It seems like every where I look, a quatrefoil (four-leaved) design is a source of inspiration.  Whether it is used on walls or accent pieces, it really lends itself to a clean and modern aesthetic.  Although I like to think of my style as eclectic traditional, I am finding more and more that it is hard to pin down my style.  One thing I do know is I know what I like, and I like quatrefoil.  I am completely inspired by the pantry at The House of Smith’s.  I don’t know if it’s the gray paint that looks like it’d fit our color scheme, or the pantry placement that is eerily similar to our own, but it is totally my style.  You’ll even notice that she uses a quatrefoil design as part of her blog layout!

I am also enamored with her creative use of vinyl lettering.  Now, it’s no secret that I have a new l0ve for all things vinyl ever since my diy vinyl wall tree.  Turn’s out she actually sells custom vinyl lettering.  This means she must have a vinyl cutter.  Drool!  I’m a sucker for random industrial equipment.  Speaking of which, does anyone need to borrow a book binder?

One of the most genius application of a quatrefoil design was at Twin Dragonfly Designs.  Using a clear glossy finish only, it was applied using a stencil.  Can you say subtle chic?

Keep in mind, a quatrefoil desing can be put anywhere.  At Casa de Lewis, tiles were put to good use as beautiful coasters.

Where would you put a quatrefoil design?  I am debating between stenciling the craft room with a clear gloss like Twin Dragonfly Designs or in using a keep it simple approach like Casa de Lewis and using her method to add a quatrefoil design to a vase or similar piece of room eye candy.  Whatchya’ think?

The cord set comes with an open eye hook, but it didn’t work in our situation because there was no stud in the ceiling where we wanted to hang the light. We ended up buying a hanging plant hook kit. We had to modify the hook slightly because the plastic wire hanger that came with the Hemma was too small to fit over the end of the planter hook.

To fix this, I simply cut the end off of the hook with a small hacksaw. The metal was very soft and this took only seconds.  If you don’t have a hacksaw, you could possibly use heavy duty wire cutters to cut the end off.

These hanging kits are designed to hold hanging planters which are pretty heavy and come with the parts to install on either a stud or directly into drywall.  The drywall anchor is a spring toggle bolt, which is capable of hanging a lot of weight. This is a bit overkill for this project, but it doesn’t hurt. For other projects, you may want to check out which kind of drywall anchor would be right for you. To install this toggle bolt, I used a half-inch spade drill bit to drill a hole in the ceiling large enough to accept the toggle bolt when it is folded.

Once the hole has been drilled, simply insert the toggle bolt and screw the hook until it is tight against the ceiling.

We planned to power the light using a power socket under the kitchen cabinets by the sink but we didn’t want the plug just hanging down from the ceiling for two reasons; 1) Because it is unsightly and 2) because the Hemma wire was several feet too long. What we decided to do was to run the wire inside our cabinets and leave the extra wire on top of the cabinet. To do this, we used a larger drill bit to drill a hole bottom shelf and the top of the cabinets as close to the back corner as possible.

A 1-inch spade drill bit which was just wide enough to handle the plug.

We threaded the wire through the holes and tied a knot just before the bottom hole leaving enough on the other side to reach the plug under the cabinets. This knot should prevent any extra wire from coming through the hole.

To keep the wire out of the way and tidy inside the cabinet, we used small nails to tack it to the back side of the cabinet facing. This also help rout the wire neatly around the inner shelves.

We got a shade from a local Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $2.00. These stores are great because they have a wide variety of random construction pieces and furniture for great prices and the money goes to help Habitat for Humanity. The particular share we got was a bit too big to fit on the screw part of the hemma, so I filed down some of the plastic on the hemma’s light socket to make some room. I was only able to thread a couple of threads on the socket with the screw piece, but that was plenty to hold the shade.

All in all, the IKEA Hemma proved to be a great solution for us. There are tons of really great examples out there using it as well. It allows you to be creative and still coming up with a professional look.  If you have used the Hemma for a DIY lighting project, we’d love to see what you did! Leave us a comment with info and a link.

