Storage Ottoman

I finally finished our ottoman, and I’m happy with how it turned out.  I made it using leftover scraps of plywood that we had from when our floors were redone and some remnant 2x4s I picked up from Home Depot. I’m lucky because I had help from our friend Tom Taylor who helped me build our dining table. He has all the tools, but if you don’t have access to tools you could probably have Home Depot make the cuts for you.

Here are some step-by-step pictures (sorry not all steps have pics):

1. Build the ottoman. I measured how tall and wide I wanted it based on our old coffee table and couch height. I’m always surprised at how low ottomans are.

2. Get upholstery grade foam. I used some from Joanne’s (1″ basic upholstery foam (on sale)  for the sides) and ordered some from Hobby Lobby (2″ Smart Foam). Attach using a spray adhesive and nail gun (I watched some Youtube videos since this was my first upholstery project).

4. Cover the lid and base with quilt batting;  I used two layers on the lid to really smooth it out.

5. The scariest part was lining up the fabric and attaching it to the frame.  First, I decided which part of the fabric I wanted on the lid. Once I did that I could work on the base.  It was tricky to make sure I lined everything up since the pattern is very large, but I was able to make it work on both the front and the back despite the pattern being upside down on the back and not having a ton of extra. Also, I  don’t have a sewing machine so I was initially unsure of how to do the sides of the base, but I ended up just folding over the edges on the side panels and attaching and stapling the pieces on with the gun (note: I overlapped the folded over pieces with the pieces from the front and back).   It all worked out and I would do it again the same way even if I had a sewing machine.

One thing to be careful of is the tension of the fabric. I might need to take some staples out and pull it a bit tighter in some areas, but I probably won’t because at this point it’s good enough.

Here is the final product:

The total cost of the project was roughly: $150.

$7 for 2x4s, $80-ish for the foam, $62.88 for 4 yards of fabric

Special thanks to Tom Taylor and my Auntie Michelle for spraying the foam with the glue and helping me attach it. (I’m pregnant and can’t be around the spray glue).

p.s. I’m thinking about using the fabric for some pleated drapes. What do you think? I’m leaning toward yes.

For Sale

October 1, 2009 Kev and I bought our first home. One year and one month later we are selling that home and moving to the bay area. See the listing here and here.  I’ve wanted to blog about our remodeling efforts ever since, but never felt that the house was ready for an unveiling. At this point, I can’t do anything else  so below are some before and after photos.

As a disclaimer,  I have many more ideas for the space (chandelier in the living room, new fixture in dining room, drapes…), but I am saving what’s left of my creative juices for our next dwelling (in the lovely Menlo Park, CA).

Things you can’t see in the pictures are the re-texturing of the walls…they used to be bumpy and now they are smooth (I would never do this again). Also, the removal of the popcorn ceiling. I also painted most walls/ceilings, and replaced the trim (a professional did the baseboards).

Before Living Room

 

After Living Room

Before Kitchen

After Kitchen

Before Dining Room

After Dining Room

Before Master Bedroom

Before Master Bedroom 2

After Master Bedroom 1

After Master Bedroom 2

After Master Bedroom 3

And for all those who ask me what I do (and where I awkwardly search for the right answer) here are some of my other projects:

1. Dining room table made of solid walnut (many thanks to Tom Taylor in our ward for his time, guidance, and letting me use his equipment).

2. Frames (this was my first woodworking project. Thanks to Hayami at the MIT hobby shop for teaching me to use the tools)

The pictures are ones we took on our travels (Starting from the top left going clockwise: Sahara in Morocco by Kev, Machu Picchu by Cath, Venice by Cath, Ephesus by Kev, Angkor Wat by Kev). (note to self: don't use nice wood for frames you know you want to silver leaf)

3. Lamps (total DIY cost about $80…$2 for the lamps!, plus stripping supplies, clear lacquer spray paint, two sets of chrome lamps parts, two re-wiring kits, two lamp shades) (a serious thank you to my Mom’s incredible eye…she saw these at a tiny thrift store in Michigan. They were different colors and not together, but she saw the pair and the potential…way to go Mom!).

4. Quilt (waiting for mom to send a picture…it lives with my wonderful Mom now Happy Birthday!)

For my next projects I want to make a chandelier (hopefully I can join a hobby shop in the bay area with a metal works department), a headboard for our king size bed that I love (we can fit it in our new place…YAY!), an ottoman (this is in the works…pics coming in a month or three knowing me).

