Craigslist Dresser Find

Posted by Nick in Antiquing on February 8, 2012  ||  Comments Off on Craigslist Dresser Find

Amber is obsessed with Craigslist. It’s ok for me to say that because it’s been clinically diagnosed, and we’re working through it together. She’s also obsessed with mid century modern furniture. Mix the two together, and you’re dealing with borderline hysteria. (Living in Texas, most of the mid century mod stuff is from dealers. We’re not quite as lucky as the West Coasters).

Here’s a shot of the ad. We asked to see the little chest on the top left too, but the lady acted like she didn’t know what we were talking about (it was weird, but that’s a story for another time).

It was $40, so not a steal but not a giant financial commitment either. It gives us the opportunity to experiment a little. Amber has been itching to ombre something, and this seems perfect.

I’d like to stain the outside a dark walnut, but its veneer, so not sure if it will work. If it won’t, then we’ll do a black or white. For the ombre, we are thinking either a coral-red or an avocado green. Since it’s veneer we won’t be committing any design crime by painting it (thank goodness, design court can be brutal).

Here she is honing those furniture painting skills (also a sneak peek at the nook table painted black and getting a coat of poly). She’s getting really good.

Well, there you have it. Amber’s to do list just keeps growing!

Tagged As , , , ,

West Elm Fabric, Outlet Prices

Posted by Amber in Shop on February 7, 2012  ||  Comments Off on West Elm Fabric, Outlet Prices

Last month before we settled on the Serena & Lily fabric for the chair facelift, Nick and I took a quick trip to the Dallas fabric outlets in search of some fabric for the seat bottoms. The third store on our trek was Wherehouse Fabrics (no I didn’t spell that wrong that’s how it appears on my bank statement), the place we got the fabric for our living room drapes.

As soon as we walked in, we saw this rack. We both walked straight to it, well more specifically the gray ikat. Our mouths just sort of dropped, but officially hit the floor when we saw the selvage.

You have probably figured out by now that we are West Elm crazy, and these drapes have been on my radar ever since I saw this post on Young House Love. The fabric is the same as the drapes except it’s a bit heavier which is a plus for me.

I tried to play it cool when I was asking about the price. They said $6 per yard. I was freaking out at that price for the record, but I asked if I bought yardage in bulk if I could get it cheaper. They said if I bought the whole roll (53 yards) I could get it for $5 per yard. I wasn’t about to buy 53 yards even at that price. Sidenote: The fabric is $30 per yard at West Elm, so it was an insane deal to begin with.

We walked to another store to game plan…and call Jamie to see if she wanted in. The problem was I didn’t measure for drapes because I was only going for chair fabric, so I had no idea how much fabric I needed. When we returned, I asked if I bought 20 yards if I could get it for $5. The lady agreed. We paid $108.25 for 20 yards of West Elm fabric. I was pretty giddy.

Pete and Jamie came over (with some amazing steaks – they know our love language) for their 10 yards. We did some fantastic measuring here by just pulling it from one end of the house to the other. I mean seriously who wants to measure 10 yards out??

Well the answer to that question is Jamie because when she got home she measured and was short 2 yards. I still haven’t measured mine, but I guess I technically have 12 yards. The Weydecks are going to make drapes for their living room. The Wills…well, er…I think we are going to make drapes for the game room. It’s okay though because our 2 rooms won’t be seen in public together wearing the same drapes, so they are good.

Tagged As , , ,

Shop: Inheritance (Los Angeles)

Posted by Nick in Antiquing, Shop on February 3, 2012  ||  2 Comments

The day was December 30. We had been fabric shopping all morning and pondering mid century modern buffets in the afternoon. Dusk was approaching swiftly, and we knew it was time to do the last thing on our agenda: antique shopping. Equipped only with Emily Henderson’s LA Shopping Guide, we set out to cover as much ground as possible.

*cue the wahwahs* Problem: every single store on the list closed early that day, except one. Enter Inheritance. A small, but mighty store. One full of heart, whimsy, nostalgia, banter and pretty much any other positive decriptor you would ever use on an antique store.

(via)

When we walked in, I knew immediately it was my kind of store. The aesthetic is very manly. Lots of funky/odd artwork, which I love (have you seen my squirrel art?), industrial type accessories, old cameras, etc.

The store is an old loft, split into two levels. Neither of which is very large, both of which are chocked full of some of the coolest stuff you’ll find anywhere.

Looking back at the pictures, I almost forgot how amazing the stock in the store is. I’m not an expert (or really that experienced either), but I can honestly say that it is the best curated antique store I’ve ever been in. Apparently Apartment Therapy agrees because they named it a top 15 Vintage Store in the country for 2011 (didn’t realize that until I went to write this post last night).

