Juice Blog
Central Austin Real EstateArchive for February, 2012
A Brief History of Camp Mabry
Camp Mabry continues our series of posts on historic people and places in Austin. Driving south on Mopac you’ve probably noticed the display of aircraft along the highway on the grounds of Camp Mabry. Maybe you just made the assumption it was some sort of military base and left it at that. But just who was Mabry? What exactly is this camp? Here is a brief synopsis of what Camp Mabry is and who Mr. Mabry was according to the Texas Military Forces Museum website.
Camp Mabry, named after Brigadier General Woodford H. Mabry, the Adjutant General of Texas from January 23, 1891 to May 4, 1898, is the headquarters of the Texas Military Forces. The original 90 acres, located on an elevated plain, overlooking the Colorado River about three miles northwest of the Capitol Building in Austin.
Currently, Camp Mabry is home to the Joint Force Headquarters of the Texas Military Forces, the Headquarters of the Texas Army National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard, the Texas State Guard and the 36th Infantry Division and a host of other regional military offices.
With the onset of World War I, the Texas National Guard was mobilized for the war and Camp Mabry was used by the Army as a school for auto mechanics. When World War II erupted, Camp Mabry continued in existence as the Headquarters of the Texas Defense Guard.
Camp Mabry is an open post and all adults possessing a valid photo ID as well as children accompanied by adults, are welcome to enter the post during daylight hours to visit the museum and/or its outdoor exhibits, or run on its track.
M.B. Lamar in 175 Words
We see the name “Lamar” all over town, primarily on the thoroughfare that has quickly become the main artery of our town. If you grew up in TX, chances are you probably know at least something about M.B. Lamar from your state history class…but for the rest of us, here is a brief history.
Mirabeau B. Lamar was the second President of the Republic of Texas. At 32 years old, he left his native Georgia after his brother’s death and began travelling the country. He found himself in Texas and decided to stay. He soon joined Sam Houston’s army and was rewarded with a promotion to colonel after his bravery at the Battle of San Jacinto. Thus began his political career. Lamar was the unanimous choice to replace Houston as president in 1838, and was inaugurated on December 1, 1838. Known as “The Father of Texas Education” his actions while in office led to the establishment of a state-wide public school system. He also is credited with appointing Austin(then Waterloo) the capital of the Republic. He served until 1841 as President.
Turning a closet into an office
The latest blog post is by Anna Uliassi, the office manager at Juice Homes. She needed a functional but compact office space and decided to convert an underused closet. She explains what she did step-by-step below.
Since we live in a smallish Austin bungalow in Brentwood, I knew I wanted to maximize every inch of space in the house. The spare bedroom needed to serve triple purpose…office, extra TV room and play/craft space. Luckily I am not a pack-rat and we didn’t really have much in the closet so I decided to convert it to our home office. Neither my husband nor I work from home on a regular basis, so it didn’t need to be a massive space. Just enough for us to check email, Pinterest and Facebook…of course.
First step was cleaning out the closet. I kept the clothing bar in place thinking it would be easy to convert back if this was a massive fail. I also thought I could hang shoe or sweater closet organizers in there (cut down to not be too long) to hold office supplies if need be. The shelf above the bar was there already, so I didn’t have to add it.
Next, I painted the interior back wall of the closet a deep blue/gray. It took one quart. After that dried I stenciled over it with a cheapo stencil I bought from Hobby Lobby in a Moroccan trellis pattern. This took some effort. Other, more expensive, stencils I have used in the past offer much more ease of use, but since this was the inside of a closet, I decided to go low budge. My one major tip on this would be to use a small sponge roller with almost zero paint on it. Roll over many times to get the desired look, but do not add a lot of paint! Between each paint application, roll the excess paint out on paper towel.
After all the paint was dry, I bought a particle board shelf from Lowe’s and had it cut to size. I used 15” width, but would have gone a bit wider in retrospect. That was $17-. I bought 10” brackets in the same section, measured up from the floor and secured those in the wall (using anchors of course). I placed the shelf on the brackets and realized I needed brackets in the middle as well to prevent sag/bounce. Back to Lowe’s for more brackets, more measuring, more drilling and it was secure.
The last step was adding the computer back in (the printer is wireless and on a credenza on the opposite side of the room), and the decorative elements that also function for organization. I had many of them already, but I bought the rest at Ikea. Again, cheap!
All in all, the project turned out better than I expected. I highly suggest this if you have a small house and need to use rooms for multiple purposes. The total cost was well under $100- and took a few hours over the course of 2 days. I’m still working on getting the other elements of the room completed, but I smile each time I go to my office-closet now! Enjoy!
