Turn your lights down low...

 One of the things this blog does is document the fact that I have a lamp problem. Lamp Tramp is the name I throw around for myself the most. I have a closet shelf full of lamps and that does not stop me from constantly searching out lamps at thrift stores and ebay. Like it or lump it, it's my thing.

I scored another task lamp on ebay. It was missing a bulb socket but that's an easy fix. I've been honing my skills rewiring lamps and once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. So with my new lamp and it's new bulb socket I searched for a place to put it.

Aha!! An empty spot with inadequate lighting you say? I'm so there!

First I tried my newly tricked out stool, not so much. I mean the teal legs go with the teal duct tape but it's just not doing it for me. Speaking of, That parchment paper/duct tape thing was only supposed to be temporary but I still can't trust Bruce to not fall through the railings.

Let's try another discontinued Ikea stool, shall we?

Oh yes! It sheds light, holds records and even acts as a fort for the cats...yay a winner!

House Tour Recap August

Violeta 8/2/10

Malin-8/9/10

Rachael-8/23/10

all photos courtesy of homeowner. If you would like to have your home featured please send me an email or submit pictures of your home to the flickr group.

Handmade Friday

Owls, aqua, red, yellow? Check, check, check and check.

All awesome.

I love this locket! Freshy Fig is doing some pretty rad things with jewelry this locket is just the tip of the iceberg.

Have a great weekend. This is my last one before I do the Seattle Square, so starting next week for a month I'll be doing something different with Handmade Fridays...stay tuned!

Things We Love-Raina's Jug

My favorite object in the world is a gorgeous vintage mustard-yellow jug that I found at Honey B's here in Calgary. This jug graces my dining room table with fresh flowers in it every week. Some of my best photos are of this jug filled with a flower or flowers and it just makes me smile every time I look at it. I am not certain how old it is or its heritage, all I know is that I love it.

-Raina

rainingsheep.com

If you would like a treasured item featured on a "Things We Love" post. Email me or submit your photo to the flickr group.

Miscellaneous

Like everyone else in the free world I clamored for the new 2011 Ikea catalog that just came out. Out of the whole thing I only found two things that I wanted in the 374 pages. The Lack bookcase and the Tradig bowl. Since I have no room for a bookcase I opted for the bowl and I love it...

Incidentally both cats LOVE the box it came in. It's open on three sides and for some reason they both love to lounge in it. Weirdos.

I took another picture of it with my new favorite item, my big win from Deedee914's twitter giveaway:

I'm loving all those colors together! So if this doesn't inspire you to get on twitter. I don't know what will. Seriously all I did was reply with a favorite item off Dee's Etsy favorites and I won (Dee has great taste by the way, the dish above was also on my Etsy favorites).

Since I now have this gorgeous casserole dish I listed it's twin that I had in my Etsy shop. It's just as pretty but it's not aqua and since I don't need two it must go. Buy it here you know you want to.

Dee also does great giveaways on her blog, she's a talented artist and she's from Oakland, what's not to love about this girl?

Stool Makeover

Earlier this month I was inspired by this post over at Apartment Therapy. My Ikea Frosta stool (which is discontinued now or at least not on their site) has been shuffled around the house since we moved trying to find a forever home.

Normally it sits under my sewing table and holds books but I dragged it out to try this simple DIY. Easy-peasy; dip the legs in paint.

For a refresher here's the stool in all it's Aalto knock-off glory:

and here it is after I dipped the legs in paint:

It's not a huge change, but it adds a bit of interest to an otherwise dull stool. For the record, it's back under my table. It's just a little more interesting now.

House Tour-Rachael

Name: Rachael Amen
Location: Chester Springs, PA, USA
Square Footage: 1200 sq. ft.
Years Lived in: 2
Rent or own: own
Describe your style: Intuitive ecclectic (I just made that up)
Blog/Website/Twitter: rachaelamen.blogspot.com
tigerluxe.etsy.com
numbereight.etsy.com

What's your favorite free/found item? 
My favorite free item is an old blanket chest my mother gave me.


What's your favorite purchased item? 
Our new dining room table (from west elm).

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design? 
Not having the funds to spend what we want on the things we want...but being frugal has helped foster my love of vintage which I can now incorporate into our decor.