They mix in some new items too, which I think is neat. Some letterpress cards, funky china and even some modern furniture. Everything is done with extremely great taste and the vignettes inside the store are simply amazing.

The prices here weren’t crazy cheap, but they weren’t bad either. I actually expected it to be a lot more expensive since it’s LA, but it was very similar to the shops in downtown Dallas.

(via)

The owner Michael, seen above, was a really nice guy. He’s probably the hippest antique store owner I’ve ever met. Hopefully there will be a trend towards the antique shops in our area moving in a similar direction (less old woman, more plates with anatomy on them).

If you’re ever in the area, be sure to check it out. If you can’t get there, he has an online shop  on his website. WIN WIN!

Tagged As , , , ,

January Goal Check

Posted by Amber in DIY, Side Note on February 2, 2012  ||  2 Comments

I set some goals because that’s what you do at the beginning of the year. I figured I would share some of them with you. Hopefully it holds me accountable throughout the year since I really only do well with goals for about a month.

1. Complete at least 1 crafty project a month. I know I set the bar pretty low with 1, but I wanted it to be something I could achieve no matter how crazy the month gets.

I made my niece a Portable Tea Party from this Prudent Baby Tutorial for her 3rd birthday (which also happened to be a princess tea party). I have made this before for my friend Allison‘s daughter, and I loved it (especially because we all know a tea party is the way to a little girl’s heart). I had the fabric on hand, but I had to buy the felt for the placemats and the trim for the napkins.

The tablecloth, napkins, and placemats are reversible. This fabric is from some more Jonathan Adler bedsheets like my curtains.

Best thing is you pull a string and collect your tea party mess all in one bag. I seriously need to make one for Ramona. (Her current Belle tea party set is in a gallon size plastic bag. I’m cringing just admitting to that.)

My sister posted about Macie and Morgan having a tea party. I’m not going to lie it really made me feel good. That’s why my sister is my BFF.

2. Read at least 1 book (any book except picture ones before bedtime) a month.

I have been wanting to read Prudent Advice for a long time. Amazon had it for $5 (which happens every now and then), and I jumped all over it. It’s written by Jaime Morrison Curtis who is one of the ladies that runs Prudent Baby (the same blog I got the tutorial for the portable tea party I made). I just noticed that as I was writing this post but just know I didn’t plan it.

Seriously a wonderful read for any woman especially one with girls. It makes me want to be all around better and really think about what I want Ramona to learn from me. It’s a quick read because 500 pieces of advice. Here is a link to her site with the advice.

3. Do more fun things with Ramona.

I want to make memories and enjoy this time with her. We have been doing a lot of cooking together which was a hassle at first, but she has started to become more helpful with each attempt. Yes, we are wearing matching aprons.

4. Journal every day.

On top of blogging to keep better track of my life, I have journaled every day just to keep track of all those small things that happen throughout the day. Ramona is doing so many cute things. I get to remind myself each night how lucky I am no matter how difficult the day was.

Tagged As , , , , , , ,

Antique Finds

Posted by Nick in Antiquing on January 31, 2012  ||  Comments Off on Antique Finds

This will be a recurring theme on the blog. We love to hit up antique shops when we have down time and here is where we will showcase some of the stuff we’ve acquired.

We didn’t go to a lot of antique shops this month. Most of it happened one morning when we found ourselves Ramona-less (because that’s what every mid-20’s couple does when they have a day away from their kid). We made our purchases at the Benbrook Antique Mall (one of Amber’s favorites) and a new store in Downtown Weatherford, Grammy’s. Here’s what we got:

