I am buying something tonight off of Craigslist, with nowhere to put it, and no idea what to do with it. But I saw it, fell in love with it, and decided it was worth buying for any future home I have.

Description: “Vintage bathroom mirror and medicine cabinet likely circa 1940s. I found this at Urban Ore and cleaned it up for a “shabby chic” or distressed look. It is constructed to be installed as a built-in, but personally I hung it on the wall for a funky effect. All original hardware has been refinished and refurbished and is gleaming. Contains two movable/ adjustable interior shelves and is very well-made as were most things of earlier eras. Super cute!”

What do you think?? I figured we could paint it for any room in a future home, or just keep it distressed if that is where it works best.

All I know now is that I need to find a place to store it.

I used to browse the wedding blogs…find things I wanted to include during the big day. A lot of it was out of my price range, and a lot of it didnt fit the aesthetic, but I liked posting and sharing anyway. Now I’m living in wedded bliss…in an apartment I don’t own, but try to have some creative input into the design. Hopefully all of our current furniture will just be the starting point to an AMAZING space of our own some day.

If I could furnish my place with the CB2 catalog, I’d be a happy lady… If I could have a few accent pieces from Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, etc…that would make me smile. Give me catalogs. But first…give me space to put it all.

Here are a few things that tickle my fancy lately…(though I know they don’t all work together or with what we have currently)

Do you have any favorite go-to catalogs?

CB2 Pixel Pillow

Urban Outfitters Industrial Rolling Side Table

Urban Outfitters Gold Fainting Sofa

CB2 Utility Pendant Lamp

Rugs USA Chevron Rug (totally not a catalog)

This might be the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while as far as furniture goes. Don’t know how much it is…dont care, as I’m going to just sit and drool. Resource Furniture is full of gems…check out the site. All of their space saving furniture is fantastic.

you would THINK its just a couch

(more…)

Many years ago I purchased a table off of Craigslist. It was solid wood, good condition and only $50. It wasn’t necessarily the color scheme I wanted, but I knew that eventually it would make a great project. 2 plus years later, we finally tackled the project head on.

With a brown wood top and a painted green bottom, the table had definitely seen better days. When our apartment had water damage, the table suffered, and the top got moldy and damaged. Good thing that the refinishing was already planned.

We sanded down the top of the table, and got it down to its original wood.

We then used stain to coat the top of the table. We didn’t want to paint it, as we wanted to still see the wood grain. It only took one layer of ebony stain to get the desired color effect.

We painted the green area with black paint. This dried much faster than the stain. A varnish was then sprayed over the top of the table, and its now all set to go and serve its purpose once again.

Isnt it lovely?Anson Sofa

Fabric: Discover

Color: Ink

Located: Room and Board

(if only I had $1,799 to put toward a couch)

I’m not going to even show you the state of affairs of my crafting area. Most times I end up working in the living room with my needle and thread and hand stitching the Wunzees. I have a sewing machine in our guest room. I also have an Expedit from Ikea, and you would think that would be enough to keep me organized. WRONG. I dont know how to keep everything in order, and have a place for everything. I feel like I’m not experienced enough to have an idea of what my craft area SHOULD look like, but I’m inspired to get a pegboard and do something organized and awesome. I found a few examples of other peoples pegboard projects, and they just look clean, simple, and though they are inexpensive, dont look cheap.

Craft Addict used her pegboard to keep her jewlery making stuff accessable and off the floor.

Mandi Shandi has all sorts of cool stuff hanging from her colorful pegboard. I just love the way it makes everything look. The pegboard and hardware cost her under $10 and the storage below was on its way to the garbage!

Love the clean lines, love the color, love the shelves next to the pegboard. All sorts of ideas forming in my lil mind right now. Ottoman Handmade posted this pegboard project.

I also love the kitchen that Apartment Therapy has featured in this photo. Another great use of the pegboard. Adds a nice asthetic to the kitchen, and keeps the pots and pans organized and easy to find.

Design Sponge also features a nice kitchen pegboard.

How do you all keep yourself organized??

I have been itching for a DIY project. I read Bright Yellow World, and I see how Abby is fixing up her living space, and I read other blogs of people I DONT know (like Design Sponge), and I want to do something myself. My apartment doesn’t have a patio or a back yard, so alot of painting projects are off limits. I have every intention of someday fixing up my file cabinet, but the amount of spray paint it would take would likely kill me in enclosed spaces. So I wait.