Thanks husband

Dearest husband,

Thank you for finding us a place to live that meets all my requirements, and for completing all the intermediary steps. Both are making this move as easy as possible on me. Bless you!!

LOVE
Cath

Slow Motion Gardening

Like any self-respecting suburbanites, Cath and I planted a garden this summer. We enthusiastically and optimistically planted several varieties of tomato, pepper, cucumber, squash, beans and peas. We tilled in fertilizer and pot soil and diligently watered our little corner of the world. But we utterly failed to recognize the importance of photosynthesis in taking our garden from seedling stage to bushels of fresh veggies. You’ll recall from 3rd grade that the central figure in photosynthesis is the sun – and the sun in Seattle is, shall we say, a little less enthusiastic than other parts of the world.

All in all, we came out with a couple dozen cherry tomatoes, three small zucchinis, two Mexibell peppers (I think those were supposed to turn red, but they tasted fine green), a few meals worth of string beans, several handfuls of snow peas and….(drumroll please)……

A 3-inch cucumber

I picked it tonight. That’s right, it took until October 20th for this little guy to reach what I considered a pickable size (at least for pickles, right?). I haven’t eaten him yet (can’t bring myself to) but I’m sure he’s a winner, having already proven himself by enduring the rains and clouds of the Seattle summer and holding on tight to that vine while everything else rotted away.

Looking back on the season, it’s clear to me that gardening in Seattle is possible – it just happens in slow motion. Tomatoes come in late August, squash in mid-September, and apparently cucumbers come toward the end of October.

And because I’m a wannabe economist, I can’t end this post without pointing out the fact that we spent around $50 in plants, $6-ish in seeds, and roughly $20 in topsoil and fertilizer. We probably could have bought the same veggies at the farmer’s market for a total of $20, resulting in a net garden loss of $56. We do it for the love.

The $32 Post

It’s been about a year since we posted on this blog. And we pay around $20/year for the domain and $12/year for WordPress. So at $32 per post, I hope you enjoy this one.

Of course a lot’s happened in the last year, so I’ll take a travel-oriented approach at summarizing.

Thanksgiving in Connecticut/New York

Last November, we headed back to New Canaan for Thanksgiving with Cath’s family. Before heading out there we did some family history research and, based on Ellis Island immigration records, found out that some of Catherine’s ancestors (the DiVastas) listed 112 Mulberry Street in New York’s Little Italy as their destination address. So we headed into the City for what’s become our annual tradition of shopping and the Met and had a homemade pasta dinner at the restaurant right across from 112 Mulberry.

112 Mulberry Street in New York's Little Italy

Another highlight of our trip to New York/CT was this super cool couch/chair in the furniture wing of the Met.

 

Moscow (and Kiev and Istanbul)

In march, I (Kevin) headed over to Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia to visit the Microsoft subsidiaries there and help land Office 2010. Olga and Elena of the Moscow office were kind enough to show me around Moscow after work one evening. Here’s me in Red Square.

In May, Cath and I both headed down to Peru for a couple of weeks. We spent the first day in Lima where I worked with the Peruvian subsidiary and attended the Office 2010 launch event. Cath got her adventure on and headed into the older part of Lima on her own to explore.

After our brief sojourn in Lima, we headed inland to Cusco, Puerto Maldonado, and Machu Picchu. A highlight (and low-light) of the trip was a 5-day trek through the Andes on the Salkantay trail. We began a couple hours outside of Cusco in the high desert and ended at Machu Picchu. We enjoyed a couple days of intense cold and rain (on what was supposed to be a sun-filled hike) and huddled for a picture at our highest point of 15,300 feet.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Exploring the Amazonian Rainforest

Day 2 of Salkantay

Enjoying the weather at 15,300 feet

Machu Picchu

Of course there have been a lot of great happenings over the last year that have nothing to do with travel. But there aren’t as many pictures to choose from to illustrate those. Here’s to another year of keeping you posted on our comings and goings at CathandKev.com. We’ll try to write more often – if for nothing else than to better amortize our $32 investment.

Favorite Talk

I have been meaning to post this since I saw it about a month ago…

(click the photo to see the video)

I would like to add my testimony to that of Elder Holland, an apostle for our church, The LDS Church, that the Book of Mormon was brought forth by the power of God. It testifies of Jesus Christ’s divinity and that He visited the people on the American continent after He was resurrected. It is a testament of Him. Kevin and I are reading it together right now, and I am struck each time we read it that it was meant for us.  Living the principles it teaches and heeding its warnings has made our lives better.