  1.  School Globe (Benbrook Antique Mall, $12.00) – These things are a bit ubiquitous, but we don’t have one. Plus, it was 75% off. You can’t say no to it for that price.
  2. Giant Glass Vessel (Grammy’s, $17.00)  – It instantly made me think of the jug that Emily Henderson used in this episode. Except it’s much larger and much cheaper. Our friend Pete said it’s used to make beer, so it’s got that going for it too.
  3. Milk Glass Cake Stand (Benbrook Antique Mall, $4.50) – It’s got a giant crack, but we thought it was still well worth the risk.
  4. Squirrel Art (Benbrook Antique Mall, $6.00) – I find it to be incredible, Amber finds it to be creepy. It’s an original piece of art for $6 though. Hard to argue with that. (Side Note: Apparently a friend of Amber’s cousin is afraid of squirrels, so she took a pic of this and send it to her. Her response was “thanks for the nightmare picture.” Brilliant. Worth the $6 already). Probably will paint the frame black and put it in my office.
  5. 2 small IKEA Ribba frames (Benbrook Antique Mall, $3.00) – We didn’t have a pressing need for these. We thought it’d be kinda funny to buy ikea frames from an anique mall, and they were a good deal. Also, can you ever really have enough of these frames?
  6. Vintage felt christmas ornaments  (Benbrook Antique Mall, $18.70) – These were our splurge items for this trip. Kinda pricey for what they are, but we think they’re incredible. Not sure what we’re going to do with them next year, but we’ll figure it out. Maybe they will party with Lowell Van Winterbottom our Elf on a Shelf.
  7. Santa Doll  (Benbrook Antique Mall, $4.50) – Amber really liked this guy, I was more apathetic about it. For $4, you can buy it and decide later (that’s the great thing about antiques!). It immediately went into storage with other Christmas stuff.
  8. Vintage Bow Tie with card  (Grammys, $8.00) –  I’m obsessed with vintage neckwear. I haven’t stumbled upon a ton of cool old bow ties, so this thing really lured me in. It’s slimmer than most old bow ties I see and is a nice dark brown.
  9. Bronze Cuff  (Benbrook Antique Mall, $10.00) – You know if it has a chevron pattern, it’s got Amber’s name all over it.
  10. Wreath pin  (Benbrook Antique Mall, $7.20) – A holiday pin for Amber to get creative with next year.

There you have it, our round up from January. What do you think about it? Is the squirrel picture creepy or awesome? Are we weird for buying antique christmas stuff in January?

 

Tagged As , , , ,

Chair Facelift Fabric Edition

Posted by Amber in DIY, Kitchen on January 30, 2012  ||  Comments Off on Chair Facelift Fabric Edition

After the chairs were painted, I focused my attention on what fabric I wanted for the reupholstery. I had been looking for about 2 weeks, but when I finished painting I knew it was time to pull the trigger on something! Initially, I was drawn to these chairs because of how unique the back is (like this stencil). You see patterns similar to it on fabric and wallpaper now.

This is a Dwell Casablanca Geo in Citrine. We love Dwell but felt if we went with this particular fabric it would be too matchy matchy. We searched and found 3 types of fabric that we liked: discontinued fabrics that we could no longer get, fabric that didn’t come in the right color, and fabric that was out of budget. Then Nick stumbled upon this ad via Emily Henderson’s blog.

Serena & Lily upholstery weight fabric for $9.99 per yard. In case you can’t see the original price was $50. Also it was an extra 40% off that. I was sold…and then I started over thinking. I didn’t care for the swatch view of the fabric, but I liked the it on a headboard.

Then I though about buying it in pink and making a headboard for Ramona. On the other hand, I could get the creamy neutral one and make drapes for the master. I was sold on drapes for the master, but the creamy fabric sold out before I had committed. (Typical but in my defense it was less than 24 hours from when I found the fabric to when I decided to get it for drapes.)

 

I went ahead and ordered 6 yards (about 4 yards more than what I need) in the green for the chairs. I really liked it on the bed and $46 for 6 yards of upholstery weight fabric (that just so happens to be Serena & Lily too) was too good of a deal to pass up. I wanted to make sure I had enough yardage for any mistakes or enough extra if I wanted to do something else with it. You know in case I don’t like the shade of green for the kitchen when I see it in person.

I plan on making the piping for the seat covers as well. Depending on the scale of the pattern, I might be searching for a coordinating solid to make the piping from. It is supposed to arrive in February, so fingers crossed it looks the same in person as it does on my computer screen.

*Update: See how the chairs turned out here.

Tagged As , , , ,

Chair Facelift Part 1

Posted by Amber in DIY, Kitchen on January 27, 2012  ||  2 Comments

I picked up 3 chairs (2 were the same and the other was ugly just part of the deal) on Craigslist for $45. The plan was to use the matching pair for the ends of the nook table. They were pretty beat up, but I was going to paint them and reupholster the seat. Honestly, I have been itching to try upholstery and a chair bottom like this is supposed to be the easiest.

I did all my prep work i.e. filling in the gashes, liquid sanding (no way was I going to legitimately sand with those chair curves), and priming. I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra Black Suede in a satin finish.

