Dirty, turdy, birdy feet

In honor of the Great Backyard Bird Count that's still underway, I had these lovelies pointed out to me from the great website Rare Device.

I have an allergic reaction to cuteness I swear, so these things are safe for me to be around. I get it that I have some ideas about what constitutes an objet d'art that are specific to me. I get it. With that said I can't think of a cooler objet to set on the corner of my living room bookcase. I love birds so that's covered, I love cast metal and that's covered too. They're perfect!

Rare Device has scores of other one-of-a-kind artistically minded pieces. Think of it as Etsy without all of the cheesy, crafty stuff. You should check them out.

Cheap fixes: fast, fat shelves

Check this out:

I love the look of what's usually called a chunky shelf, but the prices charged for most of them border on the criminal. Here's a cheap do-it-yourself project I found on Reader's Digest's website of all places. All you need is some basic tools, a couple of hours and an appreciation for cheap fixes that don't look cheap.

1. Pick up an 18" or 24" wide hollow core door or two.

2. Mark the studs on the wall where you want your shelf to go.

3. Using either a table saw or a circular saw (use a fence or some kind of straight edge if you're going the circular saw route), and cut the door in half.

4. Hollow core doors are actually not hollow. They have a corrugated cardboard core. Take a wood chisel (or a steak knife) and remove the corrugated cardboard center.

5. Measure the inside dimension of the thickness of the door. Round the number down to the nearest eighth inch.

6. Cut a 2x4 to the thickness of the inside dimension of the door's hollow core. This 2x4 is the cleat that will hold up your shelf and make it appear to float.

7. Draw a straight line across the studs you've already marked on the wall. This straight line will be the line where you set the bottom of the cleat.

8. Screw or bolt the cleat to the studs through the wall.

9. Apply carpenter's glue to the top of the cleat and the lower inside of the back of the shelf. Slide the shelf onto the cleat.

10. Fasten the shelf to the cleat with 1" brad nails space 8" apart.

11. Allow the glue to cure and paint your heart out. Paint them any color but the blue in these photos, please.

Oh, it's Valentine's Day too

It's not too late to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count

Platalea ajaja, the Roseate Spoonbill

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual, joint venture between the Audubon Society and Cornell University's Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Every year, the Great Backyard Bird Count asks participants to observe an area for a minimum of 15 minutes, count the number and quantity of bird species he or she sees and then enter their findings on the GBBC website. This year, the GBBC is taking place from the 13-16 of February. While it's true that it started yesterday, there's still plenty of time to set aside some time for watching the birds in your yard.

Passerina cyanea, the Indigo Bunting

The GBBC's website has a page where you can enter your zip code and then you'll be directed to a species checklist that's specific to your part of the world and this time of year. What's really cool is that each of the species listed is also a hot key that will direct you to a fact and identification sheet for a particular bird. Can't tell the difference between a White-eyed Vireo and Blue-headed Vireo? Have no fear, the GBBC's website will dispel that particular mystery. As the four days of the bird count progress, the GBBC's website will update in real time, so that you can see what people in your town are seeing as well as what species people a continent away have seen.

Dryocopus pileatus, the Pileated Woodpecker

The point of this is to take an informal poll of where different bird species are from year to year. In addition to providing some important information about the populations of various species, it also lets the event's organizers get a feel for migratory patterns and how specific birds are responding to this year's winter temperatures and precipitation. The Cornell Lab and the Audubon Society can take this years' information and compare it to previous years.

Egretta thula, the Snowy Egret

Aside from its scientific value, the Great Backyard Bird Count is a great excuse to pay attention to your surroundings, if only for 15 minutes. Even if you don't participate in the count, why not take a break and stare into the backyard this weekend? It does a body good and you may see something unexpected.

Passerina ciris, the Painted Bunting

By the way, I'm peppering this page today with birds I expect to see this weekend.

Porphyrio martinica, the Purple Gallinule

Eudocimus albus, the American White Ibis

Piranga olivacea, the Scarlet Tanager

Lanius ludovicianus, the Loggerhead Shrike

Rynchops niger, the Black Skimmer

I love this bar stool

The women who write Remodelista featured this counter stool yesterday and I think it's my new favorite thing.

Now I read Remodelista religiously. I admire their layout and their approach to blogging. These women are keen of eye and fast to spot something new and interesting. However, they have a tendency to list prices in Euros, despite the fact that they are based entirely in the US. This gets on my nerves. Not nearly as much as the way that the kids on Apartment Therapy (especially the ones based in LA) use British spellings, but it's close. 

Here's what I mean. This lovely counter stool is the Tabouret Tolix avec dossier and it's available for €269 from Loftbutik.com. Ugh. Buying a counter stool from a French website when you're not in the EU is a pain, and an entirely unnecessary one when there's a perfectly fine US-based supplier in awaiting your inquiries in Chicago.

So the easy and approachable low down on this counter stool is this: Tolix is the manufacturer, and tabouret avec dossier means stool with back. It's available in the US for $395 from Antiquaire. Antiquaire also has the tabouret avec dossier in painted finishes for $375. See? Easy.