For the design, I was inspired by two owls.  First I liked this guy from iStockphoto.  You can definitely see the similarities.  Second I was inspired by this owl on Disney’s Family Fun:

Of course, I liked the spin on the word always as “owl-ways”.  I think the pencil idea is great too, but I had already bought some sour crybaby gumballs.  I am planning to put the gumballs I already purchased over the eyeballs of the owl.  Here is the owl I created:

I have it two to a page to make for easier copying and distribution.  I will put my email on the back of each owl valentine so students can contact me in the future if they need to for any reason.  I also intentionally kept it as a line drawing so students can color it in if they wish.  Enjoy the freebie!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

The camera I grabbed was iHome brand basic webcam for around $15.  Most webcams will work with this system from what I can tell. I literally did no research beforehand, which I do not recommend. I got very lucky that the camera I chose worked without much trouble (which practically NEVER happens for me).  I highly suggest checking to make sure the hardware will work before buying this or any other camera for this application.

The program I am using is called ZoneMinder, which is a fully featured open source CCTV security system .  It was written by someone who had a similar experience to me.  This program allows you to have multiple cameras which can be set to only record when they detect motion, and you can even break the camera images into separate zones of detection. This program can also integrate with X10 hardware to control all sorts of toys.  All of this is hosted on a web server so you can access it from anywhere in the world if you desire. I’m only going to set up something locally to only record if motion is detected.

Again, you want to make sure your  hardware will work with the program, so head over to the ZoneMinder Wiki hardware compatibility list as well as the UVCvideo compatibility list since ZoneMinder can use the UCVvideo drivers for linux.

My camera happened to work with the UCVvideo drivers, so I had to install that first. You can skip this section if you already have a working camera.  To begin with I had to install patchUtils form synaptic. You can do the same with the command below:

sudo apt-get install patchUtils

Then I downloaded and installed the UCVvideo drivers [1 ]

git clone git://linuxtv.org/media_build.git
cd media_build
./build
make install

At this point I kept having a bit of a problem, but I found the answer on another blog. This involved running two commands to actually insert the UCV modules:

sudo depmod -a
modprobe uvcvideo

Everyone will need the following commands to install the dependencies for ZoneMinder. Again, it runs a webserver, so there are a few important dependencies to be installed. Luckily I found a good tutorial to help figure out what all I would need.

sudo apt-get install apache2 php5-mysql libapache2-mod-php5 mysql-server
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libarchive-tar-perl libarchive-zip-perl libdate-manip-perl libdevice-serialport-perl
sudo apt-get install libjpeg62 libmime-perl libstdc++6 libwww-perl zlib1g

At this point, you *may* need to reboot for Apache to configure correctly. I didn’t, but the author of the tutorial I used did.
Now, finally we can install ZoneMinder itself. I installed it form synaptic, but you can get updated installations form the ZoneMInder website. Otherwise run the following:

sudo apt-get install zoneminder

After installing ZoneMinder, you now need to configure and start Apache:

sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload
sudo adduser www-data video

At this point, open Firefox and go to the ZoneMinder dashboard by visiting

http://localhost/zm

Now before I could Add a new monitor (add my camera to ZoneMInder) I had to use another program to connect my camera to ZoneMinder. I found a good video series that explains the steps for installing and configuring my camera and ZoneMinder.  The program I needed was mjpg_streamer which you can get and install from sourceforge.
Of course to install this, you can just double-click the .deb file and install it as normal.
Now you have to run mjpg_streamer from the commandline using the following command:

mjpg_Streamer -i “input_uvc.so -d /dev/video0 -y -r 640×480 -f” -o “output_http.so -p 8080″

A short explanation here: “-d /dev/video0″  is the device you want to use. To find out which device your camera is, enter “ls /dev/video*” into the terminal. If you only have one camera, then it will pop up as the only result. Use that address. -y stands for YUYV format MPEG files. “-r 640×480″ attempts to set the resolution. My camera technically supports this resolution, however, that is if you have the correct drivers, which I do not. The -o “output_http.so -p 8080″ means that you are going to stream the video feed to port 8080 on this machine.

