Archive - March, 2012

Put a Heart on It

March 7, 2012 in Window Shopping with 3 Comments

Over the past year or two Etsy has really wormed its way into a special spot in my heart. I love that if I’m looking for some specific item of vintage goodness I can just search for it on Etsy instead of scouring thrift stores and estate sales for months trying to track it down. Of course, things are a little more expensive than if I’d bought them straight from the thrifty source, but I figure that’s the price I pay for convenience. The handmade section is also pretty amazing, especially the prints. They are usually really reasonably priced so just throw a print in an inexpensive frame and presto-chango you’ve got cool stuff on your walls (my favorite sources for frames are Goodwill, Dollar General, and Ikea, in that order. Ikea would probably rank higher if it weren’t 275 miles away). Etsy has a feature where you click a little heart on a listing to add that item to your favorites. Here’s what I’ve been heart-ing as of late:

Arte Bella

This bag was a close runner-up to the one I purchased a few weeks ago to use as a work bag/future diaper bag. It’s slightly more expensive but has more pockets and is real leather. I still kinda want it.

Risky Beads

I totally think I need one of these custom ID tags to go on the zipper of my new bag. Isn’t it adorbs? And if I ever left my bag behind it could find its way back to me in a jiffy.

The Wheatfield

This print totally describes how I’ve been feeling lately. The weather has been downright delightful this week as we get a taste of spring and my head is filled with visions of birds and grass and blue skies.

The Wheatfield

I’m also totally digging this print from the same shop. It’s one of my favorite quotes and I’m thinking about putting it in the nursery. Is it weird to put stuff with words in the bedroom of somebody who won’t be reading for another few years? I’m sure the meaning will be lost on him but maybe he’ll appreciate the looks of it.

VintaGraphy

This always totally works for me. Baths are definitely in my top five favorite things. Showers are a lot of work, while baths are all about R&R. Just how I like it. This print would be really cute in the upstairs bath I’ve never shown you. It has a black clawfoot tub that I often find myself soaking in.

The Atomic Attic

I totally want to put some kind of plant in this bowl, maybe a trailing fern or some tiny little succulents or something. Aren’t the scalloped edges pretty?

Vintage Fabulous

And OMG these earrings totally reinforce my thing for peacocks. If only they weren’t clip-ons…

I’m trying to save my moolah for bigger and better things but it’s so hard to do when there are so many little lovelies calling my name from the internet. Even though everything listed hear really strikes my fancy I think I’m just window shopping for now. Except for maybe that brass zipper pull and the Galileo print. I can justify those as being for the baby, right?

Related Posts

A Thing of Beauty

March 6, 2012 in Before & After, Cleaning and Organizing, family room/office, How To, Projects with 5 Comments

After anxiously waiting for the paint to finish curing, I rushed home after work yesterday to load up my new office shelves with pretty and functional necessities. Let me just tell you, it’s everything I’d hoped and dreamed it would be.

The top shelf is all shop inventory, including some new stuff I got this weekend and haven’t even listed yet. On the middle shelf I’ve got more stuff for the shop plus my fabric stash (I’m still using this method to neatly fold and stack my fabric). And the bottom shelf, which is admittedly more about function than form, houses everything I need close at hand when I’m working at my desk, plus a couple of vessels full of corks divided up into ready-to-ship quantities and maybe a pretty thing or two to keep my spirits up. Beneath that are the rolls of brown and white paper I use for wrapping gifts. I don’t really need them so close at hand, but this is a much better storage solution than standing them up in a corner like I always have. Plus I like the looks of ‘em.

Because I wanted to get everything up on the shelves in time to snap a few pictures before the sun went down, I obviously didn’t spend days or even hours tweaking the arrangement to be just right. I just sorta threw it all up there and tried to make it look pretty as I went, and I’m pretty happy with the result. Most of what you see on the shelves is shop inventory so it will likely get constantly rearranged anyway as items sell and new stuff comes in. I’m kind of excited about the idea of a perpetually changing display.

This is the best my desk has looked, like, ever. On the left, my trusty printer (I dare not brag of its age lest I jinx it) and a vintage clock I got from the thrift store. On the right, a thrifted wooden tray used to corral necessities (notepad, tape measure, camera and cord, etc.), plus an ink pen, mouse (with a sheet of paper as a mousepad), and a thrift store lamp. I thought it was so cheesy that my mom insisted on getting an extra special fancy pen for the guest book at our wedding (I thought the guest book was also unnecessary, actually), but it is so handy right there next to the computer. I always know I can reach over and grab it to jot down a quick note and it doesn’t seem to walk off on its own the way regular pens do. I keep the extra cord for the mouse just kind of tucked behind the computer, which is where the USB cable for the printer also hangs out when not in use.

