I was on the fence with what to order from Tatt.ly (a new web shop for designy temporary tattoos) after the beta launch two weeks ago, but after today’s release of four new designs including kitchen utensils… I got out my credit card. As they say at Tatt.ly: “Wear them as a set or cut them into individual utensils. We can’t wait to see what you cook up!”

 image via tatt.ly

(see below for image, product sourcing)

After a long hiatus from working on projects around the apartment, I’m ready to shop get back to work. Fortunately, items 4, 6, 8, and 9 are already taken care of. Inspired by almost-black walls spotted on Apartment Therapy and Design*Sponge at the time, I painted the bedroom in June 2009 and still love the color. The bear print was a more recent purchase, aimed at using some of a small art budget started after we got married. The sheets, also a wedding gift, are here to stay (paired with other white and grey linens) and my aim is to use our two three-legged Frösta stools as bed side tables. I’m not sure whether they’ll hold up under the enormous pile of books Tom keeps in his “zone,” but we can certainly give it a go.

Another question is how well the stools’ slim profiles will jive with IKEA’s chunkier Mandal bed frame. IKEA’s other, lither, birch-made bedframe, Ånes, has gone the way of the Frösta stools (you can still see it in Anna of Door Sixteen’s bedroom).

Feeling lucky, I looked for an Ånes frame for sale on Craigslist and actually FOUND one in Bloomington, MN, but it was only a full-size. And, as previously stated, I’m not about to go out and buy all new sheets. But seriously, someone, buy it—please!

Those legs! The banana-y maple runners! No. 10, a splurge, has been on my wish-list for a long time. If I had a little Eames Rocker in the corner of our bedroom I promise it would not get covered in yesterday’s outfit, and the day before’s, and the day before that’s.

Why redo the bedroom? Short answer: I read too many blogs. And, admittedly, dark grey walls are lovely, but add a bunch of IKEA’s “medium brown” veneers from the Malm family, a dark rug, etc. and pretty soon you’re drowning in a prison cell. I’m hoping the switch to birch and bringing in more white will lighten things up.

If nothing else, I’d like to change the orientation of our bed back to how it was when we first moved in (above left). Remember, back when we didn’t have to close the window in the middle of the night due to rain falling on our faces? Aside from the practical reasoning, I just miss seeing bed/rug/bedside table at the end of the hallway.

Changing out the sickly bare bulb (above right) is a must. Which reminds me, any advice for how to work a ceiling medallion around the electrical casing leading to the overhead bulb would be much appreciated. Maybe a utility knife would do the trick?

Tomorrow I’ll share some of the inspiration for a change through photos from some of my favorite bloggers.

1. Scratch Travel Map of the World from Our Shop 2. A ceiling medallion (size TBD) for use with… 3. a LERAN lamp from IKEA 4. Sherwin Williams’s Software 5. an apple green Pleece Throw by Marianne Abelsson for Design House Stockholm 6. striped sheets from West Elm 7. IKEA’s MANDAL bed frame 8. “papa mama baby bear” by Red Cruiser paired with an IKEA RIBBA frame 9. IKEA’s (now discontinued) Frösta stools 10. White Eames Molded Plastic Rocker through Design Within Reach.

(Top images labeled 1–10 sourced from the sites respectively linked above.)

I dislike spice racks—those awful powder-coated ornamental metal racks with pre-labeled, pre-packed spices and their counterparts in beechwood with Lazy Susans built into the base. They just don’t make sense for most cooks or most kitchens. They’re merely decorative at best but, as I remember the one mounted behind my grandmother’s range, more often covered in unsightly dust and grime.

At some point, though, I realized our own system of tumbling stacks of assorted jars wasn’t really working. It was hard to see what we had, what was running low, and in addition to the stuffed shelf of spices, we had several larger containers tucked away in another space. Inspired by an old Door Sixteen post from January ’09, I picked up a crop of RATIONELL VARIERA racks from IKEA on New Year’s Day.

A note on the installation: IKEA’s instructions recommend removing the door to which you’ll be mounting the racks and doing the project on a flat surface. In theory, this seems very practical, and in a kitchen with IKEA’s own cabinets installed it might even be easy. But given the thick and many layers of paint covering every hinge in our kitchen, I determined pretty quickly that the door wasn’t coming down. Bar clamps to the rescue! I was able to secure the door with clamps to another door, giving enough stability to drill.

Knowing that we’d have to leave some spices in the existing cupboard, we chose those for the door by frequency of use and by grouping types of herbs and spices together. Herbs fit in the top rack, another holds seeds, baking spices fill the third row, and the most colorful group sits at the bottom: sumac, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, and paprika. We kept salts and peppers and Tom’s collection of Penzeys curries on the shelf along with saffron packages and bay leaves (the only flavoring that refused to fit through the smallish mouths of the IKEA jars).