Additionally, you can add the flag “-b” to this command to run it in the background. If you do this, you have to manually kill mjpg_streamer when you want to close it.

killall mjpg_streamer

If you didn’t get any errors, we can check to see if the video is streaming correctly. Open a new tab in Firefox and go to

http://localhost:8080/?action=stream

If you see video, then it is working. If not, go back and double-check you’ve followed all my instructions correctly. If that doesn’t solve your problem, post on the ZoneMInder or UVC forums. I honestly do not know enough to be able to troubleshoot any more than I am explaining in this guide.

So now that your camera is streaming video, we can connect it to ZoneMinder (FINALLY!) So, go back to the ZoneMinder dashboard in your Firefox browser ( http://localhost/zm ) and click “Add New Monitor”. A window will pop up that looks like this make your values match the ones seen in this image):

Name this monitor whatever you like (no spaces or special characters), change the “Source Type” to “Remote”, change the function to Modect, check “enabled”  then click the “Source” tab. This window should look like this, expect with blank textbooks:

Fill in the textbooks as I have in the example image above. Basically, you are telling ZoneMinder where to find the streaming video. The “remote Host Name” should be “localhost” since you are using the same machine. Port should be the same value as what you used in the mjpg_streamer command above (8080). The “Remote Host Path” is everything after the backslash form the web address we used to test the camera above “?action=stream”.  Now notice the Capture Width and Height is different from what the mjpg_streamer command was.  This was an issue with my camera. It could not handle the 620×480 resolution and it defaulted to what is seen here. Be sure that the resolution in these boxes matches the resolution of your video stream. You can check this by looking at the page title of the webpage we used to test the camera “http://localhost:8080/?action=stream” It should read something like “(JPEG Image, 320×240 pixels) – Mozilla Firefox”. Those are the values you should use here. Click “Save” when you are finished editing these settings.

That popup should close and the ZoneMinder dashboard should refresh. If everything is working correctly, your new monitor should have been added. If the text “localhost” under the “Source”  column is red, then you have a problem and need to make sure your settings are correct, and that mjpg_streamer is running. Otherwise, the text should be green.  Click the motor name to open a live view your new security camera.

With the current settings, it will only record an event if it detects motion. When this happens, the dashboard of ZoneMinder will add numbers in the “Events” column. Click this number to view the event. (Click “Refresh” on the dashboard if it doesn’t update those columns fast enough for you). This will now play back the video of the specific event. The window below shows an example of what an event would look like.

That is it! We are finished. Now I have a smart motion triggered security cam that will archive footage if anyone goes near our cars. Your mileage may vary of course depending on the cameras, lighting, etc. of your particular situation. I was surprised how easy all of this actually was! I’m going to play around with this a bit more and see if I can make it a full fledged security system for our house.

If you have had success with this, please post a comment and tell us about it.

The next step was to create the payload box. The professor had done this before so he gave us tips on using foam core poster board, hot glue and HVAC tape. We chose to cover ours in mylar by applying a spray adhesive to the surface, then laying a sheet of mylar on it, and using credit cards to squeegee it flat as best as possible. The mylar was applied to the insides of the box before gluing, and the outside afterward.

The inside was filled with a medium density foam from a second hand art store (the scrap Exchange in Durham is AMAZING!).  The GPS was velcroed to the top of the box. A hole was cut on both the inside and outside of the box in the mylar just where the GPS was so it could receive signal.

The launch was Saturday May 22nd at 12:40pm. There were scattered showers and a thunderstorm. Just before the launch, 5 “hot hands” packs were thrown in the center of the box, foam was added, and the box was taped up for launch.