Here’s a view of the whole operation from a little further back.

Can you believe how different it looks from this pic I snapped of the same corner back in January?

It seemed like it took forever to get this whole office area organized, but it was so worth it. The new setup makes it so easy to do everything from shop-tending to blogging to bill paying to actual work for my real job all in one spot. Everything is here and it makes me happy.

To see how I tackled this project from the beginning, take a look back at my previous posts to read all about painting the room, hanging the pegboard (oy), painting the pegboard a deep peacock green, debating about the slight slope to the shelves, and finally painting them a crisp white this weekend.

ps, I later beefed up these shelves with some sturdier brackets. To see how, click here. 

Related Posts

At Last

March 5, 2012 in family room/office, Projects with 3 Comments

Finally, finally, after weeks and weeks of delays, my office shelves are up.

After last week’s post about the slope a couple of family and friends reached out to me with suggestions.

Can you believe that my grandma drew that up? She is one technically savvy lady. And obviously much better at spatial reasoning than I am.

My friend Derek linked to this image on facebook. More proof that other people are smarter than me when it comes to this sort of thing.

After pondering for a few days, though, I decided that I was just too  dang lazy to do anything to further improve upon the shelves. I was tired of trying. I’m still kind of mad about the brackets and rather disappointed in the company’s response, but that’s life I suppose. Bee tee dubs, if you’re in the market for pegboard brackets, don’t buy these ones from Robert Ham. They were defective right out of the box and when I politely asked for a return all I got were a few emails suggesting user error (How much weight are you putting on these brackets? What type of pegboard are you using?) and then…nothing. No more emails, no instructions for return. And never an apology. But that’s spilled milk. I’m moving on.

So my shelves slope a little, and I’m okay with it. But one thing I noticed when I put the boards up to test them before was that the layout was all wrong.

I didn’t like how that top shelf was stuck up at the very tip-top of the pegboard. I decided that I wanted equal spacing above and below each shelf. So while I was busy slapping two coats of white semi-gloss on the boards I had Nick move the brackets around in various configurations so I could decide which I liked best. He’s my go-to helper for any task that involves math.

Both of the four-shelf configurations felt a little crowded to me. Plus, I didn’t like that with rows of three brackets across the middle bracket would always be off-center (due to the wood support running vertically behind the center of the pegboard). So I decided to ditch one of my shelves for the greater good and go with three shelves supported by four brackets each. Can’t go wrong with extra support.

I’m really happy with the look. I think it’s much more balanced than the original four-shelf layout and I’m totally digging the symmetry of four brackets spaced across. I’m waiting another day for the paint to fully cure before loading them up with stuff but let me just tell you–I can. not. wait. I’ve got visions of vintage shop inventory and piles of fabric stacked attractively and efficiently. My messy, crowded, drawer-less desk will have some relief in the form of accessible storage on that bottom shelf. And I can finally stop using this project as an excuse for not tackling the major clutter problem in this room. It’s gonna be a life-changer, I can feel it.

Related Posts

Keep Smiling

March 2, 2012 in On a Personal Note... with 4 Comments

Pinterest

I am thrilled to announce that yet another weekend is upon us. I love how predictably they arrive, those weekends. This was a big week at work and, although it flew by, I’m excited to have a few days coming up to take off my social work hat and just putter around doing whatever I like. I think my mood Is bolstered this morning by the distinctly spring-like temperature outside. Even the thunderstorm forecasted for this afternoon can’t bring me down.

Maybe it’s the feeling of spring in the air, maybe it’s the arrival of a new month and, with it, a renewed monthly home decor budget, but I’m really excited to see what the weekend brings. I’ll be hitting up an estate sale in the morning, then planting some more goodness in my veggie garden, pulling weeds in my front yard, continuing the effort to organize my office with shelves, and perhaps even putting a bit of effort into those pesky wing chairs. All interspersed with plenty of R&R, of course. I hope that each of you has a wonderful and relaxing weekend. See you Monday!

Related Posts

Page 5 of 6« First...«23456»