Is your design style organic or planned? 
Organic, definitely. I always fly by the seat of my pants.

What is your favorite spot in the house? 
Our bedroom.


How has your style changed in the past 5 years? 
I've learned to focus of quality rather than quantity...to just keep the things I love rather than keep everything.

What is your favorite resource or store? 
Thrift stores, flea markets, junk shops...and ligne roset (although i have yet to purchase something from here).




What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve? 
Books arranged by color...totally annoying.

What has been your favorite design trend? 
Danish design.




What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style? 
I would have to say my personal history...things that I've loved since I was a child (nostalgia)...places i've traveled to, fallen in love with...I always look for a spark of connection with everything in my home.

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate? 
The light...our living room/dining room is rather dark, so I look to incorporate light as much as possible.




What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact? 
Painted the walls...it's amazing what a can of paint can accomplish.

all photos courtesy of homeowner. If you would like to have your home featured please send me an email or submit pictures of your home to the flickr group.

Look Down!

So I'm kinda super excited and geeking out right now...look down!

See that floating bar that pops up on the bottom of the page...cool right? It has a search function so you can search the blog. A Facebook button so you can see the page for the blog. A Twitter button to check out my tweets. A recent posts widget, stats to see how many folks are reading along with you and an RSS subscription button.

I'm totally geeking on this...In full disclosure I also just had a 20z Mountain Dew and that probably has a lot to do with it.

What do you think?

Broke!

Something is wrong here in bloggerville. I can't upload photos and I can't comment on other blogger blogs (bloggity blogs).

I'm looking into it...I might just take the week off of the blog until it's fixed.

So...

Due to some server issues I can't upload pictures for today's House Tour. I will keep trying and hopefully they'll be up soon.

Handmade Friday

I really, really want thissuper sweet Heart Pillow from Olive's Shop for my bed.

It's taking all the willpower I have not to add it to my cart.

*sigh* resistance is futile.

Have a great weekend!

Thrifting

I had such good luck thrifting yesterday I had to share. I woke up to the news that I had won deedee9:14's twitter giveaway, I won this awesome casserole dish. Then my best friend and I went a-thriftin'. I got all of the above for under $40. The purple fabric is a hammock. I have nowhere to put this hammock unless I install some hooks but I'm gonna run it by B and see what he thinks...maybe the library could use a hammock...maybe.

The mirror might be my favorite thing, I can't decide if the frame needs to be painted or not. Those three tiny things in front are wood rings. That's a Mikasa Duplex tea setup and rubbermaid pitcher/glasses and tupperware and yes that pillow will be totally washed in boiling water, don't worry.

Just an awesome haul!

Things We Love-Rachel's Rocks

I started collecting the rocks at different places I visited...they always seemed to stand out. Then I just kept getting them from friends and family and collecting them on beaches and trails, etc. now it's a collection. I have a whole bunch more that aren't in the photo too! On occasion now I'll visit somewhere and pick up a little gem here and there. It's nice to have a little bit of nature as a collection.

-Rachel

rachaelamen.blogspot.com
tigerluxe.etsy.com
numbereight.etsy.com

Bedroom Part Two

So with the new bed, the old headboard didn't work. It bent too far backward and I was losing my pillows. I found a great one at the thrift store for $20 and set to work on it.

 I actually didn't mind the green but it was chipped and needed a paint job. So I decided to paint it the colors I wanted to paint the dresser. Navy blue and white.

This bed is impossible to take a decent picture of. The glossiness of it and because it's such a dark Navy blue makes the light bounce right off of it and causes such a glare. I assure you it's beautiful.

Speaking of the dresser I finally got it upstairs and in place and it looks amazing. I am so glad I didn't paint it. Howard's-Restor-a-finish is the bomb. For reals. Now remember this thing was $14.99...

I mean really! Are you kidding? I'm so in love with this thing. You wouldn't believe all the scratches that just wiped away with the Howard's. I love this stuff like I love the Magic Eraser


Here's another angle just because it's so awesome and you can see the headboard without a glare as well.

and here's both, now you're supposed to be kind and ignore my ghetto fabulous fan hanging from the curtain rod. It got hot and my bedroom is in the attic and you gotta do what you gotta do.

