The Great GORP Project

Midcentury modern love. . .at Costco?

I have totally neglected my design-ish blogging as of late. . .my decorating motivation got reawakened the other day as I was strolling through Costco and found these lamps for $45 buckers for the both of them!!

Now. .. I'm not usually a Costco furniture shopper. . .I like to forge into the deepest darkest corners of the exchange, or ebay to unearth one of a kind treasures. . .but this was too good to pass up, plus the lines are totally mid-century. . .and $45 bucks? HAD TO. Especially since I'd just finished saving up for the rather expensive task of getting the vintage film poster from Germany framed:) I'm in love with it. . .my mother in law found it in Germany years ago. . .and it's been sitting in our garage waiting for me to save my pennies. . .

My midcentury lamp dreams were set on Lotte lamps ever since a friend introduced me to this designer. . .but $45 bucks says later Lotte. . .I still love you. . .but you'll have to wait.

This picture is from the website www.lottelamps.com , they produce this iconic lamp from the master molds that Gunnar and Lotte Bostlund did since 1957. . .and do a fabulous job too. . .

 Nothing beats vintage originals though:)

Today: On the Gorp front: 500 bars were sent off to the Gimli Film Festival. . .to be given away as samples from the Buy Manitoba booth, an initiative by the Manitoba Food Processors Association. . .whoo hooo!!

I seem to be pretty good at giving bars away. .. time to start concentrating on actually SELLING THEM!

 

Food Inc.

This is a sexy film alright. . .controversial, shocking, extremely well done, provocative and relevant in the sense that we all eat. . .so most of us are interested and completely entitled to an opinion because of that very fact. .. WE ALL EAT.

Fact: We are conventional grain farmers. We grow food, to do this we fertilize, and spray to prevent disease and control weed pressure. We are not organic. Although we don't oppose it, we see a need for all types of farming. We are growing food for the world, our neighbours, and our cities. .. We believe there is room for everybody, from conventional to organic to free range and local. In fact we raised free range chickens for years, and our energy bars contain mostly local product, some organic, some not, and no preservatives or artificial anything. So we run the gamut of being villains or angels depending on where you stake your flag.

My opinion: This film is most certainly biased and uses shock value to communicate. Technology, innovation and our governments regulatory system has had a profound effect on the safety of our food chain as we know it today, let's not lose sight of this, we have one of the most envied and safe food processing systems in the world. HOWEVER. .I think the worst thing we can do in the Ag industry is to react to this film in the same manner that it was presented to us, which is to be defensive and biased. Pretending we don't have problems in our systems will do nothing but make us less credible to you the consumer. . that's the last thing we want. Plus, how do we continuously improve if we aren't being honest with ourselves, never mind the public??

What this film does do is get us talking about food, and that's great! So if folks are naive enough to swallow all the hype hook line and sinker, well, that's sad. However, I believe even though our culture isn't breeding critical thinkers these days, most of us know when we've been fed a one sided line. . .I've been asked countless times what my opinion is on this film from folks without an Ag background. . almost like they can sense there is more to the story. . .and there is much more to be told, INDEED!! There are also truths in the film that are horrible and need to be addressed, lets do less finger pointing and more critical analysis and start having some meaningful conversations. Encouraging a culture of cover-up's and defensiveness isn't working for us is it???

That's my rant.

My thoughts: Be careful how quickly you jump on a bandwagon. . .they often disappear into the night and leave nothing in their wake except the hollow trace of shock value marketing and no long lasting change to speak of. . .

There are ways to evoke change. . .what about honestly looking at our industry and working together instead of pointing accusing fingers. . .sure, it's not as sexy as some of the anti-Ag propaganda floating around out there. .. but maybe it could work?

reclaiming fun.

 Each of these pieces I either got for free or paid less than 15 bucks for! A bit of elbow grease from my good friend Rudy, and a few cans of Rustoleum spray paint and these pieces will live to see another day. .. another few thousand days if I have anything to say about it!

If I would have been thinking (and you can never assume I am!)I would have taken before and after pictures. . so you will have to use your imagination.  .just trust me. . .these pieces were mondo ugga before their grand transformations:) O.k fine.. . there are some folks out there (that shall remain nameless) that think I did more harm that good. . . . with my colour choices. . what ev. You can't see the knobs very well here, but they are amber glass!

