YARD SALING

Spring is here. The weather is getting warmer. And yard sale season is finally upon us. Here are some of my new acquisitions from the past couple of weekends:

Some beautiful hand-carved antique frames...

A slew of covered glass vessels. (Terrarium crafternoon, anyone?)...

A rather impressive shell collection...

Some old prize ribbons...

A pair of wicker handbags. (Perfect for summertime outfits!)...

And a set of seriously adorable vintage childrens books...

NEW LISTING!

When Justin and I decided we were going to move upstate, we fantasized about getting a little cabin in the woods. You know...something tiny and rustic with a stone fireplace and maybe a stream in the back? Sadly, I am WAY too much of a hoarder to ever pull it off...but I know there are plenty of people out there who can totally do it.

So can one of you please buy this guy that just came on the market? It's exactly what I used to dream about. A sweet little cottage nestled in the woods. Trees out every window. Stone fireplace. On almost 2 acres. With a creek running through the backyard. And this one has a guest house! Which ALSO has a fireplace. And it's in a really sweet little area in Woodstock. Where you will be surrounded by good vibes and good restaurants. It's listed at $199,000. Details are here.

P.S. The street name? MOONLIGHT WAY. Magical. Right?

TWO SHOWS

I went down to NYC on Friday to spend some time with my bestie of a zillion years, Tina, and see a couple shows I didn't want to miss: Sonia Delaunay at the Cooper-Hewitt and Maira Kalman at the Jewish Museum. Both were fantastic.

I'm super into pattern, color theory, and textile design right now and Sonia Delaunay has been a recurring source of inspiration. I admire how confident her work is...and the fact that her textile designs are just as painterly and kinetic as her larger abstracts.

And Maira Kalman? LOVE her. She is basically my mom's spirit guide. And I totally support that. She's smart, observant, funny, and completely unpretentious. And she makes art look FUN. Seeing all of her illustrations in person really made me want to break out my gouache and paint again. I haven't felt that way in a long time. Since I've got decorating on the brain I'm currently finding her renderings of interiors particularly inspiring. Here's a few from her NY Times blog turned book: And the Pursuit of Happiness:

EASEL AS TV STAND

I have completely fallen in love with this easel-as-tv-stand idea that I spotted in my February issue of The World of Interiors.

When Justin and I moved, we kinda wanted to get a sweet flat screen tv...but we realized there was really no good place to put one in our bedroom OR living room. There are so many windows and doors...and the way the furniture was oriented would make any of the available wall space a really awkward spot for a tv. So we stuck our hideous old one in the guest room and hid it behind a folding screen. Which meant we NEVER watched it. We eventually canceled our cable subscription and the tv got relocated to the attic. Now we exclusively watch things on Justin's laptop while lounging in bed (yay for hulu, netflix, and itunes!). This works well until you have guests over. Three people trying to watch something on a small computer screen is NOT ideal. And forget foreign films. Reading those tiny subtitles is headache inducing.

But putting a tv on a moveable easel opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. And it does a lot to warm up the look of cold, cold technology. So, I'm in. I want a tv again.

via Unplggd

via House Beautiful

via Remodelista

CHANDELIER ADDENDUM

I gussied up our dining room chandelier with some new accessories: patterned fabric shades and colorful candelabra sleeves.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that the fabric I chose is going to fall in to that "not everyone's cup of tea" category. But I love it in that "so bad it's good" kinda way. I picked it up at a church rummage sale along with some other awesomely bad fabrics. It's some kind of weirdo 80's ikat-inspired super-graphic print in a seriously schizophrenic color scheme.

Anyway, I figured if I'm bothering to cover my own shades I might as well do it in a statement fabric. So I went for it. I bought some plain white shades on the cheap from Lowes and went to town. Justin was kind enough to document the process. So for those of you who are interested in a step-by-step how-to on recovering chandelier shades...here you go:

Materials:

plain shades

fabric

kraft paper

double stick fusible web sheets

stitchless sewing glue

double fold bias tape

scissors

pins

iron

First make a pattern by wrapping kraft paper around the shade and cutting it to size. Make sure to leave enough room to fold one edge and have it overlap the other.

Then iron the fabric that you are going to use to cover the lampshades...

pin down the pattern...

and cut it out.

Remove the kraft paper and fold one edge of the fabric over...

and tack it down with a piece of fusible web.

Peel the paper off one side of the double stick fusible sheet...

press the fabric onto it...

and cut it out.

Peel the backing paper off, and starting at the existing seam, wrap the fabric around the shade unfolded side first.

Next, iron the fabric onto the shade using the steam function in order to make the bond permanent.

Steam one small area at a time and then press it out and smooth it down with your fingers between turns.

Trim any excess fabric off the edges.

Next, estimate how much trim you will need for the top and bottom of your shades, and cut it to size.

Apply the stitchless sewing adhesive to the top (or bottom) edge...

and spread it out with your finger.

Then apply the bias tape. Starting at the seam, wrap it around the edge, letting about a quarter inch show on the outside.

Pulling tight, guide the tape around the circumference of the shade until it just overlaps the other side.

Add a drop of glue at the overlap to secure the end...

and press and hold it to make sure it sticks.

Repeat these last few steps with the bias tape on the opposite side of the shade. And you're done!

DINING ROOM LIGHTING REDO

I am delighted to report that we finally switched out the fixture in our dining room. When we moved in there was just a ceiling fan in the middle of the room and no light. We temporarily hung a big paper lantern from our old apartment above the dining room table...which was serviceable, but FAR from ideal. The cord was an eyesore and so was the fan...

But we finally had someone come put this chandelier up instead...

MUCH better. And the new fixture was hand-me-down from my parents...which means it was FREE.

I love free.

Next post: Hand covered chandelier shades and a candelabra sleeve spruce up!