish, after one light sanding, and do feel a bit rough - but we don't go around feeling our walls. We have no problems with dust or cleaning around switches. As with any wall in our house, a damp microfiber cloth with some Dr. Bronner's takes care of smudges and we do a light wash once in a while; we use a magic eraser for tougher marks. And why am I saying we? I do all the cleaning. (I guess the use of we on this site is contagious.) It's been a year, and they haven't darkened. It's my husband's "man cave", so we have musical instruments and posters he's made hanging We just chose the spots carefully - nothing's moving around any time soon, and so we're not going to freak about nail holes. There was one small hole that the contractor needed to fill, and he used a wood putty and it's not noticeable unless you're looking for it.

It's furnished with mid-century teak and musical instruments and accoutrements. It won't win any prizes, but I will speak up for plywood walls by saying it's great for non-fussy people for use in places that will never be perfect anyway; and when you see our before and after, I'm sure anyone would agree:

Before: http://www.flickr.com/photos/truthandbeauty/3441622551/in/photostream/

After: http://www.flickr.com/photos/truthandbeauty/3442438504/

And, apologies for the photo editing - but I don't have any other pictures hand and have already spent enough time blathering on without running downstairs to take new ones!

I've used kneaded erasers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneaded_eraser) to clean vintage cork-soled shoes, and they do a good job as long as you keep using clean areas - so a big lamp would need a few erasers. Luckily, they're not expensive and are great for cleaning many many other things too (leather gloves, light-coloured leather anything) and they're great for shaping and poking into small areas to clean things too. I'd say first go over the lamp with a clean paintbrush to lift the loose dust away (or vacuum carefully with your brush attachment or some cloth over the end of the crevice tool) and then use the eraser after. Seconding denatured alcohol, if a test provides the result that you like after testing, it evaporates so quickly that it shouldn't disturb any adhesive. You can buy cork sealer in a fishing supply store (for rods) that will give it a finish that is easier to wipe down (great for shoes) - but it may change the appearance, so test that too.

http://oilcloth.com/

Has a store locator link, and you can look online to view swatches of the material. If you see a pattern you like, you can also google the name as sometimes stores will sell the yardage online, via ebay or other sites. They also wholesale finished items, like the lunch sacks and aprons, and can let you know where to find them.

I have three of the lunch sacks, and use them for so many things -- for wet bathing suits, for sitting on damp grass, for buying loose veg from farmers' markets, an old one holds my clothespins, and yes, I use them for lunches too. We sell some of the patterns of yardage, and lunch sacks, and aprons and things at the small funky store I work at in Toronto - but we don't really ship or do phone orders (it's a really really small store - Winkel, on Queen Street East).

They also supply these lunch sacks to many stores already made.

Hi elsiemarley,

We have the Minnen extendable bed for our daughter (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/S39827962)

Some of my opinions would apply to any of the extendable beds.

Pros:
*It's very cute.
*It's wide enough that we can crawl in and cuddle and read to her in it - that was what it took to transition her from her crib after she started launching herself over the crib rails (because she could).
*She can get in and out easily, but doesn't fall out.
*She's very tall for four, and we still haven't extended it all the way.
*It's really cute, and it's really cute.
*She likes it as small as possible, and actually didn't want us to extend it, because she likes to be cosy. We now put a row of pillows along the wall so that she can snug into them.
*It's the perfect height for the Basset Hound, who thinks we bought it for her.

(You can see it here: http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/nursery-tours/nursery-tour-josephines-lovely-lost-and-found-031082)

Cons:

*The beds are an odd size, and only Ikea sheets fit them. And they're not great sheets, and so they don't really fit all that well, and they are not soft. I had custom flannel ones made for winter, and we'll probably just keep them on because they work better. However, most "throws" make perfect bedspreads for the two smaller sizes. This means I can change them often. And while I have remedial sewing skills, if I provide the fabric a local seamstress will make the sheet sets for me for $25. It's worth that to have it done.
*As with our own adult-size Ikea bed, the curlicue bars down near the bottom at the sides mean that when making the bed, the comforter either has to be tucked in or flopped over. Neither is a great-looking choice. We go with a "carefully casual" toss with rolled up blanket, but it still bugs me.
*The mattresses are crap. Thin, first and foremost. But when it's extended, there are two smaller ones to add, with two smaller sheets instead of one larger sheet that would fit each extended size increment. If the extended mattress section is near the feet, it shows even through layers of sheets and blankets and looks yucky. If it's near the head, it's not so noticeable and it's around neck-level when she's sleeping so the support there isn't an issue. But, between the discomfort and the difficulty in bed-making and sheet-changing, I'm sick of them. So when we go to the third extension, I'm either going to go get a piece of good foam cut, or see if Ikea makes one mattress that will fit. I'll have another set of pretty sheets made too.
*Josephine always has bruised shins, and I realized long ago it's from the bed. Just in crawling around and in and out, playing on it and stuff - she's always banging into the side things. And one night when she fell asleep in braids, one got caught on a curlicue! I'm only just over the screaming in the morning about that! I couldn't figure out why she'd stayed in her bed all night!
*It's a darling bed, and I know she'll like it for ages - as we do - but I imagine that by 8 or 9 she'll want a more "regular" twin bed. We have a beautiful, beautiful antique one we plan to switch to when it comes time for that.
*I wonder if she would sleep better if I had a high-quality mattress. I know I'm not very comfortable falling asleep on it - but I'm 38 and well, not tiny. Josie's light. But I'm an insomniac (note the timestamp!) and she's not a great sleeper. I worry that our low-end Ikea sleeping surfaces are robbing us of quality sleep.

So, in short? The bed? It suits our needs, but there are more than a few annoyances - most of which could be solved with a better mattress and custom sheets. I would say it depends on the kid more than the decor.

I like and agree with the comments more than the suggestions in the post. This year our daughter's daycare staff (2 main teachers and 4 supply) are getting small plants in pots ($1.99 each at Ikea), and included in the card with them will be gift cards to Ikea ($25 and $10 each, respectively). The notes will say "Thank you for helping our daughter grow", and I'll ask Josie to tell me what makes her happiest about each caregiver and include it. I can't thank these people enough for their time and care, and because I know some of them work a few jobs other than just this, I only wish I could do more.

I just found these nesting dolls : http://www.bitsandpieces.com/~Nesting Dolls.html
and can't yet decide which ones to get for our Josie - and I would think it's very funny to wrap nesting dolls in nesting doll paper - but a three and a half year old just wouldn't get it. Too bad!

I love the clean, simple bed - the colours too!