Category Archives: Life Style Geek

A little over a month ago I moved from Portland, Oregon to Santa Clara, California. When I moved I left behind a pretty stable job and entered the world of the underemployed . I have been trying to pick up some freelance social media work, but that is few and far between at the moment. I thought PAX was going to be a huge boost for me since I met so many awesome new people and tons of them expressed interest in my personal talents and skill set, but the weeks of silence following the show have proved that “out of site, out of mind” is real, and painful. So what have I been doing to keep busy?

DIY!

When we moved we had to decide what to do with our old furniture. Our dressers were in pretty bad shape.

As you can see, our three dressers are pretty much your basic box construction white affairs. Nothing to write a blog about. Since I am sitting on so much free time I decided that I would do something at least slightly creative, so I got out my sander and got to work.

In less than an hour I took this:

And stripped it all down to this:

From there I added a coat of white primer. At first I used primer from a spray can as it goes on very evenly and dries quickly but after 3 cans I decided that for my wallet and my sanity I would switch over to using the brush/roll on instead. I didn’t take any pictures of the primed dresser, mostly because this isn’t a DIY site and this isn’t a step by step post (also, I forgot).

Speaking of forgetting things, I totally forgot to write about step 1, which for me is one of the most important steps, and this is it:

I know I should just go back and drop this in at the beginning but that would take waaaay to much work. Not really, but I also think it’s more fun for step 1 to be somewhere in the middle. I like to enjoy a drink while I’m doing home improvement projects. I don’t get hammered (pun totally intended) but I do like to tie one on, as it were, before I fire up the old power tools. Really I do it so I can blame most of my glaring mistakes on the alcohol, “blame it on the alcohahahahal.” But I digress.

After the primer dried I added a few coats of paint, screwed them up and then sanded and added a few more. Big ups to the Censational Girl blog for the tip about Floetrol. I had totally forgotten about that stuff until I came across this article. Yes I looked up directions on how to paint furniture. It had been years since I had done it. Stop judging me!

The second application of paint was deemed more of a success than the first, but less than I wanted (but I was totally tired of doing it). After it dried, I added the new hardware that Steph had picked out. And that was really all it took. Oh yeah, I did some ding and dent patching with some wood filler and whatnot but I don’t really remember much of it (Thanks, Evan!).

So here is the finished product!

I went with a two tone blue and white with blue tint because I’m hella artistic and am all about interior design and shit. No really, I like the dual tonal look, and it matches with both the walls and the bead sheets. The white and silver hardware also add a cool touch of white to the blue drawers. As you can see I drunkenly forgot to paint the very bottom of the whole thing so next weekend I’m gonna haul it all back out to the garage and fix that little oversight.

Here is close of up the hardware just because:

So there you have it. I redid a couple of dressers and I have one more to go. Sadly, you should not expect more of these DIY posts in the near future since some jackass decided to break into my garage and steal all of my power tools. Now I’m underemployed and can’t do projects. At least I can still drop mad rhymes! (not really)  :(

A parting thought: I really like doing things like this and I am actually thinking about recording myself while doing them. Kind of a DIY for the Drunk Guy show. If I manage not to lose any fingers while doing it I might actually post them on You Tube or something.

Geek Out.

Color wheel from http://theartofaccessories.com

I’m going to admit that I have not always made the best fashion choices in my life. I don’t really look at fashion as what everyone else is wearing, but more a question of what can I wear to feel my best. Trying to keep up with everyone else is both expensive and futile. I am convinced that fashion in the meta sense is just a game of how fast can we change what is “in” after everyone spends money on it. I never worry about what was “in” last year or four years ago, but I do worry about what my outward appearance communicates to others. Without going into my overall philosophy on fashion, I will say this: if I can wear something well, and feel like it makes me look good, I tend to act with more confidence. Some scoff at the need to feel good based on my outward appearance, but what ever, I feel good when I look good and I am fine with that.

As summer is approaching it’s always a good idea to grab a few new items to add a bit of color to your wardrobe. Color can be tricky for people, as it’s often hard for people to figure out complementary colors. Some people fear too much color, and others just like more muted earth tones. I have to admit I get far more compliments on what I am wearing when I add at least a dash of color. Let’s face it though, I often add far more than a dash.

If you really are at a loss for which colors complement each other, you can always turn to a color wheel. Some are very simple, matching basic colors, and some can be very comprehensive, showing which shades might complement each other.

So how would one go about adding a dash of color to a summer wardrobe?

Shirts
One of the easiest ways to introduce some fun colors into your daily wear is to find some fun shirts. If you are trepidatious about too much color or patterns, I would recommend starting off with some solid color shirts from stores like Express. There are tones of awesome clothing stores online but for those who don’t spend a great deal of time dealing with fashion Express has locations all over the United States which allows you to try on different fits before you buy them.

Express also has a buy-one-get-one-half-off sale every month or two. This is great for those of us not looking to spend entire paychecks on new clothes. Taking advantage of this sale allows me to add two new shirts every few months, keeping things fresh and allowing me to get rid of some shirts that might not look so hot due to wear and tear.

A nice red or lavender button up shirt can really go a long way. If you really want to add a bit more flair, get a shirt with French cuffs and add some cuff links to your outfit.

Ties

This has to be one of my favorite ties!

For many in the workforce, a tie isn’t a fashion accessory, it’s a requirement. For some of us it’s another way to add a bit of flair to our summer attire. I have always enjoyed hitting up stores like Nordstrom Rack for ties, as even some of the most beautiful ties will go un-purchased and end up at the discount store. Many $80 ties look good, but an $80 tie that costs $15 looks amazing.

A good tip for ties is to mix patterns, if you are wearing a solid colored shirt, wear a striped tie. If you have a striped shirt on, go for a floral pattern or even some polka dots. If you are not wearing much color feel free to throw in a tie that really pops; brown suit, gold tie. Blue suit, a nice muted orange tie. I try not to pile on too much color when I’m wearing a colorful shirt, you can over do it.

Pants
I’m very cautious about this because I think many people are not always comfortable wearing colorful pants. My number one rule is to wear what is comfortable and what makes you feel good. I wouldn’t tell you to go spend $80 – $150 on pants that you are not comfortable wearing. You would be surprised at how far a nice pair or orange or red pants might go with a solid white or blue striped shirt.

There are a ton of other ways to get a bit of color into your daily wear. Most of them are inexpensive and look great. Getting comfortable with color can open up a metric shit ton of outfits that you can wear. If you have friends who are into fashion, take them along; getting some compliments from them on your selections will go a long way in building your confidence in wearing them!

Last tip: Don’t fear pink! I spent about 5 years fighting against pink, purple and all colors that fall in between the two. Pink can separate the real men from the pretenders (real men wear pink). If all it takes is a shirt color to stop a guy cold in his tracks, he has bigger issues than a shirt. I can also tell you from experience, the right amount of pink or lavender in an outfit can turn heads and net quite a few compliments.

Summer, guys… it’s almost here and color comes along with it. You can sweat it out in your darks if you want or you can embrace it and rock some hot ass color!

Geek Out