The lamps on the dresser are new as well, 25 bones on ebay! I really love the dresser and the headboard. It just puts a finish on the room. The old dresser just didn't have that oomph factor, after all it was from Ikea. I was able to sell it on craigslist and ended up making money by buying a $15 dresser.

Why is it bedrooms are always the last rooms to be finished?

Bedroom Part One.

This post is a two parter, I made some big changes in the bedroom that are too big for just one post. It'll be awesome, hang in there with me.

For starters lets talk about my bed frame, specifically the slats. As I've mentioned before I've had my Ikea bed since 2002. It's been through four moves, been taken apart and reassembled by surly movers and has maintained with only a little of the veneer peeling off. I've even given it a DIY headboard. This time the damage was something I couldn't deal with. The basic slats that came with the bed had come loose from the ribbon of fabric that holds them together and every time I turned over the slats would come loose and maneuver under the support rail, forcing me to get up at 3am and fix it unless I wanted to sleep on a slant.

My best friend just got the Oprah Tempur-Pedic bed complete with the head and feet that elevate on a remote...and I was jealous! I love our bed (DWR Sonno mattress) but man...her bed lifts your feet and massages them!

So my jalopy slats had to go and we discussed getting a new bed frame but we both really want to make this bed last. I'm not sure what it is. I mean B and I would both love a fancy new frame but this one has hung in so long I think we're rooting for it at this point.

So we went to Ikea and passed on the slats we already had, which are $70 now! They used to come free with the bed.

Believe or not Ikea also has a bed frame on a remote, it was great but they only made it in twin and king. This doesn't make sense to me considering most people I know are on a queen. I was disappointed because I totally would of bought it right then and there. What we ended up with was the Sultan Lerback. Which is adjustable, it's just manual. We decided on that one just because we wanted the option of sitting up in bed. Just because it's always nice to have options, you know?

So it took me a total of six hours to put this thing together. That makes me hate Ikea. Don't get me wrong I love the meatballs and the sheets but I really hate putting this stuff together. Since I have the most dexterity between B and I it always falls on my shoulders to put this stuff together and I hate it. Believe me Ikea furniture has started more than one argument in my house.


So check it out...Here's the old slats. Look at the right side near the headboard, see how there's no ribbon holding those together?

and here's the new slats, Bionic slats if you will...

Each of those bars is bent for maximum comfort and in the middle are adjustment sliders for firmer or softer support, so the description tells me.

Head goes up...

Feet go up...

 Now everybody!

The head going up will be ideal for when one of us is sick and wants to watch tv. Mostly it's stayed down but it's awesome not getting up in the middle of the night to have to readjust some shitty slats.

Part two tomorrow...

House Tour-Malin

Name: Malin Liveståhl
Location: Göteborg, Sweden
Square Footage: 30 sq m (322 sq ft)
Years Lived in: 1
Rent or own: Rent
Describe your style: Functional and minimalistic!
Blog/Website/Twitter: ilovepeggy.blogspot.com/

What's your favorite free/found item?
I recently received a gift from my friend, a book about Camilla Engman (a swedish artist). I had plans on buying it myself, so when I got it I became surprised and super happy.


What's your favorite purchased item?
I love my poster called "Uprisings" from Kozyndan. It's a paraphrase on Hokusai's "the Great Wave". Kozyndan has replaced the foam on the waves with little bunny rabbits, which I find funny.

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
I'm almost obsessed with finding the right feeling when it comes to decorating. If it doesn't feel right I'm gonna keep going until it will. Sadly, sometimes that takes away the fun of it.


Is your design style organic or planned?
It's certainly planned. I don't go out buying objects and make room for it even if I like the things very much. It has to fit in with my other interiors. I "have" to follow the overall picture.

What is your favorite spot in the house?
I would say the kitchen. I like the trees outside the window and the light in there is nice. I like to sit by the table and have a cup of coffee and play yatzy.


How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
I used to have more retro stuff before, teak furniture and a lot of brown-orange-green. Now it's brighter and I think more harmonious.

What is your favorite resource or store?
Flea markets and homemade.


What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
Not having curtains. In some appartments it works but more often it doesn't.

