Fortress of Solitude: The house tour

[sabotabby]

Are you sick of pictures of my house yet?

Because the renos are done, the pictures are hung, and I'm pretty stoked with the results.




The front door used to be black. Now it's teal. You knew I was going to paint my front door teal the second I had the chance, right?


Best coatrack ever. Also, some amazing art-type things from my step-dad.


Courtesy of my grandmother, awesome Victorian ladies. (If you see something cool in my place, chances are it came from my grandparents or my step-dad or the previous owner.)


You've seen the living room, but now it's dark blue as opposed to milquetoast baby blue.


Marinetti looks oddly bashful here.


The landing going up the stairs. Original print by one of my friends.


The bathroom was the same baby blue, which didn't look bad at all, except that it was the same baby blue as the downstairs. As in the exact same paint. You need special bathroom paint, BTW, or disgustingness ensues. Anyway, with the chance to choose the colour, I went with a ballsier green.

HEY SABOTABBY PUT YOUR STUFF AWAY AND CLOSE THE LID ON THE TOILET BEFORE TAKING PICTURES OF YOUR HOUSE, YO. HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM THE HOUSEWIFE BLOGS?


The bedroom is mostly unchanged since the last time I posted about it, but there's more grandmother-art above the bed. Plus, what's that on the bedside table?


This!

Okay, remember the library? Lightly-peed-on nursery yellow? This is actually my favourite part of the re-do because it was the only part of the house I didn't like before.


BOO-YAH!




Here's the budding comic wall. As you can see, there is room for expansion here.


Lots of room. (snarkitysnarks, get drawing!)

Okay, let's go outside.


My back yard, let me show you it.


The apple tree. Since you guys were no help with naming it, I've decided to call it Tyrion. Because it is a dwarf apple tree with mismatched apples, and I am currently on a Game of Thrones kick. While it is technically a hermaphroditic tree that can self-pollinate, the guy who planted it insisted that it's a he.

So my dream of raised garden beds and planting all the things was clearly not going to happen this year, due to tumor. Accordingly, it's going to be container gardening this year and hopefully I won't have a tumor by next summer.


Tomatoes, spearmint, and onions.


You can tell this is my garden because I have two kinds of hot pepper.


Cilantro and Thai basil.


Finally, the barbecue! I am going to Grill All the Things.

So that's my pad! Still a few little things to do, plus the basement (which is going to have to be repainted, but I eventually want to replace the futon with something not so ugly), but overall I think it's looking awesome.

Comments

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

Your library is sweetness itself. I love how al the colours in all the rooms seem to...go together somehow as well as working with the furniture in there. The white writing desk looks fantastic in its new place.

[sabotabby]

I meant to do that.

Actually, I didn't. I painted everything teal without considering what did or did not go with teal, and decided I didn't even care because nothing goes with that shade of yellow. I ended up choosing a colour in one of my anarchist posters and matching it to that.

[elsewhereangel.livejournal.com]

I LOVE your house. Like invite myself over if I didn't live skeighty0eight million miles away love it.

[sabotabby]

COME OVER WE CAN HAVE A BEER

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong to see these and think "Quick Robin, to the Sabs Cave!"

[sabotabby]

There was a robin in my backyard yesterday. Coincidence? I think not.

[mycrazyhair.livejournal.com]

Lookin' good!

[sabotabby]

Thanks!

[jvmatucha.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I really like your style. But will it stay that clean? (I mean, yeah, there'll be cat hair,)

I want to look through your bookshelves!

[sabotabby]

Well, my mom is cleaning for me right now because I'm actually under strict doctor's orders to not do housework. Haha. Hahaha. *sob*

[montreality.livejournal.com]

Awww Tyrion is so cute. The changes to your place are great as well, love the new library color. Still in love with your coffee table and your cat.

[sabotabby]

Tiny perfect tree is tiny and perfect. I mean, bigger than I am, but tiny for a tree.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

I like it! Thanks for the tour. ^_^

[sabotabby]

Any time. :)

[jackspryte.livejournal.com]

Totally love it. Making me feel ultra nesty.

[sabotabby]

I am surprisingly a nester, given everything else about my personality.

[oldfemmejournal.livejournal.com]

I love that you are geeking out on house design and making the place feel like your own. The best gift to yourself. I hope you feel better about living there now. It's totally your fortress of awesome powers.

[sabotabby]

I need an actual superpower that isn't "spontaneously growing a rare tumor that sounds like it's out of a comic."

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

Looks great - can't wait to see it in person. BTW, any particular sort of cupcakes, cookies etc. you're particularly craving lately?

[sabotabby]

There's no such thing as a bad cupcake or cookie, unless it has something sneaky like raisins in it. However, I think monster_grrrl will be there so avoidance of nuts would be awesome. (Or labelling.) Anyway, everything you make is always super-tasty.

[ironed_orchid]

I love the paint choices!

[sabotabby]

I'm quite pleased with them. Everyone always looks askance at my paint choices until they see them in action. Apparently the contractor's place is all white.

[fluffworld.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that looks briliant. Love the colours, and the art, and the back garden (Tyrion!) and all of it.
It is a beautiful house. I would ask you to come over and do ours (we move in a week, eep!) but you have more than enough on your plate so enjoy the hell out of your awesome abode.

[sabotabby]

LOL, send me pictures and I'll pick out colours for you. Though really, furniture and art plays a role.