The Carolina Edge of Space guys had their GPS/HAM radio setup sending APRS tracking data. All the payloads got a HOBO Data logger with internal and external temperature readings. There were 3 cameras in total.

We launched at 12:40pm, just as the rain turned to drizzle.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUTKn0rQM5g]

Since we launched in the drizzle, and just before a thunderhead hit, all of our cameras got wet and subsequently froze upon entering the lower temperatures of the stratosphere. All the cameras eventually stopped working, The one in our box stopped just inside the cloud. The other two stopped just after passing the cloud top, looking face first at the thunderhead. You can just see the beginning of the blackness of space behind the cloud. View the entire Flickr set here!

The arduino payload didn’t record data either. Just before launch I tested to make sure it was recording data, and it was. however, a last minute addition of a second parallel battery pack may have overloaded the already hot 5V voltage regulator. It seems that just as I connected the last battery, the entire circuit shut off and on due to an internal thermal overload switch in the voltage regulator. I didn’t notice this because as it was toggling, I saw the “reset” light flashing on the arduino. This LED is also connected to the SD card data line, so it looked exactly as if the SD card was being written to.

The only data that was recovered was of the data logger in our payload.  The internal temperature stayed a toasty 130 degrees F (which added to the problem of why we got no data.) The external temp showed a very good profile of the balloon punching through the tropopause before plumeting back to earth.

External Temperature

Overall, the balloon went 74,642ft. before the balloon popped. It flew across two counties and the state line before landing.  I exported the APRS data to a Google Earth KMZ File.

Google Earth export of the APRS data

It happened to land in the yard of a man who worked in the photo lab at NASA during the 60s and 70s. He told us some of the stories from their lab, and showed us large prints of iconic photos he had developed. One in particular was of a lunar earth rise!

A second launch was planned for Fall of 2010. Luckily it faired better than this launch. I’ll post the vids and pics of that adventure soon.

Working with a professor at my college and Carolina Edge of Space in May of 2010 I, along with a small group of friends, sent a weather balloon 74,642 feet into the sky.  This post is mainly about the payload I designed, built and tested for the project.

This project was inspired by many seen recently online where students have been sending cheap payloads into the stratosphere. It started around December 2009 when we all met for the first time to discuss the project. It turns out that one of the professors in the Earth Sciences department focuses on remote sensing (gathering data about earth from satellites, etc.) who had done some weather balloon projects in the past. We all got together to discuss a possible launch.

Originally, the group included a lot of people, however, as time went on, fewer and fewer people showed up at the meetings or participated in the email conversations. There would be several payloads. Carolina Edge of Space would have a GPS tracking radio, the professor hosting this would carry two cameras in a payload with a HOBO data logger, one Grad student would build an “ash detector” and my group would build something to take a multitude of measurements.

First the payload sensor were picked out. Of course we wanted pictures. The professor provided us with Nikon Coolpix digital cameras and 2GD SD cards. These were chosen because they have a built in intervalometer and were very small. I tested the camera in my freezer (which gets down to -20 degrees Celsius (-40F) and usually got about 2 full hours of pictures every 30 seconds before the battery died. this was plenty as we expected about a 2 or 3 hour flight. Turning off the flash and increasing the time between pictures helped extend the life of the battery.

As for the custom payload, we wanted a barometer to see the change in air pressure, accelerometers to see how hard the payload would be whipped around in the winds, some ozone sensors and such to measure concentrations, a GPS so we would have a good clock as well Latitude, longitude and altitude. What seemed like a great custom embedded systems project turned into a simpler Arduino-based project as time and money became an issue.

I tried to get nice ozone sensors, however, everything was way too expensive and none of the companies I contacted were willing to donate to our cause. Then I remembered that I had seen some neat gas sensors at Futurlec, such as ozone sensors, and “air quality” (what ever that is…) that were quite cheap.  I grabbed a couple of each to play around with. I tested the Ozone sensor by placing it inside a bag with a running DC motor. The brushes of the DC motor arc as they move across the sections of the commutator and ionize the air. This effectively produces a bit of ozone (its that almost metallic smell DC motors or high voltage electronics give off.) The graph below shows the results of this test as raw ADC values from an arduino. Here you can download the raw ADC values and graph from this test in Open Document Spreadsheet format.

