That's not a moon it's a space station.

I am an unstoppable maniac of lamps and chairs. It's been proven time and time again. I can't stop myself if I find a lamp or a chair that I feel to be a good deal. Even if I don't need it, scratch that, especially if I don't need it. Craigslist is an enabler of such behavior. If you need proof browse the 'Personals' section. It's the beginning and end of many men and women.

Anywho, if you follow me on Instagram (which is basically my blog now) you already know the story I'm about to tell. Girl finds lamp, girl loves lamp. I'm the girl. I love lamp.

So my greedy self, the one that already has a George Nelson pendant lamp for a steal, still searches/hunts/stalks for others. This week another one popped up. A ball lamp. The seller was moving and looking to unload it for a deal, about 70% off the retail cost. 

I convinced my eternally patient husband that we needed this and we made a deal that this would be an early birthday present (mine is November 1st) and when my birthday rolled around all he had to do was cook me dinner. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

The night before I picked it up I obsessively reread the listing and the dimensions of the pendant on DWR. I kept running the scenario in my head that it was actually the smallest Ball pendant and what would I do then? At the price the seller was asking it was still a bargain but not a crazy good one.

When I picked it up all worries fell away, it was indeed the giant one, the biggest size, the small planetoid. It was in great shape, minimal dust and no stains. All I had to do was pick up $12 worth of wiring to switch it from hardwire to plug in and BOOM new bedroom light.

A quick reminder of the bedroom before:

and now:

I do totally still love the mobile and I do miss it but oh baby, DAT LIGHT. It's giant. It really is like having an extremely low hanging moon in the bedroom. We desperately needed some light in the bedroom as well. I am a cave dweller. I like my bedroom dark. The curtains are always drawn and there is blackout fabric behind them. Before this lamp we only had two other light sources in the bedroom, there is no overhead light.

and again!

In case you're wondering it really is simple to switch a light from hardwire to plug in. I'm not saying you should go and monkey around with electricity but it's not hard to learn. Go to your nearest hardware store and ask them to help you.

Something Terrible/Something Amazing

If you follow my Instagram you saw this play out already, but if you don't here's what happened; Last weekend I was sleeping when a large crash and breaking sound woke me up. Since I have two cats I immediately knew whatever happened was their fault. At first I couldn't find what had broken but then I found this:

UGH! Bastards! I was heartbroken but I couldn't be too mad, I mean things break, it's just stuff and since I had three of these pitchers I couldn't be too upset. I really took it much better than I thought I would considering my much documented obsession.

It gave me the kick in the pants I needed to move the collection from it's clearly un-cat proof location to a new cat-proof spot. Before it was displayed on a low chest in the dining room and it's new spot is where my cookbooks used to live on a built-in shelf in the kitchen.

And then something wonderful happened. Christina from Pardon My Vintage, a long time Etsy/Twitter/Instagram friend of mine and birthday twin had this for me. She had found it thrifting and was going to wait until our birthday to send it but she figured I could use a pick me up. Along with the plate she sent a lovely note about how she didn't want anything in return just for me to pay it forward. Which I love. Her kindness is amazing and my new plate is beautiful. Thank you Christina.

Flea Finds

Today is the third Sunday of the month and that means it's time for the Long Beach Flea Market!  It was nice and breezy when I got there and then I found these four Midwinter 'Sun' plates and hauling them around made it a bit tiresome as it got hotter and then on the last row I found the vintage Le Creuset pot and let me tell you, hauling around cast iron in the sun isn't as much fun as it sounds but at least I got a workout?

The plates are a pattern I've been stalking for a while now. They're easy to find on eBay but they do get expensive. I snagged these four for $10. The Le Creuset is an iron bottom "E" which means it's 4.5 quarts and the bottom tells me it's from the 80s. It's in a great school bus yellow color and the interior was a bit browned with years of use but my trick for that is to soak it in water and a bit of dishwashing detergent. Cleans it to bright white every time. $35 is what I paid for that. I guess this means I have to cook and serve dinner tonight?

Dining Room

I'm a fickle girl, I admit that willingly. Since we've lived here I've shuffled chairs and tables and I keep doing it. We are now on our third dining room table.

Up until last week we had an Ikea Docksta table. It was OK, just OK. While it looks like a Saarinen table, it's just isn't. It chipped if you looked at it funny, the base was always getting dirty and it wobbled.

To refresh your memory, here's the Docksta. The left photo is for show, the right is how it actually looked on a daily basis here (minus the piles of mail, projects and other crap that would pile up). 

Since I don't have a spare $1,700 for the table I really want I have to keep it affordable and inexpensive. Enter Craiglist. For $30 and a quick drive I picked up an Ikea Melltorp table. It is the same exact table we moved into the place with, only a rectangle instead of a square.

      

I think rectangle works better for the space and it holds all the many chairs I need in my life. The picture on the left is for show, the one on the right is how we've been using it. Here's the view from the kitchen:

The sweet little tealight holder is from J.C. Penney, excuse me, JCP. It's by Design for Conran. It's super cute and super affordable. (Pictures from my Instagram)

 

Hopefully there are others that are afflicted with the same Table/Chair ADD that I have.

Live Nude Chairs!

I'm a firm believer in the saying (I just made up) that "There's nothing a sheepskin can't fix". They're great for hiding tears, stains or any other flaw. They say "Hey I'm totally casual draped all over your bed" or "Check me out on this bench being all bohemian".  

I got my grubby mitts on a gray sheepskin and wondered the way only a person with a sickness can "How would this look on each and every chair I own?" So I lined up all my chairs (actually that's a lie there were two or three that weren't part of this weird parade) and threw the sheepskin on it and photographed it all for you but probably more to indulge my chair hoarding brain.

See how each chairs transforms from "GIMME YOUR BUTT" to "Hey chillax, get groovy on me and we'll wait for Stevie Nicks to come over"?

The winner of this super weird game was the last chair, It works great as my workshop chair for when I'm cutting leather (Have you been to Love & Arrow yet? Go Go Go, Buy Buy Buy!). Also Bruce can't resist putting his hairy behind in any and all chairs, check it out.

Which is your favorite?