Stalking Craigslist

 via smallshopstudio

 Ever since I saw this brass shelf I have been obsessed with finding my own.  

 

via this is glamorous

  It's just so glamorous and versatile and I knew it would be perfect for the tall wall in the living room

via the gathered home 

So I found it on Craigslist for $40 !!!!!!!!!!!!! And I went a little bonkers.  I think I scared the seller with my over zealousness and maybe a couple of smiley face emoticons....and she flagged me as a scam.  I was crushed and honestly a bit insulted.  :( 

I wouldn't relent though.  I had a co-worker inquire about it and, once he got the seller's contact information he said his "wife" would contact them and arrange for the pick up.  I was in!

I wasted no time and immediately got in my car drove an hour and a half in rush hour traffic to pick it up and the sellers could not have been more lovely We laughed about the whole "flagging me as a scam" nonsense.  

Ahh Craigslist...

They were so nice they even helped me tie it to my car. 

And voila!  Curvy, shiny, beauty!  

 It's the perfect thing for that awkward corner.

Upholstered Bed Frame Part 2

 For a while I lived with the half finished frame.  I draped some fabric over the bare wood headboard and thought about fabric and tufting and how I was going to upholster the thing....Basically I just procrastinated and went shopping for other pieces for the room.

Good thing I did.  I totally scored on 2 $10 nightstands from a thrift store and repainted them in gloss white and then ... I found these incredible vintage sconces at Consign Design in Palm Desert.  But, once I hung them up, I knew that the headboard dimensions were off.  It was starting to  look a little dinky.  I need to bring it up at least 5 or 6 inches.

So I removed the headboard from the back of the base and stapled a layer of batting over the side rails and legs.  I built up any areas where there were gaps between the wood or where the legs were set slightly behind the frame to get a smooth, even surface for the fabric to lie against.  Naturally I forgot to take pictures of that step.  Oops!  You can kind of get the idea from below where I am measuring how long the 3 pieces of fabric need to be to cover the sides and foot.

Next, I cut 3 strips of fabric 16" wide by 86" long.  I wanted the seam to be at the corner of the legs so I sewed the left side to the back piece.  Then , I held it up to the side and back and marked where the right corner seam should go.  Then trimmed off the excess from the back piece and sewed that to the right side piece.  Once it was all sewn I stapled the back first then the 2 sides.  I tucked the fabric under the legs and then glued some felt pieces under the feet so the staples wouldn't scratch the floor.

I think it's looking pretty bad ass so far! 

 

This weekend in the desert

Beautiful sunsets and amazing vintage sconces.

Upholstered Bed Frame Part 1

Here is a peek at the look I'm going for: 

 I love it so much.  It has everything going for it.  Great lines and classic details like button tufting.  

I've got a long way to go from where I started: A mattress and a wood frame box spring with a saggy cover.

This is what the box spring looks like with the cover removed.  I added feet to the corners and under the center for stability and some height.  

My plan was to cover the sides and legs with a layer of batting and then

upholster over that.  That turned out not to be a great idea since it didn't prop up the batting and fabric enough and it looked like it would dip between the supports.  This totally deflated my progress for a few months while I tried to figure out an easy, cheap solution.

My neighbor had some pegboard scraps and offered to cut them to to make the sides a bit more of a solid foundation for the upholstery.  It was the perfect solution.  And Free!

Come back soon and check out the progress!

Breakfast wrap

I love to make this yummy, healthy green egg and cheese breakfast wrap on days when I need to feel full and satisfied until way past lunch time.   This is so easy to make.  Takes just a couple of minutes and uses ingredients I almost always have on hand. 

Here’s what you need:

1 Ezekiel sprouted grain tortilla 

2 organic eggs

1 shallot- chopped

½ a ripe avocado

Cheese –any kind that melts nicely.   Goat, Havarti,  jack would all be tastey…

Big handful of greens (kale, spinach,  chard)- chopped 

Salt and pepper

Coconut oil or butter

Start with a little coconut oil or butter in a cast iron skillet (or any heavy skillet) and sauté a chopped shallot until translucent.   