Testing the Ozone Sensor

I also bought a few different barometric pressure sensors. The one I bought specifically for the weather balloon was hard to use as it was a differential and had to have a known pressure on one side to compare to. It also has two output pins which required an op-amp circuit to output the difference in pressure. Testing proved this was not the easiest sensor to use as I didn’t figure out the best way to seal off one side of the sensor. Instead I settled for a sensor that had a built-in vacuum on one side, and a single output pin, the MPXA6115A . This new pressure sensor would only go down to 15kPa (about 33,000ft I think) but I assumed that if we took external temperature as well, we could correlate it with the pressure up to a point, and when the senor stopped working, we could calculate the pressure based on the temperature data using a barometric formula.

Additionally, we wanted to use a GPS to get altitude data. I’ve been told that some GPS unit manufacturers limit the capabilities of their units to below 60,000 ft and a certain speed for safety reasons but I couldn’t find any info on that for my particular unit, the San Jose Navigation FV-M8 GSP module.

Acceleration was also something we wanted to measure. We used a Sparkfun ADXL300 3 axis accelerometer. Actually it had a 2 axis gyroscope built in as well, but we ran out of analog input pins on the Arduino and wanted to keep this as small and simple as possible, so we left those off.

All data was stored to a 2GB SD card.

I breadboarded the GPS, accelerometer, barometer, and gyroscope package and slapped together a simple SD card interface. The libraries I used were TinyGPS and fat16lib (for SD card use). Weather_Balloon_Code and schematic in case you’d like to build it yourself.

Schematic of the hardware

I flew this in a modified model rocket. I had two flights, one with an E-15-4 engine and the other with an E-30-4 engine. Here’s the Excel file of each of those two launches that show the values and plotted graphs of each flight.

First Flight Raw ADC data and graphs.

Second Flight raw ADC data and Graphs

I’m not sure which one used which engine. Here you can see a graph of the raw ADC pressure sensor values from one of the rocket launches. The air pressure decreases as the rocket altitude increases. You can see the wind and other affects from the rocket  sitting on the launch pad, then then drastic drop in pressure at the launch.  The ramp up on the end of the graph is when the rocket was floating back to the ground under a parachute. Calculations showed it went about 600ft I think.

Barometer data from Rocket test

To calculate the height the rocket went, we simply need to know a few little things about the set-up. (This gets a bit mathy, but not too bad). First, we knoow that the Arduino was set up to use a 5V ADC reference voltage, and it was set to do 10-bit conversions. Knowing that we can calculate the voltage that each raw ADC unit represents.

ADC Voltage / Max number the bits can represent

Formula 1

Formula 2

Multiply this by the lowest barometer reading we got (794 raw ADC units)

Formula 3

This is the voltage that the sensor was outputting. Now we look at the datasheet of the barometer (MPXA6115A) to find a conversion formula from volts to a measure of air pressure kPa.

Formula 4

Solve this for P since we already know the voltage:

Formula5

Now we can convert the kPa into a value we can use in an online Pressure to Altitude calculator such as inches of mercury. (1 kPa = 0.295333727 inches of mercury)

Formula 6

Now inserting this number into the online Pressure to Altitude calculator, we can get a rough altitude above sea level for the rocket, about 1280.6ft (390.3 meters).  This is above Sea-level, not the point that we launched. I happen to know that the height of the ground at the launch site is between 500-700ft  (150-215 meters).  So I subtract the average height (600ft) of the ground from the Altitude calculation I got previously to get:

1280ft – 600ft = Rocket height of about 680 feet.

*Formula graphics provided by this Online LaTeX Equation Editor.

