Cheater, Cheater, Baby Blanket Eater

I know infants gnaw on their blankets, I just fake-make them. Don't get me wrong, I have made many an adorable crocheted baby and large person blanket; I just lucked out recently and got to pass off someone else's handiwork as my own.

I stalk Craigslist, as is well known. One day I came upon a photo-less listing for two bags of yarn, located just a few streets over from me (in the swanky part of town, no less).
Yes please!
Upon pickup, I saw that there were several already worked on items in the bags. Bonus! Perhaps I can finish them, thinks me. But they were already done. And BEAUTIFUL.

I fish out a lime green cable knit baby blanket and think about a blanket I have already promised a friend with a very pregnant significant other, which I have neither made nor even started.

He might have forgotten if I'd substituted a cake.

But then I told the momma-to-be that I’d add her little man’s initial (which I had never done before). 
Look at me go with lots of talk and no plan! 
So with a looming deadline and a perfectly good blanket literally in hand, I knew what I had to do….fake it.

I've liked lime green & turquoise color combinations recently and decided a darker border and baby's initial, on top of the existing lime green blanket, would look nice.

Bing, bang, boom: a boarder.

I dont have a picture of the initial, as I finished that up minutes before having to wrap up the blanket to go to their baby shower.

 Just imagine an 'L' in the corner pointing to you. For baby Logan. Awwww
(I can say that now as he's out in the world; the name was a closely guarded secret before his arrival).


-Lindsay

Adventures in Leather Gathering

Mandi is a blogger at Vintage Revivals who is a girl after my own heart; in so much that she thinks outside of the box, and always is coming up with new and unusual ways to do things.
When I read her posts on skinning a couch for it's leather: I knew I needed to follow suit. Not to straight up copy her: I've always wanted to work with leather, but gag at the super high prices for raw leather from fabric stores.

After getting this bug in my brain, I stalked Craigslist and found a couple leather beauties. The below pictures are not the exact ones I got, but VERY close.

1 white leather couch

The 1984 special.

1 turquoise/dark green chair and ottoman

More floppy 80's styling.
The one I picked up was a bit darker.

1 dark tan chair

This chair is actually attractive.
The one I got for free was NOT.
It was half vinyl and one arm was broken off.

I did not have the chance to take pictures of the real items, because they were picked up and quickly skinned before they ever got home.
The couch especially was a ridiculous operation:
I grabbed it from way across town using my dad's truck one night after dark, then found a secluded parking lot with a light under which to disassemble the thing (in a good part of town). The cushions were my friends; I could just unzip and rip the leather off of those suckers.
The body took a bit more work.
I hopped up into the bed of the truck and onto the couch itself to cut around the edges of each side with an exacto knife. A couple people driving past slowed down and stared at the crazy girl attacking a couch, but hey, thats life in the big city.....or the burbs. Crazy does not acknowledge socio-geographic boundaries, and I take this show on the road. Anyway.....I was able to get 90%+ of the leather off the couch.
With the cab full of white, wrinkly (slightly smelly) leather; I went to my condo cluster and backed up to the most secluded dumpster enclosure on the property. This also happened to be the dumpster that I'd repeatedly seen large furniture left beside (even though you are not supposed to leave furniture outside the dumpster), so I didn't feel too bad about abandoning the couch frame there. I still wrestled it into the enclosure fast as I could, and promptly drove away like I'd stolen something.
A short time later, the chairs were both able to be shoehorned into the back of my Subaru Outback. This happened on separate trips, as each chair by itself caused me to scoot the seat waaay up and practice some 'old lady' driving skills. They got skinned inside a different enclosure (since the first was full o couch) and tossed in the dumpster, which my sticker-for-the-rules-self felt better about than the couch.

Most of the time. Kinda.

I now had a big pile of funky smelling leather that needed to be cleaned and conditioned. It REALLY needed to be cleaned since after being left on the floor for 20 mins, a cat uncharastically decided it was a better place to pee than the litter box. Yum. Thanks jerk face.

I'm taking to you, cat.

