11.30.2009
11.27.2009
Handmade Friday
Yes, yes I'm still on a peacock kick...what of it?
These gorgeous earrings are not the only thing in Bud and Branch's shop but they're my favorite.
Have a great weekend!
Things We Love
Since Thanksgiving was yesterday I'm posting this one a day late.
Today's item come from a friend of the blog Jessica Rose, whose home has been featured here and whose art is on my wall.
Got something you love? Have a look around your house, is there a little trinket or piece of art that makes you smile? Send me an email or add it to the flickr group and tell me why you love it!
Today's item come from a friend of the blog Jessica Rose, whose home has been featured here and whose art is on my wall.
This camera is one of my most treasured items. :) The camera belonged to my great grandpa (he died when I was little) and was given to me by my aunt at Christmas time 8 years ago. My aunt and uncle were unable to have children. They lived 3 hours away from us, and so in the summer me and my brother and sister would go spend a week with them. My aunt always had a week full of crafting and yard sales planned. This particular christmas 8 years ago my aunt and uncle decided to give each one of us kids something sentimental that had belonged to my grandparents as gifts. This camera was my gift. It was the second vintage camera in my collection. Its not only my favorite camera, but perhaps one of the most sentimental gifts I own. :)
Its neat to think back on all the family memories this little camera captured over the years.
-Jessica Rose
Got something you love? Have a look around your house, is there a little trinket or piece of art that makes you smile? Send me an email or add it to the flickr group and tell me why you love it!
11.26.2009
Happy Thanksgiving.
It's Thanksgiving day here in America. I'm taking the day off but wanted to share this great post from Eddie Ross , who you may remember from 2008's Top Design, with you.
Eddie turned a thrift store find into a gorgeous Thanksgiving table setting.
Eddie turned a thrift store find into a gorgeous Thanksgiving table setting.
Beautiful isn't it?
Happy Thanksgiving!
11.25.2009
Flux
Lately it feels like my home is in a state of flux. I just rearranged the living room because we had the divider curtain come tumbling down.
Since we are moving in a month (can't believe it's getting so close!) we are making preparations for the move.
I believe we have the place picked out, just a few loose ends to tie up. The place is huge! Considering we live in 583 sq ft right now a 2bdr home with an attic loft area and full basement is palatial. I think I might get lost!
I won't even begin to get into the decorating frenzy that's going on in my head right now.
Back to the topic. We're thinning out things we don't want like we do for every move. My husband and I have move a lot in the time we've been together. It's about 8 times in the 8 years we've been together. We are pros.
So even though we're moving into a much bigger space and will need to buy furniture, I know there are things we don't need and I'm not too keen on storing things because I might need them at some point. My home right now is too small for that kind of thinking.
One of the things we've done is sell our sofa. It worked for this place but after much discussion we decided it needed to go. Neither of us really loved it and it wasn't all that comfortable to us. After a day on craiglist it had found a new home.
So that left me with no sofa and a huge hole in my living room, time to rearrange!
I brought the rocking chair out of the storage closet and moved things around until I was satisfied:
Since we are moving in a month (can't believe it's getting so close!) we are making preparations for the move.
I believe we have the place picked out, just a few loose ends to tie up. The place is huge! Considering we live in 583 sq ft right now a 2bdr home with an attic loft area and full basement is palatial. I think I might get lost!
I won't even begin to get into the decorating frenzy that's going on in my head right now.
Back to the topic. We're thinning out things we don't want like we do for every move. My husband and I have move a lot in the time we've been together. It's about 8 times in the 8 years we've been together. We are pros.
So even though we're moving into a much bigger space and will need to buy furniture, I know there are things we don't need and I'm not too keen on storing things because I might need them at some point. My home right now is too small for that kind of thinking.
One of the things we've done is sell our sofa. It worked for this place but after much discussion we decided it needed to go. Neither of us really loved it and it wasn't all that comfortable to us. After a day on craiglist it had found a new home.
So that left me with no sofa and a huge hole in my living room, time to rearrange!
I brought the rocking chair out of the storage closet and moved things around until I was satisfied:
It kind of reminds me of all my grandparent's houses. They all had matching recliners, his and her's.
Now is a good time to mention the sheepskin I got at Ikea the other day. Since our knock-off Eames Lounger and ottoman do not match each other and I'm a long way away from tackling a reupholstery project for them. So I borrowed a trick from Morgan over at The Brick House and popped the sheepskin on the ottoman. Since it's a different color and missing the buttons the sheepskin hides all it's sins.