 

Add a big handful of chopped kale or spinach about until wilted.  Kale will take a couple of minutes; spinach will be like 20 seconds.   

Add 2 eggs and a pinch of salt and pepper and stir it all up until the eggs are scrambled.  Turn off the heat, form the eggs into a log and and toss some shredded or thinly sliced cheese on top and cover. 

Meanwhile warm the tortilla in a toaster over for a minute until soft.  Mash ½ an avocado over the center of the tortilla.

 

Top with the egg/cheese/kale mixture and wrap 

.

Sexy knobs

When I was in high school I worked at Ann Taylor where I learned about the importance of accessorizing.  It's huge people!  You can take the most blah top and with the right scarf or necklace all of the sudden it looks totally money.  

Same thing with hardware my friends!

I mean, we are dealing with pretty basic cabinetry here and formica counters ...bull nose, no less...and these vintage brass knobs (found on ebay) totally bring in the sassy.

Hubba hubba amirite?

  

The cool blue, white and grey color scheme just needed some gold to warm it up. 

Seriously, these knobs make me so giddy!

 I carried one in my purse for about 3 weeks while I was painting the kitchen and every once in a while I would just pull it out and let the weight of it sit in my hand while I admired the lovely golden brass hue of it. 

I'm not even kidding.

I may have also made everyone I know hold and admire the knobs too.

Possibly...

PS:  I LOVE BRASS!!

pps:  I love tequila!

 and this stuff is pretty drinkable and real cheap.

Why in the world would I post a photo of my messy cabinets insides?  Other than to remind myself (and now you) of good cheap tequila...

Perhaps, the same reason as why my final reveal photo has a bag of chips and some cheese on the counter.  Because I am a total blogging amateur.

There's still so much more to do in the kitchen so there is a chance I may redeem myself with a clear, well lit, clutter free final final reveal.

Anything is possible.

Sweat equity in the kitchen

I'm so close to being done here and so far I'm loving the paint colors. I used White Dove (a Benjamin Moore color that I had Dunn Edwards mix for me in their semi-gloss finish) for the uppers.  When I started the project I figured I would just brush the paint on or use a roller.  So I took down the cabinet fronts and painted the frames with a brush which worked out great and then I moved on to the cabinet fronts which I took outside to paint.  My first attempt was with a roller and that left a bumpy finish that didn't really settle after drying...so then I brushed and got streaky brush marks.  I think this may have had to do with the fact that it was 100 degrees out and the paint was drying too fast?  Anyway, after a weekend of that I basically got depressed and gave up. Gorgeous, right?

Then, the next weekend my neighbor came to the rescue with his paint sprayer which he was nice enough to let me borrow.  Total game changer! The resulting finish came out smooth as butter and it went SO much faster!  I was able to jam out all of the white cabinet fronts doing two coats per side on Saturday ...

 I kind of even look like I know what I'm doing here!

 Cut to the overspray on my feet...

On Sunday it rained and it took me an hour just to wipe down and clean the soot off of all of my nice white cabinets.  There were a couple of stains that resulted which I'll have to detail later.  But I was on a deadline to finish the lowers. I went with Valspar's  Jazz Club in gloss (it really looks more like semi -gloss.  But maybe it's because it's latex?)  Again the paint sprayer was a life saver.  Three coats per side and it only took me about 4 hours including drying time.

I didn't hang them for 2 weeks.  Instead I let them dry while I was out of town and hung them I got back.

 Look how cute the curve on the frame is in the new color?  


I also removed the vent and used some of this stuff to remove about 12 layers of paint.  It works great and doesn't smell at all.  Just brush on and let it sit for a few hours.  Wipe down and the layers of paint just magically disappear!

Also,  for my feet, I discovered this!



Rub onto painted feet and scrub the paint off.  This worked better than soap and water and was a nice moisturizer too! 

The next day I wised up and put the oil on my arms, legs and feet BEFORE painting and the over-spray came right off in the shower hardly any scrubbing needed.