I asked Dr.Google if I could wash leather, but he did not give me a solid answer. So, I went ahead and did it anyway; with regular detergent and white vinegar for good measure. After the first wash, the pieces seemed much cleaner, but I ran them through again just to make darn sure I'd done all I could to address the weird leather smell (not to mention the cat pee).
I tossed em in the dryer after this for 10 mins or so on high heat to get rid of the dripping-wet excess moisture. When they were damp to the touch I turned down the temperature and threw in a bunch of liquid fabric softener with a little vegetable oil to prevent any drying out and cracking. They came out smelling purdy and feeling soft, having soaked up all the softener and oil.

The pieces from the brown chair looked dryer than the rest after this so I re-oiled them with a little bit of vegetable oil.

Beans wanted to lick every inch of those suckers during ze oiling.
Wierdo #1 could not control himself and got relegated to the office behind a closed door.

Using an iron on medium heat (with a linen dish towel barrier) flattened out any wrinkles or waviness. I did this for a couple pieces with good results and will do the others as I use them.

And viola. A big pile of clean, cheap leather for future projects. I've already made a purse for my mister's sister, and have lots of other ideas in mind (see pinterest board here).

Those are clearly not my hands.
I can only dream of having long nails and a well kept manicure.

She requested a flap style similar to this, but as a purse, with additional specifications of: "foldy, inconspicuous, and big enough to fit a phone, wallet, and keys." Also to have a shoulder strap long enough so the purse would fit snugly under her arm, just above the waist.
I used a coral pink linen napkin on sale from Anthro ($3) for a needed pop of color on the inside, since the outside would be simple and unadorned. A few lines of stitching held it securely to the leather separator piece and provided the inside some texture. Two straight seams up the sides to close the ends like an envelope, one handle later; and it was complete. I waxed the edges and made a little tag from scraps (imprinted with a heated metal spoon handle) to finish it off.

She was SUPER pleased and has now offered to help me create and run an Etsy store. I really should take her up on it.



-Lindsay

Weekend Treasures

While trolling Craigslist on Friday I saw a posting with blurry pictures for a shipping trunk and old speaker.

Mind the sea-sickness

Is that teak I see? And a shadowy peg leg?
Yar.

From what I could see, they looked good enough to go for, so I said I'd take both and headed over during lunch to pickup.

The trunk was gone to an earlier scavenger by the time I got there, but the speaker was mine all mine. I also landed a barely used cat tree and an old wooden Encyclopedia Americana shipping box.

NEEDS MORE COWBELL JOINTING. Said no one ever.

The box is drying out, after which I'll mount it for use as a wall shelf somewhere. Comme ca:

pin

pin

For the speaker, I plan to do a speaker-gut-ectomy and add simple ledger shelves.

pin

It has beautiful mid century bones with solid teak construction and 3 brass-tipped peg legs. It's banged up pretty well, but is structurally sound. I'll only sand and lightly seal the exterior ala the entertainment center. Hopefully it will come out just as well. The inside will probably be painted something dark to contrast with the lighter exterior wood box.

pin

I haven't seen any speaker-to-shelves floating around the interwebs, so perhaps it will be a genuinely new fangled idea.


The super sweet lady who put up the craigslist post was cleaning out her parents house after they moved into a condo. I offered to help lift/move around anything she needed since she was kind enough to give away good stuff for free. She declined at the time, but our pleasant interaction must have made enough of an impression that she emailed me the next day offering a different trunk she'd intended to keep, but couldn't, and could I help move a couch while I was there? YES and YES.
I'd seen a trunk the day before and was hoping really hard that it was the one she was offering. Because it was a real-life antique version of a Restoration Hardware piece that I've been loving from afar.

Reproduction
on sale for $1045

And it was.

The Real Thing.
(Pardon the spiderwebs n schmutz on the carpet)

Stenciling, and leather handles, and shipping stickers; oh my!

With a promise to never throw it away and to email her should I ever not be able to keep it; I loaded it up. Judging from the shipping label on the back, I think it was used by her Dad's while he was in the Army in the 60's. I understand it's an important piece to her and am glad she thinks I'll give it a good home. Not that I ever plan to stop loving it, but if push comes to shove, I'd be happy to get in touch with her and send it along.

In the meantime, I need to clean up several decades of cobwebs & dust on the outside, and check the state of the inside. There might even be some junk in there.

What will I use it for? Where will I put it? Do I even have room? Am I losing my marbles to get another trunk (this makes 3)?
Excellent questions. I have no answers yet.
Much like sparkly things, shiny things are appreciated here and resolutely kept, murky future or not.