I needed to put my anthropomorphic house theory to the test. (Yes, I had to look up how to spell anthropomorphic.)  For Halloween, I decided to use my house face palette to create a scary face.  Adam and I had different visions for our beauty, so we sketched out our ideas using paint to end our squabble.  Yes we are that anal retentive.  Our ideas were:

Idea 1: White Pointy Teeth with Black Background

Idea 2: White Square Teeth with Black Background

Idea 3: Black Square Teeth

Idea 4: Black Pointy Teeth

Although we thought Idea 1 would likely look the best, we decided to go with Idea 4.  We figured cutting out black teeth would be easier than trying to create a black background.  This is how we did it.

Materials:

• Big Black Garbage Bags
• Permanent Double Sided Tape

Tools:

• Good Quality Scissors

We cut the edges off each garbage bag to create black squares of material.  From there, we cut out isosceles triangle shapes to use as the teeth.  We didn’t measure any sizes, but we did use the square pattern in our garage door to measure sizes.

In the two top windows, we added a pupil to add to the eye effect.  Using the double sided tape, we put up each tooth one at a time.

Because we didn’t officially measure the teeth sizes, the last two teeth had to be cut smaller to make them fit.  We did this to the last two teeth so there wouldn’t be one tooth that was noticeably smaller than the rest. This way the overall visual sizes of the teeth look balanced.

More double sided tape was used on the bottom teeth than the top because we were concerned water or wind might more easily remove these teeth.  The bags had a bit of static cling which also helped them stick to the garage door nicely.

We lost daylight pretty quickly, but I couldn’t help but snap a nighttime shot.  Of course that adds to the drama of our scary faced house!

Here is a daytime shot from the next day.

Overall this was an easy and fun project.  It only took Adam and I less than an hour to complete the entire project, including creating idea sketches in paint.  Can you turn your house into a face?  Send us your results!

Because there is tons of fun in doing-it-yourself, I scoured the internet for diy rug options.  I was pleasantly surprised at all the choices I found.  They really push the boundaries of the the term “rug“.  Because sewing doesn’t agree with me and braiding/crocheting  seems time consuming – these are options I think would be simplest to do.

Plywood Rugs

I discovered my most favorite unexpected rug option at Sugar Bee Crafts -you can make a ‘rug’ out of plywood!  Oh the options for a plywood rug!  You can stain it or paint it (or both).  You can use stencils or tape.  You can make it fit your style. (The vinyl rug below has the same customization options).

At our old place we had a low pile carpet.  Office chairs roll nicely over this carpet.  Our new house’s carpet, not so much.  This plywood rug might just be the ticket for this space!

Vinyl Rugs

The thing I love the most about vinyl rugs is the potential of putting a remnant piece of vinyl to good use.  Based on the tutorials I read, any vinyl will work; however a thicker vinyl is a must.  You can either paint vinyl like Addicted 2 Decorating’s post (pictured below) and Design Dazzle’s post or…

Or you can cover vinyl with fabric like In My Own Style.

I am also in love with Momtastic’s quatrefoil version of a fabric vinyl rug.

Fabric Rugs

Staying on a fabric roll, fabric rugs also have a lot of simple, diy options.  You can simply add a backing and lining to fabric you heart like High-Heeled Foot in the Door’s chevron beaut.

Rugs are not just meant for indoors.  An outdoor burlap rug is featured on ohdeedoh’s how to post. One of the easiest rug options is to update an existing fabric rug with a little paint like Sarah Wandering did here.

Or like A Little Bite of Everything’s Moroccan inspired design here. It is fab and super simple.  The only color painted on was the white for the pattern. LOVE IT!

Roll Up Blind Rug

To add the cherry to this post, the easiest DIY rug I found was Re-nest’s idea of converting a roll up blind to a floor covering.  Very chic!

So which rug am I going to make?  Right now I want to make them ALL!  They are added to my ever growing home to do list…

Plus, this is a list I shouldn’t be able to lose.  (I also have secret hopes that this will grow to be the largest post on my blog.)  Even better, maybe the items sitting up here for the whole world to see will motivate us to tackle “The List” on a regular basis.

