ORANGE CRUSH

Perhaps it was this year's longer than usual winter or the string of gray, rainy days we've been having. Maybe I have a vitamin C deficiency. I don't know. But whatever the reason, I seem to be having a big  craving for the color orange lately. Bright, tropical orange. The brighter the better.

On a recent stroll through web land I happened upon this picture.

It was gigantic heart lurching love at first sight. First-boyfriend-major-crush kind of puppy love. They remind me a lot of my Ikea Storsele chairs and now I want to paint mine orange. Seriously.

And if those were my first crush puppy love then these, by comparison, are full on hot and heavy pure lust! Look at that physique! I just want to get my hands on those cushions.  

In my perfect fantasy world I would not be monogamous. I could definitely find room in my life for both sets of chairs. In case you are thinking of a chair affair too you can find those and more hot hunky furniture at Grandin Road. 

To spice things up even more I am also loving neon orange. I've been working on a little rehab project that may or may not involve a bit of neon. It's not a project for me so I can't say for sure, but I'm lobbying strongly for it. It also involves some of the dip paint trend. I'll post about that project another day.

In the meantime I am enjoying a dash of orange in my real life right now. A recent thrift store find resulted in my bringing home this little guy.

The mid-century foot stool is kind of unusual and probably a DIY of some kind. The top swivels like a barstool. Or maybe this whole thing was originally the top of a barstool now missing the base? The vinyl is a bit faded although not as bad as the picture looks. Cloudy day and indoor photography challenges. It's the perfect height and looks great with the rattan porch furniture I rehabbed last year.  

There are more pops of orange in the pillows I bought last year at Ikea. I don't see them on their website anymore so I don't know if they're still available. (Still not loving the outdated green indoor/outdoor carpet though.)

And yet even more orange. I have this blood orange knitted pouf from CB2 in my living room.

I found this bright orangey tea tin in a thrift store and couldn't resist. And yes, I see it as orange, not red. 

Here's my brother's classic Pontiac Bonneville. How's that for orange? Love that car. 

A favorite photo of mine is this one taken the day my daughter graduated from the University of Wisconsin. It's a view of the lakeside terrace at Memorial Union with its iconic chairs in all those lovely colors including orange. Brrrrr. I remember what a cold windy day it was when I see those chops on the lake. The terrace is usually crowded with people on a May afternoon. 

In case you're looking for a little dose of orange yourself I have a few items for sale in my Etsy shop right now, too. 

Now that I've spent all this time lusting over orange I didn't realize the time. Guess I'll have to lobby my husband for that last idea for dinner. What color are you crushing on lately?

REPURPOSING FOR THE EARTH

Next Monday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. You can watch a short video here about the first Earth Day, which was created in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of my home state of Wisconsin! In this week leading up to the 43rd annual Earth Day, I'll be posting about topics relevant to living an eco-friendly lifestyle.

Today's post is about repurposing. Last week I told how I turned a vintage first aid box into a hidden storage spot for keys. As I started looking around my house I spotted a few other repurposed items you might like to see.

An old industrial galvanized dust pan, after thorough cleaning, has been repurposed as a handy spot to stash stationery items like cards, envelopes, postage stamps and address labels. I'm always keeping an eye out for interesting cards so that I have something on hand when a birthday or other event rolls around. With everything in one place I know exactly where to find what I need in quick order. It's also easily transportable if I want to carry it to another room. 

On my desk is a vintage glass flower frog standing in as a pen holder. I don't think I've ever actually used it for a flower arrangement but I could if I wanted to. It's made of iridescent carnival glass and looks so pretty when the sun shines on it. I often use another vintage metal stem holder as a stand to display pretty cards or photographs. 

I found an Ikea pot lid rack at the thrift store and knew it would be good for any number of uses beyond the kitchen. In this case it's been repurposed to hold a collection of pretty envelopes I made out of old calendars. I guess that's a double repurpose right there! The envelopes were too pretty to hide away in a drawer and when displayed it becomes instant art on the wall. 

     

Finally, a very simple idea that takes just a few seconds to put together. I took three inner embroidery hoops of the same size, picked up at the thrift store for less than a dollar, and fitted them together into a three dimensional orb. It would also look nice strung from some fish line and hung from the ceiling. You could even do a grouping of different sizes. I've been thinking of doing that and painting each of them in a different shade of the same color as a nod to the ombre design trend, nicely explained and shown in this post by Beth at Design Your Dwelling blog.

So there you have just a few ideas about how easy it can be to repurpose something in your home. And in each of these examples the original purpose of the item is still intact if need be. Whether it's because you want to keep something from the landfill or because you just want a change in decor, repurposing makes a lot of sense in an earth friendly world, and can be fun too. 