The dresser I had as a kid! This is actually called "heritage red" and looks orange here, but is indeed a beautiful deep vintage looking shade. . the pic doesn't do her justice:(

A 15 buck garage sale find. .. this sucker used to be a gross pale cream/yellow veneer with stains all over. .. .now with a bit of sanding, wood patcher stuff and swanky crystal knobs she is back and lookin for trouble. .. .which she is bound to find living with us. . .

A small side table (this is the red of the dresser above in way better light) is now home to 2 hamsters. . ..who have developed a nasty poo throwing habit. .. who knew? We have to keep the dust buster in one of the drawers because of this crazy night-time activity that results in poo pellets scattered within a 5 foot radius of the cage. ..CRAZY ARMS ON THESE STINK BOMBS. .. nasty little beasts;)

 
This hand me down table got a black gloss treatment and the 4 chairs a satin white. Cool.

TODAY: I officially approved the packaging for Gorp! Done and Done. .. all I have to do now is find some $$$$ that the bank wants to part with and get this show on the road. aHHHHHHH.

OH AND ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Next post. . .more gorp updates. . perhaps a little rant/thoughts about watered down Christianity that has been revolving through my brain these days. . and some pictures of the furniture I ordered a few weeks ago from Room and Board (awesome company). G and I stayed up till 2 in the morning the other night setting up beds and arranging the living room furniture. . .three cheers for no more sleeping on the floor:)

Oh and the natural latex mattress we took a chance on ROCKS THIS PLANET. . .and I can't stop thinking about getting a tattoo? Am I crazy? Is it a bad idea? Will I regret it when I'm 92? But by then will I really give a flying hoot? Hmmmmm. . ..

Crazy days. . coming and going. . .step.

  
 

Shoot the cow. . .

 

(pic from www.fortstreetstudio.com)

Remember that? Shoot the cow. .. what a weird saying. I don't even know why I typed it, I was trying to think of a witty title for my post about finding the MOST BEAUTIFUL AREA RUGS ON EARTH, and wham, out came shoot the cow from my finger tips and a flood of memories from my pre-teenish years when I used to say that instead of swearing. . .I then fell into a good decade where my mouth should have been washed out with soap hourly considering the F bombs that were freely falling. . .I'm so glad to say that years ago I squashed the habit and only slip on occasion. . .whew. . the roads we travel. Swearing is a funny thing. .. now that I reflect, a lazy way to communicate perhaps. . .although I have to admit, hearing an unexpected, well played swear sneak out once in a while from someone who usually doesn't indulge in the practice throws me into fits of giggles. . ..on the contrary to hear it continuously flowing makes me cringe.

In the middle of the afternoon on Friday, Lisa (our rockin office chick, and yes, I believe she'd be o.k. with me calling her chick;) and I had a conversation about trying to stop saying "what the heck" because we were noticing our kids starting to repeat the saying. . .and it just seemed wrong to hear it coming from your 4 year old. . call me a prude, but there it is. We then discussed alternatives. . .one that has rolling around in my brain has been "what the knockers!" . ..cause it's just fun to say. . . not intending to refer to the female body part, but we both agreed that's kinda what came to mind. . ..and hearing that come out of a 4 year olds mouth wouldn't be any better. . .ohhhh the problems of the modern day mommy;) I guess "what the knockers?" is out. . ..any suggestions?

Man, how did this just turn into a weirdo post?

Here are the (insert booming voice here, followed by diminishing echo) MOST BEAUTIFUL AREA RUGS ON EARTH. . .EARTH. .earth. . .earth. .

This one is called Glimmer (aptly named cause considering they don't post prices on their website, the hope of it being in my price range of under $1000 is but a glimmer. . .) Fun to admire anyways.

www.fortstreetstudio.com

Don't they just look like works of art? And although I once found a pretty cool way to replicate some toy boxes a while back. . .my rug weaving abilities leave a lot to be desired. . .

All I can say is SWOON + YUMMY x ORGANIC = these rugs!