11.24.2009
Ornaments
I blogged about this before but there are some new developments in the Ornament section of my Etsy shop.
Along with the teal ribbon ornaments (which there are only two left of!). There are now navy blue ribbon ornaments and JUMBO sized ones and white feather ornaments which are so beautiful.
Get them here for the holidays!
Dresser Redo
So I've been twittering and facebooking ( they're words now, I just made them up) and dropping hints about my latest, biggest project.
I picked up a dresser for $27 at my favorite place Urban Ore (oh how I'll miss it when I move). My husband was against it because we're moving and don't need another piece of furniture and blah blah blah. My retort was "it's twenty seven dollars!!".
I don't have a place to do large projects here, scratch that, any projects. When I spray painted my horse head vase I did it on the back stairs of my apartment and I think the landlord is on to me. So I did my next project in the bathtub and now it's orange in there....oops.
A friend of mine was gracious enough to offer her back yard space for me to tackle this project. Armed with my supplies and inspiration from other bloggers (here, here and here) I set to work on the redo.
It was easy and only took about four days, I only did about four hours work at a time and one day it rained and that set me back a little. It never rains here, never and the one time it does, wouldn't you know I have something drying outside.
Here is the before:
It had definitely seen better days, it had white contact paper on the top and was all scratched up. What it did have was hairpin legs with the brass feet still on them and the original handles.
There was about a million things I wanted to do with it, I made multiple mock ups of what I could do and made a list of paints and stains. I thought about teal with white drawers and orange with white drawers and also my inspirations (from above) with the stained body and white drawers.
I knew until I sanded it down and saw what I was dealing with I couldn't plan anything yet. So when I did sand it I found that all the drawers where hardwood and the top was but the sides were veneer. So that limited my options. I couldn't stain the body because you can't stain veneer. So I knew I could stain the drawers and paint the body. I really have been wanting to use Benjamin Moore's 'Surf Blue' since I saw in on my L.A. trip but the mock up looked a little weird and since we're moving I didn't know how it would fit in to the new place once we got it all together. So I decided to go with something more neutral I went with a white body and stained drawers.
Here is the result:
I love it! I can't wait to use it in the new place (it's in storage now, no sense in brining it up two flights of stairs for a month's worth of use).
Here's how I did it;
I sanded everything, boiled the handles so any paint that was on them came off and polished the brass feet with Bar-Keeper's Friend ( I love the stuff, cleans everything!).
I primed the body and painted it with many thin coats of semi-gloss white, then stained the drawers (one coat) with Minwax's 'Dark Walnut' then when it was dry a coat of polyurethane on the drawers only (all my handyman friends told me poly might stain the white yellow and I didn't want to take that chance). The project in total (including the dresser) was about $80
It's such a solid piece of furniture and I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. My husband and I both have Ikea dressers and both of those have drawers that will not open, the handle of mine actually broke off because I was trying too hard to open it. So a real dresser is very much in need.
I picked up a dresser for $27 at my favorite place Urban Ore (oh how I'll miss it when I move). My husband was against it because we're moving and don't need another piece of furniture and blah blah blah. My retort was "it's twenty seven dollars!!".
I don't have a place to do large projects here, scratch that, any projects. When I spray painted my horse head vase I did it on the back stairs of my apartment and I think the landlord is on to me. So I did my next project in the bathtub and now it's orange in there....oops.
A friend of mine was gracious enough to offer her back yard space for me to tackle this project. Armed with my supplies and inspiration from other bloggers (here, here and here) I set to work on the redo.
It was easy and only took about four days, I only did about four hours work at a time and one day it rained and that set me back a little. It never rains here, never and the one time it does, wouldn't you know I have something drying outside.
Here is the before:
It had definitely seen better days, it had white contact paper on the top and was all scratched up. What it did have was hairpin legs with the brass feet still on them and the original handles.
There was about a million things I wanted to do with it, I made multiple mock ups of what I could do and made a list of paints and stains. I thought about teal with white drawers and orange with white drawers and also my inspirations (from above) with the stained body and white drawers.
I knew until I sanded it down and saw what I was dealing with I couldn't plan anything yet. So when I did sand it I found that all the drawers where hardwood and the top was but the sides were veneer. So that limited my options. I couldn't stain the body because you can't stain veneer. So I knew I could stain the drawers and paint the body. I really have been wanting to use Benjamin Moore's 'Surf Blue' since I saw in on my L.A. trip but the mock up looked a little weird and since we're moving I didn't know how it would fit in to the new place once we got it all together. So I decided to go with something more neutral I went with a white body and stained drawers.