+++HOW TO TURN A FIRST AID BOX INTO KEY STORAGE+++

Apartment Therapy featured a post today about the plus sign showing up as a design trend this spring, in everything from textiles to big statement pieces. It looks like I'm on trend then with at least one object in my home.

I spotted this first aid box on one of my thrift store excursions awhile back. I'm always on the lookout for metal boxes because they're such versatile pieces for all kinds of storage. My first inclination was to paint it but eventually I decided I really liked its contrasting bold graphics. Plus (ha ha--no pun intended) all the first aid boxes seem to be made of plastic now so I decided to preserve its vintage character.

We have a bamboo letter holder on the wall in our kitchen where we temporarily file our mail and pending bills. At the bottom are two little hooks where we would hang miscellaneous keys we needed to keep handy. The keys were always falling off because they were stacked three deep on two little hooks. Then one day as I was picking the keys up off the floor yet again I spied the first aid box sitting over in a corner. Brainstorm! Maybe I could turn that first aid box into a key rack!

It was such an easy project-- I'm embarrassed to even call it a project. I already had some 3M Command utensil hooks on hand. A quick measure to make sure everything was properly spaced and before you know it I had a new key rack! The best part is it's camouflaged as a first aid kit! Now, if someone is suddenly spurting blood and needs a bandage they're out of luck. However they could quickly grab my car keys and drive themselves to the ER and have keys to get back in the house when they return! Otherwise no one else needs to know (except everyone who reads this post of course) that the first aid box is hiding keys instead of first aid supplies. The hooks have stayed securely in place and show no sign of coming loose. But if they ever do it's a simple fix.

The box already had handy tabs for securely hanging with a couple screws and it latches tightly shut so everything stays in place. Another plus, if I may, is the little shelf above the keys that's created by hanging it this way. (Please ignore the lath and plaster wall which is a going nowhere project in progress.)

           

It always makes me feel good to re-use an item and give it a new life. Better yet if it's something useful and nice to look at. I try to avoid buying things made of plastic in favor of wood, glass, metal or some other natural material. Even if an object is plastic, by buying second hand it's kept out of the landfill and no demand is made with my purchase to manufacture more of the same with precious resources and energy. The mail rack is still in use too and I no longer have to worry about falling keys every time I touch it. 

In my next post I'll show you a couple other items I'm reusing in ways different than they were originally intended. Feel free to share any re-use projects or ideas you are incorporating in your lives in the comments section below.  

Thrift Find Friday

I've been hitting the thrift stores this week again. Here are the latest goodies. Details after the photos.

1. Bamboo folding basket. I love that it folds completely flat for compact storage.
2. Spode grape/grapevine pattern dessert plates with ruffled basket weave rims. These would be great for serving hors d'oeuvres at a wine and cheese party.
3. Green enamel milk warmer from Yugoslavia.
4. Vintage Monmouth stoneware cups. No two are exactly alike, with slight variations in shape, attesting to their handmade quality. Beautiful! 
5. Lu-Ray Pastels oval serving bowl and platter. These will be on my Easter table for sure. Such a pretty robin's egg blue.
6. Vintage Argus 75 camera and case. Great display piece. 
7. Spanish porcelain cream and sugar set. 
8. Chinese tea canister in brilliant red. Not vintage but sure to add a pop of color to any kitchen.
9. I couldn't pass up the child's bear rug. To be tucked away for a future grandchild perhaps? Its claws are leather like soft vinyl and the back side is a slip proof fabric. I can picture a little one reclining on the bear reading a book. 
10. Tropical painted ceramic tile. 
11. Set of eight vintage bakelite handled steak knives in a wood case.

Watch for several of these items to be listed soon in my Etsy shop. 

A HOUSE HUNTING WE WILL GO

Lake Superior sunrise.

An exciting new adventure has commenced. My husband and I, along with our son, have begun the search for a home up north in Duluth, Minnesota - a city along the shore of Lake Superior. It isn't a home that we'll be living in, although someday I hope to achieve my dream of living near the "Ocean of the Midwest". This house will be an investment property for us and a home for our son. At least we'll have a place to visit anyway. We have a pretty modest budget for this venture and equally modest expectations, knowing that whatever we buy will most likely need some work to bring it up to par. But even with that in mind our first look at properties has been discouraging. It may be a bigger challenge than we expected to fit our expectations to our budget.

We walked through nine property showings with a realtor on Monday. Here are a handful of points I learned from that experience.