Steppin out!  

mov'in and speech'in

I've been dragging stuff into the house all week. . and have come to the conclusion that 1) We've got way too much "stuff" and 2) I'm going to get super fit by climbing all the stairs in our house. .. guess I can toss the old stair master;)

refinished pews beside the elevator beam table. . .the folks with small bladders AHEM. . .(me) will have to sit on the ends of the benches. .but they turned out awesome. . .wish I could take credit but, Grant found the pews and Rudy who works with us refinished them. .. beautiful job, he even restored the old hymn book holders on the back. . .I'm contemplating enforcing a "Dyck Family Rule" . . something to do with singing grace perhaps?

Working on the layout of Leos room. .. don't quite have it right yet. . .the Eames rocker in the corner is my favourite:)

The old filing cabinet I found at Old House Revival is going to serve as the bathroom storage area, everyone has their own row of drawers. . .my strategy of having no counter tops in the bathrooms to keep the mess at bay is coming into play here!

Grant's parents old bedroom set. . .very 70's, even Spanish colonial perhaps? The set is built like a tank out of solid wood. .. .I'm looking forward to designing around them in a very eclectic way. ..

That's the house update. ..

Now Gorp!

I'm speaking at a conference this weekend in Morris. . .the annual Marketing Caravan, I am TERRIFIED. I have these great reasons for saying yes to speaking engagements. . like it will stretch me. ..blah blah blah. . .but now I'm panicking. . .as I was writing my speech I was wondering what the heck possessed me to say yes to this!!! What can I possibly tell this room full of folks who most likely have more business experience than me?? Then it occurred to me. .. I can tell these people WHAT NOT TO DO!! Throughout this journey that's something I've got some real experience in! So that took all the pressure off. .. I'm just going to tell my story, warts and all. .. I used to be scared that people would find out that I don't know what I'm doing. .. but when I embraced that very fact I became empowered. . .cause it's the truth. . .I have no idea what I'm doing. . .and that's GREAT. . .cause I've got not pride when it comes to asking stupid questions. .  maybe it will be the key to my success. . who knows;)

Here we go!
 
 

 

moving moving moving. .. .la deee da:)

Ohhhhh yeah. .. this is the official move in week.. .of our stuff anyways, but still. . SOMETHING IS HAPPENING. Yip. Our very own phone number! An address?! What the? Awesome.

The structural design decisions were fun. .. interior design is where I fall apart. . .I know what I like when it comes to furniture, but pulling it all together? Ahhhhh. The retro chair ebay scores are by Adrian Pearsall. . .and I got them for a dream. .. but not so sure they go with that carpet. . or the coffee and end tables for that matter (another ebay moment of weakness). . .I got a designer to quote this project a while back and just couldn't swallow the cost. . .now I'm not sure if all the mistakes I'm making are going to cost me more. .. Dog gone. . .

The last time these counters will be this uncluttered. . I'm sure:)

La salle de bains. .. oui oui. This ceramic tile is from Heath Ceramics. . in the discount bin. . turned out pretty good for purchasing sight unseen!

Two old church pews will be on either side of this table. . .should be good times. .. except for when you have to visit the salle de bain. . .hmmmm.

So. . .I've officially printed out a full marathon training schedule. .. I'm sipping some wine and staring/glaring at it right now. .. O.K. there may also be chips on the scene. . .the logic is this: with everything going on right now. ..trying to launch GORP, moving into the house, coming into spring/seeding, and other such stress I figure that if I commit to running the Manitoba Marathon in June then I'll be forced to do the one thing that melts the stress off my hunched up shoulders these days. . .RUN RUN RUN!

A goal for spring. . that feels right. And it might just chase off the "winter layer". .. speaking of which. . .as I was musing to myself the other day as I was passing by the mirror. . " hmmmm. .. now how did that happen? (referring to the random 10 pounds that magically appeared) I hear from the other room. .. my loving husbands voice. . "2 words. .Chip Ezzzzz" Ohhhhh you are just so funny my dear;) Chip ezzzzz indeed. We both burst out laughing. . cause it's kinda true. . .he he oooops. .. what are sweaters for anyways!

