Menu Monday and weekend photos

I'm going back to the menu planning (a la Jenna) because it DOES make you stay on track so much better. Plus, we got a lot of goodies at the Saturday Market this weekend, so I want to make sure we use them!

Monday:Well, we'll be off to a bad start. I have an appointment at 5, and we have Conan at 8. So, something quick tonight.
Tuesday: Pizza with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms, feta, and garlic.
Wednesday: Broccoli florets with pesto chicken (pesto made with fresh basil)
Thursday: Kale and sausage dish
Friday: Leftovers or soup (we have a ton of wontons I'd like to use up).

On to this weekend. BUSY BUSY. I updated the chicken coop (more on that tomorrow). The sick hen is doing much better. The new chicks are outside (again, more tomorrow).

I postponed having the garden boxes filled, because Saturday afternoon, we got a DOWNPOUR, and the dirt would have been heavy as all getout on Sunday. I'll continue building this week and hopefully, we can fill them on Sunday. Still, I made 10 foot high boxes (below) and 1 6" high box (not pictured).
I think I've figured out the layout of various boxes, which makes me happy. Once a box is filled, it's pretty much unmovable, unless you want to unfill and unscrew, and that's just annoying to do. I need to level out many of these. But, I'm taking into account various walkways so that the yard looks planned rather than haphazard. More to come on this front.


The other big weekend project was a bedframe. Our mattress was on a boxspring, which were both on the floor. Envison pillows everywhere, blankets... what a mess. I wanted the bed off the floor, and then the box springs chucked (we can't have frame and boxsprings and mattress because we're in a loft).

I had gone to Ikea, and they had this bed frame. But, the frame was $150, plus $40 slats, plus the $10 beam. We don't NEED a bed frame, and for $200, I could easily build one and have us wait a bit. I even had drawn out the design and the lengths of wood I needed to get. I figured I'd incorporate some travertine tiles I got from the recycling place too.

But then, I toddled around on Craigslist and saw a posting for a bed frame. Full size. $20. The photos looked pretty dismal, but if you looked past the despicable upholstery job and the nasty brown color painted rails and footboard (the headboard-- unpainted, but with material), the thing had good bones and was possibly salvageable. And for $20, heck. It would still need slats, but that's only about $20.

So, I got the thing and lugged it home. The poor headboard was covered in this material. It is a fleecy material that USED to be white. But, it had become nastily pilled, and now was a dismal cream color. Bleh. This material had stuffing under it. It was all stapled to the headboard.
Here's the stuffing. Bleh.
But underneath, there was a solid wood headboard.
I should note that all the nasty material? STAPLE GUNNED TO THE HEADBOARD. And this is the FRONT of the headboard. No wrapping around and putting staples only in the back. And these are HEAVY DUTY STAPLES. Gack. I pried all these suckers out.
At least someone liked the nasty material.
I sanded down the slats, footboard, and headboard. Then, I decided to paint them a glossy enamel white. We already had the paint from another project. Enamel because it won't chip or scratch easily, and when it dries, it's DRIED (unlike latex which takes FOREVER). While the headboard was possibly salvageable wood-wise, because the three other components were already painted, and because the headboard was a stain I really didn't care for, I thought the paint would update and make for a clean-looking final piece.

And here it is:

The frame did have good bones too; it is not rickety in the least. There are 10 2"x3" slats under the bed. I decided to go with 2"x3"s for extra sturdiness. It may be hard to tell in this photo, but it was such an improvement that I just was giggly last night. Crazily happy. Such a clean loft now. FINALLY!!!
I changed out our nightstands to these clean ones from Ikea. They're the new lack small shelving; no hardware to hang the shelves is visible. Having narrower nightstands means that the bed could move over a little, giving B a bit more headspace. SO nice.
I also realized that due to the knotty pine ceiling, it was a really good decision to paint the frame white. And you can see that the bed now offers a lot more headspace to both sides.
For our books, magazines, and jewelry, I put them on a tray under the bedframe. B likes this magazine rack, but I'm not sold on it. I wish there was more space; I think that the V bottom will result in overflowing. If it was more U-shaped, it'd be better.
We also had this really nice blossom rug that we got for our last house. It's been in storage (and will take a while to smooth out the wrinkled roll designs on it), but it fits perfectly under the bed. About 2' of it sticks out on either side of the bed, which is a nice touch, I think.

So that was the weekend. Raised beds outside, bed frame inside, chicken makeover outside, happy hen inside, growing seedlings inside too. More updates to come.