1. I appreciate my house now more than ever. Our house is nothing special but it is a boatload nicer than most of those we saw. I don't think I'll take it for granted as much as I have in the past.
2. The outside appearance of a house is no indication of what it will look like inside. It's usually much worse inside, although sometimes surprisingly the opposite. 
3. Lipstick on a pig. I know sellers want to present their houses in the best possible light, but paint and staging can only go so far if the house hasn't been maintained well. 
4. The basement tells it all! That's where you'll see the scary electric wiring, old plumbing, sagging floor joists, cracked and leaky foundations, and all manner of fire hazards. It's also where you should wear a hard hat because beams, heating and vent ducts, light fixtures, and low door thresholds are typically going to bean you if you don't pay attention. 
5. Bring a flashlight to peer into dark corners. Expect anything! 
6. Pay attention to the number of electric outlets in a room. Old houses don't have many as a rule, resulting in some creative and frightening solutions involving extension cords and octopus-like outlet strips.
7. Do-it-yourself home remodeling is a popular thing these days. But if someone doesn't have the knowledge, skills and patience to do it right then they shouldn't do it!! 
8. Glossy red paint on walls is never a good idea...ever!
9. The city by the lake is built on a steep hill that's often compared to San Francisco, only with snow. The further up the hill you go the more snow they tend to get. The shorter the driveway the better, unless you love shoveling. The temperatures can also be much colder in winter, and hotter in summer, the further from the lake you are. 
   
10. Location, location, location. A discarded syringe lying in a gutter, a viciously barking caged Doberman (hello Milo), or extra locks on doors are usually not good selling points. 
11. Raspberry patches and space for a garden are extra selling points! 
12. A view of the lake is nice, but also translates into a higher selling price. There are always plenty of free public places to go to enjoy the lake. Also, it's a BIG lake, so you'd have to go out of your way to avoid seeing it on a typical day.
13. The city allows parking on just one side of the street in many of the residential areas on the central hillside. It changes from one side to the other every Sunday. If you want to drive down a narrow street lined with high snowbanks on Sunday, when the transition is taking place, forget it. There will be cars parked on both sides and it will be like trying to thread your car through the eye of a needle. This is especially true in student occupied neighborhoods near the university where every house seems to have at least four or five cars per house. Also, your guests will have a hard time finding a parking spot.
14. Don't make any hasty decisions. There will always be another house tomorrow, or next week, or next month. 

Duluth, Minnesota hillside
via The City Birds Photo Blog

I will be sure to keep the search updated as we go forth with this project. It will be interesting but I look forward to being able to spend more time up north in the coming year. Wish us luck.

HAPPY SPRING!

It's here! It's finally here! The calendar says so even if a glance out the window says otherwise.

But look at that pretty blue sky!

The sun is getting higher and stronger every day. Even when the temperatures are well below freezing, as in the single digits like this morning, the snow manages to melt a little. Although I must say it would surely help if it would quit falling from the sky. 

In the meantime I will enjoy spring any way I can get it. 

Is it spring where you are?  Like can you see grass? Spring flowers starting to bloom? Temperatures above freezing? People dressed in clothes not made of wool or fleece or down? Share your pics in the comment section below. I want to believe it's spring somewhere!

The Long Goodbye

A typical day for me begins with five foot commute from my bedroom to the home office across the hall, where I sit down still in my PJs and log on to the computer. My routine always includes three important items to look at first.

1. Check my emails to see if anything important will need tending to early in the day, like a sale from my Etsy shop. If I have a sale I'll send a confirmation email and print a packing slip and mailing label right away. 
2. Glance at the news headlines to decide if I want to continue on with the day or go back to bed. This also includes checking the weather forecast, even before I look out the window. Sometimes you just need to steel yourself, particularly this year when winter just doesn't want to bow out gracefully. It's snowing again today. Sigh. 
3. Look at Google Reader for updates to my favorite blogs. Those are usually international bloggers who, because of the time difference, have already made their posts for the day.

Only then do I traipse downstairs to get my morning coffee, which I often bring back upstairs to sip while reading blogs and news articles.

jessicaNdesigns at Etsy

As you may have heard, Google announced today that it has decided to end its Google Reader RSS Service on July 1st. I was saddened to hear this because I have been using it for several years and I'm a creature of habit. I like the simple design and features of Google, like the way it highlights in bold the feeds that have updates and shows how many posts I haven't read. With a forlorn sigh I went searching for a new site to accommodate my always growing list of blogs. I googled it. I know. Ironic huh? And that's how I came to discover Feedly.

I was expecting a big hassle that would involve somehow saving all my blog feeds and trying to transfer them to a new service. Most likely I'd lose a few in the process. Therefore, it was a totally pleasant surprise to discover that it was an entirely effortless event. All I had to do was download Feedly, which is free by the way. Took mere seconds. It then asks for permission to access my Google account and before you can say "bippity boppity boo" everything was done! Like magic. And not like the magic where the magician makes someone disappear and then can't get them back. All my feeds transferred perfectly. Nothing lost in the process. Yes! (Insert fist pump.) So now I can say a proper long good-bye to Google Reader. And when I make my way across the hall the morning of July 1st, with bare feet and a filmy peignoir (dramatic license applied) rather than wool socks and flannel layers, my blogs will still be waiting for me.