Keep on keep'in on. .. yes another cliche. .. it's all good.

 

a little Sunday fun before we get serious. . .

Some odds and ends. . .random thoughts, house photos, and embarrassing moments. . .Monday it gets seriously clean around here. . but for now. . .some turkey leg tales of woe!

Most embarrassing moment on the trip: As I've mentioned we became quite fond of the smoked turkey legs at Disney, so one fateful night while taking in the nightly fireworks show we over zealously ordered one too many. I'll paint the scene, it's dark, it's FREAKING COLD, kids are done with their half eaten turkey legs, and being the good Mennonite boy that he is, Grant thrusts them into my hands insisting that I save them? A small argument/debate ensues between us.. . no you take it, no you. ..(me) I don't think we should save these greasy meat sticks anyways. . (him). . no, it's a waste, just put them somewhere!

(so I did, I put them somewhere, then promptly forgot about it. . .. until the next fateful morning when. . .)

First I'll explain how this works. .. trams come to pick up all disney go-ers from the far reaches of the parking lots. . .then upon arriving at the gates we all pile out in a rushed fury to line up. So, surrounded by innocent bystanders (who were unfortunate enough to get on our tram) we are hurriedly unfolding the stroller, Grant gives it the final snap to get it upright and from between the folds of the sun canopy. . .comes flying, YOU GUESSED IT. . .A MYRIAD OF GREASY BITS OF MEAT AND TURKEY LEG PIECES, ALONG WITH OILY NAPKINS THAT BLOW ONTO THE POOR FOLKS SURROUNDING US. . .AS IF??

Mine and Grants eyes meet. . .did we really just shower Disney vacationers with the subject of our late night greasy debate???! We suppress smiles and giggles as we quickly gather up our very embarrassing mess of meat, amidst the shocked and puzzled stares. . .so embarrassing:)

Highlight of the trip: Definitely family time followed closely by eating the best gumbo ever in New Orleans, and picking up the mini. .. the sweet soon to be decal ed up Gorp-mobile! (Don't think Grant's car modelling career will take off;)

We stopped in Minneapolis so I could finally see in real life my favourite furniture store ever: www.roomandboard.com Mid-century modern love. My dream sofa in camel leather above, below are a few more pics I took in the store of some pretty sweet furniture arrangements. ..

Hmmmm. ..velvet sofas in baby blue. . .so elegant, but sooooo wouldn't survive my tribe of dirty hippies!

LOVE THIS LOOK. . .they make it look so easy? So not. . .

A little bit of house update. . .

Main floor bath, pretty much done! Except for the shower. .. small details. .

Dining room shot from 2nd story. ..

 

2nd floor bathroom, industrial cast iron sink and faucets. . .great look, value and cheaper than two typical sinks on a vanity!

 2nd floor hallway and access to what we've dubbed as the Crows Nest (lookout room on roof.)

That's the skinny, this week will be full of Gorp kitchen set up and production issues. . .

Step!
  
   

Chesty. . .

Heeeeyyy. . what did ya think I was going to post about?

Remember when I fell all crazy in love with the toy boxes from this post? Well. . .I finally got around to making my version of them at home. . with a little help from my mother in law, who agreed to trust me and give my home made creations to the kids for Christmas, I went to work.

I found a very basic (non country charmish) unfinished toy box at www.cedarchests.com for $150.00. These chests are well built and made in the USA by a very reputable company called Little Colorado, they have a very good reputation and I love their philosophy and "feel". . .but I digress. Then I picked up some walnut stain at the local hardware store and borrowed some Osmo (an awesome product, we happen to sell through Wood Anchor. . .a natural non toxic wax base finish for everything from kids toys to floors;). The retro ADJUSTABLE legs I found at Lee Valley and the cool lego man decal I found on Etsy for 10 bucks. YES!

So after a few evenings of toiling away the finished product is what you see above. . that one is Oskars (because he's a lego maniac) Georgia picked an owl on a branch and Leo is getting a flying robot. .. but the decals have yet to arrive. .. so those pics will come later.

I'm pretty pumped. . .each cost under $200 bucks to make and in my humble completely biased opinion. .. THEY ROCK! 
 