Leather handles also appreciated.

-Lindsay

Sunny Spot Furniture Swap-out

It's been a very enjoyable, very busy end of summer. But wait: I don't have to go back to school, and it's still hot as heck outside; so I'll keep on keepin on!
I have crammed ALOT into the past couple weeks though, most of it life (not house) related, and am clearly slackin on posts.

Today I'll show you a simple change that has had a big impact on my living room.
Since I'd moved in, my TV was kept in a nice Pier 1 solid hardwood entertainment center.

The living room at thanksgiving, prior to my actual living at the place.
A first attempt at putting furniture against walls. This is not the current layout.

The cabinet ate a good chunk of floor space and kind of closed off the areas in front of each flanking window. It was not being utilized for storage, only TV holding, and I thought I could do better.
After recently mounting the TV (on the left hand wall of the picture above), the cabinet really served no purpose and like so many items before it: the time had come for this little big entertainment center to spread its wings and go.

As usual, Navy helped me get it ready.

At the same time, I'd arranged to sell a red chair and ottoman because no one ever used them and they took up a lot of room.

I am always pleasantly surprised at the lovely people I meet through Craigslist (just buying/selling, not personals!), and this chair buyer was no exception. Super sweet lady! Very 'favorite aunt' type. Through our conversations, we decided I should shoot her an email whenever I'm looking to unload any furniture: as she loves doing restoration projects too. Uhhh....ok! Thats a great go-to!
I asked her if she happened to need an entertainment center as well, and luckily she did. I bought the thing for $30 from a firefighter friend and got plenty of use out of it, so was happy to give it away and free up some space.

I'd picked up a green velvet easy chair off of Craigslist for free to put between the windows in place of the entertainment center. It compliments the style of the couch and other chair I have in the room, brings in a different texture, and is suuuuuper comfy.
Above it I hung a 'time lapse' drawing I'd done in college of my then-roommates in our living room; moving about and getting re-drawn every 5 minutes. It's a favorite of mine that my brother had on loan for years. I'm so happy to have it back and be reminded every day of my good friends in that goofy college house. Clearly I'm biased, but I also think it looks pretty sweet too.
These two things together make a happy little green spot to sit and enjoy the sun. Navy the model-cat demonstrates:

The windows face south, so it really is that bright in there during the day.
Supposed to be feng-shui good or something like that.
But whatever; I'm just happy to photosynthesise from the couch.

To the left, there is a spot for the most attractive cat scratcher I've come across yet. For anyone that owns a cat: you'll know a subtle, understated cat scratcher that doesn't cost beaucoup bucks is hard to find. This one came from TjMaxx, but if they had 2 I would have bought them both. I hope the fur-monsters don't destroy it too quickly!
To the right is a small table I'd refinished awhile ago which can be a landing place for drinks, and currently houses the painted fan and obligatory nick nacks. Cuz no horizontal surface in my very-lived-in house goes without some 'artfully' arranged clutter.

Green down pillow from TjMaxx
Chevron scrap-fabric pillow.
Navy & her favorite baby.

When I say 'model cat', I really mean it. She was half way across the house and was more than happy to get scooped up, placed on the chair, and sit still. So much so that she started purring and meowing at me. I should hire her out to an animal talent agency to finance my Home Depot addiction. She'd be such a cute enabler......

Chevron fabric was leftover from dining room chair upholstering.
More on that later!

One more shot, just because I finally remembered to take pictures while it was light out.

-Lindsay

Letting Go of Good Stuff

I have too many ideas and too much stuff to fit in my home.

In my dreaming and object hunting, I acquire really neat stuff for which I have grand plans. Somewhat regularly, I will realize that I'm never going to get around to executing my plan for an item, or it clearly just isn't working in the space. In an attempt to give as good as I get, not be a hoarder, and not create more trash, I take several avenues to move items along the furniture/home goods continuum.

wine rack and console table both interesting, both re-homed

1. I'll generally offer things to friends that seem applicable to their lives, ex. a guy on my team at work was moving to a new place and needed a dining room table: boom! He now has a newly refinished dining set for the low low price of 'Please take it! I'll help you move the thing'.
2. If I don't know of any specific person to attempt to force an item upon, and don't think I could reasonably sell it, I'll post it on Facebook to see if any friends could use it. This is a new strategy that seems to be working, but I'm going to try and keep it to a minimum to not carpet bomb people.
3. When I think the money I could get would outweigh the hassle of selling an item (anything less than $25 I'll just give away), I will post it on Craigslist for sale. This recently got me a cool $100 for an antique teacher's desk that cost $20.

