I was fiddling around trying to find a decent blackout curtain for the sliding glass door (i love the sunset light, but it's no bueno for watching movies) and ran across this beautiful print of poppies (lush decor poppy garden). Sadly it's too modern to fit in the "dwarf speakeasy" theme, but i do think it is lovely. I realized it has the same color palette i picked for the house paint. Burnt orange, blue-greens, navy. It's a poppy blooming in the dark. The poppy is an interesting flower - source of opium, symbol of memory (WWI), sleep and death. Is there a symbolically darker flower? I think not. So of course i am all about it.

I bought new-to-me sliding closet panels to replace the flimsy plain white ones that came with the house. That habitat for humanity restore is the tits! I got two wood panels for the front closet and two mirrored panels for the guest room for $40 total. Can't beat it with a stick. I was thinking of painting something on the wood panels, just because it is an easy, obvious place to put some art. I was thinking magpies, because they like hanging out in the backyard. Now i'm thinking night poppy and magpies. I wanted to paint a mural on the shed, too. You got it: poppies. The theme is established.

Maybe next year i will plant poppies in the flower beds. Poppies and snapdragons.

I'm late for the growing season this year, and i don't know what's already been planted anyway. The tulips were a surprise, and other things are coming up. I'll have to do research and set myself up for planting next year.

The cats are so happy. I washed all the sheets and curtains yesterday and they are in kitten heaven making themselves nap nests. There's so much daylight now that Cat starts going bezerk at 4am wanting to go outside. I have to make sure i pull down the cellular blinds (they are super fucking sweet with a sheer top part and blackout bottom and you can adjust the split) to dim the light and chill him out. He did this in fairbanks when spouse and i first started dating. If you leave the window open, the fresh air and early morning light are as good as strong catnip.

I finished putting up shelves and pegboard in the utility room and it's amazing. Putting up shelving is the BEST. We had three of those grey plastic utility shelf units in the old hoard room, and this is like having two of those right on the wall! I'm gonna hang up all the tools! I'm so excited.

Today i'm gonna finish hanging the curtain rod holders. I've made the curtain hardware complicated, naturally. I found these rod holders i loved and impulsively ordered them thinking it would be easy, and cheap, to get wooden poles for curtain rods. Surprise, they're too small for the standard 1.25 wood closet pole, plus, wood closet poles are super expensive now, god damn it. $30 for a closet pole? Are you shitting me? I can't find 1" x 6' dowels in the local home improvement stores and because alaska, they can't be shipped up. So i'm making curtain rods out of wooden mop handles. Yup. I can get a 5' wood mop pole for $7.50, all smooth and pre-finished. Just cut off the metal screw in part. But, i have to jury rig multiple pole sections together because all the windows need more than than 5', fuck. So i have a section of aluminum tubing on order that hopefully will fit the diameter perfectly and be a nice strong joint, like the aluminum joints in a fiberglass tent pole, esp when i fill it full of gorilla glue.

So i got all my curtains (except the one blackout curtain) and i am stitching these metal rings at the top of all the panels because i want to be able to close/open them easily. I have 2 of 6 done and they take 16-18 rings each. Gathered curtains always catch and look sloppy, i want rings. Anyway, it's a big dumb project and i am peeved i stuck my fist in the tar baby when i knew it was a tar baby, but whadya gonna do, projects gonna project. So i'll have special jury rigged curtain rods and special jury rigged curtains. Saving money? Prob not, ha ha. But the curtain rod holders are sweet, the wood rods will be sweet, and i do really like the curtains (white cotton muslin screenprinted with this geometric decorative pattern in silver ink). I'm glad spouse isn't here because he'd be all, "why didn't you just buy normal curtain rods like a normal person instead of making them out of mop handles?" BeCauSE i WaNtEd wOOd RoDs aNd We lIvE In aLaSkA!!!!

I'm gonna unpack some more boxes today, now that i have more shelves up. Start figuring out where things will live. I want to find all my tools and supplies because i'll need them for the woodworking projects.

I have another horrible tar baby idea: i've been looking for accent chairs for when we have company, like if we wanted to host gaming or have a bbq or whatever. I specifically want sturdy armless chairs with nice cushy cushions and maybe some bonus storage under the seat. Points if the chairs are modular and can latch together to form a faux sofa. And i want them in the $100-150 range, maybe $200 if they are perfect. Cannot fucking find them. I am so goddamn picky. I'm contemplating making them and sewing the cushions out of rugs. I saw these arabic sofas (majlis?) that are basically blocks of foam covered in amazing fabric and i love the look but i'd have to separate them into chair cushions (because we are fat americans and too lazy to sit on the floor). But i can buy these woven rugs in a similar pattern and make my own cushions and make my own chair frame, because i have POWER TOOLS. I already know this is a terrible idea but i am probably going to do it anyway. Because nobody sells the chairs i want. Armless. Sturdy. Comfy.

Cheap. (Will deliver to alaska.) I want orange but i'll take navy. That's all i want, i don't get why it's hard. What is up with this mid century obsession? We've gone from farmhouse to mid century and i am iffy on both. Mid century looks like they took a perfectly nice piece of furniture and replaced the legs with something scavenged from an elementary school storage room for no reason. Elementary school chic, all i see. I don't want anyone coming over to my house and worrying about a chair breaking. If i make the chairs, they will be comfy and sturdy. That much i do know.

I ordered this sample rug with a navy/orange woven design. I'm hoping the material is like a thick canvas and i can run it through my machines. I can make square cushions. I can make a simple wood chair frame.

This is exactly how i get myself in trouble. Watch me cry about this later.