That's my do-it-yourself tip of the year. . .I've still got a quilt to finish, which is haunting me. ..but soon enough. . SOON E NUFF. One foot in front of the other. . .it's that kind of year:)

Road trip update: My clean eating quest was destroyed less than 8 hours into the trip by the best gas station chicken fingers I've ever had in my life. . PERIOD. Somewhere in Nebraska I think? Also the best billboard I've seen in a long time, it read:

"If you must curse then go ahead. Please just use your own name."

- God

Rock.

Taking Pause!

Well. . .now that I've recovered from those blasted dips, crackers, cheese and chocolates dive bombing my intestines. .. it's time to get back to business. .. and some nice clean eating/living.

This may be challenging since we are embarking on the Dyck Family road trip in T-3 seconds/4 am tomorrow morning. .. but the tuna sandwiches are made, celery sticks and yogurt packed. . so those dang whoppers can stick it in their ears. .. I'm not giving in to your luscious juicy goodness with double cheese heavy all. .. except if I'm on the verge of starvation. . which might happen just once or thrice?

While we are gone there will be Gorp goings on's like a photo-shoot for the front of the packaging. . .I can't believe I'm letting this one happen without my supervision/uninvited input;) But these branding folks have really proven their metal. .. so time for me to let them work their magic SANS Colleen. Ouch. It hurts just to type it. . .growing stinks, letting go stinks more. . .but being a micro-manager reeks. . so I'm settling for stinky. . and pray I am stretching my delegating muscle. . .which feels quite cramped at the moment. . .

The house will also be surviving SANS Colleen. . .tiles will be laid, holes drilled, fridges installed, all without Moi? But I do have a trusted awesome guy type of builder friend who is keeping vigil for me, and a mom to do the nightly checks. . and a pretty darn awesome crew to keep things in line. .. so I need to let go of that too. . .who knew a vacation could be so painful before it even begins?? Oh well. . .as soon as we go over the border and my cell phone is out of range. . I'll relax. . .who knows it might not even kill me??

The blogging may suffer a bit but I'll do my best to plug in and rant and rave. .. :)

Happy New Years Everyone. .. get your resolutions ready to rock and roooooolllll. . .I have a feeling 2010 is going to be full of surprises. .. .and maybe some more of that dang growing crud too. . .

Here's the latest on the black house project:

 

The antler chandelier was hung the other day and I'm happy to report that I'm speechless. . in the good kinda way. . .this was one risky design decision that paid off:)

 

The view from the ground against the black ceiling. . .AWESOME. .. so to all you nay sayers about the black ceiling move. . .Ahem. .Grant?! Your wife isn't THAT off her rocker, yet. .. give me a few years:)

Oh and I have some homemade toy chests to unveil as soon as this train stops at a place with internet. . I'll be sharing. . .until then. . .adios amigos we be travell'in. . .
 
 

A Quickie. .

Happy Sunday! And thanks for all the comments on the house. ..I have literally spent hundreds of hours planning, searching, browsing, scavenging, price checking, sneaking peeks and designing my spare time away over the past THREE YEARS. With no design experience to speak of. . I'm pretty much just shocked when I see it all coming together and I had no idea if what I was doing was going to work out. Or if those questionable 80% off deals on the internet were going to pan out?? But I am beginning to think that I'm not crazy. .. so apparently that's a good thang!

I just had to drag my dear sister into the cold cold warehouse to sneak a peek at the antler chandelier that Grant hauled back from the city for me. . .(One of the many things that drives G crazy about me is. . ) I can never wait until it's appropriate to open a box. . .I sport a measuring tape and utility knife on me at all times. . .just in case I need to rip into a package or measure some random item at some random junk yard sale that I randomly come across during my random day. . .quit smirking. .. I happen to know I'm not the only one;)

A risky risky design decision. . a rustic antler chandelier in an ultra modern home???? I won't know for sure until it's up. .. and then it will be there to stay. . so I better love it. ..pronto!

Have an awesome day. .. and yes. .. we will be having a house warming party for sure. . just as long as you promise not to swing wildly from the chandelier. . .. that's my spot;)