Update on Seattle

We got to Seattle on August 3. Since then Kev started at Microsoft and is really enjoying his work and his team. I started working in the school system as a para educator, which I enjoy so much that I applied to a Masters in Teaching program at UW.

The best news since we arrived is that we found a house, and we’re moving in next week! I will post some pics when we get settled. The house is settled at the end of a culdesac that backs to protected wetlands in Sammamish (for those of you familiar with the area).

Our new ward has been so welcoming. Truly…I have never seen anything like it. Thanks new ward!

We still experiment in the kitchen. Here is a recent dish: Chicken Tikka and Garlic Naan.

Thailand

We spent the last part of our trip in Thailand. We went to Bangkok and then to an island between Phuket and Krabi called Ko Yao Noi. The highlight of Bangkok was meeting some great new friends at church–The Griffiths and another couple. Much of the rest of our time in Bangkok was spent riding around being scammed by taxi drivers who get 5 liters of gas if they take tourists to gem shops or clothing shops. We did not buy any jewelry but Kev got a new suit (so handsome) and I got a new skirt. Great deals and great service. We also went to the big new mall in Bangkok. There is a great food court in the basement of the mall that houses many different food vendors–much like street vendors except cleaner. We also took a water tour around the city.

 

The last part of our trip to the island was incredible. We beached it for a good six days (although 1.5 days were rainy…but it was still lovely). Kev did a bunch of fishing. We met some nice families from the UK, Sweden, and Norway. We took an island tour and went exploring with a local guide. The food was awesome. Happy Birthday Kev! On his birthday we had tiger prawns and a fish he caught. Wow!
Our home by the beach.

On the trip I read: Mountains Beyond Mountains, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Man’s Search for Meaning, and part of My Name is Red

Our islands tour. (The long boat we rode on)

We took one afternoon and rode around the island.

Look at how great Kev is! Dinner! (He also caught a small shark…which was a bit scary for me). I tried fishing, but preferred being the motor for our boat instead.

Happy Birthday!!

Cambodia

So Cambodia was great. We especially loved the temples at Angkor. Once again we found ourselves busing it–this time from Vietnam. In the beginning of the trip our guide came around to collect money and passports to expedite the border crossing. Kev and I thought it was a little sketchy that he was charging an extra five dollars per person (our guide book told us how much it would cost). So we chanced it and told him we would take care of it ourselves. It was a great moment when Kev saw the guide splitting the five dollar bills between himself and the bus driver (ours $ not included). Our first stop was Phnom Pen where we visited the killing fields. It was shocking and disturbing. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Phnom Pen because we saw so many gross sex tourists there, but go anyway and spend money to support the many legitimate local tourist businesses.

The royal palace in Phnom Pen. It was beautiful.

A gas station.

This bus is so full of people that they had to keep the back door open to fit (or not fit) all of them in. Hold on tight!

This is the monument that houses thousands of skulls at the killing fields. All the grassy holes in the ground were mass graves. Some of the graves are still intact. As we walked around we saw pieces of clothing still partially buried near the graves.

This is at the beginning of Angkor. All of the stone for all of the complexes was brought in by elephants from over 60km away. As you can see all the surfaces are carved. It was truly incredible. And if you can get there, do it soon, because I predict that the park administrators may limit how close you can get in the coming years as its popularity grows. We were able to walk and climb all over everything. It was awesome.

It was sooo hot. We got burned here. There was a picture I thought about posting but decided not to that was a close up of our faces. It was gross. This is a better shot. This is the main temple, Angkor Wat.

Tomb Raider? Yep. Tomb Raider was shot here. There are a couple complexes that have not been restored. They have been left as they were discovered. They were probably our favorites because of these incredible trees that grew up out of the ruins.

Vietnam

It’s time to finish blogging about our trip. From Singapore we flew to Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. It was the most chaotic place we visited and perhaps the most chaotic place either one of us has ever been. There were thousands and thousands of people on scooters (sometimes entire families on one). We walked around the city, ate more Indian food, went on a tour of the Me Kong Delta, and went to the Vietnam War Museum.

Us on a little boat going through the delta. It was pretty interesting. The whole time I was thinking about the fighting that went on there during the Vietnam War, which the Vietnamese refer to as the War of American Aggression.

This is Kevin cautiously holding the horn of a water buffalo. We saw it after lunch when we toured the Me Kong Delta. I was afraid to go near it. I was also afraid of Kevin going near it. I think I was saying, “Please be careful” as he approached the buffalo.

A nice home on the delta.

Our tour delta guide.

This is one of the wire towers that are all over the city.