1.23.2007

Final Fantasy Parody/Fan Video

If you, like me, have wasted away far too many hours of your life playing Final Fantasy, you may find this to be really really clever: CollegeSaga.com

1.21.2007

Designing A House

Notice: This is a pretty long entry and I make no guarantees that it will be interesting to anybody that's not me.

So we're starting to pick out colors and ideas for decorating our new home. I'm sure at least a couple of my friends are curious what we've got planned, and I'd love to hear any feedback or ideas you might have. So here's the breakdown:

The Bedroom
The decor is designed after Inara's ship from Firefly (one of the best TV shows of all time). Lots of big bold colors and tons of fabric draped from the walls and ceiling. Accessories are Moroccan and Asian inspired. We're not trying to recreate her ship, just using it for inspiration. Here are some photos that totally inspire me:
Inara's Ship 1Inara's Ship 2Inara's Ship 3Inara's Ship 4


The Living & Dining Room
Kitchen ColorsI'm not sure how to describe the design philosophy behind the living room. We're definitely post Ikea, not quite Crate & Barrel, and certainly want something a lot more us than a catalog that comes in the mail ever month. This is where the fireplace is, so we want some big comfy chairs to read by the fire. Since we don't have a formal dining room, this room doubles as a dining space. Three of the walls will be a burnt orange color, the 4th cream. BTW: To enlarge any picture, just click on it.

The Kitchen
To see my dream kitchen, head over to any fancy bay area restaurant that has a kitchen visible to the customers, and look at their kitchen. That's what I want. Big stainless steel everything, gorgeous yet highly functional commercial appliances, etc. Unfortunately, Myshelle's taste is a little more realistic. We came across the added challenge of inheriting a gorgeous Wedgewood Holly Stove with our house. When we were in escrow, my intentions were to replace it with something more modern, but when it comes down to it, it's an awesome stove. So yeah, we're keeping the stove, and designing the kitchen around it. Aaron's dream kitchen will have to wait till our next house. Meanwhile, Myshelle had the bright idea of doing a 50's diner style kitchen, which I totally love. I get all giddy every time I see another kitchy 50's "Drink Cocacola" tin sign.

<TANGENT>
Speaking of 50's retro decorating, I'm really excited about those two 50's gas pumps in that picture. The big one is about 2 feet tall, the little one is a little shorter. We were at Cost-Plus today and I talked Myshelle into letting me buy the yellow gas pump because it totally matches our kitchen idea. It was $24.99 but she begrudgingly accepted. When we got to the check-out counter, it came up as "Promotional: $1.49". I ran back and picked up the big red one, with the price marked as $49.99. That one was $2.49. I wanted to buy the entire stock of them, but couldn't think of anybody else that would appreciate them. If you're interested, we were at the Cost Plus in Jack London Square and they still had a few left. I didn't see it on their website, but other stores may have it as well. Obviously, YMMV.
</TANGENT>

Anyway, back to our kitchen. I'm totally enamored with the idea of black & white checkered tiles. I blame the hours upon hours of The Sims that I played back in the day. I would always make my kitchen tiles checkered black and white. I just love that look. We've been hanging on to this picture we found in the paint aisle at home depot for like 5 years now. I'm hoping the black, white, and blue will work with brown and chrome.


The Office
Don't ask. It's not even an office right now. More like a cardboard box storage facility with a computer in one corner. We'll figure out ideas for this eventually, just not anytime soon.

The Man Room
We're going 20's Rat Pack style for The Man Room. Bold colors, Mod and Art Deco furniture and accessories. With a little luck I'll put in a wet bar. I imagine it could look something like this. I hope I can talk Myshelle into letting me put up a couple sputnik lamps. That'd be rad. I've also been dreaming of Le Corbusier couches lately but we'll see.Le Corbusier Couch

There's a tiny little bathroom in the back (really just 4 walls and a john) and it's got it's own mini design idea. I want to set it up to mimic the mens room in a dive bar. Red walls, black & white pinup art plastered to the wall. I'm gonna paint one wall with chalkboard paint and leave out a basket of colored chalk so folks can write on the walls. (No, you can't pee on the floor for enhanced realism).

Anyway, that's some of our ideas. Feel free to chip in your $0.02 if you've got any thoughts.

1.08.2007

I <3 Pandora

I've really been into Pandora.com lately. It's internet radio customized to you. Basically, you tell it the name of an artist (or 3) that you like, and it plays music similar to that. As it goes, you can give it the thumbs-up to songs you like, and a big fat thumbs-down every time it plays Backstreet Boys or whatever. The more you respond, the better it gets. Here's a link to a station called "Chill" that I listen to at work. Perfect for a lazy Monday morning. Enjoy!
http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh20295833599412373