[tanyahp.livejournal.com]

Awesome rooms and great yard! You have great taste in paint colors!

[sabotabby]

Thanks! No one ever believes me until the paint actually goes on.

[sabotabby]

There probably will be one ZOMG RED accent wall, because apparently I'm incapable of permanently living in a place without painting anything red. But it won't be a violent wall. The basement is more modern looking than the rest of the house, so that will get the full-on funky colour treatment. I'm not doing it until I save up enough money to get a cool couch, though.

For some reason, people are shy about painting bold colours. I can see in a rental because no one wants to piss off a landlord, but once you own the place? Go nuts. Everyone thinks it'll make the room look smaller, but it never actually seems to.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, those are awesome digs!

[sabotabby]

Thank you!

[fanciulla.livejournal.com]

Love the color of the walls in the library.

[sabotabby]

I'm pleased with them.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

you're going to hate me when I compare the new library colour to diluted menstrual fluids

I mean, it's gorgeous!

but... menstrually so

this has been Bodily Fluids Colour Scheme Critique with Pyth

[sabotabby]

Haha. It's diar. I would never hate you, I'm too busy laughing.

[ladypolitik.livejournal.com]

J

E

A

L

O

U

S

[sabotabby]

*evil grin*

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

That is so amazingly awesome! :) I love the colors.

If you want to check out some of my work and like it, I have 1 print each each of, I can send some to you if you want:

Stochastaway

Ovum

Kosma (Slightly NSFW)
------------
And here's the full gallery in case you want to see what else I could get printed up for ya if you didn't like those three. Not sure if any of this really goes with your style, but figured I'd offer in case anything piqued your curiosity. If not, that's totally cool, too.

Of course, because I designed in RGB, the prints are darker than I'd like. They still look decent but not nearly as bright and poppy as I'd hoped (especially Kosma - I really wanted the sparkly bits to sparkle and shine)

Regardless, I'm very impressed. Lovely job, and the fact you did a lot of this when you were in such pain blows my mind.

You are awesome Sabs :)

[sabotabby]

These are way cool. I particularly like the NSFW one. Not entirely sure that they'd fit my style (I didn't put up my own more abstract stuff) but I'll definitely think on it.

Admittedly, I paid people to do this stuff. Normally I'd be quite into DIY, and I was planning to do at least some of it myself, but given the tumor situation that was not going to happen. Hopefully by next winter I'll have recovered enough to build planters for the spring.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

You're like the Communist Martha Stewart. (Without the fraud and jail time)

[sabotabby]

Yet.

I see a black door and I want it painted teal.

[nichtsda.livejournal.com]

I, for one, will never tire of seeing photos of your awesome pad. Or your kitty. Or your great new hair.

What is the print on the wall in the first library picture? I like it.

I have one of my bunny paintings left -- it's small and I don't know if it'd suit your decor (it's textured and mostly black) but if you're interested, I have a special 100% discount for people with tumors on their spine...

[sabotabby]

Seriously? That would be rad. I have bunnies elsewhere so there could be a theme.

The print on the wall is actually a cool story—it says "Carnival Against Capitalism" and it's a poster for one of the anti-WTO summits in DC, which I was actually at. A guy I used to know made it. The exciting thing is that I thought he'd stopped making art in Toronto altogether (he moved up to an anarchist commune in the country) but I just found out that he's been working on a massive public art project. He's kind of known for tiny little art installations so I'm fully psyched to see what he comes up with.

ETA: D'oh, it was an anti-FTAA demo in Quebec City. Anyway, here's what it looks like:

[seanmonster.livejournal.com]

Neat! I love your coffee table.

[sabotabby]

The coffee table is my Favourite Thing.

[nineteen68.livejournal.com]

Nice lair! I really love your use of color. Also, that lantern/lamp thing is awesome :)

[sabotabby]

It's an Edison lamp. I h8 Edison so it's actually a Tesla lamp.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

The front door used to be black. Now it's teal. You knew I was going to paint my front door teal the second I had the chance, right?

I presume that baby blue railing will eventually become teal as well. I predict the teal will creep and acquire more and more lebensraum.

(If you see something cool in my place, chances are it came from my grandparents or my step-dad or the previous owner.)

Except the cat in the window.

You've seen the living room, but now it's dark blue as opposed to milquetoast baby blue.

That looks awesome.

This!

THIS! How does one do those arrows pointing up? In any case, I love that lamp.

BOO-YAH!

This is actually the same clay red-brown I have been unsuccessfully trying to get my walls. You have out-done me in every category. Not that it's a contest, but you have.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Quick question - and this is not a criticism - why did you not continue the blue behind the blue chairs? Did you fear the chairs would disappear because the match is too close? Or did you think the silhouette effect from the window would make the wall too dark? That is an awesome blue, and I am in favor of having more of it. But I also know there are plenty of potential valid reasons for leaving that wall white. Painting is tricky, as I have frequently re-learned at great expense.

[snarkitysnarks.livejournal.com]

I am so excited to see all this in person soon. The color choices are really beautiful.

Lots of room. ([info]snarkitysnarks, get drawing!)

I could probably also bring you some of the stuff what doesn't have a home and is currently lying around collecting dust. Do you want the Ittle piece? I would give you the six-layer piece, but I think it 1) needs colors, 2) needs something to hold it together, and 3) probably cannot be hung on a wall.