Category Archives: DIY

Grape Expectations

We got our zinfandel grape plant, Zaragoza, last May after falling in love with wine (growing, making, drinking- you name it).  She started growing like crazy so I used a wire tomato plant cage (which I clipped and bent open), some wire, and a wooden stake to create a trellis. After a long winter & spring of plumbing disasters which required moving the grape plant (don’t worry- the plant went into hibernation for the winter so it wasn’t disturbed), the trellis began to look a little (okay, a lot) worse for wear.  I decided to give the trellis a little love this weekend. Sorry that the wire is hard to see in the pics! :)

For those of you who have never seen grape growing on a vineyard, this website does a great job at explaining the Vertical Shoot Positioned (VSP) trellis system I am using for my “upright” growing grapes.  I am training the shoot to the bottom wire. Once she gets a bit bigger this year, I will get taller wooden stakes and the guide wires back up like last year (off of the sides of the tomato cage trellis).

Source: http://www.ristcanyonvineyards.com/html/tip5.html

Zaragoza didn’t produce any fruit her first year but she already has 4 bundles starting to grow this year.  Look at the difference in the size of these bundles over 2 weeks! Who wants to help make & drink our first bottle of wine?!

New Workspace: The Plans Revised

Last month, I posted the basic plans for a new workspace. I did a ton of looking around for cabinet and tabletop options (online, ReStore, local hardware stores, Craigslist) without much of a result.  It looks like we would have to spend quite a bit of money to get something that looks good and fits well in the space.  Then what happens when we move… it won’t likely fit well in a different space. So I let the project fall onto the back burner but I kept my eyes peeled.

As I told you earlier, work was busy but exciting last week with a new editing project.  This week and going forward, I will actually be doing some editing from home as well as in the office.  But that brought me back to my existing desk… it really does not function as a workspace beyond surfing the internet.  So I went back into planning mode this weekend.

If I was going to have to spend money on my old desk idea, I began wondering if it was time for me to buy my first piece of big girl furniture. After looking around a bit, I found that there are a lot of 60″ desks available but they are fairly pricey.  In an ideal world, we would end up with something like this:Source: http://www.wayside-furniture.com/

Both of our monitors would fit on top of the hutch and we would have plenty of storage (and leg room!).  But this is undoubtedly hundreds or thousands of dollars (they don’t show the price on the website so that’s a bad sign).  Even a more basic version is expensive:Source: http://www.havertys.com/

This has far less storage and less character but it is still $329.  I’m honestly not crazy about it but the price is better.  So then I had another thought… what if we did two cute little his and hers writing desks and split things up a bit?  I stumbled upon this affordable 30″ writing desk that has a really cute shape!Source: http://www.wayfair.com

We would each get our own space, our own storage, and our own chairs. I think it would look really cute to make each one our respective styles.  Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, here is an example of what I mean:I think his & hers desks would be adorable… plus they would fit better in a new space than one giant desk.  Best of all- we could get both for under $250! I am still running all of these ideas by the boss-man but I would love to hear your thoughts!  Please let me know what you think of any or all of the above!  I also welcome other ideas… I would LOVE to get this workspace scratched off of my list!

Update: Woo here they come! :)

California String Art- San Fran Edition

I know I have already posted about making custom string art but I made a custom Etsy order this week that I felt like sharing!  It was an anniversary gift for a couple that just moved to San Fransisco.  I think it would be great as a housewarming or wedding gift as well!

Step-by-step instructions are here.  Like I said in that previous post, this project is easy in theory but a lot can go wrong and it can take much longer than you think. If you don’t have the time, energy, patience, or DIY know-how, I am more than happy to make you one myself! Check out my Etsy store for more details!  :)