Here is the result:
I love it! I can't wait to use it in the new place (it's in storage now, no sense in brining it up two flights of stairs for a month's worth of use).
Here's how I did it;
I sanded everything, boiled the handles so any paint that was on them came off and polished the brass feet with Bar-Keeper's Friend ( I love the stuff, cleans everything!).
I primed the body and painted it with many thin coats of semi-gloss white, then stained the drawers (one coat) with Minwax's 'Dark Walnut' then when it was dry a coat of polyurethane on the drawers only (all my handyman friends told me poly might stain the white yellow and I didn't want to take that chance). The project in total (including the dresser) was about $80
It's such a solid piece of furniture and I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. My husband and I both have Ikea dressers and both of those have drawers that will not open, the handle of mine actually broke off because I was trying too hard to open it. So a real dresser is very much in need.
11.23.2009
House Tour
Name: Sarah Kramer (author of How It All Vegan)
Location: Victoria BC, Canada
Square Footage: 1200
Years Lived in: 2 +
Rent or own: own
Describe your style: kitchy casual
Blog/Website: www.GoVegan.net
What's your favorite free/found item?
I think that would have to be my Electrohome Dome Turntable. My girlfriend found it in a dumpster and gave it to me. It was in perfect working condition and is my pride and joy.
What's your favorite purchased item?
That’s a tough one ... I have a Bols Ballerina Bottle that I love to watch dance. I also have an alarm clock that has two windows. One window has a clock. The other window has a ballerina that dances when the alarm goes off. I don’t have a ballerina fetish. I swear!! *laugh*
But my #1 favourite purchased item is my Frigidaire Flair stove and it is a thing of beauty. Her name is Samantha - I named her after Sam on Bewitched. It’s the same stove she had in her kitchen ...
What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
Space. We have a 2 bedroom condo and I wish I had more room to show off all my chotskies.
Is your design style organic or planned?
A bit of both. I like to plan out furniture lay-out ... but once that’s done where I place the chotskies is more about feel.
What is your favorite spot in the house?
My favourite spot is on my couch looking out the window at the tree in our back yard. When we first were looking at condos to purchase my husband and I sat on the previous owners couch (where my couch is now) and looked out the window and pretended we lived there. We wanted to see if it felt “right” ... and it did. My hubby and I often sit and look at the tree and remember that day. It’s one of those wonderful watershed moments in our married life that we’ll never forget.
How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
I have a little $$ in my pocket now - so I have been investing in quality pieces - rather then busted up furniture I find on the side of the road. *laugh* Also. I used to buy up everything I found at thrift stores ... now with limited space and a growing collection I am much more picky about what I bring into the house.
What is your favorite resource or store?
I’ll never tell ... :)
But I do try to never buy anything new if I can find it 2nd hand.
What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
I can’t stand clutter. While I have a lot of chotskies on display I like to think that my house demonstrates organized chaos - everything has a place.
What has been your favorite design trend?
I don’t follow trends. I decorate and am influenced by my own tastes and not the trends of others ... but I am happy to see that there is more consciousness and effort put towards green products.
What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
About 5 years ago we moved from a 3 bedroom 2500 sq foot house to a 625 sq foot condo. It forced me to take a hard look at my collection obsession and get real about what to take with us. It was cathartic to go through all of my stuff and only keep what was precious to me. Since then I’ve tried to only bring objects into my house that I love and that enhance my life.
What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
Space for sure. I am an obsessive collector (right now I can’t stop collecting bread-bin tags). So making sure my house is functional, beautiful and not cluttered is important to me and that helps me be disciplined with what I bring into my house.
What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
The best thing we did is take out the wall to wall Grand-mother carpet and replace it with wood floors from http://www.europeanflooring.ca. It was expensive but worth every single penny. It immediately turned this out-dated 1975 condo into a space that was modern and fresh.
Photos courtesy of homeowner
11.20.2009
Handmade Friday
I love trailers, perhaps it's a weird statement. I don't mean semi-trucks or lawn equipment trailers. I mean campers, airstreams, winnebagos.
There's something so compartmentalized about them that I love. So of course I love this:
It's a little wooden trailer bank made by Rpfeikgraphics. There are some other beautiful more aerodynamic trailers in the shop but this little guy just appeals to me.
