I found it - the dinette I've been looking for - and my love for it is indelible.

More after the jump...

 

Ever since I did my snake coffee table I've been on the lookout for another piece of furniture to make over.

More after the jump...

I had been meaning to to replace my dining room chairs for some time. My filler chairs were in this heinous black and cherry farm style, and uncomfortable to boot. Though I kept an eye out for suitable ones while thrifting, I never found any that blew my skirt up as-is.

I've recently been obsessed with caning on furniture (think: the backs of old-timey wheel chairs, Louis XVI headboards, vacation home furniture) and found an orphan pair of cane-backed chairs at Goodwill. They aren't anything spectacular, but not everything has to be. They have a nice shape and are comfortable, and don't stick out like my old awful farmhouse ones. Besides, the price was right at $6.99.

More after the jump...

Chicagoland is silly with markets and bazaars.

One one hand, you have the city attracting nationally-known shows like Renegade Craft and the International Vintage Poster Fair. On the other, you have the rest of Illinois, where self-reliant folk have amassed generation upon generation of vintage goods and have honed traditional skills (I'll bet a dollar every Illinoisan reading this has gone to Amish Country at least once). This creates a crafty/vintagey apex to feed my constant obsession with "things".

Over the 4th of July weekend I took a trip to the Randolph Street Market in Chicago. 
Considering Chicago is a mere 30 minute drive and my friends live there, I have no excuse for not going more than I do. It was great. I was so focused on finding good stuff that I forgot I was supposed to be taking photos for the first half of the trip.

Here are a few camera phone shots gussied up by Instagram:

Oh, look: jars of things. I love jars of things! I almost bought one with screws in it, but JB talked some sense into me. I sort of still want one.

More after the jump...

Today is the last day of my staycation. I spent a blissful week and a half making things, seeing friends, and sleeping in. I got to crack open beers before noon and play Mike Tyson's Punch-Out on my NES (which, in retrospect, was a preeety racist game - observe Piston Honda's dialogue screen).
Perhaps the most satisfying part of my time off was spending the first few days repainting, moving things around, and generally nesting.

More after the jump...

Scrimshaw Plate Set

Design*Sponge let me know Thomas Paul is debuting a new line of bedding in the fall, which reminds me of the intense love I have for everything Thomas Paul does.

More after the jump...

I use a sturdy wooden chair in my studio that stands up to tipping, leaning, and being knocked into, but it gets uncomfortable after a few hours. I made myself a nice little solution using remnants of previous sewing projects.

The Elements:

- Red grosgrain ribbon

- Printed cotton duck

- Leftover batting 

I started by laying the batting over the seat of the chair and roughly cutting around it. I cut it down further until it fit on top of the seat, and I cut out a second layer of batting to give it extra height.

More after the jump...

When I first moved into my apartment I painted some of the walls more hastily than others because of waning time and interest.

An Example: After having some success with the birch wall stencil in my breakfast nook, I decided to also use it on the wall my couch is on. The couch wall is considerably larger than the nook wall and I lost interest 1/3 of the way in.

Successful nook:

More after the jump...

I finally finished the snake table! It only took me a sixer of Kirin Light, the entire Firefly series, and a Sunday afternoon. 
Here it is, all scratched in. I am pretty proud of how the head came out: 

More after the jump...

Today is lazy. 
Here are a few things to look at whenever you wake up:

Wall sconce. 

I made those pillows. 

Best. Chandelier. Ever.

This is a chandelier in the shape of a ship. I am certain that this is the best chandelier known to man. A while ago I went bananas collecting chandelier crystals to use in necklaces and I have ziploc bags full of extras. I am considering trying to make a version of this myself. 

I figure I would need the following:

- chandelier crystals (check)

- 12 gauge galvanized steel wire (check)

- some sort of electrical tubing

- Rubber mallet for shaping tubing (check)

- soldering gun

- candelabra bulbs (check)

- hanging light kit

I am not usually a proponent of directly copying something like this, but I'd make an exception here because a) I am not intending to make several copies to sell for profit, b) this lamp was mass-produced, so by making this I am not refusing my support to an artist who needs it, and c) I am not about to drop $600 on a chandelier, however awesome it may be.

Stay tuned. I am pretty jazzed about this idea.

Your Sister in Craft,

LB

Sometimes I find things I know I like but have no apparent use for. I found a fancy bottle one day while thrifting and I decided I must have more fancy bottles. After accumulating a number of fancy bottles I realized I had no use for or place to put them so they sat on an end table for a while, getting in the way. Then Autumn struck and I decided I must have bubble bath.

Stella getting in the way of my fancy bubble bath bottles:

Bottles in my very yellow bathroom:

Have any of you ever taken something pointless and made it useful? 

Tell me about it or send me photos and I may just post them.

Your Sister in Craft,

LB

Like I mentioned before, I go thrifting a lot. Much of the time I go without any agenda. A thrift store is not a department store and is never very reliable when you are looking for something specific besides a Halloween costume (how thrift stores are UH-mazing around Halloween, we'll revisit another time). I mostly look around for any number of things I have a vague desire for or can use in a project.


Something I did sort of need a few months ago was a coffee table, but thrift store furniture is tricky. Much of it is cheap-end, mid-century, dented and wobbly junk. The stuff that isn't gets snapped up quickly or passed over. I saw an oval coffee table with cabriole legs that was a decent size and shape, but it was in this horrible scratched up maple...sort of like this but it poor condition:

More after the jump...

I moved out of a shoebox-sized apartment a few weeks ago. I got the keys to the new place on a Wednesday and my brother and a friend were set to come the following Saturday morning to move all the big stuff.

What LB should have done: Boxed up and moved all small items including, but not limited to, clothing, shoes, kitchenware, linens, end tables, bathroom stuff, art stuff, hanging frames, lamps, and books.

What LB did: Spent three days painting rooms, getting her studio squared away, and getting all clothing on wooden hangers.

I guess I didn't realize the miscellany one person could pack into a 400-some square foot space - I am sure Brian and Dan wish I had. Consider this my formal apology, guys. I guess I was just too excited to move to a place I could paint and arrange and otherwise decorate to focus on any rational packing schedule. 

Anyway, observe the breakfast area as it was when I moved in:

Pretty standard. A few weeks prior I had ordered a birch wall stencil from an awesome fellow Etsian, Cutting Edge Stencils (go visit her, here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CuttingEdgeStencils). Here's a photo of it from her store: 

 

It took some time, but it was worth it. Here is Stella Artois hanging out in front of my freshly-birched wall:

Q: What hangs out in trees?

A: Birds, of course!

I've wanted an antique birdcage ever since I saw one that was turned into a light fixture, but they're popular right now and, consequently, overpriced. I looked around on Craigslist one day and found what is possibly the best find ever: an affordable antique birdcage in the shape of a painted lady. Here it is at my parents' house in the process of getting de-pooped:

 

Bonus:  It reminds me of the Holiday House from The Thief of Always:

Once that was all cleaned off and disinfected, we moved my kitchen table in and I had someplace to have breakfast!

I know I shouldn't let them on the table, but Dick Grayson is a *skoach* too chubby to to make it to the window ledge. 
I thrift pretty often and found a portfolio of bird prints at Goodwill. I framed and gridded some of them to go with the cage:

 Finally, a house that grand shouldn't be left unoccupied:

Al in all, I am pleased.

I welcome any of you who are itching to tell me about your redecorating to leave a link!

Your Sister in Craft,

LB