This list contains must-do’s as well as dream to-do’s.  Maybe I should color-coordinate the list?  Nah… Okay, strike that, colors may be a necessity.  I have new items since we have moved in.  This color will represent the 2012 must do’s and dream to-do’s.  Some to do list items we are currently undecided about.  Like curtain treatments.  We’ve lived without them and like the simplicity of not having them.  Do I still want them?

The List

Moving In Repairs We’ve been moved in for almost a year and still haven’t finished our moving in list.  Yikes!

• repair the front door and frame (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add a rain guard to the back door
• re-adhere the laminate in the kitchen
• replace the end piece of laminate in the kitchen
• ground fault the electrical outlets in the garage (checked as complete on 5/14)
• move the location of the electrical outlet in the washer/dryer closet (why did they put it under the water hose?) (after debating we decided this didn’t need to be done, so I will check it off anyway)

Bedroom

• paint the walls a dark gray (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add chair rail or some other similar architectural element like outlined here
• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments
• get or make a rug
• make a over the bed light/art sculpture like Ikea Gyllen
  

Master Office (Our office is in what most people would call the master bedroom.)

• paint an accent wall green (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments
• get or make a rug

Creativity Room (Don’t snicker; we have 4 bedrooms for one couple!  What would you do with an extra room?)

• paint the walls a calm yet energizing blue (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments
• get or make a rug
• add chair rail
• add beadboard
• find furniture solutions
  

SheekGeek Inventory Room

• paint the walls a calm yet energizing blue (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments
• build a storage shelf of some type

Kitchen

• paint the walls green (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments (checked as complete on 5/14)
• find a quick fix for the linoleum floor by the back door (covered it with a rug!; checked as complete on 5/14)
• replace the linoleum floor
• paint or stain the kitchen cabinets
• add spice rack inside doors
• replace garbage can with under cabinet garbage solution
• add shelving to laundry closet
• paint inside laundry closet as inspired by designbuildlove
  
• organizing solutions for pantry
  
• organizing solutions for counter
• organizing solutions for pots and pans (they don’t fit!)
  
• install an overhanging pendant light (checked as complete on 5/14)

Living Room

• paint the walls (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add a wall stencil or vinyl artwork
• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add a chair rail or some other similar architectural element like outlined here
• tile around the fireplace
  

Garage

• install pegboard  (after debating we decided to change this to…) insulate the garage and put up drywall

Upstairs Bathroom

• paint the walls green
• add a towel bar (there currently is not one!)
• add trim around bathroom mirror
• add bead-board
  

Half Bathroom

• paint the walls green (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add a toilet paper roll holder (there currently is not one!) (checked as complete on 5/14)

Master Office Bathroom

• add roman shades (checked as complete on 5/14)
• add curtain window treatments
• add trim around bathroom mirror

• Tip: Plan out your drawing and practice it first.

20 seconds is not as long as it seems.  If you are planning to draw an elaborate picture or write out a few words – you will quickly run into obstacles.  Time and space are the limiting factors, so plan accordingly.  It embarrassingly took me a few  trials to get the letter “S” orientated in the right direction.

• Tip: Work with a partner!

Divide and conquer is the idea.  I decided to write the word “Sheek” at the top of the picture space and Adam decided to write the word “Geek” at the bottom.

• Tip: Use a very dark space.

The two above “SheekGeek” pictures are the result of ambient light infiltrating our photos.  After cutting off all lights in the area, the resulting backgrounds were much darker.  Changing F stop and ISO settigngs can also help.

• Tip: Use different color LEDs.

The red and blue pictures are the result of using an LED that blinks red and blue.  Other colors can be combined to create really creative designs.

It was great amusement to create these pictures.  I encourage you try this project out.  Provided you already have the materials needed, view it as a couple of free hours of entertainment ;0).