Have a great weekend!
There's something so compartmentalized about them that I love. So of course I love this:
It's a little wooden trailer bank made by Rpfeikgraphics. There are some other beautiful more aerodynamic trailers in the shop but this little guy just appeals to me.
Have a great weekend!
11.19.2009
Things We Love
I’ve always loved my little red lamp when my father gave it to me to put on my desk as a child. But adolescence came, as did my style, and the lamp got ditched along the way. (For many years, I was all about this old-school library lamp with a green glass shade. I suppose I thought it looked vintage, who knows?)But lately I’d been thinking about my little lamp again and asked Dad if I could get it back. He happily turned it over and I took it home to live with me.
It’s industrial look, with a thick-cut metal shade and almost too-simple switch, is the bee’s knees to me. The color ain’t too bad, either. I heart it, actually. If hearting can be a thing.
So when I was giving it a good clean up, I noticed it still had the original tag on the bottom. It was marked TENSOR made in Brooklyn, 1968. I became intrigued and did a bit of research to find a pretty cool story about the designer, Jay Monroe, an engineer/inventor of sorts.
Also related, they are pretty popular I guess, since I found bunches on eBay. I guess if you’re as interested in timeless and vintage items (you really should be!) that have a good ol’ story, happy bidding! I think they are totally worth it.
And I’m glad my little red lamp made it back at home again.
-Kristina
11.18.2009
Details
I took so many pictures during my trip to Palm Springs I didn't get a chance to share them all.
There were a few that I wanted to touch on and point out some things.
The first was the mirror in our bathroom. It had no tag on the back so I'm not sure if it's a Jonathan Adler design or he found it somewhere. I loved it, it was hung on the wall by one of it's holes with a regular coat hook.
For more pictures like this of my stay, check out my flickr set.
There were a few that I wanted to touch on and point out some things.
The first was the mirror in our bathroom. It had no tag on the back so I'm not sure if it's a Jonathan Adler design or he found it somewhere. I loved it, it was hung on the wall by one of it's holes with a regular coat hook.
The next is the glass cowboy hat on the coffee table in the main lobby. I'm pretty sure this is a nod to Gene Autry.
In the same spot at night the sign over the fireplace is much more impressive. It looks to me like it was made by bottle bottoms (if that makes sense)
The check in desk has custom Jonathan Adler tiles, depicting the activities at The Parker, complete with the seven deadly sins.
Regretfully I could not get an in focus shot of this owl. It's a C. Jere sculpture I love it and wish I could find one like it.
I only saw these ceiling lights in the lobby, they were palm fronds with glass balls in the center.
Finally something I saw out of coincidence. The beds at the Parker have sheepskins rolled underneath them. I'm not sure if these are for visiting dogs (the hotel is pet friendly) or they are for what I used them as; bedside rugs. It seemed right there was one for each side of the bed but every afternoon after the maid service they were rolled back up under the bed.
Looks good right?
Well they seemed to think so in the Gene Autry house as well:
For more pictures like this of my stay, check out my flickr set.
11.17.2009
Palm Springs Thrift
When my husband and I planned our Palm Springs vacation I knew I wanted to spend a day trolling the thrift stores there.
I've heard so much about them and read a few blogs that constantly find gorgeous things in theses shops, so I knew I had to visit them.
I mapped out all the ones in the vicinity and thanks to a tip from a reader I had a pretty good lay of the land. The morning of our excursion the front desk clerk gave us some tips on a few good ones as well, she made sure to ask to see our purchases upon our return.
When the day was over we visited over 12 thrift stores, there was even one plaza that had 5 in one spot! The real shame of it is I spotted a few pieces of furniture, included a $20 mid century sewing table that I needed and wanted but couldn't take it home. Shipping it would of been too expensive.
I spotted this great acrylic saarinen knock off dining set:
It was $600, which really is a deal.
At the end of the day this is what came home with us:
The tulip candlesticks are about 2 feet tall and look like they belong at The Parker. Those were $16. The mug was 50 cents and the sterling silver seal bottle opener was $6.
We had a blast looking at all these shops but we were so spent by the end of the day, all the driving in the hot sun sucked all our energy out!
I had a problem with security on the way home, they felt the candlesticks (which perfectly fit in my suitcase by the way) could be used as a weapon and gave me the choice of checking the bag or throwing them out...ha!
So for the first time in 5 years I actually checked a piece of luggage.
