and then there were shades...

this post is really a continuation of the lamp makeover i started documenting in my previous entry. it was just getting WAY too long!

once i had the lamps i wanted to work with, finding shades i liked was an adventure. i had an existing shade that was ok, but it was so unique i didn't think i'd ever find another one like it. then i had a vile shade that came with one of the lamps i bought. i must have purchased 3 or four shades from thrift stores, but could never find a matching pair that i liked. (click on any photo to view a larger version)







then i found this shade, and it really set my heart on having drum shades on the lamps:





(now, here's the part when i strongly urge you to find a drum shade that has the same diameter at the top and the bottom. exactly the same. no taper whatsoever. it will be so. much. easier. to recover the shades if you get a shade with no taper. i thought i'd done that, but alas, i had a bit of taper and discovered its treacheries.)

let there be light! finally!

i feel like i have been working on fixing up these lamps for-EV-er. i wanted two bedside tables, which meant two lamps. i found the lamps at my favorite local thrift store's half off thursdays (everything in the store, EVERYTHING, is half off on thursdays. it's awesome.).

this is the first lamp i got. isn't she gawd awful? (click any photo to view a larger version)










WAY too much texture for me, and the paint treatment highlights that texture and the fruit just a bit too much for me. but, i got a great price on the lamp, and it was the size i wanted, and i'd always planned for it to be a transition lamp until i found the one i really wanted.

click "read more" to see the second lamp and the rest of the transformation.

new life for old books

i love books as decorations. i love books period, but they are also so easy to come by. but, sometimes, the books i want just do not have covers that match my decor. so, i decided to recover some of those books that just don't work for me.

i love brown paper bages, so i used a heavy brown paper drop cloth for some of the books, and i used some really beautiful lawn and leaf bags that i found at goodwill for $1 each:




can you believe someone decided to make such pretty bags to put your lawn waste in? theses colors are exactly what i want to work with in my bedroom. and the best part is that they are double layered, so if you split them along the glue lines, you get twice as much paper! (though the inside lining is just plain brown.



all you need for this is your books, your paper, some mod podge or elmer's or other no name white glue (i think it works just as well as the mod podge), a sponge applicator to smear the glue around, and some newspaper or something to protect your working surface.

i covered these books in the leaf paper, and then added a plain brown paper square to one of them, in case i want to use it as an art journal later so i can label it!



this one i covered with a bunch of strips of brown paper i had, just to see how it turned out. i really like the layered look and the varying directions of the lines. i only covered the front cover and spine with the strips, because the back of the book was blank with stripes of some colors i liked.




basically, you are only limited by your imagination.

from terra cotta to whole lotta red!

i went to the renovation station a month or so ago. it's a store selling new and used construction/building supplies, hardware, etc. and all the proceeds go to habitat for humanity. awesome!

i found a great deal on some terra cotta pots and had a vision for turning them into cool, sculptural useful items: a bird feeder and bird bath. click any picture for a larger version.

wonderful giveaway!

come on. you know you want this:



head on over to newly wife's blog for your chance to win!

but i want to win. ok? sound fair? ;)

depends on what your definition of "junk" is...

i'm so excited to turn junk into something great. the possibility, the creativity, the joy of transformation! usually, i think of junk as old stuff, but today i turned some brand new junk into a beautiful thing that looks old!

i went and bought a lovely new casual cowboy hat made out of palm leaves. it's soft and fun and will shield my face nicely from the sun while i'm out at the oklahoma city festival of the arts tomorrow. while the nice man was shaping the hat for me, i saw a hat pin with possibility.

wall art arrangement made so much better!

in the january/february 2010 issue of my home, my style magazine, i saw a idea so great, yet so simple, i couldn't believe that i hadn't thought of it before! they finally solved the problem of how to get a perfect preview of an arrangement of wall art, without turning your walls into swiss cheese or driving yourself crazy.

first step is to trace all of the pieces you are possibly interested in hanging onto a sturdy paper. i used a heavy brown drop cloth paper and some paper grocery sacks. i'm sure butcher paper would work well too. you just need something sturdy and big enough to trace your items on. i had to tape multiple pieces together for some of my bigger items.

room arranging hack

i have always always loved to arrange rooms. even when i'm not good at it! ever since i was big enough to move the furniture by myself, i have rearranged my bedroom constantly, always looking for a more pleasing arrangement. and sometimes, just wanting the freshness that only change can bring.

however, my current bedroom is driving me nuts, and this time it's not enough just to look at the room and start moving stuff. plus, now that i'm an adult, my stuff is bigger and heavier!

but now, thanks to my friend ethan allen (my rich, expensive, completely out of my price range friend), i have a wonderful tool to help me arrange and rearrange my room. and to plan and replan for needed pieces that i don't have.

what's your style, baby?

image from http://www.annesage.com

brooke made a great post today about finding your own decorating style. sometimes we (me) can get so excited by individual projects that we aren't thinking about the whole piece and how it will fit together.

what a great idea

this is possibly one of the best ideas i have ever seen for random, smallish, possibly partly broken thrift store furniture. or even perfectly good stuff you have around the house that's just not working for you!