What has been your favorite design trend?
Ehm... I like all the bright and white :)




What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
Im getting a lot of inspiration from magazines and blogs. Especially articles about peoples homes.

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
My wallet and mind.


What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
Either it's painting the walls white (all three rooms had different wallpapers) or removing the ugly closet which took up a lot of space.

all photos courtesy of homeowner. If you would like to have your home featured please send me an email or submit pictures of your home to the flickr group.

Handmade Friday

Check out this awesome piece of art from White Rabbit Gallery.

Hope your Shark Week was as good as mine! Have a great weekened!

Things We Love- Yvonne's Jewelry Box

When I was browsing through West Elm online store couple weeks back, I noticed their Lux Jewelry box right away. I wasnt sure if I want to spend $89.00 for it though. Unfortunately the Lux Jewelry box is no longer available. I went to TJ Maxx and found almost EXACTLY same jewelry box at 1/3 of the price! so as you can see..I was pretty excited! Don't you love happy endings =)

-Yvonne

www.simplyvonne.com

Check out Yvonne's House Tour here.

If you would like a treasured item featured on a "Things We Love" post. Email me or submit your photo to the flickr group.

Super happy cheer on a string

I was totally unprepared to make a blog post today. I've finished painting a headboard that I found thrifting but for some reason taking a decent picture of it is an impossible task. I suppose because it's right up against a window and the glare is what's making it difficult...Anyway I wanted to share that but I didn't get around to typing it up.

What I did instead was spend three hours making my very first bunting...sounds dirty right? Well it's not, pretty damn wholesome actually. A bunting is a fabric banner made up of pennant flags. I saw some and realized how easy a DIY it is and three hours later I had 10? 100? 1,000? feet of super happy cheer on a string.

You're supposed to be polite and ignore the mess on the table. FYI that's how this room normally looks, like a fabric bomb went off.

I'm pleased with this for a couple of reasons.
1) all those flags are scrap fabric
2) My booth at the Seattle Square is going to be awesome

I'll be at the Seattle Square every Saturday in September selling my wares. If you're around please come by and say hello.

So in preparation for this I've been busy getting all sorts of booth type stuff in order. I've never done a fair or craft show before so I have nothing. Luckily my Mom has and I'm borrowing all her stuff. So all I need is minimal things like bunting for instance.

So if I'm suddenly scarce around these parts, that's why.

Time keeps on ticking ticking ticking

Sunday marked three months since we adopted Bruce. It's been a month or so since I last shared pics of him so here they are:

A friend of mine remarked that he's quite posable. It's true but only if you wake him up from a nap and offer treats, that's when he becomes less blurry and more apt to sit still.

Bruce is the opposite of Lola in every way. I really have a set of Yin and Yang cats. Where Lola is mellow and skittish and keeps to herself, Bruce is hyper and inquisitive and   always into everything. Eventually he'll settle down and we'll see how much of his personality is due to being a kitten.

House Tour-Violeta

Name: Violeta Clemente
Location: Aveiro, Portugal
Square Footage: 400m2 (4,305sq ft)
Years Lived in: 2 years
Rent or own: Own
Describe your style: Simple, natural, recycled, pure, neutral
Blog/Website/Twitter: chadebergamota.wordpress.com

What's your favourite free/found item?
I don't have just one... but maybe the old drawers set I've found at grandpa's house

What's your favorite purchased item?
"she, a painting by Graça Paz

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
Trying not to think about it all the time!!

Is your design style organic or planned?
Totally unplanned!

What is your favorite spot in the house?
“My” corner, under the lamp, in the living room

How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
I've learned the pleasures of recycling, reusing, thrifting,
I've also learned to relax and "let it go" instead of trying to preview every little detail

What is your favorite resource or store?
Flea markets, charity shops, nature, garbage

What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
Don't have/ Don’t remember any/ Can't think of a single one

What has been your favorite design trend?
I've a lot in common with the wabi-sabi concept

What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
Mark and Sally Bailey

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
The things I love should be surrounding me, more than just aesthetics they all carry special meanings or bring me special memories

What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
Being myself, searching for my own style

all photos courtesy of homeowner. If you would like to have your home featured please send me an email or submit pictures of your home to the flickr group.