For the labels, I bought a few sheets of adhesive-backed paper and used a Martha Stewart punch to make the shapes.

Transferring the majority of the spices (above left) to the racks on the cupboard door created room for olive oil and prep bowls in this space (above right).

I finished this project on January 2, and a month later, it still brings me way too much happiness to see these neatly labeled groups of spices gracing the inside of our cabinet door every day. It’s so nice to have easy access to all our flavorings and enjoy their colors through clear glass. As a bonus, the easy-open lids make the jars great for cooking. And so far, there’s only a little bit of dust on top of the jars…

At the end of November, Remodelista featured the Filigrantrae, a Danish wooden Christmas tree that can be used year after year. I was taken, but the marthaandtom production budget didn’t exactly have $275 floating around with which to fulfill all our Scandinavian holiday fantasies.

Almost immediately after seeing the images on Remodelista and then Design Public, a little idea floated into my head… I could make this myself. A typical I-could-make-that feeling turns into “I could make it, I just didn’t” …but not this time.

With the aid of a math problem made Facebook status, I developed a plan, helped along by Emma’s Designblogg‘s sharing of a series of photographs originally from Bolig Magazine of a Danish family’s home with one of these babies in every room (at $275, you bet they come in multiple colors: rødt, lime, sort, hvidt, and lilla). This was the final inspiration I needed.

With only hours left before snow would seal us in our apartment for the foreseeable future, we made a mad dash for Home Depot on Friday night. While everyone else was stocking up on snowblowers and shovels, Tom and I were shopping lumber. At $26.86 before tax — power-sawing included — we were off to a good start.

As of yesterday evening, we now have a fully-decorated tree that can be used again and again.

Before you head to your local lumberyard to buy out their dowel supply, I would share that this wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I have a renewed understanding of what it means to have the right tools for the job and a steadier hand with a drill. With all of the mistakes that went into this one, I was very tempted yesterday to throw out the central pole and begin again (I bought different drill bits midway through the project almost doubling the total cost. But at less than $50, I’m still not complaining).

While it’s not perfect, I’m taking the suggestion of my father (who I must thank for his willing participation in a video-chat planning session on Saturday) and living with all the character of this first attempt. With no further work in store, I finished just in time for my self-imposed deadline of December 15, the night before my family’s tradition of reading the Novena de Aguinaldo is to begin.

The Ingredients:

four  ½” round pine dowels, each 48″ in length cut into twelve sections in varying sizes (my plan called for 4″x1, 6″x3, 10″x2, 16″x2, 20″x3, 18″x1, 26″x1 but I was only estimating based on pictures of the original)

one 5′ pine closet pole (the original design has an angled cut at the top… I forgot to request this of the staff at Home Depot)

one tapped 1/4-20 wood insert and accompanying bolt to fit (mine was about 2.5″ long) these should cost about $.30/ea. at your local hardware store

one pine 1×4 cut to lengths of 16.5″ (2 pieces) and 4″ (two pieces)

Wood Glue (you’ll need screws and/or wood clamps to get a tight seal)

Sandpaper

Drill with the following drill bits: ½” wood specific* bit (for drilling into the center pole), a smaller but not too small bit for creating pilot holes before using the ½” bit, ¼” bit (to create holes in the base and central pole for the bolt, ⅜” bit (to create a hole in the central pole for the wood insert)

Don’t forget wood scraps for practice if you’re less-than-handy with your drill. I bought a 1′ section of a closet pole in addition to the 5′ central pole of the tree to practice making ½” holes and kept the extras from the 1×4 to prevent my drill from going through our living room floor.

All measurements included are approximations based on studying pictures and descriptions of the original Danish design. If you plan to make your own, don’t worry about sticking too carefully to the exact specifications listed here. Note also that the original design uses birch, which is no doubt much easier to obtain in northern Europe than in a big box wood retailer in the midwestern United States, where pine is widely available for a very low cost.

*Using drill bits not made specifically for wood working may result in much less than perfect drilling. For best results, DO NOT use a flat bit, even if it is specified for use on wood. I used this brand and was able to buy a single ½” bit at the hardware store. For help getting to know your drill, click over to Design*Sponge’s new feature on building your toolbox.

Very tempting… these, while a little silly at best and perhaps unnecessary on the far end of the things, would be a fun reminder of our wedding festivities.

Pig Picks (set of six), hecho en España, $6.95 at Crate&Barrel

Image: Crate&Barrel