But in the mean time I realized I could paint my coffee table. I bought it a bit ago because we needed a coffee table, and it was $50 on Craigslist. It wasn’t necessarily my style, but its sturdy, and it did the trick. It fit in with my “comfortable” furniture quality, and looked lived in. The whole thing is pretty solid wood, and its painted green on the bottom. I’m going to just make it black. More my style, fits in with some of our other furniture, and hopefully, because its not particle board, it should hold the paint. Still might be tricky, with the small apartment and pets, but I think we can pull it off.

the coffee table

Its been a while since I’ve painted furniture, and wanted it to last, so I was very thankful when I read Little Green Notebook’s blog, and the difference between latex and oil paint was laid out for me. I haven’t decided which one to go with, but its nice to know the pros and cons. What are your experiences with the different types of paint? It’s a coffee table, so its obviously used a lot. I mean…I’m typing this very blog entry with my laptop on top of it, and don’t forget the kitten traffic. I’ll keep you updated as we progress. Gotta go buy the paint now. Decisions, decisions….

Here’s a very basic outline of their experience with both types of paint:

LATEX (water-based) PAINT
Uses:
Walls
Light-use furniture

Pros:
Easy clean up with water
Cheap and very accessible (lots of colors)
Dries to the touch fast

Cons:
Requires several coats usually to get even coverage, usually need primer
Can peel easily – especially if lower quality
Can take weeks to fully harden/cure

OIL-BASED PAINT
Uses:
Heavy-use furniture
Floors
Mouldings

Pros:
GORGEOUS – amazing gloss and depth
Very durable
Covers stains remarkably well, without primer

Cons:
Stinky!
A pain to wash up after – as in, you need chemicals
Requires a steady hand and smooth application
Takes 12-24 hours (or more) to dry

We have this blank wall space in our apartment. It needs something. It has art on the wall, but thats it. A couch is too wide, and a love seat is too fat, so we figure a bench is what we need in this space. We went searching for a bench this weekend at Urban Ore. I had never been there before, and until I have a yard, or a space to do projects, this place is probably the wrong one to shop. Urban Ore is filled with doors, and knobs, and sinks, and toilets, and all sorts of cool recycled junk that you never thought you needed but now might want. Project heaven.

I did find a few awesome things though…and if I had the money, or the way to take any of it home…I’d have been all over it.

How cool are these! There were three Herman Miller school chairs. I know that they were probably worth more, but at $145 a piece, I just couldn’t swing it. I don’t know much about furniture, but I’m fairly certain these were a find.

I also for whatever reason fell in love with this Doctors table. Seriously, don’t know how I would have gotten it home, or who would have helped carry it upstairs, but it could have been the perfect bench…right? Would that have been weird and somewhat creepy?

This last find wasn’t even an option, due to the SOLD sticker on it…but LOVE. If I ever had use for an old beauty shop chair, in purple, I might have out bid the buyer. Urban Ore had all sorts of old stoves, irons, refridgerators, etc. It would have been the perfect place to transform your home into the decade of your choice. It’s times like these that I wish I owned. You cant do anything fun in a rental.

I will also bring my good camera here next time. So many photo opportunities, only thwarted by my iPhone. Well, you get the picture.

I can’t remember the last time I had a land line. For years I’ve been using my cell phone for all purposes, and that pretty much consists of texting and talking on few occasions. I was never one of those girls who was on the phone for HOURS at a time. Back in the day without call waiting, I was never the teen whose mom had to tell her to get off the phone. I remember when I was in the dating pool how awkward phone calls were, and when I could, I’d just text. Honestly…I hate talking on the phone. I dislike the “Hey, whats going on?” kind of conversations. If you are going to call me, have a purpose. Lets discuss upcoming plans, or tell me something awesome happened to you. Don’t just call to talk.

I do like the way that the vintage phones look however. I remember the old wood rotary we had at the house I grew up in,  for decoration only of course. I think that they are classic, and fun and reminiscent of the times before the convenience of cell phones existed. If you wanted to make plans, you hoped that they were there to answer the phone, otherwise, no go. We weren’t attainable at all hours. When I did have a land line, I’d always misplace the handset. Remember the old days? Back when you couldn’t walk around the house on the phone? Back when you were stuck talking how ever far the cord would let you go?

Comcast was having a deal where if I signed up for their land line service as well, my overall bill would reduce by almost $40. Seriously? I get something additional, and you reduce my cost? Sign me up! The phone guy came today. What am I going to do with the land line, I don’t know…but Mick and were discussing attaching an awesome phone to the phone cord…just for the hell of it. There are actually some really cool vintage phones on ebay for a really reasonable price. Do we go retro? Do we go rotary? Do we go silly or do we match it to our stuff?  I had a blast having flashbacks…I’ll let you know what we end up with.