I'm going to bite my tongue and refrain from telling you what I really thought of that security guard and his assumption of what I would do with those candlesticks and instead show you their new home.
The bowl is a birthday gift from my mom, good taste huh?
Facebook/Twitter
Have you noticed some changes on the blog? Just some minor ones here and there. One of the biggest minor ones (if that makes sense) is the addition of two new badges.
These super cute Facebook and Twitter badges came from Nicole of Making it Lovely. They now live in the right hand column of this blog and if you click on them they will take you to the Facebook page and the Twitter Page for Rearranged Design.
Sometime in the future I will do a giveaway on one of those two sites...a little something to say thanks to those who follow the blog on those sites.
11.16.2009
House Tour
Name: steven and meredith
Location: logan square, chicago
Square Footage: 900 sf
Years Lived in: 5 months
Rent or own: rent
Describe your style: i think our style could be described as modern classic compromise.
Blog/Website: olivettistudio.blogspot.com
What's your favorite free/found item?
we don't have a great deal of found items in our apartment, but our favorite free item by is the large airplane painting my friend jackie made for me. i work as an airline pilot, so she painted me this amazing painting that has all sorts of special meaning to me.
What's your favorite purchased item?
we have to say our bedroom set (even though it may not count as one thing). we had been eyeing the lowry bedroom set from room and board (now discontinued) forever. the only problem was the price. it was going to be like 7 grand or something to get the entire set. one lazy saturday morning meredith was browsing craigslist, and she found an entire set for sale, way below retail. we went and looked at it that day and it turned out to be 6 months old and in perfect shape. it also turned out to belong to former vh1 top 20 countdown host rachel perry. we bought it and have been so happy with it.
What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
other than the financial limitations that i am sure most of us can relate to, i think our transient lifestyle has been a huge obstacle. we are renters in the city and seem to move at least every year. i love setting up a new space and figuring things out, but there are the inevitable pieces that don't seem to work in the new space. you are really forced to solve a lot of problems when you move. some of those can be fun, but they are definitely a challenge. we hope to stay in our current space for a longer period of time.
Is your design style organic or planned?
definitely organic. we kind of just take it as it comes and upgrade/replace when we find the right piece.
What is your favorite spot in the house?
well, i'd be lying if i said anything other than on the sofa with my feet up on the coffee table (where we are sitting as i type this)
How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
we both agree that our taste has mostly always been the same. however, we have both come to embrace the idea of buying high quality items that will last forever, or hold their value if we decide to sell them and get a different piece. i think that turning that corner and deciding to buy quality pieces rather than the semi-disposable things that are for sale in so many places was a big step for us.
What is your favorite resource or store?
we constantly scour craigslist. being in a place like chicago where there are a great number of people using craigslist is great. we have found and sold so many different things on there. like anywhere, you have to wade through some junk, but it's well worth it to find a great deal on a great piece.
What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
the only thing that pops in my head is that 'keep calm and carry on' poster. it's a nice poster and i like it, but last year it seemed like the majority of places i saw on apartment therapy had this poster hanging in them.
we watch a lot of HGTV and a definite pet-peeve for us is the design passivity of most people. it seems like most people have this generic design style that doesn't seem to have any cohesion or thought to how things work together. it sounds a bit elitist, but i just don't understand why people would want to be surrounded by things that don't inspire and excite them.
What has been your favorite design trend?
i am really drawing a blank with this question. perhaps i am not saavy enough to recognize the trends, but i feel like what catches my eye in design isn't really trendy.
What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
i think that my biggest influence is my own obsessiveness about things. i have always been strangely organized. i like everything to have it's place and i am not one for much adornment. i suppose that i was a modernist as a child, before i even knew what that was.
What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
does my girlfriend count? hey! honestly, we have very similar tastes with many things. but with our decorating styles, we have to find a compromise. we make it work. we have the same taste in furniture, but meredith is into displaying things more than i am. she has a lot of cute vintage toys and things that she likes out. we have to balance this out with my more austere tastes. i fear that if i lived alone my space would look like it was staged because i'd have nothing out. but we find a happy middle ground and have things out without succumbing to any sort of clutter.
What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
turning our guest bedroom closet into a craft/sewing room for meredith was a huge improvement. she would constantly be dragging her sewing machine to the kitchen table to work, and it was difficult. she'd need time to finish projects, but we didn't like all of that stuff staying out on the table for extended periods of time. we turned the closet into a space for this, and now when she stops working she can just close the doors behind her.