Before, from PublicSurplus. Covered in tape with broken drawers.

After, with some love, fixes, and refinishing

4. When I have something that someone could want, but is odd, piddly or I want gone asap, I'll Curb Alert it on Craigslist.
Today on my way out the door I unloaded a tub overflowing with huuuge (1x3's) wooden blocks, took a picture, and posted em. I had an art project in mind when I bought these for $5.....but when I picked them they were twice as big and twice as many as I was prepared for. I kept a couple pieces to use for scrap wood, but the rest had to go.

I really should have built a tower out of them on the sidewalk.  Damn.

I don't want to just take take take. I feel like finding new homes for things I can't use helps me maintain some level of good-deal karma. There has been quite a purge of items around here lately, so hopefully I'm paying it forward for future deals.
:)



-Lindsay

Rebuilding and Updating an Arts & Crafts Chair

'Antsy' is a vast understatement of how I felt while under contract, but waiting to close on my place. It had such possibility, and so many projects I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into. But, as it also belonged to someone else, and I only break into structures for fun on the weekends when there's a fire (rare) or mischievous kid (more frequent) behind the door; I had to simmer down and work on something non-structure related.

I really like the work a lot of people are doing now to update old chairs with new fun upholstery. Chairloom is a particular favorite. Be prepared to drool at some of their before & after's.

so chic and understated

oooooh sweet nelly

I would LOVE to find something worthy of saving up the $$$$ to have them upholster one day, a beautiful Edwardian sofa or an intricate arm chair. Clearly worth it if you can afford it, but for now, I tried my hand at updating a piece I'd gotten for free off of Craigslist.

plaid makes him grumpy

I loved the simplicity of the piece; totally devoid of decoration save for the beauty of the hardwood. I thought that it would take easily to being modernized while still retaining a good dose of vintage charm. The wood was super dry with some broken areas, and the seat was lumpy and structurally unsound; so it was total reconstruction time.

Dis-assembly of the chair uncovered errant Cheerios, plastic straws, pet hair, and general schmutz.

delish

I tried to take a picture of each step to remind myself how the chair was put together, in case I forgot by re-assembly time. Luckily for me, this thing was Ikea v1.0: everything had dowels with corresponding slots and wing nuts, so it came apart with the removal of 4 bolts and a couple of seal-bark accompanied tugs.

smellya later trim

evidence of repeated reupholstering

Long story short: I ripped out everything: fabric, millions of tiny copper nails and staples, all the horse/hog hair padding, old strapping, etc. Minus the nails, which are being saved for something in the future; this was fun and quick! 

I scrubbed, repaired, sanded, conditioned, stained, and poly'd the wood. This part was a bit tedious, as it took a while to get into each nook and crannie several times over with multiple coats of stain, poly, and waiting. It was totally worth though, as the wood is now beautiful and healthy enough to last a few more decades.

mahog-a-liscious

I wanted to un-grandpa the fabric (as much as I love grandpas), and do a non-girly floral pattern. Joann's often has good coupons you can find online, and frequent sales; so I went on a sale day (50% off) with an additional coupon in hand (40% off) to get strapping, foam blocks, sheet batting, fabric, and trim. Foam is EXPENSIVE, but with the sale and the coupon I managed to spend only about $30 for it, which otherwise would have been close to $100. 

Ain't nobody got time for that. 

I used the old fabric as a guide to cut the new fabric, leaving an additional two inches all around to account for non-stretchy fabric, my own inevitable mistakes, and trimming later. I re-strapped, padded, and upholstered the seat and back panel in the same way they were before.

pardon the washed out colors

This was a great first 'big' reupholstering project because I didn't need to sew or have any special upholsterer knowledge, just enthusiasm and the ability to use a staple gun. Said enthusiasm broke the first two staple guns, but the third one is still alive....for now.

I'm exceedingly pleased with the results and the chair has become a favorite place to sit, especially for my daddy-o, who likes the cup-friendly wide arm rests.