What was challenging about painting the chairs was the detail in the back. I would paint inside the pattern which always lead to dripping on the front and back no matter how little paint and/or pressure I used. I had to make sure to paint the front then the back and double check both areas before moving down to the next pattern. Two things helped out tremendously…

Floetrol and a small foam brush. The Floetrol helped the flow of my Behr paint (which also includes a primer so it’s pretty thick stuff). It also slows drying time. This was awesome because I needed that time to touch up any drips I had missed. The small foam brush kept me from getting major brush strokes when I was doing those touch ups. Of course there were still some drips, so I sanded them down and touched up again. I’m too much of a perfectionist to let even the smallest drip go unnoticed.

They look a million times better. The black really makes them look more modern even with their traditional lines. I still need to put polyurethane on them because Ramona would have them tore up in a week without that protection. Can’t wait to move on to the upholstery part.

I am also working on painting the table in the nook (and by working on it I mean I will be in like a week). I will post a step by step tutorial when that project wraps up.

*Update: See how the chairs turned out here.

Tagged As , , , , , , ,

How to frame a vintage sign on the cheap

Posted by Nick in DIY on January 26, 2012  ||  1 Comment

Let’s start this post off with an Disclaimer:

We are not saying this is the best/only way to frame an old metal sign, it’s just the way that we decided to do it and we think it looks pretty good. It’s also a lot cheaper than  having it professionally framed. Our frame had holes in it already, so this assumes the sign you are using also has holes. Usually vintage signs have been attached to something at some point in their life, so there are typically holes in them. Also this method gives us the freedom to remove our sign and do something else with it later if we choose to.

There. Glad that’s out of the way.

Things you will need

  • Metal Sign (We got ours at a flea market for $25.)
  • Store bought frame
  • Canvas drop cloth
  • Spray Adhesive
  • Nails (any ones that fit in the holes of the sign should work)

Start off with your store bought frame. We are using a RIBBA frame from IKEA, but most large frames should work. The mounting brackets need to be installed before you get started since you want them to be under the canvas so they can’t be seen on the frame. They generally come with the frame or you can buy them in a framing package at the hardware store. Otherwise, you can just skip the brackets and lean the frame on a mantel, shelf, or other flat surface that you put frames on.

Side Note: If there is ever a TV show called “Hoarders: Ikea Ribba Frame Edition”, we’d probably be the first people on it. Seriously, one time we bought some from an antique mall, just because we thought it’d be funny to buy some from an antique mall (ok, they were a good deal too, but we definitely didn’t need them).

For the background, we used a canvas drop cloth. We got ours at Home Depot. You might even have one laying around from a recent painting project. If you want something with pattern or color, this process should work with other types of fabric as well.

Lay the drop cloth on the frame backing. Mark and cut the canvas leaving about 3 inches on each side of the backing.

Then pin the fabric on the edge you cut for hemming.

Then sew the hem. You can skip this step, but Amber can sew a straight line. We thought it would be easier to work with the fabric if it was cleanly hemmed, but it’s really not necessary. Also you could fray check the back if it really bothers you.

Spray some spray adhesive to the backing according to the packaging. I used some loctite adhesive that I got from WalMart. Then center and attach the fabric, making sure to work out bubbles with a putty knife.

Side Note: This isn’t a 2 day project, it was just late when we started. That’s why the lighting changed. It took me less than 2 hours to complete.

In order to be able to fold the fabric over, you’re going to need to cut holes for the black brackets that attach the backing to the frame. We cut and fray checked them.

Once the holes are cut, also cut the corners so there’s not bunching. Fold the remaining fabric over and using the spray adhesive, stick it to the backside of the backing. If you installed the brackets, you will need to make sure you don’t have fabric covering them at this point either.

Flip it around and smooth out any reamining bubbles.

Support the backing from underneath so you can hammer on it. I used a stack of cardboard boxes, specifically old diaper boxes (because I’m classy).

Hammer the sign onto the backing. I used 7/8″ roofing hammers because the heads were big enough that they wouldn’t go through the holes in the sign.

The nails will stick out the back, so cut off the pointy edge with wire cutters.

Back Inside:

Pop the sign that is  now attached to your canvas coated backing into the frame. If you installed the bracket (see zoomed in above), you can run the wire through and hang your DIY greatness up.

Done. Boom! That just happened. Your new art work is a little bit vintage, a little bit modern and a whole lot of awesome. I suggest you make yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy looking at your masterpiece.

Tagged As , , , ,

Shop: HD Buttercup, Room & Board, and Mid-Century Modern Buffets

Posted by Nick in Dining Room, Shop on January 24, 2012  ||  Comments Off on Shop: HD Buttercup, Room & Board, and Mid-Century Modern Buffets

After we had hit the LA fabric outlets during our free day in LA, we decided to pop into (maybe) our favorite LA furniture store: HD Buttercup.