Before & After

even the cat changed pattern

-Lindsay

Kindness is a new stove

My kitchen is right by the entry balcony of my unit. One whole wall of the room is glass and you actually walk by it to get to the front door. 

its my house in a box

You can see some cabinets, the fridge, a bit of the sink, and some wall space as you go by, but the stove is tucked away in a corner over your left shoulder. When I walked up to The Cabindo the first time, I marveled at the pretty new maple cabinets and the attractive kitchen counters. I cringed at the white fridge and shiny rust wall color that made the spacious room look greasy and small, but hey: good lookin' structurally sound cabinets and counters?!? #winning

Then I went in, and there they were: the miss-matching ancient bosom buddies. Side by side. A decrepit taupe dishwasher and an ancient stove; complete with a collection of dead bugs behind the egg timer glass. 

uhh. you said something was pretty in here.....? 

This had been a rental property for many years, so I understand why none of the appliances were from this last decade or matching. That's fine with me; I'm definitely not one of those House Hunter snots who simply muuuuust have all granite and stainless, in their first home, right off the bat, no exceptions. HA! Anyway, I was so excited and smitten with the place: I really didn't care. The appliances worked, which is the most important thing about them, and I thought ok; its not a good looking room right now, but once I paint:

peach walls with green accents
to open up the room and compliment the counters and cabinets

install a back splash:

subway tile with an interesting edge

 put stainless film on the dishwasher:

$20 to fancy

yadda, yadda, yadda....(insert unrealistic expectations here).....it'll be great! Just that easy!

So I bought the place, and upon hosting my first event, used my ugly-but-working (home inspector approved) stove and dishwasher. Errrr....turns out that while they switched on and didn't start a fire, they didn't really fulfill their particular functions. The oven sent out a noticeable waft of gas (up from the delicate one it seemed to emanate even when off) and took forever to heat up to temperature. The btu's it was throwing out also got the room way up in temperature. We lived, peeled off a layer, and had another beer. After dinner, dishes were quickly rinsed and put in the dish washer. Surprise! They came out dirtier. The look on the faces of my and my Bf's mothers were pricelessly: 'disgusted-but-smiling-because-it's-thanksgiving-dammit' when they went to unload it.

So the hunt for affordable replacements began. For safety reasons, and the fact that I can wash dishes by hand but not bake pizza by the power of my gaze, a non-gas leaking oven was first on the list.
I'd struck out on Public Surplus and the ReStore for gas ranges, but hit the jackpot on Craigslist. I saw a lot of high quality gas stoves in the $200/$300 range all over the DC area, mostly far away from me, and still more than I wanted to spend. Then one popped up of the same quality, but offered at $100 and right by my fire station. I immediately called the guy and he said it was still available and would I like to come see it. Yes please and thank you sir!
An important part of Craigslist is the buddy system, so I promised a hearty breakfast after duty the next day to one of my firehouse buddies who lives around the corner in exchange for backup and help lifting.

We get to the seller's house and he was welcoming and friendly. He see's my friend's fire station sweatshirt (this happened right before Christmas and it was cooold out), and tells us about how he's been a long time supporter of the station, takes his grand kids to all the open houses, watches the Santa parade,

donates football tickets to a Redskins game every year for the fire fighters, etc. etc. Again, salt of the earth, lovely, lovely guy.
Oh, and the stove was great too.

hey there shiny britches

So he's having the new stove installed the next day (double oven, Christmas gift for his wife), and we would come back then to pick up the old one once its disconnected. We are going to leave and I try and hand him the advertised $100, and he shakes his head and says, 'how about $75?". Um.....ok!!
We arrive the next day to pick up the oven, and he and his wife hand me an envelope.
It has $75 in it.
I look up at them, and with big smiles on their faces they say: "Thanks for your service. Merry Christmas!"
Well shit.
I don't think it would be appropriate to hug them, and I'm trying not to cry at this point because that's the kindest thing ever and I'm easy to tears, so I just babble profuse thank you's as we lug the thing out the door. Mr.Nice Guy is smiling the whole time and telling us what good cookies the thing bakes. Ugggh, my heart strings are all pulled and my faith in humanity is bolstered.

waiting for installation
the holiday spirit is strong with this one.

Kindness is a new FREE stove.


-Lindsay