It’s a pretty amazing place, with almost any type of furniture you could want (including vintage, though fairly pricey).

Here’s Amber and Ramona checking out some of their finer offerings.

They have a section that sells Organic Modernism furniture. In fact, they have the buffet that we discussed buying multiple times (except we want the white lacquer shell not the gray that’s pictured):

Here’s Ramona checking it out, seeing if the quality meets her standards. The piece was on sale for $995 (it’s $1700 at Organic Modernism in New York). We’ve discussed buying it from Organic Modernism and were seriously tempted to buy it here and ship it home. We decided to look around some more and decide later (we’re super undecisive).

They had this one for $995 too. Not looking for anything this size, but it was still nice.

After we walked around the store some more, Amber said that she thought that it was probably too tall for the dining room. We have a rule that we both have to like something (especially something that’s this expensive), so we just made the decision to not pursue it (for now).

Side Note: Having to agree on everything makes it really hard to decorate a house. 

So we moved on, to Room & Board next door. We love this place too, and though more common than HD Buttercup, there’s not one near us (Dallas has got to be next on the list, right?). Towards the back we ran into this guy:

Yea, it’s the console I deemed as my favorite in this post. It was marked down from $2700 to $1300. Though it was in ebony, not walnut I was still loving it. The size was perfect and it met pretty much all of our criteria for a buffet.

So why did we not buy either of the 2 buffets that we loved when they were both available at substantially lower prices?

Well, like I said earlier, Amber thought the first was too tall (and probably not wide enough at 66″). Also, we weren’t sure if they had one with white outside (the grey would not have enough contrast to the blue walls in the dining room), and we would probably have to figure out how to get it home.

The Room & Board was an amazing deal, but it wasn’t the exact color we wanted. Also, the store said they would have to ship it back to their warehouse in Minnesota and we probably wouldn’t get it until May.

All those reasons, combined with the fact that it was a lot of money that we hadn’t  planned on spending, meant that we didn’t pull the trigger.

At this point, I think we’re going to try and find a vintage mid century modern buffet (we’re masochists). So, uh yea, the search goes on…

There are no tags for this post

Formal Living Room Progress to Date

Posted by Amber in Formal Living on January 23, 2012  ||  7 Comments

Time for another room update. Yes you can take note of the lovely blinds, carpet, and fireplace tile. Since we moved from a house less than half of size of our current one, we didn’t have anything to fill this room after the major updates were complete. (Just to clarify our house now isn’t huge our other house was just really small.)

We use this as sort of a place holder room. We buy furniture (mainly chairs) that will wind up somewhere else later and/or be refinished and put them in here. So excuse the mismatch within this space. The wall color is Sculptor Clay. (I love Behr Premium Plus Ultra.) I made the curtains. The fabric is super cool and was very reasonable. (You can see the pattern closer here. It’s the one on the far left.) It has a very mid century feel in the pattern. We had the cane chairs reupholstered in a gray linen. (Closer view here and originally looked like this.)

Here are some of those place holder chairs I mentioned earlier. We got the brown chair for $99 (read more about that here). This actually might stay in this room but reupholster it. I love the brown, but we have another chair that needs to be upholstered so if we do them in the same fabric it will bring some symmetry to the room.

We love, love, love the orange chair. We bought it at the same place we bought the dining wing backs. We saw it out of the corner of our eye just sitting in a shipping crate. All lonely and needing us. It is in very good condition. Also $45 so sold. It might be mohair but not sure. Either way it’s awesome and will stay orange (but not in the living room probably in the master). It was crazy that we packed the XC90 with 2 wingbacks, the orange chair, a giant moose head (you’ll see later), and massive amounts of stuff from IKEA.

The couch is from Macy’s. It has tufts that you can’t see in this picture. The rug and coffee table are from Pottery Barn. They were from our first house. We bought the Thomas Paul pillow from Home Goods for $10 on clearance. I saw the fabric and knew what it was immediately. I may or may not have jumped up and down.

Here is where the band Nick & Nona perform while mommy (aka me) sips coffee and watches. I bought the Rhodes for Nick’s 24th birthday, and Ramona got her Schoenhut for Christmas 2010. I got the stool off craigslist for cheap.

Punchlist (and a little bit of wishes too) for the formal living room:

  • Paint the trim white
  • Style the mantel
  • Hang some artwork and other things above the piano
  • Rug since the one in there doesn’t match
  • Deal with the chair situation – reupholster
  • New back door to the patio
  • A tv and media center???
  • Something for the wall
  • A ton of other furniture/style changes that we don’t even know yet to make this room a formal living room not a furniture graveyard.
Tagged As , , , ,